Keyword Kombinator

[ApocalypseChive]

1. Post a short critique of the preceding card.
2. Mash together the keyword in the post before you and the post before that one. Not use both of them, literally mash them together into one new keyword. Post a card with this new keyword.
3. Post one new keyword for the next challenge.

So imagine that the preceding keywords were flashback, then overload. I would critique the last card and then post this.

Brilliant Stratagem RW
Instant (R)
Goad target creature, then detain any number of goaded creatures. (Until your next turn, goaded creatures attack each combat if able and attack a player other than you if able, while detained creatures can't attack or block and their activated abilities can't be activated.)
Backload 4RW (You may cast this spell from your graveyard. When you do, change its text by replacing "target" with "each." Then exile it.)

Next keyword: cipher (use overload and cipher for this one)

[void_nothing]

Well that feels nothing if not Commander exclusive card. Backload is a strange and awkward sounding name; I myself will generally not use portmanteau names for keywords in my own designs. The use of the two keyword actions is frankly brilliant in concert to make a Master Warcraft variant, kudos for the main effect. Goading your own creatures would ordinarily have no effect but as you could use this on your own turn to stop blockers, it's less ideal; if you're paying six mana for full control of combat you should have full control, and not be forced to either attack with or detain your own guys.

Very nice use of "while" in that reminder text btw.

Overload + cipher

Batter with Waves 3U
Sorcery (U)
Put target creature on top of its owner's library.
Spellswing 4UUU (If you cast this spell for its spellswing cost, whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player this turn, copy this card and you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.)

Next: Cipher + devour

[ApocalypseChive]

Yeah the goad on your own creatures is weird but I tried to pare it down as much as possible. Unfortunately I don't know of a template precedent for "target creature attacks or blocks as you choose".
It seems like there is a little confusion on spellswing regarding whether you get one copy and an additional copy for each saboteur trigger, which I believe is the case, but maybe could be clearer in reminder text. Depending on what colors you want to put it in, black and red at least feel like they could offer a cheaper rate by giving up on the definite copy but gambling on creatures getting through. This implementation has some interesting play in giving late-game tempo closeout value to your small evasive creatures.

Spellfrill Lizard 4G
Creature - Lizard Mutant (U)
Catalyst 1 - (As this enters the battlefield, you may exile any number of instant and/or sorcery cards from your graveyard. This creature enters the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it.)
Spellfrill Lizard has hexproof from each color of cards exiled with it.
2/2

Next: monstrous (devour + monstrous)

[Krishnath]

Ravenous Chimera
3RUG
Creature - Chimera (Rare)
Flying, Trample, Haste.
3RUG, T: Gorge 2. (If Ravenous Chimera isn't satiated, sacrifice any number of creatures, put two +1/+1 counters on Ravenous Chimera for each creature sacrificed, and it becomes satiated)
4/4

Next: Shadow (monstrous + shadow).

[Subject16]

Ashiok's Dreamrender 2BB
Enchantment Creature - Nightmare (Rare)
(This creature enters the battlefield immaterial. It can't block or be blocked except by immaterial creatures as long as it's immaterial.)
2BB, Discard X cards : Materialize X. (If this creature is immaterial, put X +1/+1 counters on this creature and it becomes material instead.)
2/2

Next: Landfall (Shadow + Landfall)

[Cardz5000]

Veteran Ranger

GG

Creature - Elf Scout

Vigilance (Attacking doesn't cause this creature to tap.)

Roving (This creature can't be blocked by creatures without roving unless the defending player didn't play a land on their last turn.)

2/2

Next: Landfall + Soulbond

[Morpic_Tide]

original version

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Forerunner Sphinx 4u
Creature - Sphinx
Flying
Bond Boon - When you tap your most recently played land for mana, draw a card.

