Baalthamel Blacknight
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Aug. 5, 2018, 9:25 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Many planeswalkers produce emblems, but I have been experimenting with the idea of a planeswalker whose every ability generates a different emblem, and this is the result of my experimentation:
Baalthamel Blacknight Show
Only the first emblem is cumulative with itself, so that emblem is generated by Baalthamel's + ability. Both the first and second abilities provide resources for the third ability to work. Not only has there never been a planeswalker for whom all abilities generate different emblems, all current emblems provide either static or triggered abilities, but none provide activated abilities, so I am introducing such an emblem, now.
What does everyone else think about this? How well did I do with this card?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
shadow63, what would you recommend that I do to make it better balanced?
Also, how can I make loyalty symbols appear in my posts?
August 5, 2018 9:33 p.m.
You could make the first one “whenever an opponent loses life, you gain 1 life.” Or even set a threshold, such as “whenever an opponent loses 3 or more life, you gain 1 life.”
Overall, I hate this card’s design. Emblems are, far and away, my least favourite aspect of Magic. What makes Magic fun is the interaction between cards, and how every threat has an answer. Emblems break that tradition by interacting with the game without the game interacting with them.
August 5, 2018 9:43 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
cdkime, I do wish for the amount of life gained from the first emblem to increase with the amount of life lost, so what if it said "you gain 1 life for every 2 life lost?"
As for your second sentence, there is nothing that I can do about that: WotC created emblems as a way to keep track of the original Elspeth's final ability, and they have been exploring that design space ever since then.
August 5, 2018 9:46 p.m.
Maybe something like "At the end of each turn, gain 1 life for each opponent that has lost life this turn"?
August 5, 2018 9:47 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Epidilius, I am seeking for the first emblem to be reminiscent of Exquisite Blood, because it would be too slow if it triggered only at the end of each turn.
August 5, 2018 9:59 p.m.
If you make it based on the life opponents gain, you’re going to enable a number of very dangerous combos, such as with Sanguine Bond, while also making one of the combo pieces immune to removal.
My main issue is that you took an already problematic ability and took it to the extreme. There’s a reason that, of the forty-two planeswalkers that create emblems, only two - Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Gideon of the Trials
- do not require an ultimate.
August 5, 2018 9:59 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
cdkime, that is not good, but it currently is very late where I am, and I need to wake up early for work, tomorrow, so I shall attend to this matter at some point, soon.
August 5, 2018 10:14 p.m.
CharlesMandore says... #10
Rather than an emblem for the first ability, why not make it an artifact token like how the investigate makes artifact tokens?
August 6, 2018 7:26 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
CharlesMandore, that may possibly work, but an enchantment would make more sense than an artifact, except that Exquisite Blood already exists, and I specifically wish for there to be an emblem with that effect.
August 6, 2018 9:45 p.m.
If you want an exquisite blood emblem it would hve to an ultimate on the walker
August 7, 2018 10:28 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
shadow63, I will admit that I contemplated the idea of having him start with very high loyalty and no + abilities, but that would make him very risky to use, although that is a major philosophy of black.
shadow63 says... #2
That first ability is too good
August 5, 2018 9:30 p.m.