Fog of War InstantPrevent all combat damage that would be dealt to you or permanents you control this turn.
Untap each creature you control. If you cast ~ during your main phase, after this phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by additional main phase.
the name's very cute, although sadly
already taken. the effect is interesting, although feels a bit weird that I have to let the damage from the first combat happen and only then do I get to prevent it for the second. for 6 mana I think you could just say if you cast it during your turn so the fog protection is stronger.
endure was always pretty underwhelming, and this costs more than that so I think you can be a bit more aggressive with the effect. I do like how it can also work on defense with the untap ambush thing.
3/5Energy Conversion
Enchantment
Flash
When Energy Conversion enters the battlefield, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.
Whenever damage is prevented, put that many charge counters on Energy Conversion.
, Remove X charge counters from Energy Conversion: Energy Conversion deals X damage to any target. You gain X life.
as a note,
inkshield has only ever existed in commander products, so I wouldn't use it as a power reference. that said, I don't think this is over. like, it's potentially very high-impact, and can singlehandedly turn a game against an aggro deck, but if an aggro deck lets you resolve your 5-drop and then untap and do more things, that's kinda on them. I like how it checks for all damage prevention, not just the one it does, so you can recharge the batteries later. the one thing I might change is making the activation
to make it a little harder to machine-gun down a wide field, but really that'd come down to playtesting.
4/5Prophesied Return Instant (R)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.
Silence descended on the battlefield. Some in reverence, some in disbelief. feels similar in spirit to the prompt card, as a "fog and also do a largely unrelated thing" but not in a way I mind. I've never been a huge fan of fogs in green but that does still seem to be the norm and green messes with graveyards a lot so I think the colors work. flavor's really strong.
4/5Sudden Forest
Instant
Search your library for up to two basic forests and put them onto the battlefield.
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.
ha. that's fun. I might make the land tapped, and I wish it had some flavor text to communicate the story better, but it does seem like a blast to play with, giving the fog a proactive, developmental purpose so you're incentivized to use it as soon as it becomes available. (also I assume it's supposed to shuffle, but I'm not marking you down for that.)
4/5Gorillas in the Mist Instant
Create two 3/3 green Ape creature tokens with trample.
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to creatures this turn.
this feels a little antisynergistic: you're making a pair of solid blockers at instant speed, it's a weird time to also be fogging. then again I'm also not sure it'd be fun if it was "Prevent all damage by
other creatures" either. I dunno. the nature of the criteria does sort of ask for an unrelated rider, but this feels a little too disjointed for me.
3/5Fog Machine -
Artifact |
RFlash
When
Fog Machine enters the battlefield, put X charge counters on
Fog Machine, where X is target nonland permanent's mana value. Exile that permanent until
Fog Machine leaves the battlefield.
, Remove a charge counter from
Fog Machine: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by target creature this turn.
Once the smoke settles, it’s too late. this feels... overcomplicated. you've got an o-ring effect that then turns into a variable number of counters, which can then be spent to do a series of mini-fogs? it's also a bit of a stretch to call it a fog variant, since it doesn't really scale. I like the idea of a fog machine for the round but I'm not sure this feels like a fog machine.
2/5Misplaced in time
Instant
Prevent all combat damage creatures would deal this turn, then destroy all nonland, noncreature permanents.
ooh, interesting. I misread it at first and was gonna say destroying everything made the fog redundant, but "noncreature" avoids that, of course. it's a really interesting card, one that probably never has a perfect set-up but one that can always find some utility if you build for it, and a nice way to shut down some problems in addition to the fog effect. the mana cost feels unnecessarily awkward and I really wish there was some flavor text to tie it together, but mechanically very solid.
4/5oh wow you went
in on the "expensive" part of the criteria. and I think it paid off. that effect is really exciting, and having it cost 8 makes the incredible swing it can generate feel justified: a fog can always turn the tide of a game in principle, but this makes that promise even more enticing. flavor's really well-written, too.
