Design a card to match this art. If you want bonus points, make a card that would have high-synergy with Ixalan/Rivals in a way that doesn't involve tribal.
As always, have fun.
Friday, February 16, 2018
Weekend Art Challenge 021618 - nJoo
Design a card to match this art. If you want bonus points, make a card that would have high-synergy with Ixalan/Rivals in a way that doesn't involve tribal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Shoreline Crasher
ReplyDelete1BUG
Creature - Beast - Rare
Trample
Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, Shoreline Crasher gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
4/4
Made with Treasures in mind, obviously.
Nice and fun. My first question is what makes this Blue? Green for trample/efficiency/art, black for the sacrifice trigger, but nothing really points this to being a Blue card. Otherwise a great design with fantastic treasure synergy (as well as clues, scions, etc.)
DeleteAh, artefact of past iterations. Definitely should be just BG.
DeletePlay with your Food 3RG
ReplyDeleteSorcery (U)
Gain control of target creature until end of turn . Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of your end step, choose another creature you control and this creature fights that creature.
Should this be mono-colored because both effects are in red's color pie?
DeleteThere's no "given that" in the challenge, so I think it's probably fine.
DeleteHonestly, though, it seems like if could fight "another target creature" and be still reasonable in the 4RR range - Blood Feud is certainly cool, but the threaten and the timing of the fight offset each other enough that it's not strictly better than it. Certainly fun to steal an Enrage creature.
That's a great mechanical interpretation of the art. It's a little strange and possibly unintuitive as to how it's supposed to be used. I get the sense that a player could easily misread this and not understand the removal element built in.
DeleteIt could be mono-red mechanically, but the way that the fight is used, along with the art pushes green.
And after Round 2, it should always be assumed that "Given That..." is in effect. :)
DeleteMomasaurus {1}{R}{G}
ReplyDeleteCreature-Dinosaur (unc)
When ~ ETB, it gets +1/+1 until EOT for each creature you controlled this turn that was dealt damage this turn. Then you may have it fight target creature.
2/2
Nah...
Dadasaurus {1}{R}{G}
Creature-Dinosaur (unc)
When ~ ETB, you may give it +1/-1 or +2/-2 until EOT. Then you may have it fight target creature.
2/4
Is dadasaurus better with a Rootwalla ability? Say +2/+2 for RG? That gives it some reason to want to hold it for later when you can activate it with the trigger on the stack or cast it early for the body and to pick off a small creature.
DeleteInteresting. I'd want it to be +2/-2 1x/turn to feel fully RG… although I guess this doesn't have to be red-green. Hmm.
DeleteUnclesaurus {2}{G}
Creature-Dinosaur (unc)
When ~ ETB, you may have it fight target creature.
{1}{G}: ~ gets +2/+2 until EOT. Activate this ability only once per turn.
2/2
That's cool, but it doesn't feel like the art to me. Sticking with Dadasaurus.
Something about Dadasaurus seems like it should be a pie break, but it isn't. If it was monogreen it would be, as there wouldn't be much difference between that and an ETB fight/Deathtouch in most situations. Still technically monogreen, but disguising Murder as a green creature is a big no-no.
DeleteWith the red it works without breaking.
The three permissive abilities are a lot to process, and a lot of clicks online. Can we collapse that to a single permissive ability? I get that having the option to do 2 to your own or 3-4 to an opponent's creature and have your Terrible Lizard survive is fantastic depth of options, but it overcomplicates the card.
If it was a 4/2 that had optional etb -2/+2 and fight, would that accomplish the same desire?
You're right about that being too many choices.
DeleteYour solution accomplishes much of the same, but -2/+2 isn't red; only blue gets that.
I'm inclined to keep it at two choices:
Dadasaurus
Creature-Dinosaur (unc)
When ~ ETB, you may give it +2/-2 until EOT. Then it fights target creature you don't control.
2/4
Glutinous Protobaloth 4GG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Beast
6/6
Trample
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have ~ deal 1 damage to target creature. If that creature dies this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
I chose a proto-baloth as something that evoked dinosaurs whilst not being a dinosaur itself, as most planes don't have dinosaurs, but the bonus suggested a connection to Ixalan without being part of it.
