Weekend Art ChallengeGreetings, artisans! Click through to see this weekend's art and the design requirements for your single card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, and everyone is encouraged to give feedback. You may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times, though only the version rendered will be included in the review, if someone volunteers to render the cards.
Design a card for this art. Try to make a new tribal mechanic that does not affect power or toughness.
Thanks to Anastase for the challenge idea.
First idea:
ReplyDeleteFaerie Wolfcaller
2G
Creature - Faerie
CARDNAME can only be blocked by creatures with flying or reach.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, put a 2/2 green wolf creature token OTB for each Faerie card in your graveyard.
2/1
A perennial problem with tribal decks is running out of steam with small creatures that eventually get outclassed without a form of card advantage or finishers. So lets try cards that get better as the game goes on.
If this was on more than a single card, it would probably have an ability word (if not a keyword).
I appreciate the problems in counting cards in graveyards, but a single number that's relevant can be ok.
I originally envisaged this as a graveyard ability itself, so most faeries would have an "exile me from graveyard, get a bonus scaled by number of other faeries" mechanic. But the simpler version seemed fine.
I'm not sure if it's too potentially strong or not.
This works off a tribe that doesn't have a lot of green support, and dies to a Wrath because it doesn't have flash (compare Caller of the Claw), so I believe it's fine at rare.
DeleteIt is really strange that Faerie tribal would be positioned as caring about the graveyard, though.
Not really about the tribal design, but
DeleteI really dislike the faux flying ability: it basically is flying on offense. Would it be fine to have a mono green creature with "This creature has flying as long as it is attacking"?
I don't think so.
I agree low flying sucks, but it's in the green colour pie, and I can't see the art as anything other than "green" and "flying" :)
DeleteLow flying is only debatably in the green color pie (MaRo is firmly of the opinion that it isn't green), and most of the submissions this week don't have flying.
DeleteDeep-Rooted Wildheart
ReplyDeleteCreature - Dryad Shaman, 1GG, 3/2, uncommon
As ~ ETBs, choose Dryad or Wolf.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control of the chosen type dies, return it to your hand.
Based primarily on the "ethereal, eternal" feeling I get from the art. I like the way you get the choice whether this will return itself or not (though any given deck is likely to make the same choice most of the time).
With how many wolves are tokens, this tends to fall a bit flat for the Wolf deck.
DeleteI would gladly play this in a non-tribal deck just as a creature that can endlessly recur itself.
DeleteJenesis: You'd play this over Wolfir Avenger?
DeleteCzynski: That is a definite problem, I agree. Problem is the art doesn't really support switching Wolf to, say, Bear.
@AlexC: Depends. They serve different roles. In a deck where I expect to be attacking and tapping out all the time, probably. In a deck that repeatedly abuses sacrifice effects, ala Pod? Definitely.
DeleteHm, yes, it's pretty good with sacrifice effects. Not as good as Reassembling Skeleton, though. When used that way it's basically Mortus Strider but with a bigger body since it's not common.
DeleteIt does look very good next to Mortus Strider. Would this be better as 2/2 than 3/2?
Essence of Wolf 2G
ReplyDeleteCreature - Spirit (C)
Wolves you control are Spirits in addition to their other types.
G, T: Target Spirit gains Trample until end of turn.
2/2
This is for a set where the only tribal effects are Spirit Tribal, but there are cards like this for various creature types that bring them into the Spirit party. The goal is to encourage a menagerie kind of tribal deck -- how effective it would be I'm not so sure.
I really like simple yet unique this card is. Exciting!
DeleteI'm a little sad that this can activate to target itself, but you'd never want to.
DeleteIn this hypothetical set I think the five-color deck would want to run only Spirits while a one- or two-color deck could get away with adding more non-Spirit creatures and using Essences as enablers.
I really like this idea. Fascinating set concept.
DeleteReminds me a little bit of how Bramblewood Paragon and Oona's Blackguard and so on are playable in Abzan-style +1/+1 counter-themed decks even though they're intended as tribal cards.
Obligatory reprint: raised by wolves
ReplyDeleteToo bad RbW gives a p/t boost or if stick with it...
DeleteSpirit of the Pack {2}{G}{G}
ReplyDeleteCreature - Dryad Shaman (rare)
Wolf Guardian (As long as you control a Wolf and a creature is attacking you, you may cast this creature as though it had flash.)
Tap an untapped Wolf you control: regenerate target untapped Wolf.
2/3
Guardian works in blue, white, and green, is a nonstandard payoff for tribal themes that's useful for helping catch up as a synergy deck, and promotes shields-down moments so you can't just hold up mana and cast at end of turn.
I like the Guardian mechanic. This particular card falls a little flat for me, though. It can't regenerate tapped Wolves, and it can't regenerate itself, so in order to get full value you actually need to control two (untapped) Wolves at once and somehow still have an opponent want to attack you.
DeleteCould this possibly say: Wolves you control have "Tap another untapped Wolf you control: Regenerate this creature."? It sucks that I can't attack with my Wolves if I want to keep open the possibility of regenerating them.
Hmm, that's messier but definitely more interesting. And I think at rare this can get a bit more, actually:
DeleteSpirit of the Pack 2GG
Creature - Dryad Shaman (rare)
Wolf Guardian (As long as you control a Wolf and a creature is attacking you, you may cast this creature as though it had flash.)
Wolves you control have "Tap another untapped Wolf you control: Regenerate this creature."
{T}: Regenerate target Wolf.
2/4
Is there a risk that the set with Guardian would discourage players from attacking?
DeleteThat is definitely a risk. And thinking about it, this is a very easy hurdle to meet. Would it be strange/aesthetically displeasing if I made it always require two of the type?
DeleteThere's also the aggressive variant Companion (You may cast this during your declare attackers step if you control an attacking . If you do, it enters the battlefield tapped and attacking.), which could work in white, red and black for sure, green probably, and be a stretch in blue. But that doesn't fit with this art, I don't think.
Final revision:
DeleteSpirit of the Pack {2}{G}{G}
Creature - Dryad Shaman (rare)
Wolf Guardian (As long as you control two or more Wolf permanents and a creature is attacking you, you may cast this creature as though it had flash.)
Wolves you control have "Tap another untapped Wolf you control: Regenerate this creature."
Tap: Regenerate target Wolf.
2/4
Woodland Caller 3GG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Elf Dryad (U)
Familiar (As this creature enters the battlefield, choose a creature type other than a type it has.)
Hexproof
Woodland Caller’s familiars have hexproof.
2/2
"Callers" would be one or more horizontal cycles and share no types between them.
Caller / Familiar is a nifty concept. You'd play a couple in some other on-colour-but-not-on-tribe tribal deck like Wurms or Spiders or something.
DeleteHowever I don't like things that grant big swathes of hexproof also having hexproof themselves. It's a miserable enough mechanic as it is. Even Drogskol Captain only granted hexproof to all your other Spirits. Could this lose its own hexproof and just grant it to familiars?
Very neat. It would be hard to make more than a single horizontal cycle share no types, though.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI wouldn't say so.
DeleteTaking Lorwyn/Morningtide as a starting point:
Kithkin Soldier
Merfolk Wizard
Faerie Rogue
Goblin Warrior
Elf Shaman
Cat Cleric / Kor Scout
Vedalken Advisor / Djinn Monk
Vampire Assassin / Zombie Knight
Orc Berserker / Dwarf Artificer
Treefolk Druid / Snake Archer
Angel / Bird / Griffin
Sphinx / Fish / Leviathan
Demon / Horror / Shade
Dragon / Elemental / Beast
Hydra / Wurm / Plant
Most planes wouldn't have *all* of those, but you probably wouldn't want 30 Callers in a set anyway. 15 is easily doable, 20 without much difficulty if you're happy to have 5 or 10 nonsentient ones.
I could see this losing its own hexproof. I had hoped that jacking up the CMC would mitigate the frustration somewhat, but perhaps not.
DeleteAlso, that was meant to be "Druid" instead of "Dryad", but now that I think about it, she has some plantlike features. So:
Woodland Caller 3G
Creature - Dryad Druid (U)
Familiar (As this creature enters the battlefield, choose a creature type other than a type it has.)
Woodland Caller’s familiars have hexproof.
2/3
Clever type line. Clever mechanic too.
DeleteFrom a flavor perspective it's a bit strange that one can (and often will) have, say, Human or Goblin familiars... but that's pretty much unavoidable, I guess.
Wispwood Duo 1UG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Faerie Wolf (R)
Whenever a Wolf enters the battlefield under your control, whenever Wispwood Duo deals combat damage to a player this turn, draw a card.
Whenever a Faerie enters the battlefield under your control, Wispwood Duo gains flying until end of turn.
3/3
I've always been interested in the Duo cycle from Shadowmoor and whether that could be adapted to bridge the gap in a tribal set. This would slot into something that encouraged Wolf and Faerie tribal in green and blue respectively as a build-around overlap.
Wispwood Duo 2G
Creature - Dryad Wolf (U)
Whenever a Dryad enters the battlefield under your control, Wispwood Duo gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Whenever a Wolf enters the battlefield under your control, Wispwood Duo gains trample until end of turn.
2/2
This one obviously breaks the no power/toughness rule, but fills a role in a set where Wolves might be a RG tribe and Dryads a WG tribe, allowing you to build off the Wolf synergies while the random G Dryads you had to play to fill out your curve are doing something to contribute as well; a fairly different role to the first card.
You'd have to zoom in pretty close on this art before it resembles a "Duo."
DeleteI like where this idea is going, but I don't think Duos work nearly as well for tribals as for colors. There's no inherent flavor tied to making a card monocolor or multicolor (or hybrid), whereas it seems a lot harder to justify enough UG Wolf Faeries in a set to be able to pull off the Thieving Magpie combo consistently.
You're right that a lot of sets wouldn't have many dual type creatures, but they might have stuff like:
DeleteSprite of the Hunt 3UG
Creature - Faerie Druid (C)
Flying
When Sprite of the Hunt enters the battlefield, put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield.
2/2
Or cheap Wolves/Faeries you can leverage into playing two a turn:
Pixie Trickster U
Creature - Faerie Rogue (C)
Flying
1U: Return Pixie Trickster to its owner's hand. Activate this ability only if Pixie Trickster is in combat.
1/1
Nightrun Howler 2G
Creature - Wolf (C)
When Nightrun Howler enters the battlefield, draw a card.
2/1
Where it calls, the pack follows.
Which card would you like to submit for the challenge? The 1UG Faerie Wolf or the 2G Dryad Wolf?
DeleteWild Hunt RG
ReplyDeleteInstant (Uncommon)
Put a 2/2 green wolf creature token onto the battlefield. Then, all wolf creatures you control fight target creature. (That creature's controller decides how to divide its damage among your creatures.)
I see this as one of the (now ubiquitous) ten multicolored draft rudders in a Lorwyn/Shadowmoor or Innistrad set. Not really first pickable, but a signpost for a supported theme or sub-theme.
I like this in a set with RG Wolves. Surprise fight when you have no creatures in play is pretty sweet, and you can even potentially get a two-for-one.
DeleteSlight wording quibble: Should use Master of the Wild Hunt's wording instead of "fight," because fights are always one-on-one under current rules. (Thank you Duels 2014 for reminding me of the existence of that card!)
I feel you on the squibble, but this is a proposed fix, and reads cleaner.
DeleteThis is one of those times where I scratch my head and ask why they don't just add one line to the rules for fight to allow greater range for the effect.
Alpha Brawl also exists as a valid interpretation of "target creature fights a bunch of other creatures."
DeleteYup, and Polukranos. It's a rules manager question I'd push for, but aquiesce if need be. Also, not integral to the design or the design parameters.
Deleteindeed the fighting rules should be a bit re-evaluated by wizards, since this amazing mechanic (a great solution to green's previous lack of removal) could be expanded to do a lot more.
DeleteDeepwood Calling {2}{G}
ReplyDeleteInstant (Rare)
You may cast Deepwood Calling only if you control at least two creatures.
Search your library for a green creature card that shares no creature types with creatures you control. Reveal it and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
“Nature is acceptance.”
This may be not what the challenge asked, but that's what came to my mind. The restriction is to avoid having a semi creature-less control playing this as a finisher tutor.
May it be not broken at {1}{G}?
I have concerns this could be less fun than it is interesting.
Feedback appreciated.
I wonder what kind of metagame could support a semi-creatureless that runs green.
DeleteI like it. I agree it shouldn't be broken at {1}{G}. I'd enjoy playing a hodgepodge silver bullet deck with all sorts of random creatures.
Delete@Fading: a Sultai UBg control? The fact is I don't want to give that (even if unlikely) deck a possibility.
Delete@AlexC: that's exactly what this card would be for :)
For the render, the art should be better if cropped out to only show one wolf and the faerie/spirit.
Spirit Guide 1GG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Elf Shaman (R)
When ~ enters the battlefield, put a 2/2 Spirit Wolf token onto the battlefield for each Wolf card in your graveyard.
2/3
I see this is very similar to Jack's idea!
Delete:( http://preview.tinyurl.com/nj9zggs
DeleteI love how top-down this design is with so little text! Plays well, too-- it does a great job of solving the common tribal-deck problem of "how to deal with a Wrath".
DeleteMaster of the Wild Hunt 2GG
ReplyDeleteCreature — Human Shaman (m)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield.
{T}: Tap all untapped Wolf creatures you control. Each Wolf tapped this way deals damage equal to its power to target creature. That creature deals damage equal to its power divided as its controller chooses among any number of those Wolves.
3/3
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DeleteActually, if not a reprint:
DeleteLeader of the Pack 1GG
Creature - Dryad (R)
When Leader of the Pack enters the battlefield, put two 2/2 green wolf tokens onto the battlefield.
Wolves you control can't attack or block unless Leader of the Pack is also attacking or blocking.
2/2
I like the non-reprint design a lot! Very clever drawback setup.
DeleteBut it's actually the 'tribal' element of the design that has me a little worried. This randomly nerfs any other Wolves that you might want to run (and also extra copies of Leader of the Pack... maybe??), which is a feel-bad experience for players who want to build a Wolf tribal deck and include the Leader of the Pack.
I'm not saying that this is a serious flaw, though. After all, Goblin Rabblemaster is doing very similar things, though he comes with a bonus for running other Goblins as well as a drawback.
This isn't great for tribal, but it works excellently with other tribal cards, particularly those that give P/T boosts. The tokens that come alongside it gain the tribal boosts while it does not, making it much easier to kill off the Leader to free your Wolves from its attacking and blocking restriction.
DeleteWolf-Student Sylvian {2}{G}
ReplyDeleteCreature - Dryad Elf (U)
{1}{G}, Tap an untapped Wolf creature you control: Wolf-Student Sylvian fights target creature you don't control.
3/3
The young sylvian loves its daily lessons, but the small prey of the forest, not so much.
The idea here is that you can use this over multiple turns, or you can chain a bunch of fights in one turn if necessary. (But that's more risky.) I believe this is probably okay balanced but it might need to have some numbers fiddled with and moved to rare.
I was entirely inspired top-down by the flavor of getting lessons from Wolves. That's why it can do this multiple times for each Wolf - it has multiple teachers.
this is a very interesting build around me card. I like it a lot.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSo it's the Elf that's doing the fighting, and not the Wolves? I'm used to expecting the opposite (see Master of the Wild Hunt). The card name and flavor text somewhat explain it, though. Those must be some intense lessons the wolves are giving.
