Whenever a creature blocking Avalanche Kami is removed from combat, if no other creatures are blocking Avalanche Kami, Avalanche Kami becomes unblocked.
[4/4]
Akki Oxherd1RR
Creature - Goblin [R]
Double strike
Whenever a creature blocking Akki Oxherd is removed from combat, if no other creatures are blocking Akki Oxherd, Akki Oxherd becomes unblocked.
[2/2]
Imori-Gang PetR
Creature - Salamander [U]
Whenever a creature blocking Imori-Gang Pet is removed from combat, if no other creatures are blocking Imori-Gang Pet, Imori-Gang Pet becomes unblocked.
Discard Imori-Gang Pet: Target Ninja creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
[1/1]
It might just be nerfed trample in any other set, but hopefully it's something more here.
I get that Imori-Gang Pet is the rare because you can bounce it back to your hand, play a Ninja turn 2, then discard it for the power bonus. It still reads as a really crappy card. So many things need to go right for it to be better than Mons's Goblin Raiders, and Ninjas aren't even a major theme in red.
The others seem like they would have some applications in a "normal" deck - wait to see if your opponent blocks before deciding to play that burn spell, for example.
Does Akki Oxherd still deal regular damage if the opponent chump blocks?
Does Akki Oxherd still deal regular damage if the opponent chump blocks?
Yeah, the idea of the Oxherd is that the second strike will hit your opponent's face, assuming that the first strike damage killed its final blocker.
The Salamander is, indeed, super-duper-crappy outside of a Ninja deck. My set has red Ninjas, however. As I push for these red Ninjas to feel and play very different from their black and blue counterparts (while still feeling like Ninjas,) I wanted to give them some "torch the roof, kick in the windows" kind of effects. This guy is meant to enable such a ninjutsu-by-brute-force strategy. And in that context, I think he actually stands to be pretty good. I'd happily bump his discard bonus up to +3/+0. (I was trying to be somewhat modest.) There's no question that this guy is narrow - that's why he's rare.
Avalanche Kami and Akki Oxherd- I kinda feel like it might be too technical, as in I'm not sure a new player would get it. That aside, I'm ok with it.
I really like Imori Gang Pet but I hate it as a rare. It is narrow, but it really isn't terribly complicated or splashy. Maybe change it to "Discard CARD: Target unblocked attacking creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn," and lower the rarity.
Akki Oxherd and Imori-Gang Pet might be able to switch rarities. Double strike is the stronger ability in a vacuum. The Ninja pump could play well in limited.
Trample and Thorn Elemental would both be simpler wording. This also as it is currently worded works poorly against Curtain of Light-effects, which I assume a combat based set would have at least one of.
These seem far too complex to see print, especially the Common. If these sort of effects are a major theme in your block, you might want to rethink how to use that theme at Common. The average Common card has 7 words of rules text on it. Avalanche Kami has 22.
If these sort of effects are a major theme in your block, you might want to rethink how to use that theme at Common.
Nope. These are the only three, at least for this set. If there's an immensely compelling reason to do more in the second / third set of the block, and I find a new design that's interesting, then maybe. But probably not.
To the people who are reminding me that trample is better... yeah, I get that (see OP.) The reason why this ability can have a home in this particular set is mostly because of ninjutsu, and maybe other abilities that care about whether something is unblocked. Trample doesn't help there.
The Akki Oxherd / Imori-Gang Pet rarity switch is something that I considered. I'm pretty sure that the Oxherd is gonna be... fairly good, at least. I'll go ahead and do this.
Creature - Spirit [C]
Whenever a creature blocking Avalanche Kami is removed from combat, if no other creatures are blocking Avalanche Kami, Avalanche Kami becomes unblocked.
[4/4]
Creature - Goblin [R]
Double strike
Whenever a creature blocking Akki Oxherd is removed from combat, if no other creatures are blocking Akki Oxherd, Akki Oxherd becomes unblocked.
[2/2]
Creature - Salamander [U]
Whenever a creature blocking Imori-Gang Pet is removed from combat, if no other creatures are blocking Imori-Gang Pet, Imori-Gang Pet becomes unblocked.
Discard Imori-Gang Pet: Target Ninja creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
[1/1]
The others seem like they would have some applications in a "normal" deck - wait to see if your opponent blocks before deciding to play that burn spell, for example.
Does Akki Oxherd still deal regular damage if the opponent chump blocks?
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Yeah, the idea of the Oxherd is that the second strike will hit your opponent's face, assuming that the first strike damage killed its final blocker.
The Salamander is, indeed, super-duper-crappy outside of a Ninja deck. My set has red Ninjas, however. As I push for these red Ninjas to feel and play very different from their black and blue counterparts (while still feeling like Ninjas,) I wanted to give them some "torch the roof, kick in the windows" kind of effects. This guy is meant to enable such a ninjutsu-by-brute-force strategy. And in that context, I think he actually stands to be pretty good. I'd happily bump his discard bonus up to +3/+0. (I was trying to be somewhat modest.) There's no question that this guy is narrow - that's why he's rare.
I really like Imori Gang Pet but I hate it as a rare. It is narrow, but it really isn't terribly complicated or splashy. Maybe change it to "Discard CARD: Target unblocked attacking creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn," and lower the rarity.
Trample and Thorn Elemental would both be simpler wording. This also as it is currently worded works poorly against Curtain of Light-effects, which I assume a combat based set would have at least one of.
Nope. These are the only three, at least for this set. If there's an immensely compelling reason to do more in the second / third set of the block, and I find a new design that's interesting, then maybe. But probably not.
To the people who are reminding me that trample is better... yeah, I get that (see OP.) The reason why this ability can have a home in this particular set is mostly because of ninjutsu, and maybe other abilities that care about whether something is unblocked. Trample doesn't help there.
The Akki Oxherd / Imori-Gang Pet rarity switch is something that I considered. I'm pretty sure that the Oxherd is gonna be... fairly good, at least. I'll go ahead and do this.