Original Card: Root Spider

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• Added Flash
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• Changed trigger from blocking to an enter the battlefield. Now grants deathtouch.
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• Increased power by +1/+0.
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Note: Originally, I gave this Flash and fight when it enters the battlefield. It was a bit much. ­

Hmm. I think I overdid it with this card, making the kind of card I would like to see as opposed to the card that Root Spider should have been.

I get the +1/+2 thing. That's me removing first strike from a creature and replacing it with more appropriate stats. The flash and fight, though... I must have chosen them because they match the flavor of a hidden root spider, ready to lunge. Since neither flash or fight existed in 1995, I updated the card with modern keywords that match the flavor. But I didn't need both keywords. That's just overkill (neat as they are together.)

Hmm... and now I'm seeing another reason why I did what I did. Blocking trigger. This is yet another defensive card in an overly defensive set. I could make the card more natural by triggering fight on 'when ~ blocks', but that's just going to encourage more ground stalling. Etb bonus plus fight should be fine. Maybe a little more toughness on the bonus.

I don't think I'm ever going to get a Root Spider that both doesn't break the color pie, and feel just like the original. So instead I tried to double up on the flavor. Finding a Root Spider in a trapdoor spider in its cave is supposed to be a shock, so flash. It will kill you when this happens, so deathtouch. Not perfect, but it'll have to do. What you were doing in a trapdoor spider's cave in the first place is your own problem.

Not the most powerful card I've ever seen, but at least this card does a job without being so defensive.