Sable Prophet

[Ephraim]

Sable Prophet
{B}
Creature -- Horror Cleric
1/1

, Sacrifice ~this~: Each player loses one life, then discards a card from his or her hand, then sacrifices a creature, then sacrifices a land.

It knew its predictions of doom were accurate because it intended to bring them about, itself.

I like the Pox/Death Cloud thing, but I don't think that the number needs to be variable every time it appears. It's also interesting to attach an ability like that to a creature. In this case, I think the creature is fairly costed because if cast on the third turn, it would be able to do fourth turn exactly what a fourth turn Death Cloud would do. The fact that it allows something else to be cast on the fourth turn is tempered by the fact that it never gets any better.

[Ephraim]

Current Wording:

Sable Prophet
{B}
Creature -- Spirit Minion
1/1

, Sacrifice ~this~: Each player loses one life, then discards a card from his or her hand, then sacrifices a creature, then sacrifices a land.

She knows her predictions of doom will come true because she intends to fulfill them herself.

[johnstown713]

This is one of the best cards I have seen in a while.  It seems so balanced and looks like it doesn't need more tweaking.  Could the creature become a 1/2.  It seems like a perfect power/toughness for Clerics.  The card seems solid and playable.  I too was sad due to the fact that death cloud was hard to play with.

Jhnstown713

[Jacob Orlove]

The flavor text is meh, but the card is excellent. It might be slightly more fair if it was B, Tap: do stuff; just to slow down random haste tricks (like doomed necromancer). Unless that was part of the design.

[Ephraim]

I'd rather not make it a 1/2 creature, though. Although Disciple of Malice sets a precedent for a 1/2 black cleric, I don't typically like it when black creatures have higher toughness than power. Having low toughness is an aspect of red that I think ought to bleed into black more frequently.

It wasn't strictly part of the design, but if a deck has been built to take advantage of haste tricks, I think that it's fair to have cards around that make haste tricks worthwhile. I hadn't thought of that when I created the card, but now that you've mentioned it, I like leaving it as-is.

As far as the flavour text goes, do you think it doesn't flow properly, that it's just not a very exciting idea to convey, or are you just spoiled because of all of my poetic flavour texts? If it's the first, I can try to work on the diction. If it's the second, I'll just come up with something else. But if it's the last one, tough nuggets.

[johnstown713]

I can see where you are coming from with the toughness, and I guess it makes sense.  It just seemed as though you want the card to stay around long enough to use the ability.  If it had 2 toughness it would be protected from most pingers.

As far as the flavor text goes I though it was pretty solid.  It was very convincing for something that a suicidal cleric would say.  I think it should stay as is.

Johnstown713

[Jacob Orlove]

It's mostly the diction--you use the word it four times, and the comma is awkward.

[outta_names]

I don't like this card.
I find it to be too much of a 'spell on a stick', without having the 'stick' aspect (I mean 'stick' as creature, not stick as 'Isochron Scepter'.)

Looking at [card]Eternal Witness[/card], it has 2 power. Could this have 2 power?
Basically, I'm looking to give this card a reason why it _had_ to be a creature, rather than an enchantment similar to the Seals, or simply a sorcery.

Or, alternatively, am I overlooking the permanent type as a drawback?
I.e.: Summoning sickness and succeptability to the majority of removal?

-outta

[johnstown713]

@Outta Names---

The fact that this card is a spell on a stick makes it a cool card.  It turns cards such as Death Cloud and Pox into playable cards.  It almost has to be a creature to be a good playable card.  This card also has potential in all formats while those others do not.

It is hard to compare this card to one such as Eternal Witness.  They are very different and their abilities suit their color.  Green is full of creatures wth big power so it makes sense to have it be a 2/1.  While black also has creatues of big power, a lot of its creatures are small utility ones.  In this case it is one that is like a very mini Balance.

If this card was and enchantment or sorcery it would be boring.  You would have to go into things such as upkeep effects and everything.  Black doesn't have to many enchantments so it wouldn't seem to fit.  While it could be a sorcery it makes sense to be a creature.  As stated it would be cool to do haste tricks but it is also a blocker if need be.  its effect is also instant speed.  Making the card a creature gives it so many more advantages over being a sorcery or enchantment.

Johnstown713

[Matt]

If you changed 'horror' to 'minion' you could change 'it' for 'him' (or better yet, 'her'!) and that would fix up the flavor text.

[Jacob Orlove]

If you changed 'horror' to 'minion' you could change 'it' for 'him' (or better yet, 'her'!) and that would fix up the flavor text.

Yeah, that would be much, much better.

[Ephraim]

I'm still thinking of the right way to go about doing that. From my point of view, Minion and Cleric are both professions, while Horror is a species. I'd rather not go with a generic 'Human' if I can avoid it, although Minion would probably be at least as appropriate as Cleric for this. I suppose for the time being, this will be a Human Minion until I can come up with something better.

Flavour Text:
She knows her predictions of doom will come true because she intends to fulfill them herself.

[Jacob Orlove]

I don't think everything has to follow the whole race/class split that wizards loves so much--if it adds to the card, great. If not, don't bother.

This could also be like a Spirit or something.

[Matt]

'Spirit Minion' has a nice ring to it, though 'Cleric Minion' makes a lot of sense, too.

[Ephraim]

Spirit Minion sounds like a winner. Also, I obey the race/class convention because I think that consistent use of it adds immensely to the flavour of the game.

[Ephraim]

24 Hour Clock

[Laurie Cheers]

When she foretells doom, doom comes. Even if she has to do it herself.

[Ephraim]

Sorry, Laurie, but I don't think that flavour text scans very well. The sentence break in the middle of the text splits it uncomfortably. Furthermore, the second sentence is not grammatically correct, nor does it follow from the first sentence. For starters, it's a sentence fragment. Second, it imples that the prophet "does" doom coming. That sounds kind of cool from a jargon point of view, but read the following sentence without any added emphasis and tell me if it sounds right: Sable Prophet does doom coming.

[Jacob Orlove]

How about "She will predict your doom, then visit it upon you" or something similar?

[Ephraim]

I wanted something that conveys a more global sense of doom, considering the card's ability. That flavour text would fit better if the effect were directed.

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]