Freya CrescentGW
Legendary Creature - Rat Knight (R)
Reach
Whenever Freya Crescent attacks you may exile it.
If Freya Crescent is exiled from the battlefield, at the beginning of your attack step you may return it to the battlefield, if you do, it deals damage equal to its toughness to target player, planeswalker, or creature with flying.
2/3
Concept Notes: I associated each of the primary characters of FFIX with a color pair an an associated dual land. For Freya it is G/W and the associated dual land is Cleyra. I wanted an ability set that really captured the essence of her signature dragoon ability which is "Jump". Freya has the ability to deal unblockable damage by exiling out for a turn. This pseudo-blink effect is the white portion of the card, and the reach/damage to creatures with flying, and toughness matters is where green is reflected. I used toughness matters here to exemplify how Jump is just a bit more powerful than a normal attack.
I chose to have this return from exile during the attack step to prevent this ability from being able to be used each turn, to allow Freya to take out a flying blocker before blocks and also to permit Freya to play a defensive role in between Jumps. I also considered using exert here in place of the exile and deal damage upon its return, but I think being able to deal the three unblockable damage on turn 3 may be a little too strong and I worry that any toughness boosting spell would make the exert ability way too strong. The main way you can abuse the toughness matters effect as written is by having anthem type effects which I think is a more fair synergy.
My only thought here is that Green and white don't get to do direct damage to players (maybe not planeswalkers either) so this should really only hit creatures. It might be too strong at 2 mana, but a little weak at 3, so maybe do 1GW and also add vigilance.
Agreement with Alpha. Unfortunately it is a color pie break and not really a bend.
That said, I don't know how much FFXIV you played but Freya is definitely red. She has anger and chaos built in and unleashes it a few times. Most notably during the scene with that guy in heavy armor. Don't remember his name. She's very Boros. You can keep it as is with the cost of WR. Or you could take her creature type into consideration and make it RG and it's also fine as is. Or lastly you could make it W or G and a red. I don't know how to do that symbol.
Thanks for the feedback - I decided to go with Exert Freya afterall to eliminate the color pie break.
Freya CrescentGW
Legendary Creature - Rat Knight (R)
Reach
You may exert Freya Crescent as it attacks. When you do, Freya Crescent deals combat damage equal to her toughness and may assign its combat damage as though it weren’t blocked. (An exerted creature won’t untap during your next untap step.)
2/3
I decided to use the Thorn Elemental ability paired with toughness matters as a color pie friendly way to translatee Freya's Jump ability into MTG. As for the color pairs I have most of the primary characters (and a couple supporting characters) tied to a color pair.
Garnet Til Alexandros XVIIWU General BeatrixWB Eiko CarolUR Vivi OrnitierUB Zidane TribalRW Armarant CoralRG Freya CrescentGW Quina QuenGU KujaBR SoulcageBG
Honestly, I don't think you even need to exert here. Its easy enough to block a 2/3 and the option to push 3 to the opponent instead of trading with their 3 toughness creature isn't a huge enough gain to need to stay tapped next turn.
That aside, this is a good way to solve for the color pie break of the earlier version
Agreed that the correction was done very well to keep with the chosen colors. I still disagree with the voice of colors for her though. But that's a matter of opinion. The exert trigger does do well here. You attack for 2 without exerting and attack for 3 basically unlockable damage if you exert. That just feels right and should see print
I don't know enough about the character to speak about her personal color identity, so I can't make a judgement on that.
My argument on the exert thing is that the opponent basically has no reason not to block this with their 3/3, because they'll either trade or they take 3 and keep their creature but Freya dies either way, and not killing their 3/3 in the trade is actually probably worse. In cost analysis, this is effectively a legendary Watchwolf, so the exert isn't really going to be necessary.
Honestly, I don't think you even need to exert here. Its easy enough to block a 2/3 and the option to push 3 to the opponent instead of trading with their 3 toughness creature isn't a huge enough gain to need to stay tapped next turn.
That aside, this is a good way to solve for the color pie break of the earlier version
Appreciate your thoughts here! Couple things I'd counter with.
1) The ability deals damage equals to Freya's toughness - if you have ways to bolster the toughness, Freya not only survives blocks but can deal sizeable amounts of unblockable damage in exchange for exerting.
2) The ability to deal damage as though the creature was not blocked is unprecedented on a 2 CC creature. This creature can push damage in the early game and close out a game. Watchwolf can be chump blocked and has little utility in the late game.
Honestly, I don't think you even need to exert here. Its easy enough to block a 2/3 and the option to push 3 to the opponent instead of trading with their 3 toughness creature isn't a huge enough gain to need to stay tapped next turn.
