So I've been in a Lorwyn mood lately.
I has occurred to me that most of the tribes never got a 3-color legend to unify their Lorwyn and Shadowmoor color identities.
In particular, elves have no options for a BGW commander. Which is an extra shame because of the Selesnya and Golgari elves that have come along in all of the Ravnicas. Our elves just can't be all that they could be!
Talara Many-Tined1
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever a non-Elf creature attacks you, you may pay G. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token. 1B, Sacrifice an Elf: Target non-Elf creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. 1W, Sacrifice an Elf: Target Elf gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
Talara was the Safewright of Wilt-Leaf in Shadowmoor, and isn't known to have either died or failed to protect Wilt-Leaf, so she may have made it into the post-Aurora Lorwyn. Elves of Lorwyn all care about killing the ugly and protecting their beautiful forests and themselves from the ugliness beyond. I think that this design captures that flavor pretty well. She can be played with only green mana, since green will be the dominant color in any elf deck, but also in any combination of the three colors, just in case she's needed before you can get your full colors.
I think the trigger should be "1 or more" non-elf attackers, since this otherwise invalidates every non-trampling, non-evasive, non-mirror match attack for only G apiece. The activated abilities even allow you to fry attackers that the elves can't block, which is too strong for a creature with only 3 CMC.
I like the card design but honestly I think she has to cost at the very least GWB. The hybrid mana makes her so easy to put down early, which turns her into a real nightmare too fast for many decks to face. She might even need to cost more mana entirely just because she offers a ton of utility.
One token per attack rather than one token per attacker seems like a reasonable change. I could also consider increasing the cost, so making those tokens would become to mana-intensive to use them to block everything.
The idea behind the hybrid is that she can be played in any combination, but all of her abilities require those specific colors, so all you're guaranteed is a 3/3 for 3. I would much rather tinker with the ability costs rather than the mana cost.
Talara Many-Tined1
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever a non-Elf creature deals combat damage to you, you may pay GW. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token. BG, Sacrifice an Elf: Target non-elf creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. WB, Sacrifice an Elf: Target Elf gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
Too many changes? Tokens can't be used for immediate blocking, all costs are more specific, and thus harder to use, plus she now really requires you to come up with two colors, all you get for just 1GG is a 3/3.
One token per attack rather than one token per attacker seems like a reasonable change. I could also consider increasing the cost, so making those tokens would become to mana-intensive to use them to block everything.
The idea behind the hybrid is that she can be played in any combination, but all of her abilities require those specific colors, so all you're guaranteed is a 3/3 for 3. I would much rather tinker with the ability costs rather than the mana cost.
Talara Many-Tined1
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever a non-Elf creature deals combat damage to you, you may pay GW. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token. BG, Sacrifice an Elf: Target non-elf creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. WB, Sacrifice an Elf: Target Elf gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
Too many changes? Tokens can't be used for immediate blocking, all costs are more specific, and thus harder to use, plus she now really requires you to come up with two colors, all you get for just 1GG is a 3/3.
Honestly I like the single mana cost activations more than this version. But I like the "make a single elf token" effect.
I can't give you a link, but I remember Maro having said on his blog that costs with two different hybrid mana symbols , despite their mechanical advantages, are not very likely to ever see print since they tend to be seen as unweildy and ugly. I too think they should be avoided.
If the point is that G is the main color, why not just make her cost 2G? She would still fulfill all requirements: Her single-color mana cost makes her easy to cast in a three-color deck and her activated abilites ensure that she's playable as a commander of an BGW elf deck.
I like the first version more, all those different mana symbols in the text box of version 2 look pretty weird. The first version's weakness (design-wise) is that it's too much of an "army in the can". I like having the Elf-making ability cost just G, but if you can pay for every attacking non-Elf, Talara spirals out of control pretty quickly. Either you're going to get focused immediately or nobody will attack you. In a multiplayer game the latter is probably fine, but at least I personally tend to dislike effects that I never quite get to use. There's a simple fix though: The trigger could be "whenever an opponent attacks you with one or more non-Elf creatures". It wouldn't completely discourage your opponents from attacking (because a single extra Elf is more easy to deal with than five) but would still enable you to develop your board over the course of the game.
