Fifth part of my series on trying to do interesting things with colors while getting some experience designing, this time with black. As always I would be very much interested in comments regarding implementation, fun, power level, etc. I think I'm getting better at costing things. I'm also taking prior criticism into consideration, and trying to make my cards less wordy and simpler.
Leatherwing Biter2BB
Creature – Bat
Flying
Whenever you pay life, Leatherwing Biter gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/3
Babbling JesterB
Creature – Human
Your maximum hand size is reduced by one.
, , Pay 2 life: Target player takes control of Babbling Jester.
2/2
Meatsculpter2B
Creature – Zombie Shapeshifter 1, Sacrifice a creature:
Choose one –
. Put a +1/+1 counter on Meatsculpter.
. Meatsculpter gains menace until end of turn.
2/1
Scheming Nobles3B
Creature - Human 1B, Tap two untapped creatures you control: Target player loses 2 life and you draw a card.
3/2
Stoneskin Mummy3B
Creature – Zombie
Stoneskin Mummy enters the battlefield tapped.
As long as Stoneskin Mummy is tapped, it’s indestructible.
4/2
The Tyrant’s Court3BB
Legendary Creature – Advisor
Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 for each tapped creature you control. 2B, Tap an untapped creature you control: Scry 2.
2/6
Serpents Echo2B
Instant
Create a 1/1 black Snake creature token with deathtouch.
When Serpent’s Echo is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature with deathtouch.
Moonlight Mischief2B
Sorcery
Put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard. If a creature card was put into your graveyard this way, target opponent sacrifices a creature.
Dark Industries1B
Enchantment
When Dark Industries enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token. B, Tap three untapped artifacts you control: Each opponent loses 3 life.
Game of Markov3BB
Enchantment
Whenever an opponent draws a card, he or she loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. 2, Pay 1 life: Draw a card. Any player may activate this ability.
Sunken Ziggurat
Land T: Add C to your mana pool. 2B, T, Sacrifice Sunken Ziggurat: You may cast the next spell you cast this turn as though it had delve. (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting that spell pays for 1.)
Leatherwing bite -- if an effect says "pay 3 life" does the bat get +3 or only +1?
noble -- that's pretty dang strong. This had better be a rare at the least.
stoneskin mummy -- not sure why this is black.
Moonlight mischief -- kinda sucks in constructed if you aren't playing an animator deck of some sort. Sucks very badly in limited, because it's basically a spell that mill you, not guaranteed to do anything, and even if it does it kill the opponent's weakest creature.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Babbling Jester just doesn't seem good. Its interesting and would definitely see play in an aggressive black deck but it doesn't look appealing.
Game of Markov this might be undercosted. Also these any player can active abilities are messy because everyone has trouble remembering that they can use it so it generally causes unfun things.
Why wouldn't it be Black? Black is getting more and more indestructible (see Kaladesh and Aether Revolt), and entering the battlefield tapped is a Black thing.
Leatherwing bite -- if an effect says "pay 3 life" does the bat get +3 or only +1?
noble -- that's pretty dang strong. This had better be a rare at the least.
stoneskin mummy -- not sure why this is black.
Moonlight mischief -- kinda sucks in constructed if you aren't playing an animator deck of some sort. Sucks very badly in limited, because it's basically a spell that mill you, not guaranteed to do anything, and even if it does it kill the opponent's weakest creature.
Leatherwind - My understanding is that it triggers the bonus each time you pay life, regardless of how much life you pay at a time. So if you "pay 3 life" it gets +1/+0, but if you "pay 1 life" three times (through three effects etc) it would get +3/+0. Is this incorrect?
Noble - Should the activated ability cost 2B or 3B instead of 1B? And yeah, it was meant as either rare or uncommon.
Moonlight Mischief - Should this mill five cards, or cost 1B instead of 2B? It's designed as being able to fuel delve or reanimator decks while providing some potential removal, probably at common or uncommon. Or is the removal clause just too weak?
Noble -- make it tap, plus another creature. The thing with it currently is that in limited, once it's in play, the game is over; the opponent will likely be losing 3 to 4 life per turn and you're drawing that many cards. Making it tap will still make it very powerful, but at least it will only be activating once per turn.
nischief -- maybe make it 1B? Hard to tell without seeing the rest of the set since you said it was supposed to help delve. Increasing it to 5 might make it too powerful for constructed and too weak for limited.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
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Leatherwing Biter 2BB
Creature – Bat
Flying
Whenever you pay life, Leatherwing Biter gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
1/3
Babbling Jester B
Creature – Human
Your maximum hand size is reduced by one.
, , Pay 2 life: Target player takes control of Babbling Jester.
2/2
Meatsculpter 2B
Creature – Zombie Shapeshifter
1, Sacrifice a creature:
Choose one –
. Put a +1/+1 counter on Meatsculpter.
. Meatsculpter gains menace until end of turn.
2/1
Scheming Nobles 3B
Creature - Human
1B, Tap two untapped creatures you control: Target player loses 2 life and you draw a card.
3/2
Stoneskin Mummy 3B
Creature – Zombie
Stoneskin Mummy enters the battlefield tapped.
As long as Stoneskin Mummy is tapped, it’s indestructible.
4/2
The Tyrant’s Court 3BB
Legendary Creature – Advisor
Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 for each tapped creature you control.
2B, Tap an untapped creature you control: Scry 2.
2/6
Serpents Echo 2B
Instant
Create a 1/1 black Snake creature token with deathtouch.
When Serpent’s Echo is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature with deathtouch.
Moonlight Mischief 2B
Sorcery
Put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard. If a creature card was put into your graveyard this way, target opponent sacrifices a creature.
Dark Industries 1B
Enchantment
When Dark Industries enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token.
B, Tap three untapped artifacts you control: Each opponent loses 3 life.
Game of Markov 3BB
Enchantment
Whenever an opponent draws a card, he or she loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
2, Pay 1 life: Draw a card. Any player may activate this ability.
Sunken Ziggurat
Land
T: Add C to your mana pool.
2B, T, Sacrifice Sunken Ziggurat: You may cast the next spell you cast this turn as though it had delve. (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting that spell pays for 1.)
[Edit: renamed a card.]
noble -- that's pretty dang strong. This had better be a rare at the least.
stoneskin mummy -- not sure why this is black.
Moonlight mischief -- kinda sucks in constructed if you aren't playing an animator deck of some sort. Sucks very badly in limited, because it's basically a spell that mill you, not guaranteed to do anything, and even if it does it kill the opponent's weakest creature.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Game of Markov this might be undercosted. Also these any player can active abilities are messy because everyone has trouble remembering that they can use it so it generally causes unfun things.
Leatherwind - My understanding is that it triggers the bonus each time you pay life, regardless of how much life you pay at a time. So if you "pay 3 life" it gets +1/+0, but if you "pay 1 life" three times (through three effects etc) it would get +3/+0. Is this incorrect?
Noble - Should the activated ability cost 2B or 3B instead of 1B? And yeah, it was meant as either rare or uncommon.
Moonlight Mischief - Should this mill five cards, or cost 1B instead of 2B? It's designed as being able to fuel delve or reanimator decks while providing some potential removal, probably at common or uncommon. Or is the removal clause just too weak?
nischief -- maybe make it 1B? Hard to tell without seeing the rest of the set since you said it was supposed to help delve. Increasing it to 5 might make it too powerful for constructed and too weak for limited.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn