Fblthp creature card
Custom Cards forum
Posted on May 25, 2013, 6:40 p.m. by AGunWithLegs
Saucy and I were thinking of how cool it would be if the homunculus from Totally Lost was a creature, thus:
Thoughts? We only had one game where it made play, and I think it might be a little OP for it's cost, so I might up it to 3UU casting cost.
AGunWithLegs says... #3
True, I hadn't thought of it that way. I was thinking more along the lines of making Totally Lost useful, and then thought about the synergy with Codex Shredder , and then decided to staple both on the creature in the flavor of the text, and hadn't really given thought to Flbthp's personality at all. He is so cute though.
May 25, 2013 8:14 p.m.
He is. And I had to re-read his story for fun.But I'd never considered the effects of Totally Lost when making my card suggestions. Maybe have the Spellskite -esque one put him on top of his owner's library when he becomes a target?
May 25, 2013 9:06 p.m.
Xindlepete says... #5
@AGunWithLegs: Very interesting Fblthp you have there... :) I made a PW version of Fblthp awhile back. Schuesseled is actually displaying it on his main page if you wanted to sneak a peek.
I think if he is going to be a 3cmc creature, the cost to put a card on top of it's owners library should be higher. Probably 3U, so you can spend 5 mana (the same cost of Totally Lost ) to put something on top of the library and then mill it away. Conversely, if you wanted to keep that at a 2 cost ability, then you should raise the casting cost like you mentioned.
Though for the sake of balance, I feel it would be better if the ABILITY cost was raised to 3U, as that would prevent players from abusing the ability too much. And worse comes to worst, you can always use him as a mill engine. :)
May 26, 2013 2:25 a.m.
I think you should make the bounce ability cost more and require a tap, so you can't keep an opponent locked down too hard. Look at cards like Time Elemental and Heidar, Rimewind Master . Having a creature that can bounce at instant speed is very powerful and hard to balance. Not only thst, but the ability locks them out of drawing an answer. I'd hesitate to even allow an ability like that. Imagine him in commander. Turn four and if your opponent has no answer, you've won.
That's my two cents.
May 26, 2013 2:53 a.m.
AGunWithLegs says... #7
I agree on the balance. Saucy proxied it into his commander deck and abused the crap out of it. I am definitely going to raise the casting cost to 1UUU and I am torn between simply raising the first activated ability cost to 2UU, or to simply add a tap condition to it. Although, given that it has shroud, it would be nigh impossible to infinite mana combo and untap him, so i might just do the latter after all.
@Xindlepete I enjoyed the PW Flbthp, but I think the ultimate's last conditional might be a little steep.
May 26, 2013 4:44 a.m.
Schuesseled says... #8
I think this little guy would be best designed:
U
Creature - Hormonuclos
Whenever fblthp would leave the battlefield, shuffle it into it's owners library instead.
1/1
May 26, 2013 4:45 a.m.
Xindlepete says... #9
@AGunWithLegs: That's what I thought at first too, but since the 0 ability keeps him safe during your opponent's turn, and the fact that practically every "destroy planeswalker" effects are sorcery speed (Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker , Vraska the Unseen , Sorin, Lord of Innistrad Bramblecrush , Dreadbore ). The sole exception being Abrupt Decay . So he has an immense amount of self-protection and survivability, making it rather simple to get him up to 7+ counters. Considering that he returns to play with an additional counter from when he left, if you play "Fblthp, He Who is Lost" on turn two, you can have 7 counters on him by turn 6-7, depending on deckbuild. By turn 7 you could exile 7 non-land permanents that your opponents have NO WAY of returning to play, by building up a low-cost planeswalker that literally only has ONE CARD that can get rid of him? It was the only fair inclusion I COULD make. Otherwise you could just -1 or -2 immediately to set your opponent's early game way back. Or you could build up a ton of counters on him throughout the game and spot exile cards here or there as you want. Trust me, after some serious playtesting this worked out for the best. :)
@Schuesseled: sorry I "summoned" you here, but it WAS about our good buddy Fblthp, so I thought you might want in on the conversation. :) And I very much approve of your idea! Very clever, almost like a U version of Squee, Goblin Nabob . :) Shenanigans! To the Mock-up machine! AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!
May 26, 2013 5:36 a.m.
Xindlepete says... #10
Shiny NEW present for you Schuesseled: A mock-up of YOUR idea! How about that?
May 26, 2013 5:47 a.m.
Xindlepete says... #13
Glad I could entertain you. Sometimes I feel like the TappedOut "court jester"! XD
May 26, 2013 6:06 a.m.
From the flavor perspective the thing that bothers me is that... Fblthp isn't awesome. He's a tiny little homunculus who words as a groundskeeper for the Azorius, can barely talk, is too terrified to talk, and is scared of any kind of height or another person. That's why I leaned towards something that would be less directly powerful, either making him the target of a spell or having him run and hide if there were too many creatures out.
May 26, 2013 12:31 p.m.
Xindlepete says... #15
How is shuffling him in to it's owner's library NOT similar to him "running from danger"? I thought Schuesseled had a fantastic idea, because it's not underwhelming or overwhelming, but could still prove a useful tool in certain situations.
May 26, 2013 2:30 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #16
yes, he get's lost so much that he always ending up in the library somewhere rather than where you wanted.
But i don't think that card deserves to be legendary or rare, an uncommon perhaps.
May 26, 2013 2:58 p.m.
Sorry Xindlepete, I should've been more specific in what I was replying to, which was more the Planeswalker versions of Fblthp, not the creature version that Schuesseled suggested.
It's interesting that that ability would allow Fblthp to get around the Legendary rule. If you play two of them then both of them get shuffled into your library.
May 26, 2013 3:12 p.m.
Xindlepete says... #19
@SpammyV: Sometimes big things come in small packages. :) Like I mentioned in a different thread, my friends and I were just joking around one day about the goofiest idea for a custom planeswalker we could think of, when some guy unrelated to the conversation shouted "Fblthp!" at us. I thought it would be fantastic, and I had been trying to think up a 2cmc PW that wasn't as bad as Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded .
So a "+" ability that doesn't affect the game at all, and acts as a testament to Fblthp's ability to hide seemed like the way to go.
A -2 to get rid of something big and scary, and acts as a reference to the original card that started it all.
An ultimate that permanently gets rid of problem cards, but takes 6-7 turns before becoming usable, and requires Fblthp to use ALL of the counters he has accrued to do so is, for flavor's sake, Fblthp mass-teleporting a bunch of things he doesn't like far away from where he is, and leaving them stranded there.
I thought viewing those abilities in that light made sense, because what would you do if you were weak, scared of everything around you, but then suddenly granted ULTIMATE POWER in your universe? I hope this clears up any questions/arguments you may have had. And if not, then at least you are better informed about the decisions I made. :)
May 26, 2013 3:35 p.m.
Xindlepete says... #20
@Schuesseled: The only reason I went legendary is because we were using him by name, so I wasn't sure what else to do there.
SpammyV says... #2
That is a pretty interesting ability, but I think at the cost it might prove a bit too powerful, although I will admit that the Johnny in me is excited by the possibilities. It also doesn't evoke the sort of woobie patheticness that Flbthp exudes in his art, flavor text, and flavor story. I'm thinking something either Spellskite or Norin the Wary inspired. Something like either of these:
Flbthp
1U
Legendary Creature- Homunculus
0/1
When Flbthp becomes the target of a spell or ability, exile it and return it to play at the beginning of the next end step.
U: Change a target of a spell or ability to Flbthp.
Flpthb
U
Legendary Creature- Homunculus
1/2
If there are three or more creatures on the battlefield, exile Flbthp. At the beginning of each upkeep, if there are two or fewer creatures on the battlefield, return Flbthp to the battlefield.
May 25, 2013 7:34 p.m.