EDH General: Vaultik, Ancient Colossus
Custom Cards forum
Posted on May 21, 2015, 8:14 p.m. by KalvinHobbez
So here's another little EDH commander I made recently. I've always loved the golem tribal cards that were made in Scars of Mirrodin, ones like Vital Splicer and Wing Splicer. I always did find it odd how the colors fell into Bant colors, which never really was a big artifact set of colors. So with three concepts in mind for a commander in Bant, I made one off of these ideas:
1: Tributes to golem tribal
2: Token support in Bant
3: Aided by flickering in Bant
...and I feel like I made a pretty neat card. Using old art and name of a card I made way back when I first started making cards, I created Vaultik. He might get a bit scary as he can repeat flicker effects for stuff like Acidic Slime if you just flicker him....but isn't Brago, King Eternal kind of a cheaper form of doing exactly that? Yeah there's probably some scary combos Vaultik can do, but for 7 mana I feel like he's at an alright place right now. I always want to see how many people tell me to change the wording when the wording doesn't matter that badly. I want to count how many people tell me I need to put "artifact" token creature even though I just forgot to put it...
So what do you guys think? Fun little token/flicker/golem tribal general and all.
FinchFalcon says... #3
If you flicker him, you get a whole 'nother round of golems, right? Because he leaves, your other creatures enter and have their ETB effects, then he returns, re-exiles, and dumps out more golems.
May 21, 2015 8:43 p.m.
Yeah, what Finch said. I feel like if you lost the golems when he went away, it'd be fine. Right now, as it is, I'd be easily broken beyond what is acceptable.
May 21, 2015 8:47 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #5
Yeah he's a bit confusing to try and imagine how he works, but in play I can imagine he'd be more straight forward. Like here's an example.
You have four AEthersnipes out on the field.
Cast Vaultik, all four are exiled and you now have four 3/3 Golems and Vaultik
Vaultik is targetted by Ghostly Flicker.
Four 3/3 golems remain, four Aethersnipes come back and retrigger.
Vaultik reenters and triggers again, all four golems and four Aethersnipes exiled and you now have eight 3/3 Golems.
So yeah he can become an interesting incremental commander with flickering him about.
May 21, 2015 8:50 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #6
Well for 7 mana and needing to have the flicker combo out, it doesn't seem that crazy. Maybe I make him exile nontoken creatures then? So you don't multiple on your tokens. You can still stock up your Golems but you don't double them anymore.
May 21, 2015 8:51 p.m.
jandrobard says... #7
What if he also exiled artifacts when he entered? Just thinking.
May 21, 2015 11:09 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #8
Artifact flicker could be an interesting deck archetype, actually, but I'm unsure how many targets are there for it. You got stuff like Ichor Wellspring for simple combos, then other artifacts like the ones that enter with charge counters. I might mess around with the idea later, but I'm not sure if Vaultik is the right dude to put that on. Primarily because he might get confusing if I add on too much.
May 22, 2015 1:04 a.m.
jandrobard says... #9
I was thinking more to get more golems, because you'll use a lot of mana rocks if you run him as your general, but the "too many things" is a valid point.
May 22, 2015 1:08 a.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #10
Oh man if he could flicker mana rocks too that'd be a nightmare. Though I do like the idea of making mana rocks have utility in the late game. Someone like Karn, Silver Golem of course animates them...but I have been looking for ways to utilize artifacts outside of the broken stuff we already have. Well there's artifact sacrifice too...over the years artifacts have got a lot of rep, so maybe late game mana rock usage is already done a lot. But artifact token generation ain't too big, sadly. Myrs are the only ones to really do it in mass amount...
May 22, 2015 1:14 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #11
Surprised that no one has already mentioned how he exiles himself according to the wording.
May 22, 2015 6:20 a.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #12
Oh yeah forgot to mention that I changed that along with the tokens being artifacts and the ability affecting only nontoken creatures. Here's a reworded version:
Would be funny if he just flickers everything you have and gives you golems for it only for 7 mana....that would be one hell of a weird commander.
May 22, 2015 7:11 a.m.
Nice idea... I've been waiting for a colorless artifact legend (aside karn) and this is the next best thing.
He is rather powerful in his ability, but then again he is mythic. But still, I think making him 5/7 (with that ability) or 6/6 instead of 7/7 would be more reasonable. For reference look at Sharuum the Hegemon, 6 mana and 5/5. While she has evasion, her ability is less powerful than your design.
May 22, 2015 9:35 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #14
I hate to add input so late when I could have easily done it earlier, but I guess it's something that happens every now and then to designers. Sorry ><
My only input is related to the cost. I feel (and I know for a fact that the majority of commander players agree with me if they have the attitude of actively looking for how to play better) that there is a point where a commander is simply too expensive. Too expensive to cast quickly, too expensive to cast efficiently, too expensive to cast repeatedly, or all the above -- I believe that that threshold is a cmc of 6.
So here's my question: Could you adjust your design to allow it to be a 5-drop or less? Anyone can make an expensive powerhouse, but making a low-costed commander that is neither OP nor lame is the mark of a skilled designer. :)
May 22, 2015 11:13 a.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #15
I felt hesitant on leaving his cost too low as his ability just seemed pretty crazy powerful in the right deck, so I didn't want his combos coming in too fast. Also his power his a bit high because he's got green in his colors opposed to Sharuum, so I felt like he had an excuse to be a bit stronger. Also about the cmc of 6 being the threshold, people sure as hell still love playing Maelstrom Wanderer either way, but he's a bad example because his high CMC is beneficial...
With the low costed commander, I try to do that pretty often. I don't like to make brutally overcosted things all the time but Vaultik just felt fitting for once. You should probably check out my other commander card I made called The Forgotten Soul. Four mana commander with a taste of group hug and can be built to have winning combos. I've been told they might be a bit OP for the cost, but I don't see the huge deal all that much...
May 22, 2015 4:57 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #16
I guess I should probably clarify: while I totally agree that this design itself is completely balanced for its stats and cmc, I think it could be greatly improved if it's cmc was lowered and abilities nerf'd for balance.
May 22, 2015 5:18 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #17
Oh so basically make him the same thing, but justifiable at a lower cost. Well in that case to make him any lower I probably could just change one aspect of his whole thing...Like maybe it's not an X but it's a fixed amount of Golems you get each time? Like maybe he's 6 mana total and you get five 3/3 Golems out of it? Actually...just as he is and put at 6 mana, just nerf his 7/7 stuff, and I think he'd be alright. Because with NONTOKEN creatures, you'd maybe get like eight 3/3s in a good game. Either that or I could make X becomes something else, like the greatest power/toughness of creatures exiled that way. Or maybe a single token that's X/X...hm, a lot of ways to take his design.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #2
Bant artifacts, eh? Love it :)
May 21, 2015 8:25 p.m.