This card is my fan-depiction of the Fourth Sister of the Innistrad angels:
"It was true their wayward sister engaged in unconventional actions and made unwelcome allies. Sometimes she would consort with vampires and witches, even demons and devils. We must know our enemies if we are to defeat our enemies, she would say. She was often distrusted and disliked by the other angels, even sometimes by her three sisters. But the four of them had a deep bond, and though their sister charted a very different path, still she was their sister."
"Until the sister had formed an alliance with a demon lord, an act condemned by them all. Avacyn had declared her a heretic, an accomplice to the very monsters Avacyn and all the angels were sworn to defeat. The three other sisters had agreed with Avacyn, but did not join Avacyn in her crusade against their dark sister. Avacyn had not needed their help. A thousand years ago, Avacyn single-handedly destroyed their sister and her entire small flight, and they had made the very mention of her name forbidden."
The Fourth Sister WWB
3/3
Flying, Deathtouch
When you cast ~, each player loses X life, where X is the amount of mana spent to cast ~.
Creature spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each 1 life you have lost this turn.
The Fourth Sister was described to be quite "liberal" with her FB friend requests, therefore the card portraits her willingness to take risks to make allies (hence Deathtouch instead of Lifelink), yet in doing so she harms everyone involved with her, more so each time. She is a revered Rakdos, Lord of Riots but instead of having the damaging aspect of red she bears the trademark of black dishing out universal suffering. Her power is balanced by life loss requirement and her effect is also a lot smaller than Rakdos's (initially, increasingly risky), although black and white don't lack ways to pay life to maximize her benefit.
The Fourth Sister's cost is similar to her sisters: Two white mana and one extra of their appropriate facet. I made her small because according to the lore her behaviors are less liked (less faith less power) and her flight is relatively small.
We'll start with the obvious: Rakdos has a very powerful effect for his mana cost.
There are some problems with this card in that light...
-She costs 1 less than Rakdos
-She doesn't have a clause to prevent playing her except under certain circumstances like Rakdos does.
-It's much easier to lose life than to make your opponents lose life.
That last problem is bigger than it may appear: Rakdos is stronger and then some in multiplayer due to the fact that Rakdos gets multiplicative reductions for effects that damage multiple opponents (like Flame Rift), but this also makes The Fourth Sister substantially stronger in one vs. one, to the point where she would probably actually become abusive in Modern. Channel is infamously overpowered, after all, and while The Fourth Sister requires more setup it also has more reward since it applies to any number of creature spells in a given turn. Losing life for reduced mana has proven time and again to be very tricky math, and I don't think it justifies the cmc 3 especially considering that it also applies a 3-mana reduction on the very same turn. Affinity would go crazy for this card.
Further, the third issue compounds the second issue, because it means that you can't really mirror Rakdos's "Only play if X" clause, since making an opponent lose life is something you can't necessarily be certain of by turn 4 without playing direct damage cards, which then can't also be a large colorless bomb creature and adds to Rakdos's effective mana cost since it has to be in the same turn. Losing life, on the other hand, is as easy as playing a fetch land.
This is a problem I commonly see in custom commanders: A very strong ability at as low of a mana cost as possible. Make her cost more as befits her powerful ability, probably cmc 5, and then increase her combat attributes (and maybe add lifelink since none of the other angel sisters have it on their original cards?) but leave her current abilities alone.
I think 5 or 6 mana would be an ideal starting point for her, but since she's in two of the best control colors, she could be more expensive like Gisela. I also think that flavorwise, her ability has to be Black.
I'd do something like: Vathreya, the Fourth Sister 3WBB
5/5
Flying, Menace/Deathtouch
Whenever ~ attacks and isn't blocked, you draw 2 cards and lose life equal to their CMC.
EDIT: If that's too simplistic, her ability could be sacrifice based, but since she's an Angel and was tasked with guarding Innistrad, flavorwise that seems a bit off somehow. Unless...how about...
"Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card and lose 2 life. If that creature was a Human, you lose 4 life instead."
or
"Sacrifice a creature. If the creature was White, (benefit with moderate to severe negative effect). If the creature was Black, (benefit with minor negative effect)." Not really sure what the effect would be, though.
I think 5 or 6 mana would be an ideal starting point for her, but since she's in two of the best control colors, she could be more expensive like Gisela. I also think that flavorwise, her ability has to be Black.
I'd do something like: Vathreya, the Fourth Sister 3WBB
5/5
Flying, Menace/Deathtouch
Whenever ~ attacks and isn't blocked, you draw 2 cards and lose life equal to their CMC.
EDIT: If that's too simplistic, her ability could be sacrifice based, but since she's an Angel and was tasked with guarding Innistrad, flavorwise that seems a bit off somehow. Unless...how about...
"Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card and lose 2 life. If that creature was a Human, you lose 4 life instead."
or
"Sacrifice a creature. If the creature was White, (benefit with moderate to severe negative effect). If the creature was Black, (benefit with minor negative effect)." Not really sure what the effect would be, though.
You're forgetting a reveal clause. This is Magic, not a purely digital CCG, after all.
I think 5 or 6 mana would be an ideal starting point for her, but since she's in two of the best control colors, she could be more expensive like Gisela. I also think that flavorwise, her ability has to be Black.