That aside, this is a good way to solve for the color pie break of the earlier version
Appreciate your thoughts here! Couple things I'd counter with.
1) The ability deals damage equals to Freya's toughness - if you have ways to bolster the toughness, Freya not only survives blocks but can deal sizeable amounts of unblockable damage in exchange for exerting.
2) The ability to deal damage as though the creature was not blocked is unprecedented on a 2 CC creature. This creature can push damage in the early game and close out a game. Watchwolf can be chump blocked and has little utility in the late game.
Just for perspective, Lone Wolf was printed at common in 7th and 8th edition (when R&D wanted to find a trample alternative), and that was at a time when Grizzly Bears was still considered pushing the power/cost ratio of creatures. What I'm saying here is, if you want to leave on exert, you have room to add more, like a minor ETB or death trigger, or a Gustcloak ability might be cool, to dive out of combat if you smell a trap when they block.
I saw Lone Wolf when I made that statement about the effect being unprecedented on a 2CC creature. This card is markedly stronger than Lone Wolf:
- 2CC instead of 3
- + 1 Toughness
- Reach
- Deals 3 unblocked damage and usually can do this earlier then Lone Wolf.
- Toughness boosting effects = More potential unblockable damage - that also allow her to trade up with larger toughness creatures!
The only place where Lone Wolf wins is that it doesn't have to exert, but with two toughness and being a 3 drop, Wolf is far more likely to die when it initially swings. Freya will frequently swing unblocked for normal damage on turn 3 and then have the option to push through additional damage by exerting.
I don't believe this card needs further push - not every rare is for the spikes and this already has several interesting interactions.
My argument on the exert thing is that the opponent basically has no reason not to block this with their 3/3, because they'll either trade or they take 3 and keep their creature but Freya dies either way, and not killing their 3/3 in the trade is actually probably worse. In cost analysis, this is effectively a legendary Watchwolf, so the exert isn't really going to be necessary.
Reason is because they don't always have a 3/3 on their side of the board. You can easily play a heiarch turn 1 and play this and something else and then next turn swing with a 3/4 with this ability. This can be done before the opponent gets to establish a board. And it also makes chump blockers very weak against it. No chumps allowed. It's really good but not too good as is.
Reason is because they don't always have a 3/3 on their side of the board. You can easily play a heiarch turn 1 and play this and something else and then next turn swing with a 3/4 with this ability. This can be done before the opponent gets to establish a board. And it also makes chump blockers very weak against it. No chumps allowed. It's really good but not too good as is.
The thing about the Thorn Elemental ability is that it's significantly worse on small creatures than big. With a Thorn Elemental, that one attack for seven is usually the death blow, but on a small creature it either isn't going to get blocked (so the damage ability is irrelevant) or it does get blocked by something that can kill it and then I'm losing card advantage if put the damage on my opponent instead of their creature. Either way, if I exerted before the attack and they don't block, I wasted my next combat for +1 damage, and if they blocked and killed by creature the exert was irrelevant.
I think either the thorn or Doran ability should just be static, because tying both of them to exert makes this underpowered, especially if its meant to be rare.
It doesn't really matter what scenarios you put it in there is also going to be ones where it shines. Say you have a bolt and they are at 4,5,or 6 life but they have a full board. You can swing, exert, and then bolt.
Another could be that you know they only playing small dudes with big butts. Like a defender style deck. 0/4s and the like. This would never get through but with the exert ability you can still punch in for damage.
As you can tell as many negative scenarios you can think of someone else can flip it around. So the point is the card. Is it cool and unique, but not broken? Yes it's good the way it is.
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Legendary Creature - Rat Knight (R)
Reach
Whenever Freya Crescent attacks you may exile it.
If Freya Crescent is exiled from the battlefield, at the beginning of your attack step you may return it to the battlefield, if you do, it deals damage equal to its toughness to target player, planeswalker, or creature with flying.
2/3
Concept Notes: I associated each of the primary characters of FFIX with a color pair an an associated dual land. For Freya it is G/W and the associated dual land is Cleyra. I wanted an ability set that really captured the essence of her signature dragoon ability which is "Jump". Freya has the ability to deal unblockable damage by exiling out for a turn. This pseudo-blink effect is the white portion of the card, and the reach/damage to creatures with flying, and toughness matters is where green is reflected. I used toughness matters here to exemplify how Jump is just a bit more powerful than a normal attack.