4/5

Forerunner Sphinx 4u
Creature - Sphinx
Bond Boon (Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have this creature Pair with that land)
Whenever Forerunner Sphinx or the land it is paired with taps, draw a card
3/6

Next: Soulbond + Haunt

[ApocalypseChive]

Please remember to add a quick comment about the previous card!
[mention]Krishnath[/mention] Gorge is a pretty straightforward mashup of those abilities, I think requiring a tap makes it too weak though. I'm not sure if this needs to be something that can only be done once.
[mention]Subject16[/mention] This is cool, I think it would be fun to have a monstrous or renowned ability for shadow creatures that could turn their shadow off or on permanently, although it would work better as a combo using actual shadow for backward compatibility.
[mention]Cardz5000[/mention] The memory and the double negative and the "without roving" are a lot of complicated pieces. It also feels a bit odd to have evasion that punishes land drops in green.
[mention]Morpic_Tide[/mention] Missing p/t and I don't see too much soulbond in this. I'd much rather it bonded with a particular land, in fact I've designed cards like that before. I think it's also a more interesting choice if you either use the land to draw a card or get mana.

Torch Tosser 2R
Creature - Human Rogue (U)
Haste
Geistbond (When this creature dies, exile it haunting target creature you control.)
Whenever Torch Tosser or haunted creature attacks, that creature gets +3/+0 and gains trample until end of turn.
0/1

Next: Haunt + ninjutsu

[Morpic_Tide]

First, thanks for pointing out the missing P/T (used a sub-vanilla one, since it's high-cost, low-identity and a draw engine), second, the Soulbond inclusion is that it does non-mechanically "pair" with the land. Landfall is then tying it to the most recently played of the lands. A revision would probably explicitly use Pairs, making the creature unable to be targeted with Soulbond, then have the effect be specified separately, much like Soulbond does it, probably resting on tap effects.

So it'd be "Bond Boon (Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have this creature Pair with that land)", necessitating that some land be played after the creature, and this particular effect would be "Whenever Forerunner Sphinx or the land it is paired with taps, draw a card". And probably a 3/6 P/T on that version, making it safe-ish to attack with for the card draw and not very good for going face, and it'd make the effect actually do something between the 5-drop being cast and drawing a new land. Might as well go edit that in and stick the original in a spoiler...

The issue with Geistbond, as you suggest it, is that it just swaps the Soulbond pairing for a verbatim copy of Haunt. If it had the selection be frontloaded, where the target is chosen before death (possibly using Pairs), that'd be enough to alleviate my own issues.

As for mixing Haunt and Ninjutsu...

Abetting Shade 1b
Creature - Shade
Soulswap b (You may cast this card for its Soulswap cost when another creature dies. If you do, send this card to the graveyard instead of that creature, then exile it haunting that creature)
When Abetting Shade or the creature it haunts is sent to the graveyard, you may pay any amount of . If you do, target creature gains +1/+1 until end of turn for each payed.
1/1

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Another thought was something to do with reanimating the creature when the one it Haunts dies, the exact inverse of this and able to cycle like Ninjutsu does, as well as returning the targeted creature to hand like Ninjutsu instead of keeping it on the field, but I settled on using the Haunt relation.

Next: Ninjutsu + Morph

[RainyDay]

Review of Abetting Shade: I like the concept, but I'm not sure if the card works quite right. Will you even get the chance to use the second ability when you soulswap it, if it's getting exiled as part of the same ability? I think that's why all the haunt creatures trigger their effect on ETB, and just do the haunting part on their death. Also, the second ability doesn't specify that it's only when going to the yard from the battlefield, so is it intended to work from anywhere? Triggering on discard or mill would make it fairly powerful.

Ninjitsu + Morph

Dauthi Poisoner 3BB
Creature - Dauthi Assasin
Apparate 1BB (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. If this creature is attacking and unblocked, you may turn it face up for its Apparate cost.)
Face-down creatures you control have deathtouch.
4/3

Next: Morph + Unearth

[Morpic_Tide]

I like the concept, but I'm not sure if the card works quite right. Will you even get the chance to use the second ability when you soulswap it, if it's getting exiled as part of the same ability? I think that's why all the haunt creatures trigger their effect on ETB, and just do the haunting part on their death.

