Deadline: Friday November 20th @ 2PM.

EDIT:
If someone could explain to me the main features of arena vs real life magic, I'd find that helpful -- I play 0 online magic. Hopefully this doesn't count as cheating.

at heart, I think what the prompt is asking for is "make something that's interesting but not plausible due to the concerns of physical play". you don't have to be that familiar with what Arena specifically has to offer.

fundamentally its probably asking you to design a card that utilizes a design that would work in a video game but not in a tabletop game. For instance something like

As an example, i believe Momir Vig, Simic Visionary Avatar was created with MTGO in mind. In paper magic creating a token of a random creature is a lot of work. There are lots of creatures and people don't always have access to a full list of them or a way of easily choosing a random one from that list. Furthermore, tracking a lot of tokens of random creatures would be very difficult considering how complex and varied creatures can be. In a digital setting however, all of these problems are solved because the computer does all the work for you.

Coffin Raid
Sorcery
Return a creature card in your graveyard at random to your hand. Then shuffle your graveyard.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may exile a creature card in your graveyard at random. If you do, return Coffin Raid from your graveyard to your hand. Then shuffle your graveyard.
"Grab a body; doesn't matter who or what it is!" - Douglas, Cadaver Philanthropist

Fossil Find for reference. Also should state that while this design could exist in paper, the logistics of four random effects, two of which are shuffling a zone other than the library, makes it unlikely to not be banned like Sensei's Divining Top in Modern and Legacy.

Eww. The idea of an Arena only set kinda disgusts me because I already hate digital card games. As far as I'm concerned a "Online/Digital only" card does exist IRL and it's that damn Unset Urza. You gotta go to an interweb site to use the thing. Or print it out and use a die but that's obnoxious too. So that's my thought, a card that is either outright actually impossible all on its own or requires like printing stuff out and taking too much effort.


Bazaar Merchant
Creature - Human Artificer
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may pay between and to put one of its wares of your choice that cost less than the amount paid onto the battlefield under your control.
1/3

I think there's a mechanic that works similar to this in Hearthstone but I played that for like 2 weeks back in 2015. Basically on ETB you pay some and are presented three set cards which cost 1 less than the amount you paid (meaning it costs 1UU more to play but you also get a blinkable 0/3 body and don't need to have it in your hand or deck), choose one and play it for free. They're all colorless or Blue commons, and it produces copies of the card so they can be bounced, shuffled in, recovered from the grave, etc without disappearing, but they are removed at end of game of course. Don't know if the exact ones chosen would be counted into the rating but my rough thought for them which is so rough it may change.

I hate this prompt. I hate it with every fiber of my being. I've had my differences with Magic but the concept of it turning into a digital card game with a nerfed legacy paper execution is phenomenally disgusting to me.

That said... I do think we kind of have a guide for this. The Astral cards in the Microprose M:tG game all played with "random" to a degree that was probably not good for paper, even if they would all be at least as printable as Scrambleverse (In fact, I'd kind of like to see Power Struggle -- basically a randomized Puca's Mischief -- hit paper some day)

However, I don't think that's good enough. For a card to be truly worth online only I feel it must a) provide fun gameplay and b) be fundamentally more irritating to resolve than Scrambleverse or any similar card that already requires getting out pen, paper, and dice to random. In fact, it should be impossible. Power Struggle could be printed. What can't be?

Mtgo's Momir is probably the best model for the execution, since it pulls from all of M:tG, which is patently impossible to do without computer assistance (loading up gatherer and mashing "random card" until you get something that fits, or genning the list and rolling)

Going down this path, though, I reached a dead end: Magic has LOADS of pack-filler duds so Momir-style "grab an anything" is usually going to disappoint. I don't think I'd ever want to run an clone that entered as a random CMC X creature, it would never be worthwhile to case. On the other hand, being able to choose from everything, like a hyper-wish, would be FAR too strong.

So I thought about other mechanics that "can't work" in paper. The big one is adding cards to hidden zones, especially opponents' hidden zones. Sleeves, shuffling, there are a tone of reasons (talked about on the Pandemic set thread lately) why this can't be done. But in an online game, this is seamless: you can add cards to your opponent's deck, and the computer handles fair shuffling and hidden information.

Eldrazi Consumption

Sorcery
Spend only colorless mana on X.
Target opponent reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal X cards other than Wastes. Those cards become Wastes, then that player shuffles their library.
Infinite realities, insatiable hunger.

