I know this thread is a few months old, but I am trying to revive it a bit since it is highly relevant to a series I am working on right now.
Chroniton / Tachyon (Lost Time) - Pre Smithy Topic link
I already have a few cards done, but their "cast on discard" like effects need work and I could use help in building some cost / design theory to get my ideas together.
Discussion of abilities that "trigger when a card is discarded" or force a discard event as part of their cost would also be good.
What concerns me most at this point are balancing and thematic preservation considerations.
A "cast on discard" effect is essentially like a 0 cost card. This should have some important ramifications to balancing.
On the flip side, whatever it is attached to must be given up exchange...
This is most potent for balancing permanents and spells, less so for creatures (due to fractal)
As far as thematics go, the effect of having a "0 cost" means that it can be played as if it were a card of type "Other"
The exception being that elements like
and
stand to gain the most from beneficial effects, since they have means of filling their hand more quickly than other elements.
The
element would probably benefit most from detrimental effects right now due to nightmare and QC capabilities.
This is part of why I think such effects work best for a series of
cards.
At any rate, I know there are a lot of details I'm missing so I would like to hear from others out there.
