i had a dream last night where razorborne told me i was the greatest designer he has ever seen
then i woke up and was very sad that what i had dreamed had not actually happened

I mean... I guess you're alright.

if someone said this about me i'd make it my signature

Same.

sorry but I'm raz's favorite, he said so when I made Waterfall

although he probably doesn't remember ;_;

pretty sure that was literally a decade ago.

well you haven't nominated a new one that I know of

Ancient Warden
Artifact Creature - Construct
Ancient Warden enters the battlefield tapped and doesn't untap during your untap step.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, they may have Ancient Warden deal 2 damage to them. If they don't, untap it.
4/4

closing this now.

interesting. I don't know how much the tapping actually does here in practice, but it's very resonant with the design. why does the trigger count creatures but the ability hit all nonland permanents? I'd probably align those for aesthetics and balance. (probably on the side of creatures.) definitely some very powerful things you can do with this, so I might make the activation cost a little higher even if it does have the condition riding on it. there's also an extent to which it feels like it wants to be partly white, since it's effectively giving everything vigilance, but with a higher activation cost I wouldn't mind it in mono-blue.
3/5

I assume the point of the thing is to prevent you from just copying a thing that with a really powerful static/triggered/non-tapping activated ability? I guess that's a problem that needs solving, but the end result feels pretty awkward. I think glasspool mimic says that if you limit it to just your creatures, costing two with the tap drawback on its own is probably fine. after all, you still have to cast the powerful thing you want to copy first. with the added restriction it feels extremely difficult to utilize, limited basically to just a couple specific combos like gelectrode. the idea is good but I think it's too heavy-handed with the drawbacks.
2/5

nice! sort of a hibernation sliver style effect, turning your hoard of creatures into something else. this card really has to be built around pretty completely, but if you do I think it could open up some really interesting possibilities. I like how it gives you rainbow mana, so you can go hunting for all the creatures across different colors that might be most useful while tapped. possibly an interesting Commander as well.
4/5


I don't see why this needs to affect other artifacts too? I suppose it's a hate tool on your opponent's artifacts. probably underpowered as a mana rock, though: the general rule is that a land is equivalent to a mana rock that costs , and this is noticeably worse than the storage lands. which is maybe balanced by the hate thing, but that means you really can't be running it with any other artifacts, but then you need ways to eventually untap it, many of which might want to be targeting artifacts anyway, and then after all that work you just get some mana. feels underwhelming. I'm also confused by the name: blightsteel is the blending of darksteel (aka indestructible) and poison, but this card does neither of those things.
1/5

I don't know how relevant that attacking clause is, since you can just untap post-combat. it does mean you can't just hold back the 2/3 forever 'cause you have to swing again next turn, but then you can untap again if you want. actually, on further reflection, I think it's fine, forcing you into that loop at the very least. is a solid approach here, giving you a fairly easy workaround but one that still costs you, and it stacks interestingly. the components of the card feel a bit clunky in a way I can't quite put my finger on, because they clearly do fit together and have interesting consequences for each other. Maybe it's just having to re-name the card three times. could you get away with "~ enters the battlefield tapped, doesn't untap durning your untap step, and attacks each combat if able"? I dunno.
3/5

defender's clever, but this feels like it could easily accomplish the same basic goal of drawing the first time it blocks just by using a counter to mark whether you've got the trigger yet. the second and third abilities feel less like natural parts of the card and more like a way to twist it into meeting the criteria: there's no real need for something as complicated as masako the humorless technology here. I do like the idea though, of a slightly smaller and cheaper wall of omens that makes you wait until it actually blocks profitably to give you your card. the underlying design here is pretty cool, I just think the card would be better if it didn't fit the criteria.
2/5

feels a little cheap to be able to use this on your own end step when the creature was about to untap anyway. I might limit it to activating on that opponent's turn, so the untapped creature has an impact. although for tapping activated abilities, that might let them just wait 'til your turn and then tap, which doesn't feel like it fits the intended play pattern. dunno. beyond that it's cute. maybe a little on the strong side as a 5/5 for 2 that you mostly just have to pay a turn to use, but does provide some counterplay for your opponent if they choose not to tap their creatures, or they just don't play any in the first place, so it's not a guaranteed threat without extra work.
3/5

classic Traxos-style approach to this restriction, giving you a relatively straightforward trigger to keep it up. balance is probably fine, maybe a little strong depending on format but maybe not. flavor's solid. fairly safe approach, but well executed. nothing really to complain about here.
4/5

so... I'm a bit torn on how to interpret this. your use of "one or more" implies that you intend for completion to happen once the final ability triggers, which would allow this to untap and remove a counter before it's sacrificed to keep the Saga going and let you just keep getting the last trigger over and over forever. that would also be in line with the story of Shahrazad, but it's a pretty unintuitive use of "complete" in this context and also not a super fun play pattern for the card. I'd like it more if completion happened once the final ability resolved, at which point the originating Saga would be gone, but then you could never get more than one trigger at the same time so why does it say "one or more"? but with that adjustment I don't mind it. pretty high-impact for a land, but the tap restriction is significant.
3/5

this feels fairly similar to the prompt card. not identical, but it has the same basic "don't untap at all but reward untapping" thing going on. probably weaker, although potentially still scary if you're confident you can keep untapping it. fairly straightforward take, but reasonably effective. flavor's cute. I might just natively give it haste, since the only time the difference matters is if your opponent threatens it while it's already untapped.
3/5

ooh, pretty cool. using the tap restriction to make sure you have to sac the Turbine if you don't have another option. a little scary that you can just, like, twiddle it up, though: I might go for the even stronger "~ enters the battlefield tapped and can't untap." to keep it locked down always. powerwise, it kinda singlehandedly shuts down basically any aggro deck if it runs for a couple turns, even if you don't untap it. I dunno if it's overpowered (beyond the untapping thing) but it does feel oppressive to play against in a way that would make me prefer if it was a bit overcosted so it didn't wind up taking over tournaments. something like or maybe even . but the flavor's great.
4/5

interesting! I agree the design is better without vigilance. I don't know if a 4/4 indestructible can really cost 4, though, even with such a drawback. I dunno. it's a pretty big drawback, even if you're untapping it regularly. and Tajic, Blade of the Legion is... close enough, so sure, I think it's fine. flavor's exceptional, and even without the italics I'd know exactly what story you were trying to tell here.
5/5

I really like this. do they give you 2 damage they can't block or figure out how to manage a 4/4? I'd 100% run this in mono-red aggro, and I think it creates a lot of opportunities for really interesting decisions. for multiplayer's sake I might just make it trigger on your end step and say any opponent can pay the life: basically the same in 2-player but less obnoxious with more. but I'm not too worried about multiplayer, so I'm just gonna say this card is cool and good.
5/5

interesting round! seemed to be a tricky thing to nail, but we got a couple 5/5s near the end, and of those, I think the one I like best is Cato! congrats, nominating now, see you all tomorrow.

I put "One or more" in there in a perhaps vain attempt to have it so that you don't get five untap triggers if five sagas all finish at the same time. But that was probably pointless, especially since that's no more powerful than staggering finishes, which I explicitly allowed.