Hello all. I'm hoping people might tell me their thoughts on the following mechanic....
Upper hand (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
I posted couple of cards with a similar mechanic (it counted permanents instead of life) in the DCC a while back, but nobody seemed to like it. I think I like this new version better, but either way, I feel like the idea would be both fun and straight forward. I also feel like the ability has a lot of design space and could be come at from many angles. For example....
Cardname
Instant (R)
~ deals 3 damage to target creature. If that creature's controller has the upper hand, ~ deals 3 damage to that player. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
Cardname
Creature — Beast (U)
As long as an opponent has the upper hand, ~ gets +1/+0 and has trample. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
2/2
Cardname
Creature — Illusion (U)
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have the upper hand, sacrifice ~. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
2/3
Cardname
Creature — Horror (C)
Whenever ~ attacks a player with the upper hand, it gets +1/+1 and gains menace until end of turn. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
2/2
Cardname
Creature — Angel (R)
Flying
As long as you have the upper hand, ~ gets +0/+2 and has vigilance. Otherwise it gets +2/+0 and has lifelink. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
3/3
Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
(22 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019
(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)
For flavor reasons, I'd prefer the term "upper hand" to refer to greater number of cards in hand rather than life. Can't think of a better term for greater life, though.
Upper hand with drawback, like that flying 2/3 creature, doesn't seem worth it. At common, it's not a card you'd want to draft because suddenly they'll die off if you have the advantage, leaving you high and dry. It's not just a risk -- it's an inevitability that you'll lose the creatures if you start winning. I'd rather see upper hand with drawback at higher rarities and slightly more powerful. Maybe make that flyer 3/2 and umcommon, Either that, or make the drawback less, -1/-2 or something rather than sac.
For flavor reasons, I'd prefer the term "upper hand" to refer to greater number of cards in hand rather than life. Can't think of a better term for greater life, though.
Upper hand with drawback, like that flying 2/3 creature, doesn't seem worth it. At common, it's not a card you'd want to draft because suddenly they'll die off if you have the advantage, leaving you high and dry. It's not just a risk -- it's an inevitability that you'll lose the creatures if you start winning. I'd rather see upper hand with drawback at higher rarities and slightly more powerful. Maybe make that flyer 3/2 and umcommon, Either that, or make the drawback less, -1/-2 or something rather than sac.
Also, agreed with the poster above.
Thanks for the feedback! It is much appreciated.
I agree that the Illusion card could use some work. TBH, I didn't put a ton of thought into the example cards, I just wanted to show a few examples of the kind of things the ability could do.
For some reason, dethrone never even occurred to me when I was thinking of this ability. I think the two abilities are actually quite a bit different, but I can see why people are making the comparison. Still, I think that upper hand is much more well suited for duels than dethrone is. Dethrone is mostly there to encourage attacking the player with the highest life total, whereas upper hand works in either direction, can be seen on noncreatures, and has a lot more design space.
That said, I would be willing to listen to suggestions to make it better. I don't want the ability to be seen as a multi-player only mechanic. Would it be better if I went back to its original form? (If a player controls more permanents than each other player, that player has the upper hand.) In this form, colors that are more likely to produce a lot of permanents (G and W) would be more apt to gain bonuses for having the upper hand, whereas colors that care more about instants and sorceries (U and R) would be more likely to get bonuses for not having the upper hand. Of course any color could still go either way with it.
Lastly, no one seems to like the name much. Would "advantage" be better?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
(22 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019
(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)
I like it better with life instead of permanents. Counting both players' permanents is tedious, while comparing life totals is not.
For wording, what about:
Bloodthirsty Beast1G
Creature — Beast (U)
As long as an opponent is healthiest, Bloodthirsty Beast gets +1/+0 and has trample. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player is healthiest.) 2/2
Bloodsucking Slug2B
Creature — Slug (C)
Whenever Bloodsucking Slug attacks the healthiest player, it gets +1/+1 and gains menace until end of turn. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player is healthiest.) 2/2
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Upper hand (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
I posted couple of cards with a similar mechanic (it counted permanents instead of life) in the DCC a while back, but nobody seemed to like it. I think I like this new version better, but either way, I feel like the idea would be both fun and straight forward. I also feel like the ability has a lot of design space and could be come at from many angles. For example....
Instant (R)
~ deals 3 damage to target creature. If that creature's controller has the upper hand, ~ deals 3 damage to that player. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
Cardname
Creature — Beast (U)
As long as an opponent has the upper hand, ~ gets +1/+0 and has trample. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
2/2
Cardname
Creature — Illusion (U)
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have the upper hand, sacrifice ~. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
2/3
Cardname
Creature — Horror (C)
Whenever ~ attacks a player with the upper hand, it gets +1/+1 and gains menace until end of turn. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
2/2
Cardname
Creature — Angel (R)
Flying
As long as you have the upper hand, ~ gets +0/+2 and has vigilance. Otherwise it gets +2/+0 and has lifelink. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player has the upper hand.)
3/3
Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
Upper hand with drawback, like that flying 2/3 creature, doesn't seem worth it. At common, it's not a card you'd want to draft because suddenly they'll die off if you have the advantage, leaving you high and dry. It's not just a risk -- it's an inevitability that you'll lose the creatures if you start winning. I'd rather see upper hand with drawback at higher rarities and slightly more powerful. Maybe make that flyer 3/2 and umcommon, Either that, or make the drawback less, -1/-2 or something rather than sac.
Also, agreed with the poster above.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
I agree that the Illusion card could use some work. TBH, I didn't put a ton of thought into the example cards, I just wanted to show a few examples of the kind of things the ability could do.
For some reason, dethrone never even occurred to me when I was thinking of this ability. I think the two abilities are actually quite a bit different, but I can see why people are making the comparison. Still, I think that upper hand is much more well suited for duels than dethrone is. Dethrone is mostly there to encourage attacking the player with the highest life total, whereas upper hand works in either direction, can be seen on noncreatures, and has a lot more design space.
That said, I would be willing to listen to suggestions to make it better. I don't want the ability to be seen as a multi-player only mechanic. Would it be better if I went back to its original form? (If a player controls more permanents than each other player, that player has the upper hand.) In this form, colors that are more likely to produce a lot of permanents (G and W) would be more apt to gain bonuses for having the upper hand, whereas colors that care more about instants and sorceries (U and R) would be more likely to get bonuses for not having the upper hand. Of course any color could still go either way with it.
Lastly, no one seems to like the name much. Would "advantage" be better?
For wording, what about:
Bloodthirsty Beast 1G
Creature — Beast (U)
As long as an opponent is healthiest, Bloodthirsty Beast gets +1/+0 and has trample. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player is healthiest.)
2/2
Bloodsucking Slug 2B
Creature — Slug (C)
Whenever Bloodsucking Slug attacks the healthiest player, it gets +1/+1 and gains menace until end of turn. (If a player has more life than each other player, that player is healthiest.)
2/2