Been messing around with possible replacements for landfall in Exodus of Zendikar.
Have found that this mechanic (originally on a single card) works really well with the eldrazi spawn and the extra creatures left due to Escort.
Rally (As this enters the battlefield, tap any number of untapped creatures you control. This creature enters the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it.)
Now my question that I want to put to y'all is should I limit the mechanic like so:
Limited Rally 2 (As this enters the battlefield, tap up to two untapped creatures you control. This creature enters the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it).
Also do you have any better wording for my second version as it feels a little off.
What would you cost a bear with either version?
eg: Rally Bear ???
Creature - Human Soldier {C}
Rally
2/2
EDIT:
Now thinking about a more open ended ability word.
eg: Angel of the Paths4WW
Creature - Angel {U}
Flying, Vigilance Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Put a 1/1 white Surivivor creature token onto the battlefield for each creature tapped this way.
3/5
Been messing around with the the mechanic a bit more and have fiound that limiting the ability to +1/+1 counters far too limiting. Instead what do people think about using Jaddi Lifestrider's ability as an ability word.
eg: Glorious Captain1W
Creature - Human Soldier {C} Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Gain 1 life for each creature tapped this way.
2/2
Another Example: Angel of the Paths4WW
Creature - Angel {U}
Flying, Vigilance Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Put a 1/1 white Surivivor creature token onto the battlefield for each creature tapped this way.
3/5
You need to be careful when dealing with mechanics that tap your own creatures.
Convoke is a good example of what works, because while you lose attackers and blockers for a turn, they get replaced by larger creatures for defence. Conspire works, because its directly limited to two, and it sort of balances the regular risks of having more spells verses more creatures (even though in the end it was a design failure). Buts its fairly limited in how helpful it can be.
I'll start from your first post. Rally is decently designed enough as a successor to Convoke, but still carries some issues. While both allow you to get bigger creatures for cheaper, a creature with convoke still has the same P/T no matter how many creatures you tap, while Rally allows weenie decks to simply stay ahead when they get ahead, to the point of breaking - W/B tokens would have a field day.
Your second thought of it being open ended, while obviously having more room for balance, still carries the same worries. Putting tokens onto the field is even more troubling, because you basically double your creature pool with one spell cast. There's no good reason not to spend a turn not attacking to do so. Life gain sort of works, mostly because you can't reasonably tap all your creatures for it otherwise you'd lose the life next turn anyway, but it still slows down gameplay a bit. A lot of other common effects, like card draw or targeted damage would also be simply too strong to print except on high drop creatures.
So, my suggestion for this after all that is said: Convert Conspire as a mechanic for creatures. (Even if it was a poorly designed mechanic.)
Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap two untapped creatures you control. When you do, do X.
This can be limited to needing the creatures to be the same color if you want to focus the set more on mono, or feature it more on two color creatures, and it still lets you have an open ended mechanic that has a lot more balance potential. Maybe.
Have found that this mechanic (originally on a single card) works really well with the eldrazi spawn and the extra creatures left due to Escort.
Rally (As this enters the battlefield, tap any number of untapped creatures you control. This creature enters the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it.)
Now my question that I want to put to y'all is should I limit the mechanic like so:
Limited Rally 2 (As this enters the battlefield, tap up to two untapped creatures you control. This creature enters the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it).
Also do you have any better wording for my second version as it feels a little off.
What would you cost a bear with either version?
eg:
Rally Bear ???
Creature - Human Soldier {C}
Rally
2/2
EDIT:
Now thinking about a more open ended ability word.
eg:
Angel of the Paths 4WW
Creature - Angel {U}
Flying, Vigilance
Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Put a 1/1 white Surivivor creature token onto the battlefield for each creature tapped this way.
3/5
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
eg:
Glorious Captain 1W
Creature - Human Soldier {C}
Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Gain 1 life for each creature tapped this way.
2/2
Another Example:
Angel of the Paths 4WW
Creature - Angel {U}
Flying, Vigilance
Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Put a 1/1 white Surivivor creature token onto the battlefield for each creature tapped this way.
3/5
What do you think?
A bit more open ended.
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Convoke is a good example of what works, because while you lose attackers and blockers for a turn, they get replaced by larger creatures for defence. Conspire works, because its directly limited to two, and it sort of balances the regular risks of having more spells verses more creatures (even though in the end it was a design failure). Buts its fairly limited in how helpful it can be.
I'll start from your first post. Rally is decently designed enough as a successor to Convoke, but still carries some issues. While both allow you to get bigger creatures for cheaper, a creature with convoke still has the same P/T no matter how many creatures you tap, while Rally allows weenie decks to simply stay ahead when they get ahead, to the point of breaking - W/B tokens would have a field day.
Your second thought of it being open ended, while obviously having more room for balance, still carries the same worries. Putting tokens onto the field is even more troubling, because you basically double your creature pool with one spell cast. There's no good reason not to spend a turn not attacking to do so. Life gain sort of works, mostly because you can't reasonably tap all your creatures for it otherwise you'd lose the life next turn anyway, but it still slows down gameplay a bit. A lot of other common effects, like card draw or targeted damage would also be simply too strong to print except on high drop creatures.
So, my suggestion for this after all that is said: Convert Conspire as a mechanic for creatures. (Even if it was a poorly designed mechanic.)
Unite -- As ~ enters the battlefield, you may tap two untapped creatures you control. When you do, do X.
This can be limited to needing the creatures to be the same color if you want to focus the set more on mono, or feature it more on two color creatures, and it still lets you have an open ended mechanic that has a lot more balance potential. Maybe.
Avant Block: Avant -- Stormfront