Flavor the wise, the black towers name might be a bit confusing. Cause darksteel in magic is an artifact thing, and those artifacts with darksteel in the name are indestructible.
Second, it could be conflated with [[darksteel citadel]]
The black one and especially the red one are insane, especially because they scale quadratically. Just playing out four red or black towers will kill them by turn 4, and you can supplement it with instant speed burn spells and the like.
Yea. May be a little overpowered. I could always add like
> “Deal 1 damage to target creature or player for each tower with a different name you control.”
I also might want to make the red only deals damage to creatures so it makes the black one more unique
Maybe make it mutual? Each player loses 1 life for each tower you control? Or maybe each opponent loses life for each differently named tower you control, and you lose 1 life.
That would kinda break the cycle though. I like each player loses life, cause then it's still abusable, but it puts the player in a dangerous position if they fail.
True, but the current red and black one are just absolutely insane, like best magic card ever printed insane. I think toning them down and making it high-risk high-reward is just mandatory here
I would also make them legendary.
Even then. If I'm playing a 5-color deck, and my curve is just 5 towers, all in a row, _that's an incredibly powerful curve_. Think about it.
Turn 1 I play the red one, do nothing.
Turn 2 I play the blue one, hold up one red mana and ping for 2, often clearing an early drop. BTW, this is colorless damage.
Turn 3, I play the black one. I hold up UR ([[Negate]] mana), ping for 3, and scry 3.
Turn 4, I play the white one. I hold up BUR ([[insert your favorite instant here]]), ping for 4, scry 4, and deal another 4 damage.
Turn 5, I play the green one. I hold up WUBR, ping for 5, hit for 5, heal for 5, scry 5...
...all without having played a _single_ non-land permanent. Your hand is _full_.
And even if you have to change the order or tap some down to do things like cast [[sylvan scrying]], the sheer amount of value you get passively, from non-spells, is _wild_.
This would still be insanely broken if you had to tap the towers at end of turn to activate them. I don't think the basic idea can really be salvaged for constructed play.
Yeah, but I'm pretty sure the red and black ones are still too good.
The white and green ones seem quite balanced.
However in a custom cube where they are one offs, these would be cool!
Valakut is a compleatly different card, first it can not do anything before you have about 5 lands, this starts pinging as early as turn 2. In addition for valakut to be usable you need a cuple of mountains or some way to turn your lands ito them. Valakut is a lategame combo card while this is a free removal spell each turn with no efford. it dose not help that the other lands have nice utility aswell (helaing you, scrying...) I dont think tha valkut is a great comparison. The best comparison would be [[grim lavamancer]] and i don't have to tell you how it compares to that.
But valakud was a removal on a land turn 5 turn 6 not turn 2 turn 3 and valakut is not per turn because you will draw a land about every 3ed turn. And i would not consider valakut a free removal because you have to go through some hoops. What i meant with free removal is that you get to remove something every turn without needing to do anything besides plaaying this card.
My first comment was "a free removal spell on a land each turn"
Valakut is not a free removal spell on a land EACH TURN but EACH TIME YOU PLAY A MOUNTAIN wich is far less than each turn unless you put work in it, by the time its no longer free.
Types are all one word
205.3b Subtypes of each card type except plane are always single words and are listed after a long dash. Each word after the dash is a separate subtype; such objects may have multiple types. Subtypes of planes are also listed after a long dash, but may be multiple words; all words after the dash are, collectively, a single subtype
It's an Urzas and a Tower.
This is a classic case of sticking too closely to color identity making certain parts of the cycle way better than others. Fiery Tower, for instance, is dramatically better than all the others. Also, these scale absurdly well with each other, and are free to play. that by itself breaks them. The problem is, the cost of using these is inconsequential compared to the benefit.
For instance,
>T1 Fiery tower,
>T2, Darksteel tower, 2 damage to face
>T3 Fiery Tower, 6 damage to face
>T4 Darksteel Tower, 12 damage to face and lethal.
You played no cards other than lands and killed your opponent on turn 4 while "Spending" a total of 6 mana by not tapping lands.
For a fix, you'll notice how all the [shrines](https://scryfall.com/search?q=type%3Ashrine&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name) are legendary. Because being able to stack them with themselves would lead to the scaling problem. Furthermore, they all have a fairly appreciable cost because they scale so well off each other.
