[New Mechanic] Honour

[netherspirit]

Hey guys, my new set (I gave up on the old one, the mechanics and story sucked!) is based on three guild like organisations. One of these is a very loosely built one ruled by elves and human kinghts. The knights, as typical knights, are full of honour, so I've come up with a mechanic to reflect that, I'm worried it may be a little too good though.

Here's the current wording:

Honour (This creature gets +X/+X for each other Knight in play.)

Obviously X is a variable number. I'm worried that Knight decks would be too strong because of this, and as they are important in the storyline there are quite a lot of them. Ive been considering rewording it to:

Honour (This creature gets +X/+X for each other Knight in play with Honour.)

So, does anyone have any ideas on this? Does it seem OK power wise? At the moment the highest "X" value I'm using is 3, but that could change if the wording for Honour changes.

Here's the only 3 creatures with it so far, but hopefully you'll like them!!


Orian, Lord of Uey
 
Legendary Creature - Human Knight (Rare)
First Strike
Honour 3 (This creature gets +3/+3 for each other Knight in play.)
 : All other Knights get +1/+1 until end of turn.
4/4

Griffin Mount Elite
 
Creature - Human Knight (Rare)
Flying, Vigilance,
Honour 2 (This creature gets +2/+2 for each other Knight in play.)
2/2

Sorrowed Swordsman
 
Creature - Human Knight (Uncommon)
Honour 1 (This creature gets +1/+1 for each other Knight in play.)
2/2

Any opinions and help would be much appreciated!! Thanks guys!

[parallax]

This mechanic is incredibly strong, not very flavorful, and ridiculously linear. It's one of those "the design team built our deck for us" mechanics like affinity. How is getting stronger in the company of other knights honorable?

[netherspirit]

It's meant to be like a team spirit type thing I guess. Flavor aside, should I make it so that it's for every other knight in play with honour?

[parallax]

If you want to make it honour creatures only, then drop the dependence on creature type.

(This creature gets +X/+X for each other creature with honour in play.)

I think creatures with built-in Coat of Arms are very overpowered.

[Matt]

How is "ganging up on the opponent" honorable? I don't think this is a good fit.

[The Atog Lord]

How is "ganging up on the opponent" honorable? I don't think this is a good fit.

Agreed. This is more a Plague Rat mechanic than a Knight mechanic.

[Norm4eva]

Matt's got a point.  If it was a real issue of Hono(u)r, wouldn't it be more like this?

Honor X (If an opponent controls the same number of creatures or more than you, this gets......)

Besides, doesn't our Pack mechanic cover this?

[netherspirit]

How is "ganging up on the opponent" honorable? I don't think this is a good fit.

Hmm, you've got a point, but think of it this way - an army of soldiers go into battle against an army of say zombies, the soldiers wouldn't gang up on one enemy would they? If they did they'd get slaughtered by the rest... 

[The Atog Lord]

I think the point is this. We think of Rats making each other stronger by spreading disease. We think of Slivers making each other stronger by having a hive mind. But heroic warriors often have the image of standing alone against hordes of faceless, nameless monstrosities. Legolos, Hercules, and Achilles all conjure images of one against waves of countless many. That embodies heroism.

[netherspirit]

Hmm, I suppose.... I'll rename this, and then reuse this mechanic in the next set of the block. Any ideas on a suitable name?