However, I actually do need your help with one more thing on Skar. I can see Skar getting a little overpowered if he gains double strike based on the way my ability is written.
If I understand the way I've written the new version of the card correctly, if Skar were to face a 5/5 creature like Charging Monstrosaur as a 4/2 equipped with Fireshrieker, it would gain 9 +1/+1 counters, when I would only want Skar to gain a maximum of 5 +1/+1 counters. Is there a way to write the "if that creature died" part of the ability so that in this scenario, it would only put a single +1/+1 counter on Skar on the second strike?
WizardMN, to answer your question about why not make the buff equal to the damage, I decided to do that for a two reasons. One is that if Skar was to be a 4 drop, I wanted mitigate the boost to be sure he didn't get too powerful, too quickly. Also, it was a bit more on flavor for what I was thinking when it comes to Skar. Since he's a Vampire, he sucks blood which I associate with "health" and in Magic that's kind of represented by a creature's toughness. So if you drain a creature (it dies), you can't gain more health than it has.
Now that I reflected on what Skar is supposed to do, which is that he bites, drains blood from opponents, and then uses that to become stronger, I think rowanalpha's version is better. It's on flavor, it's easier to understand, and I don't have to keep track of uneven counters and then worrying about removing them. I think that's too clunky and too wordy.
Hi, I have an idea for a custom creature, but it has two triggered abilities that I'm not sure how to write. I tried writing the two abilities myself (see attachment), but I don't think they interact the way I want them to.
Refer below for how I want them to actually work and examples of how the abilities would resolve in different situations.
Triggered Ability A:
Whenever Skar, the Blood Siphon deals damage to a creature, if that creature died, boost Skar's toughness by that creature's toughness. Otherwise, boost Skar's toughness by the amount of damage it dealt to that creature.
Triggered Ability B:
At the beginning of each (end step or upkeep, not sure which makes more sense), check if Skar's power and toughness are unequal. If so, the higher of the two becomes its power and the lower of the two becomes its toughness.
Here is what it would look like for Skar after being blocked by different creatures (for simplicity's sake, assume there are no additional spells or effects by either player):
1. I've declared Skar as my only attacker (Skar is 4/2 with first strike).
[Scenario 1: Akroan Jailer declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Jailer.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Jailer died, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 1.
5. Skar becomes a 4/3.
6. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
7. Triggered Ability B resolves and checks Skar's power and toughness.
8. Since its power and toughness are unequal, Skar becomes a 4/3.
[Scenario 2: Alpine Watchdog declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Watchdog.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Watchdog died, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 2.
5. Skar becomes a 4/4.
6. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
7. Triggered Ability B checks Skar's power and toughness.
8. Since its power and toughness are equal, no changes are made and Skar remains a 4/4.
[Scenario 3: Aetherstream Leopard declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Leopard.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Leopard died, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 3.
5. Skar becomes a 4/5.
6. Leopard deals 2 damage to Skar.
7. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
8. Triggered Ability B checks power and toughness.
9. Since power and toughness are unequal, Skar becomes a 5/4.
[Scenario 4: Keeper of Fables declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Keeper.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Keeper did not die, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 4.
5. Skar becomes a 4/6.
6. Keeper deals 4 damage to Skar.
7. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
8. Triggered Ability B checks power and toughness.
9. Since power and toughness are unequal, Skar becomes a 6/4.
Just to be clear, I couldn't have the Seeker deal 3 damage to Brimaz and Elenda deal 2 damage to Brimaz. One of them would have to deal 5 damage to Brimaz and I could assign more with the other one should I choose to (if the damage assignment order for both creatures is Brimaz, then Cat Soldier).
If I had both of my creatures assign combat damage in the order of Brimaz, then Cat Soldier, would Brimaz end up taking double the lethal damage during the damage step?
Another question: If I have the tokens that are blocking Elenda and Sanctum Seeker deal damage second, how much damage do Sanctum Seeker and Elenda deal to Brimaz? If I remember right, my opponent also gets to choose which attacker Brimaz will deal damage to first before damaging the second attacker, correct?
