Annihilate without Annihilating [Challenge Over, Congrats @TenebrisNemo]

Je_Suis_OluwaJe_Suis_Oluwa
edited September 2019 in Just for Fun Contests
I've always loved playing with annihilator. However, according to Head Designer Mark Rosewater, annihilator is among the top ten worst mechanics ever designed. It currently ranks as a 9 on the Storm Scale as well, a scale ranking how likely mechanics are to return. A major reason for this is that most of the time, when a player attacks with an annihilator creature, they will win the game, but it won't be fun for the opponent.

So, for this challenge, submit a card with annihilator, but it shouldn't annihilate the opponent. What I mean is, it should still be fun, and they should still have a chance to win. Here's an example of what I'm looking for:

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The soft deadline is Monday, September 2, and the card limit is one submission per person, which can be new or old. So get working!

Comments

  • PepperoniPepperoni
    edited August 2019
    I think I could make anihilator fun but I would have to modify the mechanic or twist it. I don''t wanna be rude but your example card doesn't look any more fun than the eldrazi.
  • TheSuturedHeartManTheSuturedHeartMan
    Your example card seems busted, honestly. It's got some evasion, meaning if it attacks it might not die, and it will typically go something like 3 for 1 value on 1 card. On a 3-drop no less. I like annihilator, but it should only be on massive creatures.
  • TomigonTomigon
    @TheSuturedHeartMan is right. That example card does annihilates opponents. And it's much easier to cast than Eldrazi titans.
  • KJMartinKJMartin
    Your example card is far more busted and annihilating than any Eldrazi. If you can attack with it one or two times, you've pretty much locked your opponent out of the game.
  • Je_Suis_OluwaJe_Suis_Oluwa
    I modified the example card.
  • VertVert
    image
  • TenebrisNemoTenebrisNemo
    image
  • PepperoniPepperoni
    edited August 2019
    image
  • ThePhantomJokerThePhantomJoker
    @Pepperoni Just... High Alert.
  • MemoryHeadMemoryHead
    @Pepperoni Annihilator only triggers when the card actually attacks, so entering attacking (as it would due to ninjutsu) won't trigger it. Neat concept, though.
  • PepperoniPepperoni
    edited August 2019
    @memoryhead I know, that's why I first stated that Annihilator needs to be reworked to be fun in the first place. In this version, I meant to say Annihil 3 (Whenever deals combate damage to a player, they sac 3 permanents)

    Achieving interactions that aren't anti-fun with the current form is almost impossible. I like the dragon tho.

    @ThePhantomJoker Well, that's a 3-color combo in turn 3, for a 2/2 ann 3. You can do even more busted things in many formats. But you're right, maybe it should be Ann 2 or something like that.
  • KorandAngelsKorandAngels
    image
  • Je_Suis_OluwaJe_Suis_Oluwa
    Okay, I'll judge this now. There aren't enough entries to do a top 5, but the winner is: [drumroll]

    @TenebrisNemo with Hellrain Dragon.
    image

    I appreciate how this has annihilator, but doesn't manage to wreck the opponent's entire chance of winning. It's also a cool way to incorporate land tokens into the game, which is something that's hard to find a home for. So you took a hard challenge and made a well-designed card, and I appreciate that.
  • Je_Suis_OluwaJe_Suis_Oluwa
    By the way, check out my Entwine Challenge at: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/4711/entwine-challenge
  • TenebrisNemoTenebrisNemo
    Hooray!
  • ThePhantomJokerThePhantomJoker
    Is this what you were going for? :D
    image
  • Je_Suis_OluwaJe_Suis_Oluwa
    @ThePhantomJoker I think that's the fairest way to do it...

    Also, feedback time:

    @Vert Your card isn't *technically* allowed, since it doesn't have annihilator, but whatever. I like that this is one-time-use, so that your opponent still has a way to get back in the game, a bit like a one-sided wrath. By the way, annihilator is lowercase when it's not the first word in the sentence.

    @Pepperoni, while it's true that "achieving interactions that aren't anti-fun with the current form is almost impossible," your card still doesn't, you know, work. It's a spicy trick if it did though, and you could probably do it like this:

    Tired Grandmaster (B)
    Creature - Ogre Ninja
    Defender

    Ninjitsu (5B)

    Whenever Tired Grandmaster deals combat damage to a player, that player sacrifices three permanents.

    Like the previous card, it's one-time-use, so that's a good design choice.

    @KorandAngels I like that it's 0/2 so it's usually one-time-use. However, let's imagine I play, like, Distortion Strike on this, and then attack. Opponent takes no damage and loses all their permanents. That's the exact problem with annihilator. So to fix this, you could probably reduce the annihilator number.
  • KorandAngelsKorandAngels
    @Je_Suis_Oluwa I made it for @Tommia 's saga, and I had to kill 10 vampires.
  • PepperoniPepperoni
    @Je_Suis_Oluwa I know it doesn't work, I just wanted to show how far could you stretch annihilator's design into being balanced if its trigger wasn't poorly decided. Did my best. Thanks for the feedback anyways.
  • RanshiRanshi
    image
  • Je_Suis_OluwaJe_Suis_Oluwa
    @Ranshi922 This contest is over.
  • RanshiRanshi
    Oh...
  • Je_Suis_OluwaJe_Suis_Oluwa
    @Ranshi922 I would refer you to my ongoing Entwine Challenge:
    http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/4711/entwine-challenge#latest
This discussion has been closed.