Bushido is a strong keyword mechanic. I'd argue it has potential for evergreen status. But it's tied to flavor that is unlikely to come up in Magic for a long time, especially since Kamigawa has a stigma to it.

So your job is to not only name this card, but to give a new name to the Bushido mechanic; something that could be used in any set. Sure that means Magic will have two mechanics that mean the exact same thing. Ah well.

Side note: I attached alt-Bushido to a White creature. But I would not get into the mental trap that alt-Bushido is a White/Red/Black mechanic. Personally, I think there's a good argument for it to be primary in any of the five colors or colorless.

I don't want to say more, since that could influence player's choice in name. I just want to make sure everyone understands that we don't need to re-tread the same color pie space as Wizards did in 2004.

Huh. So come up with a generic name for an admittedly generic mechanic; and then a nice flavourful thing that can be represented by that generic thing? I believe wizards suggested something along the lines of "trained" as being a good flavourless term for bushido. But I don't like that really. Why would being trained be useful when fighting against every kind of person or creature other than a planeswalker? And, uh, not when you actually fight them?

Sooo... ok; this would probably not actually fly, but I'm going to say Fight. And do it as part of a rules-fix that makes "A blocks B means A fights B, fighting means..." It means "Fight" is both an action and an ability, which would make everything yucky. But eh; I want to do the same thing with "Dies".

Still, to bow my head to the inevitable "You can't do that!" - Fighting. Represents the mechanical implementation - while flavourfully you have creatures that love fighting as well as people trained to be skilled at fighting. (Still doesn't really explain why you're no good at stabbing planeswalkers, even though you can be great at stabbing them if they animate and attack you...)

Flavour for the card itself... Sooooo tempted by "Kitsune Bladestudent". (As this is a Kitsune Blademaster, right up to the cost, without the first strike). Actually, having thought of this, I'd really like to modify this to a legend to justify a name like "Kitsune, Student of the Blade". Buuut that would then also be rare and cheap and should I really make a race-name into an individual name and... sadly no. Also, let's embrace this being spread out away from the original mechanic.

So this would obviously demo in a set that's all about the combat. Can't be the iconic; since angels fly and this doesn't. I could go human, but mehhhh boring default. I think I want to go with hound. To embrace the change from a specific combat style of bushido - this is a war-trained dog. Used by whatever he white-race of the set is, as part of their armies. So we hit the archives to find like-things; and I sdiscover the Affa Guard Hound. Who are the affa? They have two cards to their name, and both seem nicely army-like. And clearly, they have army-dogs already. And... there's zero lore about them online. "In Affa, the main settlement in Akoum, many goblins hire themselves out as guides or trapfinders." That's it. And Akoum? It's mountains, on fire and it destroys you unless you're enchanted.

Since goblins seem involved; I'm going to go blunt and part-pun. "Affan Hound" (Think 'Afghan') Creature-type Hound of course.

This is a combat-related mechanic. Duel sounds generic at first, but that word is still tied to concepts like honor and respect (or lack of) that could be too world-bound. Brawl is a bit more versatile, but unfortunately we just got a format with that name. Let's go with emphasis on the blocking or being blocked aspect and getting a boon to overcome adversaries. Determined is more versatile and is generally versatile in color choice.

NO we've got creature name and type to choose. This is a 2/2 white creature with no keywords. I feel like Kithkin for creature type today, knights are frequently 2/2s (or perhaps I'm blinded on that thanks to the token versions), but let's make this creature a kithkin knight.

I have world concept here, so I will opt for a name with a looser flavor suggestion, one that could very well be implemented to any plane. Swords probably appear on most Magic planes, so Sunsword Underdog.

I don't expect to win this one, since a lot of good ideas have been taken and this is just a french vanilla card, so there's not lots of choices, really. I'm not here to suggest anything that has already been suggested, so I'm going to try something else that may be weaker.

Mechanic Name: Riposte (since blocking defensively would be a Parry imo, and the only other fencing word I think i know is riposte, which seems to fit somewhat, ill use this)

Creature type: Uh... Cat or bird havent been used yet... fox was mentioned... white has very few creature types actually.

cat is 1 and bird is 2 ill pick a random number

i got 1 so cat

Creature type: cat soldier

Name: Feline Fencer

Loyal Porcupine 2W. 2/2 Spiky.
Lion Rider. 2W. 2/2 Fierce.
Cantankerous Veteran. 2W 2/2 Doughty.
Vengeful Crusader. 2W 2/2. Furious.

I do really like all the suggestions so far. Trained is very good. Fight is excellent, except for already existing. Riposte is the one that most helps me remember which is THIS ability (as opposed to flanking, or rampage, or rootawalla, etc etc).

I wasn't sure I could outdo that, but the creature-on-creature nature made me go for a lot of versions that could appear in G but also in other colours including W. I sort of wanted to capture the feel of an animal who puffs themselves up when it seems you, or you get too close to their den or cub and it just gets serious then. But also doesn't only make sense on animals. But I couldn't quite find the right word for it, so I tried a few different ones.

"Spiky" is the most direct, but might be too literal for most MTG mechanics. I tried a lot that tried to capture the flavour of fighting effectively AGAINST something, as opposed to just being stronger even when it isn't needed.

Leonin Sureblade

Finesse 1

Mechanic name: I submit Skirmish. Blocking is what happens when a creature gets distracted from its main combat objective. I rejected names like "Zealous" because that sounds like the creature should get pumped when it's accomplishing its main combat objective, i.e. going unblocked.

It's hard to imagine blue getting this, because it's hard to imagine blue getting any combat mechanic, though prowess works. But I think it works in the other four colours.

Resolute Vanguard. 2W. Creature - Kithkin Soldier. Skirmish 1.

(I do like Jack's idea for words that can apply on non-sapient animals, though.)

Took Sunsword Underdog from Sorrow and Skirmish from Alex. And I guess Kithkin from both of them. ;)

I really like Skirmish. I think it hits three simultaneous problems: ­

Admittedly, skirmish does stretch the second point somewhat. It's hard to imagine an hydra 'skirmishing'. But it's not impossible. And it make sense on a number of animals. Wolves skirmish. Deer and ram skirmish. Can a Baloth skirmish? Sure. Just name it "Territorial Baloth" and it's a skirmisher. It's not the best fit, but it's the best fit for its worst weakness compared to the other keywords against their worst weaknesses.

A sidenote about Bushido in Blue: Personally, I'm down for this. I think this is the missing creature keyword that Wizards keeps trying to give to Blue/Black. In the past, Wizards has tried to tie that keyword to evasion, but it doesn't make much sense since Blue/Black already has good flyers. It isn't what that color combination needs. That combination could use a good fight mechanic.

The key is to have Bushido not be a bonus, but a thing that brings the color up to speed. For example:

Skybelly Shark
­
Creature - Shark
Ornery 2 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
2/2

The point is that this is a weak creature, on par with the rest of Blue's lineup. But it can go toe to toe with Green during combat. I'd rather have a 4/4 for . But given my limits in Blue, I'd be happy to draft and play this.

Flavor-wise this makes sense to me as a way to highlight all the beautiful and passive blue creatures that are a nightmare once you engage them. Crabs, stingrays, and even merfolk would swim right past you without a thought. Look, but don't touch.

But I know that this argument is... arguable. I presume that many, if not most people would disagree. So I judged this challenge based on what colors people would expect Bushido to end up in, not what I wished it was.

See you guys in (((Name That Card #016)))!