I chose to have this return from exile during the attack step to prevent this ability from being able to be used each turn, to allow Freya to take out a flying blocker before blocks and also to permit Freya to play a defensive role in between Jumps. I also considered using exert here in place of the exile and deal damage upon its return, but I think being able to deal the three unblockable damage on turn 3 may be a little too strong and I worry that any toughness boosting spell would make the exert ability way too strong. The main way you can abuse the toughness matters effect as written is by having anthem type effects which I think is a more fair synergy.
Let me know what you think!
That said, I don't know how much FFXIV you played but Freya is definitely red. She has anger and chaos built in and unleashes it a few times. Most notably during the scene with that guy in heavy armor. Don't remember his name. She's very Boros. You can keep it as is with the cost of WR. Or you could take her creature type into consideration and make it RG and it's also fine as is. Or lastly you could make it W or G and a red. I don't know how to do that symbol.
Freya Crescent GW
Legendary Creature - Rat Knight (R)
Reach
You may exert Freya Crescent as it attacks. When you do, Freya Crescent deals combat damage equal to her toughness and may assign its combat damage as though it weren’t blocked. (An exerted creature won’t untap during your next untap step.)
2/3
I decided to use the Thorn Elemental ability paired with toughness matters as a color pie friendly way to translatee Freya's Jump ability into MTG. As for the color pairs I have most of the primary characters (and a couple supporting characters) tied to a color pair.
Garnet Til Alexandros XVII WU
General Beatrix WB
Eiko Carol UR
Vivi Ornitier UB
Zidane Tribal RW
Armarant Coral RG
Freya Crescent GW
Quina Quen GU
Kuja BR
Soulcage BG
That aside, this is a good way to solve for the color pie break of the earlier version
My argument on the exert thing is that the opponent basically has no reason not to block this with their 3/3, because they'll either trade or they take 3 and keep their creature but Freya dies either way, and not killing their 3/3 in the trade is actually probably worse. In cost analysis, this is effectively a legendary Watchwolf, so the exert isn't really going to be necessary.
Appreciate your thoughts here! Couple things I'd counter with.
1) The ability deals damage equals to Freya's toughness - if you have ways to bolster the toughness, Freya not only survives blocks but can deal sizeable amounts of unblockable damage in exchange for exerting.
2) The ability to deal damage as though the creature was not blocked is unprecedented on a 2 CC creature. This creature can push damage in the early game and close out a game. Watchwolf can be chump blocked and has little utility in the late game.
Just for perspective, Lone Wolf was printed at common in 7th and 8th edition (when R&D wanted to find a trample alternative), and that was at a time when Grizzly Bears was still considered pushing the power/cost ratio of creatures. What I'm saying here is, if you want to leave on exert, you have room to add more, like a minor ETB or death trigger, or a Gustcloak ability might be cool, to dive out of combat if you smell a trap when they block.
- 2CC instead of 3
- + 1 Toughness
- Reach
- Deals 3 unblocked damage and usually can do this earlier then Lone Wolf.
- Toughness boosting effects = More potential unblockable damage - that also allow her to trade up with larger toughness creatures!
The only place where Lone Wolf wins is that it doesn't have to exert, but with two toughness and being a 3 drop, Wolf is far more likely to die when it initially swings. Freya will frequently swing unblocked for normal damage on turn 3 and then have the option to push through additional damage by exerting.
I don't believe this card needs further push - not every rare is for the spikes and this already has several interesting interactions.
Reason is because they don't always have a 3/3 on their side of the board. You can easily play a heiarch turn 1 and play this and something else and then next turn swing with a 3/4 with this ability. This can be done before the opponent gets to establish a board. And it also makes chump blockers very weak against it. No chumps allowed. It's really good but not too good as is.
The thing about the Thorn Elemental ability is that it's significantly worse on small creatures than big. With a Thorn Elemental, that one attack for seven is usually the death blow, but on a small creature it either isn't going to get blocked (so the damage ability is irrelevant) or it does get blocked by something that can kill it and then I'm losing card advantage if put the damage on my opponent instead of their creature. Either way, if I exerted before the attack and they don't block, I wasted my next combat for +1 damage, and if they blocked and killed by creature the exert was irrelevant.
I think either the thorn or Doran ability should just be static, because tying both of them to exert makes this underpowered, especially if its meant to be rare.
Another could be that you know they only playing small dudes with big butts. Like a defender style deck. 0/4s and the like. This would never get through but with the exert ability you can still punch in for damage.
As you can tell as many negative scenarios you can think of someone else can flip it around. So the point is the card. Is it cool and unique, but not broken? Yes it's good the way it is.