Art by samflegal
Design a Legendary Creature to fit this art. Style points if his card tells a story without requiring further explanation in the comments.
Friday, March 2, 2018
Weekend Art Challenge 030218 - samflegal
Design a Legendary Creature to fit this art. Style points if his card tells a story without requiring further explanation in the comments.
Erick, Stormboarder
ReplyDelete1RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate
T: Gain control of target Vehicle until end of turn if it’s crew cost is less than or equal to ~’s power. That Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.
4/1
A little narrow, but the story's great, and this sure would've helped against Smuggler's Copter.
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DeleteThis inspired an alternative wording for me.
DeleteYou may tap CARDNAME to crew vehicles you don't control.
Whenever CARDNAME crews a Vehicle, untap that Vehicle and gain control of it until end of turn. That Vehicle gains haste until end of turn.
I love the original wording and how it piggy-backs on existing mechanical ideas to tell a story. Agreed that it's narrow and only makes sense in a vehicle-heavy set. Maybe it could be worded like this?
DeleteT: Gain control of target artifact until end of turn. If it's a vehicle with crew cost less than CARDNAME's power, it becomes an artifact creature until end of turn and gains haste until end of turn.
A pirate Commandeering a ship is a fantastic story. It is very narrow, which could be mitigated a few ways. lpaulsen's suggestion was excellent. Additionally, using Noah's templating, it could grant vehicles some kind of bonus when it crews them, making it a build-around commander for a crew deck with some added utility if your opponent is running a ship or two. Nice work.
DeleteLiero, Primal Abbot 3RG
ReplyDeleteLegendary Creature - Human Monk
Haste
Whenever Liero, Primal Abbot attacks, choose 1 --
• Liero deals 3 damage to target creature.
• Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
• Put two +1/+1 counters on Liero.
2/2
"Primal Abbot!"
DeleteAwesome title.
I love the idea of a recurring charm, especially as a creature's attack trigger. I'm not sure I get a cohesive story/character from this trio of abilities, except that Liero is flexible and destructive.
Yeah, it's not immediately obvious what his story is. What I intended is that he's the leader of an order that seeks out and destroys anything that's not part of the natural world. In that sense, he can take out creatures that oppose him and artifacts/enchantments, or grow stronger until he can.
DeleteNice design. Charm on a stick is an interesting place to play in. I'd be interested to see if there's space to tease a cycle out of the idea.
DeleteI might tweak the numbers a bit based on playtesting. I suspect one counter and 2 damage are more than fair given his flexibility, but really it's PD's call. I'm a fan.
Dal, Raid Captain {2}{R}
ReplyDeleteLegendary Creature - Human Pirate (rare)
Whenever ~ attacks, exile the top 4 cards of your library face-down. You may cast cards among them with the text "you attacked with a creature this turn" this turn.
2/3
Or for something we'd actually print rather than rawr-rawr-I-want-to-reference-ability-words:
DeleteFirst Mate Liu {R}{R}
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate (rare)
Haste
~ has first strike as long as a creature ETB'd this turn.
3/1
Re: non-submission -- It's not the kludgiest way to reference an ability word, but it's a close contender.
DeleteLiu is cool. Definitely not subtle about the type of deck he wants to be in, which is good, because if he was ever held back on defense I could imagine a lot of players not realizing that he gained first strike off of their pre-combat creature drop, resulting in a lot of "oops, can I take that back" moments.
Would this appeal to Spike commander players? It doesn't hold enough appeal to Tammy or Jenny as a commander. Maybe as a 1v1 commander.
Yi Feng, Kidnapper Extraordinaire
ReplyDelete2RB (M)
Menace
Whenever an opponent sacrifices a permanent, create a treasure token.
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to an opponent, gain control of target creature that player controls. While you control that creature, it gains "sacrifice a permanent: this creature's owner gains control of it. Any player may activate this ability."
2/3
I like how these last two abilities combine to evoke kidnapping, but I don't get why the sacrifice effect stands alone. Can you condense these into a single event?
DeleteI specifically wanted it to have more build-around potential for EDH with things like grave pact. I figured keeping it more open-ended would encourage more deckbuilding opportunity while maintaining the same base functionality
DeleteWhenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to an opponent, gain control of target creature that player controls. That creature's owner may sacrifice a permanent to end this effect.
