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Colorless Mind Flayer Tribal!
Hello everyone!
I'm currently workshopping an Illithid Tribal deck at https://mtgcardsmith.com/user/ErinsCards/sets/42464! So far, their tribal identity is based around the mechanic "Compellence N", as showcased here:
As seen on Endbringer and a couple of other Eldrazi, "Target creature can't attack or block until end of turn" is apparently a colorless mana ability! Using that, and the Mind Flayer's famous ability to break the minds of their opponents through sheer eldritch horror, I've decided that Mind Flayers in MTG should be oriented around that theme.
Note, there are a couple of things that separate this from white's "Can't Attack", and blue and red's "Can't be Blocked/Can't Block" combat mechanics. Firstly is the fact that colorless can do BOTH at a moment's notice. Secondly is that it doesn't necessarily have to STOP the opponent from blocking or attacking... just that there's a punishment. For example...
... Flayer's lure! This card illustrates Compellence from a more permanent angle, and segueways nicely into my other theme for Illithid Tribal: Ultimatums and Mindgames.
Weird and wacky stuff like this that throws the opponent entirely off their rhythm are perfect for Mind Flayers and Colorless.
Which is where I extend the challenge to you: Design some Colorless Mind Flayers from this base! I'll add the best ones to my set! Feel free to message me directly if I don't respond.
I'm currently workshopping an Illithid Tribal deck at https://mtgcardsmith.com/user/ErinsCards/sets/42464! So far, their tribal identity is based around the mechanic "Compellence N", as showcased here:
As seen on Endbringer and a couple of other Eldrazi, "Target creature can't attack or block until end of turn" is apparently a colorless mana ability! Using that, and the Mind Flayer's famous ability to break the minds of their opponents through sheer eldritch horror, I've decided that Mind Flayers in MTG should be oriented around that theme.
Note, there are a couple of things that separate this from white's "Can't Attack", and blue and red's "Can't be Blocked/Can't Block" combat mechanics. Firstly is the fact that colorless can do BOTH at a moment's notice. Secondly is that it doesn't necessarily have to STOP the opponent from blocking or attacking... just that there's a punishment. For example...
... Flayer's lure! This card illustrates Compellence from a more permanent angle, and segueways nicely into my other theme for Illithid Tribal: Ultimatums and Mindgames.
Weird and wacky stuff like this that throws the opponent entirely off their rhythm are perfect for Mind Flayers and Colorless.
Which is where I extend the challenge to you: Design some Colorless Mind Flayers from this base! I'll add the best ones to my set! Feel free to message me directly if I don't respond.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
A mindflayer-art Eldrazi planeswalker. I deleted all his cards, but you can still see its image.
You wouldn’t get priority in time to make mana colourless before an opponent uses the mana, as mana abilities don’t use the stack. This makes the card very situational. I have tried similar before, but unfortunately it doesn’t work how you would want it to.
Anyway, time to help with the individual cards.
Elder Brain Rithixithas
Good design! The only change I would make would be to change him from putting a +1/+1 counter on each Illithid you control to each other Illithid. This is only because the design team at WotC decided that lords should no longer pump themselves, and should only help the stats of others. For example, Merfolk Mistbender (https://scryfall.com/card/rix/164/merfolk-mistbinder) is a 2/2 that pumps each OTHER merfolk you control and not a 1/1 that pumps ALL merfolk you control.
Flayer Secrets
I think you could amp up the power of this a bit, considering Injunction Insurrection (https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/41/inaction-injunction) only requires one dedicated color of mana and does the same things but better (since it snuffs a blocker and an attacker). I think you could change the cost from CC to 1C without any harm being done.
Flayer Youth
I like this card as a great playable common. Nice one!
Flayer's Allure
Bad news, my friend, protection is now a deciduous mechanic (meaning that it's basically gone from standard legal sets unless there is a VERY important reason to bring it back). Since I don't think an uncommon is enough of a reason to bring it back. I like what the card does, though, and all I think that should be done is the removal or the pesky word "protection" and replace it with the reminder text. I also removed the targeting aspect of protection because it's rare an attacking creature wold target the enchanted creature at I'm aiming for simplicity here.
Here it is:
Flayer's Allure 2C
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creatures gets +3/+0 when it becomes blocked and cannot be dealt damage by attacking creatures.
Unrealise
I second what @AxNoodle said here.
Flay the Mind
I absolutely love the design of this card; however, it should be an uncommon. It creates a very strategically complex situation that designers generally do not want to put new players in to very often. Also, as a general rule of thumb, commons should have, at maximum, four lines of text. This isn't mandatory, but it is a good rule to follow for designing commons. Once it's moved to common, I think it is very safe to change its cost to CC, as that is generally the cost of a premium removal spell for standard these days.
Slaughter the Stunned
I love this, as it is a way to make great use of new design space, but I think this will cause a lot of people a lot of pain. I would change it to the following in order to simplify it a bit and avoid debates on what counts as can and can't block:
Slaughter the Stunned C
Instant
Destroy target creature that was compelled this turn.
Anyway, I hope that was helpful, and I can't wait to see where this goes!
But on Elder Brain Rithixithas, it's a +1/+1 counter, something that doesn't cause as much rules confusion or memory issues. Additionally, it's a onetime, conditional effect. It's also clearly designed so that it should include itself, because it gives them haste, which would include itself gaining haste.
@Tigersol thank you so much for all this commentary!!! This is incredibly validating, and I'll make most if not all of these edits as soon as I've got enough cash to buy premium. I especially appreciate the reminder that Protection is Deciduous, I didn't know that till now!
That said, I agree with @Red_Tower citing that the "Lords don't buff themselves" only applies to things like, for instance, King Of The Pride.
I'll get to smithing some more with this new version of Compel.
I have also been playing around with colorless recently. Feel free to ignore since I've never payed that much attention to colorless, it was more of an experiment as in, "what would it do"?
The art is not lovecraftnian, sorry about it.
1. Turns out there aren't any mechanics to remove Auras or Equipment from creatures. This one is quite simple. I'm not quite sure about the balancing, yet.
2. This one is a little too crazy. Divest is like discard, but lets the opponent draw that card by creating a secondary library. That can also be used in your favor to thin your deck. I imagine it as colorless since it's more of space/dimensional control, something black and blue cannot achieve. An example:
3. I also found out that while blue can reduce creature to 1/1, they cannot vanish them completely. And I don't mean exile them or kill them, I mean making them reduce to ashes. To morph them into nothingness. I imagine, colorless, the power of void and material control, to do so. Also being able to ignore indestructible with ease.