Planeswalker, Demon Infiltrator
Custom Cards forum
Posted on May 24, 2019, 10:13 a.m. by Tzefick
The general premise is a demonic planeswalker that draws their power from beings around it and uses it to fuel their abilities.
Rough draft of the concept:
Planeswalker Demon Show
So. The entire idea is a very black oriented planeswalker that only gives something in return when you offer him something. For merely being on your team he constantly drains the controller to add to his power, of which he can then utilize for the controller's benefit.
He cannot give you your life back, so it is very in line with Black's philosophy of "I will sacrifice anything for greater power, even if it may cost me dearly." That also means he pairs relatively well with life gain sources, either through stuff like Deathgreeter or Blood Artist or with colors like white's lifegain themes ( Soul Warden ).
However if the strain he poses on your life total becomes problematic, you can always aim toward building him up to hand him over to an opponent and let him become their problem. You generate a small army and buff them and any other remaining Demons up a little bit, so your opponent is hard pressed to either get rid of him or you. His minus abilities are made in a way that you cannot naturally kill him off through his passive loyalty gain unless he has been attacked or times well with an ultimate (at which point you would likely want him to barely survive to become your opponent's problem once again.)
You can choose to play him without activating any abilities and aim to ultimate him the following turn, effectively costing you and 5 life to get 3 3/3 fliers and have your opponent lose 5 life on their upkeep.
I think it can be a really strong card but with an appropriate drawback, fitting of a black card. I doubt it will be competitive enough to function in Modern (definitely not Legacy and Vintage), so it's mainly aiming at Standard and Commander. In Commander his pressure on life total is much less present, so he'll probably mostly be used as Innocent Blood -a-turn that generates you fodder for the sacrifice, or to draw cards in a token themed deck.
Occasionally his ultimate will matter when players start having low life totals and/or limited ways to get rid of him. The owner will build their deck so they can counter his drawback in some way or form but most opponents wont have the same tools to hold him off and will either have to commit resources to remove him from their own side of the board or raze the owner to the finish line.
It is possible that he's a tad bit on the weak side. Suggestions and feedback are welcome.
SynergyBuild says... #3
Way to strong for standard. At 5 loyalty, it'll be hard to kill. A removal spell off the bat, each turn need be, etc.
Decent in EDH, actually very strong, but not insanely so, in modern Death's Shadow, Pox variants, Rack variants, and Bx Midrange decks can go ham with him, using effects in BGx such as Scavenging Ooze , Obstinate Baloth , etc. to gain life. Variations of Ad Nauseam or Solemnity combo run Phyrexian Unlife , which makes the upkeep cost effectively 0, etc.
Legacy I can't tell. Maybe variants on Nic Fit run it, maybe it is too slow or not effective against the field enough. Vintage could care less.
May 24, 2019 12:50 p.m.
@SynergyBuild: Yes he is hard to kill. But he's also killing your opponent for 5 life a turn. If you play control, you will likely not have creatures on board or try to contest with creatures, so "Tim" is a bad Phyrexian Arena that generates one 2/2 flying Demon the turn he comes in. If you build control you're likely also going to have some kind of Destroy nonland permanent or Planeswalker in your deck, so he cannot ultimate and kill you.
If you are aggro he's a strain on your creatures, but that 5 life a turn is a godsend in terms of racing speed and he needs to -3 each turn to keep your creatures down. Additionally he first comes down at minimum on turn 4 or 3 with some kind of acceleration.
The amount of Planeswalker related control spells has increased quite a bit with War of the Spark. I doubt the Standard meta would have that much problem dealing with him.
May 31, 2019 5:47 p.m.
Demons are mana constructs and therefore can't be planeswalkers. And before you bring up Ob Nixilis remember that, like Tibalt, he started out as and still technically is a human.
abby315 says... #2
The passive ability is a very cool and flavorful concept, and I like the way you've built around how to be able to get "rid" of it with the most value. Reminds me of Demonic Pact decks. Definitely think it'd be fun in EDH (and hard to tell if it'd fit in an imaginary standard, but seems about right power-level-wise)!
May 24, 2019 11:09 a.m.