This has a lot of text, non-standard abilities, global pump and really doesn't belong at common at all. It even triggers the red flag for being problemtic in multiples.
There is no connection between "You may have any number of cards named Clotter in your deck" abilities and being common, because - Guess what! - rarity matters in Limited and you have no four-of restriction in Limited that I am aware of - you get as many as you open/draft.
That was a major idea behind ripple and name mechanics in Coldsnap - being an attempt at a rare triple small-set draft.
It also mechanically seems like a bad fit in black now that the life payment is gone as well. Also underpowered? If this can change as much as it did between two versions, maybe this should re-calibrate entirely.
I actually liked the ability of Clotters to pump each other more than pumping non-Clotters (at least if this remains black, but also in general), so I'd go with something like that.
You do have the option to create tokens instead of tutoring stuff from the libary and save a ton of text space as well as simplify the ability to a straightforward action. Both help to bring down the rarity to maybe uncommon.
I feel a key aspect of having many copies in the library is that you need to draw them and combining that with a tutor ability removes the most intriguing difference to just making tokens, so how about
Clotter Creature - ??? (rarity) A deck can have any number of cards named ~. Whenever you are dealt damage, you may put a card named ~ from your hand onto the battlefield. ~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of creatures you control named ~. X/X
If you lose the last ability and instead put a static power/toughness, I could see this as a white common if not the most simple one - Squadron Hawk-style. Otherwise I wouldn't go below uncommon and black could be fine.
If it's a self-replicating creature that pumps other creatures I basically would call rare a minimum.
I mean, the main issue with this card was primarily the fact that both of its actual abilities are redflagged to all hell and back at common. Adjusting them/making them harder to abuse doesn't solve that issue.
Hmm; discard cards (mind pain) instead of paying life. You'll rarely get to use it a truly broken number of times. So that's good. And a significant cost. You've dropped the "May have any number in your deck" - that does erase the most ridiculous deck. Which is a bit of a shame.
And it's boosting opponents creatures as well as yours - is that intentional?
I think the wording "take damage" is neater; but that's a niggle.
Huh, that's not quite what I was thinking of - and it would seem to have a timing issue.
Unless you DO find a way to deal yourself damage, the only time you get the boost is after your opponent hits you. Which is, well, too late in the turn for the boost to usually be useful. Sure, there are things it would combo with (anything that sacrifices and deals damage equal to power would be wonderful, for example) - but it's too late to block. And you'll not get to use it on attack, either.
My intent had been to tie the 'pay 5 life' bit to the damage bit. That sort of "I'm hurting, so I hurt more and it's a big risk but dooo eeet" thing feels very black.
I think that and the cost would cover it; without also needing UEOT shenanigans (or "until end of your turn" which would fix most of the timing problems)
But get other opinions and decide yourself. you don't want to make my set, you want to make yours :)
i think it would be VERY flavorful to have it be when you take damage.
This set is based around Biology, and this card is based of Blood Clots (yes im in grade 10, and am loving science, this was the inspiration for this set xD)
Depends on exactly what you're trying to do with this card - what niche are you aiming at?
Some ideas:
* If it's supposed to be an aspirational "wow, I could do that?!" card - put in a hoop to jump through. Instead of just paying 6 life, make it only if this deals combat damage. Or, maybe even "When you take damage, you may..." So now you have to leave yourself open (most self-damage is losing life, though there's a few comboable cards... which is a good thing, make people come up with the cobo, they feel clever) - and then you still get that occasional game where you get to say "And now my everything is +9/+9 and I crush your dreams. I crush them so hard." without it being stupidly overpowered and doing that every game. Ideally the hoop you jump through should fit the rest of the set theme, whatever that is.
* You could make it a smaller effect. Maybe UEOT instead of every turn? That way it would be a one-shot huge boost and... that's still too good, probably. Remember, any life you have left at the end of the game, is wasted. So if I can pay 18 life to deal my opponent 20 damage, I should. (Though keeping some life back in case of surprises is part of the reasoning too.) Still, it means a single Healing Salve or chump-blocker becomes a counter, and while strong and a thing opponents would need to worry about, it's maybe something they can deal with.
Just ditching the search would... hmm. It probably wouldn't do anything, actually. Because why wouldn't you just make a deck of 18 lands and 42 of this? So probably the hoop-jump needs to be on activating the boost, rather than on getting them into play.
You could just make them a lot more expensive - having to wait till turn 6 to get the first one (and then the other 3) would remove most of the objections.
Still feels odd to see life-drain in white. But sure, if you're gonna have white vampires, there's gonna be some bleed of abilities. It's certainly nothing white is forbidden from doing. It's also a seriously scary cad. Repeatable removal at common? Ouchie. Life gain on top of that is just icing.
Even if this tapped to use it ability; it would be a red flag common.
Actually, what I was saying that using Planar Chaos as 'precedent' here is not that far fetched - especially if the given example card is something traditionally more inclined. It's a set where you have to understand the context and reasons behind it properly - same as with New Phyrexia.
