Genza, Tranquil CenobiteGWU
Legendary Creature – Human Monk [MR]
At the beginning of your upkeep, if the total converted mana cost amongof permanents you control is equal to 7, choose one:
- Target creature you control gets +7/+7 until end of turn.
- You gain 7 life.
- Scry 7. 0/7
See spoiler below for Genza, Tranquil Cenobite design notes:
I wanted to create a legendary creature that covers relatively unexplored design space that Johnny/Jenny players would enjoy building a deck around. The idea I had was to design a card that rewards you for maintaining a specific converted mana cost among permanents you control. Genza, Tranquil Cenobite was designed with the Commander format in mind but because I don’t see any immediate power issues I could imagine the card appearing in a Standard legal set.
Genza, Tranquil Cenobite has a high toughness which makes it resilient to damage based removal while also functioning as a solid defense while setting up your total converted mana cost to 7. This can be supported with various permanents with low mana costs plus instant bounce spells and spells with flash to make it more difficult for opponents to interrupt your set up (i.e. Snap, Restoration Angel). Genza, Tranquil Cenobite can also be supported with a sub creature token theme (as tokens have a converted mana cost of zero) or a spell slinging shell with a high number of non permanent spells. If I were to explore the design space further, I would likely create trinkets or cantrips that allow you to temporarily change the converted mana cost of a permanent to 1.
The three options you can choose if you meet the criteria of the triggered ability cover the spectrum of Genza, Tranquil Cenobite's color identity (scry is primary in blue, life gain is primary in white, stat boost is primary in green). They are roughly equal power level in terms of what their mana cost would be (i.e. Might of Oaks, Angel's Mercy).
Note: Scry 7 seems like it could potentially have some developmental issues, specifically that it could cause turns to take longer than usual. However, I don't believe this is a serious issue though considering it is a mythic rare design and the player actually scrying 7 wouldn't happen frequently due to it being one of three options of an ability that is already conditional. While there is no precedent of cards with Scry 7, Dig Through Time and Ancestral Memories often function similarly to what Scry 7 would be (i.e. sometimes Scry 7 will function as an extended Impulse, especially in decks with multiple shuffle effects).
It should be "...total CMC of permanents you control..." not among.
A very simple and effective Chinese menu multicolored card. It doesn't play well with haste creatures but that is less of a concern in these colors. The more pressing concern is the vast power gap between abilities. The Scry has a far lead on value, and being actual scry rather than just rearranging makes it viable to use each turn. The pump is useful as a fast closer but they are far too strong a wall which pushes you into turtleling and using the scry until you've completely taken over the game. Also the no duration is a nightmare after a few turns. It should last until your next turn, not indefinitely. The life gain is by far the weakest ability and yet when needed will be the most powerful. A 7 life swing easily takes you out of burn range, and creatures will have a hard time getting past a 0/7.
Then you have the problem of actually getting them to work. Having exactly 7 CMC is no easy feat, especially over multiple turns. This card would benefit greatly by moving its trigger to beginning of combat. It makes it easier to control your numbers and adds significant value to the pump. If you want the pump being permanent it needs to use a counter and should set base stats to 7 rather than pumping.
A three-mana 0/7 might be a problem in standard. Not sure; I don't remember Glacial Wall stirring up much commotion. Either way it's definitely fine on a commander.
I'm assuming the +7/+7 is supposed to be until end of turn, since you listed Might of Oaks as a comparison. If not then there are some obvious problems with that one.
I don't see any serious problems with this commander. It needs other permanents to get to 7, and yet permanents beyond that are actively bad for you and are dead draws, so you need to carefully consider the number of permanents in your deck.
Scry 7 is blatantly the strongest, partly because it can help you avoid the dead draws of unneeded extra permanents. However, +7/+7 (until EoT) is still worth using sometimes. The two together motivates you to plan ahead when you stack your deck with the scry so that you'll have a free turn or two to use the pump instead. Which is neat. Or he/she could just be a hard control commander, and that is probably a better playstyle, but there are definitely stronger ones out there. The +7/+7 is held back a lot by the fact that you are limited on what creatures you can play while keeping that 7 CMC.
But gaining life just isn't worth the opportunity cost of giving up a scry 7. You might try a new mode there.
1. These options are very unequal in power level. gaining 7 Life is easily the weakest option.
2. Scry 7 is a pain in the behind to resolve. If you are not 100% familiar with your deck and knoiw exactly what to look for, this will take ages and frustrate players. there is a good reason Wizards is reluctant to print cards with scry >2. MaRo goes into great detail in one of his podcasts on how big srcies have multiple issues.
