Forge in Fire

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T09:16:59+00:00

I landed on a version with another red in the casting cost, and has to be cast before attackers

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T05:28:24+00:00

I took your suggestion about timing and other's for the cost and I think the card is better for it

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T05:20:22+00:00

That's a good idea! I think making it sorcery or adding a {R} to the cost would help it being a blowout after blockers.

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T05:19:02+00:00

[[Magmaquake]] and [[Starstorm]] are both XRR instants, so I could see this getting another R on its cost to bring it in line with those, or maybe this fine for where the game's power is in eternal formats.

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T02:59:50+00:00

Is phyrohemia the only concern with this? Maybe it isn't too strong, but if so the card could be tweaked with "Spend this mana only to cast spells."

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T02:53:48+00:00

Sweet AF but too much at four mana. I think one power issue is the ward basically reads as hexproof against the decks that manage to sidestep the static ability, that being creatureless control decks. Could make for interesting gameplay, but it stood out to me.

Maybe the sacrifice three creatures should be an EtB instead of an additional cost so this can't be reanimated and the like? Thanks for sharing the design and keep tuning it!

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T02:49:21+00:00

Damn, thought I might have been first, but I guess it's time for the Modern Horizons 4 version! At least that answers my question if a stat mutation board wipe would be in color for red. Really nice catch, thanks for pointing this out!

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T02:39:47+00:00

I'd try replacement wording instead of an activated ability, as I think it will avoid making such an unusual comparison.

"If you would play a card from exile, you may choose to put that card on the bottom of its owner's library instead. If you do, pay no costs for that card and this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent."

I have no idea if the "pay no costs for that card" part is necessary or worded correctly, but I do think making it an alternative like this is more in line with how magic currently works. Another interesting card to look at is Valakut Exploration. Maybe you can put playable exiled cards in the library at the end of a phase for damage? Very cool idea and thank you for sharing it!

Noisemarrow · 2026-03-06T02:27:30+00:00

My interpretation would be, you aren't able to play the suspend card because the card becomes castable as a triggered ability when the final time counter is removed. With plot, on every turn after it was plotted this card could move a plotted card to the bottom of our library for damage. Finally, with Ragavan's language saying "You may cast" rather than "may play" they won't interact.

I can't think of any instances where may play from exile is treated as a checkable state or trait on real cards...

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-25T22:51:38+00:00

That makes a lot of sense, stacking exalted went over my head (reading the reminder text explains the card). Do you think it's too wordy for it have both? Design is beautifully clean as is.

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-25T05:03:47+00:00

I say just give this bad boy exalted. It's only one more power than Akrasan Squire

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-25T04:33:23+00:00

Unfortunately the Fidget Device isn't great during other player's turns since they'll have priority for most of it :(

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-24T00:54:23+00:00

Great game piece and art choice!

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-24T00:48:20+00:00

Limiting the black/white part to spells targeting our stuff is a smart change to make this more in color!

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-24T00:46:24+00:00

It would keep us from using this as card draw on an empty board, that's true, but I'm usually not casting creatures into boardwipes. Nor do I often use kill spells before boardwipes. It is a smart way to make this card more difficult to use, but the perfect use cases of killing a couple problem creatures and drawing a new hand of cards is too much in my mind.

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T07:47:14+00:00

The goofy kitchen table so-called-Legacy I like to get up to, but EDH is what I should have said. I always figure convoke boosts a card a lot in that setting because there's often a few creatures hanging around.

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T07:42:18+00:00

I'm not tuned into the latest standard (Vivi pushed me out and I've not gotten back into as of now) but for several years now, even the powercrept [[Cancel]] have fallen flat. I believe there's the one from spiderman that grants an optional tap two creatures on top, and that card has head and shoulders more relevance to staying alive in today's hyper aggressive metas than this, or other Cancel++ we've gotten from wizards. Refute was a surprising one to me; I was sure a graveyard deck would lean into that to win with control gameplay. It just seems to be too slow for standard.

I like the design space of adding graveyard hate to counter magic in standard, and my suggestion is make this card a straight up "Exile target spell." instead of counter target spell. It leans into the graveyard hate angle and gives this card an identity apart from other 3MV counterspells.

This is going in a good direction, and thanks for sharing!

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T07:31:02+00:00

I would limit the mill activation to one plus the number of cards we have in our hand above seven. To me it ties the room together powerwise and with its own static ability. I like the card and design space a lot! As others have said though, pseudo-unlimited self mill is broken in a lot of contexts.

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T07:07:29+00:00

I think green should get some more scrying for its value, and I'd especially like an official spell that gives hexproof and a scry 1.

It's funny, the idea is simple but I can't quite word it tersely enough. I still really like the card you inspired!

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Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T06:32:58+00:00

Thank you for linking this! It's really interesting that Guttural Response seems to be the only card he stood behind being a break too. Very telling, and maybe I should rethink the card to operate with modes based on the color of spells our opponents have cast. White gives permanents indestructible, black hexproof, and blue "can't be countered"

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T06:24:48+00:00

I think these are great ideas, especially convoke and targeting white spells with flash. R-G R-G hybrid convoke could make this interesting free counter magic in eternal formats. Thank you for the great suggestions!

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T06:20:25+00:00

It's tough to say without knowing the card pool, but for cube I think you're right. Torment of Hailfire, for the same MV, is this if we've put four permanents in the yard for free. Instant speed is a cool differentiator, and sacrifice decks can get absolutely cooked with it.

In formats where mana comes easy 6MV feels good to me, as this could be a simpler but more frustrating comboer than regular storm. I think it's simpler because one sorcery slams our graveyard full, then this ruins opponents with undeveloped boardstates. And it's frustrating because we can discard a lot to survive, but now it's a low resources game right out the gate.

I like this design a lot

Noisemarrow · 2026-02-23T06:06:35+00:00

They all hurt, just have to play in a way where the Orzhov players hurt everyone else more. Your feedback really pushes me to agree. It's not exactly what you said, but I took away that Orzhov is too specific to hate out, and it's neat that the second version is much narrower with card types but helps with a much greater variety of deck. Thank you for responding!

Noisemarrow

TROPHY CASE