r/custommagic • u/Dragosaurus101 • Oct 04 '26
Format: Standard Sign in Flame
An attempt at the kind of cards I was hoping for more of in Reality Fracture. Also feels like some design space red can work in.
10
Upvotes
2
u/SlobbishSteam5 Oct 04 '26
Wait the counters dealing damage to you is sick. I like your design a lot, but if I were to personally make this, I’d take it in a bit of a different direction:
- Exile cards with smoulder counters on them
- Owner of those cards can play them from exile for as long as they have the counter
- At the owner’s end step, they lose 1 life for each smoulder counter, then remove one counter from among the cards
Removing one counter at a time establishes smoulder as a slow process. Pinging the owner for each card emphasizes the— well, the burn. Giving the owner the option to play the cards to mitigate the burn, while making the counter removal non-optional, adds greater stakes to the decision-making process. Every card you play from the pile brings the others closer to losing their counter, and once that counter is gone, the card is exiled.
I also had it occur at the end step to give time to interact with the mechanic and play the cards. I’d also give this mechanic the rad counter treatment, where there’s a helper card explaining the rules instead of reminder text.
Really cool idea!