Make your own Magic card!

The card will be better if you don't try to represent every one of Ridley's abilities perfectly. Anyway, some specific comments:

• Is there any reason Ridley shouldn't be multicolored?
• Assuming you are trying to be as faithful as possible to the original Ridley in the confines of Magic, why does it cost different amounts to look at the top cards depending on who's top card it is?
• You're giving players three different reasons to tap Ridley—the first tap ability, the second tap ability, and to attack. It is generally considered unfun for fatties to have tap abilities, since players want to attack with fatties.
• What's up with the first tap ability, anyway? I know what you're trying to do with it, but the rules get messy and I don't see the flavor justification. Also, like I said above, you have to give up your attack to use it, which is unfun for a fatty.
• What's the flavor justification for Ridley stopping (non-existent) mana burn?
• Regarding synergy, it's not always necessary, but this card tells the player to do 4 different things with it, only two of which can be done on a given turn, and none of which relate. This is unfun.
• It seems to me like this card exists to get you out of three different situations you dislike being in, independent of whether getting out of all three made sense for the card.

Anyway, regarding Form of the Dragon:

• It has three non-synergistic abilities
• The second and third abilities do not show up in Red. The third, in particular, shows up in White/Blue and is against Red ideals.

The card works anyway, because taken as a whole, the card represents an easily understood Red idea, and represents it well. It doesn't matter so much that the three abilities have no synergy when they represent a single concept, and thus are understood as one ability in the player's mind.

edited 7th Apr '10 12:33:49 PM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

-headdesk-

^I'm sorry, I had to do it.

^^ Plus, it turns you into a dragon.

I have a message from another time...

You got me thinking, now. Here's my attempt:

• Ridley 3BR
• Legendary Creature - Dragon Pirate
• Flying
• 1U, Discard a card from your hand: Return Ridley to your hand.
• 1BR, T, Discard a card from your hand: Destroy target artifact or creature.
• 5/4

The 1U is a little weird, but I mean it to reflect the fact that he's a crafty bastard and keeps coming back when you think you've killed him. Just a bonus if you happen to have splashed blue. Maybe it should be UB, since it often seems like he's actually coming back from the dead?

EDIT - Formatting fail.

edited 7th Apr '10 3:05:29 PM by Durazno

My thoughts:

• Ridley 4BBB
• 4/5 Legendary Creature: Dragon General
• Flying
• B, exile one creature card that you control: Regenerate Ridley
• 1R: Ridley gains +3/+0

The flying represents Blue and Ridley can, you know, fly. The Black ability is both extremely fitting for Black and represents Ridley's ability to consume flesh to regenerate. The ability "R: [Creature] gains +1/+0" is common among Red and called fire breathing, Ridley breathes plasma so the ability is stronger while being more unwieldy, which I think accurately describes plasma's advantages and disadvantages when compared to fire.

edited 7th Apr '10 8:16:43 PM by Canondorf

No one looked at my cards. ;_;

My FF.net account

The ones I looked at seemed fairly well-balanced, but I'm not a fan of any of those stories so any in-jokes and such went over my head.

edited 7th Apr '10 7:11:11 PM by Canondorf

I was trying to go for balance in terms of P/T, manacost, abilities. Some I had to break because the story demands it.

My FF.net account

@Mapi: I have looked at all your Nanoha cards of characters introduced in the first three seasons. Just haven't had any more comments...yet.

@Ironeye:

• Why not multicolor? Hmm, I don't know. I always assumed he should be black, due to his leading the pirates to destroy lots of things, and due to his enjoying hiding in the shadow or otherwise springing an attack on things.
• Why cost more to look at another's card? I don't know...I don't even know where you're coming from with this question.
• Unfun to tap: That would be alleviated if I remove the distributable damage ability.
• The first tap ability: The intention here was to "assassinate" permanents without the ability of others to get in the way to prevent it. The idea was that Ridley gives his personal assurance that..."something gets done", y'know, and it gets done. Without the other abilities, I would enjoy this being his signature ability.
• Why stopping mana-burn: This comes from, admittedly, my Alternate Character Interpretation of Ridley being a meta-gamer. (Hence also the flavortext.) As I think I mentioned above, I'm considering removing this along with the card-reading stuff.

@Enlong: Hey, I enjoyed the pun.

@Durazno: Why discard to use the abilities? Not saying they're a bad thing, but just wondering why.

@Canondorf:

1. Why did you specially mention blue and flying?
2. Does this mean that you can exile opponents' creatures? Dang!

@everyone: We have various flavor cues to work with. Let's try a list of them: Ridley...

• is (most likely) evil.
• is looks like a dragon, and is a pirate works with pirates.
• is (supposedly) very intelligent.
• can consume flesh to restore his own flesh.
• tends to come back from the dead a lot.
• can fly.
• (probably) enjoys being in the shadows.
• is a military commander.
  • might even be a mastermind.
• breathes fire or plasma, in the form of what look like fireballs.
• screams like a girl.
• enjoys meta-gaming (from my Alternate Character Interpretation).
• is a colossal dick.
• plays Metroid way too much.
• has good taste in breakfast cereals.

(I swear I did not first write those last three. But at least the first one fits, and the second fits with the meta-gaming idea, due to Breaking the Fourth Wall. The third one is just plain funny.)

Which of these flavor cues should we take? Looks like, considering Ironeye's commentary (and maybe Stark Maximum's, but we were arguing too much for me to remember clearly), we should probably have a maximum of two of these abilities.

edited 7th Apr '10 7:57:02 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

Question: What would be the difference between:

• As an additional cost to playing [CARDNAME], sacrifice a creature you control.
• Sacrifice a creature you control.

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

The first one means you absolutely cannot hardcast your creature unless you sac something.

The second one is more flexible, even if you say, reanimate it, you may still have to sacrifice a creature if the text is "Sacrifice a creature when this comes into play."

My FF.net account

One reason is to justify making the mana costs cheaper; I think that just "1BR, T: Destroy target artifact or creature" would be a little overpowered. Another is that, since he's a black creature, the decks he's in will probably have ways to play with the graveyard anyway.

Mainly, though, it just fits my mental image of him as a rapacious space pirate raging around on the battlefield. I picture him smashing everything with excessive force and not worrying too much about casualties, which uses up resources.

So if it's a non-creature card, it's a moot point?

'Cause I was thinking of a card that has "Sacrifice a creature you control. Prevent all damage dealt to all (other?) creatures you control until the end-of-turn step"  ^*

. Possibly also with a minimum power or toughness requirement for the sacrifice. Likely an Instant. Definitely white.

No points for guessing which trope inspired this.

edited 7th Apr '10 8:11:03 PM by KylerThatch

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

I suggest doing away with the P/T requirement and simply state for it to be a "nontoken creature".

My FF.net account

That works too. How much would it cost to play, though?

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

WW would be fine. We already have W manacost cards that prevent combat damage like Holy Day and Ethereal Haze. One more W to prevent general damage wouldn't hurt.

My FF.net account

At Mia: Blue because he's extremely intelligent and needs a Blue ability to represent this, and thanks for the heads up, edited. Also:

I believe I used all relevant information in my card design. And the last three are because there's a user named Ridley. I think he frequents the vidya gaym forum.

In fact, I want to design some Metroid Magic cards now.

edited 7th Apr '10 8:25:32 PM by Canondorf

Hi.

No, I'm not telling you my opinion.

Alright, my comments:

• The assurance that something gets done doesn't really make much sense as a creature ability in a multiverse where creatures can be unsummoned with a single thought.
• My comment about costs was noting that it only cost half a mana to look at your own top card, but a full mana to look at anyone else's top card—I was just wondering if there was a reason why those were split beyond making the card interaction more interesting for Un-sets.
• The Ridley attributes that can easily be represented on a card a flying, regeneration, returning from the dead, and firebreathing, as some of the other posters have noted. I personally would go with 1 (since it's effectively "free" mechanics space for a dragon), 2, and 4, considering that those are the relevant abilities while Ridley is fighting things. The tendency not to stay dead (3) doesn't mix well with regeneration (2)—if it's too easy to bring him back, people will rarely regenerate him, but if it's too hard, that ability will rarely see use.
  • Were I to create a card using the given list of traits, it'd probably come in very close to what Canondorf made.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

• Cu Chulainn, the Fierce Hound
• Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight
• First strike, vigilance, shroud
• 2RB, Tap: Cu Chulainn, the Fierce Hound deals damage equal to its power to target creature. Any damage dealt this way can't be prevented. If damage dealt this way would cause that creature to suffer lethal damage, that creature can't be regenerated.
• 4/3

• Diarmuid Ua Duibhne of the Cursed Love Spot
• Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight
• Double strike, vigilance
• 1W: Destroy target artifact or enchantment attached to a creature blocking or blocked by Diarmuid Ua Duibhne of the Cursed Love Spot.
• 1B: Put a -1/-1 counter on a creature blocking or blocked by Diarmuid Ua Duibhne of the Cursed Love Spot.
• 3/4

edited 8th Apr '10 8:12:01 PM by catch_the_sun

My troper wall's now my troper page, yay!

You may want to use a setting that's a tad less esoteric, though anyone who knows will likely find those priceless.

Also, it's kind of hard to tell how balanced they are without a mana cost.

^^ i c wut u did thar. i totally saw it.

edited 9th Apr '10 12:54:45 AM by Mapi

My FF.net account

• Samus Aran
• 5WR Legendary Creature - Human Chozo Warrior
• When Samus Aran comes into play, destroy target planet.
• 2/5

edited 9th Apr '10 2:09:48 PM by Canondorf

XD

Also, here's an idea for a revised Ridley, using the same flavor justifications but doing totally different things:

Ridley

• Legendary Creature - Evolved Dinosaur Pirate [note: to troll everyone who calls him a dragon]
• 4BBB
• Flying
• BB: Target creature gains Deathtouch until end of turn.
• B, exile a creature you control: Regenerate Ridley.

5/4

Ah, now that's a much better card design.

If I may ask to satisfy my curiosity, what's the flavor behind him giving other creatures deathtouch?

Edit: As written, he has the "Evolved" creature type. In theory, this means other creatures could have "Evolved" as their only type. Just wanted to make sure you know what you're doing with that.

edited 12th Apr '10 5:29:36 PM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.