Ehmti Armory

[TheWellknownBrownie]

Basically I wanted a balanced tweak on a card like Mishra's Workshop; very swingy, but of limited application. Obviously all Artifacts was too broad a category, but I think I may've stumbled upon a fun but not overpowered (or necessarily even playable) card;



Ehmti Armory
Land
Tap, add 3 to your mana pool. Use this mana only to play Equipment spells and activated abilities of Equipment.
The flames roar without hands to stoke them, and the hammers ring without craft to guide them.



Current Version:

Ehmti Armory
Land
~this~ comes into play tapped.
Tap; add 3 to your mana pool. Use this mana only to play Equipment spells and activated abilities of Equipment.
The flames roar without hands to stoke them, and the hammers ring without craft to guide them.

[Jacob Orlove]

Turn 1 Loxodon Warhammer, turn 2 Raging Goblin, equip, swing.

That seems a little bit too good for T2.

[dandan]

You might be able to get away with this for Enchant Creature or even local Enchantments as those cards are so weak anyway. Tapping for 3 mana to do anything remotely good has been hown to be far too strong.

The suggested card MIGHT be OK if it CIPT. CIPT cards suck and slowing down a creature deck must be considered a major drawback to this cards major advanatge.

[Godder]

Would it be better as an artifact costing 1 or 2, or maybe if it only made 2 mana?

[dandan]

As an artifact, I don't think you could make it cost any less than 2. It still enables strong stuff but is balanced by taking up slots (equipment decks also need creatures) and is only strong with the more expensive equipment anyway. At 1 it starts looking like Thran Turbine but with fewer restrictions.

A wacky alternative is the 'Metalworker' approach - a creature that can help build and use equipment. Because of the specialisation the creature could be small (2cc 1/1) and still provide 2 mana.
For 1cc I think yoú'd need to get very wacky indeed such as giving the 2/3 mana only when equipped.........

[Norm4eva]

Since when was a 3-card 'combo' too good for Type 2?  If there's a deck that can't deal with the awfulness that is a Raging Goblin with a Loxodon Warhammer attached to it, I don't want to see it.
Still, it's a land that taps for 3, and I *guess* it could be filtered through Paradise Mantle (awfullllll)... 2 would be more appropriate.  That's still a first turn Jitte or Empyrial Armor.

[Matt]

I think attaching this to a creature would be fine. As a land it's worrisome  - there are some very strong equipments that thankfully cost a ton - but not obviously broken. Making this legendary would be a good start.

[TheWellknownBrownie]

Second turn Loxodon Warhammer-Raging Goblin seems much worse and only slightly more stable than first turn Raging Goblin, Double Blazing Shoal removing double Myojin of Infinite Rage.

Third turn activate Tatsumasa seems a little more worrisome, though, so maybe making it Legendary is a good idea. I dislike the idea of CIPT because I think any deck that's built with an insanely out of whack mana curve to rely on this card (Raging Goblin-Warhammer, for instance) has already shot itself in the foot enough, and I want it to be marginally playable, at least at the casual level, otherwise.

I'm very intent on keeping it a land. I quite like the flavor of having it as an armory, and I want it's similarity to Workshop to be obvious.

[Norm4eva]

Second turn Warhammer's not very likely or scary.  Second turn Umezawa's Jitte is pretty scary though, doesn't require a wacking of the mana curve at all, and is quite plausible under the current wording.  That's why I suggest it make 2 colorless mana.  I'd sooner see it make 2 than make 3 and be Legendary; simply 'legending' anything that appears broken is a really, really lame and tired fix.

[asmoranomardicodais]

I'd sooner see it make 2 than make 3 and be Legendary; simply 'legending' anything that appears broken is a really, really lame and tired fix.

And we know how well it worked with tolarian 

[TheWellknownBrownie]

 


I'm not really happy with the two mana idea. Maybe the solution is just to allow the mana to be spent playing the Equipment spells, not abilities. Alternately, I have to wonder if the original version was really that good anyway. Is turn 2 Jitte on a Suntail Hawk really that busted?

[Anusien]

I don't see a need for this to be Legendary, just because no one will ever want to play more than one, and I can't see it being used to Waste opponents the way Boseiju does.  Maybe add a life cost, like 1 life or 2 each time it's used, not that that will do much.

Nitpick, tapping is a cost and adding mana is the effect.  Template it thusly:
Tap:[/B] add 3 to your mana pool. Use this mana only to play Equipment spells and activated abilities of Equipment.

Emphasized the colon so you can see the change.

[Jacob Orlove]

I used warhammer as an example because it's in 9th. Worrying about whether a card is good with jitte is a little silly.

This would be unplayable if it only paid for the casting costs of equipment. Making it legendary is also pretty unnecessary, because it's just the first one we're worried about. I think CIP tapped is a great fix if you want to keep it at three mana.

[TheWellknownBrownie]

After goldfishing with an Online Extended White Weenie deck, I have to reluctantly admit that the original version just really doesn't interfere with the mana curve of a decent aggro deck that much, particularly in the case of Jitte. Adding the CIPT clause as it's the least destructive to the flavor of the card, in my opinion.

[TheWellknownBrownie]

Any objections to 24-h clocking this sucka?

[Matt]

Looks fine to me, but one last thing to check: did we make any equipment this would break?