Often, white has been getting cards that produce 4/4 angel tokens during cycles of cards where other colors get more interesting effects. Angels do not comparatively scale into commander as well as cards that move cards between zones (removal / tutoring / card draw / recursion), so this only effectively widens the gap between white and other colors.
Taking a page out of Scroll of Avacyn, I'd like to see some designs that leverage those random angel tokens and scale up themselves if you have one. I'm aiming at designs that are playable on their own but are markedly better with an angel.
Answered Prayer | 1W
Instant (U)
Exile target creature attacking you.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, exile target nonland permanent instead.
Divine Restoration | 1W
Sorcery (R)
Return target permanent card with converted mana cost three or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, instead, for each permanent type, return up to one target permanent card of that type with converted mana cost three or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Devout Captain | 1WW
Creature — Human Soldier (U)
This creature enters the battlefield tapped.
When this creature dies in combat, create a white 4/4 angel token with flying. 2/2
Massaging the removal slot a bit more:
Answered Prayer | 2W
Instant (C)
Destroy target attacking creature.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, destroy target nonland permanent instead.
This is a plausible common for a draft environment with Devout Captain but can also be used on the captain to turn it into an angel, which is cute.
Divine Punishment | W
Instant (U)
Exile target creature that dealt damage this turn.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, exile target nonland permanent instead.
This pushes the base form to require damage be taken (or blocked), which also allows white to leverage lifegain spells to make this card a bit more efficient. As a bonus, it becomes a 1-mana removal spell that catches all permanent types when the angel exists. Being 1 mana is likely of relevance when it comes to hard casting a normal angel and being able to hold this up at the same time.
They seem cool and decently powered. I'd say the first answered prayer is the most printable version of it. 1 Mana to exile any nonland is too strong. Even with the angel factor.
Devout Captain will need some templating, since the game doesn't recognize "dies in combat". I think the closest you can get is "When devout captain dies, if it was dealt combat damage this turn, create a 4/4 white angel creature token with flying."
Devout Captain will need some templating, since the game doesn't recognize "dies in combat". I think the closest you can get is "When devout captain dies, if it was dealt combat damage this turn, create a 4/4 white angel creature token with flying."
The intention is not for it to trigger when killed due to combat damage, just death any time during the combat phase. Perhaps this would be more clear with "When Devout Captain dies during combat,..."
The intention is not for it to trigger when killed due to combat damage, just death any time during the combat phase. Perhaps this would be more clear with "When Devout Captain dies during combat,..."
It took a little gatherer searching, but you are right, Cathedral Membrane is a precedent for that template. It doesn't matter if it is combat damage, sacrificed, etc, but if your concern is just for it to die in the combat step then that is how you can write it.
Templating aside, I like the core ideas of the cards, though I think the effects probably need to cost more simply because 1 mana angels and changelings do exist.
Templating aside, I like the core ideas of the cards, though I think the effects probably need to cost more simply because 1 mana angels and changelings do exist.
I would imagine the standard/limited environments that these are introduced into wouldn't contain those exceptions. A format like modern would have them but I strongly suspect that the low cost angels/changelings that would enable the extra mode would not be competitively viable even together.
Geist of Saint Traft is the only thing in modern that comes to mind that might want these but Traft is an attacking deck where the removal spell, without access to Traft->Angel, is a control card and even there, Path to Exile already exists as reliable removal. It's not immediately clear to me that the power level on any of these is too high.
Geist of Saint Traft is the only thing in modern that comes to mind that might want these but Traft is an attacking deck where the removal spell, without access to Traft->Angel, is a control card and even there, Path to Exile already exists as reliable removal. It's not immediately clear to me that the power level on any of these is too high.
Path is more effecient creature removal in a vacuum, but against creatureless decks it is a dead draw. In a deck built with cheap changelings/angels, Answered Prayer is both more versatile and doesn't ramp the opponent. (Aside - Answered Prayers is already a card)
Divine restoration is already powerful without the angel rider and should probably cost 3. With the rider and the potential to recur five permanents, this needs to cost 4 at least, because that is really easy to fill your graveyard and then pop a bunch of things back.
Also, Devout Chaplain is a very similar name to Devout Captain. These things probably irritate me more than they should; in a real set, they'd be called Captain of Nunya or whatever they wanted to call the city they come from in the set's plane. It's hard to make new names for cards that aren't similar in some way to something previous.
Divine Restoration doesn't really need the "angel payoff" when compared to cards like Restore if you ask me. And in any case, it's strange that the Angel on the battlefield is helping you to aim your stuff at noncreature permanents. I think they should be more like, (effect) + (bonus effect with Angel that fits Angel flavor.) Perhaps Sundering Growth was the Angel Token enabler we needed all along?
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Taking a page out of Scroll of Avacyn, I'd like to see some designs that leverage those random angel tokens and scale up themselves if you have one. I'm aiming at designs that are playable on their own but are markedly better with an angel.
Instant (U)
Exile target creature attacking you.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, exile target nonland permanent instead.
Sorcery (R)
Return target permanent card with converted mana cost three or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, instead, for each permanent type, return up to one target permanent card of that type with converted mana cost three or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Creature — Human Soldier (U)
This creature enters the battlefield tapped.
When this creature dies in combat, create a white 4/4 angel token with flying.
2/2
Massaging the removal slot a bit more:
Instant (C)
Destroy target attacking creature.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, destroy target nonland permanent instead.
This is a plausible common for a draft environment with Devout Captain but can also be used on the captain to turn it into an angel, which is cute.
Instant (U)
Exile target creature that dealt damage this turn.
If you control an angel as you cast this spell, exile target nonland permanent instead.
This pushes the base form to require damage be taken (or blocked), which also allows white to leverage lifegain spells to make this card a bit more efficient. As a bonus, it becomes a 1-mana removal spell that catches all permanent types when the angel exists. Being 1 mana is likely of relevance when it comes to hard casting a normal angel and being able to hold this up at the same time.
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
It took a little gatherer searching, but you are right, Cathedral Membrane is a precedent for that template. It doesn't matter if it is combat damage, sacrificed, etc, but if your concern is just for it to die in the combat step then that is how you can write it.
Templating aside, I like the core ideas of the cards, though I think the effects probably need to cost more simply because 1 mana angels and changelings do exist.
Geist of Saint Traft is the only thing in modern that comes to mind that might want these but Traft is an attacking deck where the removal spell, without access to Traft->Angel, is a control card and even there, Path to Exile already exists as reliable removal. It's not immediately clear to me that the power level on any of these is too high.
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
Path is more effecient creature removal in a vacuum, but against creatureless decks it is a dead draw. In a deck built with cheap changelings/angels, Answered Prayer is both more versatile and doesn't ramp the opponent. (Aside - Answered Prayers is already a card)
Divine restoration is already powerful without the angel rider and should probably cost 3. With the rider and the potential to recur five permanents, this needs to cost 4 at least, because that is really easy to fill your graveyard and then pop a bunch of things back.
Also, Devout Chaplain is a very similar name to Devout Captain. These things probably irritate me more than they should; in a real set, they'd be called Captain of Nunya or whatever they wanted to call the city they come from in the set's plane. It's hard to make new names for cards that aren't similar in some way to something previous.
Divine Restoration doesn't really need the "angel payoff" when compared to cards like Restore if you ask me. And in any case, it's strange that the Angel on the battlefield is helping you to aim your stuff at noncreature permanents. I think they should be more like, (effect) + (bonus effect with Angel that fits Angel flavor.) Perhaps Sundering Growth was the Angel Token enabler we needed all along?