Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Playtesting Frostmere - Day 1, Part 1

Whew.


Hollee and I spent the better part of three hours playtesting a pair of decks I put together using mainly cards from Frostmere, a set I'm designing. 

Here are a few highlights from the first of the two decks:

Deck 1 - Hollee:  Since Hollee enjoys playing Green/White, I made her a Selesnya deck focusing of the Snowfall mechanic.  Here are a few key cards:

Brenish Hunter is the cornerstone of a good landfall deck in limited environments. When his ability triggers more than once a turn, he gets really mean.



This is the core of snow lands.  If you're familiar with how snow mana works, the main rule is -- Whenever you get mana from a snow permanent, that mana has the snow supertype.  In other words, you can use it for any costs that require snow mana.  To alleviate some of this confusion, I've added it as an option on each snow land that can produce mana in Frostmere.

Side note, all of these lands besides the Basic land changed from when we first started playtesting.  Hidden Embankment didn't tap for mana, and the Icicle Glade had a useless ability word, Frigid.  Frigid was supposed to read -- This enters the battlefield tapped unless you control another snow permanent.  I only ever put it on the two color lands, and it seemed unnecessary, so I removed it. The Mammoth Lair had a triggered ability to sacrifice it and put a token into play, but this version just feels better.



These two creatures, while not being snow themselves, really go along with the theme.  The Badger, while being immensely fun, is a hard guy to block.  It turns out that ability is a really good way to make blocking generally turn out in the Badger's favor.  The Paladin is also a really good card.  It turns out that an 8 point life swing for 3 mana might be too strong.

One other card worth mentioning is Justice of Ice.  This is part of a rare cycle of Snow Enchantments that have a Snowfall bonus.  This one  works really well with Brenish Hunter and is also cray in multiples.  A limited powerhouse, for sure.  This was costed at 1W originally, and it was WAAAYY to cheap, so I fixed it.

That's all for tonight, but don't fret. I will post the other deck's analysis tomorrow, so stay tuned!  Remember to follow me on twitter @madolaf, and like the Facebook page (facebook.com/olafscards) to keep up on updates.






Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

GenCon

I won't be posting cards for the next week or so, since I'm going to GenCon tomorrow.  I will be back next Tuesday with a new card!

Card of the Day - Kill Party

Because everyone loves a TPK.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Card of the Day - Savage Cold

While I was making this card, I had some trouble finding the best wording. Here are two other versions that might work, as well.

Let me know which version feels the best, and is the most grokkable.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Card of the Day - Midnight Star

I wanted to make a Vampire Nighthawk global enchantment for a while, and I've also been listening to a lot of Weird Al Yankovic.  Thusly, Midnight Star is born.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Card of the Day - Slay the MIghty


Hollee and I were playing a commander game where I had 38 38/38 Hydra tokens on the battlefield, (thanks Hydra Broodmaster!) and it would have been advantageous to have this card in her hand.  It's a strict upgrade to Topple in more ways than one, but I don't think it's too strong to be rare. 

Card of the Day - Headlong Berserker


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Card of the Day - Instant Army

Weeeeeee!

Edit:  I just got the update for the M15 card frames, so here's Instant Army in the new frame, as well.


2nd Edit(!):  Made it an Instant, and changed the Goblin part of the card to make two tokens instead of giving them haste.  9 Power of creatures for 5 mana! INSANE!


Sunday, June 29, 2014

Card of the Day - Powergrab

After making this card, I realized how strong it is against Sphinx's Revelation. A lot of the time this card reads: :Target opponent skips his or her next draw phase. Draw a card."

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Card of the Day - AEther Snare

Every once in a while, I roll dice to choose a card type, mana cost, color, and rarity.  It's not easy designing a UU rare blue sorcery.  I challenge each of my readers to post a card that fits those criteria.  You can post your submission in the comments.