Aethelu Reborn: Cardlist | Visual spoiler | Export | Booster | Comments | Search | Recent activity
Mechanics | General Flavor | Skeleton

CardName: Agelix Fleshgrower Cost: 2GG Type: Creature - Insect Warrior Pow/Tgh: 3/2 Rules Text: Propagate (If this creature would deal damage to a player, put that many 1/1 green Insect creature tokens onto the battlefield instead.) Sacrifice a creature: Regenerate Agelix Fleshgrower. Flavour Text: Set/Rarity: Aethelu Reborn Common

Agelix Fleshgrower
{2}{g}{g}
 
 C 
Creature – Insect Warrior
Propagate (If this creature would deal damage to a player, put that many 1/1 green Insect creature tokens onto the battlefield instead.)

Sacrifice a creature: Regenerate Agelix Fleshgrower.
3/2
Updated on 22 Nov 2012 by UncleIstvan

Code:

History: [-]

2012-11-14 21:21:59: UncleIstvan created the card Agelix Fleshgrower
2012-11-22 20:22:33: UncleIstvan edited Agelix Fleshgrower

This is an interesting mechanic, I'd like to see how it plays. It seems like it will often end up about the same as normal damage, getting the damage through a turn later. But will be worse if the opponent has good blockers, and a lot better if they don't.

It's interesting, but I fear it would be frighteningly hard to balance as a keyword, especially at common. Any anthem effects mean your creatures deal double damage. Soul Warden would be quite good with Propagate creatures.

Well, it certainly isn't worse than an enchantment that puts a 1/1 creature into play ever turn. That said, there are no commons that put token creatures into play every turn any more (or at least, it's infrequent). I'm pretty sure that got swept under the carpet of New World Order. Even Return to Ravnica and Selesnya doesn't have one at common, if I remember correctly.

I think you may have stumbled into an Uncommon+ mechanic. That said, I like this mechanic... and you can't exactly put it on too many small creatures anyway. I could see it being on one common or maybe two commons as well. You just got to make sure not to clog your set with too many creatures that makes creatures. Most limited environments wouldn't be able to handle choking on all the creatures, and those that do, (probably) won't be fun to play in.

Hm, yeah. On the one hand, this is "instead" which is clearly weaker than "when", and it's not that complicated -- it wouldn't normally happen, but probably could happen as a set keyword that has some common cards. On the other hand, "instead" is probably more confusing, and all the usual reservations that this can't be common at common still apply.

'Instead' is a whole other issue which I didn't bother touching, since I figured one criticism per card is enough. But it's worth mentioning, I suppose. I like cards that give me both things, not one or the other. I do like cards that force me to make a decision... but not as a mechanic. If the issue is "But that makes the mechanic too powerful", then I'm pretty sure you're asking yourself the wrong questions. The question I prefer to ask myself is "How much fun can I make this mechanic?" Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Haven't looked back through this set in a while haha.

I realize the mechanic can be pretty strong, in fact this card may be a little pushed. In fact, I should probably lower the power on most creatures with this ability. This mechanic is for the type of player that would rather be putting out tokens than dealing damage. I know that this is one of my favorite mechanics and I love how it plays. I admit it can be a bit hard to parse, but I think that it is easier for a new player to understand than it seems.

I would say that it is probably worse than an enchantment that puts out creatures each turn, because these give the opponent a way of interacting. I think that this card is more relatable to Precinct Captain or Rapacious One or Pollenbright Wings, all of which still deal the damage. With anthem and Soul Warden effects, you still have to deals damage in order to get the tokens. I think the hoops you have to jump through allow the creatures to basically be on curve, a little weaker due to the board advantage they can accrue.

However, things can get clogged. I included a pretty good number of sac effects in the set, to make them feel like more of a resource than a creature, but I think putting in some anti-token measures in each color is probably a great idea. (For example, RW already has Swarmblaze)

EDIT: Yeah re-examining this set, most of the cards with this mechanic are too strong. But I don't necessarily think that it's because the mechanic is too strong, I just need a good developing eye to re-evaluate these cards. I mean, that's the point of development.

Add your comments:


(formatting help)
Enter mana symbols like this: {2}{U}{U/R}{PR}, {T} becomes {2}{u}{u/r}{pr}, {t}
You can use Markdown such as _italic_, **bold**, ## headings ##
Link to [[[Official Magic card]]] or (((Card in Multiverse)))
Include [[image of official card]] or ((image or mockup of card in Multiverse))
Make hyperlinks like this: [text to show](destination url)
What is this card's power? Runeclaw Bear
(Signed-in users don't get captchas and can edit their comments)