Since Treasure is one of my favorite things to come out of Ixalan, and because they couldn't capture the obvious trope of a Dragon with Treasure in that set, I thought I'd take a swing at a Dragon that not only produces a fair amount of Treasure, but also rewards you for playing with lots of artifacts.
Treasure-Hoard Dragon4RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, create three colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
~ gets +1/+0 for each artifact you control.
4/4
I also considered other designs, like a Dragon that accumulates hoard counters whenever it deals combat damage to a player, then gives you a number of Treasure tokens equal to the number of hoard counters on it when it dies. Hmm, what if instead the Dragon loses the ability to attack once you have some Treasure, encouraging a cycle of attacking and spending?
Treasure-Hoard Dragon5RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying, trample, haste
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, create that many colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
~ has defender as long as you control a Treasure.
5/5
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
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.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Yeah, it's a little more interesting from a design standpoint, isn't it? Starts as an aggro creature, then becomes a formidable blocker while you have Treasure, then switches back to beatstick once you spend your Treasure. I'm considering having it lose flying and gain reach while you control a Treasure, to further emphasize the flavor of a Dragon standing guard atop its hoard.
Treasure-Hoard Dragon4RR
Creature - Dragon
Trample, haste
~ has flying unless you control a Treasure.
~ has defender and reach as long as you control a Treasure.
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, create that many colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
5/5
Eh, but the previous version probably reads cleaner and overall plays better. Better gameplay > better flavor.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
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.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Functionally, the reach version is just the other version +more words and some slight changes in the corner cases of flyer hate/flying tribal, so I favor the simpler version a lot.
I am not quite sure why Flying has to change to Reach when you control a treasure. Either he sits on the treasure and simply looses Flying or he sometimes comes Flying up from time to time to actively defends the Treasure.
I would really just keep the Dragon flying. Besides that great card. I love it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Drop your knees to the floor
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
The problem is, treasure is easy to get rid of. If Mana burn were still a thing, there'd be a actually penalty to dumping the treasure to get an attack with the dragon.
Treasure-Hoard Dragon3RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying, trample, haste
~ has defender as long as you control a Treasure.
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, create that many colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
Whenever you sacrifice a Treasure, ~ deals 1 damage to you.
5/5
Given the considerable drawback of taking 1 damage every time you sacrifice a Treasure, I'm thinking we can knock 2 off the mana cost from the previous version.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
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.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Treasure-Hoard Dragon 4RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, create three colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
~ gets +1/+0 for each artifact you control.
4/4
I also considered other designs, like a Dragon that accumulates hoard counters whenever it deals combat damage to a player, then gives you a number of Treasure tokens equal to the number of hoard counters on it when it dies. Hmm, what if instead the Dragon loses the ability to attack once you have some Treasure, encouraging a cycle of attacking and spending?
Treasure-Hoard Dragon 5RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying, trample, haste
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, create that many colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
~ has defender as long as you control a Treasure.
5/5
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.
Treasure-Hoard Dragon 4RR
Creature - Dragon
Trample, haste
~ has flying unless you control a Treasure.
~ has defender and reach as long as you control a Treasure.
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, create that many colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
5/5
Eh, but the previous version probably reads cleaner and overall plays better. Better gameplay > better flavor.
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.
I would really just keep the Dragon flying. Besides that great card. I love it.
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
Treasure-Hoard Dragon 3RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying, trample, haste
~ has defender as long as you control a Treasure.
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, create that many colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
Whenever you sacrifice a Treasure, ~ deals 1 damage to you.
5/5
Given the considerable drawback of taking 1 damage every time you sacrifice a Treasure, I'm thinking we can knock 2 off the mana cost from the previous version.
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.
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!