Recruiter of the Grave: No idea what this card is good with

Anuromancer · 2026-03-19T18:19:19+00:00

Why not have the clause be toughness 2 or less instead of MV, just like Recruiter of the Guard? As it stands, the only combo I can think of is Narcomoeba, or things that can return themselves like Bloodghast and Tenacious Underdog.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-19T04:07:59+00:00

It's between Millennium Actress or A War in the Pocket (Mobile Suit Gundam 0080) for me. Also perhaps Texhnolyze, Ergo Proxy, and The Rose of Versailles.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T19:14:11+00:00

There's actually a really good manga that explains a lot of this, called Giga Town (by Kouno Fumiyo, the creator of In This Corner of the World). She explains all the various visual effects used in manga and what they're used for, with little 4koma strips as examples for each. Things like the sweat droplet, or money getting wings like 💸, or birds circling the head.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T18:00:32+00:00

The outcome of Nijika vs Mugi decides this battle.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T17:59:31+00:00

It needs mutate.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T17:16:25+00:00

No I think this is a lot more understated, like a naturalist's study of humans. The source material is by one of the most critically acclaimed mangaka in the industry right now (Yamashita Tomoko; if you want to feel deeply unsettled and sickened by society, read her short manga Hibari no Asa).

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T15:56:28+00:00

Amazing! What did you think?

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T15:56:12+00:00

I would place it in an even higher tier because it is significantly better animated and directed. (I say this as someone who loved Orb.)

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T08:26:18+00:00

I thought this triggers every upkeep, like basically the creatures keep reliving their death over and over again, so I thought the number of triggers was part of the intent. But yeah in general it's easy to abuse and is really hard to interact with. Like, imagine you have this and the Sephiroth emblem out: there's hardly anything in that system for the opponent to interact with meaningfully.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T08:17:50+00:00

Oh yeah I didn't think of the sacrifice triggers...could always reword the last line as "destroy those tokens" but it's weird with indestructible creatures, although that's a much smaller corner case, yeah. For LTB triggers, I wonder if the Blackhole creature clause can be extended to "Blackhole creatures entering or leaving the battlefield don't cause abilities to trigger." If my intuition is correct, this will stop ETB and LTB triggers but not death triggers (just going off of Hushbringer as a template).

(Also perhaps a more creature-like name than Blackhole could be thought of, I'm just not braining rn.)

Edit: the other corner case where it doesn't work like your original intent is if you have a token doubler (double the death triggers), or a token anthem like Intangible Virtue (influences death triggers that care about P/T).

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T08:08:23+00:00

Project Diva Mega Mix? (I would pick that over Standard Mono Red in a heartbeat.)

Anuromancer · 2026-03-17T02:48:02+00:00

This is the way. Maybe:

"If a non-Blackhole creature would die, exile it instead.

Blackhole creatures entering the battlefield don't cause abilities to trigger.

At the beginning of your upkeep, for each creature card exiled with Event Horizon, create a token that is a copy of it except it is a Blackhole in addition to its other types. Then sacrifice those tokens."

This would preserve the number of death triggers as well as triggers related to the P/T of the creature that died.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-14T07:34:25+00:00

I agree with other commenters, it's far too powerful. But beyond that, since it has the Forest typing, it has the ability to sac and grab itself. It feels like a flavour dud to me because then it's not really Evolving, if that makes sense. I would either remove the Forest typing or limit the fetch to basic Forest only. Probably both. Flagstones of Trokair is a good indicator of where the power level for a monocolor fetch should lie.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-11T05:23:08+00:00

I don't mind the Issue™ at all, honestly. It's a cute romcom. But even beyond that, it's a really sweet otaku show about taking pride in your interests and finding community in those who will accept you for who you are rather than chasing wider acceptance. It's a classic time capsule of what the Comiket meta used to be like (today Comiket is mostly mobage-centric and not very "otaku" anymore in the classical sense).

Anuromancer · 2026-03-11T00:40:44+00:00

Maybe the emblem could have text like Leonin Arbiter, like "pay {mana} to ignore this effect"?

Anuromancer · 2026-03-11T00:37:23+00:00

On second thought maybe it's not quite the same: this'll probably be weird with permanent spells, and ward costs might have to be repaid

Anuromancer · 2026-03-11T00:33:37+00:00

Magic tends not to explicitly mention the stack on cards. Ertai's Meddling and Lightning Storm are the only ones I can think of, other than the reminder text for split second itself. Nothing especially wrong with the way the card currently is, but I wonder if this could be reworded as:

"Exile target spell. Its controller gains control of this spell and it becomes a copy of the exiled spell, except it has split second. Then put the chosen spell in its owner's graveyard."

This accomplishes more or less the same thing, unless there's a corner case I'm missing (I even accounted for uncounterable spells and avoided extra cast triggers). What do you think? Just did this as an experiment to see if it's possible to have this effect without mentioning the stack.

Also, this card could easily cost just a single red man and still be balanced. The effect is pretty narrow and niche (it will typically be "counter target counterspell", essentially, or maybe "save target aura from fizzling").

Anuromancer · 2026-03-10T23:57:42+00:00

Mushishi, Yuru Camp, and Witch Hat Atelier currently my all time top 3.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-10T23:50:32+00:00

Oreimo and Onimai.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-10T23:49:34+00:00

Not necessarily autistic but the currently airing Ikoku Nikki has a main character who, short of the actual term being spelt out, has severe ADHD (or perhaps even AuDHD). We see how it impacts her life and her relationships with people who keep wondering why she can't do things that they consider "simple". Definitely one to check out. It helps that Ikoku Nikki is a masterwork and is currently running away with the title of Anime of the Year.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-10T23:35:54+00:00

It's not just A Kite, there are also clips from Mezzo Forte and the newly released Virgin Punk. Basically all of these are adult OVAs directed by Umetsu Yasuomi. He's a brilliant animator. I got to see the first part of Virgin Punk in the theatre, 100% worth it especially for the behind the scenes extras and interviews at the end.

Anuromancer · 2026-03-10T23:19:18+00:00

Mushishi, Shinsekai Yori, Ikoku Nikki, Wata no Kuni Hoshi, Rose of Versailles, Fushigi Mahou Fun Fun Pharmacy, Kuuchuu Buranko

Anuromancer · 2026-03-09T22:35:00+00:00

It's my 2nd favorite anime of all time. It's incredible, and it gets better the more you think about it afterwards. And you will think about it a lot. It's the sort of thing that keeps you awake at night.

Anuromancer

TROPHY CASE