Fix the most broken cards in magic, how would you do it.

[Captain Hammer]

Say that you're on the development team during the early years of Magic. Your job is to fix broken cards printed in magic's history while still keeping them very powerful. It's no fun if you tweak them to the point of being unplayable. How would you modify the cards of your choice to keep them powerful, while preventing them from requiring a ban/restriction in legacy and vintage?


An alternative game:

This is fun not just for broken cards. Someone posted on Reddit today asking what Jayemdie Tome would have to cost to be playable in legacy again. I spent most of the next half hour pondering that question.
Make the fewest changes possible to make currently unplayable cards very playable without being broken.

[Captain Hammer]

Here are my ideas. I wanted to keep the cards at a power level where they would have continued to be printed in every core set without hurting the game, so supplies wouldn't be limited.


The 1 for 3 Cycle: Giant Growth, Lightning Bolt, Dark Ritual, Ancestral Recall and Healing Salvo. The only two that require any tweaking are Ancestral Recall and Healing Salvo in my opinion. Salvo deserved to be powerful enough to be staple card in white like the other four in their respective colors.

Ancestral Recall - U, Instant, Draw three cards then discard three cards. I didn't want to just turn it into Brainstorm since I wanted to create a new card that doesn't exist and I wanted to keep the 1 for 3 theme. The card would have still seen a lot of play imo. Careful Study/Faithless Looting are already powerful, but if they fixed 3 cards in your hand, they would be every bit as powerful as any blue cantrip, without crossing the line into requiring a ban imo just because it would have been pure card disadvantage in the early days pre Ichorid/Reanimating (despite being incredibly good at sculpting your opening hand).

Healing Salvo - W, Instant, Choose 1 of the 3: Gain 3 life. Prevent 3 damage. Return a creature costing 3 or less mana from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Giant Growth - G, Instant, Target creature gets +3/+3, trample and first strike until end of turn.


Mox Cycle - I would have each of the Moxen cost 1 mana and come into play tapped. They would essentially be Llanowar Elves. Still very powerful (strictly superior to mana rocks) but not to the point of requiring a ban.

Black Lotus - I would also have it cost 1 mana and come into play tapped. It would be a worse Dark Ritual in most situations, except that it would be able to produce mana of any color you wanted, so still incredibly powerful.


Oath of Druids/Skullclamp/Balance/Channel/Flash/Tinker/Timetwister/Windfall/Wheel of Fortune/Sol Ring/Mana Crypt/Mana Vault/Fastbond/Demonic Tutor/Vampiric Tutor/Demonic Consultation/Imperial Seal/Yawgmoth's Will/Necropotence/Yawgmoth's Bargain - I think each of these cards could have survived without a ban if they simply costed 1 mana more than they currently do. Yawgmoth's Bargain would be comparable to Griselbrand, the tutors would be comparable to Intuition, combo pieces like Tinker would be comparable to unbanned combo pieces like Natural Order.


Various Broken Lands like Mishra's Workshop, Strip Mine, Library of Alexandria, Bazaar of Bagdad, Tolarian Academy I think could have survived without a ban if they simply came into play tapped. They would more comparable to something like Cloudpost, very powerful but just a tad slow.

[thecrav]

This is fun not just for broken cards. Someone posted on Reddit today asking what Jayemdie Tome would have to cost to be playable in legacy again. I spent most of the next half hour pondering that question.

Moxes at (1) still might be too good in storm. While they don't net positive mana, they're "free" storm.

[ironclad8690]

Survival of the fittest: not print vengevine. Seriously, this deck was so much fun :(

[Captain Hammer]

Survival of the fittest: not print vengevine. Seriously, this deck was so much fun :(

Survival doesn't need any changes to be unbannable. It was banned prematurely without giving the format a chance to fight it off, and in the current format with Abrupt Decays everywhere and regular turn one Griselbrands, it's hardly broken. It along with Earthcraft, Goblin Recruiter and Mind Twist could get unbanned tomorrow without hurting the format. But I guess that's a separate topic. Hell, Abrupt Decay is the perfect answer to Survival and half the decks in the format already play it.

[Captain Hammer]

This is fun not just for broken cards. Someone posted on Reddit today asking what Jayemdie Tome would have to cost to be playable in legacy again. I spent most of the next half hour pondering that question.

Moxes at (1) still might be too good in storm. While they don't net positive mana, they're "free" storm.

Yeah, that would be fun too. I'm going to add that suggestion to the OP. Fix unplayable cards to make them see tons of play without crossing the line to broke town.

Moxes a 1 would be too good. But Moxes at 1 that come into play tapped wouldn't. They would be Llanowar Elves.

[Gheizen64]

Moxens could be not as broken by saying "mox doesn't untap during your untap step". That would make 'em more petals than anything, but if you want fixed with the least possible change i guess that's it.

Black lotus could EtB tapped and not untap as well.

Time Walk is probably fine at 1UU (as in super good but not banned in legacy good). Wheel of fortune at RRR and Timetwister at UUU. Ancestral Recall could say "draw 3, skip your next turn". Dark ritual is mostly fine but i'd like if for flavor it said pay 3 life: add BBB to your mana pool, as that would make a lot of decks much more interactable (rit->ent->reanimate grizzly for example would put you on bolt range if you draw).

[MaximumC]

To fix any broken card: Add 2 to it's mana cost. Seriously. It's that simple.

Ancestrall Recall becomes Draw 3 for 3. That's powerful, and playable, but not broken. Time Vault costs 4, making that combo more reasonable. Survival now wins the game for 3G, which is like Natural Order. Moxen become 2 casting cost 1 mana rocks, which is in line with the Mirrodin and Ravnica mana rocks; good, but not broken.

There are ways to cheat on mana costs, sure, but these add an additional layer of trouble for the player trying to go off. Adding mana really does fix everything.


This is fun not just for broken cards. Someone posted on Reddit today asking what Jayemdie Tome would have to cost to be playable in legacy again. I spent most of the next half hour pondering that question.



it goes the other way, too. if you want to make a card playable, drop it's casting cost and activation cost. Usually, dropping by 2 gets the job done. Tome at a cc of 2 and activation cost of 2 would be playable, though not super great. We have lots of 2 mana dorks that draw cards at that price point, and the better of these creatures do see play (Confidant, for example).

[rufus]

...
Time Walk is probably fine at 1UU (as in super good but not banned in legacy good). Wheel of fortune at RRR and Timetwister at UUU.

Those are too low - they should all be at 4 cc. Red mana, in particular, is really easy to come by.



To fix any broken card: Add 2 to it's mana cost. Seriously. It's that simple.

I get the idea, but it doesn't fix lands and alternative casting cost cards like Treasure Cruise,Dig Through Time, and Gush are still pretty silly.

A bunch of the cards on the ban list like Black Lotus would still be - at minimum - playable at +2 mana.


Tome at a cc of 2 and activation cost of 2 would be playable, though not super great.

Would be unplayable. The activation cost is still too high.... maybe if it also cantripped. (Cantrip is another obvious way to upgrade cards.)

[Barachai]

Reverse Dark Depths; instead of removing 10, you must add 10. Incidentally makes DD fun with proliferate.

Griselbrand: remove lifelink. Still good, but closer to "fair". Not as idiotic to play against.

Mana Drain is actually pretty solid if you apply the "add 2" rule.

Jitte: instead of target creature gets -1/-1, creature that is blocking/blocked by equipped creature get -1/-1. At least it makes more flavor sense, and is still funny with first strike.



...this experiment is fun.

[thefringthing]

A "salvo" is a series of shots (as with rifles), a "salve" is a balm or ointment.

[PirateKing]

Brainstorm as written except after you put 2 back an opponent fateseals 1.
Let those Miracle mind tricks layer up!

EDIT: never mind Brainstorm isn't broken there I said it please don't break my hands augghhh

[Barook]

Brainstorm should have been a sorcery. Fixes tons of problems the card has in terms of power level since hate and discard work way better now.

[H]

Jitte: instead of target creature gets -1/-1, creature that is blocking/blocked by equipped creature get -1/-1. At least it makes more flavor sense, and is still funny with first strike.

Chances are good that restoring Jitte to it's "original" functionality would result in it being the non-broken, precon worthy card it was made to be. In case you don't know, the card originally made two Black mana as opposed to giving a creature -1/-1 and only got 1 counter each time the creature dealt damage. The issue came up that the card was terrible, so they made it 2 counters.

Then the rules team realized that a modal ability can't have parts that are Mana Abilities and parts that aren't, so it was changed to -1/-1. They never gave it more thought to change it back to 1 counter though.

