Alpha Wolf

[Ephraim]

Alpha Wolf
{W}{W}
Creature -- Wolf
2/2

First Strike
Pack 2 -- Wolves you control get +1/+1.

***

What creature is more associated with operating in packs than wolves? I'm not really sure what sort of pack ability to give him, though. The ability I've started with is reminiscent of some of the tribal "Lords." It may seem weaker than Goblin King, but on the other hand, its ability affects itself and it also has first strike. The only thing that really makes it weaker, in my opinion, is a lack of playable wolves.

[Ephraim]

Current Wording:

Alpha Wolf
{1}{G}{G}
Creature -- Wolf
2/2

Whenever Alpha Wolf becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each creature blocking it.
Pack 3 -- Wolves you control get +1/+1.

[Anusien]

Shouldn't Wolves be Green?  The Pack of wolves abiltiy totally seems Green, and Green drastically outnumbers White in terms of number of wolves creatures (white only has Timber Wolves).

I like the card; the power level is about dead on on its own, and it's not bad as a theme.  I have a couple of suggestions:
A) Is there a way to limit it to only being able to have 1 Alpha Wolf for each pack?
B) I'm wondering if you would want a second pack ability, to represent how much stronger a bigger pack is.  Everything I try to template comes out like a bad Rat though.

[asmoranomardicodais]

Just to make sure, is Wolf still a creature type? I thought that it might have been supplanted by hound.

[Godder]

Perhaps extra +1/+1 or first strike, vigilance and/or spirit link?

[orgcandman]

I'm confused on something. Does that mean that on turn 4, it's feasable that green has 2 4/4s? And each wolf after that gets +1/+1?

That seems a touch a strong to me. I'd be fine with them as 1/1s, and having them cost 1G, or 1W (whatever color they end up being) and that way
they're strong 2-drops, enable interesting themes, and don't allow wolves to become too good.

[Sanity_XIV]

Wolf is still a creature type(in 8th at least, see Tundra Wolves/Lone Wolf, not sure about 9th, since I don't think those guys are in 9th).

Also, Wolves are both green or white, using the same examples as above.

[Lofobal]

Just to make sure, is Wolf still a creature type? I thought that it might have been supplanted by hound.

Wolf is still a creature type(in 8th at least, see Tundra Wolves/Lone Wolf, not sure about 9th, since I don't think those guys are in 9th).

There are no wolves in 9th edition, but Wizards has printed new wolves recently (Tel-Jilad Wolf), so I think the creature type is fairly safe.

Shouldn't Wolves be Green? The Pack of wolves abiltiy totally seems Green, and Green drastically outnumbers White in terms of number of wolves creatures (white only has Timber Wolves).

I like the card; the power level is about dead on on its own, and it's not bad as a theme. I have a couple of suggestions:
A) Is there a way to limit it to only being able to have 1 Alpha Wolf for each pack?
B) I'm wondering if you would want a second pack ability, to represent how much stronger a bigger pack is. Everything I try to template comes out like a bad Rat though.

I agree that wolves are green; of the 11 existing wolves(with their editions to show how relevant the precedant is),
- Heart Wolf is red (Homelands)
- Treacherous Werewolf is black (Torment)
- Tundra Wolves is white (Originally from Legends, most recently from 8th Edition)

The other eight are green as is Master of the Hunt (Legends), which creates Wolves-of-the-Hunt tokens
- Artic Wolves (Weatherlight)
- Dire Wolves (Ice Age)
- Howling Wolf (Mercadian Masques)
- Lone Wolf (Originally Urza's Legacy, most recently from 8th Edition)
- Tel-Jilad Wolf (Darksteel)
- Timber Wolves (Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Revised, 4th)
- Wolf Pack (Portal Three Kingdoms [It'll be a legal card soon!])
- Wyluli Wolf (Originally Arabian Nights, most recently from 6th Edition)

I think that Tundra Wolves is to wolves what Ghazban Ogre is to ogres (although Dire Wolf does encourage you to splash white).

As for not having more than one Alpha Wolf, you could make it legendary, but that's not usually how that supertype is used, and most of the other Lords make no sense in multiples anyways.

[Ephraim]

Actually, multiple lords do make sense now, since Goblin King has been changed to be Creature -- Goblin Lord. In any case, I have "increased" the pack number to 3 to reflect the recent change in the pack mechanic. It is now more intuitive, in that each creature counts itself toward the pack requirement. Jacob pointed out that that is what people were thinking anyhow, so I decided it would be wise to go along with it.

I'm open to changing this to green, but I believe I would then have to remove first strike or find some other ability to give this. Any suggestions?

[Lofobal]

Actually, multiple lords do make sense now, since Goblin King has been changed to be Creature -- Goblin Lord.

I am aware of this change. I meant that the names are counter intuitive, to a degree, when they occur in multiples: Elvish Champion works, but how, logically, can there be four kings among goblins in a group of, for example, seven? The title of king seems to imply that there should only be one per group, as does the title of alpha. I can, however, accept this bizzare goblin interaction, and I can also accept that there may be four alpha wolves among a group of seven wolves.

I'm open to changing this to green, but I believe I would then have to remove first strike or find some other ability to give this. Any suggestions?

Historically the generic ability for wolves was banding, but that's no longer being used. Most wolves' abilities deal with combat, so this one's probably should too. The only interesting ability I can come up with is (forgive me if the wording on this is terrible) "you choose how creatures ~this~ blocks deal combat damage" but even then, that's a white mechanic (see Defensive Formation). The problem is that almost all combat related abilities seem to be white these days (not that I'm complaining, white needs all the help it can get), but wolves (predominantly green) want these mechanics.

You could take an idea from Dire Wolf and give it something like "~this~ has first strike as long as you control a plains." This would encourage players to play white (which they might want to do for tundra wolves anyways) and keep the mechanic from being bled out too much. Alternatively you could cost it at 1WG.

[BurningIce]

The reason why there can be multiple goblin kings is there are multiple goblin tribes.  It would make sense that each tribe has a king.  The same would be true for the elves, the merfolk, etc.

[Lofobal]

The reason why there can be multiple goblin kings is there are multiple goblin tribes.  It would make sense that each tribe has a king.  The same would be true for the elves, the merfolk, etc.

I don't dispute this. My point is that if we accept that Goblin Kings from various tribes can help other tribes (as well as each other under the Ninth edition rules), I see no reason why this same logic cannot be applied to Alpha Wolves and their packs.

As an aside, sorry if I'm derailing your thread, Ephraim.

[Ephraim]

I made this card green and I gave it the "super rampage" ability. How is the power level looking? I tend to feel that super-rampage is a little bit better than first strike. On the other hand, if it weren't for the pack ability, I'd say that this is still only on par with Trained Armodon, which is hardly glowing praise.

[Ephraim]

24 Hour Clock

[Bram]

Closed and added.