Friday, March 10, 2017

Weekend Art Challenge 031017—ukitakumuki

Click through to see the illustration and design requirements for your single  card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which you may use to revise your submission any number of times. I will aim to review the most recent submission from each designer.


Design a black or colorless rare card.

37 comments:

  1. Knight of the Void BB
    Creature - Knight
    When Knight of the Void dies return it to your hand, then discard a card.
    2/2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Should read: When Knight of the Void dies return it to its owners hand, then discard a card.

      Delete
    2. Neat! Kind of like retrace for creatures.

      Delete
    3. This is a simple but interesting rare. I would go ahead and give it first strike and/or a blacker keyword because it's okay for a rare to be good enough when you're not exploiting it, and turning your hand into a sequence of 2/2 for BB isn't good enough on its own.

      Of course, the real power comes when you do build around this, presumably with madness cards or some kind of engine that wants your deck to be all bears. I like that it stops doing its thing when your hand is empty.

      Delete
  2. Hellscouts
    BBB
    Creature - Demon Knight - Rare
    Double strike
    Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage, draw a card and lose 1 life.
    2/2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like this a lot, especially how it makes opponents want to chump-block it.

      Delete
    2. Double strike has never appeared on a mono-black card (nor green or blue), so I'd want to inject some white or more likely red to justify it, but otherwise this is sweet: I get to deal 4 damage and Night's Whisper every turn I can keep it alive and swinging. Tying powerful effects like Phyrexian Arena to combat ensures interactivity.

      Delete
    3. I misremembered Phyrexian Crusader as also having double strike like Mirran Crusader - point well taken. I think doing this in black red would be acceptable, or maybe have it be mono black with an off-color red activation to give it double strike until EOT.

      Delete
    4. Hellscouts
      2B
      Creature - Demon Knight - R
      Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage, draw a card and lose 1 life.
      R: CARDNAME gains double strike until end of turn.
      2/2

      Delete
  3. Vronov, Urborg Commander BB
    Legendary Creature - R
    Black mana doesn't empty out of mana pools at the end of phases or turns.
    Death touch
    3/3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So... it's the Omnath effect for 1 mana less, on a (usually) more powerful body, in a color that doesn't usually get as much ramp. And it incidentally helps opponents who play black?

      This *might* be acceptable in Commander, but it's way too strong for Standard. Vanilla 3/3s for GW and GG have seen a lot of play, and that's in the more creature-focused colors, without the deathtouch and ramp effects.

      Delete
    2. Maybe add an upkeep cost to it? "At the beginning of your upkeep, pay BB or (sacrifice ~, ~ deals damage to you, etc)."

      Delete
    3. It's definitely exciting to see Omnath, Locus of Mana no-drain effect in black. It's questionable whether black can have that effect, but it's unusual enough it can be argued, especially given black's nepotism for black mana.

      I can't imagine why the creature that gets that effect also gets to be a 3/3 death touch for two mana. I'd personally put it on a Looming Shade or maybe a Nightmare.

      Delete
  4. Lieges of Deceit 2BB
    Creature - Demon Knight - (r)
    Menace
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, discard your hand. Target opponent discards that many cards.
    6/6

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really enjoy that the ability fizzles if the opponent can't be targeted for some reason.

      Delete
    2. Sweet. You could have to discard a bunch of cards despite an opponent's nearly empty hand, or you could hit them 1:1, take away all their answers for your threat, and even do some madness. Most often, I imagine, you'll 3:4 or 4:3 or so, and that's a great spot because it lets players optimize one way or another. (I want max cards VS I need this 6/6 now.)

      Delete
  5. Death Knight BB
    Creature - Knight (U)
    First Strike
    When Death Knight attacks, it gains deathtouch until the end of turn.
    2/2

    And, Of course:

    Life Knight WW
    Creature - Knight (U)
    First Strike
    When Life Knight blocks, it gains indestructible until the end of turn.
    2/2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those designs don't feel rate to me. I supposed they could just have deathtouch and indestructible straight up, but those versions just seem too annoying.