Since you can't have it be a Mana Ability though, you can change it to give you something like tokens like Tezzeret the Schemer does.

[ironclad8690]

Chances are good that restoring Jitte to it's "original" functionality would result in it being the non-broken, precon worthy card it was made to be. In case you don't know, the card originally made two Black mana as opposed to giving a creature -1/-1 and only got 1 counter each time the creature dealt damage. The issue came up that the card was terrible, so they made it 2 counters.

Then the rules team realized that a modal ability can't have parts that are Mana Abilities and parts that aren't, so it was changed to -1/-1. They never gave it more thought to change it back to 1 counter though.

Since you can't have it be a Mana Ability though, you can change it to give you something like tokens like Tezzeret the Schemer does.

So that's how you end up with Umezawa's Jitte, I always wondered XD

[H]

So that's how you end up with Umezawa's Jitte, I always wondered XD

Article is here (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/how-sneak-overpowered-cards-past-development-2008-05-30) if you want to read it, it's #6 on that list.

[Megadeus]

I would take True Name Nemesis and flush it down the toilet.

[Dice_Box]

The issue is so many cards have been "Fixed" with later printings, so the normal etb tapped or what not seems to easy a answer.

Bazaar:
Draw 2, exile 3.

Mental Misstep:
Make it cost one generic more.

Pyrokinesis:
Make its ability "Fork" instead.

Strip Mine:
See "Wasteland"

Flash:
"You may cast a summon spell anytime you could cast an instant."

Hermit Druid:
"Then place all cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in a random order."

Healing Salve:
3 creatures you control grain protection from a colour of your choice till eot.

Tin Street Hooligan:
Remove the G clause.

DRS:
0/1

Rout:
Keep at 5 mana. Make the instant speed clause a discard effect.

[Watersaw]

I would take True Name Nemesis and flush it down the toilet.

This, but if we must keep it then make it protection from the PLAYER. Not the player and all their creatures, so it's more of a funky hexproof/damage prevention that can still be blocked. Probably needs to have a few more points of toughness if we still want it to be played.

[MaximumC]

This, but if we must keep it then make it protection from the PLAYER. Not the player and all their creatures, so it's more of a funky hexproof/damage prevention that can still be blocked. Probably needs to have a few more points of toughness if we still want it to be played.

No one would play TNN if it cost 3UU.

[rufus]

No one would play TNN if it cost 3UU.

Yeah, but there's also the "just a bad idea" cards like Falling Star and Chaos Orb.

[Rascalyote]

Maybe make DRS castable with G only, and only produce G or B instead of any colour. That way those junk decks etc. still get a really strong card without it just being played in all the blue decks (except BUG). Could also make it an 0/2, they didn't want to make it an X/1 due to the obvious nonbo with Golgari Charm in the same set and guild.

Maybe make Abrupt decay only hit cmc 2 or less so it still hits CB but your deck would have to play actual artifact/enchantment hate if you want to beat a bridge or a moon or something.

Make miracles only castable on your draw step as the first card you draw, so you can't play your 1 mana Hallowed Burial on your poor elf opponent's combat step, or make 5 angels during their end step.

[Asthereal]

Abrupt Decay isn't overpowered. You can easily keep it as is.

Delver: either remove flying or make the abberation 2/2.
Counterbalance: when a player casts his or her first spell of the turn, ...
Top: (1), pay 1 life: look at top 3 and put back in any order.
Emrakul: remove the protection thing.
Griselbrand: use draw 7 only once per turn, remove lifelink. (Still obnoxiously stupid card like this, but ok.)
Show and Tell: add "this card cannot be uncounterable".

[Gheizen64]

Not about "broken" cards but card that i would've liked if they were printed in different colors for color balance purpose (aka not everything need to be blue boys):

Snapcaster at 1R

Delver at B that flip into a 3/2 menace

TNN at UWW or UUW or 1UW

[Dice_Box]

TNN:
As ~ enters the Battlefield name a Legendary Creature. ~ has protection from players who started the game with the named creature in their command zone.

[LarsLeif]

Healing Salvo - W, Instant, Choose 1 of the 3: Gain 3 life. Prevent 3 damage. Return a creature costing 3 or less mana from your graveyard to the battlefield.