DeleteTribal design space isn't infinite, so I think a good direction to take it is incorporating more tribal-rewarding spells. This card has a simple threshold style mechanic, and isn't flashy, but I think it has depth.
ReplyDeletePackleader's Cunning (UNCOMMON
1GG
Sorcery
Until end of turn, creatures you control gain “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.”
Tribal boost — If you control a Wolf, until end of turn, those creatures also gain “Creatures with power less than this creature’s power can’t block it.”
This is good thinking, Nich. I considered an "if you control a Wolf" effect as well, but I realized that it's a bit unfeasible for the same reason that Silumgar's Scorn and friends let you reveal a card in hand.
DeleteControlling a Wolf means you have to wait to cast the spell until after you play a Wolf. Whereas normal tribal spells - like Lords - let you play before, after, or even at the same time.
The Dragon-reveal cards in DTK let you reveal in order to hit the most of these 'timings'. But this wording only hits one - before.
Still, I totally agree with your thinking. I immediately jumped to this idea because, exactly as you said, tribal design space is not infinite and needs some shaking up.
I hear what your saying in the abstract, but Packleader's Cunning doesn't really match up with the Dragons cards you're talking about. It gives all your creatures a pair of abilities. Meaning the reason you're going to hold it back isn't because you're waiting to get a Wolf down, but to have enough creatures to get full benefit from the effect. I'm assuming Wolf is a supported tribe in the set this card woulf appear in. And in a Tribal set, non-Dragon tribes have a major advantage. The Dragons cards are worded the way they are because Dragons are such a limiting tribe to support. Every Dragon is a 4+ mana spell, and 6+ at low rarities. But Wolves, Elves, Goblins, etc can cost 1-2 mana to start. You can have a majority of your creatures in a set be these tribes, unlike Dragons, Angels, Demons, Krakens, etc. The fact that these can't be played anytime like a lord, isn't a problem. And anyway threshold one greatly reduces that impact.
DeleteThe plus side of making Tribal spells the large creature tribes is that they can have bigger effects, since you are not always able to meet the threshold, even with a "reveal from hand" clause. With small creature tribes, you kind of have to bake the full effect into the spell's cost.
DeleteGood points! I can't argue with those.
Delete@Nich: are you sure you have not flipped the large creature / small creature tribes together? Or did you mean large in terms of CMC (dragons at ~6 CMC vs elves at ~2 CMC) as opposed to frequency (elves at ~10000000elves/set vsNoggles at ~3 Noggles/ visit to shadowmoore).
DeleteYeah, I meant large-creature tribes, as in converted mana cost. I was not careful about defining my terms. If I had said Iconic Creature Tribes, which is the term WotC uses, I am not positive anyone would know what I meant anyway.
DeleteShared Awareness 1GW
ReplyDeleteEnchantment (mythic)
Creatures that share a race, share activated abilities.
So you're proposing to teach the rules the difference between race types (Goblin, Elf, Human) and class types (Soldier, Wizard, Assassin)? What about those that are unclear, such as Zombie or Horror? And what percentage of players will guess the same way you ruled?
DeleteNo, no, sorry, that was both a joke card (I know it is too hard to do this correctly and can break the game in many ways) and an error in how I wrote the text... It should be each creatures that shares a type with it... If I were to remake magic the gathering from 0 however I would certainly make a distinction between races and classes.
DeleteSo for a real submission:
Raiser of Wolves 1GG
Creature - Dryad Shaman (uncommon)
Whenever a wolf you control comes into play, if you control no wolf tokens, put a 2/2 green wolf token into play.
2/3
I'm just gonna make a tribal Dryad card. Looking through all the Dryads, forestwalk seems to be the unifying mechanic. Unfortunately, landwalk is being phased out.
