Cool Card Design of the Day2/1/2013 - I saw this art and immediately went back to Sorceress Queen. I wanted something that harkened back to the old Arabian Nights classic, evoked the deadly serenity of the art, and is powerful but not broken by modern standards. I wouldn't say I nailed it, but this is pretty decent.
Even trading a card in exchange for repeated removal still gives you a potent supply of answers. Tying the effectiveness of the Maiden's curse into the 'value' of the spell you discard this way helps make the cost feel integral to the ability.
Too good? Would you play The Grey Maiden? How would you design this to the goals I mentioned?
This compares well to Notorious Assassin, the Dark Banishing spellshaper from Mercadian Masques. The Grey Maiden costs less to cast and activate, but you can't just discard a land for the ability, so I don't think it's too good.
ReplyDeleteI think people will have a good first impression of the card, imagining being able to kill anything with the ability, but in practice there are probably enough cases where you need to block with another creature and shrink, which should be good gameplay.
I actually think this design would shine best in a Battlecruiser Magic set, where you often will be holding some giant 8 CMC monstrosity that you know you're never going to get to play unless you have some solid removal *now*.
ReplyDeleteThere's also some interesting threat potential in her just being on the board. Is that card your opponent's holding a land, or something that can be turned into removal?
That being said, the stats on this one seem pretty weak; she is likely going to get Shocked off the field before being able to do anything interesting.
I feel like this would be great in a midrange reanimator deck. A way to toss specific reanimation targets while screwing your opponents board would be waaay synergistic.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a powerful but balanced Assassin! Would be nice to have in a Golgari deck.
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