DeleteWouldn't the user be able to stack the ability and sacrifice your whole board? Seems like you would never want to connect.
DeleteDoug, technically the activator of the ability has to pay the costs (sac the permanent), but the confusion is noted. That's why I suggested using 'end this effect' terminology instead.
DeleteI like the flavour here!
DeleteI always feel paying life is easier to grok. Cause it does not make sense to pay my opponent's life.
DeleteNoah, I think your solution is probably a little cleaner, but I'd likely make it 'any player may sacrifice a permanent to end this effect' so that it functions for multiplayer politics.
DeleteWhy not just go for something even more simple to evoke the ransom? "When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature (nonland permanent?). Its owner may pay its mana cost during his or her turn to end this effect. When he or she does, you create X Treasure with where X is the amount of mana paid."
DeleteThat was supposed to say 'with (text) where' but apparently blogspot parses angle brackets as tags. :p
DeleteAfter reading through the submission, I thought there was no way that was going to fit on a card. I mocked it up in MSE, and yeah, before modifying the second ability to "Any player may sacrifice a permanent to end this effect," it was eleven lines. As amazing as the story is, no one wants to read Ice Cauldron.
Delete(Also, you should note, Kidnapper Extraordinaire did not fit on the card name bar. Not as important to a design discussion, but something to be aware of.)
After the modification to the end ability, it clocked in at 9 lines. Not great, but readable without the microscope.
I love the story being told here. The sacrifice clause is interesting, and opens up utility for the card, but it eats up a lot of real estate of the card, and actually distracts from the story (sacrifice doesn't have a lot to do with paying a ransom).
I would suggest scrapping the sacrifice ability. It's great, but belongs on its own card. Instead, have the opponent make an immediate choice.
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, choose target creature. Your opponent may choose to have you gain control of that creature. If she doesn't, create three colorless artifact Treasure tokens with "T, Sacrifice this permanent: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
I'm not sure if Yi Feng wants his own mana sink ability so you can spend all that treasure, but he might.
It's a very cool story, but there's just a little too much going on, and it shows when you try to render it.
That's the stuff.
DeleteTahomi, Sworn to Rescue (Mythic)
ReplyDelete{2}{R}{W}
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate Monk
3/4
Haste, vigilance
As Tahomi, Sworn to Rescue enters the battlefield, exile a legendary creature card in your graveyard.
When Tahomi, Sworn to Rescue deals combat damage to a player, cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost.
Format and balance edits:
DeleteExile a creature in ANY graveyard.
You MAY cast the card.
It becomes a little bit of a bend at that point, since black is the one that reanimates from other people's graveyards, but this isn't the first time RW combine to do something black :P
Very nice. I'd stick with your own graveyard, as it's more on-color and consistent with the story. I'm not sure that giving it haste and letting it cast for free is the best option. I'd think one or the other would create better tension - Either he sneaks in for the rescue, or he has to overcome challenges (defenders with warning) to perform the rescue.
DeleteEither way, a very cool submission, and an interesting commander.
Apart from the haste, which doesn't seem necessary, I don't know why this is red.
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DeleteYihen Fun, Mastbreaker (Rare)
Delete1RR
Legendary Creature - Pirate Monk
Prowess
As long as CARDNAME is attacking, you may cast instant spells with converted casting cost of two or less without paying their casting costs.
2/2
Okay, last try! (I swear to god I mess up the most obvious rules text.)
DeleteYihen Fun, Mastbreaker (Rare)
1RR
Legendary Creature - Pirate Monk
Prowess
As long as CARDNAME is attacking, you may cast instant spells with converted mana cost of two or less without paying their mana costs.
2/2
That's fun. PD would have to stress-test this thoroughly, but depending on the build, the mindgames you can set up with this are fascinating.
DeleteI'm not entirely clear on the story, but mechanically this is great.
DeleteTryndar, Master of the Storm- RWG
ReplyDeleteLegendary Creature- Human Pirate
4/4
Protection From Red
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield search your library for the Legendary Dagger and put it into your hand.
1R: Deal 3 damage to target creature or player. Activate this ability only if you control the Legendary Dagger.
Any suggestions for what the Legendary Dagger should do?
DeleteIt should give lifelink :)
DeleteI was thinking a small bonus like +1/+0 or +2/+0 and then it would need some simple keywords, lifelink works and maybe first strike and then I would like some interesting effect.
DeleteIt's probably a placeholder name, but the dagger's name shouldn't be legendary, since it's supertype almost certainly should be.
DeleteI have a lot of questions about the dagger. First, is it incredibly difficult to get onto the battlefield? If it isn't, then Tryndar shouldn't tutor for it, since the story doesn't have enough conflict to be interesting (ie, just let him do what he does without requiring the dagger - no reason to make someone jump through a too-easily-overcome hoop.)
Is the dagger an equipment? It sounds like it would be, and Tryndar should probably care more about it being equipped rather than it being OTB.
If, however, the dagger is double-edged (as it were), and had a symmetrical effect (whenever a creature you control deals damage to a player, it deals that much damage to each creature), then it would be a very interesting story.
I'd like to see some sample equipments to go with this, otherwise we either have a very overpowered card or just the first half of the story.
See Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith and Hammer of Nazahn, as well as Godo, Bandit Warlord and Tenza, Godo's Maul for a template to jump off from when doing designs like this.
The Dagger of Ferocity-3
DeleteLegendary Artifact-Equipment
Equipped creature has +1/+0, first strike, and lifelink. Equipped creature attacks each turn if able. Whenever equipped creature attacks, CARDNAME deals 3 damage to each creature you control.
Equip 2
Name, scourge of the sea (rare)
ReplyDeleteGRR
Legendary creature - human pirate
3/1
First strike
~ can only be blocked by one creature.
When ~ attacks, you may untap target blue creature defending player controls and have it block ~.
With protection, landwalk, etc all basically gone, I doubt this would actually see print.
Delete1RRG
3/1
First strike
~ can only be blocked by one creature.
When a creature dealt damage by ~ would die, create a treasure token.
Protection is deciduous, far from gone.
DeleteProtection is still around, although calling out a color to hose is definitely something done very rarely these days.
DeleteBoth designs are interesting. For the first, is there a reason he can't pick a fight (Provoke) a creature of any color?
For the latter, I feel like this creature could be doing something a little more than just mining corpses for treasure. That could be a rare, but nothing about it seems especially legendary.
I'd stick with the first submission, and test it a little bit to see where, if anywhere, it could be pushed a little further. Either way, cool concept.
Cruz, Action Star RB
ReplyDeleteLegendary Creature - Human Actor (R)
Menace
Cruz gets -3/-3 as long as it's blocking or blocked this turn.
5/5
Is actor a new creature type, if so I would rather just have performer, which would be broader and more encompassing. This a cool aggressive creature. What part of the art drew you to black?
DeleteThe story certainly sells.
Delete^ :)
DeleteThe RB dramatic clouds in the art make me think RB, and the Ultimate Fake Hero trope is a pretty RB story: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeUltimateHero
DeleteI'm such a fan of this. Actor might be a silver border type, but can I suggest Coward?
DeleteCowards a great suggestion. Also, why wasn't Amateur Auteur an actor? That card makes me so sad.
DeleteI have to imagine Dev would tweak so you don't get 5 power and evasion on a two-drop, but yeah, fun character.
DeleteHigure, the Quiet Thunderstorm
ReplyDelete3UR
4/3
Legendary Creature- Human Ninja (Rare)
Ninjutsu 2UR
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to an opponent, you may have it fight target creature that player controls.
Who doesn't want more Ninjas?
DeleteI'm not 100% sure what the story being told here is. I'm imagining it as Higure taking out a guard while sneaking in, which is cool, but mechanically it happens out of sequence, but when it comes to Ninjutsu, sometimes that has to happen.
The Dread Pirate Zhou 2R
ReplyDeleteLegendary Creature - Human Pirate (u)
Dash 1R
Champion a Pirate
4/3
Wow this seems insane. Not sure how many pirates have great enter the battlefield abilities but even with just the treasure pirates this is really good. Wait this is uncommon?
DeleteNice The Princess Bride reference.
DeleteIt's definitely pushed a little bit to compensate for Champion's natural weaknesses, but I do think I should've focused it more between the three pushes of (hasty 4 points of power) (triggering ETBs) (being an uncommon buildaround legend). Possible that just making the dash cost 2R would settle most of the issue.
DeleteYes, dash was really good and does not look like it on the surface and given it can be used to keep triggering ETB with champion, this seemed like it would be first pick a lot in limited.
DeleteUnless "Legendary Matters" is a theme of a set, Legendary Creatures should not be uncommon by definition. Otherwise, this looks really cool. If we were bringing back Champion, would we change its rules slightly to improve playability (as many have suggested recently with Haunt)?
DeleteChampioning existing pirates is pretty narrow, but it's flavorful, depending on how you want to interpret the art. It could also be a warrior/monk that champions a creature regardless of type for better buildaround.
The actual mechanics of Champion (not to mention the flavor) are not particularly red. It was a five-color mechanic in Lorwyn, but I think on reprint it would probably be limited to the Bant colors.
I'm a big fan of where this is going mechanically, but it does seem like it needs some ironing out. Champion, Raid, and a legendary matters theme all being in the same set (even supplemental) seems a stretch.
Captain Lo, Heroic Rescuer 2RW
ReplyDeleteLegendary Creature - Human Rogue
3/4
Flash, Menace
You may have ~ ETB attacking or blocking. If you do, you may return another creature you control to its owner's hand.
There. People already took some of the other ideas I liked :) I struggled with a way to make this story a bit longer -- could the creatures do something that made it look like they'd fallen in love? Or maybe you gained control of an opposing creature if this prevented it being destroyed? But it was all a bit too complicated so I stuck with this.
It's a nice idea, but I feel like the templating doesn't quite work as cleanly as one would think.
DeleteFlash
Menace
When ~ ETB, you may bounce target creature you control. If you do, ~ fights each creature blocking or blocked by that creature.
It won't insert itself midcombat the same way, but it will try to rescue something if combat goes south.
Soulbond is the best existing mechanical way to show love. You can also make a new keyword that causes and cares about causing things to be paired with eachother.
Ti, Me too Swinger (rare)
ReplyDelete1RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate
You may cast CARDNAME for 2R during the declare attackers step if you control an attacking creature. If you do, CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped and attacking.
First strike
As long as CARDNAME is attacking, other creatures you control get +1/+0 and first strike.
3/2
I'm trying to figure out what's gained by that first bit of rules text, other than a marginally easier casting cost.
Delete~ must attack the turn he enters the battlefield if able. Haste.
Unless you want the last ability to only trigger if you cast him that way, really ramping up the Raid-iness of the ability.
Hmm, yeah the simplest form of this might be something like:
DeleteCan attack as though it had haste if you attack with another creature.
I was thinking more of a keyword like better dash. However, I should have chosen some particular aspect to emphasize. Letting it flash in after blockers would let it be unblockable and a combat trick. Or I could reduce the mana cost. Either of those would emphasize the drop in aspect more heavily.
Thanks for the feedback!
Shiun, Shaper of Storms (Mythic)
ReplyDelete3UR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate
2/2
Exile an instant or sorcery spell you control: Choose one —
• Choose target card in your graveyard with the same name as the exiled spell. Copy it twice then cast the copies without paying their mana costs.
• Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.
I dithered a lot on the abilities (at one point there were four, similar to Disciple of the Ring), but I eventually decided to embrace the name. :)
Spellcraft buildarounds are always a ton of fun. I get why this guy wants to have the brainstorm option, but he's such a buildaround as is, I'd be happier to skip the modal options and stick to just the first ability.
DeleteNice work.
It's not just Brainstorm, it's Harness the Storm (twice, because the ability doesn't really do anything snazzy when you choose it)! I really did go through Gatherer for cards with 'Storm' in the name (not the rules text) to see what could be done.
DeleteTarzan On a Boat 1RG
ReplyDeleteLegendary Creature Human Pirate
When Tarzan On a Boat attacks look at the top 4 cards of your library, you may put a reveal a beast or vehicle form among them then put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. put the revealed card onto the battlefield tapped and attacking, and if it is a vehicle it becomes a creature until end of turn
3/3
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or a serious card
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Captain Ushwai, Storm Rider 1RR
Legendary Creature - human Pirate
Haste Menace
When Captain Ushwai attacks exile the top card of each library, until end of turn you may play those cards and they cost X less where X is the number of creatures you attacked with this turn.
2/3
Ushwai is a very cool card, and I could see him being an interesting commander. I'm not sure that he needs either haste or menace, but I'm pretty confident he doesn't need both. I'd definitely want to give this guy a spin though.
Delete