Shivan Ecologist

[Pizzatog]

Heres another one... sorry for the Shiv reference, if you have somthing better feel free to do it.  (obviously the name and flavour are completely provisional)

Its something to vamp the Dwarf tribe a bit as much in flavour as possible:
Most lords have similar casting costs, so Id like to keep the casting cost as is




Shivan Ecologist
1RR
Creature - Dwarf Lord
Tap three dwarves: Destroy Target Land
"There are many different reasons to study nature."
1/3


Current Wording:

Dwarven Ecologist
{R}{R}
Creature - Dwarf Lord
, tap two dwarves: Destroy target land.
"There are many reasons to study nature."
0/3

[Jujulautre]

Shivan Ecologist
1RR
Creature - Dwarf Lord
Tap three dwarves: Destroy Target Land
"There are many different reasons to study nature."
1/3

This is waaayyyyyy too broken in a dwarven deck (I have one )
I think "destroy target non-basic land" would be fair

[Pizzatog]

Sorry man, but the whole point of this is to make a dwarven deck good.

[Ephraim]

You could, instead, pattern it after the six Lords from Onslaught ([card]Ancestor's Prophet[/card], [card]Catapult Master[/card], [card]Gravespawn Sovereign[/card], [card]Skirk Fire Marshal[/card], [card]Supreme Inquisitor[/card], and [card]Voice of the Woods[/card].)

Subterranean Ecologist
{3}{R}{R}
Creature -- Dwarf Lord
3/3

Tap five untapped Dwarves you control: Destroy target land.

***

I agree that your idea really is a little bit too strong. My suggestion may be a little bit weak, when compared to the rest of that cycle, but I would not describe it as bad. Yes, it takes a long time to ramp up to this effect, but having repeatable land destruction is extraordinarily good. It isn't as good as, say, Skirk Fire Marshal, but it's probably at least as good as Catapult Master and better than Ancestor's Prophet.

[Pizzatog]

Why make ANOTHER bad dwarf? Im sorry, but at 5 mana and 5 dwarves, this would see absolutely NO play.

I tried to model it after the lords in the core set, but now that I think about it, that doesnt work since it would have to pump them and give them some sort of landwalk. So... this guy is an independent.

I agree that this guy is very strong, so give me suggestions that will make him more balanced, but will not totally wreck the playability of this card.

This is the DWARF LORD we're talking about!, he cant be a wimp, because dwarves rock

[Matt]

Name doesn't work. Shiv didn't have any dwarves.

[Nefarias]

I think his original version is okay. I mean, this guy being good is based on the fact that you have to play with a bunch of shitty Dwarves. I personally compare this more to Patron Wizard, which can be a hard lock, but takes a good hand and a bunch of Wizards to pull off. There are a lot more quality Wizards than there are Dwarves. I also compare this to Seismic Mage, which is in no way too powerful. This guy has the potential to be much stronger, but at the cost of severely dilluting your deck.

So, if you want to be on the safe side, I'd cost it at RRR and have a P/T of 1/2. You could also change how it destroys lands, but without making it too weak.

[Ephraim]

Interesting comparison, Walking Sponge. In that case, perhaps this could be a [card]Dwarven Driller[/card] variant.

Subterranean Ecologist
{R}{R}{R}
Creature -- Dwarf Lord
2/2

Tap an untapped Dwarf you control: Destroy target land unless its controller has Subterranean Ecologist deal 2 damage to him or her.

***

Just as Patron Wizard turns all of your wizards into Disruptive Students, this card could turn all of your dwarves into Dwarven Drillers. In my esteem, this would make this card really good -- probably better than Pizzatog's original suggestion, but comparable to existing cards in form. If this is too powerful, the effect could be changed to deal only 1 damage or it could cost {1}{R}{R}{R} instead.

[Pizzatog]

I made the casting cost RRR and removed a point of power.

I want to keep the mechanic more or less like this because:

1) As sponge said, there are no good dwarves to support this.
2) I dont think that it is in flavour for dwarves to actually give an opponent a choice if his land gets destroyed or not.

This might get a little crazy with dwarf tokens out, so Im editing as more of a Tradewind rider feel. What do you think?

By the way, I think it is more in flavour to give him 0 power, because this guy is more or less like a dwarf scientist.... so I imagine in the art some fat dwarf stuck in a study somewhere.

[Jacob Orlove]

Now that he taps, this is fine.

[parallelflux]

This card won't see play in a dwarf deck since its not strong enough to make dwarves viable. I would suggest tapping only two dwarves and make some other alternate cost like:

RR, tap 2 dwarves: destroy target land.

Or

Bounce dwarf lord, tap 2 dwarves: destroy target land.

The way it is now, this thing is pathetically weak and miserable.

[Ephraim]

Just a note to Matt (or to Pizzatog) -- before this gets added, make sure that it's templated, "{T}, Tap two untapped Dwarves you control: Destroy target land."

I also like it the way it is now, by the way. Any new card that reflects older mechancs is probably well-balanced. This looks like a Dwarf version of [card]Keeper of the Nine Gales[/card], which works just as well as making this like a [card]Patron Wizard[/card] or a [card]Catapult Master[/card].

[Pizzatog]

24 hour clock

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]