heh tahazzar didnt get that snow was white visually... we have a truly intense magic designer here...
that is a really cool post, and i gotta agree... i also dont get why green doesnt get flying, i suppose itès against their philosophy, but anything creature-based green can't get suprises me... also why are certain species not in green? shouldnt every animal be green. idk
also snow is kind of odd, how they don't have any real evergreens. my first time on this set i was pretty ignorant of mechanics design, and was focusing on making snow white blue beacse the color and of water, but i realise now that was just before i could see the bigger picture
I like the idea of having an arctic aven, but i might remove complexity and power to shift down rarity. tell me what u think
Okay, let's put it this way, what would be lost if this card were to cost or instead of ?
Regarding the question about lifelink, I've been advocating/thinking of lifelink in for some time now. So if we really go into it, maybe lifelink should be primary in , secondary in , and tertiary in .
To explain, this is a quote of mine from another forum:
> Talking of flavor of lifelink I think it's bit off on any card currently. I mean white just... does it? What is the actual flavor there? Angels kinda make sense as they are your "divine" agents and extensions of your will - although triggering from combat damage seems a bit weird for white as it encourages attacking and such (like they actively enjoy beating up people). Black uses the parasitic, leech, vampire flavor, but IMO in that case Sengir Vampire makes more sense since black is all about the individual - why would black creatures be actively using their efforts to heal you instead of themselves? Like, Griselbrand, really? I thought demons were all about giving you deals that would "in the end" bite you in the bum (I do get why Melvin players the "enjoy the gain 7, pay 7" aspect). Something like Drain Life makes perfect sense in black though.
> Actually, like with green-blue differences in drawing cards, it could make sense if white only gained life mostly through spells and green gained life through creatures. The obvious problem though is that, most life gaining spells suck compared to lifelink creatures - and/or the good part about the powerful (noncreature) cards with life gain isn't the lifegain itself. I always felt that lifelink as a keyword is generally undercosted while lifegain spells are in generally way too overpriced. Also, with competitively costed life gain there would probably be the issue of games dragging too long (see http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/creativity/custom-card-creation/362788-costing-life-gain-competitively).
... but this is kind of off-topic here and would be more fitting for the "Color Pie Discussions" project.
Snow is white? I don't know, Chill to the Bone says snow is quite black :) Though I guess black would work for lifelink as well. I don't really see the mechanical connection though.
Btw, technically, none of the cards you list have link. They can conditional gain lifelink, but none of them just have it.
There isn't any precedent to look for as far as 2/1 flying lifelinkers for two go (Sadistic Skymarcher is probably the closest). My gut feeling says it's very powerful since it essentially swings life totals apart by 4 starting on turn 3. Will win races that's for sure - and would feel super weird in .
I'm pretty much keying off of the aven there. White can do it, snow is white :)
Thematically.. yeah, it'd be better if there was some keyword ability snow was primary for.
Sure it's a stretch; but wedging a new mechanic in a set can do that. And while this also makes this card powerful for its cost, it doesn't seem likely to be particularly warping for standard; or even long term memorable.
This would be the first mono- creature ever to have lifelink. I can say this with certainly without even opening up the gatherer. What's the reasoning behind this? There are hardly any mono- cards in modern that make you gain life.
This is also very powercreepish since usually only gets stuff like Novellamental as far as 2/1 flying creatures go.
heh tahazzar didnt get that snow was white visually... we have a truly intense magic designer here...
that is a really cool post, and i gotta agree... i also dont get why green doesnt get flying, i suppose itès against their philosophy, but anything creature-based green can't get suprises me... also why are certain species not in green? shouldnt every animal be green. idk
also snow is kind of odd, how they don't have any real evergreens. my first time on this set i was pretty ignorant of mechanics design, and was focusing on making snow white blue beacse the color and of water, but i realise now that was just before i could see the bigger picture I like the idea of having an arctic aven, but i might remove complexity and power to shift down rarity. tell me what u think
Okay, let's put it this way, what would be lost if this card were to cost
or 
instead of 
?
Regarding the question about lifelink, I've been advocating/thinking of lifelink in
for some time now. So if we really go into it, maybe lifelink should be primary in 
, secondary in 
, and tertiary in 
.
To explain, this is a quote of mine from another forum:
> Talking of flavor of lifelink I think it's bit off on any card currently. I mean white just... does it? What is the actual flavor there? Angels kinda make sense as they are your "divine" agents and extensions of your will - although triggering from combat damage seems a bit weird for white as it encourages attacking and such (like they actively enjoy beating up people). Black uses the parasitic, leech, vampire flavor, but IMO in that case Sengir Vampire makes more sense since black is all about the individual - why would black creatures be actively using their efforts to heal you instead of themselves? Like, Griselbrand, really? I thought demons were all about giving you deals that would "in the end" bite you in the bum (I do get why Melvin players the "enjoy the gain 7, pay 7" aspect). Something like Drain Life makes perfect sense in black though.
> Actually, like with green-blue differences in drawing cards, it could make sense if white only gained life mostly through spells and green gained life through creatures. The obvious problem though is that, most life gaining spells suck compared to lifelink creatures - and/or the good part about the powerful (noncreature) cards with life gain isn't the lifegain itself. I always felt that lifelink as a keyword is generally undercosted while lifegain spells are in generally way too overpriced. Also, with competitively costed life gain there would probably be the issue of games dragging too long (see http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/creativity/custom-card-creation/362788-costing-life-gain-competitively).
... but this is kind of off-topic here and would be more fitting for the "Color Pie Discussions" project.
Well, snow is canonically white; or sometimes yellow but that you shouldn't eat :)
I agree this is a controversial card. But those do get to exist sometimes. I guess just keep an eye on it for this particular set.
It'd feel more natural as a 1/1 or a 1/2, at this price point, I agree.
Interesting question; what colour should lifelink be tertiary in? Green?
Snow is white? I don't know, Chill to the Bone says snow is quite black :) Though I guess black would work for lifelink as well. I don't really see the mechanical connection though.
Btw, technically, none of the cards you list have link. They can conditional gain lifelink, but none of them just have it.
There isn't any precedent to look for as far as 2/1 flying lifelinkers for two go (Sadistic Skymarcher is probably the closest). My gut feeling says it's very powerful since it essentially swings life totals apart by 4 starting on turn 3. Will win races that's for sure - and would feel super weird in
.
EDIT: Other comparable cards would be Daggerdrome Imp, Vault Skirge, Sungrace Pegasus, Aerial Responder and Vampire Nighthawk.
I'm pretty much keying off of the aven there. White can do it, snow is white :)
Thematically.. yeah, it'd be better if there was some keyword ability snow was primary for.
Sure it's a stretch; but wedging a new mechanic in a set can do that. And while this also makes this card powerful for its cost, it doesn't seem likely to be particularly warping for standard; or even long term memorable.
Really? Snow should add lifelink to a monoblue creature? That doesn't strike me as mechanically sound nor thematic.
Arctic Aven, technically; but that needed white to activate.
And is kinda inspirational for this one actually; ice theme, small bird.
(Also Sejiri Merfolk, Jorubai Murk Lurker which have similar off-colour additional bits)
But yeah; for mono-blue this feels wrong and a bit too good.
If it was: "As long as you control a snow land, ~ has lifelink" it'd be fine though.
This would be the first mono-
creature ever to have lifelink. I can say this with certainly without even opening up the gatherer. What's the reasoning behind this? There are hardly any mono-
cards in modern that make you gain life.
This is also very powercreepish since
usually only gets stuff like Novellamental as far as 
2/1 flying creatures go.
blue black zombies ftw! (i have not gotten to do one of those archtypes yet, mostly been stuck to mono black but someday :D)
Love this! if our sets ever crossed over, i would play this alongside Laboratory Skaab