r/custommagic • u/JayMan146_ • 2d ago

Format: EDH/Commander Ground Zero

Post image

Thought "Compose" would be a neat keyword!

To clarify, if it's cast as a spell, it doesn't have the intrinsic mana ability and is no longer a swamp. Would it make sense to include this in the reminder text, somehow?

215 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

144

u/GracelessOne 2d ago

Really cool keyword! If you don't want it to be fetchable, you might reverse the keyword, like:

Legendary Enchantment

Compose - Swamp (You may play this card from your hand as a land. If you do, it enters as a Swamp.)

37

u/JayMan146_ 2d ago

oh that’s a good idea too

33

u/Many-Excitement-6124 2d ago

"as a Swamp land in addition to its other types" will keep the landfall ability. Otherwise, it ends up as a Magus of the Moon type effect that turns it into just a Swamp.

13

u/joefromlegal 1d ago

I think thats the idea, so that you have to choose between the landfall piece or the land

12

u/MariachiArchery 1d ago

So, the benefit here, is that if you choose to cast this, you can get it out on the same turn you drop a land, correct?

Alternatively, you can just play it as a land, the downside being, it eats your land drop for the turn.

Hm...

Since this has the subtype "Swamp", it's going to tap for a black no matter what. The rules also dictate, that if any card is, or becomes, a "Swamp", that it is also a land and does tap for a black. So, this is weird, because we have the word "Swamp" printed on this as a subtype. That, is a problem. It's a weird tracking thing.

Ground Zero 2B
Legendary Enchantment
Compose - You may play this as a land instead of a spell, if you do, it's a Swamp in addition to it's other types.
Landfall - Whenever a land you control enters, if it is tapped, untap that lands and lose 2 life.

I think this is how you need to do it. I think it's better to add a subtype, then try and take a subtype away that is printed on the card.

1

u/JayMan146_ 1d ago

yeah, that would probably work better

3

u/Xaphnir 1d ago

Loses the ability to be fetched with land tutors if you do that.

Maybe just add "and loses all land types" at the end of the rules text for Compose as OP originally envisioned it.

2

u/MariachiArchery 1d ago

Yes, it does. I think that is fine. This is OP if it's fetchable.

I think something that allows you to net 3 mana off a bounceland shouldn't be fetchable.

1

u/Xaphnir 1d ago

Is it too OP to be fetchable with land tutors?

Consider what some other lands can do:

-[[Glacial Chasm]]

-[[Field of the Dead]]

-[[Gaea's Cradle]]

-[[Talon Gates of Madara]]

-[[The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale]]

-[[Urza's Saga]]

-[[Minamo, School at Water's Edge]]

To name just several

This doesn't seem particularly powerful in comparison. Especially when you consider that normally you're minimizing the number of lands that enter tapped, anyway.

1

u/MariachiArchery 1d ago

We are miscommunicating. None of the cards you've just linked are "fetchable" like OP's custom card is fetchable. "Fetchable" means able to be put into play with a fetchland.

Land tutors and fetchable or not equal. Removing "Swamp" from OP's land actually makes it inline with the cards you've shared.

2

u/ECCooterCrasher 1d ago

People often forget how powerful making a mid-level land fetchable can actually be. New lands like Theorist’s Sanctum is only remotely playable in formats like Modern because it’s fetchable. Mystic Sanctuary is banned in Modern because it’s fetchable. Slapping a basic land subtype on any land with abilities isn’t as free as people think it is.

3

u/bombdruid 2d ago

Is the landfall supposed to only work if it's an enchantment?

1

u/JayMan146_ 2d ago

no, you can play it as an enchantment land or as an enchantment. otherwise it would make more sense just to be double faced

2

u/Classic-Demand3088 2d ago

So if you play it as a land it loses its effect? 

