[DRT] Drunwick: Rising Tides "Previews"

[jamblock]

I sprinted my way through a custom set themed around ancient horrors emerging from the depths after a seal is broken, and the forces on land trying to keep them at bay and seal them back up again. It doesn't really have one overarching theme as it's a bit more top-down, but it does have draft archetypes. I'll post a few cards here each day or so, and if anyone wants to comment, that would be great. Thanks! I'll start with the mechanics and a mythic.

Omen Tokens (WUBRG)

Skyfield Drake 1UR
Creature - Drake (U)
Flying, first strike
Skyfield Drake's power is equal to the number of cards you've scried this turn.
Whenever Skyfield Drake attacks, create an Omen token. (It's an artifact with "1, T, Sacrifice this artifact: Scry 1.")
*/4

Submerge (UB)

Whiskerfin Breeder 3BB
Creature - Rat Fish Horror (U)
Menace
When Whiskerfin Breeder enters the battlefield, submerge twice. (To submerge, put a sunken counter on target land. It's submerged as long as it has it. It gains "Whenever this becomes tapped, mill a card for each sunken counter on it" unless it already has that ability.)
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may create a 1/1 black Rat Fish creature token.
3/3

Brace (RGW)

Colossal Responder 4R
Creature - Giant (C)
Brace 2R (Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may pay 2R. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, target creature can't block until its controller's next turn.
4/4

And the mythic:

Engulf the World 3UU
Enchantment (MR)
When Engulf the World enters the battlefield, exile each other permanent named Engulf the World, then return all other nonland permanents to their owners' hands.
Whenever you cast a spell, create a 1/1 blue Tentacle creature token.

[void_nothing]

Good flavor theme!

Skyfield Drake - This looks very weak for a signpost uncommon. Maybe start as a 0/1 but with "Whenever you scry, put that many +1/+1 counters..." - past Drakes along these lines don't diminish every turn.

Whiskerfin Breeder - The new submerge is much better executed mechanically but the reminder text is very clunky. Since it is reminder text and not rules text you can say, instead of the last sentence, "Whenever a submerged land becomes tapped, its controller mills" etc.

Colossal Responder - This card is theoretically fine but I don't know if I like a whole mechanic/theme that punishes people for doing things. The more action there is in the game, the worse off your opponents are - is that a play pattern that should be incentivized? I'm not sure. The Werewolf transformation ability is the reverse of this for a good reason imho.

Engulf the World - What's with the pseudolegendary clause in the ETB ability? That's frankly bizarre to me; legendary would leave you with just one Engulf anyway once you controlled a second, because state-based actions are checked before the triggered ability would resolve. The bounce is fairly costed and I don't know if the token generation is too pushed or not.

[spacemonaut]

I'm 100% seconding @void_nothing's critiques to the letter.

I have some further commentary on Colossal Responder:

We already have Taurean Mauler and Managorger Hydra. Just ... make some of those? And yeah, not an entire mechanic seeded across a great many cards. 2R for a +1/+1 counter is usually not going to be worth it anyway; it's basically just a mana sink for when I have literally nothing better to do.

I think I'd rather see Colossal Responder say "Whenever you cast a spell" so that I can burn one thing and make another thing unable to block. That way, I get to control the thing and work for the thing and feel good about earning the combat damage I deal, rather than just passively punishing my opponent for playing the game. That's where I'm at, at least, but well, it is where I'm at, so I figured I should speak up. Like void_nothing comments, this encourages more action (I should be trying to cast spells!) rather than less.

[void_nothing]

Here's an idea for brace:

"This creature braces as it attacks if you've cast a spell this turn and braces as it blocks if the attacking player hasn't cast a spell this turn."

[dangerousdice]

engulf the world, flavorwise, sounds like it would submerge all lands, or something along those lines.