I'd do something like: Vathreya, the Fourth Sister 3WBB
5/5
Flying, Menace/Deathtouch
Whenever ~ attacks and isn't blocked, you draw 2 cards and lose life equal to their CMC.
EDIT: If that's too simplistic, her ability could be sacrifice based, but since she's an Angel and was tasked with guarding Innistrad, flavorwise that seems a bit off somehow. Unless...how about...
"Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card and lose 2 life. If that creature was a Human, you lose 4 life instead."
or
"Sacrifice a creature. If the creature was White, (benefit with moderate to severe negative effect). If the creature was Black, (benefit with minor negative effect)." Not really sure what the effect would be, though.
Every other Powerpuff Angel has WW in their mana cost, so BB isn't very flavorful in that regard.
"It was true their wayward sister engaged in unconventional actions and made unwelcome allies. Sometimes she would consort with vampires and witches, even demons and devils. We must know our enemies if we are to defeat our enemies, she would say. She was often distrusted and disliked by the other angels, even sometimes by her three sisters. But the four of them had a deep bond, and though their sister charted a very different path, still she was their sister."
"Until the sister had formed an alliance with a demon lord, an act condemned by them all. Avacyn had declared her a heretic, an accomplice to the very monsters Avacyn and all the angels were sworn to defeat. The three other sisters had agreed with Avacyn, but did not join Avacyn in her crusade against their dark sister. Avacyn had not needed their help. A thousand years ago, Avacyn single-handedly destroyed their sister and her entire small flight, and they had made the very mention of her name forbidden."
The Fourth Sister
WWB
3/3
Flying, Deathtouch
When you cast ~, each player loses X life, where X is the amount of mana spent to cast ~.
Creature spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each 1 life you have lost this turn.
The Fourth Sister was described to be quite "liberal" with her FB friend requests, therefore the card portraits her willingness to take risks to make allies (hence Deathtouch instead of Lifelink), yet in doing so she harms everyone involved with her, more so each time. She is a revered Rakdos, Lord of Riots but instead of having the damaging aspect of red she bears the trademark of black dishing out universal suffering. Her power is balanced by life loss requirement and her effect is also a lot smaller than Rakdos's (initially, increasingly risky), although black and white don't lack ways to pay life to maximize her benefit.
The Fourth Sister's cost is similar to her sisters: Two white mana and one extra of their appropriate facet. I made her small because according to the lore her behaviors are less liked (less faith less power) and her flight is relatively small.
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There are some problems with this card in that light...
-She costs 1 less than Rakdos
-She doesn't have a clause to prevent playing her except under certain circumstances like Rakdos does.
-It's much easier to lose life than to make your opponents lose life.
That last problem is bigger than it may appear: Rakdos is stronger and then some in multiplayer due to the fact that Rakdos gets multiplicative reductions for effects that damage multiple opponents (like Flame Rift), but this also makes The Fourth Sister substantially stronger in one vs. one, to the point where she would probably actually become abusive in Modern.
Channel is infamously overpowered, after all, and while The Fourth Sister requires more setup it also has more reward since it applies to any number of creature spells in a given turn. Losing life for reduced mana has proven time and again to be very tricky math, and I don't think it justifies the cmc 3 especially considering that it also applies a 3-mana reduction on the very same turn. Affinity would go crazy for this card.
Further, the third issue compounds the second issue, because it means that you can't really mirror Rakdos's "Only play if X" clause, since making an opponent lose life is something you can't necessarily be certain of by turn 4 without playing direct damage cards, which then can't also be a large colorless bomb creature and adds to Rakdos's effective mana cost since it has to be in the same turn. Losing life, on the other hand, is as easy as playing a fetch land.
This is a problem I commonly see in custom commanders: A very strong ability at as low of a mana cost as possible. Make her cost more as befits her powerful ability, probably cmc 5, and then increase her combat attributes (and maybe add lifelink since none of the other angel sisters have it on their original cards?) but leave her current abilities alone.
- Rabid Wombat
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is a 7-drop 5/5 with lots of text.
Bruna, Light of Alabaster is a 6-drop 5/5 with lots of text.
And Sigarda, Host of Herons is a 5-drop 5/5 with not much text.
I think 5 or 6 mana would be an ideal starting point for her, but since she's in two of the best control colors, she could be more expensive like Gisela. I also think that flavorwise, her ability has to be Black.
I'd do something like:
Vathreya, the Fourth Sister
3WBB
5/5
Flying, Menace/Deathtouch
Whenever ~ attacks and isn't blocked, you draw 2 cards and lose life equal to their CMC.
EDIT: If that's too simplistic, her ability could be sacrifice based, but since she's an Angel and was tasked with guarding Innistrad, flavorwise that seems a bit off somehow. Unless...how about...
"Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card and lose 2 life. If that creature was a Human, you lose 4 life instead."
or
"Sacrifice a creature. If the creature was White, (benefit with moderate to severe negative effect). If the creature was Black, (benefit with minor negative effect)." Not really sure what the effect would be, though.
You're forgetting a reveal clause. This is Magic, not a purely digital CCG, after all.
Every other Powerpuff Angel has WW in their mana cost, so BB isn't very flavorful in that regard.