I was just looking at magiccards.info for a legendary archer to use as a general. However, most of them were either bad, uninteresting, or both. So, I took it upon myself to design one for myself.
There's only one problem here: I'm ass at designing top-down cards. This is where the forum comes in! I know what I'm looking to do, and the guys around here are usually pretty good at know how to go about it.
The main idea I'm playing with is that the archer should have multiple types of arrows at their disposal. These are the types I've got in mind (obviously open to suggestions) along with the effects I'm thinking of giving them (again, open to suggestions):
Ice Arrows - Probably will tap a creature without letting it untap next turn. Probably with a U cost.
Poison Arrows - Something along the lines of Obsidian Fireheart: Puts a -1/-1 counter on a creature and it accumulates over time (maybe letting the poison counters stack, unlike the blaze counters?) Most likely a B in the mana cost.
Fire Arrows - Very standard Lightning Bolt (maybe less) effect, but probably only targets creatures for balance purposes. I feel R or W could work for this cost.
Other ideas I had were Lightning/Stun arrows (not sure how to distinguish from Fire arrows, though), and maybe some form of "scatter shot" (colorless cost with something along the lines of 1 damage to all creatures target player controls.)
I draw a lot of the inspiration from fighting games like Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Injustice for the arrows types (with Hawkeye and Green Arrow respectively.) I've always liked gimmicky archer people like that.
Static ability's would obviously be reach, and maybe vigilance if that can be worked in without making it cost way too much.
You know, I really like this idea for a 4 color general. It could be something like this:
Archer McArcherson3G
Legendary Creature - Human Archer (M) U,T: Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. B,T: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. R,T: ~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
3/3
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"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
So, from the sound of it, you've got a 5-color card (Identity-wise, at least). Green implies reach; and the types of arrows indicate the remaining 4. I'd try something like this:
Legolas, the Terribly-Flavored :3mana::symg:
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer (R)
Reach
:xmana:, :symtap:: If you paid :symw:, tap target creature. If you paid :symu:, target creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. If you paid :symb:, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. If you paid :symr:, deal 1 damage to target creature.
2/4
Edit: If I'd seen Moon-E's post before I posted, I'd have just said to go with his. Its much easier reading.
Gisvold, Gimmick Archer2G
Legendary Creature - Human Archer (R) G,T: Gisvold, Gimmick Archer deals 3 damage to target creature with flying. U,T: Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. B,T: Target player loses 3 life.
2/3
Standard, frost, poison. It isn't perfect, but it's kind of cute.
Golden Arrow (Mythic) 3G
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer Wizard
4/2
First Strike
Activate these abilities only during your upkeep. W, T: Golden Arrow deals 3 damage to each creature that blocks this turn. U, T: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. It doesn't untap as long as it has a -1/-1 counter on it. B, T: Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. Activate this ability only once. R, T: Destroy target creature with flying.
In magic, whenever someone mentioned archers, guns, or anything that launches projectiles, they always try to give them these crazy effects. In reality, wouldn't first strike work for a ranger, archer, or guy with a gun? First strike means you deal your damage first, which is accurate. An archer shoots, the arrow normally hits before the creature can hit back. That makes so much sense and I never understood why wizards never did that. It's so simple!
Siguro the LeafBG Legendary Creature - Rat Archer{R}
Siguro enters the battlefield with five counters in any combination of ice, fire and poison counters. T: Remove a counter from ~. If removed counter was poison, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature; if it was ice, target player can't cast spells this turn; if it was fire, ~ deals 2 damage to target creature. U: Return ~ to its owner's hand.
3/1
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Wizards can start putting booster packs inside dog poo and dog owners will still complain.
Insert Generic Archer Name Here1GUR
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer
First Strike. TDeal damage equal to CARD power to target creature UU:Tap target creature, it does not untap during its controller's next untap phase. G: CARD gains Infect until end of turn.
2/2
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“Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.
Resourceful Archer 3G
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer
Reach, Vigilance UB,T: Tap target creature and put a -1/-1 counter on it. It doesn't untap on it's controller's next untap step. WR,T: Archer 1 deals 3 damage to target tapped creature.
1/4
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YOU ARE SURPRISED BY A MANTICORE! IT QUICKLY SHREDS YOUR FLESH AND DEVOURS YOU!
I like Piars version the best. Now to jam pack more flavor into it
Robin Hood GG
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer (M)
Reach 1GG, T: Deal 3 damage to target creature with flying or 1 damage to target creature without flying. If you paid W, tap that that creature and destroy it if it was a demon or a dragon. If you paid U, detain that creature. If you paid B, put a -1/-1 counter that creature. If you paid R, damage dealt by ~ can't be prevented and if a creature dealt damage this way would die this turn, exile it instead.
2/2
There you go, good archer against flying, and can do damage to none flying. You can imbue his arrows with either HOLY, ice, poison and fire.
Thanks for all of these creative designs! Some very cool ones. I really like the idea behind the ones like Piar's with the Battlemage type activations.
Movexig's design seems like the most applicable, though. If we put colored mana in the cost, would we be able to beef up the toughness and/or give it reach? I'm not sure how much colored mana in the cost balances those sort of things.
It seems like Leaf Arrow and ice/stun arrows seem to be the most used. I assume my poison mechanic is too complicated for a card with so many other abilities?
Insert Generic Archer Name Here1GUR
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer
First Strike. TDeal damage equal to CARD power to target creature UU:Tap target creature, it does not untap during its controller's next untap phase. G: CARD gains Infect until end of turn.
2/2
Resourceful Archer 3G
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer
Reach, Vigilance UB,T: Tap target creature and put a -1/-1 counter on it. It doesn't untap on it's controller's next untap step. WR,T: Archer 1 deals 3 damage to target tapped creature.
1/4
Man, these are super awesome designs, too. Arrows interacting with each other seems so sweet. You guys are making it hard to pick a path to follow
Robin of the Veil2WW
Legendary Creature — Human Archer (MR)
Vigilance
:symg:, :symtap:: Robin of the Veil deals 3 damage to target creature with flying.
:symw:, :symtap:: Robin deals 1 damage to each attacking creature.
:symu:, :symtap:: Tap target creature. It doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.
3/2
Points of interest:
Vigilance over reach because it synergizes well with having lots of tap abilities. Let's you attack and then rangestrike a blocker, for instance.
He is three colors rather than five, and centered in white, his primary color. :symg::symw::symu: felt like the right way to go given his abilities.
Blue gets the same stun arrows that everyone else has proposed. It just works.
Leaf Arrow to invoke the archer flavor now that he has vigilance rather than reach.
I wanted to do rangestrike for white, but since Leaf Arrow was already in there I decided to go for Rain of Blades as a spread-shot rangestrike.
He now has one ability for dealing with flying creatures, one ability for dealing with swarms of small creatures, and one ability for at least temporarily dealing with creatures too large to kill with any of his other two abilities.
With all this stuff in his toolbox and the potential for huge card advantage, the cost is pushed up a bit even after nerfing his toughness.
The abilities on movexig's Archer are exactly what I was about to post last night before I got distracted with something else. I had mine at 3W 2/3, but otherwise exact same reasoning.
Agreed. Movexigs version is the best. (Even better than mine, which is really, really, really, really, really saying something.)
Even after all those reallies, it still needs BLACK ARROW!
B, T: Destroy target dragon creature. It can't be regenerated.
The arrow being colored black does not really mean that it needs to use black mana. That could still just be a green ability. The more important flavor element of the Black Arrow is that Bard was saving it specifically to kill Smaug.
S****ep Archer1W Creature - Human Archer (C)
CARDNAME enters the field with an arrow counter on it. T: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target attacking creature. 1G,T, Remove an arrow counter from CARDNAME: Destroy target creature with flying. He is saving the black arrow for a special foe.
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There's only one problem here: I'm ass at designing top-down cards. This is where the forum comes in! I know what I'm looking to do, and the guys around here are usually pretty good at know how to go about it.
The main idea I'm playing with is that the archer should have multiple types of arrows at their disposal. These are the types I've got in mind (obviously open to suggestions) along with the effects I'm thinking of giving them (again, open to suggestions):
Ice Arrows - Probably will tap a creature without letting it untap next turn. Probably with a U cost.
Poison Arrows - Something along the lines of Obsidian Fireheart: Puts a -1/-1 counter on a creature and it accumulates over time (maybe letting the poison counters stack, unlike the blaze counters?) Most likely a B in the mana cost.
Fire Arrows - Very standard Lightning Bolt (maybe less) effect, but probably only targets creatures for balance purposes. I feel R or W could work for this cost.
Other ideas I had were Lightning/Stun arrows (not sure how to distinguish from Fire arrows, though), and maybe some form of "scatter shot" (colorless cost with something along the lines of 1 damage to all creatures target player controls.)
