In the interest of proving my nerdiness, I have created this fan-card of my El Goonish Shive character, Tedd Verres. This card is obviously a fan-work not intended for sale or tournament play and is just for fun, but I'm paranoid so I'm going to say it for the record anyway
For those not familiar with the comic, Tedd is a teenage mad scientist with a gun that can transform people. A... transformation gun... if you will (/Shatner). While I could have made an equipment card for the gun, and may yet do so, I felt it appropriate for Tedd to have the TF Gun permanently accessible to him.
As for the card itself, I honestly don't know if it's balanced. His ability is powerful, particularly if you have a 0 cost creature like Ornithopter in your hand, but short of transforming himself, he is fairly fragile at 0/2. There's also the fact that morphing inexpensive creatures into expensive ones can really tie up one's mana, especially if zapping more than one.
I suspect if he was a real card, there would be several changes made for balance. That, or they'd just make him a 3/3 Mythic Rare. ZING!
The reason he costs 2U instead of 1UU or even UUU is because I can't imagine Tedd not being able to work in the same deck as Grace, and there's no way Grace isn't at least part Green. I know it's just for funzies and I'm unlikely to ever play an actual game with these fake cards, but I like the idea of a Blue-Green Tedd-Grace deck.
Most ruling questions that might come up if actually playing Tedd in casual can likely be resolved by checking the rulings on Vesuvan Doppleganger. Beyond that, if X is in the casting cost of the revealed creature, THAT X should be treated as 0, and a creature becoming a copy wouldn't trigger "enters the battlefield" effects.
If you'd like to see a larger, not cropped version of the card's art, click here to visit the EGS website.
The biggest abuse I can think of right off the bat? Turning your enemy's giant 10/10 beat stick into a 0/1 one drop and killing it.
ReplyDeleteOh right the art >.> Yeah it's awesome and shiny =D
Phyrexian Dreadnought breaks this card. I cackle evilly just thinking of that combo. Would be fun.
ReplyDeleteNice art though. It's always fun to hear about an artist's other hobbies, especially when they intersect with one's own.
No, Phyrexian Dreadnought would not break this card, anymore than Stifle broke Phyrexian Dreadnought. Actually, it's worse than that, since you don't ALWAYS have the dreadnought.
ReplyDeleteMy preferential combo with this is Fling, Isochron Scepter, any fatty and a token maker that can be activated every turn. And Ted, of course. Every turn, make a token, turn it into the fatty, then HURL IT AT THE OTHER GUY'S FACE YEAH AWESOME
Great art, don't know why it's a fan card...can you be a fan of your own work? And can't wait to see the Grace card.
-Panahinuva
An undercosted fatty, obviously. Like Cosmic Larva or the aforementioned Dreadnought.
ReplyDeleteI think if you made it target creature you control, it would be fairly balanced. Sure, it is stupendous with Dreadnought, but there are plenty more broken things to do in Eternal formats.
ReplyDeleteI get the flavor reasons for the pay o2 extra, but I'm not sure it adds anything. I would either (a) remove it and do nothing, (b) remove it and add oT to the cost, so it can only be used once or (c) make it "Pay an additional o2 for *each* time you previously activated this ability this turn."
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTedd can easily start sniping out opponents' creatures with Phyrexian Marauder or Shifting Wall. Or Protean Hydra if you want a card in standard, though its not as free as the others.
ReplyDeleteCard would almost have to be limited to your creatures. Otherwise it would be completely broken for machine-gunning your opponent's creatures with something like Shifting Wall (effectively a 0/0 for 0 while in your hand). In standard, Protean Hydra could be used similarly.
ReplyDelete*Typed post and then saw that Tychomonger said exactly the same thing. Ah, well.
I can't wait to see the Elliot card. I figure he'd be either a white or a red/white mix. Add in his 133t martial arts skills and I imagine he'd be pretty powerful stat wise.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteActually, I've been writing up webcomic based Magic cards for some time and started with EGS. I have to say, your Tedd clearly captures the character better. For the sake of "why not?", I'll type up mine:
ReplyDeleteTedd, Young Mad Scientist 2GU
Legendary Creature — Human Advisor
Whenever the creature type of a creature you control changes, you may have that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1(gu)*: Tedd, Young Mad Scientist and another target creature become the creature type of your choice until end of turn.
2/2
*Green/blue hybrid mana
I see Tedd as very green/blue, the color combination of the Dr. Moreau careful experimentation school of mad science, as opposed to the blue/red Doc Brown ADD tinkering school, though I could see an argument for a little of both. In any case, I'm definitely going to be following this blog!
Why am I imagining Elliot//Ellen as a white//red split card?
ReplyDeleteAlrighty, I've been stalking EGS since I was a junior in highschool...That was about 6 years ago...I've always wanted to talk on the fourms and be the proper bunny I am, but alas, I am to shy.
ReplyDeleteBut I can hide no longer! For ome of my favorite webcomic writers/artist to also love MTG is far to awesome!
...
To the card, it would be very fun tabletop. I can't really see it being completely broken. Of course I really just started playing around Shards and only know old cards that are played in Legacy. So I just don't have the vast knowledge of every card ever.
:3 Can't wait to see the other characters. I'm surprised you chose to make them legendary creatures and not planeswalkers. :O
So what is the EGS expansion symbol? :)
ReplyDeleteI find this hilarious because some several friends and I found a magic card creator and we all made our own joke theme decks. One did Cardcaptor Sakura which was wildly appropriate, another did zombie movies, and I ended up doing EGS. Your Tedd has a better effect than mine.
ReplyDeleteI totally see Elliot as a white card and Ellen as a red one. I'd also expect Elliot to be pretty 'fat', considering he still has inner demons we have yet to see.
ReplyDeleteI gotta agree that the "pay 2" is a bit clunky. Also, you could probably move the reveal from the cost into the effect.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it looks like a reasonably balanced, fun card. You should put it into a deck some casual night and test it out (telling your fellow players, of course).
@Keiya: I don't think there's been split creature cards. Spells based on Elliot/Ellen's abilities I could see, but Elliot and Ellen would probably be separate cards.
ReplyDeleteThis probably would be set at uncommon, maybe common since he's 0/2, but with that ability arguments could be made for uncommon or rare.
There was one split creature card, in Unglued: B.F.M.
ReplyDeletehttp://magiccards.info/ug/en/28.html
http://magiccards.info/ug/en/29.html
B.F.M. isn't split, he's the reverse of split: one thing, two cards as opposed to two cards, one thing. Actually, he inspired split cards (iirc.)
ReplyDeleteLove your blog, and hope you keep updating.
ReplyDeleteI also suggest you add {T} as a cost so you can remove the pay {2} mechanic.
That said, I think a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker which doubles as Serendib Sorcerer is far too powerful for any rarity, and Tedd should be limited to transforming only creatures you control for balance reasons. Besides, I don't think he would use the TF as an offensive weapon (even if Dan might).