Friendship is Card Games: Inspiration Manifestation · 3:43pm Apr 27th, 2014
Well, that was interesting. The Everfree definitely seems defanged now that the Tree of Harmony has fresh batteries. And Spike learns that all unicorns are insane and need a careful claw to keep them from losing themselves to monomania. I'd blame the second brain in the horn, but that's a bit of headcanon that seems to be unique to me.
Also, Spike can Smelt at will. Awesome.
On a more serious note, what precisely qualifies as dark magic in Equestria? There doesn't seem to be much overlap between "spells fueled by fear and hatred" and "fabulous transmutation." Is a magic's darkness judged largely or solely by its consequences? It's odd...
Finally, they need to start teaching unicorns not to read any potentially magical poetry aloud in magic kindergarden and never stop. First "Magical Mystery Cure," now this. Call it verbal trigger safety.
In any case, let's sample from my personal font of uncontrolled creative expression:
Constricting Couture 1WW
Enchantment — Aura
Flash
Enchant creature
Prevent all damage that would be dealt by enchanted creature.
Cunning seams and close tailoring make it about as easy to remove as the designer's horn.
Unusably Ostentatious 2W
Enchantment
Activated abilities of Auras and of enchanted permanents can't be activated.
If you ask a fashionista to design something practical, you have only yourself to blame.
Royal Dispelling 2W
Sorcery
Strive — Royal Dispelling costs 1W for each target beyond the first.
Exile any number of target artifacts and/or enchantments.
"When all else fails, call in a princess or three."
—Marion Mare, mayor of Ponyville
Wave of Fabulosity 2WW
Instant
All permanents become enchantments in addition to their other types until end of turn.
"Isn't it breathtaking?"
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Interdicting Owl 1UU
Creature — Bird
Flash
Flying
When Interdicting Owl enters the battlefield, counter target spell unless its controller pays 1 for each card in your hand.
"He's been around me long enough to recognize bad ideas at a glance."
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
1/1
Proteus Shift 3U
Sorcery
Put target creature on the bottom of its owner's library. That creature's controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. The player puts that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of his or her library in any order.
"Pinkie is involved. I'm not going to question it."
—Octavia, orchestral assassin
Stringless Puppeteer 3U
Creature — Unicorn
U, T: You may tap or untap target artifact or creature.
"My mark is what it is, but the purest puppetry can be performed only through telekinesis."
2/2
Inspiration Manifestation 4UUU
Enchantment
You may cast nonland cards from your hand without paying their mana costs.
Whenever you cast a spell, if you spent no mana to cast it, exile the top X cards of your library, where X is that spell's converted mana cost.
"If a spell's incantation ends in 'will you finally be set free,' don't cast it."
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
Spell Addiction 4UUU
Instant
Target instant or sorcery spell gains epic. (When that spell resolves, its controller can't cast spells for the rest of the game. At the beginning of that player's upkeep, he or she copies that spell except for any instances of epic.)
"It's all too possible to fall into your special talent and never look back. Sometimes friends can help. Sometimes... they can't."
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
Creative Urge 2R
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player's end step, if a permanent didn't enter the battlefield under that player's control this turn, Creative Urge deals 2 damage to him or her.
"It's the opposite of writer's block. The ideas come so thick and fast that they press against your skull, all trying to get out at once and none willing to make room for the others."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Lost in Opulence 1G
Instant
For each player who controls a nonbasic land, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt by creatures that player controls this turn.
Architecture and fashion rarely mix, and for good reason.
Crumbling Annex Trap 4GG
Instant — Trap
If an opponent cast two or more noncreature spells this turn, you may pay GG rather than pay Crumbling Annex Trap's mana cost.
Target player sacrifices an artifact, an enchantment, and a nonbasic land.
Bejeweled Rariot 3
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and can't be blocked except by enchanted creatures.
Equip 3
Warlords and trends both rapidly sweep over nations. It's surprisingly easy to combine the two.
Crystal Plate 3
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+3 and doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
Equip 3
The return of the Crystal Empire inspired a renaissance among Equestria's gemcrafters. That rebirth came with several teething problems.
Ominous Tome 4
Artifact
You may have Ominous Tome enter the battlefield tapped.
3, T: Draw a card.
At the beginning of your end step, if Ominous Tome is untapped, it deals 2 damage to you.
Some books want to be read. Some demand it.
Comfort Eating WB
Enchantment
(wb), Discard a card: You gain 4 life.
"The first ten pints didn't fill the hole in my heart, but I have a good feeling about this one."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Dragon's Meal 1BR
Sorcery
Destroy target nonenchantment permanent.
Dragons are true omnivores. Anything that fits down their gullets can be digested.
Unintended Incantation 1UUBB
Sorcery
Look at target player's hand. You may cast a nonland card from that hand without paying its mana cost.
Unicorn poets are some of Equestria's greatest daredevils. Every couplet might be an undiscovered spell.
Golden Road
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
XX, T: Tap X target creatures.
"Expensive, soft, blinding, all reasons why Canterlot's streets aren't actually paved with gold."
—Princess Celestia
I remember an idea for a fantasy series that was based on this-spells were based on random strings of letters, giving rise to a grad student/apprentice/intern/slave menial class that would go through huge amount of vocal possibilities everyday so they could find spells for their copyright holder/professor/wizard overlords.
Copyright infringement got real bloody real fast.
I think that "Dark" means "Can take control of caster." Basically, intelligent spells.
Or it could just be that Dark means "Illegal without permit." Like necromancy.
Hmm...
Font of Uncontrolled Creative Expression 1UR
Enchantment
2UR, Sacrifice Font of Uncontrolled Creative Expression: Draw two cards. You may cast a noncreature card at random from your hand without paying its mana cost.