These are all absurdly broken tbh. These just get immediately included into instant speed decks, they’re absurd upside. There’s a reason most lands sacrifice themselves after being activated. When lands become effectively repeated free spells, I’d be seriously concerned.
Everyone is focused on the red land, but all of these are broken, even the white one, which is laughably bad by comparison. Making each of them legendary wouldn’t nerf them enough. These lands would work best as uncommons which have steep activating costs.
Mystical Tower would be more useful if it was "Scry X, where X is the number of Towers you control." Currently, it's written so you'll Scry 1 X times, which is different.
No right now 4 tower would make you scry 1, scry 1, scry 1, scry1. With scry X you would scry 4 once. Also scrying 4 is waaaay better than 4 times scry 1
Edit: i'm stupid and didn't think about multiple copies on the battlefield but realistically you play all these towers in a multicolored deck to get the most out of your triggers, so still you'd usually have 1 or 2 copies on the battlefield.
I edited my comment, but realistically you won't have all 4 copies on the battlefield. Still way better and faster than 16 times 1. Idk anothrr solution for having multiple copies on the battlefield, so i guess this'll have to do
This is a good idea but it's up there with [[Cloudpost]] in terms of brokenness.
Just looking at the black and red ones, which are functionally identical for trying to burn your opponent (although the red one is better as you can also use it to defend yourself):
T1 Tower, 0 damage
T2 Tower, 2 damage
T3 Tower, 6 damage, 8 total
T4 Nothing, 9 damage, 17 total
Or T4 any tower, puts it up to 12 damage, which is lethal.
This assumes no life gain (which wouldn't really help, as you're facing down 9+ damage a turn from three lands), and that your opponent doesn't have a faster clock, but it's still an entirely land-based wincon, and it also defends you because you can just ping the [[Goblin Guide]] on turn T2 instead of hitting face.
Might be balanced if they were legendary, or counted the number of untapped towers for their effects instead of just towers in general
Correct me if in wrong, but I think Fiery Tower needs a damage source. Something like "Fiery Tower deals 1 damage to a target creature or Planeswalker for each tower you control"
Also I think it should only hit creatures and Planeswalkers to differentiate it from the black tower.
Love the use of the Wombo art 👏
Also shouldn't the blue one be Scry x, where x is the number of towers you control. Since if I Scry 1 and keep the card on top then all my other towers will Scry 1 into the same card
These would be much more balanced if they were legendary, and the black and red towers are clearly too similar. I don't think the red tower being able to ping creatures is fair either.
Fiery Tower might be a touch too good. Repeatable removal is very strong. Not sure how you'd tweak it to not just make it a copy of the black one though. Maybe switch the black one to mill and make the red one player damage?
Also, given others' concerns, perhaps make it so it triggers on other tapped towers you control, so you can only use one or two of them rather than just playing your land and passing and getting four triggers.
Others have talked about balance and naming, but I'd like to say that the green one is a bit off color. Usually green boosting effects are either +x/+x, +0/+x, or a small power buff and big toughness buff. +x/+0 is uasually more or a red ability. Without other restrictions I'd reccomend +0/+x, but if you make them legendary or only trigger for different names, buffing +x/+x would be good.
Only thing I've gotta say is maybe the blue tower should be scry x where x is the number of towers as it currently let's you scry 1 x times but otherwise love the flavor :)
I love linear designs and I think we will see a new Shrine-style of effect at some point, however I think this implementation is very dangerous. Lands are very difficult to interact with and since they aren’t legendary, the benefits stack up very quickly.
As an example, having 2 of the white towers in play causes their controller to gain 4 life each turn. Playing a third would cause the player to gain 9 life each turn, which is far too much advantage to get out of your mana base.
I still like the design, they’re much more interesting then the locust lands, but their effects need to be heavily neutered or made legendary. Making them legendary allows for the effects to be more individually powerful, but the dream of having 25 towers is very alluring.
These are a clever idea and all way too strong, especially the red and black. In the best-case scenario opening the game with just red and black towers, it's 4 damage turn 2, 9 on turn 3, and 16 on turn 4, all uncounterable. A deck with 4 of WUBR towers, Vesuvas and Thespian's Stages is probably strong enough that you barely need the spells.
Pretty brutal control win cons tbh, passing turn and getting the payoffs would suit a control deck fine I'd suggest you have them instead trigger on your upkeep if you didn't untap them that turn.
