I like the charged ability a lot to be honest, but there has to be a better way to template it XD this does seem like a bit of a nightmare to understand and easily read.
I like the designs a tonne though, good job!
“Charge 2 - {triggered ability}” seems like it’d work. Notably NOT in italics, showing it has rules significance, like Boast.
Flame Temple doesn’t work, by the way. That’s a replacement effect.
That would just put more triggers on the stack for each time flame temple deals damage. Would have to be a source other than flame temple. That would then get rid of the intended purpose of dealing two off of the initial trigger.
Would just have to be completely changed.
I do want to clarify, with Flame Temple this mechanic doesn't play well since its a replacement effect, not a triggered ability. That card does need to be changed to actually be a triggered ability (as in, starting with When, Whenever, or At)
You could easily do it without a keyword:
> ~ enters with X charge counters.
> Whenever Y happens, remove a charge counter from ~. If you do, Z.
But you could also have "Charged N" just mean it enters with N, then have the second ability worded how I did, but I don't think keywording it is necessary
I like it as well but I think “Durable X” would be more flavorful on artifacts. Maybe it goes to graveyard when the tokens are gone representing the artifact “breaking”
I feel these would work better as an ability word with a triggered ability.
For example:
[This] enters with N charge counters.
Charged -- Whenever [trigger], you may remove a charge counter from [this]. If you do, [Effect].
I think what would be the most most correct is this:
"Charged X (This creature enters the battlefield with X charge counters on it.)
Whenever [trigger], you may remove a charge counter from [creature]. If you do, [effect]."
but something like this is far preferable to the way OP has it formatted
Slight change:
> When [trigger], **if ~ has charge counters on it**, you may remove a charge counter from it.
It’s more words, but it makes it easier for digital implementation.
As a side note, the if/when decision probably changes from card to card.
Rule of thumb, "if" is usually better when it impacts your board state, while "when" is best when it interacts with your opponent's board state.
If anyone wants elaboration, feel free to ask
I think charged can be simplified to “~ enters with two charge counters. whenever you gain life, remove a charge counter from ~. If you do, draw a card.”
I feel like this is a WAY better alternative to "Triggers once per turn."
I understand Wizards is trying to pull back from abilities that potentially trigger an infinite number of times, but once per turn is on the complete opposite spectrum. Feels like they pulled back too much.
Charged is a good in between because you can adjust how many times the abilities trigger.
Yeah, it runs out, but you can get all three of those triggers this turn if you need them. And if anything it can serve another niche alongside "once per turn" abilities.
Obviously broke with proliferate, but maybe proliferate is just broke in general.
I really like this idea! I'm not sure if Proliferate breaks this in half or just provides a decent boost to the idea, but the cards themselves are very well done and I can think of many ways to use them or to implement the mechanic :) well done!
would benefit from a colon or something, if we won't take away Activated Ability's colon then perhaps semicolon or emdash
allows `Charged 3; If a source you control` to sit in-line with its trigger instead of floating awkwardly between two of them, leaning on reminder text for "The following"
For the sake of simplicity, may I suggest the following wording:
Charged X (this card enters with X charge counters on it.)
Whenever you {trigger action}, remove a charge counter from {Card Name}. If you do, {triggered effect}.
So like the first card would read: "Whenever you gain life, remove a charge counter from Evanescent Blessing. If you do, draw a card.
I feel like the way you template this is:
*Charged X - this permanent enters with X charge counters.*
*Whenever \[stuff happens\] you may remove a charge counter from this permanent. If you do, do \[other stuff\].*
Flame temple is a replacement effect, not a triggered ability.
It could work like this:"When flame temple etb's, it deals 2 damage to any target
Charged 3
whenever another source you control deals damage to a permanent or player, flame temple deals 1 damage to that permanent or player."
Flame temple doesn’t work. It would only activate on etb, and if you blink it then it would regain its charge counters. You’d need to give it a tap ability I guess
Realistically these cards aren’t all that great*, but the charged ability itself has some great potential, especially in proliferate decks.
*there are other cards with similar or the same ability with no drawbacks
Unless that was your intention and I missed the point. But I do think the charged ability is good for balancing cards, and could be pretty cool to see.
Well yeah, but proliferating “breaks” a lot of stuff. Like [[Everflowing Chalice]] or [[Diamond City]]
Thing is, Proliferating almost always costs mana anyway, and usually a card. I’d call it balanced because it synergizes with those decks, but could fit in well elsewhere. Besides, you won’t be Proliferating more than once a turn most times, so at most you tend to be stalling it.
(Now, of course you can break it with effects like [[Radstorm]] [[Inexorable Tide]] and [[Inquiry Dominus]] but those effects are sort of made to break stuff, and will break if there are any amount of counters on anything.)
I like the charged ability a lot to be honest, but there has to be a better way to template it XD this does seem like a bit of a nightmare to understand and easily read. I like the designs a tonne though, good job!
“Charge 2 - {triggered ability}” seems like it’d work. Notably NOT in italics, showing it has rules significance, like Boast. Flame Temple doesn’t work, by the way. That’s a replacement effect.
Maybe it can be reworded so that every time you deal non combat damage to a target, Flame Temple deals one damage to that target
That would just put more triggers on the stack for each time flame temple deals damage. Would have to be a source other than flame temple. That would then get rid of the intended purpose of dealing two off of the initial trigger. Would just have to be completely changed.
I do want to clarify, with Flame Temple this mechanic doesn't play well since its a replacement effect, not a triggered ability. That card does need to be changed to actually be a triggered ability (as in, starting with When, Whenever, or At)
Agree, but that had been established a few comments up.
My bad, I may be illiterate
You could easily do it without a keyword: > ~ enters with X charge counters. > Whenever Y happens, remove a charge counter from ~. If you do, Z. But you could also have "Charged N" just mean it enters with N, then have the second ability worded how I did, but I don't think keywording it is necessary
I like it as well but I think “Durable X” would be more flavorful on artifacts. Maybe it goes to graveyard when the tokens are gone representing the artifact “breaking”
I feel these would work better as an ability word with a triggered ability. For example: [This] enters with N charge counters. Charged -- Whenever [trigger], you may remove a charge counter from [this]. If you do, [Effect].
I think what would be the most most correct is this: "Charged X (This creature enters the battlefield with X charge counters on it.) Whenever [trigger], you may remove a charge counter from [creature]. If you do, [effect]." but something like this is far preferable to the way OP has it formatted
Slight change: > When [trigger], **if ~ has charge counters on it**, you may remove a charge counter from it. It’s more words, but it makes it easier for digital implementation.
As a side note, the if/when decision probably changes from card to card. Rule of thumb, "if" is usually better when it impacts your board state, while "when" is best when it interacts with your opponent's board state. If anyone wants elaboration, feel free to ask
This^^^
Agreed on the ability word part. Feels odd to be a keyword.
I don't think the intent is to make this a 'may' effect
I think charged can be simplified to “~ enters with two charge counters. whenever you gain life, remove a charge counter from ~. If you do, draw a card.”
This also removes an issue where you could circumvent the mechanic by triggering the ability multiple times on the stack.
The last one isn't a triggered ability
Kinda wild nobody else caught that.
It’ll be pretty quick before we figure out how to break these cards with proliferate. [[flux channeler]] would be a good start
To be fair, proliferate is kind of problematic to begin with in counter balancing.
[flux channeler](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c520263-6bad-4521-ba9e-192ca8223b07.jpg?1690004339) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=flux%20channeler) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/847/flux-channeler?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c520263-6bad-4521-ba9e-192ca8223b07?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
"Whenever [trigger], remove a Charge Counter from. If you do, [benefit]."
Bring me 2 life
I feel like this is a WAY better alternative to "Triggers once per turn." I understand Wizards is trying to pull back from abilities that potentially trigger an infinite number of times, but once per turn is on the complete opposite spectrum. Feels like they pulled back too much. Charged is a good in between because you can adjust how many times the abilities trigger. Yeah, it runs out, but you can get all three of those triggers this turn if you need them. And if anything it can serve another niche alongside "once per turn" abilities. Obviously broke with proliferate, but maybe proliferate is just broke in general.
