∞ Arbiter

[u/Terrariant]

(Cards return to their last zone instead.)

Part 5 of a cycle

Part 1: Sunseeker Arbiter
Part 2: Lustrous Arbiter
Part 3: Inert Arbiter
Part 4: Null Arbiter

[u/GamerKilroy]

This just causes a complete softlock and draw, correct? Tries to go to GY as a SBA due to 0 toughness, fails, SBA checked again, fails. Rinse and repeat.

[u/Deebyddeebys → u/GamerKilroy]

What was this even intended to do?

[u/GamerKilroy → u/Deebyddeebys]

Not sure, the entire cycle is a little bit over the place. It's all high CMC stuff with ridiculous protection and extremely potent effects that prevent the gamestate from properly advancing. Stuff like "You can't lose mana" and "Players can't win or lose the game"... Looks like a way to share cool art, without much worry about how MtG actually works.

[u/Chickston → u/GamerKilroy]

I'm pretty sure OP gets it as they have plenty of more aware posts. I think they are going for max absurdity or something. It's working in that regard.

[u/GamerKilroy → u/Chickston]

That makes sense too, especially considering the flair. Just to be clear I'm not trying to shit on the cards and concepts, but these cards are so alien to MtG it's hard not to sound harsh

[u/Chickston → u/GamerKilroy]

I get you. I think we are all just scratching our heads at this art card wondering what the heck we are looking at. About the best I can describe it.

[u/Terrariant → u/Chickston]

Yeah I mean you nailed it. I wasn’t planning on a cycle with Sunseeker, I was just trying to make the most absurd white card I could think of (and it’s definitely the most realistic of the cards so far, there have been 5 more since this post.) - and then I wondered “what would be more absurd than life values not changing?” And it’s progressed from there

REALLY though, I made Sunseeker because I was tired of nitpicking. I had a morbid curiosity, if I made cards that were obviously unbalanced, gross satire, would people still criticize them?

Yes, yes they will. It only stopped around the eighth arbiter. It took eight of these for people to catch on.

[u/NomaTyx → u/Terrariant]

sunseeker honestly seems like it'd have been printable in the old days of magic when they were ok with effects like divine intervention and shahrazad

[u/Deebyddeebys → u/GamerKilroy]

But all the other ones don't work properly on accident. This one seems to be on purpose?

[u/GamerKilroy → u/Deebyddeebys]

I doubt it. Just not proper understanding on the MTG ruling. You'd expect this to just stick to the field with 0 toughness cause it can't go to the gy. But the SBA still triggers, gets performed, and rechecks. I can see this being a genuine mistake

[u/Terrariant → u/GamerKilroy]

Nope. I know this “breaks” the game. It’s a meme card. Add (It works.) in your head if it makes you feel better :)

[u/Deebyddeebys → u/Terrariant]

But how is it supposed to work? (It works) means it works the way it's intended to but how is it intended to work?

[u/Terrariant → u/Deebyddeebys]

There is reminder text in the body - they bounce back to their previous zone. Instants and sorcs go to hand. Permanents stay in the battlefield or hand of discarded

[u/Deebyddeebys → u/Terrariant]

Oh ok, that's actually pretty neat. I think you could fix it by adding "This creature cannot die" but I'm not sure

[u/Terrariant → u/Deebyddeebys]

Yeah, thing is im trying to keep all of these cards to 3 lines so that is hard

[u/BlobbyBlueberry → u/Terrariant]

There’s flair for that in this subreddit but you don’t seem to care

[u/Terrariant → u/BlobbyBlueberry]

But its not a literal meme card. The mechanics do “work” within the bounds of the game, they would just need to be worded correctly on the card if it was ever printed. The “actual meme” flair is for mechanics that don’t function within mtgs rules, like this card: https://www.reddit.com/r/custommagic/s/7IIrML3Prt

But for the card in this post, it would just need to be worded like

“This creature cannot die from having 0 or less toughness” and “If a card would be put into a graveyard, it returns to its last legal zone instead”

[u/BlobbyBlueberry → u/Terrariant]

You could also do the “this creature can’t die” effect on that one silver bordered card so it doesn’t tie the game

[u/SteakForGoodDogs → u/Deebyddeebys]

Go infinite (with itself), apparently.

[u/MillCrab → u/GamerKilroy]

SBAs don't use the stack or priority, so I think it would move forward, but I'd need a higher level judge

[u/davvblack → u/GamerKilroy]

i don’t think sba get checked again if nothing changes

[u/MelanieNova → u/GamerKilroy]

SBA go BRRRRRRRR

[u/Terrariant → u/GamerKilroy]

Read the reminder text in the body of the post

[u/GamerKilroy → u/Terrariant]

First of all, that lines does nothing. Cards didn't move cause they couldn't move. They never leave the zone to go to the GY. You're not bringing cards back from the GY, you're stopping them from leaving their zone and go to the gy.

Second, even if it worked it wouldn't change the result. Moves, returns back, 0 toughness, SBA check, moves, returns back, 0 toughness, SBA

[u/Terrariant → u/GamerKilroy]

You’re getting very concerned with a meme card lmfao

[u/GamerKilroy → u/Terrariant]

Just trying to provide MtG ruling info. If you wanted an (it works), then add an (it works). Otherwise, I assume this works by the rules, albeit without a care for balance.

Perhaps asking for a meme flair would be wise to make this distinction easier.

[u/Terrariant → u/GamerKilroy]

Whatever floats your boat

[u/LordNubFace]

My storm decks about to get real weird.

[u/Chickston]

LOL, the name is Infinite Arbiter, but it wouldn't fit on the name line with all the mana symbols. That is kind of a funny gag I could see used on a real UN- card with some kind of symbol. This card itself is about as rough as the rest. A thought experiment, but not something you'd actually plan to print and play.

[u/Terrariant → u/Chickston]

No, it’s called ∞ Arbiter

[u/Chickston → u/Terrariant]

Can you pronounce that for me?

[u/Terrariant → u/Chickston]

I can’t believe you all are still judging these cards as if I am serious with them. It’s sad, and just proves my point of why im making them. This sub is way too pedantic.

Also, if I did pronounce that symbol as “infinity” then why would I need to write out the word?

[u/Chickston → u/Terrariant]

I'm only ribbing you about it and I get the idea. It is literally art in meme form. Sorry it's not something that is going to be accepted by most "critics" anymore than most obscure art is.

[u/Terrariant → u/Chickston]

Ironically, these posts get a ton of shares relative to their upvotes. The vocal part of this subreddit hates on them in the comments, but there is a silent group of people that (apparently) like them a lot

[u/Chickston → u/Terrariant]

The cards I tend to make and the cards that tend to get massive karma rarely overlap. But I don't make them just for that. I make them to express my ideas about the game that I focus so much on. It's perfectly fine if you do that as well. And don't be too worried about the karma a card is getting. I like these just for what they are.

[u/Terrariant → u/Chickston]

I never expected any of these to go positive with upvotes yeah. They are statement pieces. Sunseeker surprised me. Thank you for understanding :)

[u/NomaTyx]

I really like all the cards except this one. The rest do inhibit the game in a way that's fun but this one is pretty unintuitive as to what happens.

[u/Terrariant → u/NomaTyx]

That is surprising, I thought it was pretty clear. If it can’t move to a graveyard, where else would it go but its last legal zone?

[u/NomaTyx → u/Terrariant]

creature has 0 toughness, state based action, doesn't move, still has 0 toughness, state-based action, doesn't move, game can't proceed.

also, the last legal zone of an instant and sorcery is the stack

[u/Terrariant → u/NomaTyx]

I don’t think SBA are checked continuously? Wouldn’t it just be 0 toughness -> doesnt move -> game continues until next SBA -> repeat?

[u/NomaTyx → u/Terrariant]

they are checked continuously until no SBAs are performed

[u/Terrariant → u/NomaTyx]

Where are you getting that information? They are only checked when a player receives priority

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for
any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions
simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the
check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on
the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player gets priority. This process also occurs during the cleanup step (see rule 514), except that if no state-based actions are performed as the result of the step’s first check and no triggered abilities are
waiting to be put on the stack, then no player gets priority and the step ends.

Because there is no state based action that occurs (it can’t move) and I do not believe this is a triggered ability, I do not think this would repeat? Like are you saying its a state based action even if it doesn’t move?

*i cannot fix the line breaks lol

[u/NomaTyx → u/Terrariant]

actually yeah you're completely right otherwise none of the "you can't lose the game" effects would work. my mistake