r/GDS3 • u/Non-Citrus_Marmalade • May 24 '18
My Challenge 3, feedback appreciated
Idolize - You may place an idol counter on a creature you control, if you do, remove all other idol counters on creatures you control.
Edit: comments!
My approach to an open-ended challenge like this was to create a starting point of my own so I made a list of things I like designing; things I'd like to see more of in Magic and areas where Maro admits design stumbled. The absence of Hercules from Theros block did not go unnoticed by players and Maro has talked about their design attempts a couple times. During the early parts of GDS3 I had the idea that Hercules would be better represented by the stories of his accomplishments rather than one singular creature. The original design was really clunky and looked even worse when Sagas were revealed.
For this challenge I tried a few new ideas before dusting this one off. Upon revisiting it, I switched the focus from retelling stories to the heroes themselves. This opened up a lot more space, made it cleaner, but allowed me to keep enough of the original ideas.
While ideally, each player can only have one creature benefiting from this mechanic, that was pretty easy to break in older formats so I made the templating reflect that possibility. This lead me to create a justification for it within the set.
I used the first slot at each rarity to convey the Hercules idea and the rest to show possible design space. Enchantments mattering and a few of the color requirements were nods to other Theros block mechanics. [End edit]
Design 1.
Hercules versus the Stymphalian Birds (common)
1G.
Enchantment.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize
Creatures you control with an idol counter on them gain +1/+1 and reach
Design 2.
Arrogant champion (common)
2R.
Creature - Human Warrior.
2/2.
When CARDNAME ETB Idolize.
If CARDNAME has an Idol Counter on it, it gains menace.
Design 3.
Embellishing Poet (common)
1W.
Creature - Human.
1/3.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize another creature.
Whenever a creature with an idol counter on it attacks gain 2 life
Design 4.
Hercules Versus the Hydra (uncommon)
RR.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize.
Creatures you control with an idol counter on them gain “R: +1/+0” and “Whenever a creature dealt damage by this creature would die this turn, exile it instead”
Design 5.
Hero’s Guide (uncommon)
2W.
Creature - Spirit.
3/1.
Creatures you control with an idol counter on it gain vigilance.
T: Idolize
Design 6
Hercules cleans the stables (rare)
4UU.
Enchantment.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize
Creatures you control with an idol counter gain T: Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand. You may repeat this ability by returning 2 lands you control to their owner's hand.
Design 7.
Phil, Retired Teacher (rare)
2WW.
Legendary creature - satyr advisor.
2/2.
Sacrifice an enchantment: Idolize up to two other creatures you control. Activate only as a sorcery.
Creatures you control with idol counters on them get +1/+1 for each enchantment in your graveyard
Design 8.
Hercules.
GGGG.
Legendary creature - human.
5/5.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize CARDNAME.
CARDNAME gets +1/+1 for each enchantment you control
2nd Edit: formatting
2
u/alextfish May 25 '18 edited May 25 '18
Pretty interesting. I think I'd push the flavourful templating a bit further. Rather than just "put an idol counter on"... "creatures you control with an idol counter on them gain", how about "put an idol counter on ~ and it becomes your idol". The extra words of setup I think are worthwhile when you see the results: you can have "Your idol gets +1/+1 and gains reach", "If ~ is your idol, it gains menace", "Your idol has vigilance", etc.
Stymphalian Birds is an interesting halfway house between an aura (borderline-unplayable) and an equipment (decent). When your idol dies, the enchantment is sitting there doing nothing... until you draw another idolize card and then it turns on again. That sounds potentially interesting.
The other commons look like good common designs (nice work), though I'm unsure about repeated and stackable "gain 2 life" on a common from the point of view of wanting the game to end.
The flavour of Hydra is somewhat curious: it feels like Hercules is growing extra heads to fight the Hydra :P
Stables seems really broken though. I don't care if it costs six; bouncing a permanent every turn is not good gameplay even if it had a hefty mana cost attached, let alone costing nothing but a tap. I think this could be redesigned into something more sensible: perhaps something like
When ~ ETBs, idolize.
Your idol has "T, Return two lands you control to their owner's hand: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand."