I like this, but the modes are totally unbalanced. Gain/Prevent 3 is way worse than reanimating a 3-drop.

[LarsLeif]

Oh, and would it not be nice if DRS could only generate black or green mana? I think that would be a quite elegant card.

[Sloshthedark]

few legacy changes:

DRS - 1/1 - drain ability - drain 1 & gain 1

Griselbrand - no lifelink, CC 7

Thalia - no first strike

Delver - flip until EOT

Goyf - X/X

Terminus - Miracle for WW

Snapcaster - 1R

TNN - legendary

S&T - enable planeswalkers

TKS - Exile until leaves

Reality Smasher - remove 1 of abilities, 4/4

Leovold - 1st ability symmetrical

Batterskull - no germ, equip 3

Jitte - +1/+1


unban Survival and bring mana burn back...

[NeckBird]

Deathrite Shaman - So many ways to make this card fairer. One of the most poorly designed cards ever. Make it an 0/1 without changing its abilities. Make it a 1/1 and change it to gain one, drain one. Get rid of its hybrid mana cost so it costs G, make it a 1/1, and keep gain two, drain two. Make it a 1/1, keep its abilities, but only allow it to produce green and black mana.

Terminus - Make the Miracle cost 1W or WW.

True-Name Nemesis - Change its mana cost to 1WB or 1BB as blue doesn't deserve to have the best midrange creature ever printed. You can make it legendary (which might make it too good with Karakas). Or you can give it a drawback like, "Cast TNN only if you control a Merfolk" such that it's only playable in Merfolk.

Phyrexian Mana - Either never print this mechanic or make you pay 3 life for each Phyrexian mana symbol.

Leovold, Emissary of Trest - Make it a 3/2.

[apple713]

Survival doesn't need any changes to be unbannable. It was banned prematurely without giving the format a chance to fight it off, and in the current format with regular turn one Griselbrands, it's hardly broken. It along with Earthcraft, Goblin Recruiter and Mind Twist could get unbanned tomorrow without hurting the format. But I guess that's a separate topic.

I think surgical extraction was printed after vengevine and would have solved any issue. Surgical is already run in so many decks it wouldn't have warped the format.


Reverse Dark Depths; instead of removing 10, you must add 10. Incidentally makes DD fun with proliferate.

Griselbrand: remove lifelink. Still good, but closer to "fair". Not as idiotic to play against.

Mana Drain is actually pretty solid if you apply the "add 2" rule.

Jitte: instead of target creature gets -1/-1, creature that is blocking/blocked by equipped creature get -1/-1. At least it makes more flavor sense, and is still funny with first strike.



...this experiment is fun.

reverse dark depths would make it unplayable, at least in legacy.

if you remove lifeline from griselbrand you could probably drop his CMC to 6 and he probably wouldn't be hardcast in legacy. Maybe in nic fit. 6 mana is a lot to not win the game on the spot.


The issue is so many cards have been "Fixed" with later printings, so the normal etb tapped or what not seems to easy a answer.

Bazaar:
Draw 2, exile 3.

Mental Misstep:
Make it cost one generic more.



bazaar would become unplayable.

mental misstep was never broken because it never provided any advantage. The reason it was banned is because it "warped the format" to the point where almost everyone was playing it to counteract other people playing it. Its merely an issue in vintage / legacy because of the low cmc of the format. It was never an issue in standard / modern.




Frantic search - casting cost = 3U - untap up to 4 lands (it becomes unplayable / not worth playing on t1)

Mana Drain - casting cost = UUU might still be too powerful in something like high tide and i think a 4cmc version of mana drain exists and doesn't see play.

Memory jar - At the beginning of EACH PLAYERS next end step, THAT player discards his or her hand and returns to his or her hand each card he or she exiled this way. - this way the opponent gets to use those cards drawn on their turn.

Oath of Druids - casting cost GGG - at 4 cmc it becomes somewhat worse than natural order. Forcing colored mana reduces the ability to splash colors and better protect a card. It forces a nonbasic manabase opening the deck to hate.

Tolarian Academy - add U to your mana pool for every two artifacts you control. Round down. It would still be really good in affinity but maybe not broken, idk. Affinity kinda sucks in legacy anyways.

Tinker - add, if the difference in cmc between the sacrificed artifact and the artifact put into play is > 4 exile the chosen artifact instead of putting it into play. I don't know if 4 is a restrictive enough or too restrictive but that mechanic could be useful.

