LoR and GDW are under reconstruction. In the mean time, thought I'd share the new Boros mechanic (The very reason they're receiving a total overhaul.) Just the commons for now. Enjoy.
Tavern Brawl (Common) 2R
Instant
Target creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. Marshal — 4RR, Discard Tavern Brawl: Creatures you control get +3/+0 until end of turn.
Heroic Inspiration (Common) 1R
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn. Marshal — 3R, Discard Heroic Inspiration: Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain first strike until end of turn.
Adrenaline Rush (Common) R
Instant
Target creature gains haste and trample until end of turn. Marshal — 1R, Discard Adrenaline Rush: Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Leap into Battle (Common) 1W
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains flying until end of turn. Marshal — 5W, Discard Leap into Battle: Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain flying until end of turn.
Help from Above (Common) W
Instant
Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Marshal — 2W, Discard Help from Above: Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
Shield Tactics (Common) 2W
Instant
Target creature gets +0/+4 until end of turn. Draw a card. Marshal — 4W, Discard Shield Tactics: Creatures you control get +0/+4 until end of turn. Draw a card.
So it's overload but it's one-sided and uncounterable (or at least less counterable). I like it at a glance, even if it does feel a bit unexciting due to similarities to past mechanics. I would be curious to see if there's a way to jazz it up with some effects besides pumps and keywords.
I always felt radiance should have been overload in RAV. Whenever I come back to it that's not only exactly what a mechanic called radiance should do, but also the clean and intuitive mechanic that Boros could have used instead of the unplayable ability word it got that as a compounding factor even clashes with the theme by often punishing the opponent for playing gold cards in their colors.
That said once you have overload it's a hard sell to do essentially the same mechanic in both guilds.
EDIT: Just to entertain an alternative idea...
Leap into Battle
Instant
Up to one target creature gets +1/+1 and gains flying until end of turn. Prepare - If you cast ~ during a main phase, up to two target creatures each get +1/+1 and gain flying until end of turn.
Let's not forget Kicker, Replicate, Strive and Bloodrush. Bold Defense and Sigil Blessing were the direct inspirations for this mechanic. At one point, I even considered making it Selesnya's mechanic. But the precedent was nonexistent. And while I don't mind breaking precedent, I didn't think it was the best option for several reasons.
I think Marshal is distinct enough from even Overload to be a guild mechanic (with the possible exception of Dynacharge). (And if it's a fixed Radiate, then all the better.) It "cycles", it's narrower, and it's combat-centric.
Let's not forget Kicker, Replicate, Strive and Bloodrush. Bold Defense and Sigil Blessing were the direct inspirations for this mechanic. At one point, I even considered making it Selesnya's mechanic. But the precedent was nonexistent. And while I don't mind breaking precedent, I didn't think it was the best option for several reasons.
I think Marshal is distinct enough from even Overload to be a guild mechanic (with the possible exception of Dynacharge). (And if it's a fixed Radiate, then all the better.) It "cycles", it's narrower, and it's combat-centric.
While pointing out that a mechanic is similar to another isn't necessarily a killer, design space should be kept in mind. Kicker, for example, has received many variations over the years, but that mechanic arguably has the most design space of any non-evergreen ability in the entire game.
Overload is another matter entirely because "do something to target thing > do something to all things" only has so many permutations. While overload is far the from the most restrictive guild keyword compared to the likes of Haunt and Forecast, taking the mechanic and making it even narrower doesn't do much good for you. While the Izzet only have a couple of overload combat tricks, your new mechanic needs to tread new ground. Being that you've changed the keyword from being an alternate casting cost to a discard activated ability, putting it on more permanents is probably the way to go here.
The flavor of this mechanic is "your side" Overload.
The good news: Overload works here!
Tavern Brawl V2 2R
Instant (C)
Target creature you control gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
Overload 4RR
The bad news: You don't want to use an old keyword (although the flavor of Boros stealing it from Izzet would be a neat story...).