I shifted "deal 1 damage" into green, as a smaller version of fight or deal-damage-equal-power.
And I chose "eat small creatures" as something that evoked the art, but also could be used to enrage Ixalan creatures. (Does it count as "not tribal" if it combos with enrage but not with dinosaurs in general?)
*gluttonous
DeleteGreen gets one-sided fight, but just because this can do 6 to a target, it doesn't mean it can do 1. That's a pretty severe bend. One possible fix is to limit it to flying creatures, but the better fix is to just make it Gruul.
DeleteWhat rarity is this? Definitely at least uncommon, but the possibility for recurring free kills makes me think this is rare.
One more option is a more ooze-like approach.
1G 1/2 upkeep: fight, Sengir.
Doesn't fully match the art, but that's a much cleaner mono-G version of this.
Since "deal 1 to a creature" is a subset of "deal power to a creature" I think this is only aesthetically a color pie bend.
DeleteWhat if this ETB'd with a +1/+1 counter, and dealt damage equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on it (later gaining more)?
(I do agree just fighting seems better.)
Thank you, both.
DeleteIt probably should be fight, but the problems with that are (a) your opponent can play around a pinger, but not a 6/6 that annihilates a creature every turn (b) 1 damage can activate your own savage creatures, 6 damage can't, so it doesn't synergise with ixalan any more.
And I see the argument for R/G, but somehow having "eat small creature" as a green ability made sense, even if it's not existing part of the pie, but if you break it down as "ping" + "sengir", it really wants to be RB, which doesn't fit the flavour. Can green get sengir?
@Jay - Destroy target artifact creature is a subset of Destroy target creature, but I think it would be a severe bend to find it on a Black card.
DeleteLikewise, fighting and one-sided fighting is technically direct damage, but to stop calling it fighting so you can scale it down stops being a green ability.
@Jack - Trophy Hunter
Deletegood argument
DeleteFancy Footwork (Uncommon)
ReplyDeleteUR
Instant
Put target blocking creature on top of its owner's library. Creatures that were blocked by that creature this combat gain trample until end of turn.
"Beating an implacable death lizard? Simple. Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge until it gets so exhausted and frustrated that it gives up and goes home."
That is clever and fun, and a nice reversal of the art's focus. Just giving the creature trample is red, but a lot of players may not necessarily know what that means as far as them doing the end combat damage. Reminder text would help, or just saying that they deal damage equal to their power to the defending player. Super trample would also technically work, but that's green.
DeleteInteresting Ride Down variant. The first part is clearly blue and the second part is clearly red, though I am left wondering if RU cares about blocking.
DeleteNormally UR doesn't care about combat, but I thought the effect might fit in Ixalan. UR pirates wants to attack with small creatures with evasion every turn, and holding up Fancy Footwork guarantees at least one safe attack to turn on Raid. It also blows out double blocks on menace creatures. In a set like Ravnica though, there's no way this card would see print.
DeletePredatory Matriarch 2GG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Dinosaur (U)
When River Hunter enters the battlefield, you may have target creature you control fight target creature you don't control.
3/3
Forgot to change name in the text to Predatory Matriarch.
DeleteNice and clean. I was very surprised to see that an open ended Prey Upon hasn't been used as an etb rider yet, but this is a great way to do it.
DeleteOh. I like you decoupled the fight from the creature, giving the player options to be clever.
DeleteMergoyf 1GU (Rare)
ReplyDeleteCreature - Lhurgoyf
Mergoyf's power is equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on all creatures, and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1.
"Arrrr! Malcom. Run! It's the Mergoyf!"
Mergoyf 1GU (Rare)
DeleteCreature - Lhurgoyf
Mergoyf's power is equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on all creatures, and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1.
"Arrrr! Malcom. Run! It's the Mergoyf!"
*/*+1
:)
DeleteThat's annoyingly clever punnery. Well played.
DeleteOther than for original-flavor Lhurgoyf and Tarmogoyf, Lhurgoyfs have (thankfully) lost the *+1 rider, so this should too. Standard */* CDA is an acceptable template.
Lhurgoys typically check the contents of a GY, which this can't do, as counters don't survive the trip to the afterlife. That's fine though. This could just be a beast and none would be the wiser.
Other than these little nitpicks, this is a great design, and makes me want to see a Lhurgoyf-inspired cycle of enemy-color */* rares with different CDAs. The Saviors of Kamigawa Maro Cycle may demonstrate that making a cycle out of that is not a simple task, though.
Lhurgoyfs made me think of Time Spiral block, which reminded me that Fungal Behemoth is a thing. Your version needs to happen though.
DeleteI agree *+1 is old and awkward.
DeleteMaybe, "as ~ ETB, put a +1/+1 counter on another creature you control" instead. Or, like Splinterfright, just accept that it's useless on an empty board.
Coursing Triannosaur 2GG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Dinosaur (r)
When CARDNAME attacks, you may pay X. If you do, when CARDNAME deals combat damage to an opponent this turn, explore X times. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard. Do this process X times.)
2/2
It'd be better with a sentient race or with more connection to the art, but I like the ability nonetheless.
I really like the paying mana when it attacks for a payoff when it deals damage. I think that could be stretched out to a cycle, although I'd want it at uncommon so it could be relevant in limited (where there's more blocking, so the risk is higher when you pay before you get the payoff). It definitely merits testing (my intuition says to skew the extra costs on the cheap side since losing the creature to removal or combat tricks after paying is a feels-bad moment). Cool card!
DeleteI really like that mechanical exploration, although exploring more than once or twice can easily get out of hand, even on a 4 mana 2/2. I would almost prefer it if it was a set 2 mana/one explore or 4 mana/2 explore.
DeleteAs Noah pointed out, X on an attack trigger with payoff as a sabateur is a fascinating space to... ahem... explore. Very cool.
I like "pay when you attack, reap when you saboteur" and I like "explore X times" but I'm not loving them together. I'd put Explore X on a rare sorcery or creature that's doing nothing else.
DeleteI agree with all three of these comments.
DeleteCoursing Silvergill 2G
Creature - Merfolk Scout (u)
When CARDNAME attacks, you may pay 3G. If you do, when it deals combat damage to a player this turn, it explores, then explores again.
2/2
Deepwater Sojourner 2G
Creature - Merfolk Druid (c)
When CARDNAME attacks, you may pay 1G. If you do, when it deals damage to an opponent this turn, it explores.
2/2
Adventure Awaits XGG
Sorcery (r? u?)
Target creature explores X times.
Playtesting would help, but one thing I do like about this "bidding" mechanic is how many knobs there are to turn for development. (Casting cost, bid cost, effect size, repeat-value, combat tricks, evasion, etc.)
Consuming Rhinosodon 4GG (Rare)
ReplyDeleteCreature - Dinosaur
6/6
If CARDNAME would assign enough damage to its blockers or creatures blocked by it to destroy them, you may gain life equal to the rest of its damage.
This "healing trample" uses the reminder text for trample as it's template, but might be able to be reworded for clarity. Plays nice with the vampires of Ixalan.
when ~ is block it gains trample and "When this creature would deal combat damage to an opponent instead gain that much life"
DeleteI think the rarity in this case is coming from complexity. Consider this alternative:
DeleteConsuming Rhinosaur (Rare)
{4}{G}{W}
Creature - Dinosaur
6/6
Trample, lifelink
It's more or less the same effect (perhaps a little better) but works off players' existing knowledge.
I'd suggest something like this, based on the current reminder text for trample:
DeleteTrample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to defending player or planeswalker while attacking.)
If CARDNAME would deal excess combat damage, you gain that much life instead.
Artisans already covered any suggestions I would have for this card. Noah's is definitely cleaner, dvoraen's is closer to the original intent.
DeleteTrample
Prevent all damage ~ would deal to players. Gain 1 life for each point of damage prevented this way.
Putting it in Selesnia instead of green (kosher for a dinosaur) also pushes it more towards playing nicely with the white vampires. Keeping it in green, which can be ok depending on the ultimate templating, lets it play more with Black vampires, and Golgari was one of the troublesome pairings in Ixalan.
I'll just note that this ability is most often worse than trample or lifelink, which just makes it a bit harder to find the card where it shines.
