Silt Elemental

[Matt]

Silt Elemental
2R
Creature -- Elemental
*/2
Islands don't untap during their controller's untap step.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, for each island that player controls, that player may pay 1 to untap that island.
Silt Elemental's power is equal to the number of tapped islands in play.

I'd had this name for a creature floating around for awhile but not until the other night when I was talking with Jacob did I have a suitable ability.

This card is A fair hoser because it gives the opponent an out: play with non-island mana sources. This could mean simply playing with other basics, playing with blue nonbasics like Underground River, or playing with artifact mana. Also, for the intrepid souls among us, you could splash this in a U/r deck as a fast kill against other blue decks.

[Matt]

Current wording:

Silt Elemental
2R
Creature -- Elemental
*/2
Islands don't untap during their controller's untap step.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, for each island that player controls, that player may pay 1 to untap that island.
Silt Elemental's power is equal to the number of tapped islands in play.

[firebird365]

I feel like this is more of a green card than a red card. I can imagine an elemental in a small lake just covering up everything, but Red elementals I see more of as lightning/fire. Do you think you could change it from to {G}?

[Matt]

It's silt. Was Wall of Stone not red? Was Earth Elemental not red enough?

silt    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (slt)
n.

    A sedimentary material consisting of very fine particles intermediate in size between sand and clay.

Sand & clay -> rock, stone, earth -> red

[Jacob Orlove]

You may be thinking of [card]Silt Crawler[/card], which is green because it's a natural-type creature (a la crocodiles, hippos, etc.) that lives in silty water.

This makes sense as red.

[Alfred]

This is WAY too good as a hoser. Blue has limited options to get rid of creatures as it is right now, and the pay 1 to untap islands would make it very hard to break out of the lock, coupled with the fact that this would be a fast clock make this card too good.

[Ephraim]

I agree that this is probably too good as a hoser. Choke is a fair hoser - the casting cost is equivalent, it has fewer abilities, and it is slightly more durable (being an enchantment, rather than a creature.)

The thing that makes this card most interesting in comparison to Choke is the offered "way out" of paying to untap an island. It weakens this card, but it's difficult for me to gauge how much.

I suppose this is mostly okay. I'd feel more comfortable if it had a casting cost of or {R}.

[dandan]

This is very very strong in multiplayer although annoying a bunch of Blue players might not be wise. The Power would almost certainly be way too high in multiplayer. Could it be 'islands controlled by you and target opponent'?

[Matt]

This is WAY less powerful than Choke, especially since you give them the option of growing it or not. It doesn't have trample, it doesn't have evasion - it's basically a Deadly Insect that is useless against nonblue.

Also, even in multiplayer, it's still only got two toughness - practically anything can trade with it, and any random Pyroclasm or something kills it too. The nice thing about multiplayer is that even if you make a very strong card, if it's bad enough people just turn on you. It has an inherent balance, much like drafting - if a color is weak, it will be underdrafted, and you can go crazy by being the only person drafting that color.

[Alfred]

What about using this as a finisher in a blue based deck? Use removal to keep your opponent's creatures low, then tap out to play this? If you're opponent is playing blue too, this would be retardedly huge. Though you have addressed this, would it be too good?

[Jacob Orlove]

If you're willing to tap down your own lands for a 6/2 type creature, Hungry Mists would have been good.

[Matt]

Twenty-four hour clock.

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]