aether vampire

[Liam-K]

another flavor-heavy creation from me.  I think this one is self-explanitory enough to stand on it's own.  I'm not sure what colour he belongs in though; I think his CMC should be 3-4 with 1 coloured mana.

Aether Vampire
creature-- spirit
2/3

Aether vampire does not untap during your untap step unless it has a Prana counter.  At the beginning of your upkeep, remove all Prana counters from Aether Vampire.
When Aether Vampire deals combat damage to a player, you may tap target land that player controls.  If you do, put a Prana counter on Aether Vampire.
: Put a Prana counter on Aether Vampire.




Current Wording

Aether Vampire
creature-- spirit
2/3

Aether vampire does not untap during your untap step unless it has a Prana counter.  At the beginning of your upkeep, remove all Prana counters from Aether Vampire.
When Aether Vampire deals combat damage to a player, you may tap target land that player controls.  If you do, put a Prana counter on Aether Vampire.
: Put a Prana counter on Aether Vampire.

[Jacob Orlove]

A. That mechanic is overly complex and not very interesting.
B. Why is this a vampire?

[Mindstab_Thrull]

I think what Liam is trying for is a Mana Leech-type card - and 'leech' and 'vampire' go hand in hand conceptually.

Liam: If you're going to use counters, you should use them to do more than just 'do I untap this turn?' For example, what use is there for having 2+ Prana counters on the Aether Vampire? Perhaps something like:

~ doesn't untap during its controller's untap step unless it has a Prana counter on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a Prana counter from ~.
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, you may tap target land defending player controls for each Prana counter on ~.
BB1, Sacrifice a land: Put a Prana counter on ~.

(Yes, I reduced it from 'all' to 'a' counter removed, but I then increased the cost to add counters and made the effect more powerful and useful.) And why doesn't he fly?

[LordHomerCat]

I don't really understand the card (or flavor) at all.  So, you attack, and then if you hit, you get to tap one of his lands?  Hooray.  And if you don't attack or get blocked, you have to spend one mana some time before your next turn, or else he's locked?  This seems like it should be from like Mirage or something, as its overly complicated, yet doesn't actually do anything but make you wonder why you would play it.

[Liam-K]

The idea is that the creature is a spirit that needs a constant influx of mana to sustain it (like a vampire needs blood).  It can get it from your opponent, but if that option isn't open you can still feed it yourself.

I thought this would also be an interesting drawback because it could occasionally work to your advantage, and isn't that hard to deal with when it isn't.  Should be be costed more aggressively to reflect this?  I suppose it depends which colour he belongs in.

[asmoranomardicodais]

The problem is that this just doesn't affect the game very much. For all purposes, this has an upkeep of one mana. It would be much more interesting (though probably have to cost a lot more), if it did the following:

Aether Vampire
creature- Vampire
2/3

Flying (all vampires must have flying)

Aether Vampire does not untap during your untap phase.
During your upkeep, you may tap all lands your control. if you do, untap Aether Vampire.
If Aether Vampire is attacking and unblocked, you may have it deal no combat damage. If you do, tap all lands target opponent controls, and untap Aether Vampire. Lands tapped in this way do not untap during their controller's next untap phase.


But the problem with that is that it creates a hard lock if they have no fliers. Hmm...it could not have the lands don't untap clause, but then it would be back to being uninteresting. I don't know, but I think this is probably much closer to what you were trying to do.