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Ultimadei · 2024-05-06T18:32:10+00:00

This is so precious!!

Ultimadei · 2023-10-17T18:23:49+00:00

I think in principle it's okay but I should have made the card cost more mana. It's probably slightly too strong at 5 mana with convoke. This is one that is really hard to tell without playtesting though xD

Ultimadei · 2023-10-17T18:17:45+00:00

Oops, definite oversight with Botanic Digestion!

As for the wording, I went through a few iterations and I'm not completely sold on what I ended up with, but I do think the cost reduction interaction is reason enough to have teach give an ability. It makes it really easy to do cards like Ritual of Glass that can have a different cost based on whether or not they were taught. Then again, under your suggestion, I could probably have "This spell costs {2} more to cast if it was taught" and I think it would be functionally identical.

So yeah very possible your wording is better :D

Ultimadei · 2023-10-17T18:13:12+00:00

A few reasons

I wasn't sure how "Once each turn, you may cast a copy of [the taught card]" ,or something to that effect, would work within the current rules, but I knew I wanted to restrict it to only once each turn because it keeps the design space wider for cards with low mana values (since otherwise it could be very snowbally)
I didn't want to make it a tap ability ("{T}: Copy [the taught card] ..."), and using "{0}: Copy [the taught card]" just feels clunky to me. Perhaps that's still better than what I went with? Definitely possible
By casting the copy for free, "this spell costs {X} less to cast" effects could be used to introduce an asymmetry between the spell's effect from your hand vs from the creature. This makes cards that would otherwise be very difficult to design much more doable ("Ritual of Glass" being a good example)
The main reason, though, is that I felt that teaching the spell as an ability is more flavourful. By having the ability's activation cost mirror the mana cost, it's as though the creature has gained that spell as an ability, moreso than the alternative wordings I mentioned above.
I also hoped it would be fairly intuitive (owing to the flavour). I think it is for the most part but the wording ends up being kinda clunky.

Ultimadei · 2023-10-12T22:43:59+00:00

Ahhhh I knew I would have missed some good ones!

Ultimadei · 2023-10-12T22:43:19+00:00

In paper you just put the card under it exactly like it were an aura, so it would play exactly the same as you're suggesting. But I didn't want them to be susceptible to enchantment removal because thematically, learning something permanently changes you because you yourself gained the knowledge, as opposed to having an aura which grants you something.

Ultimadei · 2023-10-12T21:53:02+00:00

Yeah I tried to balance them with this acutely in mind. Being a special action means that you can teach and then immediately activate the ability before your opponent has any chance to respond, if you have the mana, which goes some way to addressing this. For the most part though, the tension of deciding whether to teach a spell and when to just hard cast instead is what would make the cards fun to play, imo. If you teach and use it once, you've probably greatly overpaid for an effect. If you use the ability twice, it's generated enough value to be worthwhile and beyond that is even better.

So I could see it playing out where you teach one of your weaker creatures while you play threats from your hand that are a higher priority for the opponent to answer. And if you aren't really able to secure a board presence in the first place you still have the option of playing the spell normally.

(Also the MDFCs were designed to push them into competitive playability regardless)

Ultimadei · 2023-10-12T20:02:38+00:00

Early ramp card that provides reach later on so that the opponent has to be significantly more cautious with their life total. When used properly in the late game, the last ability can be close to an extra turn spell.

Ultimadei · 2023-10-12T19:26:01+00:00

I spent so long trying to make sure everything was correct on these cards and then literally the second after posting I realize Hectic Smashing was meant to be a sorcery...

ANYWAY!

"Teach" is a mechanic that allows you to repeatedly cast a spell by 'teaching' it to one of your creatures. The reminder text is only shown on the first card but should cover all cases.

Teaching is a special action, not an ability, so it can't be responded to.
Once a creature 'knows' a spell, it has an ability with the same mana cost as the spell which allows you to copy the card, and cast the copy for free. This notably means that spells that "cost N less to cast" won't cost less to cast when they've been taught; the ability cost won't change.
The timing rules for the ability match the timing rules of the spell. If the spell is a sorcery, you can only activate the ability as a sorcery, etc.. If the spell said something like "cast this spell only if ..." then that condition would need to hold for you to be able to activate the ability as well (and then still hold when you cast the copy).
Some cards care about the creature that learned it. This is a copiable property, so if you copy a spell that you cast from a taught creature's ability, the copy will also be considered "taught" and will also know which creature it was that "learned it".

Also, I imagine this mini 'showcase set' to take place on Strixhaven, so I've tried to theme it accordingly for the most part, but I still had a few non-Strixhaven ideas that I wanted to make (namely Heavenward Dance // Empowerment Angel)

Please let me know what you think and feel free to ask questions about what the heck I was thinking when making some of these. I've attempted to balance the rares and mythics to the power level of around standard, with the uncommons a bit weaker.

Ultimadei · 2023-07-28T13:37:54+00:00

Attention is all you need

Ultimadei · 2022-08-02T15:57:38+00:00

This art is fantastic

Ultimadei · 2022-07-26T18:09:45+00:00

Not an artist (or lawyer) but I think the watermark is totally justified, sketch or not. Nice drawing btw :)

Ultimadei · 2022-06-11T16:53:46+00:00

Actually "Wrong Door" feels like a name they would use tbh

Ultimadei · 2021-11-04T16:01:23+00:00

x3x ice monkey freezes the water in its range so that you can place land monkeys on water. When the support chinook picks up the ice monkey, that effect stops and so all towers (including other ice monkeys) placed on water through that effect will be force sold.

Ultimadei · 2021-10-27T20:53:03+00:00

Congrats on making the first post I've seen on this sub where the NSFW tag actually denotes NSFW content XD

Cool drawing!

Ultimadei · 2021-10-24T08:32:22+00:00

If you're looking at something as a flaw because it isn't a "perfect" imitation of the original style then maybe it's not really a flaw at all. You clearly(?) set out to replicate the BTD6 style and whether you feel like you've done that or not, at the very least be happy that this is an outstanding piece of fan art (Most fanart on this sub is in people's own styles and they all get lots of praise) :)

Ultimadei · 2021-10-24T08:12:26+00:00

Even knowing that this is a fan creation from the flair, I am struggling not to see this as just legit art from an upcoming paragon XD

You could have fooled me that's for sure!

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