You know how R&D has been wanting to up blue's (common) creature presence in Limited formats? I propose something along these lines, keyword wise, for a potential evergreen addition.
Chameleon Cutthroat
3U
Creature - Human Rogue
2/3
Elusive (This creature can be blocked only by creatures with haste and/or defender.)
Shadowcloak Assassin
2B
Creature - Human Assassin
1/1
Elusive, deathtouch
Whenever Shadowcloak Assassin attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
Why haste and defender? Defender should be straightforward. Haste was thrown in for two reasons: one, the idea is that they can 'catch' someone being elusive do to their speed. Defenders are just extra watchful or ultra-protective or some such. (By extension, vigilance could probably go in here as well, but I used defender simply because Defender needs more lurv.)
And continuing on in shenanigans land, only for red this time.
The 'combat keyword' that R&D is looking for is the opposite of an evasion keyword. It's a keyword that helps blue in creature combat, not in getting through. (Blue already has plenty of ways to do that.) Some examples of combat keywords are first strike, deathtouch, lifelink, and vigilance.
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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.
- Manite
Because its a strictly worse deathtouch. And before you bring up flying/reach - flying is seen in all colors and is almost considered a vanilla ability, and reach is a counter to it. And in the case of First/Double Strike, Double Strike is too strong to be seen more than a couple times per set. Simply put, players would just wonder why blue has an ability that is completely inferior to another black ability.
Because its a strictly worse deathtouch. And before you bring up flying/reach - flying is seen in all colors and is almost considered a vanilla ability, and reach is a counter to it. And in the case of First/Double Strike, Double Strike is too strong to be seen more than a couple times per set. Simply put, players would just wonder why blue has an ability that is completely inferior to another black ability.
If I put death touch on a 0/4 for 2, the card is terrible. If I put Benumb on a 0/4 for 2, it turns into a limited staple. Benumb is definitely not strictly worse than death touch. Benumb would also tend to cost less than death touch because it is generally weaker.
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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.
- Manite
He misread Benumb as "when this deals damage to a creature" rather than "when a creature deals damage to this".
Also, new players are kinda bad at noticing the discount of a card rather than the punishment of a card. For instance, Echo gives you a nice discount, but newbies dislike it because they can't see that part (they don't have a baseline for the cost, so they can't see the discount) and only can see the weakness of it. The same would probably happen to Benumb.
Also, with literally any other power but 0, deathtouch is usually gonna be better.
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You are correct, I did misread it. But, the same main points still stand:
Unless you have 0 power, it has the exact same problem.
Introducing such an unexciting evergreen keyword at this point would just be a big let down for many players, when they could simply just leave it unkeyworded.
It doesn't make combat more interesting for blue. It just gives them slightly better advantage afterwards, which again could just be left unkeyworded.
And, probably the most important aspect for me: Its most comparable to Lifelink than anything - it doesn't give your creature anything to survive combat or give it extra lethality in combat, it just gives you temporary benefits.
He misread Benumb as "when this deals damage to a creature" rather than "when a creature deals damage to this".
Also, new players are kinda bad at noticing the discount of a card rather than the punishment of a card. For instance, Echo gives you a nice discount, but newbies dislike it because they can't see that part (they don't have a baseline for the cost, so they can't see the discount) and only can see the weakness of it. The same would probably happen to Benumb.
Also, with literally any other power but 0, deathtouch is usually gonna be better.
This is a rough list of when benumb can be better than death touch...
1. First strike (double)
2. Creatures with zero power
3. Regeneration
4. Instant speed Protection
5. Damage prevention
6. Indestructible
7. Some creatures with tap abilities.
... A lot of this stuff is found at common. I know the ability is generally worse than death touch, but trample is generally worse than flying and that doesn't stop trample from existing. I think Benumb is different enough from death touch to be a coexisting keyword. Maybe that is just me though.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
- Manite
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Chameleon Cutthroat
3U
Creature - Human Rogue
2/3
Elusive (This creature can be blocked only by creatures with haste and/or defender.)
Shadowcloak Assassin
2B
Creature - Human Assassin
1/1
Elusive, deathtouch
Whenever Shadowcloak Assassin attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +3/+0 until end of turn.
Why haste and defender? Defender should be straightforward. Haste was thrown in for two reasons: one, the idea is that they can 'catch' someone being elusive do to their speed. Defenders are just extra watchful or ultra-protective or some such. (By extension, vigilance could probably go in here as well, but I used defender simply because Defender needs more lurv.)
And continuing on in shenanigans land, only for red this time.
Firefoot Vandal
3R
Creature - Goblin Warrior
2/2
Haste
Creatures without haste can't block Firefoot Vandal.
Should be self-explanatory flavor wise.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Benumb (whenever a creature deals damage to this, tap that creature. It doesn't untap during its controllers next untap step)
- Manite
Avant Block: Avant -- Stormfront
- Manite
Also, new players are kinda bad at noticing the discount of a card rather than the punishment of a card. For instance, Echo gives you a nice discount, but newbies dislike it because they can't see that part (they don't have a baseline for the cost, so they can't see the discount) and only can see the weakness of it. The same would probably happen to Benumb.
Also, with literally any other power but 0, deathtouch is usually gonna be better.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Unless you have 0 power, it has the exact same problem.
Introducing such an unexciting evergreen keyword at this point would just be a big let down for many players, when they could simply just leave it unkeyworded.
It doesn't make combat more interesting for blue. It just gives them slightly better advantage afterwards, which again could just be left unkeyworded.
And, probably the most important aspect for me: Its most comparable to Lifelink than anything - it doesn't give your creature anything to survive combat or give it extra lethality in combat, it just gives you temporary benefits.
Avant Block: Avant -- Stormfront
This is a rough list of when benumb can be better than death touch...
1. First strike (double)
2. Creatures with zero power
3. Regeneration
4. Instant speed Protection
5. Damage prevention
6. Indestructible
7. Some creatures with tap abilities.
... A lot of this stuff is found at common. I know the ability is generally worse than death touch, but trample is generally worse than flying and that doesn't stop trample from existing. I think Benumb is different enough from death touch to be a coexisting keyword. Maybe that is just me though.
- Manite