From an over a month long discourse that is the following thread, a set of 15 planeswalkers is born. Ten pairs of specialty planeswalkers and the quad-ability versions set of the Gatewatch members are in playtest form:
These 15 planeswalkers are designed to be part of a planeswalker-centric cube, with subthemes re: defender & counters. There are backstories for most of these planeswalkers, which drive & explain the nature of their abilities. Much information can be gleam from following how the design of the planewalkers evolved in this thread.
I'm finally figured out Photoshop templating to craft some custom cards. However, I'm finding the concise clear wording of the cards to be more difficult than assembling the visuals.
Specifically, here's the card I'm still stuck on:
Melira, the Purifier 1GW
Planeswalker - Melira (M)
+1: Create a 0/1 colorless Ward creature token with defender. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add G or W to your mana pool."
-X: Exile and/or remove in any combination up to X tokens and/or counters, respectively. Gain 2 life for each token exiled and for each counter removed.
-8: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game."
I started with the idea that there isn't enough white-green planeswalker. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes only goes so far to explore the white-green portfolio. So I took Melira and gave her white mana powers.
The idea is that Melira is primarily a counter/token manipulator (specifically, remover). She is now an advanced version of her earlier legendary creature form, Melira, Sylvok Outcast. As reflected in her -X ability and ultimate, she has channeled her purification power into healing and a victory condition (basically, a non-removable Felidar Sovereign).
So my primary concern is the card wording of the -X power. It is supposed to let you get rid of any number of tokens and counters from anywhere (on any players and/or on any permanents) and convert them to you life total. Is my card wording clear?
Also, any thoughts as to how balanced the current numbers and abilities appear?
Wording is clear. I don't know if it's viable in a language other than english, though.
Dark depths combo? Gain 40 life, get 20/20, win game even if opponent can do something about the creature? In addition to being able to kill opposing planewalkers in a single activation? And remove poison counters (which wizards makes a point that it shouldn't be done)? AND muck around with suspend?
This really should cost more. Either than, or limit the removal to stuff you own/control. Should probably also exclude stuff not in play (stuff in exile and poison).
I realized I left out a very important piece of info. The starting loyalty is supposed to be "3".
Melira is designed to speed up the Dark Depths combo. She is meant to be able to kill opposing walkers in single activation. She is purposely able to remove poison counters as tied to her backstory of Return to New Phyrexia (the immutability of poison counters is a legacy of the Scars block, but the story will advance with significant plot twists about certain assumptions). What she can't do is all of them in a single match. If you give her enough time (& it will take a long time) to get enough loyalty to do all of those things, you deserve to lose.
Melira is actually slower at the Dark Depths combo than Vampire Hexmage. Assuming Melira comes into play on turn 3 & Dark Depths comes out on turn 4 & no other counter manipulation is used, the soonest Marit Lage comes out is on turn 6. Three ice counters are removed by Dark Depths' mana ability, first on turn 4 (you already have 3 lands when you cast Melira on turn 3) and second on turn 5 and third on turn 6. One ice counter is removed via three mana from the three Ward tokens, generated on turns 3, 4 & 5. On turn 6 Melira has 7 loyal and you can spend 6 loyalty to remove the last 6 ice counters.
That leaves Melira alive with 1 loyalty counter and net you 12 life gain. While Melira is still alive and can restart to ultimate the alternate life gain victory, that will take a long time by herself. The soonest she can ultimate is on turn 13 & you don't win until turn 14 or later. Still, I think to make the life gain more reasonable I can tune down the -X ability to 1 life gained per counter/token removed.
Increasing the casting cost of Melira doesn't slow down Melira's speed boost on the Dark Depths combo. Neither does limiting removal to stuff you own/control matter. In my example I manipulated only my own stuff. Melira is suppose to look effective from different angles, but realistically can only do one. In other words, when you play her, you basically have to decide whether you are using her for a Dark Depths combo or you plan for lifegain victory.
One last possibility to depower Melira is to make the starting loyalty "2". Not sure if that weakens her too much though.
That is a very complex middle ability, which I assume is the one you want help with. Looking at Proliferating cards you probably want to go with something along the lines of "-X: Choose up to X tokens and/or counters. Exile all tokens and remove all counters chosen this way. Gain 1 life for each token exiled and/or counter removed this way." I'm fairly certain it works within the current rules. You can't currently target counters and non targeting abilities are frowned upon but are used when necessary. Also you may want too simply make it gain X life, there is a negligible difference in that you can always just minus her for her total to gain that much life without any targets but the value in doing so is very low while it shaves off a significant amount of words and complexity from the ability.
That is a very complex middle ability, which I assume is the one you want help with. Looking at Proliferating cards you probably want to go with something along the lines of "-X: Choose up to X tokens and/or counters. Exile all tokens and remove all counters chosen this way. Gain 1 life for each token exiled and/or counter removed this way." I'm fairly certain it works within the current rules. You can't currently target counters and non targeting abilities are frowned upon but are used when necessary. Also you may want too simply make it gain X life, there is a negligible difference in that you can always just minus her for her total to gain that much life without any targets but the value in doing so is very low while it shaves off a significant amount of words and complexity from the ability.
Thank you very much for you help.
Your wording is much cleaner. You also expose a problem I haven't considered. Current wording is ambiguous as to whether Melira can remove counters from Helix Pinnacle. Also, it may be unclear if counters on cards removed from the game (e.g., suspended) can be chosen.
Somehow the wording needs to reflect some kind of targeting with permanents and/or cards on which the chosen counters exist. Cards like Clockspinning, Fury Charm, Timecrafting and Dust of Moments follow the pattern "remove ____ counter from target ____".
So do you think it is works if I rephrase your contribution as follows?
-X: Choose up to X tokens and/or counters from any number of target permanents and/or cards. Exile all tokens and remove all counters chosen this way. Gain 1 life for each token exiled and/or counter removed this way.
If you use your wording you can't get rid of poison counters, which I thought was a major thing for her design. Honestly BTG makes a great point, if you make it only remove counters you can clean up the wording quite a bit.
"-X: Choose up to X target permanents, players, or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from among the chosen targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way."
This lets you keep the restricted gain life without having a -0 destroy all illusions and lets you interact with suspended cards or even the Command zone for cards like Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. If you get out Teferi's emblem you can even hit Lightning Storm.You can even significantly up the power level with this without making it broken.
"-X: Choose up to X target permanents, Players, or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from each of those targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way."
This makes the ability significantly more attractive outside of niche cases but doesn't push it to the realm of brokenness because it doesn't simply remove all counters from the targets, so no easy Dark Depths.
Does she need to remove tokens? The wording becomes much simpler if she just deals with counters.
Thank you for raising this point. Before I toned-down the life gain on the -X ability to 1 per, I wanted to improve synergy between the +1 and -X abilities. That is, I wanted Melira to self-generate life, alternating between generating Ward tokens & exiling them for life gain.
Now that life gain isn't as big a part of the -X. I'll focus on just counters (though she can still self-generate some life gain by cannibalizing her own loyalty tokens).
If you use your wording you can't get rid of poison counters, which I thought was a major thing for her design. Honestly BTG makes a great point, if you make it only remove counters you can clean up the wording quite a bit.
"-X: Choose up to X target permanents, players, or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from among the chosen targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way."
This lets you keep the restricted gain life without having a -0 destroy all illusions and lets you interact with suspended cards or even the Command zone for cards like Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. If you get out Teferi's emblem you can even hit Lightning Storm.You can even significantly up the power level with this without making it broken.
"-X: Choose up to X target permanents, Players, or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from each of those targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way."
This makes the ability significantly more attractive outside of niche cases but doesn't push it to the realm of brokenness because it doesn't simply remove all counters from the targets, so no easy Dark Depths.
Woo, I like that second version (the "Overload" wording)!
So this is what I have then:
Melira, the Purifier 1GW
Planeswalker - Melira (M)
+1: Create a 0/1 colorless Ward creature token with defender. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add G or W to your mana pool."
-X: Choose up to X target permanents, players, and/or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from each of those targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way.
-8: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game."
Last question is: What do you think is a balanced starting loyalty? 3?
Considering that her +1 is ramp and defending herself, a starting loyalty of 2 seems fine. She is very powerful in the right shell but not so overwhelming that everyone in those colors will feel the need to run her. Keeping her at a starting of 2 means that she can easily be dealt with by burn or creatures if you deal with the defenders she creates. This is essential because typically planeswalkers with CMC <4 are not allowed to have flat card advantage as a plus, which is what she does because of the body + ramp even though either of those abilities on their own would be under-powered.
Her + and her ultimate feel disjointed, while not a problem with how little synergy she has between any of her abilities you might want to make the wards sac to gain life though that could prove problematic with how much damage they could mitigate on their own so maybe a Tap and sac to gain life so they have to last a turn before they can block and gain life.
Considering that her +1 is ramp and defending herself, a starting loyalty of 2 seems fine. She is very powerful in the right shell but not so overwhelming that everyone in those colors will feel the need to run her. Keeping her at a starting of 2 means that she can easily be dealt with by burn or creatures if you deal with the defenders she creates. This is essential because typically planeswalkers with CMC <4 are not allowed to have flat card advantage as a plus, which is what she does because of the body + ramp even though either of those abilities on their own would be under-powered.
Her + and her ultimate feel disjointed, while not a problem with how little synergy she has between any of her abilities you might want to make the wards sac to gain life though that could prove problematic with how much damage they could mitigate on their own so maybe a Tap and sac to gain life so they have to last a turn before they can block and gain life.
How about if the Ward critter comes into play tapped and also has lifelink?
+1: Create a tapped 0/1 colorless Ward creature token with defender and lifelink. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add G or W to your mana pool."
Hmm, maybe I should also increase her mana cost to 2GW...
If you push her to CMC 4 then she can make 1/1 lifelink creatures on her +, but why do they sac to add mana? It doesn't really play into her other abilities or her lore. If you aren't dead set on making tokens with her + I can see an interesting twist on her purification/immunity by using a similar effect to Kiora but on your own creatures. Like "+1: Until your next turn, up to one target creature gains lifeline, prevent all damage that would be dealt to that creature." This effect can probably be done with her still at 3 CMC. If it is too aggressive you can even give the creature Defender which makes it very interesting to use on other players creatures. A lot of these decisions are based on how pushed you want her to be, should she just barely be playable or do you want a Mindsculpter?
If you push her to CMC 4 then she can make 1/1 lifelink creatures on her +, but why do they sac to add mana? It doesn't really play into her other abilities or her lore. If you aren't dead set on making tokens with her + I can see an interesting twist on her purification/immunity by using a similar effect to Kiora but on your own creatures. Like "+1: Until your next turn, up to one target creature gains lifeline, prevent all damage that would be dealt to that creature." This effect can probably be done with her still at 3 CMC. If it is too aggressive you can even give the creature Defender which makes it very interesting to use on other players creatures. A lot of these decisions are based on how pushed you want her to be, should she just barely be playable or do you want a Mindsculpter?
I really appreciate your attention on this subject. I'll try to keep it as concise as possible, but there are so much info to consider to avoid a whole bunch of back-and-forth. So please bear with me & here it goes.
I had Melira's Ward tokens sac for mana since I wanted something more 'green' than just lifegain, which I saw as more of a white thing. You're right though. With these iterations I think it's time to evolve.
That brings up the more important issue, the big picture of power level and frame of reference. I'm making Melira and two other planeswalkers (see below) to round out my cube (under construction). I want two planeswalkers for each guild color. I want to rough balance in total power for each guild. I'm using price of each card to approximate its power level. So here's what I have so far (last column shows total price "worth"for each pair, or anticipated price if in square brackets):
I have all the named cards. I'm missing XXX (Boros), YYY aka Melira (Selesnya) & ZZZ (Simic).
I target the Boros planeswalker to be "worth" about $4 (comparable to Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded).
I target Melira, the Purifier to be "worth" about $9 (comparable to Domri Rade, Ral Zarek or Garruk, Apex Predator).
I target the Simic planeswalker to be "worth" about $18 (comparable to Dack Fayden or Nahiri, the Harbinger).
So here are what I have in all three (including changes in Melira as you just suggested):
Koth of the Anvil ("worth" about $4, comparable to Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded) 2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with defender. It has “If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn.” It’s still a land.
-3: Until end of turn, each creature with defender gets +3/+3 and can attack as though it didn’t have defender.
-6: You get an emblem with “Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its converted mana cost. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way.”
{3}
Melira, the Purifier ("worth" about $9, comparable to Domri Rade, Ral Zarek or Garruk, Apex Predator) 2GW
Planeswalker - Melira (M)
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target creature gains lifelink and defender.
-X: Choose up to X target permanents, players, and/or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from each of those targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way.
-8: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game."
{2}
Rashmi, Eternities Researcher ("worth" about $18, comparable to Dack Fayden or Nahiri, the Harbinger) 1GU
Planeswalker - Rashmi (M)
+1: If an opponent controls more lands than you, you may search your library for a basic Forest or Island card, put it into play, then shuffle your library.
-3: Create a tapped token that’s a copy of target nontoken nonland creature you control.
-6: Name a nonland card and reveal your hand. If you own any card of that name in your hand, you may search your library for up to three copies of that card, discard all cards of that name into exile, then shuffle your library. At the beginning of your opponent’s next end step, you may return any number of cards of that name from exile to your hand.
