Commander at Common

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Sporegorger_Dragon
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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 3 years ago

Was bored, so I whipped this up.

Ganor, Persistent Assistant
2
Legendary Artifact Creature - Gnome (C)
Sunburst (This enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.)
Partner
0/1


I'm sure someone's already designed this somewhere in the depths of the archive. This theoretically should be okay; any deck can accommodate him, and his only use is as a beater/blocker.
"What's with you and pitcher plants?" -NinjaCaterpie, 27-9-2021

user_938036
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Post by user_938036 » 3 years ago

Looking at existing cards its stat line is too good for common. There is lots of room for debate but drop it to a 0/0 and there isn't an argument against it.

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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 3 years ago

user_938036 wrote:
3 years ago
Looking at existing cards its stat line is too good for common.
Could you elaborate? The best this thing is going to be is 2/3, at max, since there are no Partners with more than two colors.

So the only way its stats would arguably be too good is in certain color pairs, like ur and ub, and even then it's only for the first time cast; every time you cast it afterwards, it's an overcosted Blind Phantasm.
"What's with you and pitcher plants?" -NinjaCaterpie, 27-9-2021

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Post by spacemonaut » 3 years ago

Yeah the power level is fine. Maybe if it was a 2 for 2/3, but it can't be. It is:
2 for 0/1.
1{wubrg} for 1/2.
BG for 2/3 (or some other colors).

All of those seem eminently fair.

The place where this gets iffy is that 2-mana 2/3 because we've never seen that at common before. We've only seen it eight times, all recently and at uncommon or rare. Common regularly gets 2/3 non-vanillas at 2{wubrg} however (like Brazen Wolves which spends half the time being a 2R 4/3!!), and if Winding Constrictor is uncommon, a vanilla version of it surely seems justified common.

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Post by user_938036 » 3 years ago

Sporegorger_Dragon wrote:
3 years ago
user_938036 wrote:
3 years ago
Looking at existing cards its stat line is too good for common.
Could you elaborate? The best this thing is going to be is 2/3, at max, since there are no Partners with more than two colors.

So the only way its stats would arguably be too good is in certain color pairs, like ur and ub, and even then it's only for the first time cast; every time you cast it afterwards, it's an overcosted Blind Phantasm.
It's actually really easy to make it larger because they removed the rule making off color mana colorless.

Though none of that was what I was speaking of. As was brought up by the above poster. At common this is contentious. There is a viable argument for and against. Which I said you remove by making it a 0/0.

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Post by spacemonaut » 3 years ago

I mean, I said it was unprecented and a bit iffy just on that basis, I don't think it's contentious. It's a 2/3 that costs two different colours of mana to cast and is functionally vanilla. As a commander it requires giving up a third or fourth color for the trade-off of being a partner. I think it's fine. If it's a problem for pauper they can ban it.

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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 3 years ago

user_938036 wrote:
3 years ago
It's actually really easy to make it larger because they removed the rule making off color mana colorless.
Thank you for elucidating, I see your point now.

But I disagree that it's really easy. True, your lanterns, Spheres and Arcane signet and whatnot can make it bigger, but if you're playing two-color, most of your lands/mana rocks won't allow you to make it bigger.

Also I forgot to mention that it's also a 0/1 in case for some bizarre and unfathomable reason you want this as your only Commander and you get stuck with no colored mana early on (you can only grow it beyond 2/3 after you cast it for the first time).
"What's with you and pitcher plants?" -NinjaCaterpie, 27-9-2021

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Post by spacemonaut » 3 years ago

The 4/5 for case is pretty interesting: here's a list of 4-mana artifacts sorted by power, highest first. There's a lot of 4-power artifacts for and they all come with a downside: 1 toughness, having to counter or sacrifice something, etb tapped, forced attacking, sacrificed at end of combat, etc.

Alternately, they come with a condition: Dovin's Automaton is a 5/5 vigilance for if you control Dovin, and it's in his planeswalker deck. Dragonloft Idol is a 4/4 flying and trample for if you control a dragon, and it's from Dragons of Tarkir.

Granted, all the cards I just mentioned are uncommons, so maybe this is more uncommon than common. (Except being in a drafted commander product might change things, the way it did for Fall from Favor.)

Functionally this sorta winds up being a 4/5 for 4 that gets to be that way on account of the condition-slash-restriction: "you chose this, a vanilla creature, for your second partner, instead of literally any non-vanilla creature that can actually significantly change the game for you, or any option of adding a third or fourth color to your deck." Basically nobody would actually make that trade-off, and I think those that do deserve their 4/5.

(If you can somehow access five colors, the 5/6 for is just fine.)

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