Might I suggest the following
Marshal* [cost] (You may pay an additional [cost] when you cast this spell. If you do, if the target creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Sample card: Heroic Inspiration V2R
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Marshal* 2 (You may pay an additional 2 when you cast this spell. If you do, if the target creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Sample target 1: You target your attacking suntail hawk with Heroic Inspiration V2 and all of your attacking creatures gain First Strike and flying. This opens up some interesting Marshal plays, as you could turn Heroic Inspiration from a combat trick into an evasion spell by playing it before blockers are declared.
Sample target 2: You target your attacking Boros swiftblade after no-blocks are declared, and your other creautres do double damage.
This version of Marshal...
1. is a keyword, not an ability word.
2. is counterable.
3. is less complex (insofar as you don't have all of that pesky rules text. (People are going to be super confused about your cantrip as is, fyi)
4. opens up interesting design space.
5. feels very Boros, as white gets "share abilities" and red cares about "attack."
6. works well in multiplayer team games (where you and your teammate attack together)
The problems:
1. This has anti-synergy with Vigilance, Haste, and Prowess. Thus Boros (and the set as a whole) should avoid printing these more than normal. You could print Mass Hysteria and Serra's Blessing variants if you want to have your vigilance and haste and yet not worry if it transfers with Marshal*)
2. It's reminder text is a bit big.
3. This version gives non-keyword effects ONLY to the target creature. So, for example, only the marshaled creature gets the +1/+0 of Heroic Inspiration V2. This means that you can't do instant-anthem affects with Marshal (you could just print your 1W instant "each creature you control gets +1/+1 and some other effect until end of turn." card at common w/o the keyword; so it's not too big a deal).
One of the great things about this mechanic is that it rewards you for printing "fair" french vanillas, and "good" vanillas at common and uncommon: Boros Recruit R 1/1 menace (C) W 1/2 lifelink (U) 1R 2/1 trample (C) 1RW 2/2 flying, First Strike (C)
2/1 for W with some decent creature types. (U)
4/1 for 2W or 4/2 for 1WW (C)
3/1 for 1R (C)
3/2 for 2R (C)
4/4 for 3R (C)
And, if you're really mean: 1/1 for RW with Lifelink, First Strike, and Menace.
This focus on "keyword sharing" is really neat, and it has the benefit of reducing the overall complexity of your set - a good thing! Remember, you're going to have 10 new keywords; at this point pretty much none of your commons or uncommons should be doing anything that it takes me any time at all to read. Marshal*, as a mechanic, forces you to do what good designers do - design simple, fun, immediately grockable commons that work well together.
I think a good minimum number of cards per keyword/mechanic is 8. Marshal* transfers 7 keywords, so the design is relatively straightforward - do a common or uncommon that adds 1 keyword (with possible other bonuses for the main target, but I'd caution against this), and then do a rare or mythic that gives multiple keywords (perhaps after creating a few attacking tokens?)
Marshal the Goblins2R
Instant (R)
Target attacking creature you control gains menace and first strike until end of turn.
Put X 1/1 red goblin tokens with haste onto the battlefield attacking, where X equals the target's power.
Marshal 2R
(Edit) Original (long winded) post:
So you need this to be "your side Overload." The problem for you is that Overload is worded to work for own-control targets as well:
Overload [cost] (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of 'target' with 'each'.)
Tavern Brawl (Common) ->
Tavern Brawl V2 2R
Instant (C)
Target creature you control gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
Overload 4RR
Now, the fact you "don't wanna" use existing keywords is on you, so either you put the "ability word" Marshal in front of "Overload" (unprecedented, confusing as all heck) OR you make it do something a bit different.
My suggestion:
Tavern Brawl V3 2R
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature has "This creature gets +3/+0" until end of turn.
Marshal 2R (You may pay an additional 2R when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
On this version, if you target a suntail hawk and Maershall the spell, other creatures you control will gain +3/+0" and flying until end of turn.
This version of Marshal...
1) is a keyword.
2) is counterable.
3) is functionally better (save counterability).
4) Opens up interesting design space.
5) Fits in white's "share ability" color pie, and I added "attacking" creatures to make it feel red.
