Treacherous Haruspex

[Ephraim]

Treacherous Haruspex
{B}
Creature -- Human Shaman
1/1

,{T}, Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a card that does not share a color with sacrificed creature, with converted mana cost less than or equal to the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

She sees victory only for the enemies of her clients.

***

This card was first born out of the name. I wanted an entrails-reader that would search for a card, given a creature sacrifice as a payment. However, Diabolic Intent on a stick would probably be too strong at the low, playable cost I wanted this to have (unlike Vampiric Tutor on a stick -- Bringer of the Black Dawn.) Thus, in order to make it fair that this is theoretically usable every turn, I limited the nature of the cards that could be searched for. I suppose this would combo decently well with Myr Servitor; Squee, Goblin Nabob; or Nether Spirit. Even if the ability itself is a little bit bad, I think it would result in people doing interesting things.

It might seem a little bit wordy, but it's definitely shorter than [card]Night Dealings[/card] (maybe not with the flavour text).

[Ephraim]

Current Wording:

Treacherous Haruspex
{1}{B}{B}
Creature -- Human Shaman
1/1


{B}, {T}, Sacrifice a nonartifact creature: Search your library for a card that does not share a color with the sacrificed creature and reveal that card. Shuffle your library then put that card on top of it.
She sees victory only for the enemies of her clients.

[Matt]

Or Nuisance Engine.

[Ephraim]

It actually doesn't combo all that well with any token generator, since tokens have converted mana costs of 0 -- you could only use it to search for a select few spells. It would go well with Frogmite or Myr Retriever, though. You can play them on the cheap, but you get their full converted mana cost when searching.

[Jacob Orlove]

It actually doesn't combo all that well with any token generator, since tokens have converted mana costs of 0 -- you could only use it to search for a select few spells. It would go well with Frogmite or Myr Retriever, though. You can play them on the cheap, but you get their full converted mana cost when searching.

Well, it can get lands. Or is it not supposed to?

[Ephraim]

Ah. That's a good point. Lands are fine, unless y'all think I should limit it to nonland cards.

[Matt]

Oh, I missed the mana cost clause.

[Komatteru]

I don't see sacrificing a creature to remove a land from your deck as something that we need to worry about.  Land seems fine.

The only complaint I have is that it's wordy.  It makes you have to think a bit about what it does, but it's not as bad as like Dead Ringers (I still don't know what it does).  But I can't think of a way to make it more concise.  Any ideas?

[Nibble]

The only complaint I have is that it's wordy.  It makes you have to think a bit about what it does, but it's not as bad as like Dead Ringers (I still don't know what it does).  But I can't think of a way to make it more concise.  Any ideas?

Removing the color clause could make it a little simpler. I know it might be a little strong then, but maybe it could be sorcery-speed - black tutors have been traditionally sorceries anyway, with the exception of Vampiric, but that was because it went to top of library and not hand.

,{T}, Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a card with converted mana cost no greater than that of the sacrificed creature, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Play this ability only when you could play a sorcery.

Still a bit wordy, but it still works. By the way, this is not to say I don't like the off-color idea (it makes things nicely interesting, and rewards multicolor decks, which I like), but it hurts the simplicity of the ability. As JDizzle said, you have to stop and think for a second about the multiple restrictions.

[MrZuccinniHead]

this is fine.  The search is restricted and is a nice effect at instant speed to do in combat.  Also, it should be any card cuz of the colors, black and blue like to search for any card the most.

[Matt]

As long as this guy stays a 1/1, you can drop the color requirement. 1/1s are very easy to kill, and unlike Welder (the most powerful 1/1 ever) a single activation of this guy won't win you the game, so you don't even have to hurry to answer him.

[Ephraim]

Actually, the colour requirement is one of my favourite parts about this card. It's the aspect that really makes it interesting. It's the aspect of the card that forces one to be creative when using it. Could I instead knock its mana cost down to {B} and keep the colour requirement?

[Jacob Orlove]

The problem isn't so much that the color clause makes the card worse; it's just that it pushes the card over some kind of complexity threshold, and makes it several times harder to figure out.

I do like that it's instant speed, because sac'ing this guy in response to them killing him should be a legal play.

[stolen]

it's just that it pushes the card over some kind of complexity threshold

That's my problem with this as it stands too.

What about this wording?

, , Sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost and that does not share a color with the sacrificed creature.  Reveal it and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.

I think that's a little cleaner because of the order, and it doesn't have four actions in one sentence.  But that's only if you insist that the card must be a different color; I would just remove that clause completely.  If you feel it would then be too powerful, raise the AC to or {B}.

[Ephraim]

I'm thinking about it, yet. I don't think it would make the card too powerful. I just think it would make it less interesting. If it's too complex, though, the "interesting" factor gets lossed in the jumble.

[Ephraim]

The aspect of this card that I'd like to keep is the one that encourages multi-coloured decks. If I can only have one of the two limitations on the card that is searched for, I'd rather have the one that requires the card to be a different colour. Obviously, that becomes a little bit pointless, since it really just encourages the use of artifact creatures. (I'm not afraid of people using Brood Sliver or creatures with Morph, by the way. They're a little bit harder to work around.) It doesn't really make sense for an entrail reader to be studying an artifact creature anyhow.

Proposed change:

, , Sacrifice a nonartifact creature: Search your library for a card that does not share a color with the sacrificed creature, reveal it,  and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

[Jacob Orlove]

That's a lot stronger, though. Maybe raise the activation cost?

[Ephraim]

Would it balance the ability if I were to have it put the card on top of the library? Would that be too weak? At any rate, it's probably a trifle more flavourful, since a haruspex predicts the future.

[Ephraim]

I've made some changes to the card:
sacrifice nonartifact creatures
colour restriction only
the card goes to the top of one's library

24 Hour Clock

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]