#cfac 27

@nine-effing-hells:

Upon doing a bit of research on jackals I found that the only jackal which lives outside Africa (and would thus show up in an “Arabian-inspired set”) is the golden jackal, which has a habit of living in the ruins of cities. So it’s pretty clear that those humans in the art have been poking around somewhere they maybe shouldn’t have, and it’s about to bite them figuratively and literally. One of the classic “you’re out of line, buddy” cards is No Mercy, so I used that as a starting point. The rider that you have to have a creature is because, well, you’re safe attacking (i.e. going off into not-your-territory) if there aren’t jackals around. The second ability synergizes with the first, and represents the jackals eating carcasses. It’s a second ability because jackals can be scavengers, not just hunters.

The phrasing on the first ability was tricky, as just saying “Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, if you control a creature, destroy it” is too vague; the entire statement refers to two different creatures, either of which could be the “it” in the last clause.

Ah, the joys of the English language and pronouns. Another option could’ve been to swap the ordering of the conditional and the “if”:

Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, destroy it if you control a creature.

It may not be the usual way things like this are templated, but it’s grammatically sound, conveys the same message, and saves a full line of text.

There’s a fair chance this card is costed a bit too high, and could definitely be tuned down in cost. I’m not positive this effect is still considered Black mechanically, but it certainly fits flavorfully.

Thanks for the submission! For meeting the art prompt and the design challenge (title!) you’ll be awarded two points.

@noyan-dar:

I think this is interesting because of some of the flavour implications. The Jackal is hunting this lone human, and will kill it if given the chance, yet the human is powerless to this.

Mechanically it works interestingly because it’s a very good value creature that comes with a large downside.

Holy cow that’s a heck of a downside. I know 3/2 lifelinkers have costed four mana in the past, but man, that’s a heck of a way to balance it. I would certainly be interested in tweaking various numbers in various places to make this card a bit more reasonable. Definitely an interesting (and appropriate) design, though.

Thanks for the submission! For meeting the art prompt and the design challenge (flavor text!) you’ll be awarded two points.

@ubervores:

Rationale: Curses are cool and the art reminded me of Innistrad and thats it man

Well, can’t argue with that logic.

This is a really interesting angle for a Green “control” strategy, as it gives you blockers for opposing creatures to “fog” while you answer threats, and eventually works as a pseudo-win condition. I like the design quite a bit, and the costing seems fine for a start, and it has several knobs available to change if needed.

Thanks for the submission! For meeting the art prompt and the design challenge (rules text!), you’ll be awarded two points.

@ancient-chaos:

Jackals are generally red, and the art felt very Jund-y, unfortunately, anything tricolor felt forced and green was the odd color out, so hyper-aggressive Rakdos jackals it is!

Finding the right power and toughness to balance this around was a bit difficult but, as far as I can tell it should be fine - maybe slightly above curve. Regardless, it makes for some interesting choices by granting haste and, functionally, unleash. 

I’m always on board with an aggressive engine card like this. I like the thought behind the design and everything, and giving all of your creature spells Bloodthirst 1 is definitely a good way to push aggressive strategies. The problem, however, comes from the ability it grants to creatures with +1/+1 counters.

You see, the most common way to enable bloodthirst is by attacking and dealing damage, and this card can do that fairly well. However, if the rest of your creatures get bloodthirst through your creature attacking, then they will enter the battlefield after combat, meaning the haste is useless, so it’s basically a downside-balancing mechanic, which at that point is no fun.

Sure, there are ways to enable bloodthirst without attacking (like pingers and burn spells) but this card would play much better if it could just enable them on its own. Perhaps it could grant them trample, or the Ashmouth Hound ability to dissuade your opponent from blocking, or even Hellrider it?

Thanks for the submission! For meeting the art prompt and the design challenge (title and flavor text!), you’ll be awarded two points.

@voicesofchaos:

NOTE: For some weird reason my Magic Set Editor does not do italics! I click on the italics button and just nothing happens :( But obviously the bottom line is flavor text.

Pretty simple and straightforward design this time. It simply combines Prey Upon with Sorcery speed Might of the Masses. I think this card have easily been 2 CMC but I wanted it to be common and not push the power-level too much. Although I do feel the combination of cards does have a nice synergy and that in general Sorcery buff spells don’t get enough respect.

Power-level wise, it’s in a good place to start with, and may realistically need to be upped: with a couple of creatures, this is a straight-up removal spell, and may buff your creature enough that it can still attack without fear of death! It’s a solid card that fits the art quite well.