Dracian the Night King1BB Planeswalker — Dracian
{+2}: Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove two counters from target permanent. You gain 2 life.
{0}: Dracian the Night King becomes a copy of target creature or creature card in any revealed zone until end of turn. The legends rule doesn't apply to Dracian during this effect.
{-X}: Each opponent exiles a number of cards from his or her graveyard equal to X times itself, then exiles that many cards from the top of his or her library.
{3}
Here's a reprise from a very late design from my first project concept block. This reprise seeks to capture the mystique of the Vampire class, through the essence of a shapeshifting ability. The ultimate ability is incredibly unique in form and function. Not only in the concept of using an 'x times itself' multiplier, but in being the only ability in the game that can best a Battle of Wits player utilizing a massive library composed of hundreds of cards.
"The wizard who dreams to dare is powerful. The wizard who dares to dream is insane."
(As an aside, when you say this guy's ultimate is uniquely able to deal with a Battle of Wits deck, Jace, the Mind Sculptor would like to have a word with you.)
From an overall standpoint, this is a solid planeswalker. There are some tweaks on power level and wording, but in the big picture it works.
The first ability is WAY too strong for a +2 on a 3 mana value walker, since it can both kill a creature and gain you life in one go. On a three mana walker, this should be a -1, or keep it as a +2 on a 5-6 mana walker. Remember what happened to the last 3 Mana Walker with a +2 Ability, and that +2 was weaker than this one.
The second ability feels out of color for black, probably more blue/black instead. Balance wise, I would limit it to creature cards you own, and spell out exactly which zones you can choose from. If you want it to be mono black, you should only copy from the graveyard or exile an not in play. Notably, this could become a +1 ability depending on how you set it up. Also, the "non-Legendary" part can be worded in a way that aligns with how other similar copy effects handle it by having him keep his cardname.
The last ability may need to be rephrased depending on your intent because, as written, it exiles X*X cards from the graveyard and then exiles a number of card from the library equal to the number of cards exiled from the graveyard. This means if the player has two cards in their graveyard and you X=2, only two card will get exiled from their library even though X*X is 4.
I feel like your intention if for X*X to always get exiled, so the syntax just needs to be adjusted slightly to do so.
Lastly, modern card templating uses "their" instead of "his or her" when referring to another player's library, graveyard, etc.
I'll give you a three mana version and a five mana version so you can see which you like better.
Dracian the Night King1BB Legendary Planeswalker — Dracian
{+1} Dracian the Night King becomes a copy of up to one target creature you control or creature card in a graveyard or in exile that you own until end of turn, except its name is Dracian the Night King and it's legendary in addition to its other types.
{-1} Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove two counters from target permanent. You gain 2 life.
{-X} Each opponent exiles a number of cards from the top of their library equal to X times itself, then exiles that many cards from their graveyard.
{3}
Dracian the Night King3BB Legendary Planeswalker — Dracian
{+2} Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove two counters from target permanent. You gain 2 life.
{0} Dracian the Night King becomes a copy of up to one target creature or creature card in a graveyard or in exile until end of turn, except its name is Dracian the Night King and it's legendary in addition to its other types.
{-X} Each opponent exiles a number of cards from the top of their library equal to X times itself, then exiles that many cards from their graveyard.
{4}
Not that the second version's copy ability is less restrictive since it's not a + ability and this version is more expensive to cast.
Adding the 'Legendary' supertype to Planeswalkers was tacky and unnecessary.
It ruins the mystique of the Planeswalker supertype, and doesn't add anything special that the higher being 'Planeswalker' added by itself.
That's why I don't use it.
I also don't think that the design needs to keep the 'name' but instead, have comprehensive rulings that allow cards without temporary effects to retain their original identities for aesthetic purposes. It's neat and clean, and what comprehensive rules are best used for.
Well, if you don't write legendary on the card, I can have multiple copies of it in play at a time. Because that's how the game works.
And if you want the creature to keep its name when it becomes a copy of something, you have to write that on the card. Because that's how the game works.
Well, if you don't write legendary on the card, I can have multiple copies of it in play at a time. Because that's how the game works.
And if you want the creature to keep its name when it becomes a copy of something, you have to write that on the card. Because that's how the game works.
Originally, the '"Planeswalker Rule" operated in the same way as the "Legends Rule".
We will just have to agree to disagree then. However, to explain myself, along the lines I argued a few threads back, effects which have pre-existing states or conditions, should/or should not have domain influence through a transitional state based on what the effect is dictating.
In this case, the effect is dictating that the Legends rule will not apply to Dracian (referencing Dracian while it's still Dracian) through the effect which sees Dracian becoming a copy of another card.
Mind numbing? Hardly.
It doesn't need to and shouldn't have to retain the original name.
It was extra writing but it did gain from it also. There are cards that look for legendary cards in your deck as well as the cards that care if a saga, an artifact, it a legendary card is played. It does ooperate differently than just Planeswalker. So legendary is a must on all Planeswalkers moving forward as they all got errata.
I kind of like the idea of a planeswalker that turns into a creature that can also lose loyalty when attacking or blocking, and I think such a planeswalker should have a lot of loyalty to work with, but the effect on the +2 is far more impactful than it needs to be. It's killing a thing and also padding your life total at the same time. Generally speaking the +2 abilities on planeswalkers are going to be the turn the walker is taking a breather and collecting himself, but Draco Night Man is just +2ing and also beating ass at the same time. So it's a bit much. But I do like the middle ability once it's ironed out, I love stuff that does stuff with Phyrexian Dreadnought like that.
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Planeswalker — Dracian
{+2}: Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove two counters from target permanent. You gain 2 life.
{0}: Dracian the Night King becomes a copy of target creature or creature card in any revealed zone until end of turn. The legends rule doesn't apply to Dracian during this effect.
{-X}: Each opponent exiles a number of cards from his or her graveyard equal to X times itself, then exiles that many cards from the top of his or her library.
{3}
Here's a reprise from a very late design from my first project concept block. This reprise seeks to capture the mystique of the Vampire class, through the essence of a shapeshifting ability. The ultimate ability is incredibly unique in form and function. Not only in the concept of using an 'x times itself' multiplier, but in being the only ability in the game that can best a Battle of Wits player utilizing a massive library composed of hundreds of cards.
"The wizard who dreams to dare is powerful. The wizard who dares to dream is insane."
From an overall standpoint, this is a solid planeswalker. There are some tweaks on power level and wording, but in the big picture it works.
The first ability is WAY too strong for a +2 on a 3 mana value walker, since it can both kill a creature and gain you life in one go. On a three mana walker, this should be a -1, or keep it as a +2 on a 5-6 mana walker. Remember what happened to the last 3 Mana Walker with a +2 Ability, and that +2 was weaker than this one.
The second ability feels out of color for black, probably more blue/black instead. Balance wise, I would limit it to creature cards you own, and spell out exactly which zones you can choose from. If you want it to be mono black, you should only copy from the graveyard or exile an not in play. Notably, this could become a +1 ability depending on how you set it up. Also, the "non-Legendary" part can be worded in a way that aligns with how other similar copy effects handle it by having him keep his cardname.
The last ability may need to be rephrased depending on your intent because, as written, it exiles X*X cards from the graveyard and then exiles a number of card from the library equal to the number of cards exiled from the graveyard. This means if the player has two cards in their graveyard and you X=2, only two card will get exiled from their library even though X*X is 4.
I feel like your intention if for X*X to always get exiled, so the syntax just needs to be adjusted slightly to do so.
Lastly, modern card templating uses "their" instead of "his or her" when referring to another player's library, graveyard, etc.
I'll give you a three mana version and a five mana version so you can see which you like better.
Dracian the Night King 1BB
Legendary Planeswalker — Dracian
{+1} Dracian the Night King becomes a copy of up to one target creature you control or creature card in a graveyard or in exile that you own until end of turn, except its name is Dracian the Night King and it's legendary in addition to its other types.
{-1} Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove two counters from target permanent. You gain 2 life.
{-X} Each opponent exiles a number of cards from the top of their library equal to X times itself, then exiles that many cards from their graveyard.
{3}
Dracian the Night King 3BB
Legendary Planeswalker — Dracian
{+2} Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove two counters from target permanent. You gain 2 life.
{0} Dracian the Night King becomes a copy of up to one target creature or creature card in a graveyard or in exile until end of turn, except its name is Dracian the Night King and it's legendary in addition to its other types.
{-X} Each opponent exiles a number of cards from the top of their library equal to X times itself, then exiles that many cards from their graveyard.
{4}
Not that the second version's copy ability is less restrictive since it's not a + ability and this version is more expensive to cast.
It ruins the mystique of the Planeswalker supertype, and doesn't add anything special that the higher being 'Planeswalker' added by itself.
That's why I don't use it.
I also don't think that the design needs to keep the 'name' but instead, have comprehensive rulings that allow cards without temporary effects to retain their original identities for aesthetic purposes. It's neat and clean, and what comprehensive rules are best used for.
And if you want the creature to keep its name when it becomes a copy of something, you have to write that on the card. Because that's how the game works.
Originally, the '"Planeswalker Rule" operated in the same way as the "Legends Rule".
We will just have to agree to disagree then. However, to explain myself, along the lines I argued a few threads back, effects which have pre-existing states or conditions, should/or should not have domain influence through a transitional state based on what the effect is dictating.
In this case, the effect is dictating that the Legends rule will not apply to Dracian (referencing Dracian while it's still Dracian) through the effect which sees Dracian becoming a copy of another card.
Mind numbing? Hardly.
It doesn't need to and shouldn't have to retain the original name.
It's unnecessary and space wasting.