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.
Zombie Dinosaur. Go!
Bloodcaller's Prize 5B
ReplyDeleteCreature - Zombie Beast
As long as CARDNAME is in a graveyard, spells that target it cost 4 less to cast.
6/3
The Melvin/Mel in me wants this to be a 4BB if the discount is 4.
DeleteNich, in that case wouldn't it be more important for the set's reanimation effect to be costed at 4B?
DeleteYeah, what was I thinking!?
DeleteAgree with Nich here for sure.
DeleteI agree which the cost of 4BB, but only because it would make the card 1/2 mana worse. "A" side should read marginal, "B" side gravy.
DeleteAlso it ties the cost to the reduction in a way that can be chunked and vertical cycled.
No problem making it 4BB. I'm tempted to square the toughness as well, making it a Craw Wurm, but I also like the "this is ever so slightly more likely to make it into your graveyard" that three toughness gives you.
DeleteI've been gone for a few weeks, so I'll do the renders this week!
In thinking about which planes have dinosaurs, I decided to give my design a Mirrodin/New Phyrexian flavor. The violating feel of the card's effect fits the Phyrexians anyway. Just pretend those pine trees are part of the Tangle, and that the dino's horns are jutting metal spikes.
ReplyDeleteVoracious Tyrranax (Uncommon)
4BB
Creature - Zombie Beast
5/3
At end of combat, if CARDNAME attacked this combat, defending player sacrifices a creature.
"Fear is the only spice worth savoring."
- Sheoldred, Whispering One
I like that they can kill this, negating the triggered ability.
DeleteWould this read a little easier for LSP's:
Whenever ~ attacks, if it's still on the battlefield at end of combat
Are the extra words worth the clarity?
Epoch of Flesh 2BB
ReplyDeleteSorcery (R)
Kicker 2B
Return each creature card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If Epoch of Flesh was kicked, return each creature card with converted mana cost 4 or greater from your graveyard to the battlefield instead.
This has a really sexy base mode and a really unexciting kicked mode. If I put this into a deck I'd be strongly incentivized to minimize the amount of creatures with CMC 4+ to begin with.
DeleteThis is white's slice is it not?
DeleteWhat if it was (3)(W/B)(W/B)(W/B)with "if you paid WWW reanimate cmc 3 or less. If you paid BBB reanimate cmc 4 or greater"
White reanimation basically only works this way. Black is allowed to work this way still if it wants to. Eg Alesha or Immortal Servitude.
DeleteThanatosaur Whelp (common)
ReplyDelete4G
Creature - Zombie Dinosaur
Consume (As an additional cost to cast this spell, exile any number of cards from your graveyard.)
CARDNAME enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter for each creature card it consumed.
4/4
Bad. Ass.
Delete4/4 for 4G with huge potential upside seems a tiny bit good for common. Lack of trample helps, but I might suggest 3/3 for play testing.
DeleteThis mechanic is really special, man. Inanimate might consider it renamed "salvage" or "scrap"
Is consume intended to be the same mechanic across multiple colors and card types but with different bonuses depending on the card type exiled?
DeleteSince it's an additional cost with no inherent benefit, I might advocate "consume [cardtype] to make intended play more obvious.
Jenesis, I like your templating better. Leads to fewer false choices.
DeleteThanatosaur Whelp (common)
4G
Creature - Zombie Dinosaur
Consume creatures (As an additional cost to cast this spell, exile any number of creature cards from your graveyard.)
CARDNAME enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter for each card it consumed.
4/4
As for the P/T, compare to Hooting Mandrills, which is a 4/4 trample for possibly much less than 4G.
Also compare: Rhox Maulers, which has to wait a turn to become a 6/6 but has trample.
DeleteIf there's good non-damage removal in the set at common I don't see a problem with this guy balance-wise. (And like renown creatures, blue can wreck him with bounce spells.)
Revenge of the Mighty
ReplyDeleteSorcery, 1BB, rare
For each player, choose target creature card in that player's graveyard with the highest power. That player returns that card to the battlefield under the control of one of his or her opponents.
I wanted "you and target opponent each get the other's dead creature with the highest power", but this is more fun around a multiplayer game.
I suppose Spike won't like this very much, like most cards that are entirely dependent on the contents of the opponent's deck. That is something of a pity, even though it's designed as a Timmy card.
The cost looks crazy low, but it's basically worse than Ashen Powder in two ways... (At least until Johnny starts pairing it with Bronze Bombshell or something.)
If you like, this is even more multiplayer-y:
DeleteStarting with you each player chooses an opponent's graveyard that hasn't been chosen. Then each player returns to the battlefield under his or her control a creature card from the chosen graveyard with the highest power or tied for the highest power.
Regardless, I like Revenge of the Mighty. It would still be solid if the reanimated creature wasn't restricted to the highest power.
That's pretty much what I started with. I recoiled from the number of words though. (It actually needs to be even wordier because it needs to be "graveyard of one of his or her opponents" rather than simply "opponent's graveyard".)
DeleteI agree the highest-power criterion isn't really necessary.
Mortisaur 4BB
ReplyDeleteCreature - Zombie Lizard (R)
Trample
B, Sacrifice another creature: Regenerate Mortisaur. (The next time this creature would be destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead tap it, remove all damage from it, and remove it from combat.)
Whenever another creature dies, put X +1/+1 counters on Mortisaur, where X is that creature’s toughness.
7/7
Just checking: is this deliberately a 7/7 with three upsides for 6 mana? I might expect that at mythic (or in green), but it seems somewhat pushed at rare.
DeleteI think this would be a pretty bad mythic.
DeleteI could see bumping up the mana cost to 7. I'm not married to the regeneration either but I wanted to give it some sort of mechanic that would let it not just die to removal, as a nod to the zombie type.
Z-Rex 3BB
ReplyDeleteCreature Zombie Dinosaur (C)
5BB: Return Z-Rex from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. Spend only mana produced by basic lands to activate this ability.
5/3
I don't think we've seen the Reassembling Skeleton ability at common before? But regeneration and indestructible are, so okay, I guess.
DeleteThis could be fine as common, but they really are shying away from both effect that reduce variance and repeatable forms of card advantage at common. I would not be surprised to see this at uncommon.
DeleteI tried "reassembling" on a bomb rare in a set a while back. It was zero fun. I even tried it on an over costed uncommon 2/2. Same result but more annoying.
Delete1/1, I think is about the limit, unfortunately.
Actually come to think of it, black gets variations on this all the time but always paired with "CARDNAME can't block". Eg Rot Farm Skeleton. Still not normally at common though.
DeleteI like it. Entering the battlefield tapped could be a separate clause so even when you hardcast it, it can't block right away. I agree that it would probably be an Uncommon in most sets, unless Black is extremely weak and needs a Limited boost. Then reprinted as a Common in some future Modern Masters set.
DeleteAncient Tyranosaur 2G
ReplyDeleteCreature - Zombie Dinosaur (R)
You may cast ~ from your graveyard, but not from your hand.
When ~ dies, exile it.
10/10
"Long extinct, these ancient beasts have reawakened for one final hour in the sun."
Are zombies monogreen?
DeleteThis seems really easy to enable, albeit in colors outside of green.
If this were to remain in mono green, I believe it should cost more
DeleteThis is so similar to Haakon (from cold snap) that I'm having a hard time not seeing it with a black pip or two, though.
I like it quite a bit otherwise. Tells an interesting story and makes my inner Johny giddy.
Ghoultree is mono-Green. Haakon is definitely Black because it lets you cast other creatures out of your graveyard. I could see this being at least partially Black, for sure, but I'm not swayed by either argument that it needs to be in Zombie Dinosaur Land. (Though it could simply be Dinosaur land with one black Zombie dinosaur, that isn't what I was picturing).
