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CardName: Birthing Bear Cost: 1G Type: Creature - Bear Mutant Pow/Tgh: 2/2 Rules Text: emergence {1}{G} ({1}{G}, Sacrifice this creature: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost equal to 1 plus this card's converted mana cost, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.) Flavour Text: Set/Rarity: Mechanics Warehouse Common |
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I worry that this is both too complex and requires too much shuffling. Here are the alternatives: 1) make it a Polymorph effect, rather than a tutor effect 2) add another parameter and just search for "creature with CMC 3" 3) something else
My problems are wordiness, complexity and repeated shuffling. Polymorph may help with the shuffling, but it doesn't help with the wordiness. But I really like the effect... Thoughts?
There's one more problem. It's a secret feel-bad card, since the stats are fair, there will be plenty of times when the correct play will be to not sacrifice it, since you need it to block in the early game. If you did that, though, you'd be cutting yourself out of a full chain of awesome creatures.
That's not something that players can't get over, but since we were already listing the problems with the mechanic, I figured it deserved some attention. It also happens to be the same problem with rebels, and a lot of people love rebels. It should probably be noted, though, that most cheap rebel searchers could either survive combat, or didn't do a good job holding the board. 1/1 for
, 1/2 and 1/1 Flying for 
, and 2/2 First Strike for 
didn't interupt the rebel cause. Perhaps this card would be better by having worse stats? Or by being a 0/5?
This is transfigure from Fleshwrither, except cheaper to use, it can search upward in a self-perpetuating chain if necessary, it's not sorcery speed, and presumably it wouldn't be limited to a "sneak preview" set so the ability would be expected to appear on a critical mass of cards. That all adds up to something WAY too dangerous to print.
Without seeing any other applications of the mechanic, I can guarantee this card would see Legacy play if printed, because it can fetch Undercity Informer among thousands of other possibilities, and Lion's Eye Diamond is extremely well-suited to paying the cost and still having a mana left over to use the Informer when you get that.
Yeah, all of these things are true :(
I totally should have remembered Fleshwrither, good call. And really good analyses from both of you. Will probably just turn this into a rare Green Sun's Zenith Bear, and scrap the mechanic. Thanks for the ideas, that's why I post!