Recluse Spider

[Ephraim]

Recluse Spider

1/1

Whenever Recluse Spider deals damage to a creature, that creature gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on this creature."

***

If you think that this is too cheap, keep in mind that it's pretty much worse than Lowland Basilisk.

Initially, the bite may feel like a pinprick or go unnoticed...A small white blister usually initially rises at the bite site surrounded by a swollen area. The affected area enlarges and becomes red, and the tissue is hard to the touch for some time. The lesion from a brown recluse spider bite is a dry, blue-gray or blue-white, irregular sinking patch with ragged edges and surrounding redness...The bite of the brown recluse spider can result in a painful, deep wound that takes a long time to heal...When there is a severe reaction to the bite, the site can erupt into a "volcano lesion" (a hole in the flesh due to damaged, gangrenous tissue). The open wound may range from the size of an adult's thumbnail to the span of a hand. The dead tissue gradually sloughs away, exposing underlying tissues. The sunken, ulcerating sore may heal slowly up to 6 to 8 weeks. Full recovery may take several months and scarring may remain.

[Ephraim]

Current Wording:

Recluse Spider
{1}{B}
1/1

Whenever Recluse Spider deals damage to a creature, that creature gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on this creature."

[brendan]

There are plenty of good reasons for this to be black, but I think it should be green. Spiders are generally green, and poisoning things is definately green.

[Shock Wave]

There are plenty of good reasons for this to be black, but I think it should be green. Spiders are generally green, and poisoning things is definately green.

I don't think spiders should be exclusively green. They're black in nature too. Oh, and poisoning things is definitely black too.  

[Guardian]

Great idea. Since it's 1/1, it should die in the process, and reusing it may be difficult. but it has left its mark. This is not better than Terror. It can kill black and artifact creatures, but not right away. A 5/5 will still get some damage through.

And Brendan, poison is a black ability too.

[brendan]

And direct damage is blue.

Spiders poisoning things is a natural defence. That pit scorpion seems like a green card to me too. Black poisoning is more of the medusae or zombie paralyzing gaze or touch, such as from Grotesque Hybrid.[/code][/url]

[Upinthe]

The only major problem I have with a card like this is that its so easy to forget which creatures have the ability and which don't and how many instances each creature has. It would be really easy to mess up, especially when removing from the game until end of turn, phasing, flip creatures, multiple morphs,  etc... become involved. Instead of giving out the ability, how about:

"At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on each creature that ~this~ has previously damaged."

[Laurie Cheers]

WotC don't use -1/-1 counters any more, also due to memory issues.

Venomweb Spider
2BB
Creature - Spider
0/4
Whenever Venomweb Spider blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, put a venom counter on that creature.
Each creature gets -1/-1 for each venom counter on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a venom counter on each creature that has a venom counter on it.

[Ephraim]

The problem with that wording, Laurie is exactly the one I wanted to avoid. As with a real recluse spider, I wanted this to continue doing harm even after it died. Not that there is anything inappropriate or badly designed about your idea -- it feels a lot like the old Basilisk -- but it doesn't keep working after the spider dies, even though that's less likely to happen.

[Ephraim]

I'd like to close this thread. The idea is rife with flavour, but it's difficult to execute and isn't worth it, given that it's more or less inferiour to Lowland Basilisk, which doesn't see play, anyhow.