Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer

[Hillboy]

Here's one that I would like to make.

Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer

Legendary Creature- Dwarf
 
At the beginning of your upkeep reveal the top card of your library, if that card is an instant or sorcery it put it into your hand and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spells mana cost to target player. If not put that card into your graveyard.

2/1

Some say his hair was lost to old age, others believe it burned in rage.



I thought that it would be nice if red had a dark confidant type card. Plus his ability should make him the patron saint of burn decks. I made him a legend because I didn't think that more than one should be on the board at once.

Well what do you think?

[Anusien]

I like it, but I feel he's a tad under-costed.  Try 2R; since your opponent loses the life instead of you I feel it's slightly under-costed, since red gets some fairly efficient creatures at RR.

[Godder]

This guy is insanely good - card advantage AND free damage if the top card is a burn card? At the very least, the card should sometimes deal damage to the controller. An interesting take on the ability could be this:

At the beginning of your Upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a Red instant or sorcery, Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to target player. Otherwise, Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to you.

[Hillboy]

How about this for his ability.

At the beginning of your upkeep reveal the top card of your library, if that card is an instant or sorcery put it into your hand and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spells mana cost to target player. If not put that card into your graveyard and Gorwar Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that cards converted mana cost to you.

As for cost I suppose I could up it but I really would rather not because I think it would be too slow to be effective. At least if it was to be as effective as I'd like it to be

Edit: then again after rethinking it maybe a cost of 2R isn't bad but what about making him a 2/2 instead of a 2/1 then?

[Anusien]

Godder, you're right about how nuts it is.  Even T2 has enough burn to make 20 land, 4 him and 36 burn spells.  I'm not sure this makes the creature less broken.  What if you just made it symmetrical?

Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer - 1{R}
Legendary Creature - Dwarf
At the beginning of your upkeep reveal the top card of your library, if that card is an instant or sorcery it put it into your hand and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to all players.  Otherwise, put that card into your graveyard.

2/1

[Matt]

Red shouldn't get this kind of card drawing.

[Godder]

What Matt said. My problem is that the card goes to hand, which just isn't Red. An interesting take could also be to play with the top card of the library revealed, rather than just revealing it in your upkeep...

[Hillboy]

Well what if the card said.


At the beginning of your upkeep reveal the top card of your library, if that card is an instant or sorcery Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to its mana cost to target player then put the card back on top of your library, otherwise put the card into your graveyard and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to the cards mana cost to you.

That way the card doesn't put it into your hand and it is less insane. It would filter out lands though which could be good or bad. Maybe taking away the put into graveyard effect is a good idea though so the card doesn't actually do any filtering.

Otherwise as far as being redlike it could say.

At the beginning of your upkeep reveal the top card of your library, if that card is a red instant or sorcery put it into your hand and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spells mana cost to target player then discard a card at random.

Are either of those ideas more acceptable?

[Mindstab_Thrull]

[option 1]

• At the beginning of your upkeep reveal the top card of your library, if that card is an instant or sorcery Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to its mana cost to target player then put the card back on top of your library, otherwise put the card into your graveyard and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to the cards mana cost to you.
  

[option 2]

• At the beginning of your upkeep reveal the top card of your library, if that card is a red instant or sorcery put it into your hand and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spells mana cost to target player then discard a card at random.
  

Rewording time:

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If that card is an instant or sorcery, Gorwar deals damage equal to its mana cost to target player. Otherwise, put that card in your graveyard and Gorwar deals damage equal to its mana cost to you.

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a red instant or sorcery, put it into your hand and Gorwar deals damage equal to that spell's mana cost to target player. That player then discards a card at random.

Both seem pretty powerful abilities. Assuming both are on two-power bodies - legendary creatures, of course, given the name (Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer) - I would expect the first to be sitting somewhere around 2-3 mana (it's kind of like a red twisted Dark Confidant), and the other to be somewhere around 5+ mana like Kiki-Jiki or WGD considering it has the ability to give you a two-card swing on any random turn (if it's a red instant or sorcery, you get an extra card and your opponent loses a random card).

For a card to seem more suitable to red, I'd suggest the first one. You don't get the card to your hand either way; you get to deal damage if it's a spell card with CMC of 1+; and it's a coin toss (die roll?) to see whether you take the damage or 'target player' does. The second one seems more red/black, at which point you might be able to cost it at five mana for a 2/2, possibly a little bigger or with another ability (not an overly powerful one, mind you).

[Harlequin]

Either that or make it a draw replaceing effect:

Whenever you would draw a card, reveal the top card of your library instead, if that card is an instant or sorcery it put it into your hand and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to target players.  Otherwise, put that card into your graveyard.

So its letting you "double up" on your damage... basically giveing you the epic red spell for 2 mana.  But with the draw back of, you will never draw anymore lands, artifacts, creatures, or enchantments. 

If that is too scary then have it just replace your draw for turn.  Or have it skip over non-instant non-sorceries.... not sure how I would word that.