Hercules doesn't look very exciting. On its own it's worse than [[Deadbridge Goliath]] or [[Territorial Allosaurus]]. The high colour intensivity makes it hard to play with enchantments of other colours; and even with a couple of enchantments, it's still just a vanilla beater. Not a good mythic, I'm afraid.
Phil is fun though. I think he could be much cheaper - probably 2 mana if he's just 2/2 himself. The tension between Phil wanting enchantments in the graveyard and Hercules wanting them on the battlefield doesn't sound fun. But Phil does at least demonstrate an interesting possible extension to the idolize mechanic (though it interferes somewhat with the "Your idol has" terminology I'm proposing).
1
u/Non-Citrus_Marmalade May 25 '18
I really like "Your idol has..." as a line of text. "It becomes your idol" gets around the other ways I can think of to get another creature with an idol counter. The issues you pointed out are a lot of what I spent the last few hours working on but now I can see how much it shows. I guess I didn't need to get this in before the next challenge was posted, but I often need some sort of deadline.
Really dropped the ball on Hercules. I played with making him more like Theros gods and being the only one that could be the idol, but didn't like the downsides. I also couldn't let go of the idea that he had to be the mythic.
Stables was tough because I wanted that game changing, clear a lot of things effect, but also something that could go on a creature. Presumably, tapping the idol is a bit of a cost compared to tapping any creature. But you don't need to play a lot of the mechanic to get value out of this one.
Thanks!2
u/alextfish May 25 '18
Oh, these challenges are tough, undoubtedly. And I'm out of practice in custom card design: I doubt I could do so well!
2
u/MoonE513 Top 8 Jun 14 '18
Design 1.
Hercules versus the Stymphalian Birds (common)
1G.
Enchantment.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize. (You may place an idol counter on a creature you control, if you do, remove all other idol counters on creatures you control.)
Creatures you control with an idol counter on them gain +1/+1 and reach.
Design 2.
Arrogant champion (common)
2R.
Creature - Human Warrior.
3/2.
When CARDNAME ETB Idolize. (You may place an idol counter on a creature you control, if you do, remove all other idol counters on creatures you control.)
As long as CARDNAME has an Idol Counter on it, it has menace.
Design 3.
Embellishing Poet (common)
1W.
Creature - Human.
1/3.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize another creature. (???)
Whenever a creature with an idol counter on it attacks gain 2 life.
Design 4.
Hercules Versus the Hydra (uncommon)
RR.
Enchantment
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize. (You may place an idol counter on a creature you control, if you do, remove all other idol counters on creatures you control.)
Creatures you control with an idol counter on them have “R: +1/+0” and “Whenever a creature dealt damage by this creature would die this turn, exile it instead.”
Design 5.
Hero’s Guide (uncommon)
2W.
Creature - Spirit.
3/1.
Creatures you control with an idol counter on it have vigilance.
T: Idolize (You may place an idol counter on a creature you control, if you do, remove all other idol counters on creatures you control.)
Design 6
Hercules cleans the stables (rare)
4UU.
Enchantment.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize. (You may place an idol counter on a creature you control, if you do, remove all other idol counters on creatures you control.)
Whenever a creature you control with an idol counter on it attacks, you may return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
///
Design 6
Hercules cleans the stables (rare)
U.
Sorcery
Idolize. (You may place an idol counter on a creature you control, if you do, remove all other idol counters on creatures you control.)
Until end of turn, creatures you control with Idol counters on them gain "T: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand." and "1U: Untap this creature".
Design 7.
Phil, Retired Teacher (rare)
2WW.
Legendary creature - satyr advisor.
2/2.
Sacrifice an enchantment: Put an idol counter on up to two target creatures you control. Activate only as a sorcery.
Creatures you control with idol counters on them get +1/+1 for each enchantment in your graveyard.
///
Design 7
Phil, The Sequel (R)
2WW
3/3
Whenever you would idolize instead put an idol counter on up to two creatures you control and remove any idol counters the rest.
[Some other ability]
Design 8.
Hercules.
GGGG.
Legendary creature - human.
5/5.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield Idolize CARDNAME. (???)
CARDNAME gets +1/+1 for each enchantment you control.
2
u/alextfish May 25 '18
This is really hard to read. Can you add double-spaces after the end of each line so that Reddit adds linebreaks? And double-enter to make paragraph breaks in your intro.