Delete"When CARDNAME would deal combat damage to a player, instead each player gains that much life" is an option, and maybe just bendable to green? But that's a rather different card, kind of a reflection to Alms Beast.
Delete(paired with natural trample and an undercosted size, of course)
DeleteLooking for Trouble (Mythic)
ReplyDelete2RGG
Enchantment
Whenever a creature explores, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a creature card, create a 3/3 green Dinosaur token with trample. Otherwise, you gain 2 life.
I came up with this idea partly because of Munchkin, and partly because it looks like the critter in the art unexpectedly showed up. While the figure looks a bit more the shipwrecked vagabond (Tom Hanks?) than an actual explorer, I figured keying off of explore still fit here.
Erm, I meant to change that to rare, not mythic. This is what happens if I"m sick.
DeleteThe more I've thought about it, the more convinced I was that the casting cost should've been 4GG and I shouldn't be randomly throwing multicolor on there. I'm still not sure why I put the R in there.
DeleteThat's fascinating, but I think it plays highly unintuitively. It triggers after the exploration, which is a multi-step process (reveal+effect), which only triggers the next step AFTER it resolves, which is a little strange. What if it worked more broadly?
DeleteEnchantment
Whenever you reveal the top card of your library, if it's a creature, token. Otherwise, life.
That way it occurs on the same card as the one explored (although caring about creature rather than land is a little off).
As far as color goes, mono-G works for this just fine.
Yeah I think you're right about the trigger condition. My intention was to key off the same card you revealed to explore, so I think your way is a much cleaner way to word that. I am wondering if it forces the game to a draw with cards like Future Sight, though. hee
DeleteSome rules would need rewriting/clarification, but hey, we've made triggered abilities off of every other conceivable thing in the game, so why not?
DeleteCome Follow Me-2UR
ReplyDeleteEnchantment-Aura
Enchant Creature
You control enchanted creature. It gains haste and +2/+0. At the beginning of your end step sacrifice CARDNAME if the creature's power is less than 5.
Should this untap as it EsTB? The bigger creature curve in XLN tended to be filled out by the dinos, but interestingly, it was their toughness that mattered, if any (for both enrage and as a GW draft theme). If that's the interaction you were aiming for, is there a way to keep the rest of this card and key off of toughness instead? Would it have to be color shifted? What would its new colors be?
DeleteWell basically as long as you are not stealing small humans you won't be sacrificing the enchantment, it probably does want an untap, cause we all know we don't want to make cards that might not be intuitive.
DeleteYou've got something cool here, but before we print that, I'd like to print:
DeleteFollow Me NOW {3}{U}{R}
Enchantment-Aura
Enchant Creature
You control enchanted creature. When ~ ETB, untap enchanted creature. It gains haste until EOT.
Jay would this still be an uncommon and when you make the top 8, pitch it. I'll repeat in my mock up for challenge 3 since I didn't make it, everyone loves a control magic. Also apparently green black serra angel automatically put you into the top 8, but no one did it.
DeleteI'm sure that was a joke on Maro's part, but I would also not be so sure that everyone loves a Control Magic. This card is a neat find for UR, but honestly? Keep them at rare, it's just unfun at uncommon.
DeleteIt's not clear what rarity Mind Control is anymore. Only two have printed in the last few years (which is not a good sign for it being less rare); one was uncommon and one was rare.
DeleteI think they need to be either expensive or limited in what they can grab to be uncommon anymore.
Probably was a joke and he can make it because no one submitted one. Well it is a pretty iconic spell to take control of someone's mind. I would like something blue black.
DeleteThe One True Mind 4UB
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep gain control of target creature. At the beginning of your upkeep sacrifice a creature, if you cannot sacrifice CARDNAME.
When they printed Soul Seizer, I think they said they were intending conditional mind control to be uncommon, and unconditional mind control to be rare. There haven't been many examples, but that sounds about right.
DeleteRagnasaur (Rare)
ReplyDelete{2}{R}{G}
Creature - Dinosaur
3/4
Haste
Whenever Ragnasaur attacks, it explores.
{R}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Ragnasaur: Ragnasaur deals 2 damage to target creature, player, or planeswalker.
Synergizes with +1/+1 counters, dinosaurs, raid, and enrage. And explore, if you have anything that cares about that.
