Cool Card Design of the Day4/3/2014 - Its important to green's identity that it is the color that gets mana acceleration, and "mana elves," but what if there were a block where it was important for another color to get a little? I claim that it would be in black, and could look something like this. (Assuming we're looking for indefinite mana acceleration, as opposed to red's well-carved claim on one-turn mana acceleration.)
This looks pretty alien to me, and it's more than a little awkward the way in which it increases your mana. It is relatively in keeping with previous black effects along these lines, but there's got to be a better way.
Emboggen doesn't have to steal life and would be simpler and generally stronger without that, but that part just felt right. Regardless, this feels much more natural.
How would you do black mana acceleration? Would you put indefinite mana acceleration in any other color for the block that demands it?
I know they say it's no longer black, but gosh, I miss Blood Pet. What great flavor.
ReplyDeleteCould Elves of Deep Shadow be colorshifted to black?
ReplyDeleteor:
Mud Mystic B
Creature — Human Shaman (U)
T: Target Swamp has "Whenever you tap this for mana, add B to your mana pool" until end of turn.
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That might have weird untapping shenanigans though.
Black's definitely the right choice. Green and white are already too similar, blue already does too much, and red already has a cool and unique take on mana acceleration. As for the implementation, I like Emboggen a lot, but for a creature I think treading on green's toes is a better option than wonky templates:
ReplyDeletePutrescence Reveller {1}{B}
Creature - Human Shaman (U)
{T}: Untap target Swamp.
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A cleaner Murk Stenchling might have
ReplyDelete"T, tap an untapped swamp you control: Add BB to your mana pool.'
For black acceleration I like the Lilliana's Shade approach. You can add searching up a swamp to any standard black effect if it's flavored correctly.
Bog Vapors 1BB
Mind rot + search up a swamp.
Mire Contagion 2BB
Murder + search up a swamp.
Cool.
DeleteCromulent.
ReplyDeleteI believe that maro has stated that black os secondary in mana excel.
ReplyDeleteI actually believe in permanently shifting Llanowar Elves into black. Green has Rampant Growth; why does it need both?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Llanowar Elves (turn 1 accelerator, vulnerable to removal) and Rampant Growth (turn 2 accelerator, not vulnerable to removal) serve very different purposes. Second, both regularly get played as 4-ofs in the appropriate Standard decks. Green doesn't have a lot of aggressive power or control capability, so it needs ways to reach its big spells in Constructed, *before* aggro and control decks can consistently get their game plans online. I can't think of any successful Standard deck in recent memory that played green *without* playing some kind of mana acceleration. Green needs all the acceleration it can get.
DeleteThey serve exactly the same purpose: casting big spells earlier. They use different means to fulfill that purpose, just as Lightning Strike and Last Gasp are different means of removing creatures. When there are two fundamentally different ways to accomplish one game-crucial task, why should they both fall into one color's realm?
DeleteThe fact that every single competitive green deck relies on mana ramp as a strategy is not a sign of a healthy color pie. Every color should have multiple ways to approach the game.
Actually, like SCOM above, I'd rather give black Rampant Growth than Llanowar Elves. It was actually the color shift I suggested in GDS2. And it makes sense: Black gets to tutor, Black likes to "cheat", Black likes to have lots of Swamps.
DeletePlus it's really easy to make black land fetching feel black and not green by limiting it to swamps instead of any land. That way it could still be a tool for green, while black has it's own version. It actually could work well for most of Green's land based ramp:
Rampant Malignance 1B
Sorcery
Search your library for a swamp and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
or
Expand 1B
Instant
Draw a card.
Put a Swamp from your hand onto the battlefield.
Turf War 1B
DeleteSorcery
Search target opponent's library for a land card and put it tapped onto the battlefield under your control. Then that player shuffles that library.
I'm less a fan of that because green's creature removal (via fight) is already reliant on them having creatures on the battlefield. I don't want too many of green's tools to be neutered by wrath effects; it's already weak enough against them.
DeleteLay of the Land could also stay green in the proposed new framework.
I really like Wobbles' logic, but when you realize black growth can't fix colors, (and Elvish Mystic doesn't) you have to wonder where that would come from.
DeleteThere is that one prismatic zombie from Ravnica, unless he's officially an outlier
ReplyDeleteFound him: http://magiccards.info/di/en/57.html
DeleteWhat would common Deathrite Shaman look like?
ReplyDeleteDeath-lite Shaman B
Creature - Elf Shaman
T, Exile target land card from a graveyard: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
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It looks unnappealing. If D-Shubs was never printed I'd be like "What? Why?"
Death-light Right Shaman B
Creature - Elf Shaman
T: Add B to your mana pool.
1/1
Yeah?
Contrite Shaman B
DeleteCreature - Elf Shaman
T: Exile target card from a graveyard. If it's a land card, add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
1/2
I do like Benthic Explorers as a nongreen approach to acceleration. Though you could argue it's more white than blue.
ReplyDeleteMy attempt at a clever black mana-elf back during M13:
ReplyDeleteIgnoble Heresiarch B
Creature - Zombie Cleric (r)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls attacks alone, it gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Sacrifice CARDNAME: Add B to your mana pool.
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