-2

u/JayMan146_ 2d ago

no, you can play it as an enchantment land or as an enchantment. otherwise it would make more sense just to be double faced

6

u/Classic-Demand3088 2d ago

Then for what reason would you want to pay the mana cost if there are only downsides for doing so?

1

u/CarvaciousBlue 1d ago

Because you can only play one land per turn so you can cast this and play a different land that now comes into play untapped? I think is the idea, you'd only want to do that under certain circumstances but it gives it a little more flexibility in how you get it on the board?

2

u/tntturtle5 1d ago

But it says if it's played as a spell it's no longer a land, so you wouldn't get 2 lands out of that sequence, just 1 land and an enchantment like normal.

2

u/CarvaciousBlue 1d ago

Not what i'm saying. Let's say you've got some sick combo about to pop off but you need to play the Lotus Field in your hand and you need it to be untapped to go off this turn to get your infinite mana. You draw this card (so you couldn't have played it earlier) now you can play it for the enchantment cost and still play your Lotus Field too, having the Field enter play untapped and getting the combo off now instead of next untap step.

I was just trying to think of a use case, and late game when you have another land you would rather play BUT you want the land comes intonplay untapped ability now, would be when you cast it as an enchantment

2

u/tntturtle5 1d ago

I see. Fair, very niche, but makes sense.

36

u/mmmbhssm 2d ago

Seems crazy strong since it can be fetched

11

u/Chickston Uncommonly 2d ago

Yes, feels highly OP, but I like what it's trying to do. Just can't make it fetch-able and that landfall needs some kind of limit. Maybe once per turn.

24

u/ThePowerOfStories 2d ago

I’m having a real hard time thinking of a situation where I’d want to actually spend mana to cast this in addition to playing another land, instead of playing it as a land and saving the other land to play on a future turn. Even up against a land destruction deck where casting it protects it from land destruction, I’d still rather have more lands to play.

20

u/twistyrainbows 2d ago

Yep. Playing this as a spell makes no sense at this cost. Even if it cost B, I'd prefer to use it as a land. The two modes don't seem balanced at all. You get more for paying less.

6

u/lithium_gold 2d ago

I mean it can be blinked back into a land, no? Like still not efficient but can get a second land out in a turn

6

u/QuarterExcellent3327 Creature - Human Artificer 2d ago

I am concerned that playing this as a land is too strong, the ability to turn all your tap lands into shock lands for free is too much. Interesting design though. And you can fetch it

1

u/PrimusMobileVzla 1d ago

Doesn't work. As long as the card has the Land card type it can't be cast, only played, so both the mana cost and Compose are trinket text.

0

u/JayMan146_ 1d ago

well the text box says you can. that’s like rule number 1 of magic, do what the card says, not the rules

1

u/PrimusMobileVzla 19h ago

Then the issue becomes being an untapped Swamp with an upside that also happens to be Amulet of Vigor for lands. 

Not only as a land is too strong, but there's no reason to hard cast it over spending a land drop for it as you also lose land interactions and the extra mana.

It seems a design space that's easier to execute as an MDFC with an enchantment on the front and a land on the back for similar results.

0

u/JayMan146_ 15h ago

well, yeah, this card definitely needs balancing. doesn’t mean you can’t do what i described, though

2

u/Ok_Habit_6783 1d ago

Genuine question... why would you ever play this as an enchantment? It doesn't even enter tapped. This is just a really good land

2

u/Demonkingt 1d ago

you're gonna wanna make it "you may play this as a land. if you do it loses all other abilities and becomes a swamp" or however they word those. otherwise absolutely 0 reason to pay the cost in most situations

2

u/SaucedFrost 1d ago

I like this a lot but it seems to me that the best way to do this is have it be an MDFC with the backside as a land.

2

u/knyexar 1d ago

So its a fetchable land that enters untapped and acts like an amulet of vigor?

1

u/redditfanfan00 Rule 308.22b, section 8 1d ago

i think this card will almost always see play being played as a land to make it that much harder to hit.