Originally, I was planning on having this operate like S.N.O.T., see other cards on the battlefield, then combine, but be able to break apart. Then I decided it made for a better odd tribe, like Slivers. Then I decided that tribal is overdone and we ended up with a keyword mechanic that stands on its own. I know that this 'simple' version is an uncommon, but that's partly because of trample, and partly because the common version is probably just an enters the battlefield trigger that would only go off once.

Oh, one other aside: that ability is static, not a +2/+2 bonus when it triggers. There's probably a better way to write that to make certain that fact is clear, so I might clean it up later. Anyhow, we need a keyword action name, a creature type, and a name for the card. Have at it!

Huh. So... you can eat a creature every turn; but it's not really eating them, just storing them away.

Is the intention that it has +2/+2 for each creature IT has set aside; or +2/+2 for any creature set aside? The latter is fiddlier, but means you can run more than one in your deck. The former suggests "why would you even keyword that, when I can't really run multiples?" - but they could work, and do have different flavour.

Also- ugh. Tokens. I ?'d them; so I should have +2/+2 right? But they vanished when I tried, so I don't get them back? FIDDLY!

Honestly, I reckon this mechanic was a prototype for 'crew'. Clearly you're carrying the other creature around, somehow, and protecting them.

Ok, let's work on that - we'll be explicit that the growth isn't the main reason to use this kind of card; the main reason is to protect your other creatures from wraths. You're... darn, it, protect is a keyword already... You're storing? ... Hiding them. Except hide would be a WAY better keyword for a self-stealth mechanic of some kind. Well, let's use the mechanic: You're tucking them away underneath this creature. Tuck away. You may "tuck away" a creature; return all creatures "taken away"... ok; this leaves us open to taking away opponents creatures, or artifacts, or anything else; in later sets. And "Taken" is kind of evocative; even if we're doing it for their own good... Darn it, again. Mtg already filed the serial numbers off of the pied piper, didn't it? Well, maybe we can make this a mirror of Piper of the Swarm. So this means we're a Human Warlock and the name is Piper of the Lost. Artwork shepherding the lost-boys away from an incoming firestorm. And, uh, I guess I flavoured it white there. Ooops.

What I'd want clarifying is whether the "return when this leaves" is meant to be an automatic part of the action, like champion (Mistbind Clique), or whether it's just specific to this one card and most of them will just exile the creature without returning it, making it more like devour (Marrow Chomper).

Suggested templating for the first way would be to just have the reminder text say "(exile that creature until ~ leaves the battlefield.)"

Hm. The ooze reference card and Vitenka mentioning 'storing away' made me start thinking of a 'Storage Slime', but then I realized one of my favorite anime characters really fits the bill for this.

Also making this a legendary sort of helps clear up the confusion Vitenka mentioned about how this mechanic interacts with copies of itself, or whatever (he said it better).

Since Dominaria showed they were willing to put legends at uncommon rarity, this is my suggestion:

(minor spoilers for like the second episode of the tensura anime)

Name - Rimuru Tempest

Creature - Ooze

Keyword Action - Predator

Actually, I'm really tempted to call the keyword action Unique Skill: Predator, but leaving it simpler fits the MTG brand much better, and also could fit on a lot of other green cards, since a big part of their flavor is apex predators in the first place :)

I suppose I could give this card a second creature type, but really I don't know what the best fit would be, since they still haven't taken my advice and printed an Anime-Protagonist subtype ha ha ha

sigh .... I spend too much of my time watching anime instead of sleeping

It wasn't so much interacting with itself or other copies - it's more "Ok, I have filled my deck with this new exciting mechanic! And... now I have no creatures in play to feed them. Huh."

Oh my bad, ha ha.

That makes sense too, since this kind of competes with itself, unless you have an absurdly wide board... which you would normally do with a bunch of possibly-nonbo tokens in the first place...

Conversely, it may be way too powerful to allow this effect to work for all creatures with the keyword! Though, maybe it would be fine, since green is already kind of allowed to snowball the hell out of control, lol.

I like the piper flavour. Good point on the mechanic name. I was originally going to go with something like Merge or Meld, but if they're usually gone for good then something like devour or absorb or consume makes more sense.

­Agglutinous Mass
Creature - Ooze
...Consume 2...

@Alex: It's intended for everything to come back when the creature leaves, and I'd presume that's a defining characteristic of the mechanic. I guess it's what happens when you make Devour a keyword action and combine it with Oblivion Ring. But you're right: even though I worded this so you couldn't hose someone in response to their sacrifice, the "until ~ leaves the battlefield" is much cleaner wording. I'll probably be editing to that when we're done.

@Vitenka: The intention is +2/+2 for each creature it 'absorbs'. I need to tinker with that wording too, to make sure it's explicit.

The poll is up! Click here to choose your favorite name!

Jack wins by consuming the competition! See everybody in (((NTC #069)))! Nice!

Definitely a good suggestion! Congrats Jack on the well-deserved win!