Thursday, January 3, 2013

CCDD 010313—Jade Constrictor

Cool Card Design of the Day
1/3/2013 - There's nothing too crazy here. It occurred to me that all of the snakes in Magic, none really hit the constrictor concept. Krosan Constrictor kind of does, but the black-only targeting requirement is so lame. Boa Constrictor is… a stretch. You could argue that Kashi-Tribe Warriors and their clan have a constricting effect—and they could have—but it's clearly poison that's making their wrestling buddies so sluggish.


The original execution was much more complex: First, it put a strangulation counter on a creature it fought with in combat. Then it kept that creature tapped and did progressively more damage to it each turn. There was also a power comparison at one point. As flavorful as that was, it was ridiculously wordy and not remotely worthwhile. Boiling down the concepts to its core a few times brought me here.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to add a sorcery-speed clause, but then you either have to add a "doesn't untap" clause or accept that it can only be used on offense. Ultimately, the nature of the ability wanted something with low power and high toughness so that you would rather use its ability than attack with it, it can't just kill wolves and bears all day long, and has a reasonable chance of surviving many encounters. At 1/3, I don't think being able to constrict anything you like at instant speed will ruin too many games.

What might well be worthwhile or necessary is adding a mana cost to the activation, since this actually compares pretty favorably to Fiend Hunter and Prodigal Pyromancer a lot of the time.

12 comments:

  1. This wants to be paired with nightshade peddler

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  2. Could also reasonably be seen at something like UG, I think.

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  3. I think this would be really fun with wither.

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    Replies
    1. Nice thought. I think you could remove the not-so-green tapping with wither in the picture.

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    2. I like that solution approximately 4x10^28 times as much.

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    3. Doesn't that just feels like venom all over again?

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    4. IMHO, yes. I guess -X/-0 equal to its power feels to me better like a strangling.

      Jade Constrictor 1GG
      Whenever ~ attacks, target creature gets -X/-0, where X is ~ power.
      3/2

      Or you could change the X to a fixed number, or give the -X/-0 to blocking creatures.

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    5. And yet, -X/-0 feels like a bigger color bleed than tapping.
      Tricky stuff.

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  4. I like the Tapping here and not wither because its better flavor on a CONSTRICTOR. However, this could also be:

    Jade Asp 1GG
    Creature-Snake
    Infect
    T: CARDNAME fights target creature
    1/3

    And the much more deadly:

    Bayou Cobra 1BG
    Creature - Snake
    Deathtouch, Infect
    T: CARDNAME fights target creature.
    1/3

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    Replies
    1. but a very cool and simple design, Jay!

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