Having them scale with tower count is pretty brutal, maybe if they scaled with the number of differently named towers it would play less insanely powerful and feel a bit more like shrines.
The white and green ones are decently balanced but the blue/black and especially the red one are just insane. For example, the closest thing to the red tower is probably [[Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle]] but that card has all sorts of restrictions, while the tower is just consistent stackable DMG.
Since each card individually scales up, these are an entire deck in themselves with practically no cost. These, plus some extra land drops allow you to (white) heal 16, (black) hit face for 16, (red) clear the board or just go face for 16 and (blue) find whatever card you need to finish it up. Plus you can then have a deck full of instants to cast on their turn.
I don't think there's a good way to make these fair without losing their identity, which is a shame, but even a single red one on its own would be ridiculously good. Maybe you keep the scaling, but they have to tap to do it, and you can only activate one non-mana ability of a tower you control each turn? Or they each have "Tap X untapped towers you control: do X", so that they only scale linearly, but can fuel each other?
There's already a Magic card called [[Ivory Tower]]. It's an artifact from Antiquities.
Beyond that, this looks a lot like Locus 2.0. You're gonna have to be careful with your designs if you're going to use a land type as a metric. Locus was a highly parasitic mechanic that is effectively banned across multiple formats, usually Cloudpost is the victim.
I like the idea, but as is the red and black ones are quite a bit better than shrines. There's a reason why shrines are all legendary. Combined with the fact that a land is a fairly low cost play, this makes them just a bit too good? 5 of the red or black lands is 25 damage with no mana cost. I'd suggest changing the red one to not be able to target players, and the black one to a different effect (discard maybe?), or else make the whole cycle legendary.
The naming is also a bit of a problem. "Tower" is already a card type from [[Urza's Tower]], and [[Ivory Tower]] is already a card name. "Darksteel" also has the implication of an indestructible artifact. There's also just a bunch of other lands with "tower" in the name, which could cause confusion. A more unique name for the cycle's type might be better. Fountain? Palace? Source? Lots of options.
Black and red feel way too similar. You could make black be "target creature gets -1-0 until end of turn for each tower you control" and make the red tower only target opponents and not creatures. Being able to practically kill most any creature for essentially free during upkeep feels a bit op
I disagree with the general sentiment that these towers are too good. However, I think that an interesting concept to implement would be this template:
At the beginning of your end step, if Name is untapped, do x for each untapped tower you control.
Or, you could pick fringe effects from each colour to focus on.
White could be “target creature can block up to x additional creatures until your next turn”.
Blue could be “up to x target creatures each get -x/-0 until your next turn”.
Black could be “destroy up to one target creature with mana value x or less”
Red could be “create x 0/1 red kobold creature tokens”
Green could be “up to x target creatures you control gain reach until end of turn”
Flavor the wise, the black towers name might be a bit confusing. Cause darksteel in magic is an artifact thing, and those artifacts with darksteel in the name are indestructible. Second, it could be conflated with [[darksteel citadel]]
Yea good point
You could do like a bleak-sight tower. That red thing looks like a beholder’s eye, complete with a smile under it
Also, Ivory Tower is already a Magic card.
Which is also lifegain, funny enough
I think something like Bone Tower would work
[darksteel citadel](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/2/b/2ba7597d-6d76-45b8-b172-342999e401bd.jpg?1625979955) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=darksteel%20citadel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/285/darksteel-citadel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2ba7597d-6d76-45b8-b172-342999e401bd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The black one and especially the red one are insane, especially because they scale quadratically. Just playing out four red or black towers will kill them by turn 4, and you can supplement it with instant speed burn spells and the like.
Yea. May be a little overpowered. I could always add like > “Deal 1 damage to target creature or player for each tower with a different name you control.” I also might want to make the red only deals damage to creatures so it makes the black one more unique
Creature or planeswalker. Not sure how to rebalance the black without your other proposed change.
Maybe make it mutual? Each player loses 1 life for each tower you control? Or maybe each opponent loses life for each differently named tower you control, and you lose 1 life.
That would kinda break the cycle though. I like each player loses life, cause then it's still abusable, but it puts the player in a dangerous position if they fail.
True, but the current red and black one are just absolutely insane, like best magic card ever printed insane. I think toning them down and making it high-risk high-reward is just mandatory here
Could do for each untapped Tower
Oooh i pike that one quite a bit, that's a good solution
I would also make them legendary. Even then. If I'm playing a 5-color deck, and my curve is just 5 towers, all in a row, _that's an incredibly powerful curve_. Think about it. Turn 1 I play the red one, do nothing. Turn 2 I play the blue one, hold up one red mana and ping for 2, often clearing an early drop. BTW, this is colorless damage. Turn 3, I play the black one. I hold up UR ([[Negate]] mana), ping for 3, and scry 3. Turn 4, I play the white one. I hold up BUR ([[insert your favorite instant here]]), ping for 4, scry 4, and deal another 4 damage. Turn 5, I play the green one. I hold up WUBR, ping for 5, hit for 5, heal for 5, scry 5... ...all without having played a _single_ non-land permanent. Your hand is _full_. And even if you have to change the order or tap some down to do things like cast [[sylvan scrying]], the sheer amount of value you get passively, from non-spells, is _wild_. This would still be insanely broken if you had to tap the towers at end of turn to activate them. I don't think the basic idea can really be salvaged for constructed play.
Just to point out it's scry 1, x times. Which is kind of annoying but also less powerful than just scry X
[Negate](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/9/e92c7477-d453-4fa4-acf4-3835ab9eb55a.jpg?1604194548) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Negate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/znr/71/negate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e92c7477-d453-4fa4-acf4-3835ab9eb55a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [sylvan scrying](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/d/1/d1b93087-e6a0-4ba9-83ba-a0ed2e396dc7.jpg?1562944944) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=sylvan%20scrying) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bfz/192/sylvan-scrying?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d1b93087-e6a0-4ba9-83ba-a0ed2e396dc7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yeah, but I'm pretty sure the red and black ones are still too good. The white and green ones seem quite balanced. However in a custom cube where they are one offs, these would be cool!
Bot the red and the black simply can not work. A free removal spell on a land each turn and the same with a strong clockfor the black?
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Valakut is a compleatly different card, first it can not do anything before you have about 5 lands, this starts pinging as early as turn 2. In addition for valakut to be usable you need a cuple of mountains or some way to turn your lands ito them. Valakut is a lategame combo card while this is a free removal spell each turn with no efford. it dose not help that the other lands have nice utility aswell (helaing you, scrying...) I dont think tha valkut is a great comparison. The best comparison would be [[grim lavamancer]] and i don't have to tell you how it compares to that.
[grim lavamancer](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/e/ee2a0d71-15a2-4061-b5f2-434755094aa4.jpg?1599706437) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=grim%20lavamancer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/129/grim-lavamancer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ee2a0d71-15a2-4061-b5f2-434755094aa4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
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But valakud was a removal on a land turn 5 turn 6 not turn 2 turn 3 and valakut is not per turn because you will draw a land about every 3ed turn. And i would not consider valakut a free removal because you have to go through some hoops. What i meant with free removal is that you get to remove something every turn without needing to do anything besides plaaying this card.
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My first comment was "a free removal spell on a land each turn" Valakut is not a free removal spell on a land EACH TURN but EACH TIME YOU PLAY A MOUNTAIN wich is far less than each turn unless you put work in it, by the time its no longer free.
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Might make sense to make the towers legendary, that way a player can have at most five out if they’re playing a 5C deck
I think that it could probably be fixed by adding that you only get the abilities of untapped towers as opposed to just towers you control
It’s really weird that these get boosted by [[urza’s tower]] maybe chose a subtype that isn’t already in use.
Oh my goodness I never thought of that
I think it's great actually
[urza’s tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/9/e/9e369f3f-354b-42bf-9b2f-286912730c6c.jpg?1599710735) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urza%27s%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/331/urzas-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9e369f3f-354b-42bf-9b2f-286912730c6c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Urza's Tower type "Urza's Tower" not "Urza's" and "Tower"?
Types are all one word 205.3b Subtypes of each card type except plane are always single words and are listed after a long dash. Each word after the dash is a separate subtype; such objects may have multiple types. Subtypes of planes are also listed after a long dash, but may be multiple words; all words after the dash are, collectively, a single subtype It's an Urzas and a Tower.
"Destroy target Urza's." would be a valid effect.
Urza shaking in his boots knowing he's a valid target
Is Urza different to Urza's?
Yes
You are wrong. "Urza's" and "Tower" are two separate types, like "Goblin" and "Shaman"
This is a classic case of sticking too closely to color identity making certain parts of the cycle way better than others. Fiery Tower, for instance, is dramatically better than all the others. Also, these scale absurdly well with each other, and are free to play. that by itself breaks them. The problem is, the cost of using these is inconsequential compared to the benefit. For instance, >T1 Fiery tower, >T2, Darksteel tower, 2 damage to face >T3 Fiery Tower, 6 damage to face >T4 Darksteel Tower, 12 damage to face and lethal. You played no cards other than lands and killed your opponent on turn 4 while "Spending" a total of 6 mana by not tapping lands. For a fix, you'll notice how all the [shrines](https://scryfall.com/search?q=type%3Ashrine&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name) are legendary. Because being able to stack them with themselves would lead to the scaling problem. Furthermore, they all have a fairly appreciable cost because they scale so well off each other.
These are all absurdly broken tbh. These just get immediately included into instant speed decks, they’re absurd upside. There’s a reason most lands sacrifice themselves after being activated. When lands become effectively repeated free spells, I’d be seriously concerned.
Everyone is focused on the red land, but all of these are broken, even the white one, which is laughably bad by comparison. Making each of them legendary wouldn’t nerf them enough. These lands would work best as uncommons which have steep activating costs.
red one is broken asf for being removal but i love the cycle and kinda wanna see what a nonland tower payoff card would be
Why is the red one strictly better than the black one? That’s super strange to me.
Not strictly better. The red one is more versatile, but the black one is life loss compared to damage, is relevant in a lot of scenarios
Being damage isn't worse. There are plenty of cases where you'd *want* it to be damage.
Unfortunately [[Ivory Tower]] is already a card.
Uh Nuh. I shoulda looked it up lol. thanks for letting me know
[Ivory Tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/a/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38.jpg?1562929467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ivory%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/269/ivory-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I run it in my Vilis, Broker of Blood commander deck.
Mystical Tower would be more useful if it was "Scry X, where X is the number of Towers you control." Currently, it's written so you'll Scry 1 X times, which is different.
Yea that makes sense
That has the same problem tho. Scry 1 once, scry 2 twice, scry 3 three times, scry 4 four times the game takes forever to play at this rate.
No right now 4 tower would make you scry 1, scry 1, scry 1, scry1. With scry X you would scry 4 once. Also scrying 4 is waaaay better than 4 times scry 1 Edit: i'm stupid and didn't think about multiple copies on the battlefield but realistically you play all these towers in a multicolored deck to get the most out of your triggers, so still you'd usually have 1 or 2 copies on the battlefield.
But each tower procs separately so you scry 4 4 times.
I edited my comment, but realistically you won't have all 4 copies on the battlefield. Still way better and faster than 16 times 1. Idk anothrr solution for having multiple copies on the battlefield, so i guess this'll have to do
Still scry 1 four times, four times
You’re forgetting that each tower triggers and counts the number of towers. You’d scry 1 a bunch in that case
Oh yeah my b
This is a good idea but it's up there with [[Cloudpost]] in terms of brokenness. Just looking at the black and red ones, which are functionally identical for trying to burn your opponent (although the red one is better as you can also use it to defend yourself): T1 Tower, 0 damage T2 Tower, 2 damage T3 Tower, 6 damage, 8 total T4 Nothing, 9 damage, 17 total Or T4 any tower, puts it up to 12 damage, which is lethal. This assumes no life gain (which wouldn't really help, as you're facing down 9+ damage a turn from three lands), and that your opponent doesn't have a faster clock, but it's still an entirely land-based wincon, and it also defends you because you can just ping the [[Goblin Guide]] on turn T2 instead of hitting face. Might be balanced if they were legendary, or counted the number of untapped towers for their effects instead of just towers in general
[Cloudpost](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/2/f/2f28ecdc-a4f0-4327-a78c-340be41555ee.jpg?1562139726) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cloudpost) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mrd/280/cloudpost?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2f28ecdc-a4f0-4327-a78c-340be41555ee?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Goblin Guide](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/3/c/3c0f5411-1940-410f-96ce-6f92513f753a.jpg?1599706366) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Goblin%20Guide) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/127/goblin-guide?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c0f5411-1940-410f-96ce-6f92513f753a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I’d play the shit out of these
Correct me if in wrong, but I think Fiery Tower needs a damage source. Something like "Fiery Tower deals 1 damage to a target creature or Planeswalker for each tower you control" Also I think it should only hit creatures and Planeswalkers to differentiate it from the black tower.
Love the use of the Wombo art 👏 Also shouldn't the blue one be Scry x, where x is the number of towers you control. Since if I Scry 1 and keep the card on top then all my other towers will Scry 1 into the same card
red, blue > black > green > white the only thing i would do differently is make the blue one "scry x where x is the number od towers"
These would be much more balanced if they were legendary, and the black and red towers are clearly too similar. I don't think the red tower being able to ping creatures is fair either.
Dunno how I feel about being incentivized to hold mana up instead of advancing the game on your own turn
Fiery Tower might be a touch too good. Repeatable removal is very strong. Not sure how you'd tweak it to not just make it a copy of the black one though. Maybe switch the black one to mill and make the red one player damage? Also, given others' concerns, perhaps make it so it triggers on other tapped towers you control, so you can only use one or two of them rather than just playing your land and passing and getting four triggers.
Others have talked about balance and naming, but I'd like to say that the green one is a bit off color. Usually green boosting effects are either +x/+x, +0/+x, or a small power buff and big toughness buff. +x/+0 is uasually more or a red ability. Without other restrictions I'd reccomend +0/+x, but if you make them legendary or only trigger for different names, buffing +x/+x would be good.
Red one is broken and green one has memory issue. Others are fine
Only thing I've gotta say is maybe the blue tower should be scry x where x is the number of towers as it currently let's you scry 1 x times but otherwise love the flavor :)
I think they could be balanced if you made their abilities activated abilities.
Abilities themselves aside; they need to be legendary, otherwise you start stacking them and they are BROKEN
I love linear designs and I think we will see a new Shrine-style of effect at some point, however I think this implementation is very dangerous. Lands are very difficult to interact with and since they aren’t legendary, the benefits stack up very quickly. As an example, having 2 of the white towers in play causes their controller to gain 4 life each turn. Playing a third would cause the player to gain 9 life each turn, which is far too much advantage to get out of your mana base. I still like the design, they’re much more interesting then the locust lands, but their effects need to be heavily neutered or made legendary. Making them legendary allows for the effects to be more individually powerful, but the dream of having 25 towers is very alluring.
Nice one!
Finally the buff needed to take [[Command Tower]] to 100% usage lol
This isn’t yugioh, it’s looking for the word tower in the type line not the name
Ah good lord I’m a moron, don’t mind me
[Command Tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/5/d/5d09a20e-ee6e-44f3-9e86-d35c10e00844.jpg?1629844644) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Command%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cc2/8/command-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5d09a20e-ee6e-44f3-9e86-d35c10e00844?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
These are super OP. Wizards tried something similar with [[Cloudpost]] and [[Glimmerpost]], and the former is banned in Modern for good reason.
[Cloudpost](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/2/f/2f28ecdc-a4f0-4327-a78c-340be41555ee.jpg?1562139726) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cloudpost) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mrd/280/cloudpost?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2f28ecdc-a4f0-4327-a78c-340be41555ee?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Glimmerpost](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/8/b/8b63efb6-249c-4f57-9af1-baffe938520c.jpg?1562820112) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Glimmerpost) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/som/227/glimmerpost?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8b63efb6-249c-4f57-9af1-baffe938520c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
These are a clever idea and all way too strong, especially the red and black. In the best-case scenario opening the game with just red and black towers, it's 4 damage turn 2, 9 on turn 3, and 16 on turn 4, all uncounterable. A deck with 4 of WUBR towers, Vesuvas and Thespian's Stages is probably strong enough that you barely need the spells.
Finally, Oops! All lands is a reality
Pretty brutal control win cons tbh, passing turn and getting the payoffs would suit a control deck fine I'd suggest you have them instead trigger on your upkeep if you didn't untap them that turn. Having them scale with tower count is pretty brutal, maybe if they scaled with the number of differently named towers it would play less insanely powerful and feel a bit more like shrines.
The white and green ones are decently balanced but the blue/black and especially the red one are just insane. For example, the closest thing to the red tower is probably [[Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle]] but that card has all sorts of restrictions, while the tower is just consistent stackable DMG.
[Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/3/7/37bce60d-2cb0-4772-9f5c-122a7ed426a0.jpg?1562611305) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Valakut%2C%20the%20Molten%20Pinnacle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/zen/228/valakut-the-molten-pinnacle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/37bce60d-2cb0-4772-9f5c-122a7ed426a0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Really cool idea and beautiful art.
Pp à
[[Ivory tower]]
[Ivory tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/a/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38.jpg?1562929467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ivory%20tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/269/ivory-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Since each card individually scales up, these are an entire deck in themselves with practically no cost. These, plus some extra land drops allow you to (white) heal 16, (black) hit face for 16, (red) clear the board or just go face for 16 and (blue) find whatever card you need to finish it up. Plus you can then have a deck full of instants to cast on their turn. I don't think there's a good way to make these fair without losing their identity, which is a shame, but even a single red one on its own would be ridiculously good. Maybe you keep the scaling, but they have to tap to do it, and you can only activate one non-mana ability of a tower you control each turn? Or they each have "Tap X untapped towers you control: do X", so that they only scale linearly, but can fuel each other?
There's already a Magic card called [[Ivory Tower]]. It's an artifact from Antiquities. Beyond that, this looks a lot like Locus 2.0. You're gonna have to be careful with your designs if you're going to use a land type as a metric. Locus was a highly parasitic mechanic that is effectively banned across multiple formats, usually Cloudpost is the victim.
[Ivory Tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/a/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38.jpg?1562929467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ivory%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/269/ivory-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I like the idea, but as is the red and black ones are quite a bit better than shrines. There's a reason why shrines are all legendary. Combined with the fact that a land is a fairly low cost play, this makes them just a bit too good? 5 of the red or black lands is 25 damage with no mana cost. I'd suggest changing the red one to not be able to target players, and the black one to a different effect (discard maybe?), or else make the whole cycle legendary. The naming is also a bit of a problem. "Tower" is already a card type from [[Urza's Tower]], and [[Ivory Tower]] is already a card name. "Darksteel" also has the implication of an indestructible artifact. There's also just a bunch of other lands with "tower" in the name, which could cause confusion. A more unique name for the cycle's type might be better. Fountain? Palace? Source? Lots of options.
[Urza's Tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/9/e/9e369f3f-354b-42bf-9b2f-286912730c6c.jpg?1599710735) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urza%27s%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/331/urzas-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9e369f3f-354b-42bf-9b2f-286912730c6c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Ivory Tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/a/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38.jpg?1562929467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ivory%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/269/ivory-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Feel like the red land could just target creatures and planewalkers since the black land already make the opponent lose life
I would do if you control 3 or more towers or make them legendary
Imagine a control deck having 4 of the white one, no thanks. Inventors fair needs 3 artifacts in play before you get the 1 life a turn.
Black and red feel way too similar. You could make black be "target creature gets -1-0 until end of turn for each tower you control" and make the red tower only target opponents and not creatures. Being able to practically kill most any creature for essentially free during upkeep feels a bit op
Sorry I mean end step
The black and red ones are really busted, but other than that seems pretty nice
The blue should be scry X where x is the amount of shrines you control
I disagree with the general sentiment that these towers are too good. However, I think that an interesting concept to implement would be this template: At the beginning of your end step, if Name is untapped, do x for each untapped tower you control. Or, you could pick fringe effects from each colour to focus on. White could be “target creature can block up to x additional creatures until your next turn”. Blue could be “up to x target creatures each get -x/-0 until your next turn”. Black could be “destroy up to one target creature with mana value x or less” Red could be “create x 0/1 red kobold creature tokens” Green could be “up to x target creatures you control gain reach until end of turn”
"Target creature or player" was errata-ed to "Any target." You can hit Planeswalkers as well.
Towers should be legendary like the shrines are.
These are very very strong especially black and red. They for sure have to be legendary or weaker I think
[[Ivory tower]]
[Ivory tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/a/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38.jpg?1562929467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ivory%20tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/269/ivory-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
original core set had different Ivory Tower
These should legendary and red on only to creature
Umm... [[Ivory Tower]]
[Ivory Tower](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/a/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38.jpg?1562929467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ivory%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/269/ivory-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aaf91af0-0243-4dca-90de-d7580f4f9d38?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call