6) Note: Because it's now attacking focused, marshal has to be on instants (or flash auras?) exclusively.
7) Edit: I forgot to mention this works well in multiplayer sets, as you and your team mates attack together, so Marshaling helps their creatures too.
8) Edit: While I'm at it, it's wroth noting that you can play this to give all your opponent's creatures abilities as well. If your opponent has a creature with drawbacks, you can give those drawbacks to your opponent's creatures as well (You can Marshal your opponent's ball lightning to destroy each of their attackers at the end of turn, etc.).
9) It's important to note that this could be quite an interesting deck archetype in Modern, prompting you to pick lots of creatures with eclectic abilities that would be broken on other creatures. Aggro-combo. Hmmm... where have I heard that before (heh...)
Look at Eternalize (yes, yes, garbage keyword design for a 2nd set; but in their nosedive WOTC says "no more small sets" so whatevs...). The virtue of Eternalize is that you give the keyword(s) or abilities of your eternalized creature to a 4/4. So your 1/1 laughable doublestrike is a 4/4 scary doublestrike token.
This Marshal plays much the same role. Of course, my suggestion is to move the design to keyword focused:
Marshal LifeW
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gains lifelink until end of turn.
Marshal 2W (You may pay an additional 2W when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
Function: Life gain card.
Marshal Indestructible granter1W
Instant (U)
Target attacking creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
Marshal R (You may pay an additional R when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
Function: Typical attack w/o fear of dying card.
Double Giver GiverR
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gains Menace and First Strike until end of turn.
Marshal 2R (You may pay an additional 2R when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
Function: Makes blocking very hard card.
Pretty much all of your cards could easily be reworked like this, save the more defensive blocking cards. I think this is a small price to pay for the keywording of the ability. It also really makes keywords on your existing creatures matter (Although "Haste" and "vigilance" won't really makes sense here, so I suggest cutting them from the set in these colors.)
French Vanillas to Print: R 1/1 menace W 1/2 lifelink 1R 2/1 trample 1RW 2/2 flying, First Strike
One of the great things about this design space just is that it pushes you to print simple, french vanilla red and white cards. Suppose you have all 4 of the creatures lifted above and attack. You play Marshal Life targeting, say, the 2/2 flying first striker. Now you have 6 power of flying, first strike, lifelink. You could play before blockers are declared to get the flying bonus, or after to get surprise first strike.
Final Note: Technically, you can use the wording of "Tavern Brawl V3" get all sorts of power and toughness boosts or other effects. Please don't. Make your combat tricks keyword focused. It'll take a little work, but there are quite a few keywords that work with this (Haste and Vigilance have antisynergy, as does Frenzy and I'm sure more... so just don't use them in this guild if possible. Heck, you can probably cut Vigilance entirely for a set and it'd be interesting. Prowess might also be a worry here, as it wouldn't trigger for those it's shared with...)
Generally speaking, you want to have about 8 or so cards per keyword. Here are the abilities you could easily marshal:
* First Strike in RW
* Double Strike in RW
* Menace in R
* Trample in R
* Lifelink in W
* Flying in W
* Indestructible in W
That's suitable 7 keywords, so you could easily do 7 cards that gave only 1 keyword, and then a rare that gave them all. In terms of design space, that might feel bad... but I actually think it's just VERY straightforward. Boros draft goes like this:
Step 1: Draft removal (of course).
Step 2: Draft Marshal cards.
Step 3: Draft various efficient french vanillas and vanillas. This version of Marshal transfers all of the keywords the attacking creature has to all attackers anyways, so your 1 drop marshal for 3-4 is usually going to give each other attacker 2 or more keyword abilities. It makes Boros an incredibly aggressive archetype, and yet the following vanillas become high picks:
2/1 for W with some decent creature types.
4/1 for 2W or 4/2 for 1WW
3/1 for 1R
3/2 for 2R
4/4 for 3R (We could talk about why I think this is fair, but let's not. Just admit this won't affect standard at all.) or 2RR if you're feeling unreasonable.
Edit: Maybe make a design decision between Flash Aura marshal and instant Marshal.
