Drawing Cards

Three colors generally have the ability to draw cards. Blue is by far the best, and usually draws cards simply using instants and sorceries that do little else. Black gets to draw cards as well, but almost always has to pay life for them. Finally, green can draw cards at higher rarities by using creatures.

Blue

I want blue to have some very simple, sorcery-speed card draw/selection at common, and a slightly flashier instant at uncommon. I'm pretty happy with Divination as a simple card with a flavorful name, but let's make something new for the common card selection and uncommon instant.

Fateful Choice - U

Sorcery (C)

Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

Quick Thinking - XUU

Instant (U)

Look at the top X cards of your library. Put up to two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

Somewhere in between Sleight of Hand and Ponder lies Wise Choice. I like it because it forces decisions but not shuffling. Quick Thinking is a very clever design, but I'll have to see if it actually plays well. I can see either of these getting replaced at some point.

Black

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do a vertical cycle of black card-drawing, life-losing spells or creatures. Here's my first run at the cycle:

Pact Imp - 2B

Creature - Imp (C)

Flying

When ~ enters that battlefield, you draw a card and lose 1 life.

1/1

Pact Devil - 2BB

Creature - Devil (U)

Intimidate

When ~ enters the battlefield, you draw two cards and lose 2 life.

2/2

Pact Demon - 2BBB

Creature - Demon (R)

Flying, Trample

At the beginning of you upkeep, you draw a card and lose 1 life.

4/4

I'm really happy with these. If I can design 226 more cards like this cycle, I'll be knocking on WotC's door the next day.

Green

This hasn't been a core part of green's color pie in a while, but I feel like the mechanic is so good that it deserves the use.

Fecund Beast - 3GG

Creature - Beast (U)

Whenever ~ or another creature you control is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you may draw a card.

3/4

I'll keep doing post like this designing 5-10 cards a shot, and load them all onto the design skeleton once a week or so. For the record, I had never thought about any of the above cards before today.

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.