But, given the card as it currently stands, this discussion is IMO going into off-topic.
And like I said, I agree with not counting Planar Chaos. That's why I didn't pull forward Crovax, Ascendant Hero, Saltblast, or Sunlance. I just wasn't sure of Ivory Giant which comes from Timespiral. On one hand, most of Timespiral plays nice with the color pie. On the other hand, the set includes a few radical bends like Fledgling Mawcor... so it's a tough set to use for 'proof'.
Elesh Norn's rules text does not contain the word 'nonwhite'.
I think 'nonwhite' fits into white's xenophobia theme well - it's the (unconditional) pinging part that's problematic. You have to remember that Planar Chaos was based on the idea of 'alternative present' and as such, all the bends made therein were made reasoning and intent. It was a supposedly a diverged path that asked "what if" a certain color would have taken certain effect into its pie. It looked into the past, where the color pie was still in its infancy (Preacher and Witch Hunter for example), and decided to look how the effects could have been distributed differently between the colors.
Given this it didn't propose such alternative color-effect pairs are supposed to be integrated with the current pie as is. However, were are talking about a white Vampire card here, so like in Ixalan, some bends are reasonable, if not expected, as to make the usually mono- tribe feel home at white. This is also to make it more different from white's usual tribes such as Soldiers.
Currently the card looks perfectly fine in white.
It complicates combat math a bit too much for a common, but it's 'acceptable'.
That said, it happens rarely. And most of these examples come from the Pre-modern card frame. Also, counting Elesh Norn might be cheating, since white was 'acting evil' in that set and the designers stretched to use this old 'persecution' mechanic. Mass Calcify was reprinted in M15, though.
Also, while it's certainly reasonable to throw out any example from Planar Chaos, I'm less certain whether tossing out Ivory Giant is reasonable. That said, IG is just the Blinding Light effect... that almost feel like a different mechanic altogether.
The only time I can think of that white got non-white hate was in Time Spiral block, so that's not a good sign of it actually being something white can do
Repeated pingers that hit creatures is absolutely not okay at common. White can get away with direct damage to attacking or blocking creatures, but that's it.
This has a lot of text, non-standard abilities, global pump and really doesn't belong at common at all. It even triggers the red flag for being problemtic in multiples.
There is no connection between "You may have any number of cards named Clotter in your deck" abilities and being common, because - Guess what! - rarity matters in Limited and you have no four-of restriction in Limited that I am aware of - you get as many as you open/draft.
That was a major idea behind ripple and name mechanics in Coldsnap - being an attempt at a rare triple small-set draft.
It also mechanically seems like a bad fit in black now that the life payment is gone as well. Also underpowered? If this can change as much as it did between two versions, maybe this should re-calibrate entirely.
I actually liked the ability of Clotters to pump each other more than pumping non-Clotters (at least if this remains black, but also in general), so I'd go with something like that.
You do have the option to create tokens instead of tutoring stuff from the libary and save a ton of text space as well as simplify the ability to a straightforward action. Both help to bring down the rarity to maybe uncommon.
I feel a key aspect of having many copies in the library is that you need to draw them and combining that with a tutor ability removes the most intriguing difference to just making tokens, so how about
Creature - ??? (rarity)
A deck can have any number of cards named ~.
Whenever you are dealt damage, you may put a card named ~ from your hand onto the battlefield.
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of creatures you control named ~.
X/X
If you lose the last ability and instead put a static power/toughness, I could see this as a white common if not the most simple one - Squadron Hawk-style. Otherwise I wouldn't go below uncommon and black could be fine.
If it's a self-replicating creature that pumps other creatures I basically would call rare a minimum.
Thing is; this part "You may have any number of cards named Clotter in your deck" really REALLY wants it to be a common.
I mean, the main issue with this card was primarily the fact that both of its actual abilities are redflagged to all hell and back at common. Adjusting them/making them harder to abuse doesn't solve that issue.
Oops, i want it just for your guys, also i will change it to take damage, as that might work better for combo-pieces.
And sure ill put back in the any number, i like the ridiculous combos myself :D
Hmm; discard cards (mind pain) instead of paying life. You'll rarely get to use it a truly broken number of times. So that's good. And a significant cost. You've dropped the "May have any number in your deck" - that does erase the most ridiculous deck. Which is a bit of a shame.
And it's boosting opponents creatures as well as yours - is that intentional?
I think the wording "take damage" is neater; but that's a niggle.
howzit now?
hmm but I don't think I want to do the pain for pain, maybe ill change it up
you're very right! attacking is supposed to be possible! Thank you for the help!
Huh, that's not quite what I was thinking of - and it would seem to have a timing issue.
Unless you DO find a way to deal yourself damage, the only time you get the boost is after your opponent hits you. Which is, well, too late in the turn for the boost to usually be useful. Sure, there are things it would combo with (anything that sacrifices and deals damage equal to power would be wonderful, for example) - but it's too late to block. And you'll not get to use it on attack, either.
