I was trying to figure out how this wasn't already a thing, but then I realized that it doesn't quite work as intended. Because you can tap in response, you can effectively neutralize an opponent's creature that's queued up to fight one of yours. In practice, it would unfold more like a chess match than a royal rumble, and games of chess don't really belong in Gruul.
That's more like it. But far away from the concept I was shooting for to begin with.
I thought Anger of the Gods for untapped creatures would be a nice feel, and forcing them to tap down to make it feel like they were fighting, but then I ended up in Izzet. A good card, with a decent amount of lenitcularity to it, but still not quite there.
And there we go. Your creatures are still encouraged to participate, and they're rewarded for their efforts.
"Untap all creatures. Starting with you, each player may tap an untapped creature he or she controls. That creature fights another creature of that player's choice. Repeat this process until no player taps a creature this way."
ReplyDeleteI think this works as you intended the original version to work. I also tried a template that would add a split-second-like rider to the ability, but that's pure ugliness (and would allow the active player to get all their fights in first).
It had in fact been done: see Brawl from Mercadian Masques. (I remember it because I had a deck built around it as a kid!)
ReplyDeleteI _knew_ it had to be somewhere. I kept thinking it would be fight, but one-way fight makes more sense in this context anydangway.
DeleteWoof.
DeleteBrawl: Okay, we'll give red a Wrath effect, but it's going to be chessiest card ever.
For some reason, Karn in the background there makes me think of the Statue of Liberty popping up either crying or smiling in the corner of ever editorial cartoon parody in "The Onion."
DeleteThe Grand Melee is a sweet card, but the flavor isn't a big rumble, so much as the survivors of a calamity being all the stronger for it.
ReplyDelete