There is a lot going on in that card. As you said, it plays with a ton of stuff in Ixalan block, but there's some room to pare this down.
DeleteFirst, haste is not really necessary. It's not fundamental to the primary mechanics that this is aiming for, so while it's nice, it can be dropped without losing anything else in the card.
While it was occasionally activated, explore was almost always triggered, and then only on ETB. It most likely never triggered off of attacking to keep it from overlapping too much with raid, but that's not really our concern here, so that's fine.
The last change I would make would be to have it do 1 damage for each removed counter. It's friendlier to the enrage interactions, and less abusable in general.
This is a very fun design overall. I'd love to run something like this.
Shoreline Perdator 3GR
ReplyDeleteCreature- Baloth
whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control you may reveal the top card of your library and deal damage to target creature equal to that cards converted mana cost then ~ explores.
5/4
It took a couple of reads to process what was going on here, but it in essence guarantees that when you explore, you'll get at least 1 counter and some direct damage off the trigger.
DeleteThat seems kind of easy to abuse, and incredibly swingy, especially on a 5-mana 5/4. What if it was limited to once, but didn't key off of explore explicitly?
Whenever a land EsTB, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. ~ deals damage equal to that card's CMC to target creature or player, then put that card in your hand and the rest on the bottom in any order.
It plays off of explore and Rampant Growth effects, but without dumping a potential ton of lands on the battlefield each turn in addition to its other bonuses.
There are two cool cards here:
DeleteLandfall-burn and Landfall-explore
Mashing them together hurts both.
Challenging Armasaur (uncommon)
ReplyDelete4G
Creature - Dinosaur
5/3
2G: until end of turn, target creature gains trample and must blocked if able.
Nice enrage enabler. Trample is nice but unnecessary, as the forced block is more often than not going to result in a trade/massacre and an enrage trigger, and the trample damage just seems mean at that point.
DeleteTrying for sort of a green Afterlife-ish card here. Does the timing work? I'm weak on that.
ReplyDeleteMaroon on Nublar (uncommon)
1GG
Sorcery
Create a 1/1 white Vampire creature token with under an opponent's control and a 3/3 green Dinosaur creature token under your control.
Then target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.
I started writing about how yes the timing would work, but then I reread the card and no it doesn't. Targets need to be declared when you cast the spell, and the tokens don't exist at that time.
DeleteI would template it thusly:
Target player creates a 1/1 Vampire (with lifelink?)
Create a 3/3 Dino with "when this EsTB, target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.
Since the lines resolve in printed order, they'll get their token before your's creates its triggered ability on the stack (so you'll have a chance to use your new targets).
So, now that it works, that's a reasonable enrage enabler. Hunted Dragon and company provide the best template for giving your opponents token creatures, and nothing about that can't be in mono-G. Play design may want to adjust some costs here, because that's what they do, but otherwise another interesting enrage card for the Dinos.
I dislike that what this card tells the player it does is create a 3/3 and give your opponent 1 life. I get that you'll often have the 3/3 fight a pre-existing 2/2 or 5/3 or whatever, or have your Colossal Dreadmaw eat your opponent's biggest creature, and that flexibility is cool, but what the card says it does at face value has to make sense.
DeleteWhy doesn't creating a 3/3 make sense? Is the 1 life a problem? What if the token doesn't have lifelink? It can be a plain 1/1 white Human token, or even a Human Pairate of some color. I just used the tokens Ixalan used, but re-reading the contest I don't really have to use the Ixalan tokens, just play well with Ixalan. I mainly want the interesting multimodal play pattern that you described. Strategic complexity, etc.
DeleteRe-reading, I actually *didn't end up giving the Vampire lifelink for that reason. I just forgot to change the type to Human. Is that better?
DeleteAt face-value, and on its own, this card just makes a 3/3. But it's got all this other text about making 1/1s and fighting. I can tell you what Rescue from the Underworld does because it's a story I know. I don't know this story about making a human and a monster from thin air and watching one kill the other.
DeleteI was trying to tell a story of a guy getting marooned on an island of dinosaurs. I thought the story was clear enough, especially when paired with the picture, but apparently we see it differently.
Delete