This is the latest iteration of my Four Knights ensemble, this time a cycle of legendary creatures. Each is a dual-colored 3/3 Knight with First Strike and one other keyword determined by the second color, as well as a third ability that overlaps or combines the two colors. Currently each Knight also costs 3WM.
Merrimer, Knight of Coves3WU
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Knight
Flash, first strike
Whenever ~ becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may exile @. Return @ to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
3/3
Oakwyn, Knight of Groves3GW
Legendary Creature - Elf Knight
First strike, hexproof
Whenever ~ attacks, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield under your control, otherwise put it into your hand.
Valmort, Knight of Graves3WB
Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight
First strike, deathtouch
Whenever combat damage is dealt to you or a planeswalker you control, if ~ is in your graveyard, destroy target attacking creature, then return @ from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
3/3
Drakomir, Knight of Caves3RW
Legendary Creature - Viashino Knight
First strike, trample
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, it gets +1/+1 and gains haste until end of turn. You may return that creature to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.
3/3
Private Mod Note
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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.
When I think of knights, I think of 2/2s with First Strike and another keyword for 2 mana. I'd be quite interested in a cycle of W/C 2 drop legendary knights. 5 drop 3/3s... yawn.
Flash/First Strike - White gets this on their own.
First Strike/Hexproof - Sure.
First Strike/Deathtouch - Come on. I don't have to explain to you why WOTC shouldn't print these 2 keywords together.
First Strike/Trample - I was certain this was going to be haste. Maybe Menace if you were trying to be clever. So... yeah.
I'm not a fan of your abilities here either. UW - He has flash. So why does he blink himself, too? Why doesn't he return himself to its owner's hand? The fact that this lets it dodge all targeted removal is format-warping and oppressive... or would be if anyone cared to play a 3/3 for 5. WG - I like this equipment. I'd love it on a green rare. This is not the green rare I want to be forever in a core set; it's a "cool card advantage green ability" on a member of a random multicolor cycle. WB - So... let's ignore the brokenness this gets with the legend rule, and the nonsense of first strike and death touch. You want me to get a free reanimation of a 3/3 AND Kill any creature that dealt damage to me... and all I need to do is run a discard outlet? This could be a 3/3 for 8WWWWW and only this ability and would probably be a 4-of in Dredge, madness, and - well - pretty much anything else that could reliably pitch it. RW - so it doesn't have haste itself (I know it WILL, but you're not clear here) *AND* it gives your entire board haste. Last time I checked, that cost 2R. Oh, and on top of that it does other stuff too!
Some of these are interesting ideas. I'd be very interested in seeing a non-legend (or even legend) green creature with your green ability, a red creature with your red ability... and we've seen a not-broken version of the black ability already, so this just isn't funny.
I'd also like the idea of legendary knights. But legendary CD knights are simple and fun to design:
WU Legendary Creature - Fairie Knight (R) First Strike, Flying, Flash 2/2 WG Legendary Creature - Elf Knight (R) First Strike, Vigilance, Reach 2/2 WB Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R) First Strike, lifelink, menace 2/2 WR Legendary Creature - Orc Knight (R) Double Strike (!), Prowess 2/2 (or first strike, haste, prowess)
They design themselves, are cool, fun, flavorful, and interesting. You get interesting interactions of keywords, without the stupid "deathtouch + first strike" nonsense. Their efficiency make them at least fringe-constructed playable, and they have a good chance of doing great things in limited - especially with equipment or decent auras. Their legendary status means you have to debate how many to run in your aggro deck.
And they feel legendary, don't they? Compared to your average knight, these guys have mad skillz, but come down on the same turn as classic knights. These are knights you might find around some kind of... table...
In contrast, yours are God-level threats (2 of them are practically impossible to kill!) that warp a game, and metagame, around themselves - or would if they weren't 3/3s for 5.
Clever naming convention! I like them. But I'd love them as 2/4's with double strike.
Merrimer - Looks like a good uncommon - not a rare/mythic legend.
Valmort - I try not to be a Chicken Little, but this is probably too good imo. Strike + Touch is fine on a 3WB 3/3 legend. Destroying creatures (that have dealt combat damage to you) while in graveyard (and then returning to the battleield tapped) is fine. Both of them together is probably not. It's the kind of card that greifer Spike will exploit and everyone else will simply hate. And it doesn't come across as a thoughtful design, just pushed trash like Samut, Voice of Dissent. Not a good place for a legend to be. Lifelink solves all of this and would be pretty attractive if you were to go with double strike.