DeleteI can definitely see doing a 1G 6/5 if power level is concerned. That way it is comparable to something like the Zombie Fish.
Going for the BIG Tammy Mythic here:
ReplyDeleteRex of Extinction {5}{B}{B}{G}
Creature - Zombie Dinosaur (Mythic)
Menace, vigilance
{4}{B}{B}{G}, {T}: Destroy target creature. If that creature dies this way, put a 5/4 black and green Zombie Dinosaur token onto the battlefield.
"The extinct species will be you."
10/8
I could get behind this! My only suggesting would be to square off some of these numbers.
DeleteCMC = 8
Ability = 7
P/T = 10/8
Token = 5/4
I like the relation of the p/t to the tokens, but the card as a whole lacks a sort of aesthetic cohesion.
Would it be better at
DeleteCMC = 8
Ability = 4
P/T = 8/8
Token = 4/4
?
In the abstract that reads better for sure. But "3B, T: destroy target creature and get a 4/4 token" is kind of bonkers (nowadays)
DeleteTough spot. Perhaps your original costs with the streamlined P/T would be enough?
8, 4, 8/8, 4/4 seems fair to me.
DeleteIf I have an 8/8 menace vigilance who can kill creatures, I'm probably just going to kill my opponent before the tokens can do much of anything. Could one or both of the combat-related abilities be removed?
DeleteI love the flavour. Jenesis is right though that the ability to just smash in on the attack and kill the biggest blocker will make the tokens irrelevant normally.
DeleteInterestingly, Godsire is in a rather similar space, though with a different flavour due to not killing creatures.
About two years ago my son and I concocted a story where the original Lorwyn Five time traveled back to when Nicol Bolas was able to be defeated. Pre-spark. Pre-elder status. Dinosaur-era Dominaria!
ReplyDeleteWorking from that concept, we decided to explore the "basic" super type and settled on something like this:
Diseased Tyrannax 5B
Creature- Dinosaur (C)
Primordial- Whenever you play a basic card, you may have another target creature get -1/-1 until end of turn.
2/5
"Basic" was a very tough nut to crack, and I don't think we nailed it, but the overall concept was exciting and "Primordial" played very well. Generally it plays like landfall, but with occasional upside.
Insatiable Predator 2GG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Lizard (Rare)
Insatiable Predator gets +1/+1 and has deathtouch as long as it has a death counter on it.
Reanimate 4BB (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its reanimate cost. If you do, it enters the battlefield with a death counter on it and is a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.)
4/4
Given how unfun buyback and dredge were, do we really want another mechanic that rewards playing the same card over and over?
DeleteI like this, but keywording Reanimate makes me wonder how often you plan on using it per set. As a keyword, it's a great replacement for regenerate, except it's flavored exclusively as a Black effect. Would it always cost Black mana to use? That hurts it quite a bit.
DeleteAlso, as a Rare, I would expect this card to get a little more than +1/+1 and deathtouch. Trample and deathtouch, or something equally exciting fits a Rare. P/T boosts are less interesting specifically, because reanimate makes toughness boosts less relevant.
Experimental Necrosaur
ReplyDelete3{GU}{GB}
Creature - Zombie Lizard
5/2
Evolve
Scavenge 5{GB}{GB}
+1/+1 counters remain on CARDNAME as it's put into a graveyard from the battlefield.
I kind of think the best answer to this challenge is a vanilla 5/5 zombie lizard, or maybe with trample, menace or regeneration, but that's a bit boring. This is from a hypothetical set with 3-colour deck archetypes built around pairs of ravnica guilds.
Is there supposed to be a second GU mana in there?
DeleteThe base rate of Scavenge 7 for 5 is already fairly exciting/good. Make the base power smaller, and maybe some part of it cheaper?
DeleteLarder-Belly Rex 2BB
ReplyDeleteCreature - Zombie Lizard (R)
Trample
Regenerate 1B.
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice CARDNAME unless you store 2 (Exile 2 cards from your graveyard under CARDNAME. When CARDNAME dies, return cards exiled this way to the graveyard).
