I'm considering starting over with my custom cube. If I do, I'd structure it where each tri-color has a mechanical theme/keyword that I think deserves to be explored more. For example, I think BRW could do some really interesting things with Living Weapon. Please note that these are all targeting the power level of uncommons, but can be power-uncommons like Blood-braid Elf or Remand etc. These are the only slots I'd be dedicating to Living weapon itself - other cards might care if you have equipment, if they're equipped, help find equipment, etc. How do you like the designs of these? Would you change any numbers around? Would you rather see a different design in any of the slots? I'm open to considering other designs if people feel like suggesting them. EDIT: Please note that the original designs are in a spoiler below, and that these are updated based on comments below.
FirebugR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has haste.
Equip R
Flameclaw3R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +3/+1 and has first strike.
Equip 4
Screenwing1W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
Equip 3
PurehuskW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip 4
Slitherskin1B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +0/+2 and has skulk.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life.
Equip 3
Rotwhip2B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each creature card in your graveyard.
Equip- Sacrifice a creature
StonebladeRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has double strike.
Equip 4
Fright Gear1BR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has menace.
Equip 4
Skullsickle2WB
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+4 and has lifelink.
Equip 5
GravechurnBRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2. Whenever it attacks, put target creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Exile that card at end of combat.
Equip-6
FirebugR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has haste.
Equip R
Flameclaw3R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +3/+1 and has first strike.
Equip 3R
Screenwing1W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
Equip 1W
PurehuskW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip W
Slitherskin1B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has skulk.
Equip 1B
Rotwhip4B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+5 and has deathtouch.
Equip 4B
StonebladeRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has double strike.
Equip RW
Fright Gear1BR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has menace.
Equip 1BR
Skullsickle2WB
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+4 and has lifelink.
Equip 2WB
Shriek ShrikeBRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and battle cry.
it would be interesting to have a black-centered coloured living weapon, but where the blackness isn't necessarily on the casting cost. so for example the white one could be
Life Siphon 1W
artifact - equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
equipped creature gets +1/+1 and lifelink.
equip 1B
and having abilities that cover both black and X aren't that hard to come by. in your wedge, you could make black the centre of this mechanic and it wouldn't look weird at all. i'd probably make the WB/RB ones slightly more powerful and not push the mono-black ones as hard just to encourage multicolour in limited.
Prancing scimitar 3R
artifact - equipment
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
equipped creature gets +5/+1 and first strike.
equip 1BB
overall i think your designs would probably play well, just that black-ness feels a bit weird in a mono-white artifact.
EDIT: i thought of something better:
Life Siphon 1W
artifact - equipment (U)
When Life Siphon comes into play, if B was spent to cast Life Siphon, it gains Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.).
equipped creature gets +1/+1 and lifelink.
equip 2
that way, in a limited draft, you aren't stuck with going on rails trying to force a black white too early in a draft, but at the same time really encourages you to have black in your decks.
I think the numbers on some of these are a little off. Living weapon is a powerful effect and costs should be a bit higher.
FirebugR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has haste.
Equip R
Perhaps mana cost 1R.
Flameclaw3R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +3/+1 and has first strike.
Equip 3R
Screenwing1W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
Equip 1W
Comparing Gryff's Boon, I think the equip cost should be 3W
PurehuskW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip W
This one is absurd - since a 2/1 for W is already OK, I think equip cost should be 3W or more.
Slitherskin1B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has skulk.
Equip 1B
To synergize with skulk, Perhaps +0/+2 would be more interesting, and "Whenever this creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life." Mana cost 2B if so.
Rotwhip4B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+5 and has deathtouch.
Equip 4B
StonebladeRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has double strike.
Equip RW
Suggest 2RW equip cost.
Fright Gear1BR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has menace.
Equip 1BR
Suggest "Equip: Sacrifice a creature." if this there is a sacrifice theme in your cube, and to spice things up a bit. This works well with Living Weapon.
Skullsickle2WB
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+4 and has lifelink.
Equip 2WB
Shriek ShrikeBRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and battle cry.
General comment is that perhaps there is room for some more interesting (if less elegant) designs, here are some ideas:
Equipped creature has power and toughness equal to the number of cards in your hand. Equip: discard a card.
Equipped creature has power and toughness equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard.
~ may only be equipped to a creature with converted mana cost 2 or less.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
As ~ enters the battlefield, choose a creature. Equipped creature is a copy of the chosen creature.
