CCDD 121113—Escort

Cool Card Design of the Day
12/11/2013 - In last weekend's art challenge, TehWERR proposed a new keyword named escort. I think is has considerable potential. Let's take a closer look. (I've switched the name up for flavor reasons.)

Let's explore the simplest possible escorted card. How will this play? First, escorted does nothing for you when you only have one creature, which is unlike most keywords, but very much like banding and soulbond, the mechanics with which escort is most closely related. Ministry Caravan very much wants you to have other creatures.

Suppose we've got this and another 1/1. If our opponent has a 1/1 blocker, we can attack with both, lose 1 in the trade and deal 1 damage with our remaining 1/1. Alternately, we can attack with just the Caravan: If our opponent blocks, we can force her to also block our other 1/1. She still gets to order blockers and will get to trade for the 1/1 of her choice (as above), but we don't deal any damage to her. So we're worse off using escorted in this case.

That changes drastically when our opponent has a 2/2 instead. If we attacked with our 1/1s independently, one would die, one would get through and her bear would survive to fight again. But if we attack with Ministry Caravan, blocking with her bear means we can double-attack it, which will kill all three creatures. That's a positive thing.

Merchant Caravan is a lot better. Having that extra point of toughness means we can attack into a 2/2 with our 1/1 back up and know that we'll only trade one of our two smaller creatures for our opponent's bigger creature. And if she doesn't accept that deal, we'll draw a card as a result. Suppose our Caravan is 1/3 (strictly better than Scroll Thief). Without escorted, she could block it with her bear all day, but with escorted keeping just a 1/1 on the sidelines means we can trade up and keep our Caravan.

What if our opponent has a 4/4 and we've got a pair of Wild Walkers and a 3/3. If we attack with all of them, she blocks and kills the 3/3, taking 4 damage and is ready to block again next turn. If we attack with just our 2/2s, she can let them through and take 4 or she can block one and lose her creature; She'll take 2 and can kill the Walker or the 3/3. Taking out the 3/3 makes sense in the short term because it'll do more damage when it swings next turn, but when all our attacking creatures are escorted that makes blocking pretty difficult for her, so it's actually a relevant choice.

That's a good sign for the mechanic. It's also nice that escorted remains fully interactive because it uses combat exactly the same way as normal, leaving attack/block triggers and combat tricks at full relevance. (With this wording, you can attack with a vigilant creature twice, but that's an easy fix.)

Many of you will boo for me even mentioning this next idea, but I couldn't help it:

It's like "bands with wolves" all over again! Except not insanely complicated. We obviously wouldn't use Escorted by X in the first set (and possibly not in the first block) where escorted is introduced—if ever—but good luck convincing me this isn't a flavorful ability that could help balance a card stuck between two mana costs.

Feel free to laugh and discard that idea. Here's one you should take seriously.

By swapping the ability from the attacking creature to the one that stays back, we gain a few benefits. First 'escort' sounds better than 'escorted' and is actually appropriate here. Second, by putting this upside mechanic on your reinforcements rather than the avant garde, there's more room for the creatures you swing with to be efficient, and therefore more menacing, which should make blocking them more important and thus escort more relevant.

Now I attack with a Scroll Thief and a Satyr Rambler, keeping my Caravan Guard back. My opponent has a Runeclaw Bear. If she blocks the Thief, she takes 2 from the satyr and trades her bear with my Guard, preventing the Thief's card advantage but leaving her exposed to it next turn. If she blocks the Rambler, she can trade with either the satyr or the guard, but also takes 2 trample damage, in addition to the Scroll Thief's attack. That's neat, but if you're paying attention, you will have also noticed that I could've just attacked with all three and the only difference is that she could then safely block the Thief.

There is an upside there (Scroll Thief beats!), but is it big enough to justify the mechanic? Is that just a poor example, with lots of better ones waiting in the wings? What if the escort has first strike? What if I've got some 1/3s or 3/1s, or my opponent does? We can figure this out socraticly, but it would ultimately be best to mock up various cards and playtest it.

I do wonder if escort isn't begging for a little something extra. Perhaps:
You choose the order damage is dealt.
The defender must always choose the escorting creature first.
You can remove the escorted creature from combat.
Some or all of the keyworded creatures have a trigger that grants them and/or their allies +1/+1 or first strike or trample.
Bear in mind that anything extra will add to the keyword's existing length.

Really curious to hear your thoughts.