Lava Golem

[Machinus]

I propose:

Lava Golem
4
Artifact Creature - Golem
Modular -- 2
1R: Put a +1/+1 counter on Lava Golem.
Whenever Lava Golem has more than 4 +1/+1 counters, sacrifice it. Lava Golem deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
0/2

This has nice synergy with modular, caps the damage at 4, and keeps the monster from getting too big. It is still reasonably costed as a 2/4 for 4, with two very good abilities. My suggestion also includes giving up on the toughness-decreasing aspect of the card, which is very cool but adds a lot of confusion to a simple design. Maybe change the name ?

[Matt]

Modular really doesn't work here, since the idea behind that was so closely tied to the arcbound creatures picking up the broken pieces of their comrade and attaching it to themselves (the name 'arcbound' refers to the beams of energy which bind those pieces together). Lava Golem really doesn't fit in there at all.

[Nibble]

The heat up/cool down red/blue idea is kinda cool, but starts making this way too complicated. The red activation and damage on death is great, and it's enough to make it a fun and interesting (and fairly strong) card without going overboard. The only thing I don't like is the +1/+1 counters and -0/-2 functionality, as I'd still prefer magma counters that give +1/-1, since they're much easier to understand. We know that the +1/+1 + -0/-2 is meant to simulate +1/-1, but how obvious will that be to someone who just picks up the card for the first time?

In reality, though, there's no clear way to say which wording is truly better, so if -0/-2 it is, then -0/-2 it shall be. Also, having it come into play with counters is a great idea that makes it much better off-color. I really like this card.

[Ephraim]

I think I'm just going to go back to this having +1/-1 counters and not even bother with giving them a name. Although there is a slight case for there being ambiguity when there are two different kinds of p/t modifying counters on a card, there's not much less ambiguity in having two different kinds of counters on a card whether they modify p/t or not. And yet, Wizards printed the Baku and the cycle of Betrayers cycle of flipping creatures that use Ki counters. If one of those creatures got a +1/+1 counter, it would be confusing, too. In practice, I think that as long as a card keeps its counters to itself, they can do anything. The real problem is with cards such as Serrated Arrows that throw -1/-1 counters around.

[Ephraim]

24 Hour Clock

[Bram]

Closed and added.