Cool Card Design of the Day4/6/2017 - Today's mechanic is a blend of repurpose and bloodpact: Rather than discard a card to upgrade a static effect according to the CMC of what you discard, you can pay a variable amount of life.
For effects limited in potential, we needn't limit the life payment.
For effects that could kill a player outright, we must.
We also need to limite effects with scaling card advantage.
I don't like transfusion quite as much as repurpose, but it could serve another set with different needs. It's certainly much darker in theme, and it favors aggressive decks more than repurpose. Notice how the option to set a hard limit allows us to simplify a few of the more powerful effects. Even so, Pact got worse, while Goo got better. Perhaps, problematically so.
I like this a lot less than repurpose, mainly because life-as-kicker is so much less elegant and more likely to be abused.
ReplyDeleteMy designs/comment from before about longevity effects versus big upfront effects is also still relevant, making this ability into a "how much life can I risk now vs. how long do I expect this card to survive?"
Agreed.
DeleteMaster of Blood {2}{B}{B}
DeleteCreature-Demon
Transfusion (You may pay any amount of life. X is that amount.)
~ ETB with 2 or X blood counters on it.
At your upkeep, remove two blood counters from ~. If you do, draw a card. Otherwise, sacrifice ~.
Flying
4/4
Torture Chamber {1}{B}{B}
Enchantment
Transfusion (You may pay any amount of life. X is that amount.)
~ ETB with 2 or X blood counters on it.
At your upkeep, remove a blood counter from ~. If you can't, sacrifice ~.
Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1.
Master of Blood is cool.
DeleteTorture Chamber is REALLY cool.
Master of Blood {2}{B}{B}
DeleteCreature-Demon
When Master of Blood enters the battlefield, choose a number. Put that many blood counters on it. (When a card with Blood counters is put into the graveyard, it's owner loses life equal to the number of blood counters on it)
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove two blood counters from ~. If you do, draw a card. Otherwise, sacrifice ~.
5/5
Torture Chamber 1B
Enchantment
1BB: Put a blood counter on target creature. That creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn (When a card with Blood counters is put into the graveyard, it's owner loses life equal to the number of blood counters on it)
Mogg Shredder R
Creature - Goblin
Prowess, Maul (When Mogg Shredder deals combat damage to a creature, put that many Blood Counters on that creature. When a card with Blood counters is put into the graveyard, it's owner loses life equal to the number of blood counters on it.)
1/1
This is neat, as a wordy but straightforward RB mechanic. Seems like it could open up both some curious designs and some interesting gameplay.
DeleteThirsty Viscount 2B
ReplyDeleteCreature - Vampire (c)
Sanguine (When CARDNAME dies, if it didn't have a counter on it, return it to the battlefield with blood counters equal to its power. When a card with Blood counters on it is put into the graveyard, it's owner loses that much life.)
3/2