U/B evergreen. Thoughts?
Custom Cards forum
Posted on April 22, 2020, 3:09 a.m. by kavtheron
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Wotc definitely needs to make 'mill' an official keyword. I only used it here as a sort of future sight-ish rules text to make it less wordy than the usual 'put the top card of a library into the graveyard'.
Also I originally wanted to use the text for lifelink, but I'm finding it a bit difficult to word it.
Damage dealt by the creature also causes its controller to gain that much life.
TO
Damage dealt by the creature also causes DEFENDING? TARGET? player to put that much cards from the top of their library into their graveyard.
April 22, 2020 3:55 a.m.
Also I have other evergreen for UB thought of but chose to show off Siphon instead.
Deceit (This creature can't deal damage and can't be damaged.)
Version 2:
Deceit (This permanent isn't a creature. But it can attack, block and is affected by summoning sickness.)
April 22, 2020 3:59 a.m.
LordBlackblade says... #5
We already have precedent for the mill effect with Undead Alchemist. You could start working from there and play around with it.
April 22, 2020 4:02 a.m.
Yeah, the problem is this does nothing and makes the creature worse. Replacing damage with milling means that, in an average 60 card deck, your creature is three times less effective at dealing damage that a creature without this ability.
It is not easy to come up with an evergreen ability for the two colors with the least mechanical overlap. Until that overlap expands, there is not enough common ground between the colors to create a viable evergreen mechanic.
April 22, 2020 4:44 a.m.
I agree with all of the above—this wouldn’t be a great evergreen ability, but could be neat as a set ability; this generally makes the creature worse; and mill should be a keyword to save space on a plethora of cards.
Currently, your reminder text doesn’t work - making the assumption mill is keyworded, you’d need to clarify it deals damage “to players” or “to opponents” (slightly different implications between the two) as mill. You can’t mill a creature or planeswalker.
Otherwise you need a replacement effect that mirrors Undead Alchemist, as noted above. “If this creature would do damage to an player, instead that player puts that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard.”
For your other ability’s first iteration, you’ve made a worse version of indestructible and protection, two existing evergreen words.
The second version is problematic. It’s confusing to have non-creatures with power/toughness printed on the card; it is confusing to have non-creatures in combat; you’d need additional rules about damage being marked on these “creatures”; and, worst of all, these “creatures” are immune to common spot removal and wraths.
April 22, 2020 10:20 a.m.
April 22, 2020 9:43 p.m.
Sure, those are fine ones, with some mechanical overlap. However, there are some issues - elusive is technically a keyworded unblockable - you cannot make a high-power creature with it and you are almost never blocking with unblockable creatures anyways. It is a dangerous ability for an evergreen one and there is not much design space for it - a creature with elusive really only gets "when ~ hits an opponent" abilities and not much else.
Outwit is intriguing but it relies on your opponent - if they have creatures whose abilities in combat do not matter in combat, like say Deathrite Shaman, this does nothing. Since it is a defensive ability, this promotes pacifistic gameplay from both players - attacking with a creature with Outwit means you have a vanilla creature, while an opponent attacking into an untapped creature with outwit means they have a vannilla creature. None of these are desirable gameplay situations.
To be proactive, I will suggest two other abilities in that mono-color combat design space:
Outwit (mono-blue) - When this creature deals combat damage to a player, untap it.
Venomous (mono-black) - When this creature becomes blocked, you may destroy target creature blocking it. If you do, sacrifice it.
dbpunk says... #2
I think it definitely is an interesting ability, but it might be a little bit off for a evergreen. Like evergreens work because theyre generally simple abilities so new players dont have an issue with them.
Maybe for a graveyard themed set though? Like cause there would be so many cool interactions.
April 22, 2020 3:45 a.m.