I happen to disagree about the multiple hybrid symbols. When two hybrid symbols with an overlapping color are placed next to one another with the shared color in the middle, I find them to be not only aesthetically pleasing, but easy to read and understand. It becomes clunky when adjacent colors are not the same, however.
But the point wasn't just that green is her primary color, it's that she's very flexible within her colors, and can be played in any combination of the three, including in situations where you haven't got any green. Maybe that's too much flexibility, but if I make her just cost green, I feel that she loses some of the Lorwyn multicolor flavor. Just one hybrid with a non-hybrid symbol has no objections, and would address Creedmor's earlier concern about being too much utility for such an easy cost. I don't really want to dig into twobrid mana, that's always looked wrong to me, but it too would be a possibility, making you pay extra for the flexibility.
I'll also concede the point about how rapidly she creates tokens.
Talara Many-Tined1G -or- ?
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever one or more non-Elf creatures attack you, you may pay G. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token. 1B, sacrifice an Elf: Target non-Elf creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. 1W, sacrifice an Elf: Target Elf gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
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I has occurred to me that most of the tribes never got a 3-color legend to unify their Lorwyn and Shadowmoor color identities.
In particular, elves have no options for a BGW commander. Which is an extra shame because of the Selesnya and Golgari elves that have come along in all of the Ravnicas. Our elves just can't be all that they could be!
Talara Many-Tined 1
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever a non-Elf creature attacks you, you may pay G. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token.
1B, Sacrifice an Elf: Target non-Elf creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1W, Sacrifice an Elf: Target Elf gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
Talara was the Safewright of Wilt-Leaf in Shadowmoor, and isn't known to have either died or failed to protect Wilt-Leaf, so she may have made it into the post-Aurora Lorwyn. Elves of Lorwyn all care about killing the ugly and protecting their beautiful forests and themselves from the ugliness beyond. I think that this design captures that flavor pretty well. She can be played with only green mana, since green will be the dominant color in any elf deck, but also in any combination of the three colors, just in case she's needed before you can get your full colors.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
The idea behind the hybrid is that she can be played in any combination, but all of her abilities require those specific colors, so all you're guaranteed is a 3/3 for 3. I would much rather tinker with the ability costs rather than the mana cost.
Talara Many-Tined 1
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever a non-Elf creature deals combat damage to you, you may pay GW. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token.
BG, Sacrifice an Elf: Target non-elf creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
WB, Sacrifice an Elf: Target Elf gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
Too many changes? Tokens can't be used for immediate blocking, all costs are more specific, and thus harder to use, plus she now really requires you to come up with two colors, all you get for just 1GG is a 3/3.
Honestly I like the single mana cost activations more than this version. But I like the "make a single elf token" effect.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
If the point is that G is the main color, why not just make her cost 2G? She would still fulfill all requirements: Her single-color mana cost makes her easy to cast in a three-color deck and her activated abilites ensure that she's playable as a commander of an BGW elf deck.
I like the first version more, all those different mana symbols in the text box of version 2 look pretty weird. The first version's weakness (design-wise) is that it's too much of an "army in the can". I like having the Elf-making ability cost just G, but if you can pay for every attacking non-Elf, Talara spirals out of control pretty quickly. Either you're going to get focused immediately or nobody will attack you. In a multiplayer game the latter is probably fine, but at least I personally tend to dislike effects that I never quite get to use. There's a simple fix though: The trigger could be "whenever an opponent attacks you with one or more non-Elf creatures". It wouldn't completely discourage your opponents from attacking (because a single extra Elf is more easy to deal with than five) but would still enable you to develop your board over the course of the game.
But the point wasn't just that green is her primary color, it's that she's very flexible within her colors, and can be played in any combination of the three, including in situations where you haven't got any green. Maybe that's too much flexibility, but if I make her just cost green, I feel that she loses some of the Lorwyn multicolor flavor. Just one hybrid with a non-hybrid symbol has no objections, and would address Creedmor's earlier concern about being too much utility for such an easy cost. I don't really want to dig into twobrid mana, that's always looked wrong to me, but it too would be a possibility, making you pay extra for the flexibility.
I'll also concede the point about how rapidly she creates tokens.
Talara Many-Tined 1 G -or- ?
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever one or more non-Elf creatures attack you, you may pay G. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token.
1B, sacrifice an Elf: Target non-Elf creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1W, sacrifice an Elf: Target Elf gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3