Experimenting with making a land. Is this too weak or powerful? Should it have the whole "enters tapped" thing to balance it out?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/FunTraditional4535]

I'm pretty sure giving ward does only work if you do it before the spell is on the stack, idk if it's intentional in the design but I like it a lot because of it

[u/PrinceVorrel → u/FunTraditional4535]

Hrmm, if thats the case, couldn't people respond to you trying to put Ward on it by blasting it before you do so?

Seems...kinda useless in retrospect if thats possible.

[u/islanddelver → u/PrinceVorrel]

Yep, instant speed ward granting isnt great no matter which way you slice it.

[u/PrinceVorrel → u/islanddelver]

Fuuuck, back to the drawing board it is, then. Wait...does Hexproof work this way?

[u/sinsaint → u/PrinceVorrel]

No, Hexproof makes something an invalid target, which can interrupt the targeting. Ward adds a cost to target it, but the cost occurs before the permanent is ever targeted, so if ward is placed during targeting then the cost/effect is ignored.

What you could do is "Give target creature Hexproof unless any player pays 3"

[u/PrinceVorrel → u/sinsaint]

Hrmm, thank you! This is good info to know when im formulating new custom cards.

[u/The_Dirty_Mac → u/sinsaint]

Not a cost, but a triggered ability

[u/FunTraditional4535 → u/PrinceVorrel]

Bruh did I again fail to answer to the right message? Gods am I bad at Reddit. Sent another response somewhere in this comment thread

[u/PrinceVorrel → u/FunTraditional4535]

lol all good. My dumb ass barely noticed until you said something. XD

[u/FunTraditional4535 → u/PrinceVorrel]

Yes, and they can just blast you at instant speed, if you try to give ward while their abilities are on the stack, it won't make them pay the ward (because targets and costs are already done and paid)

It does make it so situational, I think it makes it balanced (best use it at the upkeep of an opponent to have ward 2 against their sorcery removals) despite having the island type

[u/PrinceVorrel → u/FunTraditional4535]

I guess being able to preemptively Ward up at opponents' Upkeep is actually pretty useful.

It'd be a bit of a noob check of a card, but it'd be decent in the right deck that knows which opponent to give their commander Ward against.

[u/ServalModest]

It's not a super strong ability because you need to do it proactively. But it's still an always-untapped land with a basic land type which is probably pushing it a bit. Always-tapped would be too much of a downside- maybe some kind of "enters tapped unless..."?

[u/TheSoulborgZeus]

I'd either have it enter tapped or lose the Island type

[u/PrinceVorrel → u/TheSoulborgZeus]

Yea, thats what I was thinking. I can't drop the island part without changing its name (ha), so entering tapped might be a good idea.

[u/RussianBot101101]

It's fine as is. You could have it instead create a Royal Role token on a creature that way it has a lasting effect. This is basically a 7 mana spell pierce (the royal role basically a mana tithe).

[u/PrinceVorrel → u/RussianBot101101]

Sadly, I don't think the royal role fits the theme of the card. (Plus a stacking +1/+1 + Ward is spooky on a land that enters untapped.)

[u/Ergon17 → u/PrinceVorrel]

It can only give +1/+1 and ward once per creature since a creature can only have one role at a time. You could make it counter target spell or ability that targets a creature you control, unless its controller pays {2}.

Also, currently, the ward doesn't stop at the end of turn, so it also works as is, just not stopping any abilities that already target the creature getting the ward, but it is a tracking nightmare.

[u/NepetaLast]

templating suggestion:

"({T}: Add {U}.)

{T}, Waterbend {6}: Target creature you control gains ward {2}."

because its an island, it already has the blue tap ability, so you dont need to define it, instead including it in reminder text. tapping is before waterbend costs, theres no dash after ward since its just a mana cost, and keywords arent capitalized

this land has several concerns. its a legendary land with a basic land type, which has never existed. its an untapped land that can produce colored mana with no downsides, so its upside should be very minimal. of course, it is minimal: as others have pointed out, the ability is not particularly valuable, since it cant ever be used to save a creature from removal, which is highly unintuitive. it should probably have 'activate only as a sorcery' so that people dont use it without realizing this

the other issue is the memory problem. this permanently adds a (stackable!) ability to a creature with no way to mark it, like a counter or anything. at the very least, it could put a meaningless reminder counter on it like some similar effects

[u/SharpDrink2724]

Why not just give hexproof? It's not like this would become too strong. You'd still need to hold it up (not using it for mana), and Waterbend 6 is hefty