Saturday, February 12, 2011

CCDD 021211—Sentinel of the Jade Clock

Classic Cool Card Design of the Day
What follows is a CCDD that was created before the feature transitioned from the Wizards Wiki to Goblin Artisans. It has been formatted to fit your screen.

2/12/2011 - Sentinel of the Jade Clock is primarily inspired by the Eldrazi. The question was originally, "Considering the way that larger mana costs scale into larger effects, how big would a 20cc creature be?" I'm pretty sure the answer, without any other abilities is 100/100, but the whole discussion is moot because without something to prevent players from sneaking it into play for free, it doesn't matter how many times he'd kill a player in a single swing.

This is where the card became interesting enough to share: What if the don't-cheat clause was instead a no-you-can't-have-a-24/24-for-free-but-here's-a-neat-prize-for-trying clause? I went with the Ancestral Recall effect because the reward needs to be substantial or it's just a clunky don't-cheat clause in disguise.

I was also thinking about one-shot kills ala Blighsteel Colossus. I originally tweeted this card as a 20/20 for a very conservative 20 (10 seems about fair considering he has no relevant abilities in play), but I was drawn to 12 and 24 because it's more distinct, plays into a time theme that the drawing fits and because the extra cost helps incent players to cheat him out for cards rather than play him outright. An extra turn would fit the time flavor better, but it encroaches too much on Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

Timmy sees a huge dude to lay down and Johnny sees an opportunity for shenanigans, but Spike—the one who isn't also lusting for the Recall effect—sees a hoop with an insufficient prize. Without any protection abilities or trample, he dies to Doom Blade and can be chump-blocked all day long. He's right, and I'm okay with that. Sometimes big for big's sake is fun enough.

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