Or should the reminder text read "Add whenever this creature blocks."? Maybe the ability should be add whenever the creature attacks or blocks, since it'd give the player more control. Yes, I will change that now.
The ability name is generic. I wanted something elementally for white.
Is it intended that you can only use that mana for combat since it will be lost quite quickly? That isn't that obvious for some people. It would need clauses like Conduit of Storms or Savage Ventmaw otherwise depending on how you want it to work.
Also, color pie wise I would say that this is as indicated by the two cards I liked to + Hardened Berserker among other things. has no tendency towards mana producing mechanics at all. I would place it the dead last in that category. > > specifically.
Personally I used a similar mechanic that only added mana on attack for rebels in this Silmarillion fan set. Son of Anarchy for example.
White is the army colour; while this does feel more red, I can see this existing as a mechanic. (Presumably making for red creatures.)
Naming the colour it makes, rather than making the same as the card already is, feels wrong. Though it does offer the potential for making off-colour mana at some future point.
Regarding off-colour, I actually did try that out with Insolent Urulóki which is pretty neat as a black dragon that produces , though I eventually moved it to the second set and I'll likely drop it from there eventually. In the third set, Glaurung, First of Urulóki also has a similar off-color activation at the moment but that just off-topic.
While I don't like it in white, the more condemning factor is that I just don't see the ability to add mana only during combat as a mechanic that I'd really want to use often enough to keyword it.
True. Maybe explicitly have the mana hang around for after combat? Would that be too powerful to use in too many places though? It'd sure provoke every deck to attack a lot.
I would wager that having the mana float for after the combat was the intention so that's an assumption I'm making since the alternative is hardly worthy of a discussion tbh.
Are you suggesting that the current version is something worthwhile? Players won't know how that is supposed to work. Heck, I don't know when exactly does the mana dissipate. Does it even last to declare blockers step or deal combat damage step? I would assume that's something most don't want to be thinking the specifics of and new players have no hope of getting correctly. Then after all that we would have to be talking how super niche and useless most of the time the ability is in that it does nothing on its own. The keyword would be horrific all around.
> Hanging around afterwards basically means going back to "Turn 3? How the heck did the game manage to last THAT long!" again.
I'm not sure what you're referring to here. Mana dorks are the bread and butter of MTG basically. We just got Llanowar Elves back in standard.
Yeah; but this means that every creature (that you play in early game) is an elf and also an attacker. Which seems a lot too much.
As I said; I'd use wording 'add until...' to make the reminder more useful. Comp rules can spell out that mana always drains at end of combat.
The one big downside is that you can't use this mana to power activated evasion abilities, because it's too late. That WILL be confusing; but as long as in-set you don't have those in these colours, you'll be fine.
Having to put the creature into combat (in danger's way) so that you get the mana is mostly a drawback - in most cases a normal mana dork would be better unless the opponent has no - and won't intend to - play any creatures at all. Plus, obviously the cards would have to be rebalanced depending on how the mechanic is adjusted - but that's another process. My 1-drop variation that has the 'must attack' clause wasn't ever that impressive in the drafts.
I intended the mana to be used during the combat phase only, although I would need to include wording to accommodate that. I'm not opposed to going the route of Conduit of Storms, but that wasn't my initial intention. I was thinking of explosive combat trick spells and mana-sink abilities for white to use.
I know what mana generation isn't typically white, but the set I envision cares about having large amounts of mana. While other colors have created ways that a player might have a giant mana pool in other ways, white has been challenging. Further, my goal is for white to have a large mana pool, not make white spells cheaper.
I think Vitenka's addition to the reminder text is the best way to go then. You want the remidner text to really address the incertainty Tahazzar mentioned regarding different steps.
Note:
> The one big downside is that you can't use this mana to power activated evasion abilities, because it's too late. That WILL be confusing; but as long as in-set you don't have those in these colours, you'll be fine.
As attacker you can use this mana to pay for part of Kor Sky Climber's activation before blockers are declared. On the defense this is a bit more problematic.
> Or should the reminder text read "Add whenever this creature blocks."
Never put the trigger condition after the effect unless it's absolutely necessary to avoid ambiguity or some other strong detractor. Starting with "Whenever" as it is is good.
Or should the reminder text read "Add
whenever this creature blocks."? Maybe the ability should be add 
whenever the creature attacks or blocks, since it'd give the player more control. Yes, I will change that now.
The ability name is generic. I wanted something elementally for white.
Is it intended that you can only use that mana for combat since it will be lost quite quickly? That isn't that obvious for some people. It would need clauses like Conduit of Storms or Savage Ventmaw otherwise depending on how you want it to work.
Also, color pie wise I would say that this is
as indicated by the two cards I liked to + Hardened Berserker among other things. 
has no tendency towards mana producing mechanics at all. I would place it the dead last in that category. 
> 
> 
specifically.
Personally I used a similar mechanic that only added mana on attack for
rebels in this Silmarillion fan set. Son of Anarchy for example.
Heh. Maybe "add
until end of combat"?
White is the army colour; while this does feel more red, I can see this existing as a
mechanic. (Presumably making 
for red creatures.)
Naming the colour it makes, rather than making the same as the card already is, feels wrong. Though it does offer the potential for making off-colour mana at some future point.
Regarding off-colour, I actually did try that out with Insolent Urulóki which is pretty neat as a black dragon that produces
, though I eventually moved it to the second set and I'll likely drop it from there eventually. In the third set, Glaurung, First of Urulóki also has a similar off-color activation at the moment but that just off-topic.
While I don't like it in white, the more condemning factor is that I just don't see the ability to add mana only during combat as a mechanic that I'd really want to use often enough to keyword it.
True. Maybe explicitly have the mana hang around for after combat? Would that be too powerful to use in too many places though? It'd sure provoke every deck to attack a lot.
I would wager that having the mana float for after the combat was the intention so that's an assumption I'm making since the alternative is hardly worthy of a discussion tbh.
Not really? It's "Hey, these creatures power my war machine; and these ones consume the power" which seems very workable.
Hanging around afterwards basically means going back to "Turn 3? How the heck did the game manage to last THAT long!" again.
Are you suggesting that the current version is something worthwhile? Players won't know how that is supposed to work. Heck, I don't know when exactly does the mana dissipate. Does it even last to declare blockers step or deal combat damage step? I would assume that's something most don't want to be thinking the specifics of and new players have no hope of getting correctly. Then after all that we would have to be talking how super niche and useless most of the time the ability is in that it does nothing on its own. The keyword would be horrific all around.
> Hanging around afterwards basically means going back to "Turn 3? How the heck did the game manage to last THAT long!" again.
I'm not sure what you're referring to here. Mana dorks are the bread and butter of MTG basically. We just got Llanowar Elves back in standard.
Yeah; but this means that every creature (that you play in early game) is an elf and also an attacker. Which seems a lot too much.
As I said; I'd use wording 'add
until...' to make the reminder more useful. Comp rules can spell out that mana always drains at end of combat.
The one big downside is that you can't use this mana to power activated evasion abilities, because it's too late. That WILL be confusing; but as long as in-set you don't have those in these colours, you'll be fine.
Having to put the creature into combat (in danger's way) so that you get the mana is mostly a drawback - in most cases a normal mana dork would be better unless the opponent has no - and won't intend to - play any creatures at all. Plus, obviously the cards would have to be rebalanced depending on how the mechanic is adjusted - but that's another process. My 1-drop variation that has the 'must attack' clause wasn't ever that impressive in the drafts.
Ok; I give in. Where the BUNNIES is 'dork' coming from here?
I don't know really. It's common mtg slang
> https://mtg.gamepedia.com/List_of_Magic_slang#Mana_dork
I intended the mana to be used during the combat phase only, although I would need to include wording to accommodate that. I'm not opposed to going the route of Conduit of Storms, but that wasn't my initial intention. I was thinking of explosive combat trick spells and mana-sink abilities for white to use.
I know what mana generation isn't typically white, but the set I envision cares about having large amounts of mana. While other colors have created ways that a player might have a giant mana pool in other ways, white has been challenging. Further, my goal is for white to have a large mana pool, not make white spells cheaper.
I think Vitenka's addition to the reminder text is the best way to go then. You want the remidner text to really address the incertainty Tahazzar mentioned regarding different steps.
Note:
> The one big downside is that you can't use this mana to power activated evasion abilities, because it's too late. That WILL be confusing; but as long as in-set you don't have those in these colours, you'll be fine.
As attacker you can use this mana to pay for part of Kor Sky Climber's activation before blockers are declared. On the defense this is a bit more problematic.
> Or should the reminder text read "Add
whenever this creature blocks."
Never put the trigger condition after the effect unless it's absolutely necessary to avoid ambiguity or some other strong detractor. Starting with "Whenever" as it is is good.
Followed SecretInfiltrator's suggestion to use Vitenka's wording suggestion