5/5Ominous Distraction Instant (U)
Cast this spell only during combat.
Prevent all combat damage creatures would deal this turn. At the beginning of the next end step, you may put a creature card with mana value X or less from your hand onto the battlefield, where X is the amount of combat damage prevented this turn.
A legion seen is never as great as an enemy unknown. I dunno, damage scales so much faster than cmc that it's hard to imagine this not pretty much always getting the creature you want, and the situations where it doesn't seem more annoying than challenging. honestly, since the fog effect prevents it from being an effective ambush you could probably just make this
dramatic entrance plus fog in a balance sense, although I like the flavor of making you wait. not sure how exciting that'd be, I think it'd need solid flavor to tie it together, but conveniently this
does have solid flavor so I think it'd hold. but the current version just feels really fiddly for something that doesn't really pay off in a very interesting way.
2/5Tides of Conflict |
InstantFill in the blanks — Distribute [prevent] and [double] among the blank spaces.
________ all combat damage that would be dealt to creatures this turn.
________ all combat damage that would be dealt to players this turn.
interesting. almost feels silver-bordered in its formatting, but Cleave is a real keyword so there are no rules anymore. I think, for 6, you should be allowed to choose the same thing twice: it's pretty easy to imagine a situation where you're being attacked and doubling damage doesn't help you score better blocks. also feels expensive: hard to find what a
furnace of wrath instant should cost, but
dictate of the twin gods costs less and is permanent. (which is sort of a downside but not really if you built for it and they didn't.)
insult is a sorcery so they get to plan for it, but is similarly cheaper. I think this could cost
.
3/5Displacement Instant
Creatures phase out.
lol, cute. I like how it also does a little work as a
sleep since your creatures phase back in first. kinda surprised this doesn't already exist, but it's smooth and elegant in a way that seems really interesting. also cleverly sidesteps things like
skullcrack, which feels fitting for a blue variant. I think technically it should be "all creatures phase out" but whatever.
5/5I always look forward to seeing what sorts of against-the-spirit corner cases my wording failed to avoid. in this case, however, while I do like the idea of trying to move it into red, this doesn't need the prevention clause. it can just be "If a source would deal combat damage this turn, instead it deals that much damage to a random creature, player, or planeswalker." (this also clarifies that the target is chosen separately each time, which I believe was your intent and is how I would interpret the current wording, but could easily be misread by a player with middling rules knowledge. if you want the other version, "Choose a target creature, player, or planeswalker at random. Until end of turn, all combat damage that would be dealt is dealt to that object instead.") the only reason it seems to use the prevention wording is to technically fit the criteria, but no damage is actually prevented so I'd struggle to call it a fog variant. also seems pretty annoying to resolve, although it's clearly a casual-only card and some casual players are into that sort of thing.
1/5Words of Reason -
Instant
~ costs
less to cast if two or less creatures are attacking you.
Prevent all damage that would be dealt until your next turn. Then, each player scry X, where X is the mana spent to cast ~.
Draw a card.
Peaceful dialogues are simply the prelude to war. I like the idea of a fog that punishes your opponent for
not going wide, but I'm not in love with this execution. I'm kinda surprised there
isn't a cantripping fog, but 3-4 seems like the right cost for it, so a discounted 2 feels right. I think my main issue is that letting your opponent also scry feels like a bummer on a 5-drop. especially since scry's value goes up exponentially with the number of cards you see, so giving them a free scry
5 is massive. I like how it scales a bit with the cost, though, to keep the cheaper version from needing to be just as impactful as the more expensive one. feels like there's a version of this that interacts more directly with the number of attackers and I think that version could be more interesting, but this feels like a decent starting point.
3/5No Time to Die
Instant
Cast No Time to Die only during combat, after blockers are declared.
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn, and untap all attacking and blocking creatures.