Legendary Creature – Human Monk [MR]
At the beginning of your upkeep, if the total converted mana cost
amongof permanents you control is equal to 7, choose one:- Target creature you control gets +7/+7 until end of turn.
- You gain 7 life.
- Scry 7.
0/7
See spoiler below for Genza, Tranquil Cenobite design notes:
I wanted to create a legendary creature that covers relatively unexplored design space that Johnny/Jenny players would enjoy building a deck around. The idea I had was to design a card that rewards you for maintaining a specific converted mana cost among permanents you control. Genza, Tranquil Cenobite was designed with the Commander format in mind but because I don’t see any immediate power issues I could imagine the card appearing in a Standard legal set.
Genza, Tranquil Cenobite has a high toughness which makes it resilient to damage based removal while also functioning as a solid defense while setting up your total converted mana cost to 7. This can be supported with various permanents with low mana costs plus instant bounce spells and spells with flash to make it more difficult for opponents to interrupt your set up (i.e. Snap, Restoration Angel). Genza, Tranquil Cenobite can also be supported with a sub creature token theme (as tokens have a converted mana cost of zero) or a spell slinging shell with a high number of non permanent spells. If I were to explore the design space further, I would likely create trinkets or cantrips that allow you to temporarily change the converted mana cost of a permanent to 1.
The three options you can choose if you meet the criteria of the triggered ability cover the spectrum of Genza, Tranquil Cenobite's color identity (scry is primary in blue, life gain is primary in white, stat boost is primary in green). They are roughly equal power level in terms of what their mana cost would be (i.e. Might of Oaks, Angel's Mercy).
Note: Scry 7 seems like it could potentially have some developmental issues, specifically that it could cause turns to take longer than usual. However, I don't believe this is a serious issue though considering it is a mythic rare design and the player actually scrying 7 wouldn't happen frequently due to it being one of three options of an ability that is already conditional. While there is no precedent of cards with Scry 7, Dig Through Time and Ancestral Memories often function similarly to what Scry 7 would be (i.e. sometimes Scry 7 will function as an extended Impulse, especially in decks with multiple shuffle effects).
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
A very simple and effective Chinese menu multicolored card. It doesn't play well with haste creatures but that is less of a concern in these colors. The more pressing concern is the vast power gap between abilities. The Scry has a far lead on value, and being actual scry rather than just rearranging makes it viable to use each turn. The pump is useful as a fast closer but they are far too strong a wall which pushes you into turtleling and using the scry until you've completely taken over the game. Also the no duration is a nightmare after a few turns. It should last until your next turn, not indefinitely. The life gain is by far the weakest ability and yet when needed will be the most powerful. A 7 life swing easily takes you out of burn range, and creatures will have a hard time getting past a 0/7.
Then you have the problem of actually getting them to work. Having exactly 7 CMC is no easy feat, especially over multiple turns. This card would benefit greatly by moving its trigger to beginning of combat. It makes it easier to control your numbers and adds significant value to the pump. If you want the pump being permanent it needs to use a counter and should set base stats to 7 rather than pumping.
Also since GWU is how, I suggest rearranging the ability sequence to pump, life and scry order.
Would be nicer if this got +7/+0 in addition to pumping something else with +7/+7
I'm assuming the +7/+7 is supposed to be until end of turn, since you listed Might of Oaks as a comparison. If not then there are some obvious problems with that one.
I don't see any serious problems with this commander. It needs other permanents to get to 7, and yet permanents beyond that are actively bad for you and are dead draws, so you need to carefully consider the number of permanents in your deck.
Scry 7 is blatantly the strongest, partly because it can help you avoid the dead draws of unneeded extra permanents. However, +7/+7 (until EoT) is still worth using sometimes. The two together motivates you to plan ahead when you stack your deck with the scry so that you'll have a free turn or two to use the pump instead. Which is neat. Or he/she could just be a hard control commander, and that is probably a better playstyle, but there are definitely stronger ones out there. The +7/+7 is held back a lot by the fact that you are limited on what creatures you can play while keeping that 7 CMC.
But gaining life just isn't worth the opportunity cost of giving up a scry 7. You might try a new mode there.
- Rabid Wombat
2. Scry 7 is a pain in the behind to resolve. If you are not 100% familiar with your deck and knoiw exactly what to look for, this will take ages and frustrate players. there is a good reason Wizards is reluctant to print cards with scry >2. MaRo goes into great detail in one of his podcasts on how big srcies have multiple issues.
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WUBRG The Ur-Dragon ~~~ Dragons eat your face