Araithia (Rat), the Gateless, and Cardless
Custom Cards forum
Posted on June 5, 2019, 7:52 p.m. by JANKYARD_DOG
Just something I've been thinking of but having troubles coming up with so let's see some ideas for coming up with a card.
My thinking has been that she has shown various traits and abilities that cover all the colors and being gateless she'd have to be 5 colored. The story paints her as a child, probably a teen so stats would have to reflect... and cost I cant see being 5cmc so... hybrid mana?
Now if we use hybrid mana how do we decide prominent colors? She was born Gruul, has light telepathic skills as well as invisibility which screams Dimir, Best friend is/was Rakdos, and has Selesnya friends as well.
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue
Shroud, Haste
~ can't block and can't be blocked
At the beginning of each opponent's draw step you may look at a random card from that player's hand.
: Destroy target blocking or blocked creature.
2/3
That's all I can come up with... not settled on cost, but kinda makes sense to me. I think there should be a telepathic ability of sorts as well as something to show her combat abilities. All this without making it too wordy of course. Keyword soup? Unblockable is blue, shroud could be white or green, telepathy ability could be black, haste or doublestrike red, then something else white/green aligned?... Again, nothing is set in stone so let me hear your ideas. Could still be too early, who knows what the rest of the story will reveal but hey, it's just fun.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #3
Agreed that could get very out of hand... So yes, I think shround fits thematically as some of the people she knew had trouble seeing her as well. Also I like the direction of the Argentum Armor ability but we're still missing the telepathic aspect.
Perhaps a static ability of "Opponents play with their hands revealed" or "top card of deck revealed"? Also about the cost... I wanted to stay away from 5cmc but it seems we may just have to bite the bullet here... tacking a or to the existing cost could do it... but 5c is harder to attain especially if the power of the card is high as you say.
Will make changes to OP
June 5, 2019 9:04 p.m.
Hmm, perhaps have it worded in a way where you reveal the top card of all opponents' libraries synonymous to Telepathy ? Currently, the way you have it can be kind of awkward to play at a table with four people. I think it would be more playable and more thematic if everyone revealed the top card of their library because it fits the concept of telepathy considering you know what they know rather than you knowing what they don't know quite yet.
June 5, 2019 9:29 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #5
In a thematic sense I was thinking of the 'look' over 'reveal' so that only you are privy to the information and not the table... but I suppose from a playable aspect is is easier that way.
June 5, 2019 9:44 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #6
Ok so we have most of it nailed down... still seems like somethings missing though.
Cost: right now I have it set as , I was thinking of shifting it to . It make it harder to cast but not 5cmc. The Gruul symbol denotes her origin and the rest for being gateless and her other abilities.
Speaking of abilities; we have Unblockable, Top card peek, Haste, Shroud and ???. Arguably Shroud could be white as well, but there are no other green abilities that work. Flash makes Haste pretty much redundant, and for white first strike falls under the redundancy category being she is unblockable. Lifelink isn't exactly flavorful, and doublestrike I think would force an increase in cost. Alternatively we forget about it and call Shroud a GW ability.
And lastly we have her subtype. Currently she is only human.... on the one hand it makes sense as she is gateless and has yet to find her place in ravnican society. On the other it limits tribal synergies. Weak argument I know, but I feel like there should be more...
June 5, 2019 10:15 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #7
Funkydiscogod do you have another suggestion to reflect her telepathic abilities?
June 5, 2019 10:16 p.m.
It really is a tricky thing trying to incorporate all of a character's abilities into something mechanically sound and on theme. At one point I tried to make partner Brothers Yamazaki and gave them abilities on theme with each brother but it felt really unbalanced.
Realistically instead of making her color identity reflected in the casting cost, maybe try something where her cost to cast uses Gruul colors (maybe , , or depending on the body and abilities you give her) denoting her origin, but utilize an activated ability, or rather activated abilities to expand her color identity and grant her an effect until end of turn reminiscent to that of a AEtherling type effect for each color outside of Gruul. She could have base abilities inspired by Gruul mechanics, but she could also "borrow" additional effects from other guilds that are still thematic to her character.
Just an idea I've been pondering for a while so I hope you like it. :)
June 6, 2019 3:35 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #9
One of my iterations in my head was to make her colorless with abilities like Aetherling only guild/color coded... seemed like it would get very wordy though. I was also thinking of an activated ability to gain information but thematically she doesn't really put any effort into it... it just comes naturally.
So if we don't want 'lantern control commander' and no outright 'telepathy' how do we get a 'gain knowledge from people around you' ability that's not broke? What about:
"During each opponent's upkeep look at a random card from their hand"
This kind of says 'random thought'. So far she doesn't have any mind control aspects so we can't add card manipulation like 'rearrange top x cards', 'discard', 'mill', or.'gain control' type effects, so they're out of the question. That being said I think it fits.
Not saying your idea is out of the question or anything... if you have a layout that's not super wordy feel free to write it up.
June 6, 2019 9:15 p.m.
I'll try my hand at it sometime this weekend when I'm free :)
June 6, 2019 9:31 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #11
Honestly thought there'd be alot more people interested...
June 7, 2019 10:21 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #12
Would it be safe to call her a rogue? Been thinking of a second subtype and nothing else really fits... shaman aren't exactly telepathic, warriors aren't very magical, wizards aren't fighters. Rogues however have many skills, on Ravnica though rogues are generally Dimir.
Thoughts?
June 15, 2019 11:04 a.m.
