Cool Card Design of the Day9/11/2014 - Inspired by yesterday's card—and surely with some background inspiration from Czynski's land-hunt mechanic—I present a new keyword, similar to flanking and bushido but with a tribal or color focus like protection has.
You likely noticed how I shoehorned 'fight' in there with the usual combat and Scourge Champion is why. Whether that's worth it or not is debatable, but it seems much more intuitive and only costs us one extra word and comma.
Something else I'm proposing is that a keyword can have a numerical input as well as a default. Hunter defaults to +1/+1 but can have a number applied for a greater effect. It's not entirely dissimilar to the way certain keywords work slightly differently depending on whether they appear on creatures, non-creature permanents, or sorceries & instants. It seems pretty reasonable to me, but I'd love to hear your reaction.
Something about the line "Hunts Goblins" is just plain cool, but I'm not sure the Fight part of the mechanic can actually be made to work, since it's a trigger, and it won't happen until after the fight.
ReplyDeleteCrrrrap. You're right.
Delete"Whenever ~ would deal damage to and/or suffer damage from a Goblin, it gets +1/+1 until EOT and then deals or suffers that much damage. "
Awkward.
I think that shoehorning fight in there messes up an otherwise very elegant mechanic. Also not a big fan of the numbered version, although I see the advantages in it. Alternative template for Scourge Champion:
DeleteHunts Dragons
Whenever ~ blocks or is blocked by a Dragon creature, ~ gains double strike until EoT.
3W: Untap target creature. That creature must block CARDNAME this turn if able.
Hunts Goblins (If ~ would deal damage to or be dealt damage by a Goblin, first it gets +1/+1 until EOT.)
DeleteHunts Goblins (Whenever cardname attacks, you may have it fight target goblin creature an opponent controls.)
ReplyDeletein addition to the attack?
DeleteHunts Goblins (At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may tap this creature. If you do, it fights target Goblin creature an opponent controls.)
DeleteYes, I want in addition to the attack because otherwise it is non-interactive in a way that is unfun for your opponent. "I'm gonna go beat up that planeswalker dude my boss doesn't like, but hey, while I'm out of the house I might as well beat up a goblin."
DeleteI think Ben's version would be incredibly oppressive to play against because you couldn't respond to it in a natural way.
One problem I see with a fight trigger on attacking is that less rules-savvy players will assume that it's simply a mandatory block. (In fact, I'd bet a majority of players believe that blocking and blocked creatures fight each other.) It's really unintuitive that a hunter can "fight" the same goblin twice in one combat phase.
DeleteI think this would come up very, very infrequently. It is difficult for two creatures to fight and both to live, especially when one player has to have voluntarily made it happen. The most obvious scenario it would happen in that I can see is something like a Stave Off.
DeleteI do think the mechanic isn't quite there. I don't like it being tied to creature types (it could just be the ability "Hunter" instead of a specific subtype) but it seems like it could be too oppressive to appear at common at all.
Maybe a solution to both issues is this:
Hunter (When ~ attacks you may have it fight target tapped creature defending player controls.)
Ooh, I like that. Not necessarily as a keyword, but on an occasional card.
DeleteI would want to stay away from having hunt be directly associated with fighting simply for flavor reasons. An archer with Hunts Goblins is probably going to down the little pests before they get a chance to raise their clubs. I do like the idea of Hunt causing the creature to grow, showing that the odds are against the huntee (word?).
DeleteOne idea would be to associate hunt with a trigger, like:
Pest Remover 2R
Creature- Human Archer
Hunts Goblins (Whenever a Golbin creature dies, if it was dealt damage by ~ this turn, put a Hunt counter on ~.)
Whenever a hunt counter is placed on ~, draw a card
2/3
Provoke Goblin (Whenever this creature attacks, you may have target Goblin creature defending player controls untap and block it if able.)
DeleteI like this, minus the rules issues with fight. In fact, I proposed the same mechanic (albeit with +3/+3) in one of my first Goblin Artisans columns as a partial replacement for Protection. Looking back at it with fresh eyes, I suspect +2/+2 is where this wants to fall. Then again, a higher ceiling allows better flavor on giant-killers etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm lukewarm on putting both a numerical and verbal parameter on the same keyword, although I suppose it could be concealed by calling the ability "Dragonslayer 4" or something.
"Smite Goblins"! Awesome.
DeleteI think these might sound cooler if they were ~ Hunter instead of Hunts ~. Just my $.02.
ReplyDeleteActually, when I first published this, that's what they were.
DeleteWas pointed out that Bluehunter was really awkward.
Mm, I saw that in my RSS feed before I came here to comment. "Hunts blue creatures" is clearly better than "Bluehunter", "Hunts Goblins" is just as fine as "Goblinhunter", but "Hunts Dragons 4" is painful while "Dragonhunter 4" is awesome. So I think leave the colour option out for the sake of the more stylish tribal wording that can also be numerically parametrised when need be.
DeleteI really like that approach to numerically parametered mechanics, by the way. Have the default mechanic be 1, but allow supply of a number for nondefault. Everyone would understand what "Flanking 3" or "Prowess 2" would mean, after all.