[Spam]

The more ai read this fixes, the more I see them as just "make them unplayable because I hate them"
As for Survival, the fixed version is called Fauna Shaman and look how good is that card.

Enviado desde mi Moto G (4) mediante Tapatalk

[Dice_Box]

Mental Misstep was indeed broken. The design was fucking broken. The issue is it can counter itself, making it the best answer to itself. That's the failing. If that issue was fixed, I do not know if it would have eaten the banhammer.

[apple713]

Mental Misstep was indeed broken. The design was fucking broken. The issue is it can counter itself, making it the best answer to itself. That's the failing. If that issue was fixed, I do not know if it would have eaten the banhammer.

TLDR, the card was printed with the hope to create diversity in the format and if it didn't they could just ban it. Since it didn't create diversity like they hoped, they banned it. It had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the power level.

Source (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/explanation-september-2011-br-changes-2011-09-20-0)

"Legacy

Mental Misstep is banned.

Force of Will has long been thought of as a card that helps keep combination decks in check in Legacy and Vintage. However, it doesn't directly help decks that aren't playing blue. One idea that was floated was creating a similar card that could be played in nonblue decks. When Phyrexian mana was designed, it was an opportunity to create such a card. R&D wanted a card that could help fight combination decks, and could also fight blue decks by countering cards such as Brainstorm. Clearly printing a card like this has a lot of risk, but there is also the potential for helping the format a lot. The risk is mitigated, because if it turns out poorly, the DCI can ban the card.

Unfortunately, it turned out poorly. Looking at high-level tournaments, instead of results having blue and nonblue decks playing Mental Misstep, there are more blue decks than ever. The DCI is banning Mental Misstep, with the hopes of restoring the more diverse metagame that existed prior to the printing of Mental Misstep."

[rufus]

Mental Misstep was indeed broken. The design was fucking broken. The issue is it can counter itself, making it the best answer to itself. That's the failing....

IMO the issue is that it provides tempo advantage without risk, costing mana or card advantage, so pretty much every deck wants to play it. (WotC are also idiots for printing an "answer to blue decks" in blue.)

...

This would still be broken, but much better:

Mental Misdirection
R/Phyrexian
Instant
Exile a card from your hand at random. If you do, you gain control of target instant or sorcery spell with a converted casting cost of 1. You may chose new targets for that spell.

This would be OK, but might be too weak to be playable.

Moment of Respite
W/Phyrexian
Instant
Until end of turn, players can't play spells with converted mana cost 1 or 0.

[Dice_Box]

Play with this thing, either in No ban list Modern or Vintage. The card is busted. Legibility a mistake. The issue is that your forced to play with them. If the card was not free (cost a generic mana on top of the PU) I think it would be much better off. Also then it would not have the bonus of answering itself, the most insidious of mistakes with that card.

[Fox]

Counterbalance: when a player casts his or her first spell of the turn, ...
Top: (1), pay 1 life: look at top 3 and put back in any order.
The relevant cards in the big blue Ice Age card denial enchantment cycle are Zur's Weirding and Tidal Control. First and foremost CB should be symmetrical and require the payment of 2 life to deny a card. There is also the trend of cumulative upkeep as cmc drops, it doesn't need to have that cost set at :2: or :3: to be balanced, but flavor-wise it should have upkeep costs.

As for SDT, it is another bastardization of Ice Age in the form of Elemental Augury. Both the casting cost and activation cost are 3 mana there; setting even one half (activation or casting cost) back to 3 would have been a wiser design direction for SDT.

[Lord_Mcdonalds]

Tinker - add, if the difference in cmc between the sacrificed artifact and the artifact put into play is > 4 exile the chosen artifact instead of putting it into play. I don't know if 4 is a restrictive enough or too restrictive but that mechanic could be useful.

Basically Transmute Artifact?

[apple713]

Basically Transmute Artifact?

similar but instead of paying x for anything with a greater cmc than the sacrificed artifact you could get something slightly bigger without paying x.

Example, Tinker -> mox ruby -> get a lodestone golem without paying anything OR get a memory jar and pay 1.

