Get A Clue: Obalt Constable, Shocking Elemental, Retributive Lightning

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Post by NUMBERS » 4 years ago

Obalt Constable
1W
Creature - Human Knight Mercenary
Obalt Constable has First Strike as long as a player controls a Clue.

Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

When you cycle Obalt Constable, each opponent investigates. (To investigate, create a colorless Clue artifact token with ", Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.")
2/1
Shocking Elemental
{r/g}
Creature - Elemental
Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)

When Shocking Elemental enters the battlefield, it fights target creature.

"It is given life to die in glorious combat!"
-Tryne, Arena Master

2/1
Retributive Lightning
2R
Instant
Blackmail — This spell costs less if an opponent sacrificed a permanent this turn.

Deal 3 damage to any target.

"Justice is best served swiftly and smelling of ozone."
-Abliont, Constable Mage

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Retributive Lightning
2R
Instant
Blackmail — This spell costs less if an opponent sacrificed a permanent this turn.

Deal 3 damage to any target.

"Justice is best served swiftly and smelling of ozone."
-Abliont, Constable Mage

Retributive Lightning
2R
Instant
This spell costs less if an opponent sacrificed a permanent this turn.

Deal 3 damage to any target.

"Justice is best served swiftly and smelling of ozone."
-Abliont, Constable Mage

Shocking Elemental
{r/g}
Creature - Elemental
Shocking Elemental has Flash as long as you control a Forest.

When Shocking Elemental enters the battlefield, if you control a Mountain, you may have it fight target creature you don't control.

"It is given life to die in glorious combat!"
-Tryne, Arena Master

2/1

Shocking Elemental might be a bit too powerful and a bit of a stretch in , but I think the fact it has to fight helps - but there are other ways to tune it down I've considered (in the spoiler is one). I'm also not sure if Retributive Lightning should be common?
Last edited by NUMBERS 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
[FOB] Fallen Obalt | A custom set of Crime, Clues, and Sacrifice.

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spacemonaut
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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

Shocking Elemental is a color break in green. Green does have to use its own creatures to remove other creatures, but we also know this is in almost every way just a green Shock, and that's a problem.

I'd compare Retributive Lightning to Wizard's Lightning for power level and make it Uncommon. Its restriction is a problem though for two reasons.
  • Memory issues: the Revolt ability from Aether Revolt (Airdrop Aeronauts) is a touchstone. However, unlike Revolt, we have to keep track of opponents' cards and not ours. Also, we have to keep track of the specific method used to get them into the graveyard. That's probably not a deal-breaker, but it means it might play poorly.
  • Power issues: Sacrifice removal is not very common. As in, you won't find much of it in any given standard environment. That's because it's an exceptionally powerful removal method, and because too much of it is oppressive on games. Building a mechanic around making your opponent sacrifice stuff means the mechanic will rarely be "on" or your set will have a huge power level problem.
Have you considered making Blackmail just "if a card was put into an opponent's graveyard from the battlefield this turn"? Then it's like an opponent-only Morbid or Revolt.

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Post by folding_music » 4 years ago

Retributive Lightning is perfectly designed for the Adrian Sullivan red burn deck mirror <3

Is there a way of phrasing "Shocking Elemental gains flash if R is spent to play it" or is that a paradox? I like the way you design commons in general, all at the upper bounds of what's possible without being unreasonable.

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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

folding_music wrote:
4 years ago
Is there a way of phrasing "Shocking Elemental gains flash if R is spent to play it" or is that a paradox? I like the way you design commons in general, all at the upper bounds of what's possible without being unreasonable.
Turns out it's not actually a paradox: 601.3d carves out an exception for this scenario exactly... or if it doesn't, we'd just add a new item to that list of conditional flash exceptions.

I'm concerned it would still be a color pie break at sorcery speed though. You could have something like this if the creature was meant to have a realistic chance of survival like other ETB fighters but as a 2/1 it will almost always die so it's functionally a green burn spell. Maybe it's OK???

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Post by NUMBERS » 4 years ago

spacemonaut wrote:
4 years ago
Shocking Elemental is a color break in green. Green does have to use its own creatures to remove other creatures, but we also know this is in almost every way just a green Shock, and that's a problem.
I hoped the restrictions of it being fight (so only creatures) and having to fight (so itself is always a valid target) might address the color push. But I can appreciate that that is very possibly an incorrect assumption on my part.

It's definitely a case of coming up with a card and pushing that towards {r/g}, but I'm unsure if it fits in that space.
spacemonaut wrote:
4 years ago
I'd compare Retributive Lightning to Wizard's Lightning for power level and make it Uncommon. Its restriction is a problem though for two reasons.
  • Memory issues: the Revolt ability from Aether Revolt (Airdrop Aeronauts) is a touchstone. However, unlike Revolt, we have to keep track of opponents' cards and not ours. Also, we have to keep track of the specific method used to get them into the graveyard. That's probably not a deal-breaker, but it means it might play poorly.
  • Power issues: Sacrifice removal is not very common. As in, you won't find much of it in any given standard environment. That's because it's an exceptionally powerful removal method, and because too much of it is oppressive on games. Building a mechanic around making your opponent sacrifice stuff means the mechanic will rarely be "on" or your set will have a huge power level problem.
Have you considered making Blackmail just "if a card was put into an opponent's graveyard from the battlefield this turn"? Then it's like an opponent-only Morbid or Revolt.
For your first point, I can appreciate that being an issue and am unsure how to address it.
For the second, the hypothetical environment this mechanic is being designed within is one with a Clue saturated meta, which means turning on the sacrifice clause is likely easier to achieve than in most standard environments.
I appreciate your proposed fixes, but imagine it would likely need to be toned down mechanically quite a bit, as, as you pointed out, ensuring your opponent has sacrificed something is much harder than assuring that something they control has entered their graveyard.
folding_music wrote:
4 years ago
Retributive Lightning is perfectly designed for the Adrian Sullivan red burn deck mirror <3

Is there a way of phrasing "Shocking Elemental gains flash if R is spent to play it" or is that a paradox? I like the way you design commons in general, all at the upper bounds of what's possible without being unreasonable.
:) thanks!
[FOB] Fallen Obalt | A custom set of Crime, Clues, and Sacrifice.

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spacemonaut
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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

NUMBERS wrote:
4 years ago
For the second, the hypothetical environment this mechanic is being designed within is one with a Clue saturated meta, which means turning on the sacrifice clause is likely easier to achieve than in most standard environments.
Oh, you're right! That didn't click for me. Clue and treasure sacrifices abound.

Blackmail effects would need to predominantly be instant or have flash then, I imagine. In fact there might be a card with "Blackmail — You may cast this card as though it had flash if an opponent sacrificed a permanent this turn."

Anyway, putting all else aside, I like these. And I want the Shocking Elemental break to work because it's cute. :D

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