For example:
Intant Marshal First StrikeW
Instant (C)
Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.
Marshal 2W (You may pay an additional 2W when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
VS:
Aura Marshal First Strike1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Flash
Enchanted creature has +1/+2 and First Strike.
Marshal 2W (You may pay an additional 2W when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
The latter would give the First Strike to everyone, but not the p/t boost. This is an interesting way to make the marshal creature relevant and bigger w/o boosting all of your creatures. You could do the same w/ +1/+1 counters, but auras stick around, making the keyword stick around.
That ability-copying effect, even if it does work in the rules, is going to give people headaches at the table.
Well, in limited it depends upon what else is in the set.
But I think you're probably right. I've been down this road before; I suppose this is the version that'd be easiest to print:
Marshal* [cost] (You may pay an additional [cost] when you cast this spell. If you do, if the attacking creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Wordy, but not very problematic. If you did this, it's a substantive - but welcome - change. It allows you to give the "targeted" guy extra bonuses, and not the others.
Inspiring Leap1W
Instant
Target attacking creature gains flying and +2/+2 until end of turn.
Marshal* 1W(You may pay an additional 1W when you cast this spell. If you do, if the target creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Challenges and limits creates opportunities; and I wouldn't mind Marshal* as a keyword. You take away the "combo" potential, but you can print more non-"bland" boros cards. But I'd still recommend the high focus on (relevant) keyword french vanillas at common and uncommon as well as commons to "get the bonus"; while rares could have other "going wide" strategies. You could even print "keyword lords":
Flying Knight Commander2WW
Creature - Human Knight (R)
Flying, First Strike
Other creatures you control with flying get +1/+1.
Other creatures you control with first strike get +1/+1.
3/3
This guy + any Marshal* would give all your creatures +2/+2 as well as flying and first strike - a really interesting design apace... and one that could easily be tweaked to reward his "aggressive" power boost feel above:
Menacing Commander2R
Creature - Goblin Warrior (R)
Menace
Other creatures you control with menace gain +3/+0.
3/1
This guys is mean, and turns any Marshal* targeted at him to a menace and +3/+0 boost to all your attackers.
I would try a simple "Attacking creatures you control get [effect]." Plays into Boros' core strategy while also being versatile enough to work on spells.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Ah, but if you change it to an "attacking matters" mechanic that shares stuff; that screams Boros...
I like this thought. How about: If the target is attacking, you may pay x to copy this spell.
Hidden Resilience WW
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+3 until end of turn Combat Cast: If the target is an attacking creature, you may pay 1; if you do copy the spell and choose new targets for the copy.
Could even work on damage, ie.
Defensive HelixWR
Instant
Deal 2 damage to target creature. You gain 2 life. Combat Cast: If the target is an attacking creature, you may pay 2; if you do, copy the spell and choose new targets for the copy.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Tavern Brawl (Common)
2R
Instant
Target creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
Marshal — 4RR, Discard Tavern Brawl: Creatures you control get +3/+0 until end of turn.
Heroic Inspiration (Common)
1R
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Marshal — 3R, Discard Heroic Inspiration: Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain first strike until end of turn.
Adrenaline Rush (Common)
R
Instant
Target creature gains haste and trample until end of turn.
Marshal — 1R, Discard Adrenaline Rush: Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Leap into Battle (Common)
1W
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains flying until end of turn.
Marshal — 5W, Discard Leap into Battle: Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain flying until end of turn.
Help from Above (Common)
W
Instant
Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
Marshal — 2W, Discard Help from Above: Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
Shield Tactics (Common)
2W
Instant
Target creature gets +0/+4 until end of turn. Draw a card.
Marshal — 4W, Discard Shield Tactics: Creatures you control get +0/+4 until end of turn. Draw a card.
That said once you have overload it's a hard sell to do essentially the same mechanic in both guilds.
EDIT: Just to entertain an alternative idea...
Leap into Battle
Instant
Up to one target creature gets +1/+1 and gains flying until end of turn.
