Just thinking about a few legendary creatures to serve as "lords" of sorts for creatures with evergreen keywords, with the general purpose of making for obvious linear EDH deck-building strategies (i.e. "put lots of creatures with this keyword in your deck"), while also leaving them open to build other interesting kinds of decks. With the general guidelines of:
1. Don't just give them all +1/+1 or something boring
2. Don't give them any other keywords either
3. Be better than Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
So here are a few of them!
Daenclast of the Twin Axes1RRW Legendary Creature - Dwarf Soldier(R)
Double strike
If a creature you control would deal first strike combat damage to a permanent or player, it deals twice that much damage to that permanent or player instead. 2/3
Sergev, Tithe EnforcerWB Legendary Creature - Vampire Cleric(R)
Lifelink
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control with lifelink. 2/3
Ibraxa, Maker of Marble3BG Legendary Creature - Gorgon(R)
Deathtouch
Whenever a creature you control with deathtouch deals damage to an opponent, destroy target noncreature, nonland permanent of that player’s choice that he or she controls. 2/5
Heaval, Harbinger of HavocBR Legendary Creature - Devil(R)
Menace
Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, for each creature blocking it, that creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn and defending player loses 1 life. 2/3
Three-Fang, Baloth Alpha3RG Legendary Creature - Beast(R)
Trample
Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it deal that much damage to target creature that player controls. 6/5
Felldr of the Vanguard1GW Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier(R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of each end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control that attacked or blocked this turn. 3/3
Telev, Navigator of Mists2UG Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout(R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof attacks and isn’t blocked, you may draw a card. 3/4
I've got ideas for flying, haste, and flash too, but I'm not super certain on the designs for them yet.
-Daenclast seems more red-white, since first strike and double strike is in both colors, as are dwarves and soldiers. Oops, he totally is. He should probably have reminder text on his double strike to clarify that the first hit counts as "first strike combat damage", but mechanically he's really cool.
-Sergev is so cool I immediately want to build a deck around him, so A+ there.
-Ibraxa has a very scary effect, but is costed appropriately. Black feels a little off here because you can't destroy creatures with her, but at the same time she might be too scary if you could, and there's a neat choice to be made by the defender between blocking and losing a creature, or not blocking and losing something else. Caring about deathtouch is probably black enough.
-Heaval is neat, and nonspecific enough that menace being a weaker and less popular mechanic doesn't really punish him.
-Three-Fang I feel should cost 2RG, be a bit smaller, and say "creatures you control with trample may assign their excess damage to creatures defending player controls that aren't blocking, rather than that player" or something along those lines. The wording is a bit tricky, but it's not going to break anything and it feels more akin to what the card thematically represents (creatures viciously trampling all over the defenders, rather than some triggered pyromancy trick or something). Explicitly mentioning 'trample' doesn't really make it less broad either, since that's the only way for a blocked creature to do 'combat' damage other than super-old cards like Rhox.
-Felldr seems a bit narrow. I don't think it would be too strong to just be "At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control.", since to gain that benefit with non-vigilance creatures would preclude attacking and make the effect significantly weaker. It would also reward other white-green mechanics, like exalted.
-Telev, I don't have much to say about. He seems appropriately costed, and not too powerful for something with hexproof. I wish he were a bit more subtle about his synergy like most of the others are; that feels appropriate to blue to be so. Maybe something like "Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it doesn't target a creature you control, do X" so that it also works with shroud and the Frost Titan ability.
For Ibraxa, she doesn't destroy creatures because, like you said, I wanted her to pressure your opponents to block your deathtouch dudes and get deathtouched by them. Deathtouch is kind of a boring keyword in practice, because even if your attacking Typhoid Ratscould hypothetically kill something huge, it's never gonna get blocked by anything but a 1/1 anyway. The point of Ibraxa is to make them make those delicious unfavorable trades, and deathtouch creatures are uncommon enough that I think she's fine, if a bit scary in theory.
Three-Fang... I don't agree? What's wrong with it doing damage to other creatures in addition to the enemy player? You say it shouldn't, but you don't really give any justification aside from a few remarks about flavor, which I don't really see as a problem. Your dudes are barreling through the enemy's defenses, and then further asserting their dominance on any other poor bystanders. And I'd prefer that it not be limited to trample, as Siege Behemoth exists, and is a Beast, and would be great with this dude. Maybe it should just be, "Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it fight target creature that player controls"?
Felldr, yeah, you might have a point. The idea was to interact with vigilance and untap effects like Copperhorn Scout and Village Bell-Ringers, but the blocking trigger isn't likely to happen without the assistance of a bunch of combat tricks. Maybe instead of making her rely on untap effects, have her still synergize with them, but provide one herself?
