For my second try at Challenge # 085, I rolled Bear Cub. Um. The Portal version of the game's most iconic vanilla (well, OK, Mons and the Pearl Trident guys might fight for that slot). How do you make a mythic of that? (OK, Voice of Resurgence. Fine.)

Simplest design: , 2/2, make a 2/2 every turn. Is that remotely fair? How cheap can a token maker every turn go? Things have come a long time since Breeding Pit and Spirit Mirror. Awakening Zone was also mana acceleration. Bitterblossom made you lose life, but it was pre-mythic rarity. But Dreampod Druid is quite popular and only makes 1/1s, and that only conditionally; and Howlpack Alpha made you jump through hoops. I don't think I could sanely have this for 2/2 and just make tokens like I'd want to.

For 4 mana, though, it doesn't compare very well with Master of the Wild Hunt or Creakwood Liege (or Splinter Twin), which is a pity. Plus it feels less connected to Bear Cub.

In the end, I went for this version. It's a little bit like Wolf-Skull Shaman, a little bit like Breeding Pit, and a little bit like a "Sorcery, , Make a 2/2 token, Buyback ".

The final change was tweaking "beginning of your upkeep" to "end of your turn". Because when this made tokens in your upkeep and bounced itself, that meant that the turn after you cast this, you still couldn't attack with anything. Now you can attack with the 2/2 token the turn after you first cast this. It also makes this resilient to removal, which is useful in mythic two-drops.

Solid. Looks broken, but probably not. then again, it sure seems like a stronger card that Call of the Herd (though, I also acknowledge that that card could be a bit more powerful.)

Ah, Call of the Herd. Tournament-worthy back in its day. Would get laughed at these days, when 5/5s for 4 mana with upside get utterly ignored in tournaments.