Cool Card Design of the Day5/25/2016 - Let's explore the possibility of using charge counters on creatures. Below you'll find two ability words, some unnamed charge-matters abilities, and several enablers.
Potential
Charged
charge counters matter
Enablers
I love how you just throw out twenty cards in a day like it's no big deal.
ReplyDeleteI don't much care for charge counters being used widely off of non-creature artifacts, although Gatherer tells me that there are quite a few non-artifacts that use them.
I like the idea here. But surely the whole point about charge counters is that most creatures that use them, should enter with one or more, and use them up to use an ability. And *then* there are also charge-counter-matters cards, charge-counter-enabler cards, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think wizards would be reluctant to replace +1/+1 counters with charge counters even for a block, because people are SO used to counters meaning +1/+1. I was surprised even by level counters.
But if they did, it seems unnecessary to rush straight for a "users + enablers" model: there are LOTS of designs simply for creatures that use charge counters AT ALL for an any-time one-off ability without any other support in the set at all. That wizards have been avoiding, or making with +1/+1 counters instead, or making on non-creatures, but that they could use.
However, I agree, lots of your designs are really nice, I would definitely like to see a set that had them as well.
Come to think of it, an alternative magic might have charge counters instead of +1/+1 counters, but have a common creature ability or keyword "gets +1/+1 for each charge counter", so current +1/+1 counter creatures can function in a similar way, but some creatures can use them in a different way.
We definitely need more self-enabling cards like Charging Sentry, and I suspect we want more potential cards like Magniwolf to offset the lack of +1/+1 counters in the set.
ReplyDeleteI avoided effects that consume charge counters because they cannibalize all the effects that count them, but I would absolutely test a theme like that (with more enablers) before settling on a theme like this.
We'd strongly consider Proliferate either way.
Oh, and I also would avoid printing any new lands, auras, or equipment that use charge counters. We want the set to be compatible with existing cards like that, but those tend to be physically fiddly, and easy to confuse with counters on other permanents.
DeleteI like a lot of these (aside from Magnilich which is busted with Defang and the wording on Magni-Griffon which seems unclear), but my first thought is "why not just use +1/+1 counters"? What's gained by using charge counters, aside from caring about a different subset of previously created cards?
ReplyDeleteIf we just care about +1/+1 counters, we have Abzan Falconer. Charge counters allow us access to effects that are much harder to develop when they come with permanent increases to P/T. Caring about a different subset of previously created cards is significant, especially when you pair the flavor with a steampunk world that really cares about words like 'charge.'
DeleteThat said, I do think there's more room to explore "+1/+1 counters matter" as seen on Ambitious Wolf. And there are more sets something like that would fit into. But how many is irrelevant when we're making sets. The question is how well does the thing in question fit the set in question.
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