That ability reads so unwieldy... And what do deputies have against taking an oath?

Less about Oaths specifically and more about the general tapped vs. untapped theme I wanted to include. How would you simplify the ability? FWIW, I made a cycle of these Deputies, I just didn't put them all into the set yet.

You haven't? I recall seeing the whole cycle at some point. Maybe in a card repository...

Well, the question is what these are supposed to be and why they are that in all colors.

This makes sense in white since white punishes tapped creatures habitually every now and then, but that's not the idea here.

Having no idea why the cycle exists means I have no idea what is salvageable about it. I assume the easiest fix that keeps things functionally similar is using a triggered ability. These don't have 0 toughness, so they'd usually survive that window.

Yes, i had the cycle in temporary storage.

There was no great purpose with this cycle other than a loose flavor purpose. I suppose I should ask why cycles exist in Magic, so why do they exist?

I envisioned this cycle representing some mean enforcers of the law in parts of the plane. I felt like having an opponent have a tapped creature and having dealt that opponent damage made it seem like a dominance over the weakene, downtrodden opponent who was stuck in a little bit of confusion.

I know why cycles exist. They tie cards together and make them easier to think/talk about and can emphasize themes, similarities and differences between colors etc.

But what purpose does this cycle (or the individual cards in it) serve? Is the tapped vs. untapped theme something broken down along color boundaries? Do green and white like untapped and black and red like tapped? Because then a five-color cycle of cards punishing tapped creatures seems weird.

Except white already is among the oath-taking colors, so it likes the tapped state.

Isn't receiving the combat damage already punishment. Wouldn't punishing controlling an untapped creature but failing to block with it be a more interesting situation to punish?

The cycle served no purpose. I intend for all five colors to have cards liking and disliking tapped creatures.

Perhaps beefing the creature up isn't the way to go universally for the cycle. I could give each deputy an ability based on their color, but with each deputy having the same requirement.