Commander 14 giving us old walker cards got me thinking about what a Serra planeswalker would be like and so I tried to put my novice skills of card design to the test and come up with something. I started with the theme of enchantments as it seemed to fit what I know about Serra (admittedly I'm not a heavily committed Vorthos) and went from there, using various cards as inspiration for her abilities. Here are two versions I came up with (they probably aren't very balanced):
Version 1
Serra, The White Maiden 3WW
+2 Until your next turn, all creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
-3 Return all enchantment cards from your graveyard to play.
-10 You get an emblem with “Each non-aura enchantment you control becomes a white Angel creature in addition to its other types with flying and base power and toughness 4/4.”
3 Loyalty
This version was designed to protect Serra while you build up to her ultimate to win the game, with her middle ability providing some utility if you needed it. Mostly just a control card that takes several turns to build up to a win.
Version 2
Serra, The White Maiden 3WW
+2 Until your next turn, all creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
-2 Target non-aura enchantment becomes a white Angel creature in addition to its other types with flying and base power and toughness 4/4 until end of turn.
-8 You get an emblem with “At the beginning of your upkeep, search your library for an enchantment card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.”
4 Loyalty
I wasn't sure if the first version would really be something Enchantress would want to do for 5 mana so I went and looked at Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas which is a good artifact walker for ideas, and gave this one a similar minus ability, allowing you to choose to either + her and be defensive or - her and go offensive. What I don't like about this version is the ultimate, I just threw on enduring ideal's effect and lowered the cost a bit, but I don't know if it's all that good (never played with ideal personally) or not as an ultimate.
Looking for feedback on which version you guys like more as well as balancing help.
I like the first version more, but the middle ability is a bit strong (recurrable Replenish good). Make it target a single enchantment in your 'yard to tone down the cost a bit.
Dahammer4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature." t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
I like the first version more, but the middle ability is a bit strong (recurrable Replenish good). Make it target a single enchantment in your 'yard to tone down the cost a bit.
Thanks for the feedback. So if we go ahead and make version 1's - ability only target 1 enchantment, do you think it should be reduced to -1?
Dahammer4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature." t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
I like the second one best, but I would switch the + and - abilties. So she can protect herself, and humility is kinda silly on a Plus ability seems hard to actually kill her.
I think if they were to make a Serra Planeswalker, her ultimate has to throwback to Serra Avatar.
Something like.....
Serra, Angelic Archon 4WWW
Planeswalker- Serra
+2: Up to on target creature becomes a 1/1 creature and lose all abilities.
-3: Search your library for an enchantment card and put it onto the battlefield.
-8: Put a white */* Avatar creature token into play named Serra Avatar where * equals your life total.
5
I like the second one best, but I would switch the + and - abilties. So she can protect herself, and humility is kinda silly on a Plus ability seems hard to actually kill her.
I think if they were to make a Serra Planeswalker, her ultimate has to throwback to Serra Avatar.
Something like.....
Serra, Angelic Archon 4WWW
Planeswalker- Serra
+2: Up to on target creature becomes a 1/1 creature and lose all abilities.
-3: Search your library for an enchantment card and put it onto the battlefield.
-8: Put a white */* Avatar creature token into play named Serra Avatar where * equals your life total.
5
My problem with that ultimate is Ajani already did it, and I think her ultimate should be something that ties in with the enchantment theme. The reason I chose humility was because it's a powerful enchantment that reminds of me of Jace, AoT's plus ability in a way. I think the fact that Serra can get attacked does make it worse than humility, especially against decks that go wide like Young Pyromancer whose already working with 1/1's. For version 2 I think her minus ability could work as a plus but I'd be worried about being able to make a 4/4 flyer every turn (Sarkhan does it for red though so maybe). Appreciate the feedback.
first of all, I really, really like your initial idea(s). I'm sure a million different ideas for a Serra planeswalker have been done but this is great. A few general comments:
1. As Dahammer said, Replenish is insane, but single targeting an enchantment is fine. -3 for that still seems reasonable, perhaps if she has a higher starting loyalty.
2. I think turning a single permanent into a dude, as you said, is kind of played out. Tezzeret does it, Koth does it, Nissa does it. But having an ultimate that turns ALL your enchantments into serra angels is pretty neat. They should have vigilance though!
3. the humility on a stick is genius. why not make it work better with her ultimate and have it only humble non-angels?
4. where does "the white maiden" come from, is that a story point?
