Cycle of Helpful Creatures

[Ephraim]

Ancient Tortoise

Creature -- Tortoise (Turtle? Beast?)
1/2

Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell or ability, you may draw a card.

Eldest of all creatures, Tortoise amazed the other animals with stories of his experience.

***

Musclebound Bear
{G}
Creature -- Bear
2/2

Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell or ability, target creature gets +1/+1 until the end of turn.

Mightiest of all creatures, Bear lent his brawn to any animal weaker than himself.

***

Treacherous Serpent

Creature -- Snake
1/1

Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell or ability, target player discards a card.

Most cunning of all creatures, Serpent delighted in aggravating disputes among the other animals.

***

Halcyon Eagle
{W}
Creature -- Bird

1/2

Flying
Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell or ability, target creature gains protection from the colour of that spell or ability until the end of turn.

Wisest of all creatures, Eagle watched the other animals from above and protected them from harm.

***

Ferocious Wildcat

Creature -- Wildcat
2/1

Haste
Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell or ability, target creature gains haste until the end of turn.

Fiercest of all creatures, Wildcat could inflame the other animals with his  own infectious fury.

[Ephraim]

Current Wording:

Ancient Tortoise
{2}{U}
Creature -- Turtle
1/2

Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell, you may draw a card.

Eldest of all creatures, Tortoise amazed the other animals with stories of his experience.

***

Musclebound Bear
{2}{G}
Creature -- Bear
2/2

Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell, target creature gets +2/+2 until the end of turn.

Mightiest of all creatures, Bear lent his brawn to any animal weaker than himself.

***

Treacherous Serpent
{2}{B}
Creature -- Snake
1/1

Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell, target player discards a card.

Most cunning of all creatures, Serpent delighted in aggravating disputes among the other animals.

***

Halcyon Eagle
{2}{W}
Creature -- Bird
1/2

Flying
Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell, target creature gains protection from the colour of your choice until the end of turn.

Wisest of all creatures, Eagle watched the other animals from above and protected them from harm.

***

Ferocious Wildcat
{2}{R}
Creature -- Cat
2/1

Haste
Whenever ~this~ is the target of a spell, you may have ~this~ deal 2 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players.
Fiercest of all creatures, Wildcat lashed out at the other animals at the slightest provocation.

[Jacob Orlove]

How about "spell or ability you do not control". Otherwise, lightning greaves/en-kor creatures break these.

[Ephraim]

Ah, crap. How do I forget about free effects? I wanted it to be something relatively useful even if you don't control it. Otherwise, they kind of all into the same hole that Mossdog does - they're kind of a neat idea, but they don't stick around long enough to do anything particularly useful. How about if I just make it that whenever they're the target of a spell, their ability triggers?

[Matt]

That would work. It's really hard to cast infinite spells, especially targetted ones.

[Ephraim]

Changes made. I also changed Halcyon Eagle to protect from the colour of your choice until the end of turn. He was kind of neat before, because he was hard to kill by any means. With the ability only triggering on spells, I made it a little better, somewhere else.

[outta_names]

The Red creature's ability seems to be underpowered relative to the rest, primarily because Haste far more narrow than say, Discard, Draw, Pump, or Protection.
While any of the other abilities can be useful just about any time, Haste is only useful when you have a creature with summoning sickness on the board and you want to play a spell during your 1st main phase. It seems far more limited than the other abilities.
Perhaps something like
"deal up to 3 damage divided among any number of creatures"
would be more appropriate.
Also: Isn't the white creature immune to all forms of targeted removal and targeted burn?

-outta

[Ephraim]

The white creature is immune to all forms of targetted burn/removal spells if you want it to be, yes. It can still die in combat (if you don't have a spell of your own to cast on it) and it may be killed by abilities, such as Sparksmith's or Visara's.

I agree that the Wildcat was a bit underpowered, which is why I gave him Haste, himself. I suppose I want this to be a cycle of Uncommons, so I could make him a 3/1 with Haste and his current ability. A 3/1 with Haste for is respectable, with or without an ability. I'd probably also make Ancient Tortoise a 1/3 so there's some sort of parity there.

Even at that, I suppose I can see your point. All of the other creatures do something useful even when it's an opponent's spell that targets them (although Musclebound Bear's is second weakest, in that regard.) I don't suppose that 2 damage, divided as you choose would be out of line on a 2/1 Haste. I want comments on that change first, though. Fire of Fire & Ice is a well-respected spell.

[Ephraim]

I changed Ferocious Wildcat's ability. Just wanted to bump this back up to the top.

[MrZuccinniHead]

i think the green ability should add counters.  Until end of turn isn't too punishing.

[Ephraim]

I increased the Bear's power/toughness bonus to +2/+2, which makes them more powerful, but not as strong as +1/+1 counters would be. Unless people really think that +1/+1 counters would be appropriate and not too strong, I'm initiating the...

24 Hour Clock

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]