I used some new/nonstandard wording tech, but I think in the context of this challenge, it's necessary. Here we do two things that paper magic can't do. For one, we use a deck corruption mechanic. Common in deckbuilders like Heart of Crown (paper) or Slay the Spire (digital) this causes a player's deck to become worse by being filled with dead draws, and is a powerful offensive move comparable to milling, but without the disadvantages of mill like putting the cards into a live zone like the Graveyard or potentially thinning unwanted cards if done blindly. Can't be done in paper because you can't insert your cards into the other guy's deck. And, it transmutes cards. In paper, this would be, at BEST "Replace {cards} with {something} you own from outside the game", but in digital you can streamline it. The game simply replaces the victim cards with Wastes and shuffles them in. No need for extra game pieces, no defining where the displaced cards go (exile? Outside the game? Is this an ante effect?), the victims simply lose all other information and are Wastes for the game.

Balance was difficult in my mind. ": Mill X" would be kind of pathetic and weak on a one-use sorcery, but this effect is much stronger than mill: at best, it deletes X draws, which is pretty obscene. The shuffle, though, means that it's unlikely to do more than one or two unless the number of transmuted cards is absurdly high or the victim is drawing significant portions of their deck. So it's still a good deal weaker than an X Agonizing Memories, since it doesn't hit hand and isn't guaranteed to screw a draw. I thought locking it to only made a nice balance and flavor nod, so that outside of a dedicated gray deck it should be tough to get X to absolutely devastating levels.

Temp idea

Rarity of the Realms
Creature - Shapeshifter
When Rarity of the Realms enters the battlefield choose a color at random. Any player can pay 2 life to repeat this process. Rarity of the Realms enters the battlefield as a copy of a random Mythic Rare creature of the chosen color. If the creature's converted mana cost would be less than 5, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less than 5. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Snappy Flavor Text here.
0/0

A computer offers a lot of advantages in managing cards, from memory issues to keeping things honest, to displaying what a card even is. Morph comes close to the level of uncertainty I want for a revealed card, but a computer can take it further.

Adder Agent {}
Creature - Shapeshifter Assassin{R}
Deathtouch
Start the game with this card disguised as another creature card in your library. (This card is played with as if it is that card, but you can activate this card's abilities.)
: Remove Adder Agent's disguise.
1/3
A face and a poison for every occasion.

On the standings, could you post who's entered every round and who hasn't?

Tolarian Visionmaster
Creature - Shapeshifter Wizard
As long as a creature card in your hand has flying, first strike, or another grantable keyword, Tolarian Visionmaster has that keyword as well.
: Draw a card, then put a card from your hand on the bottom of your library.
2/4

Multiversal Tutor -
Sorcery
Put a copy of any legal card into your hand.

Boltscribe -
Creature - Human Wizard
,: Add "This spell deals 1 damage to target creature or player" to an instant or sorcery card in your hand. (the text remains for the rest of the game.)
"Whats a story without a flashy ending?"
1/1

I play MTGA nowadays due to Covid but a criteria that asks us to create a card that isn't intended for paper magic is well, bleh.

Prolly something hard or troublesome to keep track of or info that is only privy to the program.

Repeated Inquirer -
Creature - Drone (R)
If a land card is among the top four cards of your library, ~ has flying. Then, if a creature card is among those cards, ~ gets +2/+1. Then, if an instant or sorcery card is among those cards, ~ has prowess. Then, if a non-creature artifact or non-creature enchantment card is among those cards, ~ has "At the beginning of each end step, transform this card."
,: Scry 2.
2/3
===================================
Logical Conclusion
Creature - Construct
Flying, Prowess, Hexproof
When this creature transforms into ~, draw four cards.
4/4

Interposing Archmage
Creature-Human Wizard (R)
When ~ deals combat damage to a player, choose a nonland card name.
Spells with the chosen name can't be cast.
Things were so much easier when he was a kid and it was just him and his puppy.
3/3

Zalarst, Knave Of Arms
Legendary Creature - Faerie Noble
Whenever a creature with flying, first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, protection, reach, trample or vigilance enters the battlefield under your control, you may have that creature lose one of those abilities. If you do, put a counter of that type onto another creature you control.
~ gets +1/+1 for each ability counter on it.
3/2

Stealing abilities and redistributing would suck on paper. You might need anti-ability counter to represent the loss.
It would be too easy to build around if it were white. Kind of like how Marchesa, the Black Rose would be boring to build in .

i feel like there's a pretty decent number of cards that already exist that play better online rather than in paper, eg stuff like outlaws' merriment, crystalline giant, mirror march
anyway

Spellwarper Adept
Creature - Human Wizard Spellshaper
, , discard a card: You may cast an instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost X from your library without paying its mana cost. If you cast a spell this way, exile it as it resolves.
The universe at his fingertips, and all the means to use it.
2/3

Scour the Eternities
Sorcery
Name a card. Add a copy of that card to your hand. Exile Scour the Eternities.
"With enough ambition and a dozen lifetimes to realize it, nothing escapes your grasp."
-Liliana Vess