Here's my take on where you started:
Serra, [the White Maiden] 2WWW
Planeswalker - Serra
+1: Until your next turn, all non-Angel creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
-3: Return target enchantment card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
-7: You get an emblem with “Each non-aura enchantment you control is a white Angel creature in addition to its other types with flying, vigilance and base power and toughness 4/4."
4 Loyalty
I thought she should be heavy white in her cost. I changed the +2 to a +1 since it now spares your angels (and potentially is REALLY good in an angel deck), but reduced the cost of her ultimate since it probably isn't as strong as Sarkhan Vol's and makes your enchantments a lot more vulnerable.
EDIT: if we wanted to make her a commander, like the other new planeswalkers in C14, maybe change the +1 ability to "non-enchantment creatures" so it is less of an auto-win in an angel deck (or just make it all creatures, as you originally had it).
Serra the character is definitely mono-white, and has been associated with martial prowess (Serra Angel, Serra Avatar, Serra Avenger), lifegain, and enchantments. So I'd go something like this:
Serra, Voice of Radiance WWWW
Planeswalker - Serra
+2: You gain 3 life.
-X: Search your library for an Aura card with converted mana cost X or less, reveal it and put it into your hand. You may play that card without paying its mana cost. Shuffle your library.
-7: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have lifelink, flying, vigilance and get +4/+4."
4
Colour intense Walkers haven't really been done before, so I went with quad white instead of 3WW. She can protect herself and you (but not well) by getting Pacifism effects but works better when you already have a board presence.
first of all, I really, really like your initial idea(s). I'm sure a million different ideas for a Serra planeswalker have been done but this is great. A few general comments:
1. As Dahammer said, Replenish is insane, but single targeting an enchantment is fine. -3 for that still seems reasonable, perhaps if she has a higher starting loyalty.
2. I think turning a single permanent into a dude, as you said, is kind of played out. Tezzeret does it, Koth does it, Nissa does it. But having an ultimate that turns ALL your enchantments into serra angels is pretty neat. They should have vigilance though!
3. the humility on a stick is genius. why not make it work better with her ultimate and have it only humble non-angels?
4. where does "the white maiden" come from, is that a story point?
Here's my take on where you started:
Serra, [the White Maiden] 2WWW
Planeswalker - Serra
+1: Until your next turn, all non-Angel creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
-3: Return target enchantment card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
-7: You get an emblem with “Each non-aura enchantment you control is a white Angel creature in addition to its other types with flying, vigilance and base power and toughness 4/4."
4 Loyalty
I thought she should be heavy white in her cost. I changed the +2 to a +1 since it now spares your angels (and potentially is REALLY good in an angel deck), but reduced the cost of her ultimate since it probably isn't as strong as Sarkhan Vol's and makes your enchantments a lot more vulnerable.
EDIT: if we wanted to make her a commander, like the other new planeswalkers in C14, maybe change the +1 ability to "non-enchantment creatures" so it is less of an auto-win in an angel deck (or just make it all creatures, as you originally had it).
Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you like the starting points. I agree with you guys on replenish being too good, I think for a 5 mana walker making it single target for -2 is alright, but would certainly keep an eye on it when testing her out.
Your changes to her humility effect are very flavorful and I like either of them, though I'm leaning more towards non-angels than non-enchantment creatures. I'm just concerned if that is too good in either case, if it doesnt effect enchantment creatures then you can run stuff like Spirit of the Labyrinth to hinder your opponents even more, and angels tend to be more expensive so I think they might be the more okay option of the two. Either way I'd want to test them out because I think it's an awesome idea.
I do agree with vigilance on her ultimate being more flavorful and am okay with putting. The main reason I didn't include it initially was text space concerns.
As for her title, it doesn't reference anything that I know of, I just used it as a temporary one for now. Since she shared her name with a goddess and created her own heavenly realm I though it sounded pure and fit.
Serra the character is definitely mono-white, and has been associated with martial prowess (Serra Angel, Serra Avatar, Serra Avenger), lifegain, and enchantments. So I'd go something like this:
Serra, Voice of Radiance WWWW
Planeswalker - Serra
+2: You gain 3 life.
-X: Search your library for an Aura card with converted mana cost X or less, reveal it and put it into your hand. You may play that card without paying its mana cost. Shuffle your library.
-7: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have lifelink, flying, vigilance and get +4/+4."
4
Colour intense Walkers haven't really been done before, so I went with quad white instead of 3WW. She can protect herself and you (but not well) by getting Pacifism effects but works better when you already have a board presence.
