Cool Card Design of the Day9/14/2015 - A Mind Control variant that's black in theme, though not particularly black mechanically.
Also it needs to stop triggering once it's done its job. Probably sacrifice itself since the control effect is permanent.
I see where you came from on this, but I agree that it isn't really black mechanically.
ReplyDeleteThis smacks of red to me.
Treacherous Impulses 2RR
Ench- aura
Ench cre
Enchanted creature has haste.
At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. You may reveal that card. If you reveal a card with cmc greater than enchanted creature untap and gain control of enchanted creature until end of turn.
To go more black i imagine something like this:
Hint of Corruption 3B
Ench- Aura
Ench cre you don't control.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if your devotion to black is greater than enchanted creature's cmc, gain control of enchanted creature.
Took me a while to figure out why Treacherous Impulses granted haste. Nice.
DeleteThe flavor I was trying to get is that you're showing the creature how powerful you are. They can either join you and be on the winning side, or be crushed by something huge. That really didn't come through.
I like your version better. Both.
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DeleteYour red version reminds me of Custody Battle.
DeleteBlind Devotion (Rare)
ReplyDelete1UU
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature as long as your devotion to blue is greater than enchanted creature's power.
Given Vedalken Shackles, this has to be legit (at some cost).
DeleteFor my Code Geass set (that stalled pending playtesting when it turns out my group don't want to playtest custom sets any more), I wanted a couple of change-control effects in colours outside blue and red. The black one I came up with was:
ReplyDeleteIncriminate with Complicity, 2BB
Sorcery, uncommon
Choose target creature. If you attacked that creature's
controller this turn, and that creature didn't block, gain
control of it.
"Cast this during your postcombat main phase if you attacked. Gain control of target tapped creature"?
DeleteThis seems a little too easy to set up with 0 mind games involved.
Power-level-wise, I still think that's okay for a 4 mana uncommon. The hoops are minor restrictions but not completely empty. However I can see that to make the flavour work out better one might prefer it to say something like "If that creature could have blocked but didn't". But I suspect that has rules problems once you start bringing in creatures with blocking requirements or restrictions.
DeleteWould it be better if it just said "target untapped creature"?
I like it a lot. I'm a little worried, it may just not do much: black doesn't get very good mind control effects, but it feels like this is likely to take several turns to capture a 3 or 4 cost creature. That's still a decent limited answer, but isn't a bomb. Maybe it should one of the "cut down mind control" at uncommon?
ReplyDeleteIt could surely be uncommon in terms of power level.
DeleteI... don't like this. It just seems like a very annoying Cerebral Eruption. With these sort of "top deck, maybe it works" type things, you shouldn't have to wait for the coin toss. Waiting to see whether or not you're gonna get lucky with that spell you cast isn't fun. I'm one of those adrenaline junkies who loves Kaboom! and clash, and this... I wouldn't want to play it.
ReplyDeleteHow about this;
Enchant creature
Play with the top card of your library face up.
As long as the top card of your library is black, you control enchanted creature.
This way, even in a mono-black deck, you've got the whole "well, lands will make you lose control of it", plus, there's all sorts of funny shenanigans to be had with scry, card drawing, tutoring, and milling, and without the CMC situation, it makes it super quick to check and opens up the possibility to actually build a deck. I mean, you may or may not get control of this guy, it's kind of annoying to cast this on their weakest creature and not even get control of it because you topdeck lands. At least this design you can reach for the sky and try to take Ulamog.
That at least makes it relevant that it keeps going every round.
Delete