Take an extra turn after this one. During that turn, each creature untapped with No Time to Die must attack or block if able, and no other creatures may attack or block.
so basically swap the attackers and the blockers? interesting. hard to parse, though, and curious how it plays out in practice. fog plus time walk is a scary combination, but it does cost 6. I dunno, I like it a lot in concept but the execution isn't landing for me.
3/5Grand Reversal —
Instant (R)
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn. For each point of damage prevented to you, you gain 1 life. For each point of damage prevented to a creature you control, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature. For each point of damage prevented to a planeswalker you control, put a loyalty counter on that planeswalker.
I love the idea here. I wish there was a way to word it that wasn't quite as long, but it's clear conceptually what it's trying to do and the rest flows well from that. I like how you want to create a situation where as little of the damage as possible is pointed at you, because the other rewards are so much stronger. the loyalty thing especially seems very powerful if you pull it off. could maybe cost 5 for how conditional it is but it's still extremely impactful and fogs don't really need to be pushed.
4/5Inquisitor Vosch Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (R)
Flash
When Inquisitor Vosch enters, target opponent exiles each nontoken creature they control in a face-down pile, shuffles that pile, then manifests those cards.
"Sinners retreat like rats scurrying from the light. So be it—the Church sees even where the sun does not."4/4
huh, yeah, I guess that is a fog. a non-token fog, which could be interesting as its own design but that's not the point here. it does feel a bit less like the point is a
fog specifically, since it equally punishes creatures whether or not they attacked, but it still has the requisite effect of preventing damage for a turn. having to pay again to flip
everything back up while also dealing with a 4/4 and all the other creatures feels like a massive tempo shift, akin to a one-sided
upheaval (not quite as strong, since they can still use the 2/2s, but also you get a 4/4.) I'd at least say "attacking creatures" but even then I think it's pretty pushed.
3/5that's so many cards. especially if there's any blocks, this is easily like 6-10 cards each. which, like, is theoretically balanced since it's symmetric, but it's also a huge shift in the flow of the game. I'm also not sure I see this as blue: it draws a bunch of cards, but that doesn't really do much to justify the fog part. maybe if it was
it'd feel better. also I'd do one card per source, not per point of damage. flavor's great, though, and I think with those changes it'd be a solid card.
2/5Aurelia's Leadership InstantPrevent all damage that would be dealt by creatures you don't control this turn.
Whenever a creature you control would deal combat damage this turn, it deals twice that much damage instead.
this confirms the thing I said to Tekk, in that it's basically the same idea but in a way that feels much more justified in costing 6. love tying it to Aurelia, and the impact really does feel justified for a 6-mana fog. I especially like how it's stronger if you're on the attack, which is a nice red touch on an effect that typically wants to be used defensively. nice work.
5/5Avatar of Peace Creature - Avatar (M)
Flash
When this creature enters during combat, end the combat phase.
Each player skips their combat phase each turn.
0/7
reminiscent of
blazing archon. I might cost it at 6 'cause of how annoying it is if you don't happen to have immediate removal, but it also doesn't have any protection, so not necessarily a huge issue. might be fun as a sideboard option in control decks so your aggro opponent can't board out all their removal. I like ending the combat phase instead of preventing damage. 7 toughness is a lot, and might make this a hard lock for RDW, but RDW should be able to kill you in time anyway.
4/5Dazzling AngelCreature - Angel
Flash
Flying, vigilance
When Dazzling Angel enters, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt by tapped creatures this turn.
Her opponents either see the error of their ways, or they don't see at all.5/4
interesting twist on the
endure model. only works on defense, and the occasional vigilance dude can get through, but the body's strong enough on its own that it hardly matters. flavor's good, card is impactful, and the numbers feel about right to be frustrating without being broken.
4/5surprisingly solid round! not an inordinate number of 5/5s, but quite a few 4s. anyway, for me I think the winner's gonna have to be
Useless! congrats, nominating now, next round is up already so go join that.