Felldr of the Vanguard1GW Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier(R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control that attacked or blocked this turn, then untap all creatures you control. 2/2
Telev... yeah, he is beating you over the head with the hexproof stuff. I figured, the best part about having hexproof creatures is being able to play your own stuff on them without getting blown out, but that could be done without explicitly mentioning hexproof. In fact, the first ability probably doesn't need to mention it at all, since there's a mana payment on it (which I just added so that you couldn't play Lightning Greaves and make all of your creatures unblockable forever). So, it's a bit wordy, but maybe this?
Telev, Navigator of Mists2UG Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout(R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof attacks and isn’t blocked, if it hasn’t been the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls this turn, you may draw a card. 3/4
I like 'em. Daenclast is a fave even though he's scary. Let's see the other designs?
Sure! These ones I'm just iffy on because the keywords are all over the place on the color pie.
Corvyx, Aven Augur2WU Legendary Creature - Bird Wizard(R)
Flying
Whenever one or more creatures you control attack and aren’t blocked, you gain X life, then scry X, where X is the number of those unblocked creatures. 3/3
Rhydel, the Guardian1GWU Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight(R)
Flash
As long as it’s not your turn, creature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast.
Whenever you cast Rhydel, the Guardian or cast another creature spell while Rhydel is on the battlefield, you may return target creature you control to its owner’s hand. 2/5
Grosh, Raidmaster1BRG Legendary Creature - Orc Berserker(R)
Haste
Whenever Grosh, Raidmaster or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. If it’s your turn, that creature gains indestructible until end of turn. 3/3
I dislike how the Boros one randomly costs an additional red mana while the others in the cycle are single color symbols. I think you should change it, as I imagine lopsided color pairings should be reserved for more special cases and it doesn't fit on theme with the rest.
I dislike how the Boros one randomly costs an additional red mana while the others in the cycle are single color symbols. I think you should change it, as I imagine lopsided color pairings should be reserved for more special cases and it doesn't fit on theme with the rest.
Other than that I really like the concepts here.
Ah, that. The reason Daenclast has a red mana symbol is because he just straight up doubles (some) damage, which is a pretty red thing to do, and thus generally gets a bunch of redredsymb... wh, Gisela, what are you doing, you're ruining my point!!!
I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it being 2WR. Would it need to be nerfed at all to compensate?
I dislike how the Boros one randomly costs an additional red mana while the others in the cycle are single color symbols. I think you should change it, as I imagine lopsided color pairings should be reserved for more special cases and it doesn't fit on theme with the rest.
Other than that I really like the concepts here.
Ah, that. The reason Daenclast has a red mana symbol is because he just straight up doubles (some) damage, which is a pretty red thing to do, and thus generally gets a bunch of redredsymb... wh, Gisela, what are you doing, you're ruining my point!!!
I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it being 2WR. Would it need to be nerfed at all to compensate?
I wouldn't think so. Chances are in most formats the double red won't make a difference at four mana. I think it should be fine.
1. Don't just give them all +1/+1 or something boring
2. Don't give them any other keywords either
3. Be better than Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
So here are a few of them!
Daenclast of the Twin Axes 1RRW
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Soldier (R)
Double strike
If a creature you control would deal first strike combat damage to a permanent or player, it deals twice that much damage to that permanent or player instead.
2/3
Sergev, Tithe Enforcer WB
Legendary Creature - Vampire Cleric (R)
Lifelink
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control with lifelink.
2/3
Ibraxa, Maker of Marble 3BG
Legendary Creature - Gorgon (R)
Deathtouch
Whenever a creature you control with deathtouch deals damage to an opponent, destroy target noncreature, nonland permanent of that player’s choice that he or she controls.
2/5
Heaval, Harbinger of Havoc BR
Legendary Creature - Devil (R)
Menace
Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, for each creature blocking it, that creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn and defending player loses 1 life.
2/3
Three-Fang, Baloth Alpha 3RG
Legendary Creature - Beast (R)
Trample
Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it deal that much damage to target creature that player controls.
6/5
Felldr of the Vanguard 1GW
Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier (R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of each end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control that attacked or blocked this turn.
3/3
Telev, Navigator of Mists 2UG
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout (R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof attacks and isn’t blocked, you may draw a card.
3/4
I've got ideas for flying, haste, and flash too, but I'm not super certain on the designs for them yet.
-
Daenclast seems more red-white, since first strike and double strike is in both colors, as are dwarves and soldiers.Oops, he totally is. He should probably have reminder text on his double strike to clarify that the first hit counts as "first strike combat damage", but mechanically he's really cool.-Sergev is so cool I immediately want to build a deck around him, so A+ there.
-Ibraxa has a very scary effect, but is costed appropriately. Black feels a little off here because you can't destroy creatures with her, but at the same time she might be too scary if you could, and there's a neat choice to be made by the defender between blocking and losing a creature, or not blocking and losing something else. Caring about deathtouch is probably black enough.
-Heaval is neat, and nonspecific enough that menace being a weaker and less popular mechanic doesn't really punish him.
-Three-Fang I feel should cost 2RG, be a bit smaller, and say "creatures you control with trample may assign their excess damage to creatures defending player controls that aren't blocking, rather than that player" or something along those lines. The wording is a bit tricky, but it's not going to break anything and it feels more akin to what the card thematically represents (creatures viciously trampling all over the defenders, rather than some triggered pyromancy trick or something). Explicitly mentioning 'trample' doesn't really make it less broad either, since that's the only way for a blocked creature to do 'combat' damage other than super-old cards like Rhox.
-Felldr seems a bit narrow. I don't think it would be too strong to just be "At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control.", since to gain that benefit with non-vigilance creatures would preclude attacking and make the effect significantly weaker. It would also reward other white-green mechanics, like exalted.
-Telev, I don't have much to say about. He seems appropriately costed, and not too powerful for something with hexproof. I wish he were a bit more subtle about his synergy like most of the others are; that feels appropriate to blue to be so. Maybe something like "Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it doesn't target a creature you control, do X" so that it also works with shroud and the Frost Titan ability.
- Rabid Wombat
For Ibraxa, she doesn't destroy creatures because, like you said, I wanted her to pressure your opponents to block your deathtouch dudes and get deathtouched by them. Deathtouch is kind of a boring keyword in practice, because even if your attacking Typhoid Rats could hypothetically kill something huge, it's never gonna get blocked by anything but a 1/1 anyway. The point of Ibraxa is to make them make those delicious unfavorable trades, and deathtouch creatures are uncommon enough that I think she's fine, if a bit scary in theory.
Three-Fang... I don't agree? What's wrong with it doing damage to other creatures in addition to the enemy player? You say it shouldn't, but you don't really give any justification aside from a few remarks about flavor, which I don't really see as a problem. Your dudes are barreling through the enemy's defenses, and then further asserting their dominance on any other poor bystanders. And I'd prefer that it not be limited to trample, as Siege Behemoth exists, and is a Beast, and would be great with this dude. Maybe it should just be, "Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it fight target creature that player controls"?
Felldr, yeah, you might have a point. The idea was to interact with vigilance and untap effects like Copperhorn Scout and Village Bell-Ringers, but the blocking trigger isn't likely to happen without the assistance of a bunch of combat tricks. Maybe instead of making her rely on untap effects, have her still synergize with them, but provide one herself?
Felldr of the Vanguard 1GW
Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier (R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control
that attacked or blocked this turn, then untap all creatures you control.2/2
Telev... yeah, he is beating you over the head with the hexproof stuff. I figured, the best part about having hexproof creatures is being able to play your own stuff on them without getting blown out, but that could be done without explicitly mentioning hexproof. In fact, the first ability probably doesn't need to mention it at all, since there's a mana payment on it (which I just added so that you couldn't play Lightning Greaves and make all of your creatures unblockable forever). So, it's a bit wordy, but maybe this?
Telev, Navigator of Mists 2UG
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout (R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control
with hexproofbecomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.Whenever a creature you control
with hexproofattacks and isn’t blocked, if it hasn’t been the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls this turn, you may draw a card.3/4
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Sure! These ones I'm just iffy on because the keywords are all over the place on the color pie.
Corvyx, Aven Augur 2WU
Legendary Creature - Bird Wizard (R)
Flying
Whenever one or more creatures you control attack and aren’t blocked, you gain X life, then scry X, where X is the number of those unblocked creatures.
3/3
Rhydel, the Guardian 1GWU
Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight (R)
Flash
As long as it’s not your turn, creature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast.
Whenever you cast Rhydel, the Guardian or cast another creature spell while Rhydel is on the battlefield, you may return target creature you control to its owner’s hand.
2/5
Grosh, Raidmaster 1BRG
Legendary Creature - Orc Berserker (R)
Haste
Whenever Grosh, Raidmaster or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. If it’s your turn, that creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
That last one might need reminder text so people don't accidentally think it's Ogre Battledriver when it's really Primal Forcemage.
Other than that I really like the concepts here.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Ah, that. The reason Daenclast has a red mana symbol is because he just straight up doubles (some) damage, which is a pretty red thing to do, and thus generally gets a bunch of red red symb... wh, Gisela, what are you doing, you're ruining my point!!!
I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it being 2WR. Would it need to be nerfed at all to compensate?
I wouldn't think so. Chances are in most formats the double red won't make a difference at four mana. I think it should be fine.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries