Angel of Dominion

Custom Cards forum

Posted on March 27, 2020, 2:15 p.m. by DemonDragonJ

Debtors' Knell is a great card, but it does nothing on the turn that it enters the battlefield, unless a player can give it flash, and is useless unless there are creature cards in graveyards (although, by the time that a player can afford to spend seven mana on a spell, it is more likely than not that there shall be at least one creature card in a graveyard).

Therefore, I have decided to make a creature version of it, so that it is not useless without there being creatures in graveyards, and here is the result of my work:

Angel of Dominion Show

For only 1 more mana over Debtors' Knell, the player gets a 6/6 creature with flying, which may even help to put creature cards into graveyards. I was contemplating giving her lifelink, but that would have made her too similar to, and almost entirely better than, divinity of pride. I also was considering making her mana cost be , but very few cards in the game have a mana cost that strict, outside of the demigod cycle from Shadowmoor and Eventide, so I decided to not do so, with her, either. By the time that a player can afford to spend 8 mana, I think that it is very safe to presume that there shall be at least one creature card in a graveyard, so this creature should almost never be useless.

What does everyone else say about this card? Do you like it?

Caerwyn says... #2

The best point of comparison would probably be Sheoldred, Whispering One. I'd say Sheoldred is the better card--Flying is arguably better than Swampwalk (but not by too much, considering how easy it is to make lands Swamps), but the sacrifice effect easily makes Sheoldred the superior option.

You could probably reduce the cost of this to . Yes, it means you get a body on Debtors' Knell for the same cost, but that's not always better--bodies are easier to remove. That would put this angel at the same CMC as Sheoldred, albeit with slightly different mana requirements (at seven mana, meeting those requirements is easier anyway).

Now, the one thing where this excels over Sheoldred is the ability to run multiples of it. Buried Alive fetching three of these, followed by Reanimate on one would be a pretty strong value engine as the turns progress. That's a scary prospect, but it isn't any more degenerate than any of the other horrific things you can do with reanimation.

March 27, 2020 2:43 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #3

Caerwyn, if I reduce this creature to have a converted mana cost of 7, I feel that it should have a heavier color weight (such as ), so that it is not strictly better than Debtors' Knell; do you agree with that?

March 27, 2020 2:48 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #4

Caerwyn, also, Sheoldred can return only creatures from her controller's graveyard, whereas both Debtors' Knell and this creature can return creatures from any graveyard.

March 27, 2020 2:49 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #5

Ah, I was remembering Sheoldred's text wrong. That makes the comparison a bit less accurate, but I think a CMC of 7 is still the sweet spot.

From an aesthetic point, I do not like how looks - the more hybrid symbols you chain in a row, the messier the mana cost appears to be. Three seems fine, four is fine when it's just those symbols (Deathless Knight), but once you add a generic symbol as well, I think it feels a bit cluttered.

That said, as a mechanics concept, I think that might be the better mana cost to use. You could also make it require two White and to Black mana, which looks a bit better and is more restrictive.

March 27, 2020 3:06 p.m.

Tzefick says... #6

Debtors' Knell have never been much of a power house. Some of the most direct comparisons would indeed be Sheoldred, Whispering One and Reya Dawnbringer. Reya has long been considered underpowered and too costly at 9 mana for a 4/6 flier who resurrect a creature a turn.

The Debtors' Knell's advantage is the ability to grab creatures from others' graveyards. However we also have Sepulchral Primordial at 7, who grabs a creature from each opponent, and that is not considered very powerful - useful and strong sure, but not directly powerful. You could also consider Tariel, Reckoner of Souls who grabs from opponents' graveyards at random as a tap ability - so you have options to combo with various things that untaps (Reconnaissance comes to mind). Tariel is random and only from opponent's graveyard but he's also considered weak. For Debtors' Knell's advantage to take effect you need an opponent to have strong creatures in the graveyard, whereas it is much easier to simply secure that there are strong creatures in YOUR graveyard. As such, I don't think we should attribute too much strength to the ability to grab from others' graveyards.

If you just want a direct creature version of Debtors' Knell then I suppose a for a 5/6 flier is fine.

Personally I would go for a much stronger version but with a condition on the trigger.

Angel of Dominion variants Show

May 12, 2020 8 a.m.

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