Prepare - If you cast ~ during a main phase, up to two target creatures each get +1/+1 and gain flying until end of turn.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I think Marshal is distinct enough from even Overload to be a guild mechanic (with the possible exception of Dynacharge). (And if it's a fixed Radiate, then all the better.) It "cycles", it's narrower, and it's combat-centric.
While pointing out that a mechanic is similar to another isn't necessarily a killer, design space should be kept in mind. Kicker, for example, has received many variations over the years, but that mechanic arguably has the most design space of any non-evergreen ability in the entire game.
Overload is another matter entirely because "do something to target thing > do something to all things" only has so many permutations. While overload is far the from the most restrictive guild keyword compared to the likes of Haunt and Forecast, taking the mechanic and making it even narrower doesn't do much good for you. While the Izzet only have a couple of overload combat tricks, your new mechanic needs to tread new ground. Being that you've changed the keyword from being an alternate casting cost to a discard activated ability, putting it on more permanents is probably the way to go here.
The good news: Overload works here!
Tavern Brawl V2 2R
Instant (C)
Target creature you control gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
Overload 4RR
The bad news: You don't want to use an old keyword (although the flavor of Boros stealing it from Izzet would be a neat story...).
Might I suggest the following
Marshal* [cost] (You may pay an additional [cost] when you cast this spell. If you do, if the target creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Sample card:
Heroic Inspiration V2 R
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Marshal* 2 (You may pay an additional 2 when you cast this spell. If you do, if the target creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Sample target 1: You target your attacking suntail hawk with Heroic Inspiration V2 and all of your attacking creatures gain First Strike and flying. This opens up some interesting Marshal plays, as you could turn Heroic Inspiration from a combat trick into an evasion spell by playing it before blockers are declared.
Sample target 2: You target your attacking Boros swiftblade after no-blocks are declared, and your other creautres do double damage.
This version of Marshal...
1. is a keyword, not an ability word.
2. is counterable.
3. is less complex (insofar as you don't have all of that pesky rules text. (People are going to be super confused about your cantrip as is, fyi)
4. opens up interesting design space.
5. feels very Boros, as white gets "share abilities" and red cares about "attack."
6. works well in multiplayer team games (where you and your teammate attack together)
The problems:
1. This has anti-synergy with Vigilance, Haste, and Prowess. Thus Boros (and the set as a whole) should avoid printing these more than normal. You could print Mass Hysteria and Serra's Blessing variants if you want to have your vigilance and haste and yet not worry if it transfers with Marshal*)
2. It's reminder text is a bit big.
3. This version gives non-keyword effects ONLY to the target creature. So, for example, only the marshaled creature gets the +1/+0 of Heroic Inspiration V2. This means that you can't do instant-anthem affects with Marshal (you could just print your 1W instant "each creature you control gets +1/+1 and some other effect until end of turn." card at common w/o the keyword; so it's not too big a deal).
One of the great things about this mechanic is that it rewards you for printing "fair" french vanillas, and "good" vanillas at common and uncommon:
Boros Recruit
R 1/1 menace (C)
W 1/2 lifelink (U)
1R 2/1 trample (C)
1RW 2/2 flying, First Strike (C)
2/1 for W with some decent creature types. (U)
4/1 for 2W or 4/2 for 1WW (C)
3/1 for 1R (C)
3/2 for 2R (C)
4/4 for 3R (C)
And, if you're really mean: 1/1 for RW with Lifelink, First Strike, and Menace.
This focus on "keyword sharing" is really neat, and it has the benefit of reducing the overall complexity of your set - a good thing! Remember, you're going to have 10 new keywords; at this point pretty much none of your commons or uncommons should be doing anything that it takes me any time at all to read. Marshal*, as a mechanic, forces you to do what good designers do - design simple, fun, immediately grockable commons that work well together.
I think a good minimum number of cards per keyword/mechanic is 8. Marshal* transfers 7 keywords, so the design is relatively straightforward - do a common or uncommon that adds 1 keyword (with possible other bonuses for the main target, but I'd caution against this), and then do a rare or mythic that gives multiple keywords (perhaps after creating a few attacking tokens?)