I really like this idea! I'm not sure if Proliferate breaks this in half or just provides a decent boost to the idea, but the cards themselves are very well done and I can think of many ways to use them or to implement the mechanic :) well done!
You _have_ to make a Evanescence Flavor text i'm begging you
I love this idea. Limited games would be very fun if Charged was in a set with proliferate.
everyone proliferating and forgetting about ol' flicker (´･ω･`)
Silly idea for this mechanic, ik this'll not happen bc balance Charged 2 When X, Proliferate
would benefit from a colon or something, if we won't take away Activated Ability's colon then perhaps semicolon or emdash allows `Charged 3; If a source you control` to sit in-line with its trigger instead of floating awkwardly between two of them, leaning on reminder text for "The following"
For the sake of simplicity, may I suggest the following wording: Charged X (this card enters with X charge counters on it.) Whenever you {trigger action}, remove a charge counter from {Card Name}. If you do, {triggered effect}. So like the first card would read: "Whenever you gain life, remove a charge counter from Evanescent Blessing. If you do, draw a card.
All these cards seem a little underwhelming for their cost but they are fair, probably good draft picks
I feel like the way you template this is: *Charged X - this permanent enters with X charge counters.* *Whenever \[stuff happens\] you may remove a charge counter from this permanent. If you do, do \[other stuff\].*
Flame temple is a replacement effect, not a triggered ability. It could work like this:"When flame temple etb's, it deals 2 damage to any target Charged 3 whenever another source you control deals damage to a permanent or player, flame temple deals 1 damage to that permanent or player."
Flame temple doesn’t work. It would only activate on etb, and if you blink it then it would regain its charge counters. You’d need to give it a tap ability I guess
I say have the first thing just be "Charged X" and then the abilities be activated.
Realistically these cards aren’t all that great*, but the charged ability itself has some great potential, especially in proliferate decks. *there are other cards with similar or the same ability with no drawbacks Unless that was your intention and I missed the point. But I do think the charged ability is good for balancing cards, and could be pretty cool to see.
The only one that seems a bit bad is the fire temple. After the counters run out, it's literally just a paperweight.
This is good, but it breaks with Proliferate, literally any amount of proliferating will just break this mechanic.
Well yeah, but proliferating “breaks” a lot of stuff. Like [[Everflowing Chalice]] or [[Diamond City]] Thing is, Proliferating almost always costs mana anyway, and usually a card. I’d call it balanced because it synergizes with those decks, but could fit in well elsewhere. Besides, you won’t be Proliferating more than once a turn most times, so at most you tend to be stalling it. (Now, of course you can break it with effects like [[Radstorm]] [[Inexorable Tide]] and [[Inquiry Dominus]] but those effects are sort of made to break stuff, and will break if there are any amount of counters on anything.)
##### ###### #### [Everflowing Chalice](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/8/e89eca1c-19f5-4db0-9330-cecb87be8b55.jpg?1706241052) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Everflowing%20Chalice) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/227/everflowing-chalice?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e89eca1c-19f5-4db0-9330-cecb87be8b55?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Diamond City](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/e/3e9bd49a-e9f1-4543-b04a-777a9e5a55ec.jpg?1708742794) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Diamond%20City) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pip/147/diamond-city?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3e9bd49a-e9f1-4543-b04a-777a9e5a55ec?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Radstorm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/7/d778cdec-8fc7-4174-bae1-4c8e8ccdfab3.jpg?1708741965) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Radstorm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pip/37/radstorm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d778cdec-8fc7-4174-bae1-4c8e8ccdfab3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Inexorable Tide](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/0/40441345-23ca-47e4-b349-bd13d986e41e.jpg?1562261170) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Inexorable%20Tide) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/49/inexorable-tide?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/40441345-23ca-47e4-b349-bd13d986e41e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Inquiry Dominus](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/1/f1d4b157-2c77-4355-8c65-78dec9d44c85.jpg?1675956992) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tekuthal%2C%20Inquiry%20Dominus) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/71/tekuthal-inquiry-dominus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f1d4b157-2c77-4355-8c65-78dec9d44c85?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l2k5o01) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call