Is this card too strong? I wanted something for Commander like Glissa, the Traitor, but in colors I don't normally play. Obviously it is good with Board Wipes, and I tried to mitigate abuse by returning cards from your graveyard at random. Glissa can do some pretty degenerate stuff, and so I felt that this would be a reasonable take on a Grixis spellslinger (Kess doesn't do it for me. Sorry fans.) I would be willing to increase the mana cost as well, 3 just felt adequate because I was making a direct comparison to Glissa.
Flavor: I imagine Grethis as a Grixis Lich Lord, floating above a field of corpses and drawing arcane energy from their bodies into an aura circling him. I considered making him a Demon/Vampire/or Spirit as well. I thought Vampire could be a cool take, as he is "sucking out their souls when they die to fuel his own magic. But Liches also do that, so I stuck with the Zombie Wizard type line.
Grethis, Soul HarvesterUBR
Legendary Creature - Zombie Wizard (Mythic)
Flying
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, you may return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
3/3
If balance is your goal, then this kind of effect in modern magic is typically templated to be either "opponents control" per Glissa, or nontoken creatures you control. Even random, the fact that this transforms a boardwipe into mass recursion of a typically harder to recur card type means it's probably best to make it "you control" so you have to build around other forms of sacrifice and recursion too.
Edit: With the changes, you're definitely treading towards something more kosher- definitely want a higher CMC by at least one given the general difficulty of recuring instants and sorceries. (I.E. comparing him more to Kess than Glissa.)
If balance is your goal, then this kind of effect in modern magic is typically templated to be either "opponents control" per Glissa, or nontoken creatures you control. Even random, the fact that this transforms a boardwipe into mass recursion of a typically harder to recur card type means it's probably best to make it "you control" so you have to build around other forms of sacrifice and recursion too.
Edit: With the changes, you're definitely treading towards something more kosher- definitely want a higher CMC by at least one given the general difficulty of recuring instants and sorceries. (I.E. comparing him more to Kess than Glissa.)
Thanks! I am thinking about changing the mana cost to UBBR just as a throwback to those powerhouse mythic cards of Grixis. Plus it bumps his mana cost up and is a little harder to cast.
Thanks! I am thinking about changing the mana cost to UBBR just as a throwback to those powerhouse mythic cards of Grixis. Plus it bumps his mana cost up and is a little harder to cast.
No problem! That mana cost feels pretty good. I might still worry a little bit about the power level of the card, as both Kess and the old-school Toshiro Umezawa make a point of exiling the cards they replay. This card forces you to use your own resources to get cards back, but doesn't actually result in any net loss-- all while still easily creating some troublesome loops. (Removal spells and turn spells just churning constantly.) Some variant of making you discard cards as an additional cost when you cast a spell? (Edit: Or self-milling? Hmm.) Fuels the ability, potentially makes the random more random, and limits looping.
Thanks! I am thinking about changing the mana cost to UBBR just as a throwback to those powerhouse mythic cards of Grixis. Plus it bumps his mana cost up and is a little harder to cast.
No problem! That mana cost feels pretty good. I might still worry a little bit about the power level of the card, as both Kess and the old-school Toshiro Umezawa make a point of exiling the cards they replay. This card forces you to use your own resources to get cards back, but doesn't actually result in any net loss-- all while still easily creating some troublesome loops. (Removal spells and turn spells just churning constantly.) Some variant of making you discard cards as an additional cost when you cast a spell? (Edit: Or self-milling? Hmm.) Fuels the ability, potentially makes the random more random, and limits looping.
I'm not super worried just yet. I play with enough creature recursion decks that this almost feels tame (Most creature reanimator decks put creatures right onto the battlefield, and most of them tend to be just as powerful, if not more powerful, than instants or sorceries.) I'll do some investigating to look for broken loops though. My goal is to give it the same feel as Glissa.
Flavor: I imagine Grethis as a Grixis Lich Lord, floating above a field of corpses and drawing arcane energy from their bodies into an aura circling him. I considered making him a Demon/Vampire/or Spirit as well. I thought Vampire could be a cool take, as he is "sucking out their souls when they die to fuel his own magic. But Liches also do that, so I stuck with the Zombie Wizard type line.
Grethis, Soul Harvester UBR
Legendary Creature - Zombie Wizard (Mythic)
Flying
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, you may return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
3/3
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Edit: With the changes, you're definitely treading towards something more kosher- definitely want a higher CMC by at least one given the general difficulty of recuring instants and sorceries. (I.E. comparing him more to Kess than Glissa.)
Thanks! I am thinking about changing the mana cost to UBBR just as a throwback to those powerhouse mythic cards of Grixis. Plus it bumps his mana cost up and is a little harder to cast.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
No problem! That mana cost feels pretty good. I might still worry a little bit about the power level of the card, as both Kess and the old-school Toshiro Umezawa make a point of exiling the cards they replay. This card forces you to use your own resources to get cards back, but doesn't actually result in any net loss-- all while still easily creating some troublesome loops. (Removal spells and turn spells just churning constantly.) Some variant of making you discard cards as an additional cost when you cast a spell? (Edit: Or self-milling? Hmm.) Fuels the ability, potentially makes the random more random, and limits looping.
I'm not super worried just yet. I play with enough creature recursion decks that this almost feels tame (Most creature reanimator decks put creatures right onto the battlefield, and most of them tend to be just as powerful, if not more powerful, than instants or sorceries.) I'll do some investigating to look for broken loops though. My goal is to give it the same feel as Glissa.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries