Martyr's Rallying Cry

[jeek]

Martyr's Rallying Cry
Instant
As an additional cost to play ~this~, sacrifice a creature.
Creatures you control gain Bushido X, where X was the power of the sacrificed creature.

Martyr's Cry
Instant
As an additional cost to play ~this~, sacrifice a creature.
Choose One - All blocked creatures get +X/+X until the end of turn, where X is the sacrificed creature's power; or All blocking creatures get +X/+X until the end of turn where X is the sacrificed creature's toughness.
For Korlis!

The name sucks, but I think the spell has potential.

[Ephraim]

This card is subtle and interesting, but i don't think that it would be well-received by a lot of players.  I think that people will feel cheated when they play this after blockers have been declared only to find that at that point, Bushido is useless.

That said, this card makes an effective defensive combat trick, similar to Hold the Line.  It also can be used before blockers are declared to make blocking a less attractive option to one's opponent.

Unfortunately, I think that there is a lot of potential for misunderstanding and confusion with this idea, which causes me to question whether it would be a good idea to print this, even if there's nothing wrong with the idea itself.

[Harlequin]

You could make it 'idiot proof' by adding in "you may only play ~ before blockers are declared."

But, I think it would be better to just abandon the keyword all together and just have it be something like:

Sacrifice a creature you control.
All blocking or blocked creatures you control gain +X/+X, where X is the sacraficed creature's power.

---------------------------------
To make it a bit more interesting:

As an additional cost to playing ~ sacrafice a creature.
Choose One - All Blocked creatures get +X/+X where X is the sacraficed creatures power; or All blocking creatures get +X/+X where X is the sacraficed creatures toughness.

[jeek]

I like that idea, updating the original.

[Nydaeli]

Should it be "Until end of turn?"

[BoomFrog]

I think Martyr's Cry would sound better.  Or maybe, Blood for the fallen

Flavor text could be, For Korlis!

In reference to Children of Korlis. http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=110525