It explicitly moves to the graveyard before being exiled, so yes, it will trigger, and this is actually borrowed from the Haunt errata.

Also, the second ability doesn't specify that it's only when going to the yard from the battlefield, so is it intended to work from anywhere? Triggering on discard or mill would make it fairly powerful.

Not any more than a Madness card with that effect, and you're missing out on a second trigger and one-mana death-prevention. Mill is also fundamentally inconsistent, as you've no certainty that you'll get it sent into the graveyard when you have a legitimate use for it. The point of this particular card is low complexity, high combo value, but the way the keyword on it functions means it's usually best off being used for the keyword. Once now, with a lower mana cost, or twice later with an additional effect. Being on Creatures, there's the additional option of using them for more bodies instead of saving existing ones, using sac outlets instead of discard or mill to trigger the effect.

As for Dauthi Poisoner, Apparate faces an extreme uphill climb, as it has no further discount over Morph's tendency of one-more-overall, but adds the Ninjutsu condition to being able to turn it face-up, making it so you need a wide board of specifically face-down creatures just for Apparate as a mechanic to work out properly. All the Morph mechanics have examples of high-Power creatures that make leaving them unblocked a bad idea, after all. Compare my replacement of the condition on Soulswap, which is, in a vacuum, viability-neutral as it's exchanging one restriction for another.

With the ability, the access to playing it face-down acts as a redundancy mitigation method, allowing for usefulness of more than one drawn by offering the bodies it provides bonuses to. If other Apparate minions follow the pattern of doing something you generally only want/need one of that gives upsides relevant to face-down minions or is situational in the extreme, then the mechanic could see use as you're usually casting directly, with spares and irrelevant-for-now ones being used face-down to gather the benefits of the cards like Dauthi Poisoner.

I'll use Morph + Unearth to demonstrate the addition of restrictions as a synergistic property:

Flesh-Drabbed Grafguard 2bb
Creature - Skeleton
Defender, Bonemorph 2b (You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for . You may turn it face up when it would be sent to the graveyard for its Bonemorph cost, then return it to the battlefield with Haste and Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield)
When Flesh-Drabbed Grafguard dies, put a 1/1 White Spirit creature token with Flying onto the battlefield for each creature under your control that died this turn.
3/6

---

This uses the obscuring of details as an advantage to the condition, while appending an additional useful effect to the act of turning it face-up. With Bonemorph, the typical resolution to a large face-down board, that of a board-wiping Sorcery, declines access to the ability to attack into an entirely empty board, while the use of a "dies" trigger means that casting them face-up doesn't deprive you of the effect. Concealing a reason to avoid targeting increases the consistency of the ability and thus promotes face-down casting, but offering an ability that works for face-up creatures means there's reason beyond raw bulk to cast them face-down.

In this particular case, it preserves board width for blocking after those wipes, and gives you a high-Toughness Defender for the remainder of the turn to deal with Trample attempts, partially stabilizing the board state after an attempted wipe to give you a turn or two to recover your board, as well as potentially swinging for lethal with your large supply of Flyers, using an ambush on any of them that go through. The presence of Defender further supports a face-down cast for the option to attack, but conversely excuses a statline worth casting face-up in a good number of conditions, including subsets of the conditions where a face-down cast is desireable.

The keyword's also usable on its own, offering a "sticky" Morph body for creatures with unrelated effects that would much more desire face-up casting, allowing for its use as a defensive option on creatures that don't want to die when you need a "sticky" board. An important nuance is that it does not double-trigger off Unearth or Bonemorph, as it only counts deaths, not Exiles.

I really need to work on simpler examples for mechanics...

Next: Unearth + Scavenge

[user_938036]

Two problems with Flesh-Drabbed Grafguard. First, is bonemorph, you have found why regenerate doesn't work the way everyone thinks it does. The game can't pause when something is transitioning zones and ask for a payment, it can pause and ask a lot of things but not for a payment. Second is the actual card, you put a death trigger on a card that should never die. Either it will die as a face down 2/2 with no abilities or it will be exiled by its bonemorph ability. Look at how no unearth creature has a die trigger or how no morph creature has a 'normal' ETB. You could just play the card face up but if that is the intent then the ability has failed on many levels.

