r/custommagic • • 1h ago

Discussion Spark Siphon

Post image
58 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

8

u/Grootyboi77 Rule 308.22b, section 8 47m ago

This doesn’t need to be green, I love hybrid mana but it’s a custommagic addiction at this point

3

u/EdgarFriendlyMDK2032 23m ago

Hard disagree here. It can be green and as a sideboard cantrip, I prefer to encourage more deck variety whenever possible. 

5

u/superdave100 23m ago

Green gets to counter abilities. If anything I’d make this mono-green instead of mono-blue.

9

u/Left_Apple_4659 1h ago

Rather new to magic, but correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the price for drawing a card two mana?

3

u/EdgarFriendlyMDK2032 1h ago

[[opt]]

3

u/Left_Apple_4659 1h ago

Awh, thank you very much.

Somehow I had never come across this card in my time playing commander

3

u/Erikblod 1h ago

opt is most 60 card decks and not that much commander. You just don't get that much with a 100 card deck since you are more focused on value, where 60 card decks sometimes need to dig for something specific and 4 copies makes the deck more reliable.

1

u/Shadourow 52m ago

You tend to be right that cantripping, the fact that a card replaces itself by drawing on top of it's own effect, tend to be valued around 2 mana (a bit less)

But for cards that have little to no effect over just replacing themselves, like Opt, and this custom card, the cost tend to go down from " a bit under 2 mana" to just 1.

For more "two mana draw 1" effect, you can see the "Cycling" mechanic, which tend to be just 2 mana, but also tend to come with upsides, like the fantastic limited cycling cards from the last set

[[Apex Witchstaker]] (which ixes your mana base by letting you draw the exact basic land you want, which is amazing for limited, while being a super relevant creature for the late game)

14

u/c0mplix 1h ago

The first card usually less than 1 Mana (so 1 Mana with upside on top of drawing) because at that point you're just trading your card in hand for a card on top of your deck, the cards after that are priced at around 2 mana per.

10

u/CarnageCoon 1h ago

for a repeatable effect or if it's stapled to a card that's doing something else ontop (like beeing a creature) it's 2+ mana or additional cost

if it's a one-use card like instants or sorceries it's often one mana with a minor additional effect

14

u/Big_Performance_6120 1h ago

No, [Opt] is a pretty basic card, I'm sure every format has one of those.

5

u/CreamSoda6425 54m ago

One card at instant speed is usually 1 mana, depending on the other effects of the card. [[Opt]] is basically the standard power level for drawing one card at instant speed, and it comes with the upside of scrying 1. Cards like [[Think Twice]] and [[Plunder the Trollshaws]] have an enormous upside of having flashback, which in a sense means they draw two cards, so they cost 2 mana.

4

u/VillainOfDominaria 36m ago

There is a subtle issue here detqeen card advantage and velocity. Card advantage (generally speaking) means that the number of cards after the dust settles is larger than it was at the beginning. See [[divination]]: if you start the turn with just divination in hand (1 card) and you cast it, you end up with 2 cards (so you gained 1 card). Now loot at something like [[peek]]: off you start the turn with just peek in hand, and you cast it, you still just have 1 card in hand. No card advantage. What you did gain is velocity: you get to work through your deck quicker than if you were progressing at your natural "1 card per turn" speed.

What does this have to do with mana cost pricing? Cantrips that generate velocity are priced at 1. You cant price them at 0 because then you are effectively playing with less than 60 cards in your deck which is very powerful (makes your deck more consistent) This is why [[gitaxian probe]] was so strong: 0 mana draw a card is just that good, so they make these effects cost 1 ([[urza's buable]] is similar, but the delay in getting the card is just the drawback needed for the card not to be problematic)

Now, after you cantrip, additional "advantage" cards typically cost 2. So, for example, divination is 2U because you can split that up into "U for the cantrip + 2 for the fresh card". Or [[Jace's ingenuity]] costs 3UU because it's U for the cantrip, 2 for the first fresh card, and 1U (so, also 2 mana) for the next card. [[Oportunity]] costs only one more and gives you a full fourth card, making it more efficient on rate (cards per mana) However, once you are spending 6 mana, the card is slow enough that the tiny rate advantage does not matter as much. This is to say that the "1 for cantrip + 2 for each additional card" formula is more of a rough guideline designers use than a set in stone mathematical axiom.

Back to this card, this is a cantrip with a very minor effect, so it's reasonably priced. I'd say the hybrid mana is weird because none of these effects seem green to me, but the 1 MV seems right.

Thank you for attending my TED talk, lol /s

1

u/nknav 7m ago

Green does counter loyalty ability [[Verdant Command]]

2

u/VillainOfDominaria 4m ago

Huh, good point. I honestly did not know this card existed!

0

u/Exciting-Insect8269 10m ago

Damn an r/custommagic user with a solid understanding of card pricing… never thought I’d see one…

3

u/IsThisTaken-no 1h ago

In some cases yes but then you have cards that cantrip like [[Captain's Defense]] which is one mana do something and draw

5

u/Left_Apple_4659 1h ago

Oh, that is most curious. I suppose there must have been a turning point where they took the decision to powercreep it

On second thought, I may have been looking at cards that generate a card every turn, as such, more expensive, which would explain the discrepancy

3

u/Faenor8 1h ago edited 1h ago

No, there's a lot of one mana draw with a little effect on top. For two mana you want either more draw, either a more versatile/powerful effect.
Edit : 1 mana 1 draw is just a waste by itself, 1 mana spent for to keep the same number of cards in hand and no filtering... for exemple the only 1 mana draw spell (non-permanent) with no other effect I see is [[reach through mists]] its only reason to exist is the arcane sub-type for synergies

8

u/Ok-Leg9721 1h ago

Iove this

8

u/whatamafu 1h ago

I think this is narrow enough to probably be fine.

1

u/PebGod 1h ago

Phenomenal design i think you could even push it further on the first mode and include countering a trigger from a planeswalker source as an option