Minuteman

[Ephraim]

Minuteman

Creature — Townsfolk Soldier
1/1

Whenever Minuteman blocks, it gets +1/+2 until end of turn.

***

I just want this to be a simple, white creature with defensive tendencies. Creatures that get bonuses when they block (and only when they block) appear infrequently. Furthermore, as far as my brief search revealed, they don't often occur in low-cost slots. That's a shame because the ability is kind of lackluster. It's easy to find something for 3 mana that's better than Giant Badger or for 4 mana that's better than Sustainer of the Realm. For 1 mana though, a 1/1 creature with an adequate ability may find itself filling out slots in limited decks.

Townsfolk is one of the few creature types for which I feel comfortable having a creature share two "class" types. It's a great creature type for flavour and when paired with another class, it really conveys a unique idea. A townsfolk-soldier is a militiaman. A townsfolk-wizard is a hedge wizard. A townsfolk-cleric is a parish priest.

***

Current Wording:

Minuteman

Creature -- Townsfolk Soldier
1/1

Whenever Minuteman blocks, it gets +1/+2 until end of turn.

[dandan]

I think it should be +0/+2. That makes it slightly better than Brass Man and the defensive foil of Folk of An-Havva/Joven's Ferrets. Seeing as White already has a 1/2 for W, losing the extra point of toughness when not blocking sees a reasonable trade off for an extra point when blocking.

To up the power level a touch, it could get the toughness bonus when untapped, like Giant Tortoise although does lose a little of the flavour. Making it a 1/1 which gets 0/+1 when untapped and 0/+1 when blocking seems a bit fussy.

[Marco]

I thought I'd do a search too, this is all I've come up with so far:

Royal Trooper
Shu Defender
Sustainer of the Realm
Town Sentry
Zhao Zilong, Tiger General

[Matt]

There's also

[card]Jareth, Leonine Titan[/card]
[card]Giant Badger[/card]
[card]Folk of An-Havva[/card]
[card]Root Spider[/card]

and possibly
[card]Elite Javelineer[/card]
[card]Elder Land Wurm[/card]
and [card]Ageless Sentinels.[/card]

[dandan]

Out of all of those only Jareth doesn't suck (OK Folk of Ann-Havva isn't terrible but Green usually has better 1 drops).
I think a 2/3 blocker for W is too good, especially as White wouldn't get a 2/3 Wall (or whatever they call them these days) for W, let alone a 2/3 Giant Tortoise. However a 1/3 blocker is perfectly acceptable.

[Ephraim]

Dandan, my reasoning was this: If blue can get a 2/3 defender with an additional (weak) ability for ([card]Minamo Scrollkeeper[/card]) then white could get a weenie for that's a 1/1 when attacking and a 2/3 when defending.

[dandan]

There is a huge difference between 1 and 2cc and even at 2 mana I'd rather have a 2/3 / 1/1 than a 2/3 wall. For 2 mana you could have a 2/4 for all I care but White hardly needs another 2 drop. For 1 mana I think 2/3 is too much even for a Wall let alone something that can attack.

I understand that it won't break anything at 2/3 but IMHO a 1/3 is at the powerful enough (I'd also go for 2/2 but I think 1/3 makes more sense)

[Ephraim]

Supposing that power is nominally better than toughness (not always the case when discussing Defenders), then [card]Torpid Moloch[/card] demonstrates that a 3/2 wall for is just fine. I'd say "It can also attack," but that is barely true. Even at that, I think creating something marginally better in the colour that is supposed to be good at defense (and which is supposed to be good at parallel offense/defense, hence Vigilance) is absolutely fine.

[dandan]

Although power is generally better than toughness, if your deck packs Walls then you are generally looking for defence and so I'd say toughness is more desirable for a Wall than power is. Having said that I'd have made Torpid Moloch a 3/1 

I'm not sure why you think this can barely attack. It can attack as well or better than 99% of 1 drops. Looking at the closest (playable) relative this has, I've won plenty of games with defensive U decks pecking away with mighty Giant Tortoises (not recently).

I guess if Wizards have blessed Red with a 3/2 Wall for R (albeit one that really sucks when it attacks), then White could get a 2/3 Wall for W. Somehow it still feels wrong. I could even go for a 1/3 First Strike when I think of a cluster of townsfolk wielding polearms. Alternatively you could go down the Torpid Moloch route and make attacking really suck by making it 0/1 (and getting +2/+2 when blocking).

[Ephraim]

What I meant was that Torpid Moloch can barely attack. In any case, I'm not opposed to this being a 0/1 creature that gets +2/+2 when blocking. That makes it effectively a wall, except when you equip/enchant it, which is just fine with me. I'd like other opinions on that idea, though.

[Nazdakka]

What I meant was that Torpid Moloch can barely attack. In any case, I'm not opposed to this being a 0/1 creature that gets +2/+2 when blocking. That makes it effectively a wall, except when you equip/enchant it, which is just fine with me. I'd like other opinions on that idea, though.

To be honest, I think this would be fine as a 1/1 which got +2/+2 when blocking. Let's not forget that for one mana White can get a 1/1 Bushido 1 creature, a one mana Legendary 2/2 or a one mana 2/1. Given white is supposed to get good small creatures, good combat abilities, AND good defensive abilities, I don't see anything wrong with making this guy a top-notch blocker. Why not see just how good we can make blocking as a plan?

[Ephraim]

So far, it seems that Dandan thinks that this is a trifle overpowered and Nazdakka thinks it could be even better. Therefore, the average opinion is that this is right just as it is.

[Buttons]

I really like the card.  Make it a common and print it.  End of story.  It'll get accepted as is.

[dandan]

My objections are not that strong, making a strong defender won't break any formats (although making it common would probably limit tempo-aggro in Limited). I was just thinking if it might be more interesting to make it

Whenever Minuteman blocks, it gets a +1/+1 counter

That is quite possibly stronger although less likely to survive that first combat.

[Anusien]

I'm fine with this as is.  Bad 1/1s are tech.

[Jacob Orlove]

My objections are not that strong, making a strong defender won't break any formats (although making it common would probably limit tempo-aggro in Limited). I was just thinking if it might be more interesting to make it

Whenever Minuteman blocks, it gets a +1/+1 counter

That is quite possibly stronger although less likely to survive that first combat.

I like that idea a lot.

[Ephraim]

That makes it feel too much like Spincrusher to me. Not that the ideas are the same in flavour, but I don't want this to end up being mechanically similar either.

[Ephraim]

24 Hour Clock

[Ephraim]

Closed and added.