My initial thoughts for this card were to design something that might be playable in legacy enchantress since I don't believe they have a planeswalker, so I never considered a WWWW cost. I think for this particular case I'd want to avoid it to keep it more castable in a two color deck but I can certainly get behind that cost as it fuels devotion quite nicely. I would love to see them give the old walkers more cards in these supplementary products down the line like how Jace and Ajani have multiple different ones; I would definitely use this cost for a second Serra card.
I also like that Voice of Radiance title you used, ties nicely with the Voice cycle from Urza block and Radiant, Archangel. Definitely fitting of a lady famous for her angels.
My initial concepts revolved around a single ability of "[cost]: Put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with Flying and Vigilance named Serra Angel onto the battlefield." After actually running through the entire design, I ended up with
Serra {2}{W}{W}{W}
Planeswalker - Serra
[+2]: Creatures you control gain Lifelink and Vigilance until end of turn.
[-3]: Put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with Flying onto the battlefield.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "If damage would be dealt to you or a permanent you control, prevent half that damage rounded up." 4
I feel like her ultimate would be a Worship emblem...or would that be too good?
I actually really like this idea. I would actually like to see this instead of my initial emblem idea, though the activation cost of the abilities would likely need to be adjusted some (most likely +2, -3, and -10; or +1, -2, and -7 with a starting loyalty of 3).
Here's another idea. This would need to cost at least 5, probably 6 mana, as Serra Angel is worth 3.5 to 4 mana in today's creature power system and this does vomit them out pretty aggressively.
It gives you a reason to play Serra Angel in your deck, which hasn't really been a thing (outside Limited) since Fourth Edition was Standard legal. Of course, drawing them will suck, but that is what Brainstorm effects are for.
Serra, Voice of Radiance 2WWW
+1: Creatures you control have lifelink and vigilance until the beginning of your next turn
-1: Search your hand, graveyard or library for a card named Serra Angel and put it on the battlefield. (If you searched your library, shuffle).
-X: If X is 7 or more, put X 4/4 white Angel tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
At least for me Serra cared about others and her realm more than anything else...
What about Serra PW with two abilities, and a "static" ultimate?
Serra of the Realm 3WW
+2: Put a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token with first strike onto the battlefield.
-2: Put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance onto the battlefield.
As long as there are eight or more loyalty counters on Serra of the Realm and you control
a creature, you can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game.
I don't think that last one needs the creature condition. Just "As long as Serra has 8 or more loyalty counters, you cannot lose the game and your opponents cannot win the game."
There's plenty of ways to interact with a Walker in every colour.
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Version 1
Serra, The White Maiden 3WW
+2 Until your next turn, all creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
-3 Return all enchantment cards from your graveyard to play.
-10 You get an emblem with “Each non-aura enchantment you control becomes a white Angel creature in addition to its other types with flying and base power and toughness 4/4.”
3 Loyalty
This version was designed to protect Serra while you build up to her ultimate to win the game, with her middle ability providing some utility if you needed it. Mostly just a control card that takes several turns to build up to a win.
Version 2
Serra, The White Maiden 3WW
+2 Until your next turn, all creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
-2 Target non-aura enchantment becomes a white Angel creature in addition to its other types with flying and base power and toughness 4/4 until end of turn.
-8 You get an emblem with “At the beginning of your upkeep, search your library for an enchantment card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.”
4 Loyalty
I wasn't sure if the first version would really be something Enchantress would want to do for 5 mana so I went and looked at Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas which is a good artifact walker for ideas, and gave this one a similar minus ability, allowing you to choose to either + her and be defensive or - her and go offensive. What I don't like about this version is the ultimate, I just threw on enduring ideal's effect and lowered the cost a bit, but I don't know if it's all that good (never played with ideal personally) or not as an ultimate.
Looking for feedback on which version you guys like more as well as balancing help.
Sigpic by Rivenor
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature."
t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Courtesy of Crepes
[OMC] Omerium's Collapse
Sigpic by Rivenor
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature."
t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Courtesy of Crepes
[OMC] Omerium's Collapse
I think if they were to make a Serra Planeswalker, her ultimate has to throwback to Serra Avatar.
Something like.....
Serra, Angelic Archon 4WWW
Planeswalker- Serra
+2: Up to on target creature becomes a 1/1 creature and lose all abilities.
-3: Search your library for an enchantment card and put it onto the battlefield.
-8: Put a white */* Avatar creature token into play named Serra Avatar where * equals your life total.
5
1. As Dahammer said, Replenish is insane, but single targeting an enchantment is fine. -3 for that still seems reasonable, perhaps if she has a higher starting loyalty.
2. I think turning a single permanent into a dude, as you said, is kind of played out. Tezzeret does it, Koth does it, Nissa does it. But having an ultimate that turns ALL your enchantments into serra angels is pretty neat. They should have vigilance though!
3. the humility on a stick is genius. why not make it work better with her ultimate and have it only humble non-angels?
4. where does "the white maiden" come from, is that a story point?
Here's my take on where you started:
Serra, [the White Maiden] 2WWW
Planeswalker - Serra
+1: Until your next turn, all non-Angel creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
-3: Return target enchantment card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
-7: You get an emblem with “Each non-aura enchantment you control is a white Angel creature in addition to its other types with flying, vigilance and base power and toughness 4/4."
4 Loyalty
I thought she should be heavy white in her cost. I changed the +2 to a +1 since it now spares your angels (and potentially is REALLY good in an angel deck), but reduced the cost of her ultimate since it probably isn't as strong as Sarkhan Vol's and makes your enchantments a lot more vulnerable.
EDIT: if we wanted to make her a commander, like the other new planeswalkers in C14, maybe change the +1 ability to "non-enchantment creatures" so it is less of an auto-win in an angel deck (or just make it all creatures, as you originally had it).
Serra, Voice of Radiance WWWW
Planeswalker - Serra
+2: You gain 3 life.
-X: Search your library for an Aura card with converted mana cost X or less, reveal it and put it into your hand. You may play that card without paying its mana cost. Shuffle your library.
-7: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have lifelink, flying, vigilance and get +4/+4."
4
Colour intense Walkers haven't really been done before, so I went with quad white instead of 3WW. She can protect herself and you (but not well) by getting Pacifism effects but works better when you already have a board presence.
Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you like the starting points. I agree with you guys on replenish being too good, I think for a 5 mana walker making it single target for -2 is alright, but would certainly keep an eye on it when testing her out.
Your changes to her humility effect are very flavorful and I like either of them, though I'm leaning more towards non-angels than non-enchantment creatures. I'm just concerned if that is too good in either case, if it doesnt effect enchantment creatures then you can run stuff like Spirit of the Labyrinth to hinder your opponents even more, and angels tend to be more expensive so I think they might be the more okay option of the two. Either way I'd want to test them out because I think it's an awesome idea.
I do agree with vigilance on her ultimate being more flavorful and am okay with putting. The main reason I didn't include it initially was text space concerns.
As for her title, it doesn't reference anything that I know of, I just used it as a temporary one for now. Since she shared her name with a goddess and created her own heavenly realm I though it sounded pure and fit.
My initial thoughts for this card were to design something that might be playable in legacy enchantress since I don't believe they have a planeswalker, so I never considered a WWWW cost. I think for this particular case I'd want to avoid it to keep it more castable in a two color deck but I can certainly get behind that cost as it fuels devotion quite nicely. I would love to see them give the old walkers more cards in these supplementary products down the line like how Jace and Ajani have multiple different ones; I would definitely use this cost for a second Serra card.
I also like that Voice of Radiance title you used, ties nicely with the Voice cycle from Urza block and Radiant, Archangel. Definitely fitting of a lady famous for her angels.
"A Plague on All Your Houses!" - Thespian's Stage Pox
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
Serra {2}{W}{W}{W}
Planeswalker - Serra
[+2]: Creatures you control gain Lifelink and Vigilance until end of turn.
[-3]: Put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with Flying onto the battlefield.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "If damage would be dealt to you or a permanent you control, prevent half that damage rounded up."
4
I actually really like this idea. I would actually like to see this instead of my initial emblem idea, though the activation cost of the abilities would likely need to be adjusted some (most likely +2, -3, and -10; or +1, -2, and -7 with a starting loyalty of 3).
A Dying Wish
To Rise Again
Chainer, Dementia Master
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
It gives you a reason to play Serra Angel in your deck, which hasn't really been a thing (outside Limited) since Fourth Edition was Standard legal. Of course, drawing them will suck, but that is what Brainstorm effects are for.
Serra, Voice of Radiance 2WWW
+1: Creatures you control have lifelink and vigilance until the beginning of your next turn
-1: Search your hand, graveyard or library for a card named Serra Angel and put it on the battlefield. (If you searched your library, shuffle).
-X: If X is 7 or more, put X 4/4 white Angel tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
3
What about Serra PW with two abilities, and a "static" ultimate?
Serra of the Realm 3WW
+2: Put a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token with first strike onto the battlefield.
-2: Put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance onto the battlefield.
As long as there are eight or more loyalty counters on Serra of the Realm and you control
a creature, you can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game.
Starting loyalty 3
There's plenty of ways to interact with a Walker in every colour.