{3}
A few words about the large set story behind the trio (someday I'll get the expansion done as well). Rashmi has been bravely experimenting with the Blind Eternities since her initial success with matter transport in Kaladesh. In one rash experiment she accidentally traverses the Blind Eternities without having a planeswalker spark. Unfortunately, she lands in New Phyrexia and she's not sure how she managed it. Luckily she is found and saved by the survivors & joins up with Koth & Melira. For the survivors Rashmi's research holds promise that perhaps they can escape. However, the Phyrexians also learn of this development. The combined assault shatters the survivors. Because the Phyrexian factions start to fight among themselves for Rashmi, Koth & Melira barely manage to escape (how Melira's spark ignites, or rather re-ignites, is a plot twist) to a white-dominant sanctuary (plot twist). There they heal physically & psychologically (aka character development), absorbing new knowledge and powers (thus, becoming Boros & Selesnya, respectively). Now, faced with the prospect that the Phyrexians may have the key to break out into the multiverse, they jump back in and hope they are not too late. Conclusion in small set of the block.
Since this thing is running very long, I'm concluding with some short specific comments about these planeswalker cards:
Koth of the Anvil has evolved to be more defensive (thus the anvil name) and is supposed to suck on his own (story-driven; reflects character development). However, he has amazing synergy with Melira, the Purifier though (again, how they both develop are story-drive & show depth of character). Rashmi is very knowledgeable from her experimentation on Blind Eternities. Thus her abilities (locating lands, cloning via her matter-transmuter ring & ultimate card search/draw) are reflections of her incredible research abilities. She is supposed to be awesome & why Phyrexians want her knowledge so much.
A rather interesting story and thought procces for determining walker power level. My first thought on seeing Koth was omg that is bad, followed up with, damn he hit perfectly where he was trying(Tibalt power level). I like where Melira is right now, but she will only be powerful if there are enough counters in your set. Rashimi is interesting but her + is too powerful and an awkward fit in pie. It shouldn't put the land into play, she would have to cost at least 4 and probably be a - for that effect. So you can search to hand and drop the "If an opponent controls more lands than you" part and it fits right in pie and is pushing the power level. Her ultimate is strange and too weak. For a walker ultimate like that you want the cards to go into play or be cast, maybe one a turn from exile to play up her exiling. Most walker ultimate's should in theory read "win the game" because you are putting a lot of effort into getting there, unless you have a auto or 1 turn ult then you can scale it back to read "the game has shifted in your favor" Because she takes 3 turns to ult you want a more win the game feel, the trick is finding a unique way to do it and I think you have that, its just putting them into your hand makes it so you had to assemble some kind of combo that requires you to cast the cards and for them to all be the same.
A rather interesting story and thought procces for determining walker power level. My first thought on seeing Koth was omg that is bad, followed up with, damn he hit perfectly where he was trying(Tibalt power level). I like where Melira is right now, but she will only be powerful if there are enough counters in your set. Rashimi is interesting but her + is too powerful and an awkward fit in pie. It shouldn't put the land into play, she would have to cost at least 4 and probably be a - for that effect. So you can search to hand and drop the "If an opponent controls more lands than you" part and it fits right in pie and is pushing the power level. Her ultimate is strange and too weak. For a walker ultimate like that you want the cards to go into play or be cast, maybe one a turn from exile to play up her exiling. Most walker ultimate's should in theory read "win the game" because you are putting a lot of effort into getting there, unless you have a auto or 1 turn ult then you can scale it back to read "the game has shifted in your favor" Because she takes 3 turns to ult you want a more win the game feel, the trick is finding a unique way to do it and I think you have that, its just putting them into your hand makes it so you had to assemble some kind of combo that requires you to cast the cards and for them to all be the same.
When I think of up abilities for planeswalkers, I review the characters story and what act they did to change the plot. For example, what Liliana of the Veil did on Innistrad, forcing Thalia to choose between her troops or Helvaut, matches perfectly with her ultimate.
This explains in part why my Rashmi's abilities, particularly her ultimate, may appear strange or disjointed. In my story Rashmi's forte is manipulation of the Blind Eternities through her inventions, sending things into it and pulling things out of it. In game mechanics I picture Rashmi is messing with the exile zone. With this in mind, please consider this (hopefully more coherent) revision of Rashmi:
Rashmi, Eternities Researcher
1GU
Planeswalker - Rashmi (M)
+1: Each player exiles the top card of his library. You may play a target face-up exiled land card as if it is in your hand.
-3: Create a tapped token that’s a copy of target nontoken nonland artifact you control.
-6: You get an emblem with “During your turn as a sorcery, you may exile any number of target nonland permanents by paying each permanent’s converted mana cost and/or you may play any number of target face-up exiled nonland noninstant nonsorcery cards by paying each card’s converted mana cost.”
{3}
Her invention enables her with her + ability to reach into the Blind Eternities (exile zone) to pull mana. Her device not only transport (specifically, decode-transfer-recode items across space/time) artifacts like in her story, but also works as a xerox machine (her - ability). Her ultimate is the full activation of her invention, which can send anything tangible into the Blind Eternities & pull anything out of it. The only limits are the amount of mana available to power her invention and her concentration to operate it.
Is this version better (closer to "worth" $18)?
P.S. I'll explain the story-driven abilities on Kosh & Melira in the future too.
This Rashimi is much better, though the wording is atrocious. Try this.
-6: You get an emblem with "X: Exile target nonland permanent with converted mana cost X or less. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery." and "X: Cast target face-up noninstant, nonsorcery card in exile with converted mana cost X or less. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery."
This Rashimi is much better, though the wording is atrocious. Try this.
-6: You get an emblem with "X: Exile target nonland permanent with converted mana cost X or less. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery." and "X: Cast target face-up noninstant, nonsorcery card in exile with converted mana cost X or less. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery."
I appreciate you cleaning my mess. I lost track of how the whole thing reads from so much cutting & pasting.
I finish the first draft of the card mockups. I don't want to post them over to the Art board yet (don't want to get laughed at). I'll link it below if you're interested.
BTW, a quick question about how you worded Rashmi's +1: Suppose both you and your opponent both exile a land each (which you are only able to play one). The next time you use her +1, neither you or your opponent flip any land. Does the current wording allow you to play the land exiled last turn that you didn't play?
They look cool, Rashimi's second ability has a spelling error you put "rarget' instead of "target"
The current ability has the exile and choice of land as separate abilities so you exile first, these cards don't go into any particular pile as would happen with something like Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Then you look at any and all face up lands cards in exile and choose one of them regardless of who owns it or how it got into exile, Crumble to Dust, Delve for Dig Through Time, her own ability, and you can play that land. So long story short, yes you can hit previously exiled lands with her ability.
They look cool, Rashimi's second ability has a spelling error you put "rarget' instead of "target"
The current ability has the exile and choice of land as separate abilities so you exile first, these cards don't go into any particular pile as would happen with something like Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Then you look at any and all face up lands cards in exile and choose one of them regardless of who owns it or how it got into exile, Crumble to Dust, Delve for Dig Through Time, her own ability, and you can play that land. So long story short, yes you can hit previously exiled lands with her ability.
Nice! So Rashmi will work as intended as a slow Oblivion Sower.
So I finished the draft file for Kosh the of the Anvil as well. After the few hours working on it, I realized it may stink even more than Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded. So I made some changes.
Koth of the Anvil [BEFORE]
2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with defender. It has “If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn.” It’s still a land.
-3: Until end of turn, each creature with defender gets +3/+3 and can attack as though it didn’t have defender.
-6: You get an emblem with “Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its converted mana cost. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way.”
{3}
Koth of the Anvil [AFTER]
2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with defender. It has "If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn." It's still a land.
-2: Until end of turn, each creature with defender can attack as though it didn't have defender. Gain 1 life for each defender you control.
-5: You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to 1 plus its converted mana cost. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way."
{3}
Koth's story is that he was grievously injured in Phyrexian's big assault (where Koth & Melira barely escaped, but lost Rashmi). In holding off a particularly nasty Phyrexian (another future card I'll make) from Melira, he got his arms ripped off. Because Melira was linked magically (another future card I'll make) to Koth at the time, she felt the whole trauma as well. It turns out this re-ignited her spark because it mirrored the same trauma that first triggered her spark so long ago (why she doesn't remember or know her ability is another plot twist). Fortunately, because the two were magically joined, Melira was able to pull Koth with her on the blind jump.
They landed in a white-mana dominant sanctuary and were able to recover physically. Koth got new arms forged for him, but he struggled with his new form. White mana has tempered his aggression & explosiveness. This change is reflected in his new abilities. For example, you may see similarities comparing his new +1 and -5 abilities to his old +1 and -5 abilities. Though he can still attack like in the past, his new form is sluggish (see his new +1 and -2 abilities combine to do what his old +1 ability allowed on offensive). He is now able to shape the earth for more defensive purposes. Basically, he can create booby-trapped fortifications that blows up when attackers stumble into them (that's why there's that sacrifice wording for the +1 ability and opponents lose life with the -5 ability). Koth railed at how sluggish everything now felt. Suffice to say he has scars.
How he overcomes this challenge is part of how his character develops parallel with Melira. Both have psychological issues that they need to overcome before they can take on the Phyrexians again. How the conflicts are resolved ties into the sanctuary they are in.
But I digress. I meant to talk about Koth's background & get your sense about this most recent revision. Like Melira, he has specialized abilities that center around defenders (hmm, maybe I should have this Return to Phyrexia set be a "defense matters" set). Power level-wise, what other planeswalker do you think he would be comparable to?
It sounds like an interesting story. Powerwise he seems about right where you want him, but if you have a major defender theme it could push his power a lot higher in which case you cut his mountains down to base 1/2. There is currently no walker to realistically compare him to, the new Nissa, Vital Force is sort of similar but a lot stronger which may be what your looking for. He is definitely stronger than Tibalt if he is making 4/4 defenders even if they sac when they block because of how much a deterrent to attacking they will be. His real power is in the fact his animated lands don't sac when you attack with them, which you may need to change to keep his power level low enough for what you were aiming for.
I like Koth, but feel his ultimate is not really there. A defender theme really should go with the defender's toughness to tie it with what we have seen out of ROE and after. Maybe raise his needed loyalty to trigger and change converted mana cost to toughness? Defender players will rejoice and he will still be considered low power.
It sounds like an interesting story. Powerwise he seems about right where you want him, but if you have a major defender theme it could push his power a lot higher in which case you cut his mountains down to base 1/2. There is currently no walker to realistically compare him to, the new Nissa, Vital Force is sort of similar but a lot stronger which may be what your looking for. He is definitely stronger than Tibalt if he is making 4/4 defenders even if they sac when they block because of how much a deterrent to attacking they will be. His real power is in the fact his animated lands don't sac when you attack with them, which you may need to change to keep his power level low enough for what you were aiming for.
I like to keep the new Koth's animated lands at 4/4 to match his old self. The difference is his new form has evolved to be more defense-oriented and maybe more resilient (with life gain). Per baldersmashed's critique I tinkered with the ultimate (see below).
Speaking of Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded, I made a more experienced version of him in the past few days. This is what I have:
Tibalt, the Masochist 1BR
Planeswalker - Tibalt (M)
+2: Any player may have Tibalt, the Masochist deal 1 damage to him or her. If no one does, target player discards a card and then may draw a card.
-3: Each player loses life equal to number of cards in his or her hands.
-X: Discard a card with converted mana cost equal to X. Until end of turn, Tibalt, the Masochist becomes a X/X Human Devil creature with indestructible and “When Tibalt, the Masochist attacks, up to one target creature defending player controls blocks him this combat if able. Put a loyalty counter on Tibalt, the Masochist for each point of combat damage dealt by and to him” Tibalt, the Masochist is still a planeswalker.
{2}
Note the similarities with first two abilities between the original and experienced versions. The new + ability incorporates a punisher-clause (keeps opponent guessing what you really want to do & then whack! - in keeping with Tibalt's new title). It also synergizes with the second ability (a better-costed version of old Tibalt's #2) and reinforces the masochism by hitting you as well (very Rakdos actually). The 'ultimate' actually may make Tibalt useful, but I like your take on it.
I like Koth, but feel his ultimate is not really there. A defender theme really should go with the defender's toughness to tie it with what we have seen out of ROE and after. Maybe raise his needed loyalty to trigger and change converted mana cost to toughness? Defender players will rejoice and he will still be considered low power.
You're right. I changed the ultimate to reference toughtness instead of converted mana cost and upped the cost. Also I renamed him to better reflect my story line:
Koth Reforged 2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with defender. It has "If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn." It's still a land.
-2: Until end of turn, each creature with defender can attack as though it didn't have defender. Gain 1 life for each defender you control.
-6: You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its toughness. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way."
{3}
Koth needs "up to one target" on his + or you will have situations where you play him and he can't plus. His - should read "Creatures with defender can attack this turn as though they didn't have defender." He might be too powerful for the slot you want but he is looking good.
Tibalt has some problems. Based on your statement made right after it sounds like you think you can choose who discards and draws after the opponents have decided whether or not to take damage from him which isn't the case with your wording but possible if that is what your trying to do. It has to be something like "Any player may have Tibalt, the Masochist deal 1 damage to him or her. If no one does, choose a player, that player discards and card and then may draw a card". That is a deceptively powerful -, especially because he doesn't die after a + then a -. I'm not sure that ult is very Tibalt but it looks interesting, the last part should read "Whenever Tibalt, the Masochist deals or is dealt damage put that many loyalty counters on him." You need him to not be a planeswalker otherwise damage dealt to him will remove Loyalty counters.
Koth needs "up to one target" on his + or you will have situations where you play him and he can't plus. His - should read "Creatures with defender can attack this turn as though they didn't have defender." He might be too powerful for the slot you want but he is looking good.
A bit more tweaking to balance Koth. Bolded text is new addition. Crossed-out text is removed stuff.
Koth Reforged 2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with defender. It has "If this creature blocks or isn’t blocked, sacrifice it at end of turn." It's still a land.
-2: Creatures you control with defender can attack this turn as though they didn't have defender. Gain 1 life for each defender you control.
-6: You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its toughness. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way."
{3}
I'm inspired by the idea of the Masterpiece series after the Kaladesh Inventions preview. I'm thinking of expanding of my proxying to a new card frame for a planeswalker Masterpiece set in my cube (dropping all other existing planeswalker I currently have). Thus, I'm going to make another six planeswalkers to complete the new Koth (RW), Melira (GW), Rashmi (GU) & Tibalt (BR). So I'm trying to balance thing within this group. Starting the new Koth at old Tibalt power level is a bit too unbalanced. Some adjustment is being made to improve the new Tibalt as well (see below).
Tibalt has some problems. Based on your statement made right after it sounds like you think you can choose who discards and draws after the opponents have decided whether or not to take damage from him which isn't the case with your wording but possible if that is what your trying to do. It has to be something like "Any player may have Tibalt, the Masochist deal 1 damage to him or her. If no one does, choose a player, that player discards and card and then may draw a card". That is a deceptively powerful -, especially because he doesn't die after a + then a -. I'm not sure that ult is very Tibalt but it looks interesting, the last part should read "Whenever Tibalt, the Masochist deals or is dealt damage put that many loyalty counters on him." You need him to not be a planeswalker otherwise damage dealt to him will remove Loyalty counters.
How about this version?
Bolded text is new addition. Crossed-out text is removed stuff.
Tibalt, the Masochist 1BR
Planeswalker - Tibalt (M) +2+1: Any player may have Tibalt, the Masochist deal 1 damage to him or her. If no one does, choose a player, that player discards a card and then may draw a card. -2-3: Each player loses life equal to number of cards in his or her hands. -X: Discard a card with converted mana cost equal to X. Until end of turn, Tibalt, the Masochist becomes a X/X Human Devil creature with indestructible and “When Tibalt, the Masochist attacks, up to one target creature defending player controls blocks him this combat if able. Put a loyalty counter on Tibalt, the Masochist for each point of combat damage dealt by and to him” Tibalt, the Masochist is still a planeswalker. -6: Gain control of all creatures and planeswalkers until end of your next turn. Untap them and any creatures gain haste until end of turn.
{2}
I'm going to put that crossed-out -X ability on another planeswalker I'm brainstorming now.
Thank you again for all your input. You've been invaluable for bouncing ideas off of.
While its fine as is, because he is Tibalt his second ability should deal damage. He looks a lot more inline with how powerful he should be and I like him keeping his old Ult.
Are you sure you don't just want it to be Attack or Blocks? Its probably fine now that it is possible to chump block and kill his rather large lands, just making sure your flavor doesn't want it to always die after it is in combat.
While its fine as is, because he is Tibalt his second ability should deal damage. He looks a lot more inline with how powerful he should be and I like him keeping his old Ult.
Are you sure you don't just want it to be Attack or Blocks? Its probably fine now that it is possible to chump block and kill his rather large lands, just making sure your flavor doesn't want it to always die after it is in combat.
The way I phrased new Tibalt's ultimate is a bit different from the old Tibalt ultimate.
Tibalt, the Masochist
-6: Gain control of all creatures and planeswalkers until end of your next turn. Untap them and any creatures gain haste until end of turn.
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
-6: Gain control of all creatures until end of turn. Untap them. Them gain haste until end of turn.
New Tibalt should be more useful now with his "super" Act of Treason lasting through his opponent's turn as well.
As for Koth, you're right. I should change Koth's land creatures to being sacrificed after both block and attack. Sotrywise, Koth booy-trapped his lands to blow one way or another.
Her's the next walker I have done:
Garruk Consumed 2BG
Planeswalker - Garruk (M)
+1: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and it gains deathtouch.
-1: Until end of turn, whenever a permanent is put into the graveyard, place a loyalty counter on Garruk Consumed for eacj counter that was on that permanent.
-x: Put up to X -1/-1 counters on targt creature and gain X life. If that creature dies this turn, you may activate this ability again this turn.
{3}
The story is that Garruk is now consumed by The Chain Veil corruption. He now needs to absorb life essence to prevent further degeneration. This is reflected in how he imparts -1/-1 counters (recipients also gets his toxicity as well with deathtouch). So if Garruk becomes more loyal and powerful if he gets to suck out more life from others (see his -1 ability).
His ultimate shows him going bestial with feeding frenzy. It is also a bit problematic to word. I like the "activate this ability again this turn" only to work if the creature dies as a result of the -1/-1 counters, but I'm not sure how to word this.
I need to think on how I feel about this new Garruk. Though to help on your wording
-X: Put X -1/-1 counter on target creature. If that creatures toughness is 0 or less you may activate this ability again as though none of Garruk's loyalty abilities have been activated this turn.
Unfortunately to get what you want of only using his power again if he killed you can't actually check for killing because that will happen at a later time and may even happen long after due to other effects. So you get this awkward yet functional check to see toughness.
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From an over a month long discourse that is the following thread, a set of 15 planeswalkers is born. Ten pairs of specialty planeswalkers and the quad-ability versions set of the Gatewatch members are in playtest form:
These 15 planeswalkers are designed to be part of a planeswalker-centric cube, with subthemes re: defender & counters. There are backstories for most of these planeswalkers, which drive & explain the nature of their abilities. Much information can be gleam from following how the design of the planewalkers evolved in this thread.
Any critique or inquiry is welcomed.
----------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL POST:
I'm finally figured out Photoshop templating to craft some custom cards. However, I'm finding the concise clear wording of the cards to be more difficult than assembling the visuals.
Specifically, here's the card I'm still stuck on:
Melira, the Purifier
1GW
Planeswalker - Melira (M)
+1: Create a 0/1 colorless Ward creature token with defender. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add G or W to your mana pool."
-X: Exile and/or remove in any combination up to X tokens and/or counters, respectively. Gain 2 life for each token exiled and for each counter removed.
-8: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game."
I started with the idea that there isn't enough white-green planeswalker. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes only goes so far to explore the white-green portfolio. So I took Melira and gave her white mana powers.
The idea is that Melira is primarily a counter/token manipulator (specifically, remover). She is now an advanced version of her earlier legendary creature form, Melira, Sylvok Outcast. As reflected in her -X ability and ultimate, she has channeled her purification power into healing and a victory condition (basically, a non-removable Felidar Sovereign).
So my primary concern is the card wording of the -X power. It is supposed to let you get rid of any number of tokens and counters from anywhere (on any players and/or on any permanents) and convert them to you life total. Is my card wording clear?
Also, any thoughts as to how balanced the current numbers and abilities appear?
I appreciate any input. Thanx.
Dark depths combo? Gain 40 life, get 20/20, win game even if opponent can do something about the creature? In addition to being able to kill opposing planewalkers in a single activation? And remove poison counters (which wizards makes a point that it shouldn't be done)? AND muck around with suspend?
This really should cost more. Either than, or limit the removal to stuff you own/control. Should probably also exclude stuff not in play (stuff in exile and poison).
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
I realized I left out a very important piece of info. The starting loyalty is supposed to be "3".
