Commander Concept: Layoka, Mask of Revenge
Custom Cards forum
Posted on April 6, 2015, 4:45 p.m. by KalvinHobbez
Well guess I got back into the mood of making commanders again, here's another one set in a Kamigawa kind of style. I felt like the Kitsunes weren't very interesting during the block, so I tried to go into Boros colors, due to their involvement with Samurais, and see what I could make.
When it came to the original idea, I was thinking something along the lines of a commander form of Boros Reckoner would have been interesting, but being that Spitemare is just it without the first strike ability and different mana cost, I'd need something truly interesting for a legendary creature version. I remember that Kitsunes loved to damage prevention and damage redirection, but decks don't utilize that mechanic much at all...so I tried to make it viable with Layoka here.
With damage redirection I imagined a card like this would be interesting to see. She would synergize with other cards that prevent damage as well, so she wouldn't die from too much damage being thrown at her. My only issue is that Indestructibility simply put on her makes her unstoppable. But of course this is only to aggro and burn decks, as she would get stomped by control. I was thinking of buffing up her mana cost (It was low originally to make up for her taking double damage) and maybe have an ability that when she takes a certain threshold of damage she is instead exiled?
Either way I kind of like the route that I took with her, makes for an interesting style of a Boros commander when most Boros commanders are just pure creature aggro most of the time. Any thoughts on Layoka?
KalvinHobbez says... #3
Ah yeah I was tempted to throw in blue for her colors due to the color scheme of the art, but I felt like on a modern card with Boros she had a good amount of red and white to make it look comfortable. Was also tempted to put her in an old card format due to the style of the art, but ultimately modern looked a bit better. Simply searching up kitsune art didn't do much for me, thankfully found this image and made it work out alright.
April 6, 2015 4:51 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #4
Maybe making the prevent damage part 
because I'm getting the feeling that 1 damage will be pretty useless.
April 6, 2015 4:58 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #5
Yeah I was feeling that the 1 damage might have been too weak, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to allow her to have too much power. I mean a 5/5 for four mana that can make you damage-invincible if she becomes indestructible was a bit scary already. I did have her ability originally being hybrid red white single mana, but I kind of envisioned the ability more as "Tap one mana: Deal 1 damage to something" which, of course, is kind of crazy. But yeah probably I can make her just have hybrid mana or maybe hybrid and X.
April 6, 2015 5 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #6
This isn'y vry strong. You will pretty much have to tap out every turn to keep her alive.
April 9, 2015 9:05 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #7
Yeah I was probably going to have her ability cost less and have the X thing. I feel like if I have it as an X, she could get ruined by a simple Stifle, but if you have to do it multiple times its different :3
klone13 says... #2
I quite like her and the art is also very cool.
April 6, 2015 4:48 p.m.