I designed this card for a WUBRG Ravnica-themed deck. Designing three WUBRG legends for a plane centered around two-color factions is tricky, but here's an idea that pleases me.
Krenko, Goblin Ringleader3R
Legendary Creature - Goblin Rogue 1(B/R), Discard a card: Create two 1/1 black and red Goblin Rogue creature tokens with haste. 1(R/G), Tap an untapped Goblin creature you control: The tapped Goblin fights another target creature. 1(U/R), Return a Goblin you control to its owner's hand: Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy. 1(R/W): Goblins you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
3/3
Art concept: Krenko standing in a room with four other Goblins nearby, one each from Rakdos, Gruul, Izzet, and Boros. He's grinning, and appears to be planning something big involving Ravnica's Goblins.
Yep, a new Krenko, one that serves as a flexible WUBRG commander for Goblins. The abilities are still in flux, but the idea is that he has four Goblin-related activated abilities, each aligned with one of the red guilds, with a hybrid mana cost of the appropriate red pair. While Krenko is functional by himself, he's obviously better with a lot of Goblins in your deck. As a result, the Ravnica deck has a small Goblin subtheme, mostly consisting of various multicolor Goblins like Boros Recruit, Feral Animist, and Goblin Electromancer.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
This is interesting. The abilities do not violate the color pie but the card is under costed. This is a creature with a relevant creature type and it has 4 abilities! 4 abilities that are very good too. More bodies, or removal, or card advantage or power increase. If you really want to push this and don't want it to cost more, you can at least only allow the abilities to work with other goblins, you could also have him have more red mana in his cost.
I'll repeat the balance concerns (I'd drop the toughness by 1?) but I love this conceptually, especially since the abilities all fit extremely well thematically with their guilds. For my money the Rakdos ability is by far the most dangerous but luckily two 1/1 bodies matter much less in 40-life Magic.
I made him a 3/3 to keep consistent with Krenko, Mob Boss. But perhaps a Hill Giant with four activated abilities is a bit much, even for a legend. How about raising the mana cost to 4R or 3RR? I was just trying to avoid having two commanders with the same cmc in the same deck (The Guildpact Council costs WUBRG). And yes, he could have a cost of 2RR, I'm just trying to keep him splashable since he'd be going into a WUBRG deck.
I considered having him produce four different types of Goblin token:
A 1/1 BR Goblin Rogue with unleash.
A 1/1 RG Goblin Warrior with bloodthirst 2.
A 1/1 UR Goblin Wizard with prowess.
A 1/1 RW Goblin Soldier with first strike.
But I felt it better to have the different utility effects. Producing at least one type of multicolored token is helpful as The Guildpact Council provides an anthem boost to your other multicolor creatures, meaning the tokens want to be multicolor as well (Assemble the Legion, Grove of the Guardian, etc.).
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I think downgrading/upcosting the abilities would be appropriate. Just turning all your cards in hand into better Dragon Fodder as a quarter of the card's capabilities is just too much otherwise. I'd go with 2H and still'd call it a steal. Alternatively you could go with gold activation costs over hybrid activation costs - actually rewarding you for bringing additional guilds into the fold.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
I think downgrading/upcosting the abilities would be appropriate. Just turning all your cards in hand into better Dragon Fodder as a quarter of the card's capabilities is just too much otherwise. I'd go with 2H and still'd call it a steal. Alternatively you could go with gold activation costs over hybrid activation costs - actually rewarding you for bringing additional guilds into the fold.
I can understand if the costing seems a tad low. I was taking into account the fact that the player has to get Krenko onto the battlefield, and assuming they cast him on curve, keep him around long enough to untap mana sources again to activate his abilities. If it only costed 1(B/R) to get the two tokens, it would be pushed, but the first two tokens are effectively 4(B/R)R plus a discard. Yeah, you do get a 3/3 body on top of it, and altogether it's probably less than what you'd have to pay for a Hill Giant + two hasty tokens.
I'm looking for uniformity in the costs as it's more aesthetically pleasing. Since Krenko comes from a world focused on two-color factions, I liked using two-mana costs to help emphasize that fact. But if the Rakdos ability needs to be upcosted, I should probably upcost the other abilities to keep it even.
Part of the appeal is the flexibility; Krenko can be a WUBRG commander, a monored commander, or something in between. So I'd definitely want to keep the abilities hybrid.
I just love that I seem to have found a third way to do WUBRG legends, after General Tazri and plain WUBRG. This design template could be repeated in the future for, say, blue-centric Merfolk or green-centric Elves.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I'm looking for uniformity in the costs as it's more aesthetically pleasing. Since Krenko comes from a world focused on two-color factions, I liked using two-mana costs to help emphasize that fact. But if the Rakdos ability needs to be upcosted, I should probably upcost the other abilities to keep it even.