Melira is designed to speed up the Dark Depths combo. She is meant to be able to kill opposing walkers in single activation. She is purposely able to remove poison counters as tied to her backstory of Return to New Phyrexia (the immutability of poison counters is a legacy of the Scars block, but the story will advance with significant plot twists about certain assumptions). What she can't do is all of them in a single match. If you give her enough time (& it will take a long time) to get enough loyalty to do all of those things, you deserve to lose.
Melira is actually slower at the Dark Depths combo than Vampire Hexmage. Assuming Melira comes into play on turn 3 & Dark Depths comes out on turn 4 & no other counter manipulation is used, the soonest Marit Lage comes out is on turn 6. Three ice counters are removed by Dark Depths' mana ability, first on turn 4 (you already have 3 lands when you cast Melira on turn 3) and second on turn 5 and third on turn 6. One ice counter is removed via three mana from the three Ward tokens, generated on turns 3, 4 & 5. On turn 6 Melira has 7 loyal and you can spend 6 loyalty to remove the last 6 ice counters.
That leaves Melira alive with 1 loyalty counter and net you 12 life gain. While Melira is still alive and can restart to ultimate the alternate life gain victory, that will take a long time by herself. The soonest she can ultimate is on turn 13 & you don't win until turn 14 or later. Still, I think to make the life gain more reasonable I can tune down the -X ability to 1 life gained per counter/token removed.
Increasing the casting cost of Melira doesn't slow down Melira's speed boost on the Dark Depths combo. Neither does limiting removal to stuff you own/control matter. In my example I manipulated only my own stuff. Melira is suppose to look effective from different angles, but realistically can only do one. In other words, when you play her, you basically have to decide whether you are using her for a Dark Depths combo or you plan for lifegain victory.
One last possibility to depower Melira is to make the starting loyalty "2". Not sure if that weakens her too much though.
Thank you very much for you help.
Your wording is much cleaner. You also expose a problem I haven't considered. Current wording is ambiguous as to whether Melira can remove counters from Helix Pinnacle. Also, it may be unclear if counters on cards removed from the game (e.g., suspended) can be chosen.
Somehow the wording needs to reflect some kind of targeting with permanents and/or cards on which the chosen counters exist. Cards like Clockspinning, Fury Charm, Timecrafting and Dust of Moments follow the pattern "remove ____ counter from target ____".
So do you think it is works if I rephrase your contribution as follows?
-X: Choose up to X tokens and/or counters from any number of target permanents and/or cards. Exile all tokens and remove all counters chosen this way. Gain 1 life for each token exiled and/or counter removed this way.
"-X: Choose up to X target permanents, players, or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from among the chosen targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way."
This lets you keep the restricted gain life without having a -0 destroy all illusions and lets you interact with suspended cards or even the Command zone for cards like Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. If you get out Teferi's emblem you can even hit Lightning Storm.You can even significantly up the power level with this without making it broken.
"-X: Choose up to X target permanents, Players, or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from each of those targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way."
This makes the ability significantly more attractive outside of niche cases but doesn't push it to the realm of brokenness because it doesn't simply remove all counters from the targets, so no easy Dark Depths.
Thank you for raising this point. Before I toned-down the life gain on the -X ability to 1 per, I wanted to improve synergy between the +1 and -X abilities. That is, I wanted Melira to self-generate life, alternating between generating Ward tokens & exiling them for life gain.
Now that life gain isn't as big a part of the -X. I'll focus on just counters (though she can still self-generate some life gain by cannibalizing her own loyalty tokens).
Woo, I like that second version (the "Overload" wording)!
So this is what I have then:
Melira, the Purifier
1GW
Planeswalker - Melira (M)
+1: Create a 0/1 colorless Ward creature token with defender. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add G or W to your mana pool."
-X: Choose up to X target permanents, players, and/or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from each of those targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way.
-8: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game."
Last question is: What do you think is a balanced starting loyalty? 3?
Her + and her ultimate feel disjointed, while not a problem with how little synergy she has between any of her abilities you might want to make the wards sac to gain life though that could prove problematic with how much damage they could mitigate on their own so maybe a Tap and sac to gain life so they have to last a turn before they can block and gain life.
How about if the Ward critter comes into play tapped and also has lifelink?
+1: Create a tapped 0/1 colorless Ward creature token with defender and lifelink. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add G or W to your mana pool."
Hmm, maybe I should also increase her mana cost to 2GW...
I really appreciate your attention on this subject. I'll try to keep it as concise as possible, but there are so much info to consider to avoid a whole bunch of back-and-forth. So please bear with me & here it goes.
I had Melira's Ward tokens sac for mana since I wanted something more 'green' than just lifegain, which I saw as more of a white thing. You're right though. With these iterations I think it's time to evolve.
That brings up the more important issue, the big picture of power level and frame of reference. I'm making Melira and two other planeswalkers (see below) to round out my cube (under construction). I want two planeswalkers for each guild color. I want to rough balance in total power for each guild. I'm using price of each card to approximate its power level. So here's what I have so far (last column shows total price "worth"for each pair, or anticipated price if in square brackets):
Azorius | Venser, the Sojourner $10.19 | Narset Transcendent $7.51 | $17.70
Boros | Nahiri, the Harbinger $19.95 | XXX [$4.00] | [$23.95]
Dimir | Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver $6.71 | Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas $22.45 | $29.16
Golgari | Vraska the Unseen $4.05 | Garruk, Apex Predator $9.44 | $13.49
Gruul | Domri Rade $8.07 | Xenegos, the Reveler $4.51 | $12.58
Izzet | Ral Zarek $8.61 | Dack Fayden $18.46 | $27.07
Orzhov | Sorin, Lord of Innistrad $6.39 | Kaya, Ghost Assassin $12.54 | $18.93
Rakdos | Sarkhan the Mad $7.15 | Daretti, Ingenious Iconocla $11.99 | $19.14
Selesny | Ajani, Mentor of Heroes $12.49 | YYY [$9.00] | [$21.49]
Simic | Kiora, Master of Depths $3.14 | ZZZ [$18.00] | [$21.14]
I have all the named cards. I'm missing XXX (Boros), YYY aka Melira (Selesnya) & ZZZ (Simic).
I target the Boros planeswalker to be "worth" about $4 (comparable to Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded).
I target Melira, the Purifier to be "worth" about $9 (comparable to Domri Rade, Ral Zarek or Garruk, Apex Predator).
I target the Simic planeswalker to be "worth" about $18 (comparable to Dack Fayden or Nahiri, the Harbinger).
So here are what I have in all three (including changes in Melira as you just suggested):
Koth of the Anvil ("worth" about $4, comparable to Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded)
2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with defender. It has “If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn.” It’s still a land.
-3: Until end of turn, each creature with defender gets +3/+3 and can attack as though it didn’t have defender.
-6: You get an emblem with “Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its converted mana cost. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way.”
{3}
Melira, the Purifier ("worth" about $9, comparable to Domri Rade, Ral Zarek or Garruk, Apex Predator)
2GW
Planeswalker - Melira (M)
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target creature gains lifelink and defender.
-X: Choose up to X target permanents, players, and/or cards with counters on them. Remove up to X counters from each of those targets. Gain 1 life for each counter removed this way.
-8: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game."
{2}
Rashmi, Eternities Researcher ("worth" about $18, comparable to Dack Fayden or Nahiri, the Harbinger)
1GU
Planeswalker - Rashmi (M)
+1: If an opponent controls more lands than you, you may search your library for a basic Forest or Island card, put it into play, then shuffle your library.
-3: Create a tapped token that’s a copy of target nontoken nonland creature you control.
-6: Name a nonland card and reveal your hand. If you own any card of that name in your hand, you may search your library for up to three copies of that card, discard all cards of that name into exile, then shuffle your library. At the beginning of your opponent’s next end step, you may return any number of cards of that name from exile to your hand.
{3}
A few words about the large set story behind the trio (someday I'll get the expansion done as well). Rashmi has been bravely experimenting with the Blind Eternities since her initial success with matter transport in Kaladesh. In one rash experiment she accidentally traverses the Blind Eternities without having a planeswalker spark. Unfortunately, she lands in New Phyrexia and she's not sure how she managed it. Luckily she is found and saved by the survivors & joins up with Koth & Melira. For the survivors Rashmi's research holds promise that perhaps they can escape. However, the Phyrexians also learn of this development. The combined assault shatters the survivors. Because the Phyrexian factions start to fight among themselves for Rashmi, Koth & Melira barely manage to escape (how Melira's spark ignites, or rather re-ignites, is a plot twist) to a white-dominant sanctuary (plot twist). There they heal physically & psychologically (aka character development), absorbing new knowledge and powers (thus, becoming Boros & Selesnya, respectively). Now, faced with the prospect that the Phyrexians may have the key to break out into the multiverse, they jump back in and hope they are not too late. Conclusion in small set of the block.
Since this thing is running very long, I'm concluding with some short specific comments about these planeswalker cards:
Koth of the Anvil has evolved to be more defensive (thus the anvil name) and is supposed to suck on his own (story-driven; reflects character development). However, he has amazing synergy with Melira, the Purifier though (again, how they both develop are story-drive & show depth of character). Rashmi is very knowledgeable from her experimentation on Blind Eternities. Thus her abilities (locating lands, cloning via her matter-transmuter ring & ultimate card search/draw) are reflections of her incredible research abilities. She is supposed to be awesome & why Phyrexians want her knowledge so much.
What do you think?
When I think of up abilities for planeswalkers, I review the characters story and what act they did to change the plot. For example, what Liliana of the Veil did on Innistrad, forcing Thalia to choose between her troops or Helvaut, matches perfectly with her ultimate.
This explains in part why my Rashmi's abilities, particularly her ultimate, may appear strange or disjointed. In my story Rashmi's forte is manipulation of the Blind Eternities through her inventions, sending things into it and pulling things out of it. In game mechanics I picture Rashmi is messing with the exile zone. With this in mind, please consider this (hopefully more coherent) revision of Rashmi:
Rashmi, Eternities Researcher
1GU
Planeswalker - Rashmi (M)
+1: Each player exiles the top card of his library. You may play a target face-up exiled land card as if it is in your hand.
-3: Create a tapped token that’s a copy of target nontoken nonland artifact you control.
-6: You get an emblem with “During your turn as a sorcery, you may exile any number of target nonland permanents by paying each permanent’s converted mana cost and/or you may play any number of target face-up exiled nonland noninstant nonsorcery cards by paying each card’s converted mana cost.”
{3}
Her invention enables her with her + ability to reach into the Blind Eternities (exile zone) to pull mana. Her device not only transport (specifically, decode-transfer-recode items across space/time) artifacts like in her story, but also works as a xerox machine (her - ability). Her ultimate is the full activation of her invention, which can send anything tangible into the Blind Eternities & pull anything out of it. The only limits are the amount of mana available to power her invention and her concentration to operate it.
Is this version better (closer to "worth" $18)?
P.S. I'll explain the story-driven abilities on Kosh & Melira in the future too.
For reference, template for multiple abilities on an emblem Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker. For an emblem granting abilities Koth of the Hammer.
Her firsts ability I assume wants to be able to pick a card just exiled so it can't target.
For reference Chandra, Pyromaster
I appreciate you cleaning my mess. I lost track of how the whole thing reads from so much cutting & pasting.
I finish the first draft of the card mockups. I don't want to post them over to the Art board yet (don't want to get laughed at). I'll link it below if you're interested.
Rashmi, Eternities Researcher
Melira, the Purifier
BTW, a quick question about how you worded Rashmi's +1: Suppose both you and your opponent both exile a land each (which you are only able to play one). The next time you use her +1, neither you or your opponent flip any land. Does the current wording allow you to play the land exiled last turn that you didn't play?
The current ability has the exile and choice of land as separate abilities so you exile first, these cards don't go into any particular pile as would happen with something like Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Then you look at any and all face up lands cards in exile and choose one of them regardless of who owns it or how it got into exile, Crumble to Dust, Delve for Dig Through Time, her own ability, and you can play that land. So long story short, yes you can hit previously exiled lands with her ability.
Nice! So Rashmi will work as intended as a slow Oblivion Sower.
So I finished the draft file for Kosh the of the Anvil as well. After the few hours working on it, I realized it may stink even more than Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded. So I made some changes.
Koth of the Anvil [BEFORE]
2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with defender. It has “If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn.” It’s still a land.
-3: Until end of turn, each creature with defender gets +3/+3 and can attack as though it didn’t have defender.
-6: You get an emblem with “Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its converted mana cost. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way.”
{3}
Koth of the Anvil [AFTER]
2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with defender. It has "If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn." It's still a land.
-2: Until end of turn, each creature with defender can attack as though it didn't have defender. Gain 1 life for each defender you control.
-5: You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to 1 plus its converted mana cost. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way."
{3}
Koth's story is that he was grievously injured in Phyrexian's big assault (where Koth & Melira barely escaped, but lost Rashmi). In holding off a particularly nasty Phyrexian (another future card I'll make) from Melira, he got his arms ripped off. Because Melira was linked magically (another future card I'll make) to Koth at the time, she felt the whole trauma as well. It turns out this re-ignited her spark because it mirrored the same trauma that first triggered her spark so long ago (why she doesn't remember or know her ability is another plot twist). Fortunately, because the two were magically joined, Melira was able to pull Koth with her on the blind jump.
They landed in a white-mana dominant sanctuary and were able to recover physically. Koth got new arms forged for him, but he struggled with his new form. White mana has tempered his aggression & explosiveness. This change is reflected in his new abilities. For example, you may see similarities comparing his new +1 and -5 abilities to his old +1 and -5 abilities. Though he can still attack like in the past, his new form is sluggish (see his new +1 and -2 abilities combine to do what his old +1 ability allowed on offensive). He is now able to shape the earth for more defensive purposes. Basically, he can create booby-trapped fortifications that blows up when attackers stumble into them (that's why there's that sacrifice wording for the +1 ability and opponents lose life with the -5 ability). Koth railed at how sluggish everything now felt. Suffice to say he has scars.