      Delete
    2. Usually first strike and indestructible are redundant, but here at least there's a point to both. What if you tied the abilities together? Gaining deathtouch after first strike doesn't help the death knight, but...

      BB
      First strike
      When ~ deals damage, other creatures you control gain deathtouch until end of turn.

      WW
      First strike
      When ~ deals damage, other creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.

      Delete
    3. I like those! More like Lords. Although I'd probably trade the indestructible for lifelink in that scenario because otherwise having two in play is pretty brutal.

      Delete
    4. I like how Death Knight solves the problem of combining first strike with death touch by restricting it to attack where the combo is more evasion than board control.

      Pasteur's takes are neat too. Could also solve the doubles problem by only boosting non-knights.

      Delete
    5. I should also say that Death Knight isn't rare (as marked).

      Delete
  6. Commander Zroun 2BB
    Legendary Creature - Vampire Knight
    First Strike
    Whenever another creature dies, if it was dealt damage this turn, create a 2/2 black zombie creature token.
    3/2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Commander Zroun can zombify creatures it kills, or that any of your team kills, or creatures that you burn, or creatures of yours killed by the other team, or creatures you sacrifice after combat.

      The damage clause goes a fair way in keeping that from being 100% problematic, but I still think it would be just more fun and interesting if it only counted opposing creatures. If not, we'd at least have to add 'non-token' so that your zombies don't make more zombies forever.

      Delete
  7. Knights of Ob Nixilis 2BB
    Creature - Knight
    Double Strike
    The first time CARDNAME deals damage each turn, lose that much life and draw that many cards.
    2/2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. See my note for Hellscouts above, except this pain-draw ability makes me want doublestrike even less than if it weren't there (because then we could remove the 1x-clause).

      Delete
  8. Rise of the Black Rider 1BB
    Sorcery
    Sacrifice any number of creatures, then put an X/X black knight creature token onto the battlefield with deathtouch and lifelink, where X is the total power of all creatures sacrificed this turn.

    - nantucko.husk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd have to playtest to know how much to cost this, but 1BB doesn't sound wrong. I like it. Does this need lifelink? It definitely doesn't need deathtouch.
      Reign of the Pit
      Sutured Ghoul

      Delete
  9. Knights of Bolas 1BB
    Creature- Human Knight
    2/2
    Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards his or her hand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hypnotic Specter loses the evasion that makes avoiding its trigger hard, but upgrades its discard ability to "win the game" if your opponent can't block it or kill it by turn 4. That doesn't sound fun to me.

      You could totally put this on a 6/6 for 6, or something, though.

      Delete
    2. Yeah, I was going for the Bolas callback but hadn't considered how oppressive it gets once online.

      How about "Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to an opponent, you may sacrifice it. If you do, that player discards his or her hand."

      Delete
    3. If you're cool with the initial 6:2.

      Delete
  10. This is the best bunch of designs we've gotten in a while. Kudos!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'll throw one in:

    The Dead Of Night {1}{B}{B}
    Instant
    Put a 2/2 black Zombie Knight creature token OTB for each nontoken creature that died this turn.

    Black Caller of the Claw.

    Or for a more tribal effect:

    Midnight Patrol {2}{B}{B}
    Sorcery
    Return each Knight creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Knightguard Captain - 3BB
    Creature - Knight

    When Nightguard Captain enters the battlefield, create a 2/2 black Knight token.

    Whenever a Knight you control becomes blocked, it gains First Strike and Trample until end of turn.

    Whenever a Knight you control deals combat damage, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a compelling knight lord. It's a little odd that the third ability is triggered rather than static, but otherwise I dig this (and I'm glad it doesn't give you a ton of first striking blockers, though most knights have first strike anyhow).

      Delete
    2. Hey thanks, glad you dig it. Meant to write Nightguard rather than Knightguard, woops. Had it be a trigger so it snowballs combat and makes blocking interesting, though it probably would be cleaner and as good with a static +1/+1. Also, first time checking out this site and I really like the content.

      Delete