Archaeology for fun and profit.

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Krishnath
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Post by Krishnath » 4 years ago

Shortly after the release of Ixalan, I had the idea of lands that transformed into artifacts, and realized I needed a land type to give them cohesion. This led me to think, what would drive someone to delve into an area in search of treasure, which lead me to thinking of Indiana Jones, which led to Archaeology, which meant that calling the lands "Ruins" was the logical next step. I created a cycle of five lands that I present to you here.

Collapsed Chapel
Land - Ruin (Uncommon)
Collapsed Chapel enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add W
GU, T: Transform Collapsed Chapel. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Sacred Reliquary
Artifact (Uncommon)
T: Add GWU

Flooded Temple
Land - Ruin (Uncommon)
Flooded Temple enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add U
WB, T: Transform Flooded Temple. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Pillar of Dagon
Artifact (Uncommon)
T: Add WUB

Jungle Ruins
Land - Ruin (Uncommon)
Jungle Ruins enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add G
RW, T: Transform Jungle Ruins. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Giant Head
Artifact (Uncommon)
T: Add RGW

Shattered Redoubt
Land - Ruin (Uncommon)
Shattered Redoubt enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add R
BG, T: Transform Shattered Redoubt. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Hidden Armory
Artifact (Uncommon)
T: Add BRG.

Sunken Tower
Land - Ruin (Uncommon)
Sunken Tower enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add B
UR, T: Transform Sunken Tower. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Necromancer's Grimoire
Artifact (Uncommon)
T: Add UBR

Of course, you can't have ruins without someone who goes looking for them, so...

Adventure Archaeologist
2G
Creature - Human Ally (Uncommon)
When Adventure Archaeologist enters the battlefield you may search your library for a Ruin card and reveal it. If you do, shuffle your library, then put the revealed card back on top of it.
2/2

And of course...

Archaeologist's Whip
3
Artifact - Equipment (Rare)
Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has first strike, vigilance, and hexproof from artifacts.
Equip Ally 1
Equip 3
SPOILER
Show
Hide
Previous version gave "Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each noncreature, nonplaneswalker transformed card you control and has first strike.", but that don't actually work within the rules of the game, currently, so...
And finally, just for fun, a legendary land that turns into something nasty...

Antediluvian Vault
Legendary Land - Ruin (Mythic)
Antediluvian Vault enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add C.
T, Sacrifice any number of creatures with total power 12 or more: Exile Antediluvian Vault, then return it to the battlefield transformed. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Awakened Dreadnought
Artifact Creature - Dreadnought (Mythic)
Indestructible, trample
12/12

As always, Comments, Critiques, and Constructive Criticism is welcomed. Also, if anyone knows how to parse DFC cards so they look good in plaintext, I'd appreciate any help I can get.

Edit: Changed the transform ability to sorcery speed and added the uncommon ruins returning to play tapped.
Edit 2: Fixed templating issues and changed Archaeologists Whip, not really happy with it though. Maybe allow it to give a bonus for noncreature artifacts?
Last edited by Krishnath 4 years ago, edited 3 times in total.
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user_938036
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Post by user_938036 » 4 years ago

These are too strong. The choice to flip them should be an actual choice rather than "do I have these colors of mana. The simple fix is don't exile just transform. Maybe activate only as a sorcery.

Archeologist, it doesn't need to say "ruin land card" just "ruin card" subtypes aren't shared so ruins are only lands.

Whip, I'm still looking but I don't think transformed is a trait you can look for.

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

The Ruins are cool and all have great flavor but are indeed too strong; it seems like them entering untapped was just an oversight, maybe? Activate only as a sorcery is wise too imho.

I really like Antediluvian Vault, but considering how long I had a Phyrexian Dreadnought avvy, that's probably not surprising.
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Krishnath
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Post by Krishnath » 4 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
The Ruins are cool and all have great flavor but are indeed too strong; it seems like them entering untapped was just an oversight, maybe? Activate only as a sorcery is wise too imho.

I really like Antediluvian Vault, but considering how long I had a Phyrexian Dreadnought avvy, that's probably not surprising.
I thought they may be a bit to strong, so having them enter tapped after transformation seems like a good fix and probably as a sorcery. I'll go an edit them shortly. The earliest they can transform (barring any insane mana acceleration) is turn 3, as it does take up a land-drop itself.

As for Antediluvian Vault, it's pretty obvious what era of MTG is my favorite, and I keep finding ways to make homages to cards from the reserved list. And yes, Phyrexian Dreadnought is one of my favorite cards, and I saddened that they've never used the subtype on other creatures since.