Marshal the Goblins 2R
Instant (R)
Target attacking creature you control gains menace and first strike until end of turn.
Put X 1/1 red goblin tokens with haste onto the battlefield attacking, where X equals the target's power.
Marshal 2R
(Edit) Original (long winded) post:
So you need this to be "your side Overload." The problem for you is that Overload is worded to work for own-control targets as well:
Overload [cost] (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of 'target' with 'each'.)
Tavern Brawl (Common) ->
Tavern Brawl V2 2R
Instant (C)
Target creature you control gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
Overload 4RR
Now, the fact you "don't wanna" use existing keywords is on you, so either you put the "ability word" Marshal in front of "Overload" (unprecedented, confusing as all heck) OR you make it do something a bit different.
My suggestion:
Tavern Brawl V3 2R
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature has "This creature gets +3/+0" until end of turn.
Marshal 2R (You may pay an additional 2R when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
On this version, if you target a suntail hawk and Maershall the spell, other creatures you control will gain +3/+0" and flying until end of turn.
This version of Marshal...
1) is a keyword.
2) is counterable.
3) is functionally better (save counterability).
4) Opens up interesting design space.
5) Fits in white's "share ability" color pie, and I added "attacking" creatures to make it feel red.
6) Note: Because it's now attacking focused, marshal has to be on instants (or flash auras?) exclusively.
7) Edit: I forgot to mention this works well in multiplayer sets, as you and your team mates attack together, so Marshaling helps their creatures too.
8) Edit: While I'm at it, it's wroth noting that you can play this to give all your opponent's creatures abilities as well. If your opponent has a creature with drawbacks, you can give those drawbacks to your opponent's creatures as well (You can Marshal your opponent's ball lightning to destroy each of their attackers at the end of turn, etc.).
9) It's important to note that this could be quite an interesting deck archetype in Modern, prompting you to pick lots of creatures with eclectic abilities that would be broken on other creatures. Aggro-combo. Hmmm... where have I heard that before (heh...)
Look at Eternalize (yes, yes, garbage keyword design for a 2nd set; but in their nosedive WOTC says "no more small sets" so whatevs...). The virtue of Eternalize is that you give the keyword(s) or abilities of your eternalized creature to a 4/4. So your 1/1 laughable doublestrike is a 4/4 scary doublestrike token.
This Marshal plays much the same role. Of course, my suggestion is to move the design to keyword focused:
Marshal Life W
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gains lifelink until end of turn.
Marshal 2W (You may pay an additional 2W when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
Function: Life gain card.
Marshal Indestructible granter 1W
Instant (U)
Target attacking creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
Marshal R (You may pay an additional R when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
Function: Typical attack w/o fear of dying card.
Double Giver Giver R
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gains Menace and First Strike until end of turn.
Marshal 2R (You may pay an additional 2R when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
Function: Makes blocking very hard card.
Pretty much all of your cards could easily be reworked like this, save the more defensive blocking cards. I think this is a small price to pay for the keywording of the ability. It also really makes keywords on your existing creatures matter (Although "Haste" and "vigilance" won't really makes sense here, so I suggest cutting them from the set in these colors.)
Reprint: boros swiftblade
French Vanillas to Print:
R 1/1 menace
W 1/2 lifelink
1R 2/1 trample
1RW 2/2 flying, First Strike
One of the great things about this design space just is that it pushes you to print simple, french vanilla red and white cards. Suppose you have all 4 of the creatures lifted above and attack. You play Marshal Life targeting, say, the 2/2 flying first striker. Now you have 6 power of flying, first strike, lifelink. You could play before blockers are declared to get the flying bonus, or after to get surprise first strike.
Final Note: Technically, you can use the wording of "Tavern Brawl V3" get all sorts of power and toughness boosts or other effects. Please don't. Make your combat tricks keyword focused. It'll take a little work, but there are quite a few keywords that work with this (Haste and Vigilance have antisynergy, as does Frenzy and I'm sure more... so just don't use them in this guild if possible. Heck, you can probably cut Vigilance entirely for a set and it'd be interesting. Prowess might also be a worry here, as it wouldn't trigger for those it's shared with...)
