"Unique hand". It doesn't say human and it doesn't say living. If you don't mind stretching the bounds of good taste, you could come up with plenty of tokens for this.
I like the way this is going. Gotta buy me some new tokens:
With both Animation Module and Durable Handicraft, any creature that enters the battlefield under your control, or +1/+1 counter being placed on your creatures, sets off the combo: 2: Create a 2/2 creature token. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is a convenient, manaless token producer too.
Obviously, this isn't the same as Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek; notable differences being that there's no life gain attached, the mana cost is increased by a full 100%, and it almost always will require a third party to make the tokens/counters. Hyperbolic title aside, I think the comparison does bear some examining. Thoughts?
And now we see why they let free discard into this set: There's all of five Madness cards, and most are so-so. It'll be risky drafting a madness deck with only one pack of SoI to really give you any Madness cards.
I kind of admire this method of balancing the mechanic, and it is very satisfying to see these discard outlets after the paltry sources offered in SOI, but I can't help but think that the reason there are no "Creature - Trolls" in the set is because trolls were present in the design process.
More seriously, I love sacrificing things in MtG, and seeing a whole subtheme devoted to it in a set taking so many cues from Lovecraft warms my purple latticed insides.
Prediction: Ludevic, messing with the new Emrakul influence, manages to isolate the effects into a physical form, which manifests as a strange black oil. Using this material, he creates a bio-mechanical race of horrors which the Gatewatch crew team up with, or are able to at least use, to defeat Emrakul. It becomes immediately apparent though that the black oil is itself spreading through Innistrad, so the Gatewatch fight it, but lose. They attempt to simply seal it off then, with Nahiri's help, but Nahiri is killed/compleated. Just as all hope seems lost, Sarkhan appears and warps the oil and its creations back in time. When asked where/when exactly it went, he shrugs, asks how he should know, and then turns into a dragon and flies off. Meanwhile, Koth cries alone.
I can see why people would be a little upset at the number of Eldrazi, but my favorite horror movie ever is John Carpenter's The Thing so I ain't even mad bro.
See, that red angel is the reason I like Magic. It's a pretty bad card. Like, it surprised me how bad it was while I was reading it, I kept thinking I was missing something or misreading something. Weirdly inappropriate stats on an all-downside mediocre beater? Uhh ok.
But rather than developing an ulcer over it, I'm legitimately excited to see what people do with it. Just because I can't think of anything doesn't mean that it can't be efficient in some deck somewhere, and I think mythic is an appropriate place for something this big and weird.
Yeah, I feel your pain over Arjun not being artifact based, but I really enjoy chaos effects. I wasn't going to buy the UR deck, but now I may, just because I love Arjun (though I wish it was EACH player, for maximum lols).
So the enemy ones are both more simple, pushed beaters. That's fine, though.
Shukuteki - Vigilance and intimidate were hardly ever - maybe never? - on the same card together. I do strangely like that combination though. His attack trigger is... unfortunately not much more than battle cry, and I'd expect a little bit more uniqueness and splashiness from a legend. Maybe +1/+2? +1/+1 and they gain the Shade ability? :B.
I like the idea of using a Leonin Sun Standard for attacking creatures, something like "WB: Attacking creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn." This way it's a nice little shade ability in white. May need rebalancing though.
I honestly remember Zendikar as not the most interesting standard. Jund dominated, a couple aggro decks did ok (vampires, RW landfall), then once M11 and Scars of Mirrodin hit it was just Valakut ramp and Caw-blade. Yeah, the block contributed a few major players in other formats (Pyromancer's Ascension, Goblin Guide, etc) but it's time in standard was largely dominated by the blocks around it (Jund obviously, M10 for Vampire Nocturnus and Lightning Bolt, M11 for Primeval Titan and Mana Leak, Stoneforge Mystic was unplayable until SoM, etc).
So yes, Zendikar did contribute some defining individual cards, but the set itself, and the standard formats around it, never really impressed me.
I like the way this is going. Gotta buy me some new tokens:
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Rubber-Finger-Hands-Puppets/dp/B00RZQ1SMG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1511195450&sr=8-7&keywords=rubber hand
Obviously, this isn't the same as Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek; notable differences being that there's no life gain attached, the mana cost is increased by a full 100%, and it almost always will require a third party to make the tokens/counters. Hyperbolic title aside, I think the comparison does bear some examining. Thoughts?
And Wight of Precinct Six counts creatures in opponent's graveyards, not your own, giving you less control over its bonus.
A couple random cards I'm kinda eager to try -
-Terrarion in some sort of delirium/converge crossover deck
-Clear Shot seems fun in a Mirrorwing Dragon/Zada/Silverfur Partisan deck
-Otherworldly Outburst actually seems kinda great (either in the aforementioned Clear Shot list, or just on its own). The instant speed makes it, in my eyes, probably better than Skin Invasion
-A U/G Emerge deck using Foul Emissary and Primal Druid seems fun
I kind of admire this method of balancing the mechanic, and it is very satisfying to see these discard outlets after the paltry sources offered in SOI, but I can't help but think that the reason there are no "Creature - Trolls" in the set is because trolls were present in the design process.
More seriously, I love sacrificing things in MtG, and seeing a whole subtheme devoted to it in a set taking so many cues from Lovecraft warms my purple latticed insides.
But rather than developing an ulcer over it, I'm legitimately excited to see what people do with it. Just because I can't think of anything doesn't mean that it can't be efficient in some deck somewhere, and I think mythic is an appropriate place for something this big and weird.
I like the idea of using a Leonin Sun Standard for attacking creatures, something like "WB: Attacking creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn." This way it's a nice little shade ability in white. May need rebalancing though.
So yes, Zendikar did contribute some defining individual cards, but the set itself, and the standard formats around it, never really impressed me.