6/4
With store, you can play a lot of cards that rely on the graveyard, but you'll have to stagger their timing.
Larder-Belly Rex is an awesome name. Kudos!
DeleteThere's a lot of tension between regenerate and store. At a certain point, regenerate doesn't matter because you know you won't be able to pay the store cost. What if, the store cost destroyed the Rex instead of making you sac it? That way, on turns where you can't afford to store, you can pay to regenerate Rex, (it gets tapped when regenerating and takes a turn off) and you can try and get cards in your yard for the next store upkeep.
Repurposed Predator 2BB
ReplyDeleteCreature - Zombie Dinosaur
Deathtouch
1GB: Target creature must block CARDNAME this turn if able to.
4/4
Once culling the weak, now just culling.
Going for a Johnny-Spike rare, Future Sight-style:
ReplyDeleteUnextinct Predator 2B
Creature- Zombie Lizard (Rare)
6/6
Begin the game with CARDNAME in your graveyard. (Remove it from your library and place it in your graveyard before drawing your starting hand.)
At the beginning of your first turn, if CARDNAME is in your graveyard, you lose 1 life.
Cheating issues aside, this is...deck thinning and Ichorid fodder? Much too small to bother reanimating. I suppose it could fuel delve as well, though the delve decks do pretty well in that regard on their own.
DeleteAjzhik, the Wandering Hunger-3GB
ReplyDeletePlaneswalker-Ajzhik- Mythic
+2 -Until end of turn, CARDNAME becomes a 5/5 Zombie Dinosaur with trample until end of turn. Loyalty counters can't be removed from CARDNAME until end of turn.
-1 -All creatures lose hexproof and get -1/-0 until end of turn.
-X -Target creature gets -x/-x until end of turn. If that creature would die this turn, exile CARDNAME, then return him to the battlefield under your control. Loyalty counters: 3
This leads into a big question "What can be a planeswalker and what can't?" I answer this with the theory that every species has the potential to have the spark. We have humans, goblins, elves, merfolk, dragons, and lionin planeswalkers. This is a wide disparity in different species who have the spark, so it would be safe to assume that any species can have and ignite their spark. The only reason that there's more human planeswalkers is that there's more humans in the multiverse than any other species. Also the fact that we're highly adaptable helps.
DeleteSo what does this mean for non-sentient lifeforms? I theorize that the spark is even rarer for animals to have, or that igniting their spark rarely happens. And even if it does they can't really control it like we would, so they're not hopping from world to world like Jace is. But if something that's at the top of the food chain, like Ajzhik, were to ignite their spark, it would be pretty cool.
So looking at his +2 I wanted him to go after your opponent but to be different than Gideon. So I made it that combat would actually affect possibly kill him but not remove any loyalty counters. It probably could be reworded. His -1 is representing a fearsome roar, demoralizing his anyone around and allowing him to track them more easily.
DeleteHow I imagine him planeswalking is after he finds and kills his prey, he is satisfied, so he "leaves" or planeswalkes. This could be strictly worse than languish, but you get the plus of a 5/5. So all in all I think it just needs a couple of tweeks to be an awesome planeswalker card.
The +2 is cool, and is indeed different from Gideon. The only downside is that plussing him on the turn he ETBs does nothing. (Sarkhan at least gives himself haste.)
Delete-1/-0 is neither green nor black. It's also curious that the effect only works on potential blockers. I'm also not seeing "removes hexproof" from "intimidating roar."
So the -X can kill all X/2 or smaller creatures the turn it ETBs? The only planeswalker that can remove multiple permanents from the battlefield on the turn it enters is Ugin, and he costs 8 mana.
Unrelenting Predator 4BB
ReplyDeleteCreature - Zombie Lizard (U?)
4BB, Sacrifice a creature with power less than Unrelenting Predator's power: Return Unrelenting Predator from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate this ability only during your upkeep.
6/2
Death only amplifies its hunger.
Feedback appreciated as always.