Let's say that I have Stonebrow, Krosan Hero, Ferocity of the Wilds, and a non-Human creature that doesn't normally have trample on the battlefield. If I attack with the non-Human creature does it get the +2/+2 bonus from Stonebrow?
If I understand the way I've written the new version of the card correctly, if Skar were to face a 5/5 creature like Charging Monstrosaur as a 4/2 equipped with Fireshrieker, it would gain 9 +1/+1 counters, when I would only want Skar to gain a maximum of 5 +1/+1 counters. Is there a way to write the "if that creature died" part of the ability so that in this scenario, it would only put a single +1/+1 counter on Skar on the second strike?
Now that I reflected on what Skar is supposed to do, which is that he bites, drains blood from opponents, and then uses that to become stronger, I think rowanalpha's version is better. It's on flavor, it's easier to understand, and I don't have to keep track of uneven counters and then worrying about removing them. I think that's too clunky and too wordy.
Refer below for how I want them to actually work and examples of how the abilities would resolve in different situations.
Triggered Ability A:
Whenever Skar, the Blood Siphon deals damage to a creature, if that creature died, boost Skar's toughness by that creature's toughness. Otherwise, boost Skar's toughness by the amount of damage it dealt to that creature.
Triggered Ability B:
At the beginning of each (end step or upkeep, not sure which makes more sense), check if Skar's power and toughness are unequal. If so, the higher of the two becomes its power and the lower of the two becomes its toughness.
Here is what it would look like for Skar after being blocked by different creatures (for simplicity's sake, assume there are no additional spells or effects by either player):
1. I've declared Skar as my only attacker (Skar is 4/2 with first strike).
[Scenario 1: Akroan Jailer declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Jailer.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Jailer died, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 1.
5. Skar becomes a 4/3.
6. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
7. Triggered Ability B resolves and checks Skar's power and toughness.
8. Since its power and toughness are unequal, Skar becomes a 4/3.
[Scenario 2: Alpine Watchdog declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Watchdog.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Watchdog died, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 2.
5. Skar becomes a 4/4.
6. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
7. Triggered Ability B checks Skar's power and toughness.
8. Since its power and toughness are equal, no changes are made and Skar remains a 4/4.
[Scenario 3: Aetherstream Leopard declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Leopard.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Leopard died, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 3.
5. Skar becomes a 4/5.
6. Leopard deals 2 damage to Skar.
7. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
8. Triggered Ability B checks power and toughness.
9. Since power and toughness are unequal, Skar becomes a 5/4.
[Scenario 4: Keeper of Fables declared as a blocker]
2. Skar deals 4 first strike damage to the Keeper.
3. Triggered Ability A goes on the stack.
4. Triggered Ability A resolves and since the Keeper did not die, Skar's toughness gets boosted by 4.
5. Skar becomes a 4/6.
6. Keeper deals 4 damage to Skar.
7. Triggered Ability B goes on the stack.
8. Triggered Ability B checks power and toughness.
9. Since power and toughness are unequal, Skar becomes a 6/4.
Any help you can give me is appreciated!
Just to be clear, I couldn't have the Seeker deal 3 damage to Brimaz and Elenda deal 2 damage to Brimaz. One of them would have to deal 5 damage to Brimaz and I could assign more with the other one should I choose to (if the damage assignment order for both creatures is Brimaz, then Cat Soldier).
It's my turn, I have attacked with
- Sanctum Seeker (with 2 +1/+1 counters on it)
- Elenda, the Dusk Rose (with 4 +1/+1 counters on it)
- Indulgent Aristocrat (with 2 +1/+1 counters on it)
[Sanctum Seeker's attack triggers have been resolved, and I have 4B and 2W mana available]
My opponent has Cenn's Tactician(untapped), Metallic Mimic (with Soldier as the chosen creature type), a 1/1 Cat Soldier creature token with Vigilance, and Brimaz, King of Oreskos in play with 1W mana available.
They decide to block the Aristocrat with their Cat Soldier token and block Elenda and Sanctum Seeker with their Brimaz.
My question is: After Brimaz is declared as a blocker, what will the rest of my combat phase look like?