Cool Card Design of the Day4/30/2018 - I wanted to make a cheap Clone that could only copy small creatures. Mocking that up gave me a couple more ideas. (Treat the following cards as rare, for complexity, like Clone.)
Here it is. This one works like Baffling End, Smother, Runner's Bane or Threads of Disloyalty.
Is natural to wonder how this looks as an X spell, ala Entrancing Melody.
Finally, what if you can copy anything, but it's stuck at 1/1? The opposite of Quicksilver Gargantuan. I like this a lot, though I think it might be slightly more fun as a {2}{U} 2/2 so you can clone Spikeshot Goblins for profit.
Oh hey, I did the first version at +1 some time ago:
ReplyDeleteLarval Mimic.
The third one is also a nicely elegant way for people to retrigger an ETB effect once without the whole thing getting awkward and wordy like with the Panharnomicon and Wizard Daddy.
ReplyDeleteI also seem to think there's something exactly like it in Hearthstone but not entirely certain. I like it though.
I think there is a Hearthstone card that summons a 1/1 copy, but what makes it cool is that it's a creature - a bard - that summons a 1/1 copy of a creature in your deck. He's telling YOUR story and literally bringing it to life!
DeleteI like the concept of the Clonelet cards, but they feel a little dry. What about:
Primal Sculptor
2UG
Creature - Elf Wizard
When ~ enters the battlefield, create a token copy of another target creature except it's 1/1 and a Homonculus in addition to its other types.
2/2
Juicier? Cloning is a cool design space, thanks for the post!
Making it a homunculus is pretty great.
DeleteThe Clonelet 1/1 is kinda sharing similar space as Phantasmal Image. Not that that's a bad thing, but when it comes to cloning we frankly don't have enough Rite of Replication-a-likes.
ReplyDeleteClonelet 3/3
2UUU
Sorcery
Create three token copies of target creature with CMC of 3 or less.
Creating one weenie isn't splashy, but making three is a lot more fun. This could be blue/white, too.
I have no idea if the casting cost is fair.
What makes a card like Quicksilver Gargantuan fun and interesting is how many possibilities it creates. My Vampire Nighthawk was already good but now it's SO GOOD WOW. Many abilities like lifelink scale with creature size, so cloning with Quicksilver Gargantuan is often a Clone++, which is sweet. Clonelet 1/1 plays with similar space, but to the opposite effect. Not to say it isn't fun or cool, but the possibilities created are fewer. It's still a cool task for a Johnny to try to find the cards that are actually *better* as a 1/1 clone.
ReplyDeleteI agree it would be more fun as a 2/2 clone, but the most natural space for it is probably as a 3/3 clone with the same costing as the original Clone. It opens up a little bit more scaling potential and feels cool as a Clone callback.
Also, Clonelet 1/1 makes me think of cloning primarily to get ETB effects, and makes me want a Clone with Evoke.
Snapcaster Zoologist 1W
ReplyDeleteCreature - Human Cleric
Flash
You may have Snapcaster Zoologist enter the battlefield with all abilities of another creature until end of turn.
2/1
Great.
Delete(Only 70% convinced this is white, but cycling out Snapcaster helps.)