Oakwyn - With double strike, you could have it search whenever it deals combat damage (while attacking?).
Merrimer, Knight of Coves 3WU
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Knight
Flash, first strike
Whenever ~ becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may exile @. Return @ to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
3/3
Oakwyn, Knight of Groves 3GW
Legendary Creature - Elf Knight
First strike, hexproof
Whenever ~ attacks, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield under your control, otherwise put it into your hand.
Valmort, Knight of Graves 3WB
Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight
First strike, deathtouch
Whenever combat damage is dealt to you or a planeswalker you control, if ~ is in your graveyard, destroy target attacking creature, then return @ from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
3/3
Drakomir, Knight of Caves 3RW
Legendary Creature - Viashino Knight
First strike, trample
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, it gets +1/+1 and gains haste until end of turn. You may return that creature to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.
3/3
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.
Flash/First Strike - White gets this on their own.
First Strike/Hexproof - Sure.
First Strike/Deathtouch - Come on. I don't have to explain to you why WOTC shouldn't print these 2 keywords together.
First Strike/Trample - I was certain this was going to be haste. Maybe Menace if you were trying to be clever. So... yeah.
I'm not a fan of your abilities here either.
UW - He has flash. So why does he blink himself, too? Why doesn't he return himself to its owner's hand? The fact that this lets it dodge all targeted removal is format-warping and oppressive... or would be if anyone cared to play a 3/3 for 5.
WG - I like this equipment. I'd love it on a green rare. This is not the green rare I want to be forever in a core set; it's a "cool card advantage green ability" on a member of a random multicolor cycle.
WB - So... let's ignore the brokenness this gets with the legend rule, and the nonsense of first strike and death touch. You want me to get a free reanimation of a 3/3 AND Kill any creature that dealt damage to me... and all I need to do is run a discard outlet? This could be a 3/3 for 8WWWWW and only this ability and would probably be a 4-of in Dredge, madness, and - well - pretty much anything else that could reliably pitch it.
RW - so it doesn't have haste itself (I know it WILL, but you're not clear here) *AND* it gives your entire board haste. Last time I checked, that cost 2R. Oh, and on top of that it does other stuff too!
Some of these are interesting ideas. I'd be very interested in seeing a non-legend (or even legend) green creature with your green ability, a red creature with your red ability... and we've seen a not-broken version of the black ability already, so this just isn't funny.
I'd also like the idea of legendary knights. But legendary CD knights are simple and fun to design:
WU Legendary Creature - Fairie Knight (R) First Strike, Flying, Flash 2/2
WG Legendary Creature - Elf Knight (R) First Strike, Vigilance, Reach 2/2
WB Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R) First Strike, lifelink, menace 2/2
WR Legendary Creature - Orc Knight (R) Double Strike (!), Prowess 2/2 (or first strike, haste, prowess)
They design themselves, are cool, fun, flavorful, and interesting. You get interesting interactions of keywords, without the stupid "deathtouch + first strike" nonsense. Their efficiency make them at least fringe-constructed playable, and they have a good chance of doing great things in limited - especially with equipment or decent auras. Their legendary status means you have to debate how many to run in your aggro deck.
And they feel legendary, don't they? Compared to your average knight, these guys have mad skillz, but come down on the same turn as classic knights. These are knights you might find around some kind of... table...
In contrast, yours are God-level threats (2 of them are practically impossible to kill!) that warp a game, and metagame, around themselves - or would if they weren't 3/3s for 5.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Merrimer - Looks like a good uncommon - not a rare/mythic legend.
Valmort - I try not to be a Chicken Little, but this is probably too good imo. Strike + Touch is fine on a 3WB 3/3 legend. Destroying creatures (that have dealt combat damage to you) while in graveyard (and then returning to the battleield tapped) is fine. Both of them together is probably not. It's the kind of card that greifer Spike will exploit and everyone else will simply hate. And it doesn't come across as a thoughtful design, just pushed trash like Samut, Voice of Dissent. Not a good place for a legend to be. Lifelink solves all of this and would be pretty attractive if you were to go with double strike.
Oakwyn - With double strike, you could have it search whenever it deals combat damage (while attacking?).