How he overcomes this challenge is part of how his character develops parallel with Melira. Both have psychological issues that they need to overcome before they can take on the Phyrexians again. How the conflicts are resolved ties into the sanctuary they are in.
But I digress. I meant to talk about Koth's background & get your sense about this most recent revision. Like Melira, he has specialized abilities that center around defenders (hmm, maybe I should have this Return to Phyrexia set be a "defense matters" set). Power level-wise, what other planeswalker do you think he would be comparable to?
I like to keep the new Koth's animated lands at 4/4 to match his old self. The difference is his new form has evolved to be more defense-oriented and maybe more resilient (with life gain). Per baldersmashed's critique I tinkered with the ultimate (see below).
Speaking of Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded, I made a more experienced version of him in the past few days. This is what I have:
Tibalt, the Masochist
1BR
Planeswalker - Tibalt (M)
+2: Any player may have Tibalt, the Masochist deal 1 damage to him or her. If no one does, target player discards a card and then may draw a card.
-3: Each player loses life equal to number of cards in his or her hands.
-X: Discard a card with converted mana cost equal to X. Until end of turn, Tibalt, the Masochist becomes a X/X Human Devil creature with indestructible and “When Tibalt, the Masochist attacks, up to one target creature defending player controls blocks him this combat if able. Put a loyalty counter on Tibalt, the Masochist for each point of combat damage dealt by and to him” Tibalt, the Masochist is still a planeswalker.
{2}
Note the similarities with first two abilities between the original and experienced versions. The new + ability incorporates a punisher-clause (keeps opponent guessing what you really want to do & then whack! - in keeping with Tibalt's new title). It also synergizes with the second ability (a better-costed version of old Tibalt's #2) and reinforces the masochism by hitting you as well (very Rakdos actually). The 'ultimate' actually may make Tibalt useful, but I like your take on it.
You're right. I changed the ultimate to reference toughtness instead of converted mana cost and upped the cost. Also I renamed him to better reflect my story line:
Koth Reforged
2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with defender. It has "If this creature blocks, sacrifice it at end of turn." It's still a land.
-2: Until end of turn, each creature with defender can attack as though it didn't have defender. Gain 1 life for each defender you control.
-6: You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its toughness. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way."
{3}
Better?
Tibalt has some problems. Based on your statement made right after it sounds like you think you can choose who discards and draws after the opponents have decided whether or not to take damage from him which isn't the case with your wording but possible if that is what your trying to do. It has to be something like "Any player may have Tibalt, the Masochist deal 1 damage to him or her. If no one does, choose a player, that player discards and card and then may draw a card". That is a deceptively powerful -, especially because he doesn't die after a + then a -. I'm not sure that ult is very Tibalt but it looks interesting, the last part should read "Whenever Tibalt, the Masochist deals or is dealt damage put that many loyalty counters on him." You need him to not be a planeswalker otherwise damage dealt to him will remove Loyalty counters.
A bit more tweaking to balance Koth. Bolded text is new addition.
Crossed-outtext is removed stuff.Koth Reforged
2RW
Planeswalker - Koth (M)
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target noncreature basic Mountain or Plains you control and it becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with defender. It has "If this creature blocks or isn’t blocked, sacrifice it at end of turn." It's still a land.
-2: Creatures you control with defender can attack this turn as though they didn't have defender.
Gain 1 life for each defender you control.-6: You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature with defender you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to its toughness. You gain life equal to total of all life lost this way."
{3}
I'm inspired by the idea of the Masterpiece series after the Kaladesh Inventions preview. I'm thinking of expanding of my proxying to a new card frame for a planeswalker Masterpiece set in my cube (dropping all other existing planeswalker I currently have). Thus, I'm going to make another six planeswalkers to complete the new Koth (RW), Melira (GW), Rashmi (GU) & Tibalt (BR). So I'm trying to balance thing within this group. Starting the new Koth at old Tibalt power level is a bit too unbalanced. Some adjustment is being made to improve the new Tibalt as well (see below).
How about this version?
Bolded text is new addition.
Crossed-outtext is removed stuff.Tibalt, the Masochist
1BR
Planeswalker - Tibalt (M)
+2+1: Any player may have Tibalt, the Masochist deal 1 damage to him or her. If no one does, choose a player, that player discards a card and then may draw a card.-2-3: Each player loses life equal to number of cards in his or her hands.-X: Discard a card with converted mana cost equal to X. Until end of turn, Tibalt, the Masochist becomes a X/X Human Devil creature with indestructible and “When Tibalt, the Masochist attacks, up to one target creature defending player controls blocks him this combat if able. Put a loyalty counter on Tibalt, the Masochist for each point of combat damage dealt by and to him” Tibalt, the Masochist is still a planeswalker.-6: Gain control of all creatures and planeswalkers until end of your next turn. Untap them and any creatures gain haste until end of turn.
{2}
I'm going to put that crossed-out -X ability on another planeswalker I'm brainstorming now.
Thank you again for all your input. You've been invaluable for bouncing ideas off of.
Are you sure you don't just want it to be Attack or Blocks? Its probably fine now that it is possible to chump block and kill his rather large lands, just making sure your flavor doesn't want it to always die after it is in combat.
The way I phrased new Tibalt's ultimate is a bit different from the old Tibalt ultimate.
Tibalt, the Masochist
-6: Gain control of all creatures and planeswalkers until end of your next turn. Untap them and any creatures gain haste until end of turn.
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
-6: Gain control of all creatures until end of turn. Untap them. Them gain haste until end of turn.
New Tibalt should be more useful now with his "super" Act of Treason lasting through his opponent's turn as well.
As for Koth, you're right. I should change Koth's land creatures to being sacrificed after both block and attack. Sotrywise, Koth booy-trapped his lands to blow one way or another.
Her's the next walker I have done:
Garruk Consumed
2BG
Planeswalker - Garruk (M)
+1: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and it gains deathtouch.
-1: Until end of turn, whenever a permanent is put into the graveyard, place a loyalty counter on Garruk Consumed for eacj counter that was on that permanent.
-x: Put up to X -1/-1 counters on targt creature and gain X life. If that creature dies this turn, you may activate this ability again this turn.
{3}
The story is that Garruk is now consumed by The Chain Veil corruption. He now needs to absorb life essence to prevent further degeneration. This is reflected in how he imparts -1/-1 counters (recipients also gets his toxicity as well with deathtouch). So if Garruk becomes more loyal and powerful if he gets to suck out more life from others (see his -1 ability).
His ultimate shows him going bestial with feeding frenzy. It is also a bit problematic to word. I like the "activate this ability again this turn" only to work if the creature dies as a result of the -1/-1 counters, but I'm not sure how to word this.
Any suggestions?