Canine Skirmisher

[Ephraim]

Canine Skirmisher
{G}{W}
Creature -- Hound
3/2

First strike
All creatures able to block Canine Skirmisher do so.
Discard a card: Target creature can't block Canine Skirmisher this turn.

***

A while ago, I created a card called Magnetic Magician, that had a flagbearer-like ability and a second ability that let you discard a card to make it untargetable. I envisioned this card as a combative analog to that one. As a 3/2 first striker, it's already formidable with that Lure ability. Letting it selectively exclude creatures from blocking it means that you can force that big beater to stay out of combat while this picks off weenies. I know the evasion ability isn't exactly appropriate for green or white, but the cost is somewhat prohibitive, so I'm not worried about splashing a red ability into a partly-green card.

***

Current Wording:

Canine Skirmisher
{G}{W}
Creature — Hound
3/2

First strike
All creatures able to block Canine Skirmisher do so.
Whenever Canine Skirmisher attacks, tap target creature defending player controls.

[dandan]

I like the card and agree that the CC solves a lot of the problems. Since the evasion ability is mainly there to help the Lure ability rather than as a 'true evasion' ability, why not change it to a classic Green ability, Fog, which would give a similar effect in combat (slightly better) but without granting evasion (so slightly worse)

Canine Skirmisher
3WG
Creature -- Hound
3/2

First strike
All creatures able to block Canine Skirmisher do so.
Discard a card: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to or by target creature this turn. Only use this ability when ~this~ is attacking.

[Ephraim]

I actually think that's considerably better, since it negates an opponent's use of combat tricks when facing this creature. If an opponent plays Giant Growth on one of his blockers, I want this creature to die. Furthermore, damage prevention always seems a little bit mystical to me, while evasion abilities like this seem like they could have more mundane explanations (The flavour I was aiming for was that this hound ranges up and down an enemy's lines, selectively harassing entire squadrons at once.) Since this is meant to be a relatively non-magical creature, I'd like to stick to abilities that have a more mundane flavour to them. One other option I could use though is, "Whenever Canine Skirmisher attacks, tap target creature defending player controls." That removes the cost of activating the ability and prevents the creature from blocking any of your creatures, which are both benefits. On the other hand, it means that this can only avoid one creature at a time, which is reasonable, both mechanically and from a flavour standpoint.

[dandan]

I was trying to avoid this having evasion as that goes against the combat ability. Note that you need a reasonable ability to make this better than the mighty Noble Panther, especially as the CC is significantly higher. This would only avoid GG by discarding a card and they are fairly unlikely to GG if they can read.

[Ephraim]

You don't understand. I don't want it to be able to avoid Giant Growth at all. I don't want it to dodge it if an opponent plays it. I don't want it to encourage an opponent not to play it. If an opponent is holding Giant Growth while blocking this, I want the creature to die. I don't want to have an out. That's not what I'm aiming for with this creature.

That said, I'm willing to back off on the full evasion ability, as I said. I'd happily go with a lighter evasion ability. I also think that this is just fine compared to Noble Panther, since it doesn't require you to hold back any mana to give it first strike and it actively helps you to sweep the board. Now that I think about it though, the idea of tapping a creature when it attacks is kind of ludicrous. Sure, that keeps that creature from engaging in combat with the hound, but my previously suggested idea that it "prevents the creature from blocking any of your creatures" is nonsense. The hound does that anyhow with the lure ability. With that in mind, it wouldn't be bad to give this the tap-a-creature ability, but reduce this critter's cost to {W}{G}. I could even see {W/G}{W}{G}.

[dandan]

It would be nice if there is an easy way to allow this to tap a creature when it attacks as long as that leaves at least one blocker (if this is blocked by more than one creature, tap target blocking creature and remove it from combat). Otherwise this goes through unblocked or can lure away that big blocker to let the rest of your team through, making that GG as useful as a chocolate teapot.
4cc I can see but creatures with built in Lure have traditionally been quite expensive and a 3cc creature with 3 power, First Srike, Lure and a tapping ability is pushing it too far IMHO.

[Ephraim]

I think I'll just leave it at {G}{W}, then. After I posted that, I began thinking the same thing. Since I want this to be considered more as an uncommon than as a rare, I will err on the side of overcosting.

[Ephraim]

24 Hour Clock

[Bram]

Closed and added.