[Hillboy]

Whenever you would draw a card, reveal the top card of your library instead, if that card is an instant or sorcery it put it into your hand and Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer deals damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to target players.  Otherwise, put that card into your graveyard.

I like that.

[Polynomial P]

Another alternative would be:

Whenever you would draw a card, reveal the top card of your library instead. If that card is an instant or sorcery, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put that card into your graveyard and -this- deals damage to target creature or player equal to that card's converted mana cost. (or CMC +1?)


The idea would be if it is burn, you get the card and get to burn someone, if the card is not burn, Gorwar turns it into burn. It may not be as useful as Harlequin's idea, but it is good flavor, in my opinion.

[Jacob Orlove]

What about this:

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it is an instant or sorcery, you may play it as though it were in your hand, without paying its mana cost. Otherwise, your opponent may put the card into play.

[Harlequin]

What about this:

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it is an instant or sorcery, you may play it as though it were in your hand, without paying its mana cost. Otherwise, your opponent may put the card into play.

I really like that!!
Its almost a different card in terms of flavor.  I think it should not be a "may" ability.  It would give interesting synergy with the newly printed Bronze Bombshell, or other such cards.   Also if it were not legendary, then you tech one in for your opponent, and have some really awsome interaction.  I really like that idea.  If we don't use it for this card, we should make it a separate card, probably with a different name / creature type thats more on flavor.  Something like "Fate Dealer" creature type... dare I say Harlequin?

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it is an instant or sorcery, you may play it as though it were in your hand, without paying its mana cost. Otherwise, put the card into play under an opponent's control.

"I said I would tell you the future, but I never said you would like it"

[Hillboy]

What about this:

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it is an instant or sorcery, you may play it as though it were in your hand, without paying its mana cost. Otherwise, your opponent may put the card into play.

Thats pretty good actually.

Dwarven Pyromancer

Creature- Dwarf

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it is an instant or sorcery, you may play it as though it were in your hand, without paying its mana cost. Otherwise, your opponent may put the card into play.

2/1

"This might hurt me more than it hurts you... wait"

[LordHomerCat]

A couple points:

1. For Jacob's idea:
    I think you need to RFG the card instead of just revealing it.  For one thing, you're never going to be able to play Sorceries this way, as you will draw the card in your Draw Step, so the ability just reveals the card, then does nothing to sorceries.  Also, it seems really really ugly the way it is, with you revealing the card, then choosing whether to play it.  I would like this to read:
"At the beginning of your upkeep, remove the top card of your library from the game. If it is an instant or sorcery, until end of turn, you may play it without paying its mana cost. Otherwise, until end of turn, your opponent may play the card anytime they could play an instant without paying its mana cost."

This means that you get to play the Instants and Sorceries, they get to play everything else, and its free for everyone (and you ahve to use it or lose it).

2. Wizards does not use "as though it was in your hand" anymore.  Its just playing cards now (see: Yawgmoth's Will: "Until end of turn, you may play cards in your graveyard.")  Just a small wording nitpick.

3. As to power level:  This is an interesting dynamic, in that you can build your deck so that the only cards they ever see are lands and this guy.  With Sensei's top, it seems REALLY powerful, basically a Red dark confidant, who doesn't hurt you, and make mana (in the form of free spells).  And we all know how powerful Dark Confidant is.  Also, he seems extremely breakable, especially in non-T1 formats, as he lets you play all kinds of free instant and sorceries (for this effect in Type 2, see: Sins of the Past).  I mean, in legacy for instance, stack his ability, then play Mystical Tutor for whatever insane effect you want (like, turn 3 Tooth and Nail with entwine, for 3 mana; or sway of the stars, storm herd, the list goes on).  That is one hell of a combo.  In other words, I don't like Free Spells, especially free sorceries (which can be pretty much ridiculous), I don't like how incredibly non-symmetrical this guy will ALWAYS be (you don't play him in beatdown, you play him as almost the only non-land permanent), I don't like free card drawing in red, with no life loss (dark confidant), Hell, he is even a great beater in red, which often faces drawbacks on their 2/x for 2 critters.  This guy seems insane to me, and WAAAAAAAY beyond the power level for Type2 at the moment, and even legacy-playable good.

[Jacob Orlove]

There was a reason I didn't give a P/T or casting cost with my suggested wording. In fact, such a wording would probably go on an enchantment that costs a decent amount of mana.

If you're really worried, add "skip your draw phase" on there. You'll never play another permanent again.

[Hillboy]

I don't know what I want to make of this card. Although I like it on a stick for power level an enchantment is good.

The Hammer of Dwarves 

At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it is an instant or sorcery, you may play it as though it were in your hand, without paying its mana cost. Otherwise, put the card into play under an opponent's control.

"Our future lies in our weapons, and our weapons are our future"
                                          -Gorwar, Dwarven Pyromancer