Drink deep, and let your imagination surge forth.
Personally, I'd make Dragon's Meal read "Destroy target artifact, creature, Planeswalker, or land." (Most) Dragons can't eat something that doesn't have a physical presence (like most enchantments that aren't also other things), but I don't see why, say, Lucent Liminids are off the menu.
This is a tangent, but I feel like speaking up in defence of darkness (possibly upon being prodded to do so by Star Swirl, who feels strongly about this) and saying that in spite of what Twilight said, this spell wasn't really dark any meaningful sense. In fact it was downright dazzling and glorious and as far from "dark" as you can get! Clearly Equestria needs to learn that you can be completely aligned with light and beauty and still be sinister and destructive.
Ahem. This is the sort of stand that one feels like taking when one cares deeply about words for words' own sake, apparently.
I feel that Unusably Ostentatious should read "Activated abilities of enchantments and enchanted permanents can't be activated." While most enchantments don't really have activated abilities it would combo well with Wave of Fabulosity and not raise a 'power' of the card too much.
Proteus Shift has a typo; "library ". Left off the "l".
Spell Addiction is awesome. We need more epic.
Just what exactly is a "Rariot"?
I agree with 2053587 in that Dragon's Meal should be able to east things that are both an enchantment as well as another permanent type. And you've got plenty of room for the rules text.
2053082
Just an idea... or an actual story?
If 'Wave of Fabulosity' is indicative of anything, Rarity would love Theros.
2054788
As far as I know it's just an idea so far, but the guy who came up with it actively encourages its use
2053082
That's several kinds of awesome. I'll have to keep it in mind.
2053534
The kitchen sink gives you every idea but itself.
2053587
Well, liminids are basically holograms, according to the flavor text. Kind of hard to sink your teeth into projected light. The Nyxborn, meanwhile, are made of shadows and starlight, and are similarly untoothsome. Besides, black and red have plenty of other ways to kill enchantment creatures.
2054405
See above for why dragons can't eat enchantment creatures. A "rariot" is what Rarity called the chariot she created near the end of the episode, and I can't resist a good portmanteau. And I added Auras to what Unusably Ostentatious shuts down. Non-Auras can't get in the way of what they're adorning because they aren't adorning anything.
2054170
Agreed. Dark is not evil, light is not good. Kamigawa block reminded us of both.
2055489
The fashions, yes. The beauty of Nyx and its denizens, certainly. The pettiness of the gods? Not so much. She would have words with them. Probably while Ditzy is desperately trying to keep her from being smote.
Dark magic pulls on negative emotions. Where normal Equestrian magic draws power from the aspects of friendship and love, dark magic draws on hate, fear, greed, selfishness, etc.
Inspiration Manifestation is dark magic because it draws on selfishness and vanity- and because it puts its user/victim in a feedback loop that continually amplifies those emotions, thus compelling the user to use the spell more often and more broadly.
2055983 Fair enough. I was actually thinking of the God's Weapons (Spear of Heliod et cetera) when I started typing up my suggestion, so I don't know why I used Lucent Liminid as my example. (But the existence of a magical hologram implies the existence of a magical hologram projector. The liminid itself may be unsubstantial, but I imagine stained glass is delicious. And there is precedent for enchantments being edible, though that Beast shares no colours with this sorcery.)
Considering Unintended Incantation's flavour text, it's no wonder Ponyvillians thought Zecora was an enchantress at first. All she does is speak in couplets!
2054170
I'm right there with you on that one, but more because I'm a creature of darkness myself; I'd also like to believe that I'd be an Element of Kindness.
2055578
... Is there anywhere that I can read more about that idea?
2057353
2055983
Happy to be of service!
this guy now writes at Slate Star Codex, btw.http://squid314.livejournal.com/311759.html
And yeah, it's awesome. Plus a couple different magic systems
bonus quote: Once I give every child in my clean, well-run orphanage a puppy, I will be unstoppable! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!
2057436
Also this: magic inversely related to how much the wizard cares
2054170
And I would imagine that Luna has Something To Say on the subject as well.
2059194
Indeed, telling the Princess of Night that darkness is inherently sinister is not a great survival strategy.
I have just finished putting every card you've created thus far into a Magic Set Editor file on my computer called "Fan of Most Everything's Cards." There's a total of 662, enough for three large sets.
Of these, 83 are white, 156 are blue, 64 are black, 66 are red, 73 are green, 67 are colourless artifacts, 13 are lands, 114 are multicolour (11 WU, 17 UB, 9 BR, 10 RG, 8 GW, 8 WB, 11 UR, 3 BG, 8 RW, 11 GU, 2 RGW, 6 GWU, 3 WBR, 2 RWU, 1 UBR, 1 URG, 1 GWU, 1 BRG, and 1 WUBRG), and 27 are hybrid (5 WU, 3 UB, 1 RG, 8 GW, 2 WB, 5 UR, 1 BG, 1 RW, and 1 GU).
Nine of the 69 artifacts are creatures, and there's 171 creatures that aren't artifacts, 153 enchantments (30 Songs, 47 Auras, 2 Curses), 1 Enchantment Creature, 130 instants, 8 planeswalkers, and 117 sorceries.
Just to let you know.
2062284
I'm actually planning on doing something like this after the season finale. Thanks for the progress report!
Also, damn. As if I didn't have enough real cards.
I have the horrible urge to use Spell Addiction with Shahrazad. And then copy the spell. Of course.
2103946
You are a horrible, horrible person.
Use Enter the Dungeon.
And now, the flavor text of Demon-mail Hauberk:
Coincidence? I think NOT!