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CardName: Splendid Grotesque Cost: 4B Type: Creature - Illusion Pow/Tgh: 4/3 Rules Text: Thoughtwisp (This creature isn't put into a graveyard for having 0 toughness or less. If this creature has 0 or less toughness and damage would be dealt to it, instead destroy it.) {B}: Splendid Grotesque and all creatures blocking it get -1/-1 until end of turn. Flavour Text: Set/Rarity: Multiverse Design Challenge Uncommon |
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For Challenge # 062 and based off of Alex's enigma of a card Thoughtwisp. I turned Thoughtwisp into an ability, and brainstormed ways that it could be beneficial. This one popped in my head. The more I brainstorm, oddly, the more thoughtwisp wants to be black, oddly.
I also did what I could to clean up the wording on the card. Instead of wondering if a creature with 0 toughness could be killed when taking damage, now there's a replacement effect, killing the creature when it would take damage.
That's a sensible take on the Thoughtwisp ability.
This thing's activated ability feels almost wasted on a 3/3 with thoughtwisp. As in, it'd be perfectly usable on a 3/3 creature without thoughtwisp. I think this would be more interesting if you knock 2 off the power, toughness and mana cost.
Done and done, though, it's better than Wind Drake now. Devil in details and whatnot. I don't think the 5cc 3/3 would look so strange if the set had, like 15 thoughtwisps in it. It just didn't make for a good marquee card, agreed.
That seems a hugely strong ability. Assuming you have as much (B) available as your opponent's highest power, it can't die when attacking; assuming you have as much (B) as your opponent's highest toughness, it's effectively unblockable.
Hm. Yes, it's very nice, but is better than something like Phantom Warrior which is just "unblockable"? This brings unblockable into black, but needs an activation cost, and effectively has one toughness to pinging.
Arguments as to whether the Wind Drake version of this card was too powerful aside, this card was bugging me as a 2/2. I couldn't figure out why, though, until I drove home for the day. As a 2/2, when you activated the ablity once, it had one toughness, and one damage could kill it. That meant that the card might as well be a 2/1 without thoughtwisp that only gave the opponent's creature -1/-1. The point was to showcase why you would want thoughtwisp on the card, as a feature, but, as a 2/2, it didn't need thoughtwisp at all.
The real problem with the card was flying. Double unblockability is fine, but it made the 3/3 that could kill a blocking flying creature with p/t greater than 3 a corner case. I tossed flying, and made it a 4/3, so now the creature has three modes: Stay in combat as a 4/3, diminish your opponents group blocking 2/2 and 1/1 and wipe them off the table as a 3/2, or go all thoughtwisp on the blockers.