The Phylactery of Gaul

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JovialJovian
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Post by JovialJovian » 3 years ago

So, I cooked this up in the Token Game from the prompt: "A legendary token with a unique name." It's a very parasitic mechanic, but I kinda love it.

The basis is the token:

The Phylactery of Gaul
BToken Legendary Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this artifact unless you pay 2 life.

The mechanic revolves around having, gaining, or losing the token, but unlike say The Monarch, the token is itself a downside, so the cards that care about it can be that much stronger.
It's also primarily black flavored, and would really only branch into other colors in an appropriate setting, I don't have a setting or set in mind for it.

And here's a sampling of it in operation, various rarities, things that create it, and some that care about it but don't participate themselves.

Gaul, the Dead City
Legendary Land {M}
T, Pay 1 life: Add B. If you control The Phylactery of Gaul, instead add three mana in any combination of colors.
T, Sacrifice Gaul, the Dead City: Create The Phylactery of Gaul.

Gaul Lich 1BBB
Creature - Zombie Wizard {R}
When Gaul Lich enters the battlefield, create The Phylactery of Gaul.
Gaul Lich has indestructible as long as you control The Phylactery of Gaul.
4/4

Bargain With The Liches BB
Sorcery {U}
Choose one -
- Create The Phylactery of Gaul.
- Sacrifice The Phylactery of Gaul. If you do, draw three cards and lose 3 life.
Entwine 2

Priest of Gaul 2B
Creature - Human Cleric {C}
When Priest of Gaul enters the battlefield, create The Phylactery of Gaul.
Priest of Gaul has lifelink as long as you control The Phylactery of Gaul.
2/2

Purge the Dead City 3BBB
Sorcery {R}
Destroy all creatures and planeswalkers. If you control The Phylactery of Gaul, instead destroy all creatures and planeswalkers you don't control.

Phylactery Spawn B
Creature - Spirit {U}
Flying, haste
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice Phylactery Spawn unless you control The Phylactery of Gaul.
2/1

Citizen of Gaul 1B
Creature - Human Peasant
As long as you control The Phylactery of Gaul, Citizen of Gaul gets +1/+0 and is a Zombie.
2/2

Thoughts?

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SecretInfiltrator
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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 3 years ago

I feel 2 life is a bit much, and accordingly you made the benefit from controlling it bigger, but to me that's just making the themed cards more swingy. Though with a reduced life loss you could also remove the sacrifice option. Maybe I'm wrong and the sarifice option at 2 life is a better execution, but it also allows a playstyle of always just sacrificing the token which seems to not match the creative.

A note particular to the land: Sacrificing a card that benefits from the token to gain the token feels especially unfortunate.

Priest of Gaul is easily the best design mechanically; Citizen of Gaul tops the list creatively.

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JovialJovian
Captain, I object!
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Post by JovialJovian » 3 years ago

SecretInfiltrator wrote:
3 years ago
I feel 2 life is a bit much, and accordingly you made the benefit from controlling it bigger, but to me that's just making the themed cards more swingy. Though with a reduced life loss you could also remove the sacrifice option. Maybe I'm wrong and the sarifice option at 2 life is a better execution, but it also allows a playstyle of always just sacrificing the token which seems to not match the creative.

A note particular to the land: Sacrificing a card that benefits from the token to gain the token feels especially unfortunate.

Priest of Gaul is easily the best design mechanically; Citizen of Gaul tops the list creatively.
Yeah, you could just sacrifice the token every turn to avoid the downside, but then you're also taking the chance that you won't get it back and will have underwhelming cards. I could tweak it to dissuade that approach, but I don't want it to become too wordy, and I want to provide a way out for players with a token that is no longer wanted.

As for the land, I was viewing the extra mana as a bonus reward, not the primary purpose. The main reason for it is 0-cost access to the token, which is why the rarity is so high.

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