This is an awesome take on living weapon! imo, if costs are to be increased, start with the equip costs and try to keep the casting costs close to existing comparable creatures (identical where possible which I think you've already accomplished).
I think BlackTemple has the right idea with (colorless) Spirits instead of black Germs - except I'd call it "Haunted Armor".
Honestly I'm not a huge fan of the colored equip costs. I've done colored living weapons in the past, and I always found that colored equip costs never really added much to the designs. Colored equipment in the past (Behemoth Sledge and such) kept the colorless equip costs, and given it won't matter all that often I think keeping the consistency with existing equipment is nice.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
Thanks for the feedback folks! I've updated the designs in the OP. Upped most of the equip costs, made most of them colorless, and changed some of the abilities. Do those look closer to right?
Firebug R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has haste.
Equip R
Flameclaw 3R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +3/+1 and has first strike.
Equip 4
Screenwing 1W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
Equip 3
Purehusk W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip 4
Slitherskin 1B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +0/+2 and has skulk.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life.
Equip 3
Rotwhip 2B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each creature card in your graveyard.
Equip- Sacrifice a creature
Stoneblade RW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has double strike.
Equip 4
Fright Gear 1BR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has menace.
Equip 4
Skullsickle 2WB
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+4 and has lifelink.
Equip 5
Gravechurn BRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2. Whenever it attacks, put target creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Exile that card at end of combat.
Equip-6
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has haste.
Equip R
Flameclaw 3R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +3/+1 and has first strike.
Equip 3R
Screenwing 1W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
Equip 1W
Purehusk W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip W
Slitherskin 1B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has skulk.
Equip 1B
Rotwhip 4B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+5 and has deathtouch.
Equip 4B
Stoneblade RW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has double strike.
Equip RW
Fright Gear 1BR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has menace.
Equip 1BR
Skullsickle 2WB
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+4 and has lifelink.
Equip 2WB
Shriek Shrike BRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and battle cry.
Life Siphon 1W
artifact - equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
equipped creature gets +1/+1 and lifelink.
equip 1B
and having abilities that cover both black and X aren't that hard to come by. in your wedge, you could make black the centre of this mechanic and it wouldn't look weird at all. i'd probably make the WB/RB ones slightly more powerful and not push the mono-black ones as hard just to encourage multicolour in limited.
Prancing scimitar 3R
artifact - equipment
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
equipped creature gets +5/+1 and first strike.
equip 1BB
overall i think your designs would probably play well, just that black-ness feels a bit weird in a mono-white artifact.
EDIT: i thought of something better:
Life Siphon 1W
artifact - equipment (U)
When Life Siphon comes into play, if B was spent to cast Life Siphon, it gains Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.).
equipped creature gets +1/+1 and lifelink.
equip 2
that way, in a limited draft, you aren't stuck with going on rails trying to force a black white too early in a draft, but at the same time really encourages you to have black in your decks.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Firebug R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has haste.
Equip R
Perhaps mana cost 1R.
Flameclaw 3R
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +3/+1 and has first strike.
Equip 3R
Screenwing 1W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
Equip 1W
Comparing Gryff's Boon, I think the equip cost should be 3W
Purehusk W
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip W
This one is absurd - since a 2/1 for W is already OK, I think equip cost should be 3W or more.
Slitherskin 1B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has skulk.
Equip 1B
To synergize with skulk, Perhaps +0/+2 would be more interesting, and "Whenever this creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life." Mana cost 2B if so.
Rotwhip 4B
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+5 and has deathtouch.
Equip 4B
Stoneblade RW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has double strike.
Equip RW
Suggest 2RW equip cost.
Fright Gear 1BR
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has menace.
Equip 1BR
Suggest "Equip: Sacrifice a creature." if this there is a sacrifice theme in your cube, and to spice things up a bit. This works well with Living Weapon.
Skullsickle 2WB
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+4 and has lifelink.
Equip 2WB
Shriek Shrike BRW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and battle cry.
Could this be changed to make tokens, like Hero of Bladehold?
General comment is that perhaps there is room for some more interesting (if less elegant) designs, here are some ideas:
Equipped creature has power and toughness equal to the number of cards in your hand. Equip: discard a card.
Equipped creature has power and toughness equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard.
~ may only be equipped to a creature with converted mana cost 2 or less.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
As ~ enters the battlefield, choose a creature. Equipped creature is a copy of the chosen creature.
I think BlackTemple has the right idea with (colorless) Spirits instead of black Germs - except I'd call it "Haunted Armor".
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
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Art is life itself.