I draw a lot of the inspiration from fighting games like Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Injustice for the arrows types (with Hawkeye and Green Arrow respectively.) I've always liked gimmicky archer people like that.
Static ability's would obviously be reach, and maybe vigilance if that can be worked in without making it cost way too much.
Well, does anyone think this could work somehow?
Archer McArcherson 3G
Legendary Creature - Human Archer (M)
U,T: Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
B,T: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.
R,T: ~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
3/3
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Legolas, the Terribly-Flavored :3mana::symg:
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer (R)
Reach
:xmana:, :symtap:: If you paid :symw:, tap target creature. If you paid :symu:, target creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. If you paid :symb:, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. If you paid :symr:, deal 1 damage to target creature.
2/4
Edit: If I'd seen Moon-E's post before I posted, I'd have just said to go with his. Its much easier reading.
Legendary Creature - Human Archer (R)
G,T: Gisvold, Gimmick Archer deals 3 damage to target creature with flying.
U,T: Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
B,T: Target player loses 3 life.
2/3
Standard, frost, poison. It isn't perfect, but it's kind of cute.
3G
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer Wizard
4/2
First Strike
Activate these abilities only during your upkeep.
W, T: Golden Arrow deals 3 damage to each creature that blocks this turn.
U, T: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. It doesn't untap as long as it has a -1/-1 counter on it.
B, T: Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. Activate this ability only once.
R, T: Destroy target creature with flying.
B, T: Destroy target legendary dragon creature. It can't be regenerated.
In magic, whenever someone mentioned archers, guns, or anything that launches projectiles, they always try to give them these crazy effects. In reality, wouldn't first strike work for a ranger, archer, or guy with a gun? First strike means you deal your damage first, which is accurate. An archer shoots, the arrow normally hits before the creature can hit back. That makes so much sense and I never understood why wizards never did that. It's so simple!
With that being said, good luck on your archer!
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Legendary Creature - Rat Archer {R}
Siguro enters the battlefield with five counters in any combination of ice, fire and poison counters.
T: Remove a counter from ~. If removed counter was poison, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature; if it was ice, target player can't cast spells this turn; if it was fire, ~ deals 2 damage to target creature.
U: Return ~ to its owner's hand.
3/1
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer
First Strike.
TDeal damage equal to CARD power to target creature
UU:Tap target creature, it does not untap during its controller's next untap phase.
G: CARD gains Infect until end of turn.
2/2
― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer
Reach, Vigilance
UB,T: Tap target creature and put a -1/-1 counter on it. It doesn't untap on it's controller's next untap step.
WR,T: Archer 1 deals 3 damage to target tapped creature.
1/4
Robin Hood GG
Legendary Creature - Elf Archer (M)
Reach
1GG, T: Deal 3 damage to target creature with flying or 1 damage to target creature without flying. If you paid W, tap that that creature and destroy it if it was a demon or a dragon. If you paid U, detain that creature. If you paid B, put a -1/-1 counter that creature. If you paid R, damage dealt by ~ can't be prevented and if a creature dealt damage this way would die this turn, exile it instead.
2/2
There you go, good archer against flying, and can do damage to none flying. You can imbue his arrows with either HOLY, ice, poison and fire.
Movexig's design seems like the most applicable, though. If we put colored mana in the cost, would we be able to beef up the toughness and/or give it reach? I'm not sure how much colored mana in the cost balances those sort of things.
It seems like Leaf Arrow and ice/stun arrows seem to be the most used. I assume my poison mechanic is too complicated for a card with so many other abilities?
Man, these are super awesome designs, too. Arrows interacting with each other seems so sweet. You guys are making it hard to pick a path to follow
The abilities on movexig's Archer are exactly what I was about to post last night before I got distracted with something else. I had mine at 3W 2/3, but otherwise exact same reasoning.
Even after all those reallies, it still needs BLACK ARROW!
B, T: Destroy target dragon creature. It can't be regenerated.
Hobbit jokes. The Black Arrow was kept by Bard specifically to kill Smaug.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Ah, that one is lost on me then. Fantasy has never been my preferred literary experience.
The arrow being colored black does not really mean that it needs to use black mana. That could still just be a green ability. The more important flavor element of the Black Arrow is that Bard was saving it specifically to kill Smaug.
S****ep Archer 1W
Creature - Human Archer (C)
CARDNAME enters the field with an arrow counter on it.
T: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target attacking creature.
1G,T, Remove an arrow counter from CARDNAME: Destroy target creature with flying.
He is saving the black arrow for a special foe.