So, we’ve recently had the last (5th) of the colored Moxes, but if we compare with Paper Magic we are still missing one Mox (Diamond) which gives mana of any color. And that got me thinking about Karn’s Signature Spellbook.
Why this one?
- Those who follow Magic Story might have noticed that New Phyrexians are starting to explore other worlds looking for ways to improve their own nature.
In Kaldheim we had Vorinclex steal a sample of Cosmos Elixir.
In Kamigawa we have
Jin-Gitaxias experiment on Kami to learn the nature of a soul, and then create the first compleated Planeswalker while still retaining their spark - Tamiyo.
And Karn has close ties with New Phyrexia, he basically created it. He’s also “groomed” by Phyrexians to become the new Father-of-Machines.
- Right now the only type of cards that can’t get any mana from Moxes are colorless cards. And that makes the cycle feel incomplete. I would have probably use Mox Opal for Karn, because it’s from Mirrodin, but since that card is already used for AER Masterpiece, Mox Diamond would do.
Mox Option 1. The original card mentions discarding a card, but I think it would be fun to replace that effect in PQ with reducing your PW’s colored mana bonuses by some amount (2?), but instead give +1 to Loyalty bonus and a +1 mana from a Loyalty match.
And the Mana Field effect would be smth like “Give full mana to the first card in your hand that can get mana”.
Mox Option 2. A worse but cleaner effect would be no negatives effects from the Mox Diamond, but it would give mana only to colorless cards.
I’d prefer Option 1.
- The new PMA PW should obviously be Karn.
Mox Option 1: Karn also has a mana bonus ramping ability (probably as 2nd/3rd ability) and costs the same as any colorless PW.
Mox Option 2: Karn has his own set of abilities, distinct from DOM Karn, but costs as a monocolor PW. His abilities should also be focused on using monocolored cards. Like, the first mono-non-colored PW. Still able to use every colors but having the crazy boost from colorless decks.
- The new Mechanic/Improved Gems could be Compleat/Compeated. I haven’t thought it through yet, but it is linked to Phyrexian mana, which is pay Life instead of Mana. It seems pretty monoblack, and less powerful than Seed gems. So, maybe, lose up to 5 life (1 for each color on the board) and gain X (capped) mana for the number of Loyalty gems?
Creatures with Compleat would gain mana from Loyalty gems (similar to Snow creatures and Snow gems).
A very rough draft.