Anyway, going to edit them now. I don't think I need the "come into play tapped" line for the vault though, as it does eat a lot of your creatures. Still changing it to sorcery speed though, as it gives consistency and won't really reduce the power of the card to much..
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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 4 years ago

Why do these exile to transform? The creatures that flip into planeswalkers did so, because that's an easy and flavorful hack to get loyalty counters on them. Here simply transforming seems like the correct choice. The Vault could just untap or not have the tap symbol in the mana cost.

For similar reasons the "noncreature, nonplaneswalker" condition on the whip is a little contrived. It also is a very bottom-up design and unfortunately does almost nothing that makes it feel like a whip in particular. Though explorer's Equipment liking discovery of Ixalan lands is nice.

Pop quiz: Is a card that transforms twice still transformed?

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spacemonaut
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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

I adore these. The flavour of ruins transforming into artifacts is wonderful. The Dreadnought reference is fantastic. I like the archeologist helping you find Ruins, too.

I agree Transformed is not something you can measure. It's not one of the game statuses (flipped and face down don't refer to what the transform mechanic does); transform is just an action you take. The whip should focus on doing something else that's whip-ish; focus on what the top-down design would need.

I agree it's safe to just straight-up transform those lands without exiling first. It'll also stay tapped as it transforms so that part's safe. We see the exile-then-return-transformed when (a) the front face is a creature or (b) the back face is a planeswalker, and neither is the case here.


Some feedback on templating —

Abilities cannot be "played", they only get activated or triggered. The standard templating here is: "Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery."

Antediluvian Vault: Costs in activated abilities have a standard order, with the most common components being ordered thus: mana, tap, pay life, discard, sacrifice. Also, we can/should write "with total power 12 or more" This means Antediluvian Vault should be written thus:
Current wrote:Sacrifice any number of creatures with a total power of 12 or more, T: Exile Antediluvian Vault, then return it to the battlefield transformed. Play this ability only if you can cast a sorcery.
Revised wrote:T, Sacrifice any number of creatures with total power 12 or more: Exile Antediluvian Vault, then return it to the battlefield transformed. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
----
Krishnath wrote:
4 years ago
As always, Comments, Critiques, and Constructive Criticism is welcomed. Also, if anyone knows how to parse DFC cards so they look good in plaintext, I'd appreciate any help I can get.
I'd just omit the hyphen beneath the card name and you'll be fine. The format you use is pretty much the standard, but the lone hyphens make it a bit less readable. Rolling in all the above changes plus adding full stops, we get:
Krishnath wrote:
4 years ago
Collapsed Chapel
Land - Ruin (Uncommon)
Collapsed Chapel enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add W.
GU, T: Transform Collapsed Chapel. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Sacred Reliquary
Artifact (Uncommon)
T: Add GWU.

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Krishnath
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Post by Krishnath » 4 years ago

spacemonaut wrote:
4 years ago
I adore these. The flavour of ruins transforming into artifacts is wonderful. The Dreadnought reference is fantastic. I like the archeologist helping you find Ruins, too.

I agree Transformed is not something you can measure. It's not one of the game statuses (flipped and face down don't refer to what the transform mechanic does); transform is just an action you take. The whip should focus on doing something else that's whip-ish; focus on what the top-down design would need.

I agree it's safe to just straight-up transform those lands without exiling first. It'll also stay tapped as it transforms so that part's safe. We see the exile-then-return-transformed when (a) the front face is a creature or (b) the back face is a planeswalker, and neither is the case here.


Some feedback on templating —

Abilities cannot be "played", they only get activated or triggered. The standard templating here is: "Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery."

Antediluvian Vault: Costs in activated abilities have a standard order, with the most common components being ordered thus: mana, tap, pay life, discard, sacrifice. Also, we can/should write "with total power 12 or more" This means Antediluvian Vault should be written thus:
Current wrote:Sacrifice any number of creatures with a total power of 12 or more, T: Exile Antediluvian Vault, then return it to the battlefield transformed. Play this ability only if you can cast a sorcery.
Revised wrote:T, Sacrifice any number of creatures with total power 12 or more: Exile Antediluvian Vault, then return it to the battlefield transformed. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
----
Krishnath wrote:
4 years ago
As always, Comments, Critiques, and Constructive Criticism is welcomed. Also, if anyone knows how to parse DFC cards so they look good in plaintext, I'd appreciate any help I can get.
I'd just omit the hyphen beneath the card name and you'll be fine. The format you use is pretty much the standard, but the lone hyphens make it a bit less readable. Rolling in all the above changes plus adding full stops, we get:
Krishnath wrote:
4 years ago
Collapsed Chapel
Land - Ruin (Uncommon)
Collapsed Chapel enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add W.
GU, T: Transform Collapsed Chapel. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
//
Sacred Reliquary
Artifact (Uncommon)
T: Add GWU.
Awesome, thanks. I'll edit them, again. :D
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