templating help for MCC

Stankweed Imp
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Post by Stankweed Imp » 4 years ago

Tempt The Dead
Enchantment (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep choose a creature card from your graveyard and return it to the battlefield with a servitude counter on it. That creature gains haste, exile it if would leave play.

At the beginning of your end step flip a coin for each creature you control with a servitude counter. If you lose exile that creature.
The choice is servitude or eternal rest.

Defensive Bloom
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of each opponent's declare blockers step, if a creature attacked this turn, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card put it onto the battlefield, then flip a coin. if you win the flip that land becomes a 5/5 creature until end of turn. It's still a land.

...........................................................................................................................
Just wondering if the break is in the right place on tempt the dead? I used the templating on unearth to exile it specifically so it can be flickered (like sedris, the traitor king which I love). But i'm not sure if the clause is in the right place on the text.

Also for defensive bloom i'm aware there is no "beginning of the declare blockers step" on any modern magic cards so how do I deal with this trigger? I only want it to trigger once on an attack but most mtg cards are triggering per attacking creature.

Deadline for the MCC is tmrw but any help appreciated beyond that too as it's not just for the competition. Cheers.

user_938036
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Post by user_938036 » 4 years ago

Because you are writing rules text rather than reminder text you have to be more explicit and use "If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else."

Why is this triggering in the declare blockers step? It seems like a lot of hassle just to make it so you can't block with your potential creature. Either way what you want to say is "if one or more creatures attacked..." and "at the beggining of each opponent's declare blockers step" functions fine.

Stankweed Imp
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Post by Stankweed Imp » 4 years ago

user_938036 wrote:
4 years ago
Because you are writing rules text rather than reminder text you have to be more explicit and use "If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else."

Why is this triggering in the declare blockers step? It seems like a lot of hassle just to make it so you can't block with your potential creature. Either way what you want to say is "if one or more creatures attacked..." and "at the beginning of each opponent's declare blockers step" functions fine.
Thanks for your help.

I really like the uniqueness of kazuul, tyrant of the cliffs and I feel like it's largely unexplored design space. I like having something that punishes attacks that isn't as passive as ghostly prison.

"If one or more" is exactly what I needed thanks. Still got mixed feelings about the trigger at the beginning of the blockers step. I agree it looks like a lot of effort for what it does.

Thanks for the correction on the black card- that would have cost me points in the MCC and now I know how it should be formatted for the future. Cheers.

Is this formatted ok now or does it need spaces?

Tempt The Dead
enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your upkeep choose a creature card from your graveyard and return it to the battlefield with a servitude counter on it. That creature gains haste. If that creature would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else.
At the beginning of your end step flip a coin for each creature you control with a servitude counter. Exile each creature whose coin comes up tails.
The choice is servitude or eternal rest.

user_938036
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Post by user_938036 » 4 years ago

Based on fighting chance it should be "At the beggining of your end step, for each creature you control with a servitude counter, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, exile that creature."

Your card functions fundamentally different from Kazuul, your land can't block because it isn't in play until the declare blockers step which is after you declare blockers. Kazuul has a fairly simple attack trigger with a unique ability. If you want to mimic it you just use "Whenever one or more creature an opponent controls attacks, if you're the defending player..."

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

As @user_938036 said, Defensive Bloom currently doesn't function correctly. At the start of the declare blockers step, blockers are declared as a turn-based action, before anyone gets priority, and before any 'at the beginning of the declare blockers step' triggers. If you want a creature to be available as a blocker, you'll need for it to come in during the declare attackers step at the latest.

If you wanted, you could also create a blocking creature directly, similar to Flash Foliage.

"Whenever one or more creatures an opponent controls attacks and isn't blocked, reveal the top card of your library. If it is a land card, put it onto the battlefield, then flip a coin. If you win the flip, it becomes a 5/5 creature and blocks one of those creatures. It's still a land."

Also as a side note, the conditional reveal land → flip coin reads as extremely inconsistent - you're layering RNG. I'd probably cut the coin flip entirely, since just having a land on top should already be sufficient randomization (see Lost in the Woods).

Stankweed Imp
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Post by Stankweed Imp » 4 years ago

user_938036 wrote:
4 years ago
Based on fighting chance it should be "At the beggining of your end step, for each creature you control with a servitude counter, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, exile that creature."

Your card functions fundamentally different from Kazuul, your land can't block because it isn't in play until the declare blockers step which is after you declare blockers. Kazuul has a fairly simple attack trigger with a unique ability. If you want to mimic it you just use "Whenever one or more creature an opponent controls attacks, if you're the defending player..."
I used the wording on Rakdos, the showstopper. It was the closest thing I could find. Is it better to use the wording from fighting chance?

Yes that's the trigger I needed so the creatures can block that turn. Nice one!
Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
As user_938036 said, Defensive Bloom currently doesn't function correctly. At the start of the declare blockers step, blockers are declared as a turn-based action, before anyone gets priority, and before any 'at the beginning of the declare blockers step' triggers. If you want a creature to be available as a blocker, you'll need for it to come in during the declare attackers step at the latest.

If you wanted, you could also create a blocking creature directly, similar to Flash Foliage.

"Whenever one or more creatures an opponent controls attacks and isn't blocked, reveal the top card of your library. If it is a land card, put it onto the battlefield, then flip a coin. If you win the flip, it becomes a 5/5 creature and blocks one of those creatures. It's still a land."

Also as a side note, the conditional reveal land → flip coin reads as extremely inconsistent - you're layering RNG. I'd probably cut the coin flip entirely, since just having a land on top should already be sufficient randomization (see Lost in the Woods).
Nice that gives me plenty of choices on direction. Thanks.

Agreed on the coin flipping- i'll take that clause out if I use the card in the future but for the MCC design thread it's one of the conditions that the card design includes flipping a coin.

user_938036
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Post by user_938036 » 4 years ago

On Rakdos V Fighting Chance. I think the difference is looking at the result of the coin flip vs looking for a win or a loss. I think both are valid options but would go with the win/lose for more backwards compatibility.

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