CrimsonChaos says... #13
Dunno how broken this would be with all the other abilities (probably fairly broken), but you could also consider something like this: “If another creature you control would block an attacking creature, you may tap this card. If you do, before damage is calculated, increase the blocking creature’s power and toughness by this creature’s power and toughness respectively until the end of turn.”
This could reflect Rat being able to ambush those attacking her allies without the enemy seeing her until it’s too late, and could also reflect the white aspect of the card. It would probably balance out a bit actually, making the player choose whether they should be aggressive with her to trigger her combat ability or to hold off and use her defensively.
June 15, 2019 12:18 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #14
Hmmm you could be on to something. What if instead, we change:
"Whenever ~ attacks, destroy target creature defending player controls."
To:
": Destroy target creature that was blocked this turn by another creature you control."
Kind of a mix of the existing ability and the ability you suggested. Prevents it from becoming too wordy as well, and less broken.
June 15, 2019 12:28 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #16
Sorry, this ended up being much more in depth than I anticipated and required some re-organization of thoughts. I had started with thoughts on abilities then started looking at colour pie stuff and it made more sense to just put it all together ability by ability.
As I was reading through this I thought of Rogue when you asked for a class creature type, so I agree with that.
The casting cost feels off based on the abilities. I understand it is meant to represent her Gruul birth but I'm not convinced it fits the abilities correctly. If we use the mechanical colour pie for reference maybe we can see if there is a suitable hybrid to use. The hybrid pair would need to follow regular hybrid rules where the mechanics need to be in both of the hybrid colours.
Shroud - is actually missing from the article (probably because it has been retired in favour of hexproof), but Mark Rosewater says it's in the same colours as hexproof. So, primary blue, secondary green, tertiary white.
Haste - primary red, secondary black, tertiary green. Haste initially didn't quite feel right since she isn't really notably fast. However I'm not sure I have a better suggestion for a red ability. I guess it is less about speed and more about her ability to come out of nowhere.
Can't be blocked - primary blue. I was surprised to see there is no secondary or tertiary colour for this. Also, they don't use the "unblockable" template because it isn't actually a keyword.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep look at a random card from their hand. - looking at an opponent's hand is primary blue, secondary black (when linked to selecting a card to discard). What if it triggered at the beginning of the draw step so that you have the chance to see the freshly drawn card?
: Destroy target creature that was blocked this turn by another creature you control. - this would count as destroying an attacking creature which is primary white. I would say that the extra restriction requiring you to have another creature adds a bit of green and makes the condition narrower. However, combined with Haste she becomes able to come in after combat for a solo revenge kill which doesn't feel correct flavour-wise and feels more black which is primary in unconditional creature destruction. Maybe, "destroy target blocking or blocked creature?" That is definitely white, and only works during combat. It can still be limited to only work with another creature if we don't allow Rat to block, and it can be used creatively in multiplayer.
Can't block - primary black, secondary red. I recommend adding this as per above. It also works in the same flavour where she can't be blocked. The line would be "~ can't block and can't be blocked."
So with all of that, what colours must be included on their own? Definitely blue and white cannot be optional. Black and red could be our hybrid pair since if we add can't block their contributions are that and haste which are both primary and secondary in black or red. Green actually appears to be underrepresented so maybe one extra point of power or toughness (unless her stats are green enough already)?
So I would actually suggest her cost be .
June 16, 2019 4:22 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #17
RicketyEng do you think Flash would be better than haste? I thought haste because she seems pretty quick but that could be in account to her not being seen. At the beginning of the draw step could be confusing as some may say that's before you draw a card. I reworded it to "beginning of each opponents precombat mainphase", sound right? Also added the cannot block/be blocked clause. Suppose we could add a point to power to make it more green as you say, adding to toughness seems redundant as she now can't block.
Well I think she's pretty much finished now unless anyone has any arguements to power level or 'too broken', etc. Given the complexity of the card I'd say it would have to be of Mythic rarity in any set it would be in.
June 16, 2019 1:55 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #18
After I thought about it more haste fit nicely enough. Flash certainly doesn't feel as right as haste. Haste also paired well with the can't block to make red black hybrid work.
I myself would prefer to keep the trigger in the draw step to look less wordy. Also, very few things trigger at the start of a main phase. I agree that the card feels mythic and mythic can probably handle a draw step trigger. I won't argue the issue any further though if others would prefer the main phase (or even the upkeep).
June 16, 2019 6:48 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #19
Alright, we'll try the draw step option and see what people say about it. My only concern would be people confused about whether it is before or after you draw your turn card.
After that the only thing missing is a picture, and for Wizards to fit it in a commander/supplimental set. =D
Dango says... #2
Hey there!
I think you certainly have incorporated some great ideas by implementing Rat's characteristics into thought-out mechanics. However, I'm afraid that this combination of abilities might yield a scary brew reminiscent to that of Narset, Enlightened Master , but in five colors, for 3 mana, and is unblockable with essentially a guaranteed combat damage trigger. Hexproof making her difficult to remove on top of that makes me a bit anxious about allowing such a card to exist as a commander, even for a Voltron strategy.
I'd be a bit wary of such a synergistic and hard to remove creature. You could perhaps give her shroud instead of hexproof for a thematic effect while detering a gross Voltron strategy in commander. Instead of giving her a combat damage trigger, you could instead give her something to interact with opponents' creatures because her abilities enabled her to attack unsuspecting enemies. Perhaps an Argentum Armor type effect for creatures?
June 5, 2019 8:34 p.m.