CCDD 071912—Non-Red Dragons

Cool Card Design of the Day
7/19/2012 - I was hoping HavelockV would talk more about some of the Dragon submissions for his last Design Challenge, but I believe he's swamped with real life. So instead, I'd like to share with some of the dragon designs I chose Isochron Familiar over, and why.

First up, is the obligatory Cold Dragon. I'm glad I didn't submit this one, because Chris' Dragon of Winter's Breath is better. His isn't as splashy, but it's simpler and still gets across the freezing breath concept.

I decided to model my breath attack after Frozen Solid rather than Frost Breath, to help differentiate it from Frost Titan. While I went with a combat trigger, Chris went with an activated ability, which also helps keep this dragon distinct from the titan. I do wonder if limiting the activated ability to once per turn is neccessary, though removing that limitation would definitely require a cost increase on one end or the other.

Black is the next easiest color after blue to find a non-red dragon. Draconic Overlord is inspired by the mythic dragon discussion we had a few months ago, specifically the various designs that felt danegrously demon-like.

Even though there's clear mechanical and thematic overlap, it was important to me that the black Dragon not just by a mistyped Demon. While R&D has been making more all-upside Demons lately, they are historically about power at personal cost/risk for their owner. This Dragon, in contrast, is about demanding sacrifices from every player and punishing anyone who refuses. It's not a stone-solid delineation, which is why I didn't go with Draconic Overlord. Though I do like the card.

While I didn't expect much from a white or green dragon, you never know what can happen when you explore (relatively) virgin territory, so I made one of each:

There are green flyers like Bounteous Kirin in Modern, they're definitely odd ducks. Here, I keyed off the art—this Dragon is clearly allied with the ranger. What if the Dragon just needed a little help to reach its full potential? I like this card (despite it being similar to the conceptually very different Cairn Wanderer—I guess Concerted Effort is the better comparison) but even if you can argue that it's dragon-y enough to print (and that wouldn't be a trivial argument to win), it's certainly not dragon-y enough to win a dragon contest.

A Sun Dragon is, if not a trope you're already familiar with, at least pretty easy to accept. It also seems reasonable that a Sun Dragon could be white. What does that look like? Plains != Sun, but it's as close as we come in this game so I went with Armored Ascension as the primary reference. Toss in some vigilance and super-Samite Healer action to make sure he feels extra white. The end result is very playable in Limited, questionable for Constructed but generally lacks a cohesive story, making it a fairly weak design. Almost certainly better without Healing Salve on a stick.

So those were lackluster. Not unexpected, but now we know (I'd love to see your white and green dragons if you find a better angle). Let's go back to blue. There's a non-elemental trope I still want to explore.

What about the wise/educated dragon? The one well-versed in arcane arts? While I liked the reference to Mystical Tutor, I didn't just want it to hand you a spell for you to cast, I wanted it to be the one casting the spell. This was the original inspiration that led to Isochron Familiar.

One more:
This is less of a spell-casting dragon and more of a teacher, passing on ancient secrets. The longer you study under him, the more you learn. I suppose it could just be "draw a card each turn," but isn't this risky Memory Jar just more interesting? Whether it is or not, the card is pretty wordy and not all that proto-dragon-y.

What else did you all submit? Or have you thought up new ideas since then? It's not a contest, but I'd still love to see your dragons.