Exactly my point. I used the red-black ability as an example, but due to the repeatability and high level in flexibility and the fact that you don't even need a second color to access all four abilities I'd suggest upping the cost on most of those even without pattern.
Part of the appeal is the flexibility; Krenko can be a WUBRG commander, a monored commander, or something in between. So I'd definitely want to keep the abilities hybrid.
Well, still could be with my suggestion - and only as a monocolored commander he would really be disappointing. It's certainly an interesting pattern to actually have on the card since your opponent won't know your colors - and by extension which abilities you actually have at your disposal.
I just love that I seem to have found a third way to do WUBRG legends, after General Tazri and plain WUBRG. This design template could be repeated in the future for, say, blue-centric Merfolk or green-centric Elves.
Well, the pattern is not different from what we have seen before on Unstable legendaries except taken to the extreme of four abilities - and it's honestly a bit unappealing that way. The fact that the additional colors don't actually unlock anything new is also unsatisfying on its own level.
Imagine the gameplay with a Krenko that has access to all its abilities from the moment they hid the battlefield (if you hav mana open rather than slamming them by tapping out) as opposed to one that gets more dangerous as you draw additional lands. As a player you want to maximize power, but as a game creator you want to maximize excitement and immersion.
I know what I think makes for more enthralling situations and better stories (and keeps the converted activation cost at 2 without pushing the power level overly).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Krenko, Goblin Ringleader 3R
Legendary Creature - Goblin Rogue
1(B/R), Discard a card: Create two 1/1 black and red Goblin Rogue creature tokens with haste.
1(R/G), Tap an untapped Goblin creature you control: The tapped Goblin fights another target creature.
1(U/R), Return a Goblin you control to its owner's hand: Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
1(R/W): Goblins you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
3/3
Art concept: Krenko standing in a room with four other Goblins nearby, one each from Rakdos, Gruul, Izzet, and Boros. He's grinning, and appears to be planning something big involving Ravnica's Goblins.
Yep, a new Krenko, one that serves as a flexible WUBRG commander for Goblins. The abilities are still in flux, but the idea is that he has four Goblin-related activated abilities, each aligned with one of the red guilds, with a hybrid mana cost of the appropriate red pair. While Krenko is functional by himself, he's obviously better with a lot of Goblins in your deck. As a result, the Ravnica deck has a small Goblin subtheme, mostly consisting of various multicolor Goblins like Boros Recruit, Feral Animist, and Goblin Electromancer.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
I considered having him produce four different types of Goblin token:
But I felt it better to have the different utility effects. Producing at least one type of multicolored token is helpful as The Guildpact Council provides an anthem boost to your other multicolor creatures, meaning the tokens want to be multicolor as well (Assemble the Legion, Grove of the Guardian, etc.).
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Better Krenko's Command, you mean.
I can understand if the costing seems a tad low. I was taking into account the fact that the player has to get Krenko onto the battlefield, and assuming they cast him on curve, keep him around long enough to untap mana sources again to activate his abilities. If it only costed 1(B/R) to get the two tokens, it would be pushed, but the first two tokens are effectively 4(B/R)R plus a discard. Yeah, you do get a 3/3 body on top of it, and altogether it's probably less than what you'd have to pay for a Hill Giant + two hasty tokens.
I'm looking for uniformity in the costs as it's more aesthetically pleasing. Since Krenko comes from a world focused on two-color factions, I liked using two-mana costs to help emphasize that fact. But if the Rakdos ability needs to be upcosted, I should probably upcost the other abilities to keep it even.
Part of the appeal is the flexibility; Krenko can be a WUBRG commander, a monored commander, or something in between. So I'd definitely want to keep the abilities hybrid.
I just love that I seem to have found a third way to do WUBRG legends, after General Tazri and plain WUBRG. This design template could be repeated in the future for, say, blue-centric Merfolk or green-centric Elves.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Exactly my point. I used the red-black ability as an example, but due to the repeatability and high level in flexibility and the fact that you don't even need a second color to access all four abilities I'd suggest upping the cost on most of those even without pattern.
Well, still could be with my suggestion - and only as a monocolored commander he would really be disappointing. It's certainly an interesting pattern to actually have on the card since your opponent won't know your colors - and by extension which abilities you actually have at your disposal.
Well, the pattern is not different from what we have seen before on Unstable legendaries except taken to the extreme of four abilities - and it's honestly a bit unappealing that way. The fact that the additional colors don't actually unlock anything new is also unsatisfying on its own level.
Imagine the gameplay with a Krenko that has access to all its abilities from the moment they hid the battlefield (if you hav mana open rather than slamming them by tapping out) as opposed to one that gets more dangerous as you draw additional lands. As a player you want to maximize power, but as a game creator you want to maximize excitement and immersion.
I know what I think makes for more enthralling situations and better stories (and keeps the converted activation cost at 2 without pushing the power level overly).
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO