For Black Commons Submissions.

Ah, there's Ox Ashlar-Drawer's twin... I figured he would show up, but guessed it might happen in uncommon.

I'm trying to imagine what these cards would do with the most destructive of equipment. Round 2, put Argentum Armor into play, Round 3, cast and sac the Monument Builder, and swing with your 8/7 that destroys a land or blocker per turn. I was going to say these two seem so lowly, that any fortification you can bust out would probably be fine, but that's one crazy example.

I like the feel of these two guys, but I think two commons might stop us from making really crazy fortifications. That's probably too limiting. Common creatures that help build fortifications sounds like a great idea, though. Hmm... Maybe the fortifications require sacrifice instead?

Like I mentioned on Black Commons Submissions, these are basically just suggestions for the themes and ideas we could explore. They still need to go through development and be considered with the rest of the set, which doesn't exist yet. Maybe this could tap and sacrifice for its ability, to give another turn. Or maybe it should be uncommon.

It occurred to me that (((Monument Builder))) was just the Outfitter en-Kor ability. Technically, that wasn't the sort of ability that appeared in common when Equipment was first showcased... but as I brainstorm for good common fortification helpers, I have to admit that it is a bit trickier than good common equipment helpers. That's because Equipment equips to creatures. You can just give the creature +1/+1 and first strike. Fortifications fortify lands. There's a lot less you can do with a land on a creature card, and even less when you consider that 1). You don't want to use up an ability that could have appeared on the Fortification instead, and 2). Black doesn't really play with lands like green does. It's not impossible... but I can understand why we'd jump straight to skipping some costs for a common ability.

Also, removed sacrifice ability and replaced with ETB, and switched from 1/2 to 2/1. Just making the card appealing to play with.

Did you mean Kor Outfitter? This is basically him, but for fortifications.

Yeah, I did. I think initial reaction on the second pass was my reaction on the first pass ("We can't go about making the new cards cost nothing!"), but when you remove the Stoneforge Mystic side, it looks more reasonable.

Originally this was monument builder. I'm trying to force more interactions with sacrifice to get enough in the file to be a theme. So now I've sent this card from no sacrifice to sacrifice crazy. I also took the opportunity to increase its power and toughness, change its creature type and its name to reflect this new philosopy. P/T and CC subject to change.

I continue messing with the numbers. We needed a CC in black, and the other 2cc creature didn't make sense at 2.

FWIW, black has never had a 3/x for 2 mana without a drawback. Oona's Prowler is the closest it comes. That said, it doesn't seem too much of a problem, so I'm not saying "change it". Accorder Paladin is pretty aggressive, but that's more due to the battle cry than the Blade of the Sixth Pride stats.

Blue never had a 2/2 for in uncommon until Ravnica, but when they thought about it, it was mostly because there was little need for a creature until Ravnica. I remember being actively upset at the time. I have no idea why... it felt like some sort of contract had been broken. Really, though, I guess I hadn't noticed, yet, that 2/2 was no longer all that special.

Interestingly, Unlike red, black has had 12 common . Order of the Ebon Hand barely feels like it counts, however.

Not sure about P/T. This felt about right, if there were any fortifications I urgently wanted to equip, but there weren't really; I most wanted the big creatures, but they either became unnattached every turn, or required a sacrifice to activate.