Over Zelous Eulogist BRG
: Target creature gains haste and trample.
Aggrandize 3BRG(3BRG, Exile this card from your graveyard: Choose target creature card in your graveyard. Return that creature to the battlefield. Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on that creature. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Aggrandize only as a sorcery.
2/2

It feels weird making it literally both mechanics but they both function from the graveyard as one-shot effects so I couldn't think of how to do a mix without it actually being both. And unearthing a different creature felt unique enough.

Next: Scavenge + Graft

[Morpic_Tide]

Bonemorph-criticism-response

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First, is bonemorph, you have found why regenerate doesn't work the way everyone thinks it does. The game can't pause when something is transitioning zones and ask for a payment, it can pause and ask a lot of things but not for a payment.

How would the wording need altered so that it acts like casting an Instant that Regenerates the creature? At what "step" of being sent to the graveyard would it have to trigger asking for payment? "When it would be" is intended to signify that this occurs when the zone transitioning effect is begun, much like using Regenerate in reaction to the combat damage, ability or spell that would destroy the creature.

There's precedent for keywords being multiple separate abilities that activate at different points, such as Cipher and Graft, so a rewording to separate the Unearth revival, such as altering the ability to "You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for . You may turn it face up when it would be sent to the graveyard for its Bonemorph cost. If it enters the graveyard this turn, return it to the battlefield with Haste and Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield", would mess up some precedents, but should resolve the issue with step-confusion. Flip in response to what would kill it, then it dies, then it comes back and is exiled when it's time to go.

Either it will die as a face down 2/2 with no abilities or it will be exiled by its bonemorph ability. Look at how no unearth creature has a die trigger or how no morph creature has a 'normal' ETB. You could just play the card face up but if that is the intent then the ability has failed on many levels.

Again, where's the steps, and how does the wording need adjusted to reach the intended effect? It's supposed to flip before it actually dies, so that when the death occurs, it's face up and has its triggered ability. Essentially, the point is to use Flip as an Interrupt, something that nothing can be done in response to (which is part of the existing Morph rules), to "turn on" the triggered ability when it would be relevant, baiting out the trigger from the opponent by hiding it.

The Aggrandize effect seems wildly overpriced, to compare Whip of Eribos lacking the buff but doing it repeatedly for 4 in one color instead of once and exiling two cards and paying 6 in three colors, or Dawn of the Dead doing it for one life each turn at 5 mana. Apprentice Necromancer does it for a total of three mana, and doesn't exile either. I was actually thinking of either single-turn Scavenge (maybe with Haste added) or Postmortem Lunge as a keyword, with X being the power of the creature with the keyword.

For Scavenge + Graft:

Sickly Cloudgoat 1r
Creature - Goat
Carrion 1b (Whenever a creature enters the battlefield while this is in the graveyard, you may pay this creature's Carrion cost. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature and a -1/-1 counter on this. If this has more -1/-1 counters on it than its Power while it is in the graveyard, Exile it. -1/-1 counters are not removed from this when it moves from the graveyard or battlefield to the other.)
3/1

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Yes, if you cast it from the graveyard, counters will come off, and I don't doubt there's a freecast in there, but the vast majority of reanimation either returns to hand, where you have to pay the mana cost to cast it again, or moves the creature itself directly from the graveyard to the battlefield, where you'll keep the -1/-1 counters limiting it. And you're paying mana for each counter anyways, all the edge-case of freecasting out of the graveyard does is save you the mana of recasting the creature itself. With that many hoops, there's far worse to do than reset your stock of graveyard-graft counters.

This particular example, while rather blunt about the Power determinant, is intended to be as close to a "filler" Common as managable for such a complicated keyword without removing the possibility of heavy choices with hand-recovery timing by having that second pre-Exile trigger. Having it be Black/Red is basically to shoehorn it into Madness strategies that'd like a throwaway for counters by having it on-color.

Next: Graft + Wither

[Morpic_Tide]

It's been 30 days. Per the Quick Games Reply Policy, this means I can double-post.

Mycosynth Blightlord 3{gp}{gp}
Artifact Creature - Carrier
Contagion 4 (This creature enters the battlefield with 4 +1/+1 counters on it. Whenever this creature deals damage to another creature, you may remove a +1/+1 counter from this to put a -1/-1 counter on that creature.)
Sacrifice an Artifact: Put a +1/+1 counter on Mycosynth Blightlord
0/0

---

Next: Wither + Bolster

[Sagharri]

Septic Rotfur 3B
Creature - Beast Zombie (U)
Spread 1 (Choose a creature with the least toughness or tied for least toughness among all creatures. Put -1/-1 counters on that creature. This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
2/4

Note

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I've changed +1/+1 counters in ability - something that happened in previous cards - for one simple reason: it is unelegant to mix two or more different kinds of counter on one card. This can bring unnecessary confusion. It's like with drinks - you shouldn't mix different ones.

Next: Bolster + Vanishing

[Morpic_Tide]

Oh. I was actually thinking of Outlast when I was giving the proposal. I'll own up to that mistake, though. And the "thing" is to merge the two keywords into a single mechanic, rather than necessarily having both effects in one. For example, with Contagion, I kept the +1/+1 counters on ETB from Graft, but have them trade for -1/-1 on a hit to implement the debuffing of Wither alongside the limitations of Graft. Also supposed to comment on the previous card...

Bolster, as a keyword action, has to have a trigger condition when it's on a permanent. Compare Aven Tactician and Cached Defenses. The former, as a permanent, has to spell out that it does it when it enters the battlefield, while the latter, as an Instant, doesn't need that condition as the effect triggers due to being an Instant. So you did mess up the wording, assuming it's on-cast. As for what you went with, the direct merger does cause issues with the keyword doing two very different things.

Usually, keywords that are two abilities are ultimately doing so as a necessity, such as Vanishing being three separate abilities in the rules. One for having time counters, one to tick them down and one to die when they run out. This is hidden complexity, though, for the sake of being able to clarify each clause separately, rather than genuinely discrete effects like your stapling of Wither and Bolster. A suggested change to make it a more cohesive keyword would be having it trigger on damage as part of the keyword, in addition to being a separate keyword action. This would make the mechanic as follows:

Spread N (Choose a creature with the least toughness or tied for least toughness. Put N -1/-1 counters on that creature. Whenever this deals damage to a creature, put N -1/-1 counters on that creature.)

This would also separate the amount of counters from the creature's Power, allowing for a much better statline without being concerned with shenanigans with Double Strike and Power boosting effects sending it out of control. As-is, your card is balanced

As for Bolster + Vanishing...

Supply Caravan 3w
Artifact - Vehicle
Ration 5 (This permanent enters the battlefield with 5 +1/+1 counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a +1/+1 counter from it and put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control with the lowest toughness or tied for lowest toughness)
Crew 2
0/0

---

The overall result of the mechanic is a board that "normalizes" its creatures by moving counters from strong ones to weak ones, with this particular example providing an exception that only puts counters back on itself if it's Crewed before upkeep, so it can simply decay down to 0 and sit there as a 0-Toughness non-creature Artifact, waiting for a probably-Red sacrifice effect or access to a death trigger to Crew it to break instantly.

Next: Vanishing + Modular

[Legend]

Awesome mechanic really! I love how it can be relevant on noncreature cards.

Phyrexian Ooze (Common)
3
Artifact Creature - Construct Ooze
3/3
Ichorous 3 (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this creature has less than three -1/-1 counters on it, put one on it. When it dies, you may put its -1/-1 counters on target creature.)

NEXT: Modular + Cumulative Upkeep

[Morpic_Tide]

YYESSS! IT LIVES AGAIN!

Ichorous has the important benefit of being non-absolute as the number doesn't have to equal the base Toughness, and it puts removal on the backend so you aren't just losing the creature. So you can put it on aggressive beaters to have them decay down to a normal on-curve play, like a 6/6 for 3 with Ichorous 3, and it also allows very early-game utility creatures to become weaker while dissuading removal by tossing the -1/-1 counters elsewhere on the backend, like a two mana 2/3 mana dork that has Ichorous 2 becoming a slight pressure against any form of sweeping because it'll spit the two -1/-1 counters. Also has the hilarious interaction with high-power Infect creatures of ending up tossing more counters than its actual Toughness, allowing you to revenge-kill pretty much all of them.

Going over Modular and Cumulative Upkeep, Modular is an ETB effect adding counters to the creature itself and LTB effect adding counters to another creature, while Cumulative Upkeep is actually only a single ability phrased as a contingent sacrifice after putting on the Age Counter. There's two properties I can immediate come up with from direct mechanical blending: Age counters shared after death, and linear P/T boosts with escalating costs. I'll go with this as a way to make cards that "upgrade" existing Cumulative Upkeep creatures by using the latter, while having the former as a "kick" to the likes of Jötun Owl Keeper:

Jötun Tome uu
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gains Ritekeeping 1 1u (At the beginning of each upkeep, you may pay 1u. If you do, put an Age counter on equipped creature. It gets +1/+1 for each age counter on it. When it dies, you may put its age counters on target creature)

Equip 2

---

Note that putting an equipment with the effect on a creature that already has it would both increase the P/T boost of the age counters and give an extra trigger you can pay. So say you had a Double Strike creature with Ritekeeping 2 at the staggering cost of 1rrr. By putting this on, it becomes +3/+3 per age counter and you can pay just 1u to get that boost.

Put this on an Aboroth and it buys you a turn while letting you rack up age counters for free to set on your next target, but paying the Ritekeeping cost is only a that-turn +1/+1. Put two on Aboroth and you negate two turns, but then paying the Ritekeeping gives you +2/+2 while only causing an extra -1/-1, adding a static upkeep cost to "buy off" another turn, with two instances available. Put it on Sheltering Ancient and you see the same P/T swing but aren't racing against a clock, just having both players get bigger and bigger creatures. With you having started with a two-man 5/5 Trampler that has +1/+1 for each turn it's been out.

Next: Cumulative Upkeep + Foretell

[LandellXil0cent]

Ritekeeping is an interesting design, where the primary focus is to go tall. In a limited format, this could be a scarce yet powerful effect, if you spend mana wisely. Ritekeeping has a commander feel. As the game continues you could get more and more age counters built up so two mana gets you +1/+1, to +4/+4. The great mix with modular is that if
Although, the fact that the effect is 'until end of turn' isn't clear, and the Ritekeeping X isn't necessary, but does greatly increase the potential power of this mechanic, and ties into the exponential potential of Cumulative upkeep.

As far as Cumulative Upkeep and Foretell are concerned, they share a couple of things in common: a certain cost gets you a payoff, and there is strategy in whether or not you pay that cost. These both are fairly simple together, but a mix was a bit difficult to think of.

Hero of Istfell
Creature - Human Soldier (R)
Prophesy 3 - (You may pay and exile this card face-down with 3 age counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay the prophesy cost for each age counter on this. If you do, remove an age counter from it. When the last age counter is removed from this card, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
When Hero of Istfell enters the battlefield, If it was prophesied, put two +1/+1 counters on it and two of the following counters on it, first strike, hexproof, lifelink, menace, and vigilance.
When Hero of Istfell enters the battlefield, exile up to two target creatures. Those creatures' owners may cast them for their mana costs plus .
4/3

[Komandon]

So I guess it's Foretell plus something else. 🤔. I'm sorry what is the second one to combine it with @LandellXil0cent

[LandellXil0cent]

My bad @Komandon. Foretell + Blitz.