[[SLAYER]chaos]

Griselbrand: Pay 7 Life: Exile your hand. Draw 7 cards.
TNN: Shroud. Name an opponent, creatures that opponent controls can't block TNN.
Sensei's D Top: :1:,Tap: Look at the top 3, put them back in any order.
Delver: End of turn, reveal the top card of your library. If it's not an instant or sorcery flip back to Delver of Secrets.
DRS: 0/1, only makes green or black mana.
Brainstorm: Make it a sorcery.
Terminus: Miracle: XW. If this is cast for it's miracle cost, each player puts X creatures they control on the bottom of their library in any order.
Emrakul: If this was put into play but wasn't cast exile it instead.

[TsumiBand]

It's been said in so many words before but a lot of the issues with some of the most enabling spells in the game are resolved by colorshifting them. It may not seem like it matters in Legacy since we have all the fetchlands and good duals but it redistributes the balance of power away from a centralized color and into other places where the potential exists to get more diversified use out of them. Delver in :r: is a commonly discussed one; the other one I've heard and really liked was Treasure Cruise in :b: (it could even have the standard "Draw X lose X life" clause that Black draw generally has but that's arguably *just* a nerf, not a fix). I'm still not sure why TNN isn't :w:, I mean I read the official explanation but it's not historically sound and it's just bullshitty at the end of the day. I don't think Show and Tell is particularly Blue in nature; the color of card draw and permission isn't really the one that screams "let's all do a thing and see who has the bigger thing at the end", that's more of a Green-ish White-ish mechanic in my opinion? I think if SnT were :1::g::w: it would still probably be super playable but wouldn't just slip easily into the typical Blue-draw-stuff package.

There are probably a lot more cards like this but my wife just showed up to my work and wants to buy me a burger, later suckers

[Lord_Mcdonalds]

While TNN isn't the most well-designed card in the world, I can safely say, I'd rather not live in a world where Death & Taxes is playing it.

[PirateKing]

While TNN isn't the most well-designed card in the world, I can safely say, I'd rather not live in a world where Death & Taxes is playing it.

:1::w::u: and a 2/1

[Fox]

Healing Salve - W, Instant, Choose 1 of the 3: Gain 3 life. Prevent 3 damage. Return a creature costing 3 or less mana from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Healing Salve: 3 creatures you control grain protection from a colour of your choice till eot.
As far as this one goes, @Dice_Box's suggestion [2nd quote] falls into the Kytheon, Hero of Akros trap, presupposing a board state that won't exist. It is also generally worse than a 'flicker' effect or a card like Apostle's Blessing.
@Captain Hammer's suggestion [1st quote] is immediately problematic in that it is a charm in a series that aren't charms. What really sticks out here though is your 3rd mode which effectively says "pay one mana, gain 3 mana" - significantly trespassing on Dark Ritual territory.

I don't think this is a card that particularly needs fixing, but I guess it's maybe more playable if it reads "create a 1/1 human soldier with: sacrifice to gain 3 life or prevent 3 damage" as it would be more in line with the idea of white weenie and strapping equipment onto it.

[Dice_Box]

I understand the card is better if it does not require 3 creatures, sadly if it said "up to 3" I don't feel like it would fit thematically in the boon cycle though. Dammed if you do I guess.

[Ace/Homebrew]

I don't think you can 'fix' the white boon by keeping it tied to life gain or damage prevention...

Strong and on-color would be "create three 1/1 white soldier tokens", but that is too strong.
You could go "create three 0/1 human tokens" and it now requires help to be busted. Still probably busted though...

[Dice_Box]

Also creating tokens is a more modern thing. It's not something I feel would have seen print in Alpha.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Also creating tokens is a more modern thing. It's not something I feel would have seen print in Alpha.
Well... there's The Hive, but it costs :10: to create the first 1/1 flyer and :5: for each one after that. So clearly :w: for 3 tokens was never going to happen. :tongue:

[Fox]

Also creating tokens is a more modern thing. It's not something I feel would have seen print in Alpha.
Nor would they have predicted the high association of white with equipment as a defining aspect of its color pie.

[tescrin]

Make Tarmogoyf blue. It's obvious that his main issue is being in green.
Give Dark Ritual a cantrip. It's only good in a specific deck at the moment and I think this would really up the popularity of the card.
Lightning Bolt's main issue is that it's in red; so i think we could make it black. Maybe give it a life-sap ability too
Dark Confidant - If he searched an equipment etb, he'd be much more popular than SFM I think.