ReplyDeleteHidden Dryad 3GG
Creature - Dryad
G, sacrifice a Dryad: Search your library for a Forest and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
2G, sacrifice a Forest: Search your library for a Dryad and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
4/4
I really like this idea, since dryads are supposed to turn into trees it feels quite organic (pun intended). This should probably be a rare.
DeleteYavimaya Dryad was a really good tie-in to the prevailing forestwalk among dryads. Either a ramp spell or a landwalk enabler, your choice. But that is problematic with landwalk losing its evergreenness.
DeleteVioletwood Sprite (uncommon)
ReplyDelete1G
Creature - Faerie
Purple creatures you control have hexproof.
{3}{G} or {P}: Target creature becomes purple until end of turn.
2/2
Oooh... a sixth color. Bold.
DeleteI think a design like this requires a bit more context. Is purple a full sixth color? Does it get a basic land? Does it get the same number of cards that the other colors do? Is there anything distinctive about the kinds of cards it gets? What might make caring about purple creatures 'tribal' in a way that caring about, say, red creatures isn't?
Planar Chaos design explored the possibility of treating purple as a "normal" color like the other five, and determined it wouldn't work. Maro has stated that there isn't enough mechanical space in the color pie to carve out a sixth section of new material. So, we have to go elsewhere.
DeleteIn our large set, Sound, we introduce purple as a color whose mana is only used on activated abilities and kicker costs. There are two common cycles in Sound: a cycle of five lands that ETB tapped and tap for either a regular color *or* purple, and a cycle of artifacts that filter mana to purple and have an additional effect. The idea is that purple is a color that can only be splashed, not run as a main color. There are no purple cards, though there are cards that can make permanents purple (like Violetwood Sprite) as well as effects that care about things being purple (like, hey, Violetwood Sprite.)
In our small set, Fury, we introduce a sixth basic land, Lagoon, which appears in every basic land slot (so you're guaranteed to get one per pack.) Fury features purple cards at every rarity. In contrast to Sound-Sound-Sound draft, which rewarded splashing purple as a minor subtheme, Fury-Sound-Sound draft offers players the opportunity to go deep into purple, by featuring lots of cards with two or three purple mana in their mana costs.
I really like this vision for purple-- seems very believable and well-thought-out. "Splash-only" is an exciting and interesting identity.
DeleteBut I'd assert that Violetwood Sprite isn't strictly speaking a 'tribal' card under these conditions. It doesn't care about existing characteristics of cards so much-- it's just using 'purpleness' to track the bonus it's granting. And once Fury makes 'purpleness' an innate quality it will be tied to mana cost, not creature type.
I admit this may be too narrow a definition of tribal, though. I'm curious: Do you consider Foundry Street Denizen and Bellowing Tanglewurm to be 'tribal' designs?
I agree with lpaulsen: This is a plausible and reasonable way of temporarily adding a sixth colour, but I wouldn't call it tribal.
DeleteRowanhair's Bond 1G
ReplyDeleteSorcery (Rare)
If you control a Faerie creature, you may search your library for a Wolf creature card and reveal it.
If you control a Wolf creature, you may search your library for a Faerie creature card and reveal it.
Put all cards revealed this way into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Aiming for a card that encourages cross-creature-type deckbuilding and maybe captures a cool story moment (which apparently is increasingly important). Not sure of how to cost it, though. I went with 1G based on stuff like Time of Need and Green Sun's Zenith, on the theory that requiring a creature of the opposite type to be in play already is a pretty serious restriction.
Also, I wonder if this might get just a little too good with Changelings.
DeleteYou might want it to be {2}{G}, on the assumption that it will usually be played in decks that can maximize it. And a 2G two-relevant-card tutor, even if very restrictive, is a very good payoff.
DeleteLooks like nobody's claimed the renders yet, so I'll do that.
ReplyDeleteRenders are up at http://imgur.com/a/JqBkX .
Delete