Lavaborn Chimera

[Tbhiggins]

This is an idea I had that I thought was sort of nice. Input of course is desired.

Lavaborn Chimera      2 R U G B

Flying

Triple Strike (This creature deals first strike, normal, and last strike combat damage)

RRR: +1/+0 until end of turn

2/5

This would be my invitational card in a parallel universe where I am a talented magic player.
Comments are greatly appreciated.

[Matt]

Well, the first problem is that there is no such thing as "last strike."

[netherspirit]

I really don't get what's with the mana cost, if I'm reading it correctly it costs , what's with that? This card obviously feels very red, so why the blue green and black?

[Matt]

Wow, I didn't even notice the Nephilim mana cost. This is so bizarre.

[Tbhiggins]

@ Matt

Last strike would be such that as first strike damage is to normal combat damage, so is normal combat damage to last strike damage.

@ Netherspirit

The casting cost is for two reasons. First, because I wanted to get the feel for all of the bizarre things that go into making a chimera, and two, because having a creature that both pumps itself easily and deals three times its power in combat damage would be really hard to deal with. Now that I think of it, the cost might have better been: G B R [U/G] [U/B] [B/R]

Triple Strike is once for each head.

[Matt]

You can't just make up last strike, you kind of have to work within the rules.

That mana cost is even worse. And what makes this have to have 3 heads? And are you aware that Magic already has a cycle of Chimeras (artifact creatures from Visions)?

[netherspirit]

If you want to reflect it's heads why not just say it can't be blocked by less than 3 creatures?

[Tbhiggins]

If you want to reflect it's heads why not just say it can't be blocked by less than 3 creatures?

I wanted to come up with a new way of describing the damage that a three headed creature would deal. And classically, Bellerophon did block the Chimera so to speak.

You can't just make up last strike, you kind of have to work within the rules.

That mana cost is even worse. And what makes this have to have 3 heads? And are you aware that Magic already has a cycle of Chimeras (artifact creatures from Visions)?

1. I didn't know I was outside of the rules in making up a mechanic like this one.
2. Chimeras have three heads
3. I am aware of the Chimera cycle in Visions, but I was really dissapointed by it. It seemed as though the individual chimeras were something closer to Voltron than the Chimeras of classical and medieval lore.

[Godder]

Traditionally, Magical creatures with more than one head are represented as "can only be blocked by n creatures" where n=# of heads e.g. Two-Headed Dragon. Using "Strike" effects suggests that the heads are attacking at different times, which seems unlikely (especially "Last Strike" which suggests that the creature concerned can't fight for peanuts!).

[Matt]

"Last strike" was also the slang term for the Goblin Flotilla effect.

[Anusien]

You don't get to just make up a keyword like that.  If you want, you could do something like "at end of combat, if this damaged a creature or player, this deals damage equal to its power to that creature or player."  It only gets keyworded if other people want to explore its design space.  Anyway, I think you're dramatically overcomplicating things.

[asi]

Anyway, I think you're dramatically overcomplicating things.

Exactly what I thought.
Also, RRR pump ability is useless; you won't get the mana in a 4 or 5 colour deck, and why should you? Casting any pump spell (Giant Growth deals 15, Blood lust 18) will cost you very little and will win you the game.

I like the concept of creatures multiplicating their power, and I like the multihead-concept, but I think it is, as Anusien said, way too complicated and strange to do it this way. 

edit: is it necessary to have it have three heads, or would a variable number do it as well? Because an activated ability such as Feral Animist's would be nice, I think

[asmoranomardicodais]

The simplest and best way to solve this card is just to make it as so:

Lavaborn Chimera
4R

If Lavaborn Chimera would deal damage, instead it deals triple that damage.
Lavaborn Chimera cannot be the target of spells or abilities you control
RRR: Lavaborn Chimera gets +1/+0 until end of turn

1/3

Your triple strike is now simplified into an ability that is almost exactly the same during most times.
The untargetable clause was added so that Giant Growth didn't turn into +12/+3, although I might be wrong about that clause.
Anyways, that looks like the simplest fix to me.

[LordHomerCat]

Why don't you just make it a 3/3 and give it regular firebreathing?  It gives you the exact same card, except better (since you dont have to put in 3 red at a time) and without some really unnecessary wording.