Fixing up Aerithan, Dragon of Paradox for Challenge # 068

Hmm. I always rather liked Bottle of Suleiman. So we have here a card that is either "Two very large dragons" or "Punched right in the face"

Which is pretty cool too; but downsides on a mythic aren't cricket.

And.. where's the paradox? That there's two even though he's a legend? Well,let's make hay from that, shall we? Let's ditch the legendary fiddliness for starters. Right, that's bold wording, suitable for a mythic. Change the rules; live the dream. Build a deck of nothing but legendary dragons.. (oooh, VERY tempted to add 'to dragons' now, but that weakens the card a lot)

Google says the name is an mmo and a hope goddess. Using the latter for the new card name.

Ok, mythically iconic. Dragons are 5/5. Period slash dot. That ALSO calls back to the bottle, which is nice. Oh, and they fly.

Ok; I think the "Regenerate by taking a dragon to the face" is pretty cool, we'll work the clone copy into that I think; it works as a regenerate too, after all. And now it's looking too weak to be a 5/5-for-5 boxy mythic. Let's make it an "or" rather than an "as well" on the cost. There; now it's 100% upside, with a side order of dragon to the face. Let's.. let's NOT allow the tokens to have all the abilities; many dragons is good, unending dragons after the opponent has dealt with the threat are unfun.

This cost may be a bit off, since its converted mana cost is the same as Mirror Gallery, but instead you get a crazy dragon as well. Outside of that, yeah, this certainly is a better card. I also like the Bottle of Suleiman reference, but I get the impression that the tap symbol may be important here. It's just too flexible, otherwise, allowing an aggro deck to drop 4 dragons on turn 5 (or turn 3 with acceleration) and at end of turn, too, after the chance for Wrath of God has passed.

Well, my rationale was that I wanted it usable as regenerate, with a hard choice; and figured the high cost might be enough of a deterrant against dropping a small fleet of dragons. You're really gonna want to be insulated against direct damage if you're going to risk that, and it's the kind of "Wow, I got away with it!" that people recite for weeks.

Might be too good, yeah. Five was off the cuff 'high and there's lots of fives on the card already'

As for the mirror - I think they costed it high because they were afraid of horrible abuse. They didn't see any, so I'm not too worried about downcosting it a bit. Whether the effect should live in the red part of the pie... that I don't know.

All else aside, I'm pretty sure that the explosive "Pay 15 life: Put 3 dragons into play" isn't really feasable for anything resembling a meta-game. The dragon just wins if your opponent is playing combo or control. There was a time when, if you cast Phyrexian Processor against half of the decks in the environment, they had a two turn clock over their head. It kind of makes the card "Rock, Paper, Scissors". I don't have a problem with that, in theory. Just 5 casting cost is a bit too early in the game for that to happen.

Fair enough reasoning. I'm not averse to making it cost more; but 5 really is the iconic dragon size; so the flavour would have to change.

I just think the last ability's cost should always include mana. (Or make it attack triggered, like many recent dragons such as Flameblast Dragon. "Whenever ~ attacks, you may pay or 5 life. If you do, put a 5/5 legendary red flying Dragon creature token named Aerithan onto the battlefield." Somewhat treading on the toes of Utvara Hellkite there, though, I suppose.