Generally speaking, you want to have about 8 or so cards per keyword. Here are the abilities you could easily marshal:
* First Strike in RW
* Double Strike in RW
* Menace in R
* Trample in R
* Lifelink in W
* Flying in W
* Indestructible in W
That's suitable 7 keywords, so you could easily do 7 cards that gave only 1 keyword, and then a rare that gave them all. In terms of design space, that might feel bad... but I actually think it's just VERY straightforward. Boros draft goes like this:
Step 1: Draft removal (of course).
Step 2: Draft Marshal cards.
Step 3: Draft various efficient french vanillas and vanillas. This version of Marshal transfers all of the keywords the attacking creature has to all attackers anyways, so your 1 drop marshal for 3-4 is usually going to give each other attacker 2 or more keyword abilities. It makes Boros an incredibly aggressive archetype, and yet the following vanillas become high picks:
2/1 for W with some decent creature types.
4/1 for 2W or 4/2 for 1WW
3/1 for 1R
3/2 for 2R
4/4 for 3R (We could talk about why I think this is fair, but let's not. Just admit this won't affect standard at all.) or 2RR if you're feeling unreasonable.
Edit: Maybe make a design decision between Flash Aura marshal and instant Marshal.
For example:
Intant Marshal First Strike W
Instant (C)
Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.
Marshal 2W (You may pay an additional 2W when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
VS:
Aura Marshal First Strike 1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Flash
Enchanted creature has +1/+2 and First Strike.
Marshal 2W (You may pay an additional 2W when you cast this spell. If you do, other attacking creatures gain the abilities of the target creature until end of turn.)
The latter would give the First Strike to everyone, but not the p/t boost. This is an interesting way to make the marshal creature relevant and bigger w/o boosting all of your creatures. You could do the same w/ +1/+1 counters, but auras stick around, making the keyword stick around.
Original (long winded post):
Well, in limited it depends upon what else is in the set.
But I think you're probably right. I've been down this road before; I suppose this is the version that'd be easiest to print:
Marshal* [cost] (You may pay an additional [cost] when you cast this spell. If you do, if the attacking creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Wordy, but not very problematic. If you did this, it's a substantive - but welcome - change. It allows you to give the "targeted" guy extra bonuses, and not the others.
Inspiring Leap 1W
Instant
Target attacking creature gains flying and +2/+2 until end of turn.
Marshal* 1W(You may pay an additional 1W when you cast this spell. If you do, if the target creature has flying, all other attacking creatures have flying until end of turn. The same is true for Lifelink, Indestructible, First Strike, Double Strike, Menace, and Trample.)
Challenges and limits creates opportunities; and I wouldn't mind Marshal* as a keyword. You take away the "combo" potential, but you can print more non-"bland" boros cards. But I'd still recommend the high focus on (relevant) keyword french vanillas at common and uncommon as well as commons to "get the bonus"; while rares could have other "going wide" strategies. You could even print "keyword lords":
Flying Knight Commander 2WW
Creature - Human Knight (R)
Flying, First Strike
Other creatures you control with flying get +1/+1.
Other creatures you control with first strike get +1/+1.
3/3
This guy + any Marshal* would give all your creatures +2/+2 as well as flying and first strike - a really interesting design apace... and one that could easily be tweaked to reward his "aggressive" power boost feel above:
Menacing Commander 2R
Creature - Goblin Warrior (R)
Menace
Other creatures you control with menace gain +3/+0.
3/1
This guys is mean, and turns any Marshal* targeted at him to a menace and +3/+0 boost to all your attackers.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I like this thought. How about: If the target is attacking, you may pay x to copy this spell.
Hidden Resilience WW
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+3 until end of turn
Combat Cast: If the target is an attacking creature, you may pay 1; if you do copy the spell and choose new targets for the copy.
Could even work on damage, ie.
Defensive HelixWR
Instant
Deal 2 damage to target creature. You gain 2 life.
Combat Cast: If the target is an attacking creature, you may pay 2; if you do, copy the spell and choose new targets for the copy.