Everyone loves shapeshifters, right? In fact, isn't that their entire point as a tribe?
The Changeling cards are a great example of Lorwyn's evolution over Onslaught block. Back then, the Mistforms were a poor support for your other tribes -- they were only in blue, most had terrible stats, and (worst of all) they cost mana even to get those tribal benefits!
This time around, every color gets to join in the fun, and for no mana cost! Great deal.
First off, a part of an interesting cycle:
Wings of Velis Vel 1U
Tribal instant – Shapeshifter
Changeling
Target Creature becomes 4/4, gains all creature types, and gains flying until end of turn.
Common
Shields of Velis Vel W
Tribal instant – Shapeshifter
Changeling
Creatures target player controls get +0/+1 and gain all creature types until end of turn.
Common
Blades of Velis Vel 1R
Tribal Instant - Shapeshifter
Changeling
Up to two target creatures get +2/+0 and gain all creature types until end of turn.
Common
So who is Velis Vel, you ask? Good question - I don't know either!
I've gotta say, I'm really impressed with the subtle design on these cards. Each one triggers any Battlewand Oak-like tribal effects you already have in play -- plus it allows your creatures to parasitically leech off of your opponent's boosting effects. Nice!
Next up, two black shapeshifters:
Ghostly Changeling 2B
Creature – Shapeshifter
Changeling 1B: Ghostly Changeling gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/2
Uncommon
Changeling forms of creatures we know well. I think both have some limited potential; the 2 mana activation cost will hurt the shade more than the skeleton, I think.
And finally, my favorite of this batch...
Amoebold Changeling 1U
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling
Tap: Target creature gains all creature types until end of turn.
Tap: Target creature loses all creature types until end of turn.
1/1
Common
This guy is hilarious. Not only does he convey a repeatable version of the Velis Vel effect to any of your creatures, every turn, he also lets you take away creature types -- hosing your opponent's valuable critters out of their tribal bonuses at inopportune moments. Plus, it's an amoeba.
Limited will be a blast for sure. I can already imagine the amount of mistakes people will do by forgetting various changeling activations while their opponents do their tricks.
Nothing amazing, but at least changelings could patch up the gaps of some slow tribal decks such as treefolk and giants.
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Those instants are fun with Goatnapper. Play Blades targeting one of your own creatures and a fun one of your opponent's, play Goatnapper, theft it, attack.
What's interesting to me is this will make obscure creature tribal decks for the Tribal Wars format on MTGO possible now, since slots can be filled with these.
why blu velis vel is so umbalanced compared to other colors?
2 mana to give flying and transform a creature into 4/4???
You might have missed the fact that the other two cards affect multiple creatures, where the blue only affects one. It is still very powerful, though, and nearly obsoletes a LOT of creature gets flying cards.
The white one will be good with Doran, but I'm kind of iffy on the red one.
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These cards are going to be a lot of fun, both in limited and casual play.
If the instants themselves have Changeling, that means any tribal tutor can search for them? If I'm interpreting that correctly, that's kind of wacky.
And a slightly off-topic rules question: if two Changelings are in play, does Coat of Arms give them each +1/+1, or a +1/+1 for every single creature type they share (which is all of them)?
These cards are going to be a lot of fun, both in limited and casual play.
If the instants themselves have Changeling, that means any tribal tutor can search for them? If I'm interpreting that correctly, that's kind of wacky.
And a slightly off-topic rules question: if two Changelings are in play, does Coat of Arms give them each +1/+1, or a +1/+1 for every single creature type they share (which is all of them)?
Yep, any tribal tutor can serach for them. Also effects that rely on tribal cards (like the boggart damage and raise dead), can get them back.
Also, coat of arms would give +1/+1 to each changeling it there were only 2 changelings in play. Now if you played any other creature with a type, they'd all get +2/+2 obviously. Note that the arms only gives bonuses based on each creature which shares a type, not based on the amount of types shared.
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The white one will be good with Doran, but I'm kind of iffy on the red one.
The best reason I see to play it with Doran is to allow you to play BG land without playing very many elves and/or GW land without playing very many Kithkin. Its +1/+1 effect (with Doran in play) is not that strong.
And a slightly off-topic rules question: if two Changelings are in play, does Coat of Arms give them each +1/+1, or a +1/+1 for every single creature type they share (which is all of them)?
they would get +1/+1 for each other creature (maybe tribal too its more to point out its not for each type but each perment or whatever it is) sharing a type with them. so if you only got 2 changelings in play they get +1/+1
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Charlequin, you continue to give us new cards, great work.
Wings- Insanity, it's exactly what you want in a fish style deck, it turns any 1/1 utility creature into a 4/4 flying beatstick for 1 turn for only 1U, it also works well as a blue Giant Growth effect on Flying Men. Good for limited, real potential in the right deck for constructed.
Shields- Pretty meh, only +0/+1, but it is a nice way to protect all your creatures from a mass damage effect or to give your creatures all the tribal boosts and it only costs W. Limited only trick though.
Blades- It gives the +4/+0 of Fists of the Anvil but is split between 2 creatures, it also gives the changeling ability(which can be bad, good or irrelevent depending on the situation), for only 1R it's a good limited spell but too narrow for constructed(the requirement of having 2 creatures to get full value).
Ghostly Changeling- a 2B 2/2 with changeling and with a 1B shade style pump ability, Limited strong with enough black mana, constructed probably a bit too slow thanks to the 2cc pump ability(a B cost pump ability would have made it playable).
skeletal changeling- another limited only card, it's Drudge Skeletons with changeling and a 1 more expensive reanimation ability.
I just realized why shapeshift is such a bad keyword.
You can't give it to anything.
If you have an object gain shapeshift, that will be a layer 5 effect, because it's just an ability. But layer 4 is where type-changing effects apply. So the shapeshift is put on the object too late for its effect to apply!
That's why these Shapeshifter spells can't just give the creatures shapeshift.
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If you have an object gain shapeshift, that will be a layer 5 effect, because it's just an ability.
I'm not so sure this is true. A Utopia Vow doesn't grant "just an ability," it grants a mana ability. Cards can grant special properties to other cards.
Wow... Wings and Blades of Velis Vel are easily really-powerful-common cards for limited, and probably pretty high draft picks. Nothing else is too interesting though.
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Wow. These Velis Vel stuffies makes me want to put them into a sliver deck that has non-sliver critters - of course that's just casual fodder... but hey, it's damned fun.
I just realized why shapeshift is such a bad keyword.
You can't give it to anything.
If you have an object gain shapeshift, that will be a layer 5 effect, because it's just an ability. But layer 4 is where type-changing effects apply. So the shapeshift is put on the object too late for its effect to apply!
That's why these Shapeshifter spells can't just give the creatures shapeshift.
There'd better be a reason these spells can't just give the creatures shapeshift...
But yeah, it is a bad keyword. What is the name for what Threshold/Radiance/Sweep are? That's what they should have made Shapeshift.
The Changeling cards are a great example of Lorwyn's evolution over Onslaught block. Back then, the Mistforms were a poor support for your other tribes -- they were only in blue, most had terrible stats, and (worst of all) they cost mana even to get those tribal benefits!
This time around, every color gets to join in the fun, and for no mana cost! Great deal.
First off, a part of an interesting cycle:
So who is Velis Vel, you ask? Good question - I don't know either!
I've gotta say, I'm really impressed with the subtle design on these cards. Each one triggers any Battlewand Oak-like tribal effects you already have in play -- plus it allows your creatures to parasitically leech off of your opponent's boosting effects. Nice!
Next up, two black shapeshifters:
Changeling forms of creatures we know well. I think both have some limited potential; the 2 mana activation cost will hurt the shade more than the skeleton, I think.
And finally, my favorite of this batch...
This guy is hilarious. Not only does he convey a repeatable version of the Velis Vel effect to any of your creatures, every turn, he also lets you take away creature types -- hosing your opponent's valuable critters out of their tribal bonuses at inopportune moments. Plus, it's an amoeba.
As always, enjoy!
EDIT: I don't see any of them having huge constructed potential, but they will make for some very fun Limited situations.
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definitely. I look forward to drafting these cards.
I especially like the blue instant, but it probably won't do anything different than that white one in 10th.
Nothing amazing, but at least changelings could patch up the gaps of some slow tribal decks such as treefolk and giants.
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You might have missed the fact that the other two cards affect multiple creatures, where the blue only affects one. It is still very powerful, though, and nearly obsoletes a LOT of creature gets flying cards.
The white one will be good with Doran, but I'm kind of iffy on the red one.
If the instants themselves have Changeling, that means any tribal tutor can search for them? If I'm interpreting that correctly, that's kind of wacky.
And a slightly off-topic rules question: if two Changelings are in play, does Coat of Arms give them each +1/+1, or a +1/+1 for every single creature type they share (which is all of them)?
Yep, any tribal tutor can serach for them. Also effects that rely on tribal cards (like the boggart damage and raise dead), can get them back.
Also, coat of arms would give +1/+1 to each changeling it there were only 2 changelings in play. Now if you played any other creature with a type, they'd all get +2/+2 obviously. Note that the arms only gives bonuses based on each creature which shares a type, not based on the amount of types shared.
Logical Reasoning is dead; Long Live Stupidity
The best reason I see to play it with Doran is to allow you to play BG land without playing very many elves and/or GW land without playing very many Kithkin. Its +1/+1 effect (with Doran in play) is not that strong.
they would get +1/+1 for each other creature (maybe tribal too its more to point out its not for each type but each perment or whatever it is) sharing a type with them. so if you only got 2 changelings in play they get +1/+1
Wings- Insanity, it's exactly what you want in a fish style deck, it turns any 1/1 utility creature into a 4/4 flying beatstick for 1 turn for only 1U, it also works well as a blue Giant Growth effect on Flying Men. Good for limited, real potential in the right deck for constructed.
Shields- Pretty meh, only +0/+1, but it is a nice way to protect all your creatures from a mass damage effect or to give your creatures all the tribal boosts and it only costs W. Limited only trick though.
Blades- It gives the +4/+0 of Fists of the Anvil but is split between 2 creatures, it also gives the changeling ability(which can be bad, good or irrelevent depending on the situation), for only 1R it's a good limited spell but too narrow for constructed(the requirement of having 2 creatures to get full value).
Ghostly Changeling- a 2B 2/2 with changeling and with a 1B shade style pump ability, Limited strong with enough black mana, constructed probably a bit too slow thanks to the 2cc pump ability(a B cost pump ability would have made it playable).
skeletal changeling- another limited only card, it's Drudge Skeletons with changeling and a 1 more expensive reanimation ability.
Amoebold Changeling- cute but pretty useless.
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You can't give it to anything.
If you have an object gain shapeshift, that will be a layer 5 effect, because it's just an ability. But layer 4 is where type-changing effects apply. So the shapeshift is put on the object too late for its effect to apply!
That's why these Shapeshifter spells can't just give the creatures shapeshift.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
I'm not so sure this is true. A Utopia Vow doesn't grant "just an ability," it grants a mana ability. Cards can grant special properties to other cards.
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There'd better be a reason these spells can't just give the creatures shapeshift...
But yeah, it is a bad keyword. What is the name for what Threshold/Radiance/Sweep are? That's what they should have made Shapeshift.
EDIT: An ability word.