Other 'Philes
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Aug. 31, 2021, 9:10 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The new Triskaidekaphile is a very awesome card, but I do not like how only blue has another alternate win condition, so I have decided to make a new 'phile for each of the other colors. The general rule that I followed was that each creature would have a static ability, an activated ability, and a win condition that would trigger at the beginning of the player’s upkeep that both the activated ability and static ability could facilitate.
Luxophile Show
The name of this card means "light lover" or "lover of light," and it is a combination of Alabaster Mage and Felidar Sovereign, but the win condition is stricter, since player begin at 40 life by default in EDH. To balance that, it can also increase the power and toughness of creatures, to make it easier to reach the require life total.
Necrophile Show
The name of this card means "death lover" or "lover of death," and it combines Onyx Mage and Mortal Combat, but I changed the conditions for the triggered ability; I made it count all graveyards and then increased the number of creature cards that were required to win the game. I also gave it a way to put creatures into graveyards, which the original enchantment cannot do.
Here is an alternate version of necrophile that I also made.
Necrophile Show
This is an alternate version of necrophile that functions as a sacrifice outlet, to fulfill its win condition even more easily, but it also breaks from the mold of the other creatures, so I am not certain which version I prefer.
Pyrophile Show
The name of this card means "fire lover" or "lover of fire," and it is modeled after Chance Encounter, whose main problem is that it does not provide a method for flipping coins, so I added such an ability to this creature. I also chose to use +1/+1 counters, rather than luck counters, because they have a better synergy with creatures, but I also increased the requires number of counters, because of how easy those counters are to exploit. My original version of the activated ability was ", : flip a coin, if you win the flip, pyrophile deals 3 damage to any target; if you lose the flip, pyrophile deals 2 damage to any target and 1 damage to you," but I changed it to be higher risk, higher reward, which is a central philosophy of red (that it also shares with black). Is 3 power too high for this creature? Should it instead be a 2/1?
Zoophile Show
The name of this creature means “animal lover” or “lover of animals,” and I am perfectly aware that both this creature and necrophile have highly suggestive names, but I feel that those names are appropriate for these creatures, given their abilities. This creature is a combination of Jade Mage and Epic Struggle, but I made the activated ability more color-intensive and also increased the number of creatures required to win, since it now compensates for the enchantment’s weakness of not being able to generate creatures on its own.
What does everyone else say about these creatures? Do you like them?
Necrosis24 says... #3
I really only play commander so I’d say the Luxophile and Zoophile are possible to reach. Getting to 80 life is possible running a lifelink deck. And 30 creatures is also obtainable through token.
The problem with Necrophile is through milling or wheels like Traumatize and Whispering Madness 30 creatures doesn’t take much if it checks everyones graveyard.
Pyrophile is my favorite of the four the closer to winning you are fhe faster you die if you lose the flip.
August 31, 2021 11:06 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
Necrosis24, yes, that was the idea: high risk, high reward.
Also, should I change necrophile to check only its controller's graveyard?
September 1, 2021 8:17 p.m.
Necrosis24 says... #5
That is a hard one because it is pretty easy to remove so theoretically you shouldn’t win that way often. I think it is one of those things where it needs a little bit of play testing to strike a balance.
September 1, 2021 10:20 p.m.
Necrosis24 says... #6
DemonDragonJ I’m curious have you ever proxied your custom cards and tested them out in games?
September 2, 2021 8:39 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Necrosis24, I have not, yet but that is a good idea, so I may test out my cards, at some point.
September 2, 2021 8:45 p.m.
Necrosis24 says... #8
I think it would be pretty cool. Of course they will need balancing but if your playgroup is cool with it you could give everyone copies of the proxies to test out in decks. Once you guys find a balance you can make some custom proxies on etsy probably.
Daveslab2022 says... #2
I think that some of them require a lot more of a deck building constraint than Triskaidekaphile, such as the Necrophile. In order to reliably hit the 30 creatures constraint, you need to have a huge number of creatures yourself. More than 30. Because if you’re playing against a control deck they only have a few creatures to begin with. Then you need more than half your deck in the grave to flip.
Obviously I’m talking about 60 card decks. In the case of commander, the opposite is true, and he actually becomes pretty broken depending on the number of players.
All in all they are pretty sweet and with a few tweaks here and there I think they’re close to what you’re going for! Nice!
August 31, 2021 9:40 p.m.