My intent had been to tie the 'pay 5 life' bit to the damage bit. That sort of "I'm hurting, so I hurt more and it's a big risk but dooo eeet" thing feels very black.
I think that and the cost would cover it; without also needing UEOT shenanigans (or "until end of your turn" which would fix most of the timing problems)
But get other opinions and decide yourself. you don't want to make my set, you want to make yours :)
better?
i think it would be VERY flavorful to have it be when you take damage.
This set is based around Biology, and this card is based of Blood Clots (yes im in grade 10, and am loving science, this was the inspiration for this set xD)
DAMMIT! i did it again, thanks for the pointer out Vitenka! Will edit
Depends on exactly what you're trying to do with this card - what niche are you aiming at?
Some ideas: * If it's supposed to be an aspirational "wow, I could do that?!" card - put in a hoop to jump through. Instead of just paying 6 life, make it only if this deals combat damage. Or, maybe even "When you take damage, you may..." So now you have to leave yourself open (most self-damage is losing life, though there's a few comboable cards... which is a good thing, make people come up with the cobo, they feel clever) - and then you still get that occasional game where you get to say "And now my everything is +9/+9 and I crush your dreams. I crush them so hard." without it being stupidly overpowered and doing that every game. Ideally the hoop you jump through should fit the rest of the set theme, whatever that is. * You could make it a smaller effect. Maybe UEOT instead of every turn? That way it would be a one-shot huge boost and... that's still too good, probably. Remember, any life you have left at the end of the game, is wasted. So if I can pay 18 life to deal my opponent 20 damage, I should. (Though keeping some life back in case of surprises is part of the reasoning too.) Still, it means a single Healing Salve or chump-blocker becomes a counter, and while strong and a thing opponents would need to worry about, it's maybe something they can deal with.
Just ditching the search would... hmm. It probably wouldn't do anything, actually. Because why wouldn't you just make a deck of 18 lands and 42 of this? So probably the hoop-jump needs to be on activating the boost, rather than on getting them into play.
You could just make them a lot more expensive - having to wait till turn 6 to get the first one (and then the other 3) would remove most of the objections.
Still feels odd to see life-drain in white. But sure, if you're gonna have white vampires, there's gonna be some bleed of abilities. It's certainly nothing white is forbidden from doing. It's also a seriously scary cad. Repeatable removal at common? Ouchie. Life gain on top of that is just icing.
Even if this tapped to use it ability; it would be a red flag common.
I do think I want to change it to nonwhite.
Actually, what I was saying that using Planar Chaos as 'precedent' here is not that far fetched - especially if the given example card is something traditionally more
inclined. It's a set where you have to understand the context and reasons behind it properly - same as with New Phyrexia.
But, given the card as it currently stands, this discussion is IMO going into off-topic.
Whoops on Elesh Norn.
And like I said, I agree with not counting Planar Chaos. That's why I didn't pull forward Crovax, Ascendant Hero, Saltblast, or Sunlance. I just wasn't sure of Ivory Giant which comes from Timespiral. On one hand, most of Timespiral plays nice with the color pie. On the other hand, the set includes a few radical bends like Fledgling Mawcor... so it's a tough set to use for 'proof'.
Elesh Norn's rules text does not contain the word 'nonwhite'.
I think 'nonwhite' fits into white's xenophobia theme well - it's the (unconditional) pinging part that's problematic. You have to remember that Planar Chaos was based on the idea of 'alternative present' and as such, all the bends made therein were made reasoning and intent. It was a supposedly a diverged path that asked "what if" a certain color would have taken certain effect into its pie. It looked into the past, where the color pie was still in its infancy (Preacher and Witch Hunter for example), and decided to look how the effects could have been distributed differently between the colors.
Given this it didn't propose such alternative color-effect pairs are supposed to be integrated with the current pie as is. However, were are talking about a white Vampire card here, so like in Ixalan, some bends are reasonable, if not expected, as to make the usually mono-
tribe feel home at white. This is also to make it more different from white's usual tribes such as Soldiers.
Currently the card looks perfectly fine in white.
It complicates combat math a bit too much for a common, but it's 'acceptable'.
Exile, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Mass Calcify, Blinding Light, Crackdown, Holy Light.
That said, it happens rarely. And most of these examples come from the Pre-modern card frame. Also, counting Elesh Norn might be cheating, since white was 'acting evil' in that set and the designers stretched to use this old 'persecution' mechanic. Mass Calcify was reprinted in M15, though.
Also, while it's certainly reasonable to throw out any example from Planar Chaos, I'm less certain whether tossing out Ivory Giant is reasonable. That said, IG is just the Blinding Light effect... that almost feel like a different mechanic altogether.
The only time I can think of that white got non-white hate was in Time Spiral block, so that's not a good sign of it actually being something white can do
i think nonwhite fits better here, but this rarity curve is still somewhat nonbroken.
hmm okay I will try something
Repeated pingers that hit creatures is absolutely not okay at common. White can get away with direct damage to attacking or blocking creatures, but that's it.
The first one is also a red flag at common.