Wanted to make a special kind of planeswalker hate. While red falls absolutely last in getting flash, this is an effect that I don’t think would feel right in any other color.
Aether Assailant
Creature- Human Shaman
Flash
Whenever a planeswalker enters the battlefield under an opponent’s control, Aether Assailant deals 2 damage to that opponent.
2/1
With this card on the field, you can bolt a LotV (for example) while the trigger is in the stack, keeping the opponent from maintaining priority and instantly using a loyalty ability. I think that this sort of trigger should exist on at least one card... though I might be alone in that.
Its neat but I don't think it should have flash. As you noted red is last in flash meaning it should only get flash if the rest of the design relies on flash to function (Example dualcaster mage.) No part of this requires that the card have flash so its is reasonably dropped.
Also a quick fix on wording. "Whenever a planeswalker enters the battlefield under an opponent's control..." we have many examples of this effect for creatures so we can use the same format just swap the permanent type we care about.
While the syntax of this card doesn't require flash, saying that this card doesn't need flash is like saying that containment priest doesn't need flash. While Containment Priest would technically work if it had vigilance or lifelink, it wouldn't work as a "gotcha" effect... and this card is explicitly designed to be used as a "gotcha" effect in a similar vein.
The entire part of this card is:
P1: I cast *Insert Planeswalker 1*
P2: I cast Aether Assailant
*Both resolve*
P2: With Aether Assailant's trigger on the stack, I cast Lightning Bolt.
If I replaced flash with haste, this would virtually never occur as the move would be telegraphed.
You are quite right about the wording, however. It has been fixed.
While the syntax of this card doesn't require flash, saying that this card doesn't need flash is like saying that containment priest doesn't need flash. While Containment Priest would technically work if it had vigilance or lifelink, it wouldn't work as a "gotcha" effect... and this card is explicitly designed to be used as a "gotcha" effect in a similar vein.
The entire part of this card is:
P1: I cast *Insert Planeswalker 1*
P2: I cast Aether Assailant
*Both resolve*
P2: With Aether Assailant's trigger on the stack, I cast Lightning Bolt.
If I replaced flash with haste, this would virtually never occur as the move would be telegraphed.
You are quite right about the wording, however. It has been fixed.
You do see the difference between Containment Priest and this card right? Look at your proposed scenario.
In a scenario with priest it goes
Player A casts Collected Company
Player B responds with Containment Priest. Priest effectively counters the collected company.
For this card.
Player A casts a Walker
Player B casts this card. Nothing significant happens unless Player B has additional cards.
This isn't a gotcha card because it doesn't get you. It just creates an unusual opportunity. Gotcha cards need flash because you wouldn't normally play into them while there is no reason a player wouldn't play into this.
I actually think I'm with Rosy on this one. While the flash on this isn't as big of a flash on Containment Priest, playing this guy the turn after your opponent plays a planeswalker and then upticks it feels really bad. Without flash I'm not sure I would ever play this card unless it was against a very specific deck that only cared about playing walkers. Even with the flash, I feel that way. But I think the flash is the most important part because it doesn't let your opponent uptick correctly.
I actually think I'm with Rosy on this one. While the flash on this isn't as big of a flash on Containment Priest, playing this guy the turn after your opponent plays a planeswalker and then upticks it feels really bad. Without flash I'm not sure I would ever play this card unless it was against a very specific deck that only cared about playing walkers. Even with the flash, I feel that way. But I think the flash is the most important part because it doesn't let your opponent uptick correctly.
I mean, yeah, of course the card would be stronger with flash. Nobody's saying that flash would be useless. The question here is whether this needs flash, which is important because this card is red. Red's color pie is dead last in how often the color gets flash, so it can't just be thrown on like you would first strike or haste. Instead, red's flash comes on a strictly as-needed basis, so the real question is whether flash is necessary for this card to function. The answer to this is a resounding no, since this creature has a lower CMC than most planeswalkers. Decks that rely on planeswalkers are going to take damage if this guy comes down on curve, regardless of whether he is vanilla or has flash, first strike, haste, or anything else that makes him better than a bear.
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Aether Assailant
Creature- Human Shaman
Flash
Whenever a planeswalker enters the battlefield under an opponent’s control, Aether Assailant deals 2 damage to that opponent.
2/1
With this card on the field, you can bolt a LotV (for example) while the trigger is in the stack, keeping the opponent from maintaining priority and instantly using a loyalty ability. I think that this sort of trigger should exist on at least one card... though I might be alone in that.
Also a quick fix on wording. "Whenever a planeswalker enters the battlefield under an opponent's control..." we have many examples of this effect for creatures so we can use the same format just swap the permanent type we care about.
The entire part of this card is:
P1: I cast *Insert Planeswalker 1*
P2: I cast Aether Assailant
*Both resolve*
P2: With Aether Assailant's trigger on the stack, I cast Lightning Bolt.
If I replaced flash with haste, this would virtually never occur as the move would be telegraphed.
You are quite right about the wording, however. It has been fixed.
In a scenario with priest it goes
Player A casts Collected Company
Player B responds with Containment Priest. Priest effectively counters the collected company.
For this card.
Player A casts a Walker
Player B casts this card. Nothing significant happens unless Player B has additional cards.
This isn't a gotcha card because it doesn't get you. It just creates an unusual opportunity. Gotcha cards need flash because you wouldn't normally play into them while there is no reason a player wouldn't play into this.
I was so focused on one specific scenario that I needed to step back and realize that it was a corner-case scenario.
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I mean, yeah, of course the card would be stronger with flash. Nobody's saying that flash would be useless. The question here is whether this needs flash, which is important because this card is red. Red's color pie is dead last in how often the color gets flash, so it can't just be thrown on like you would first strike or haste. Instead, red's flash comes on a strictly as-needed basis, so the real question is whether flash is necessary for this card to function. The answer to this is a resounding no, since this creature has a lower CMC than most planeswalkers. Decks that rely on planeswalkers are going to take damage if this guy comes down on curve, regardless of whether he is vanilla or has flash, first strike, haste, or anything else that makes him better than a bear.