Cool Card Design of the Day4/13/2016 - This art begged to have Protean Hydra's head-regeneration effect but I couldn't differentiate the card enough, so I found another execution.
The delayed trigger prevents it from attacking every turn—which may not be necessary on an eight mana rare—but it also prevents you from sacrificing it infinitely to the likes of Blood Bairn. If Dev was okay with that, I'd be happy to have it return immediately, tapped.
…and I just figured out a better solution:
The first execution reads so much better to me.
ReplyDeleteIf the second could track itself across zones, would that tip the scale?
Delete"Whenever Protein Hydra dies the first time each turn, return it to the battlefield tapped, with as many +1/+1 counters on it as it had, plus one."
I had to start writing a comment before I realized you don't actually have to put +1/+1 counters on this for it to do something. I'm not sure why!
DeleteDefinitely agree with Havelock. I think the delay reads as flavor, where the "named" reads as exposed mechanics.
DeleteSweet. Good to know, Pasteur, Havelock.
DeleteTommy, do you think Skullbriar tech would help? Did anyone else read it this way?
Yeah, my first thought was "it had no way of getting counters", but I realised that wasn't the case. Maybe just saying "one plus the number" rather than "the number plus one" would help, not sure.
Delete"When ~ dies, return it to the battlefield. Then put X +1/+1 counters on it where..."
DeleteOh yeah, nice idea.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it should be a bit smaller, say 6/6, so the size change matters more?
It could possibly also be templated as "don't remove +1/+1 counters from this when it changes zones", I don't know if that would be better or worse.
You could say "at end of turn" instead of "at upkeep" if you don't want the delay. I can't decide which is better: the delay means killing it actually has an effect, which fits the idea better; but "attack every turn" seems reasonable for a giant green rare. I guess the trouble with "attack every turn" is it's pretty strictly better to chump it than to kill it...
A 6/6 for six would be much more relevant, I agree heartily. Went with 8 just to match the art. Wouldn't want to go as low as 4/4 for four, for instance, as that would gum up too many games.
DeleteAh! Matching the art hadn't even occurred to me. I parsed that as "lots of heads" not "eight heads" :)
Delete