I have to admit, I'm back and forth on playing any of these delve cards in limited.
There are very few of them where I look at them and am like "yeah I would hardcast that in a pinch". Most of them are unplayable with no cards in graveyard, bad with two cards in graveyard, and merely good with four.
And for filling your graveyard at common and uncommon, you've just got Taigam's Scheming, Bitter Revelation, Rakshasa's Secret, and Scout the Borders.
Granted, I could see getting your hands on sufficient graveyard fillers in draft if you're the only one going Sultai, but in sealed you'd have to get pretty lucky to support more than one or two delve cards in a deck.
Well, you also have all the creatures you control that are going to die, and all the other instants and sorceries you cast.
Delve could come quite in handy after a sweeper flays the board.
I have to admit, I'm back and forth on playing any of these delve cards in limited.
There are very few of them where I look at them and am like "yeah I would hardcast that in a pinch". Most of them are unplayable with no cards in graveyard, bad with two cards in graveyard, and merely good with four.
And for filling your graveyard at common and uncommon, you've just got Taigam's Scheming, Bitter Revelation, Rakshasa's Secret, and Scout the Borders.
Granted, I could see getting your hands on sufficient graveyard fillers in draft if you're the only one going Sultai, but in sealed you'd have to get pretty lucky to support more than one or two delve cards in a deck.
Well, you also have all the creatures you control that are going to die, and all the other instants and sorceries you cast.
Delve could come quite in handy after a sweeper flays the board.
True, it just seems like a hard call to make until I've experienced first-hand what your graveyard looks like during an average game in this limited. I just remember getting burned on Skaab Ruinator back in Innistrad (granted, he was literally uncastable if you didn't have the graveyard for it, and there were cards you really wanted to keep in your graveyard in Innistrad).
Murderous Strike is Doom blade with no restrictions with 3 cards in the graveyard.
Treasure Cruise is better then divination with 4 and when top decked late in the game is an ancestrial recall.
These cards at least I am positive will be at least one of's if I get them.
looking at the set, there are a number of key toughness/power things going on in limited.
spoiler for long weird analysis?
3 toughness is strong because it lets you beat a morph (as long as they don't flip).
2/3s are really good... but there are also a lot of 3/2s to counter that.
as soon as you hit 3 toughness, you also get hit by suspension field.
removal hits at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, which is a puzzle. not a lot of things ping for 1?
red removal is both overpriced and really common, and hits for every number but 2.
black removal hits at 2 and 4, and there's a BG sweeper that gives -2/-2.
there's a charm for monocolored and one that hits for 4, and sarkhan hits for 4.
5 toughness is the real safe point for everything but a few red cards, since a lot of removal spells deal 4.
both red and green have "deal 5/6 damage out of nowhere" cards, so prioritize keeping your life up pretty high?
there aren't a lot of flyers, and there's one abzan guy with reach and *also a 2/5 reach morph*.
alabaster kirin is much better because of this environment, and so is sultai scavenger.
however, there's a 0/5 blue flying wall with morph that can block basically everything forever, it's a sweet card.
5 mana is definitely the point where you should be afraid of morphs,
because they could be basically everything huge or unpleasant at 5.
if they have *any black cards*, the 1/1 deathtouch is possible before then,
so don't send your huge ground guy i guess? or be aware of that?
edited!
Lucedes on
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astrobstrdSo full of mercy...Registered Userregular
There are two reach creatures, the outlast guy that gives all +1 counter guys reach and a morph 2/5 reach.
The morph cost on the 1/1 deathtouch is -reveal a black card from your hand.
looking at the set, there are a number of key toughness/power things going on in limited.
spoiler for long weird analysis?
3 toughness is strong because it lets you beat a morph (as long as they don't flip).
2/3s are really good... but there are also a lot of 3/2s to counter that.
as soon as you hit 3 toughness, you also get hit by suspension field.
removal hits at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, which is a puzzle. not a lot of things ping for 1?
red removal is both overpriced and really common, and hits for every number but 2.
black removal hits at 2 and 4, and there's a BG sweeper that gives -2/-2.
there's a charm for monocolored and one that hits for 4, and sarkhan hits for 4.
5 toughness is the real safe point for everything but a few red cards, since a lot of removal spells deal 4.
both red and green have "deal 5/6 damage out of nowhere" cards, so prioritize keeping your life up pretty high?
there aren't a lot of flyers, and there's one abzan guy with reach (and that's it).
alabaster kirin is much better because of this environment, and so is sultai scavenger.
however, there's a 0/5 blue flying wall with morph that can block basically everything forever, it's a sweet card.
5 mana is definitely the point where you should be afraid of morphs,
because they could be basically everything huge or unpleasant at 5.
if they have B up, the 1/1 deathtouch is possible before then,
so don't send your huge ground guy i guess? or be aware of that?
Minor note: they don't need B up for the 1/1 Deathtouch. Ruth is part of the "reveal a (color) card" cycle, so you are not safe even if your opponent is tapped out. She's a pretty amazing card.
Either way, it's giving us Jeskai Ascendancy which makes the entire clans existance worth it.
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Theodore Flooseveltproud parent of eight beautiful girls and shalmelodorne (which is currently being ruled by a woman (awesome role model for my daughters)) #dornedadRegistered Userregular
yeah, I had subconsciously noticed it but didn't realize how pervasive it was until the LR guys pointed it out--5 mana is the morph cost
so barring other info, expect morphs to be able to go live at five mana. a good deal of these do require clan-mana, though
the 3 toughness-mini-matters concerning for morph (and suspension field) is pretty huge and i like it, though sultai also has a few "4 toughness matters" which is kind of strange to me. It has symmetry with temur, i guess, but doesn't make as much sense as 3 toughness for the set
and in line with morph concerns, 2 power with a big butt seems like it's better positioned than it may usually seem. i mean that 2/8 elephant can shut down basically every morph except the deathtoucher, I think?
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Theodore Flooseveltproud parent of eight beautiful girls and shalmelodorne (which is currently being ruled by a woman (awesome role model for my daughters)) #dornedadRegistered Userregular
looking at the set, there are a number of key toughness/power things going on in limited.
spoiler for long weird analysis?
3 toughness is strong because it lets you beat a morph (as long as they don't flip).
2/3s are really good... but there are also a lot of 3/2s to counter that.
as soon as you hit 3 toughness, you also get hit by suspension field.
removal hits at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, which is a puzzle. not a lot of things ping for 1?
red removal is both overpriced and really common, and hits for every number but 2.
black removal hits at 2 and 4, and there's a BG sweeper that gives -2/-2.
there's a charm for monocolored and one that hits for 4, and sarkhan hits for 4.
5 toughness is the real safe point for everything but a few red cards, since a lot of removal spells deal 4.
both red and green have "deal 5/6 damage out of nowhere" cards, so prioritize keeping your life up pretty high?
there aren't a lot of flyers, and there's one abzan guy with reach (and that's it).
alabaster kirin is much better because of this environment, and so is sultai scavenger.
however, there's a 0/5 blue flying wall with morph that can block basically everything forever, it's a sweet card.
5 mana is definitely the point where you should be afraid of morphs,
because they could be basically everything huge or unpleasant at 5.
if they have B up, the 1/1 deathtouch is possible before then,
so don't send your huge ground guy i guess? or be aware of that?
Minor note: they don't need B up for the 1/1 Deathtouch. Ruth is part of the "reveal a (color) card" cycle, so you are not safe even if your opponent is tapped out. She's a pretty amazing card.
i do love alternate costs like these, revealing cards or the old "you may exile a (color) card from your hand instead of paying its costs" from masques
One of the things I really hope we see out of Fates is more alternative morphs
Like a big black demon (or a black Dragon as may be more suiting Tarkir's past), that you can unmorph by paying a big chunk of life. Make it a rare... maybe a 5/5 or 6/6. But with a large enough life payment that it becomes risky as heck. High risk, high reward. Feels very black to me.
One of the things I really hope we see out of Fates is more alternative morphs
Like a big black demon (or a black Dragon as may be more suiting Tarkir's past), that you can unmorph by paying a big chunk of life. Make it a rare... maybe a 5/5 or 6/6. But with a large enough life payment that it becomes risky as heck. High risk, high reward. Feels very black to me.
It's been a while since we had a nice "Pay half your life, rounded up" black card.
One of the things I really hope we see out of Fates is more alternative morphs
Like a big black demon (or a black Dragon as may be more suiting Tarkir's past), that you can unmorph by paying a big chunk of life. Make it a rare... maybe a 5/5 or 6/6. But with a large enough life payment that it becomes risky as heck. High risk, high reward. Feels very black to me.
If they do this it better be rare. Zombie Cutthroat was a thing in Scourge and it kind of warped the format (even more).
One of the things I really hope we see out of Fates is more alternative morphs
Like a big black demon (or a black Dragon as may be more suiting Tarkir's past), that you can unmorph by paying a big chunk of life. Make it a rare... maybe a 5/5 or 6/6. But with a large enough life payment that it becomes risky as heck. High risk, high reward. Feels very black to me.
If they do this it better be rare. Zombie Cutthroat was a thing in Scourge and it kind of warped the format (even more).
Oh agreed.
I actually like the idea of a Rare (or even Mythic?) cycle of Dragons with Morph. We know morph magic came from the dragons and I think Tarkir's past - with dragons so previlant - is place where you could put a dragon in each color.
Give them all punishing alternative morph costs. Black makes you pay life, Blue discard cards, Green maybe sac lands, etc
Ok for see hypothetical set of Alt-Cost Morph Dragons:
Black - obvious pay a huge chunk of life. 10? Something nasty.
Blue - Discard a bunch of cards. At first I was thinking "discard your hand" but I realized you could easily play it in a low curve deck, play everything but a land or something worthless out and then just discard that. By making it a large number - 5 maybe? - it forces you to make tough decisions if you want that WAY early creature. You have to take basically change how you play the first few turns then - like the life loss from the Black one - if you LOSE that dragon it puts you in a rough spot
Green - Green is the color of lands. So sacrificing lands seems to fit here. Again, your getting a massive body early, but putting yourself in a tough spot should things go south. 2 lands seems good. 3 could work, but seems almost overkill. Could be wrong.
Red and White I'm having more trouble with. Maybe Red is sacrifice X creatures? White is... I just don't know.
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
Templating is an issue. What's its P/T if not cast as a morph? Might I suggest something more like "when Log Elemental is turned face up, place X +1/+1 counters on it"
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
way too overpowered
i mean, you can cast it as a colorless 2/2!
Yeah but then it dies to Sorrow's Path
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
Templating is an issue. What's its P/T if not cast as a morph? Might I suggest something more like "when Log Elemental is turned face up, place X +1/+1 counters on it"
You're right. Let's template this properly.
The *s in the lower right hand corner are equal to the number of untapped forests you bury when Log Elemental was turned face-up. You may not bury forests that are already on the way to the graveyard. You may only bury forests you control.
Feral on
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
Templating is an issue. What's its P/T if not cast as a morph? Might I suggest something more like "when Log Elemental is turned face up, place X +1/+1 counters on it"
You're right. Let's template this properly.
The *s in the lower right hand corner are equal to the number of untapped forests you bury when Log Elemental was turned face-up. You may not bury forests that are already on the way to the graveyard.
Yes but again, in this templating, as old school as it is, you can't hard cast it. It would be a 0/0.
Edit: now there may be room for a card with NO hard casting cost... that can only be played first as a Morph.
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
Templating is an issue. What's its P/T if not cast as a morph? Might I suggest something more like "when Log Elemental is turned face up, place X +1/+1 counters on it"
You're right. Let's template this properly.
The *s in the lower right hand corner are equal to the number of untapped forests you bury when Log Elemental was turned face-up. You may not bury forests that are already on the way to the graveyard.
Yes but again, in this templating, as old school as it is, you can't hard cast it. It would be a 0/0.
Getting away from the Wood Elemental joke for a moment...
...there's nothing that's stopping them from making a card that is uncastable except for its morph cost. They could, if they were feeling saucy, neglect to give a morph creature a casting cost, a'la Ancestral Vision and Evermind.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
Oh my god. My edit on the last post got me thinking..
If I remember right, I read something about that the Dragons of Tarkir's past were born into the world from "storms" - that's where they kept coming from. One of the reasons the Clans eventually won was that these "storms" lessened and eventually stopped, allowing humanity to drive them to extinction.
Now we know that they changed the art for Morphs into a ball of firey light... sort of stormy looking, don't you think? We know the morph magic is taken from the dragons. We know morph is going to play a role in future sets and the block structure
We may actually get "morph only" dragons if that magic is indeed tied to how they are "born"
Edit: relevant text from PW Guide PT 1:
Dragons once thrived on the plane of Tarkir. They spawned from mighty elemental storms, filled the sky with their destructive breath, and terrorized the five ancient warrior clans. But the dragons met their fate long ago. For many years, the clans fought a war against the dragons for their own survival, hoping for some way to gain an advantage in the struggle. At a crucial turning point more than a thousand years ago, the dragon tempests stopped coming, and no new dragons were spawned. Their numbers thinned, and the tide of the war changed.
Sounds a lot how morphs look to me, just much bigger versions
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Log Elemental
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
Templating is an issue. What's its P/T if not cast as a morph? Might I suggest something more like "when Log Elemental is turned face up, place X +1/+1 counters on it"
You're right. Let's template this properly.
The *s in the lower right hand corner are equal to the number of untapped forests you bury when Log Elemental was turned face-up. You may not bury forests that are already on the way to the graveyard.
Yes but again, in this templating, as old school as it is, you can't hard cast it. It would be a 0/0.
Getting away from the Wood Elemental joke for a moment...
...there's nothing that's stopping them from making a card that is uncastable except for its morph cost. They could, if they were feeling saucy, neglect to give a morph creature a casting cost, a'la Ancestral Vision and Evermind.
How about changing it to
Log Elemental 2GG
~ has power and toughness equal to the number of Forests in your graveyard.
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
*/*
ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
As far as I've been able to find, "detach" is not currently a word actually in the rules of Magic.
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Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
Right. I thought it didn't sound familiar. Oh well.
(I ask because I'm, for random reasons, trying to "magicify" the Vixen's Tantu Totem. It seems fairly simple since totem armor is a thing but…)
Ok for see hypothetical set of Alt-Cost Morph Dragons:
Black - obvious pay a huge chunk of life. 10? Something nasty.
Blue - Discard a bunch of cards. At first I was thinking "discard your hand" but I realized you could easily play it in a low curve deck, play everything but a land or something worthless out and then just discard that. By making it a large number - 5 maybe? - it forces you to make tough decisions if you want that WAY early creature. You have to take basically change how you play the first few turns then - like the life loss from the Black one - if you LOSE that dragon it puts you in a rough spot
Green - Green is the color of lands. So sacrificing lands seems to fit here. Again, your getting a massive body early, but putting yourself in a tough spot should things go south. 2 lands seems good. 3 could work, but seems almost overkill. Could be wrong.
Red and White I'm having more trouble with. Maybe Red is sacrifice X creatures? White is... I just don't know.
Upon play through a grindy control or midrange deck can easily play at least three delve cards. It helps if one is murderous cut though because paying five for that is still fantastic.
The white one is kinda messy, but I don't think there's a more elegant way to do the text unless you combine the two abilities and make it T: Scry X or prevent the next X damage.
Upon play through a grindy control or midrange deck can easily play at least three delve cards. It helps if one is murderous cut though because paying five for that is still fantastic.
I got hit really hard with that last night. It was a relatively long game and it had stalled out and gone long. He paid full price for it, and I wasn't sure if he had forgotten about Delve or was sitting on another one, so I played around him having another one in hand.
I can definitely say that playing a Jeskai deck in Sealed my graveyard was very well filled; I actually regret not trying to splash Black for a Delve card or two and some deathtouch morphers.
The fixing in this limited environment is almost absurd, also. I literally never once had to think about not having the right colors to cast my cards (it helped to have two Mystic Monasteries).
Also I ended up playing two different opponents with that fucking phoenix. It is such a pain in the ass; literally the only card I know of in the set that can get rid of it is Azban Charm.
Luckily I happened to have Narset. That was a very pleasing pull for me.
Went 2-1-1 ultimately. Beat two Mardus (they just can't outrun burn control), was swept by an Azban (I totally lost the top-deck war against him), and tied another Jeskai (it really came down to playing the right counters at the right time).
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Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
The white one is kinda messy, but I don't think there's a more elegant way to do the text unless you combine the two abilities and make it T: Scry X or prevent the next X damage.
You mean like:
{t}: Choose one — Scry X; or prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to target creature or player. X is equal to the number of Offering counters on ~.
I think that works…
Also I'd be tempted to allow it to prevent damage to, permanents or players, just because there doesn't seem to be any other similar effects that can protect Planeswalkers so it'd be new.
The white one is kinda messy, but I don't think there's a more elegant way to do the text unless you combine the two abilities and make it T: Scry X or prevent the next X damage.
You mean like:
{t}: Choose one — Scry X; or prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to target creature or player. X is equal to the number of Offering counters on ~.
I think that works…
Also I'd be tempted to allow it to prevent damage to, permanents or players, just because there doesn't seem to be any other similar effects that can protect Planeswalkers so it'd be new.
I wasn't sure exactly how the phrasing would work but I do like that. And the change to affect Planeswalkers.
It looks much cleaner now.
I also overlooked that it could tap itself to pay the morph cost, and both for power reasons and flavour it makes better sense to make it have to tap other creatures.
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Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
edited September 2014
One other thing; that face-up trigger seems …off? Incomplete maybe? I think it would scan better if it was more like:
When ~ is turned face up, put an Offering counter on it for each white creature tapped to pay its morph cost.
Otherwise you end up with an ambiguous situation regarding what was tapped or when.
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Well, you also have all the creatures you control that are going to die, and all the other instants and sorceries you cast.
Delve could come quite in handy after a sweeper flays the board.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
True, it just seems like a hard call to make until I've experienced first-hand what your graveyard looks like during an average game in this limited. I just remember getting burned on Skaab Ruinator back in Innistrad (granted, he was literally uncastable if you didn't have the graveyard for it, and there were cards you really wanted to keep in your graveyard in Innistrad).
Treasure Cruise is better then divination with 4 and when top decked late in the game is an ancestrial recall.
These cards at least I am positive will be at least one of's if I get them.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
spoiler for long weird analysis?
2/3s are really good... but there are also a lot of 3/2s to counter that.
as soon as you hit 3 toughness, you also get hit by suspension field.
removal hits at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, which is a puzzle. not a lot of things ping for 1?
red removal is both overpriced and really common, and hits for every number but 2.
black removal hits at 2 and 4, and there's a BG sweeper that gives -2/-2.
there's a charm for monocolored and one that hits for 4, and sarkhan hits for 4.
5 toughness is the real safe point for everything but a few red cards, since a lot of removal spells deal 4.
both red and green have "deal 5/6 damage out of nowhere" cards, so prioritize keeping your life up pretty high?
there aren't a lot of flyers, and there's one abzan guy with reach and *also a 2/5 reach morph*.
alabaster kirin is much better because of this environment, and so is sultai scavenger.
however, there's a 0/5 blue flying wall with morph that can block basically everything forever, it's a sweet card.
5 mana is definitely the point where you should be afraid of morphs,
because they could be basically everything huge or unpleasant at 5.
if they have *any black cards*, the 1/1 deathtouch is possible before then,
so don't send your huge ground guy i guess? or be aware of that?
edited!
The morph cost on the 1/1 deathtouch is -reveal a black card from your hand.
Minor note: they don't need B up for the 1/1 Deathtouch. Ruth is part of the "reveal a (color) card" cycle, so you are not safe even if your opponent is tapped out. She's a pretty amazing card.
In sealed maybe. Could be good in draft.
Either way, it's giving us Jeskai Ascendancy which makes the entire clans existance worth it.
so barring other info, expect morphs to be able to go live at five mana. a good deal of these do require clan-mana, though
the 3 toughness-mini-matters concerning for morph (and suspension field) is pretty huge and i like it, though sultai also has a few "4 toughness matters" which is kind of strange to me. It has symmetry with temur, i guess, but doesn't make as much sense as 3 toughness for the set
and in line with morph concerns, 2 power with a big butt seems like it's better positioned than it may usually seem. i mean that 2/8 elephant can shut down basically every morph except the deathtoucher, I think?
i do love alternate costs like these, revealing cards or the old "you may exile a (color) card from your hand instead of paying its costs" from masques
Like a big black demon (or a black Dragon as may be more suiting Tarkir's past), that you can unmorph by paying a big chunk of life. Make it a rare... maybe a 5/5 or 6/6. But with a large enough life payment that it becomes risky as heck. High risk, high reward. Feels very black to me.
I just love those three colors together ... Doran still being an awesome card in my mind.
It's been a while since we had a nice "Pay half your life, rounded up" black card.
People will say Jeskai is bad until they get smacked for 10 damage by two Jeskai Windscouts and a Trumpet Blast.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
If they do this it better be rare. Zombie Cutthroat was a thing in Scourge and it kind of warped the format (even more).
Oh agreed.
I actually like the idea of a Rare (or even Mythic?) cycle of Dragons with Morph. We know morph magic came from the dragons and I think Tarkir's past - with dragons so previlant - is place where you could put a dragon in each color.
Give them all punishing alternative morph costs. Black makes you pay life, Blue discard cards, Green maybe sac lands, etc
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Black - obvious pay a huge chunk of life. 10? Something nasty.
Blue - Discard a bunch of cards. At first I was thinking "discard your hand" but I realized you could easily play it in a low curve deck, play everything but a land or something worthless out and then just discard that. By making it a large number - 5 maybe? - it forces you to make tough decisions if you want that WAY early creature. You have to take basically change how you play the first few turns then - like the life loss from the Black one - if you LOSE that dragon it puts you in a rough spot
Green - Green is the color of lands. So sacrificing lands seems to fit here. Again, your getting a massive body early, but putting yourself in a tough spot should things go south. 2 lands seems good. 3 could work, but seems almost overkill. Could be wrong.
Red and White I'm having more trouble with. Maybe Red is sacrifice X creatures? White is... I just don't know.
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
Log Elemental has power and toughness equal to the number of untapped Forests sacrificed when it was morphed.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
way too overpowered
i mean, you can cast it as a colorless 2/2!
Templating is an issue. What's its P/T if not cast as a morph? Might I suggest something more like "when Log Elemental is turned face up, place X +1/+1 counters on it"
Yeah but then it dies to Sorrow's Path
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
You're right. Let's template this properly.
The *s in the lower right hand corner are equal to the number of untapped forests you bury when Log Elemental was turned face-up. You may not bury forests that are already on the way to the graveyard. You may only bury forests you control.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Yes but again, in this templating, as old school as it is, you can't hard cast it. It would be a 0/0.
Edit: now there may be room for a card with NO hard casting cost... that can only be played first as a Morph.
Getting away from the Wood Elemental joke for a moment...
...there's nothing that's stopping them from making a card that is uncastable except for its morph cost. They could, if they were feeling saucy, neglect to give a morph creature a casting cost, a'la Ancestral Vision and Evermind.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
If I remember right, I read something about that the Dragons of Tarkir's past were born into the world from "storms" - that's where they kept coming from. One of the reasons the Clans eventually won was that these "storms" lessened and eventually stopped, allowing humanity to drive them to extinction.
Now we know that they changed the art for Morphs into a ball of firey light... sort of stormy looking, don't you think? We know the morph magic is taken from the dragons. We know morph is going to play a role in future sets and the block structure
We may actually get "morph only" dragons if that magic is indeed tied to how they are "born"
Edit: relevant text from PW Guide PT 1:
Sounds a lot how morphs look to me, just much bigger versions
How about changing it to
Log Elemental 2GG
~ has power and toughness equal to the number of Forests in your graveyard.
Morph - Sacrifice X untapped forests.
*/*
Like could a card have "detach target equipment" as an effect?
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(I ask because I'm, for random reasons, trying to "magicify" the Vixen's Tantu Totem. It seems fairly simple since totem armor is a thing but…)
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I got hit really hard with that last night. It was a relatively long game and it had stalled out and gone long. He paid full price for it, and I wasn't sure if he had forgotten about Delve or was sitting on another one, so I played around him having another one in hand.
The fixing in this limited environment is almost absurd, also. I literally never once had to think about not having the right colors to cast my cards (it helped to have two Mystic Monasteries).
Also I ended up playing two different opponents with that fucking phoenix. It is such a pain in the ass; literally the only card I know of in the set that can get rid of it is Azban Charm.
Luckily I happened to have Narset. That was a very pleasing pull for me.
Went 2-1-1 ultimately. Beat two Mardus (they just can't outrun burn control), was swept by an Azban (I totally lost the top-deck war against him), and tied another Jeskai (it really came down to playing the right counters at the right time).
{t}: Choose one — Scry X; or prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to target creature or player. X is equal to the number of Offering counters on ~.
I think that works…
Also I'd be tempted to allow it to prevent damage to, permanents or players, just because there doesn't seem to be any other similar effects that can protect Planeswalkers so it'd be new.
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I wasn't sure exactly how the phrasing would work but I do like that. And the change to affect Planeswalkers.
It looks much cleaner now.
I also overlooked that it could tap itself to pay the morph cost, and both for power reasons and flavour it makes better sense to make it have to tap other creatures.
When ~ is turned face up, put an Offering counter on it for each white creature tapped to pay its morph cost.
Otherwise you end up with an ambiguous situation regarding what was tapped or when.
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