Post by goldensandslash on Sept 2, 2022 7:06:42 GMT
With Dominaria United, Wizards of the Coast decided to create "Legends Retold" Box Toppers. These are characters who originally had cards in Legends, but they were really lame cards. So they were given an upgrade to show these same characters, but done through a modern design lens. The cards are still based on the original versions.
Or are they?
Did Wizards do a good job of matching the original designs? Like, can you tell that these are meant to bet he same? Or are they just done completely from scratch. Well, I decided to take a look and find out. There's only 20 of them, so this won't take long. We'll start by looking at the Legends card, and then examine the Legends Retold version, for each of these guys.
Note that I am only judging these cards based on the cards themselves, not the characters. I'm just not familiar enough with Magic lore dating back to Legends, so... that's the best I can give you.
Anywho, let's look at our first pair of cards.
Ayesha Tanaka || WWUU || Legendary Creature -- Human Artificer || 2/2 || Banding || {T}: Counter target activated ability from an artifact source unless that ability's controller pays {W}.
Ayesha Tanaka, Armorer || 3WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Artificer || 2/4 || Whenever Ayesha Tanaka, Armorer attacks, look at the top four cards of your library. You may put any number of artifact cards with mana value less than or equal to Ayesha's power from among them onto the battlefield tapped. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. || Ayesha can't be blocked as long as defending player controls three or more artifacts.
I'll be honest, I'm not impressed here. Ayesha Tanaka, Armorer wants to go in a deck full of artifacts, since she cheats them into play. But the original Ayesha was not about playing artifacts. In fact, just the opposite. She COUNTERED artifacts. And yeah, the new Ayesha does become unblockable if the opponent is playing a ton of artifacts, but still. I don't think this is a good follow-up design.
Halfdane || 1WUB || Legendary Creature -- Shapeshifter || 3/3 || At the beginning of your upkeep, change Halfdane's base power and toughness to the power and toughness of target creature other than Halfdane until the end of your next upkeep. || Flavor text: Hail from Tolaria the ever changing 'Dane.
The Ever-Changing 'Dane || WUB || Legendary Creature -- Shapeshifter || 3/3 || {1}, Sacrifice another creature: The Ever-Changing 'Dane becomes a copy of the sacrificed creature, except it has this ability. || Flavor text: He could be anyone, anywhere, but he'll never again be "half" of anything.
This feels solid. The original version copied power/toughness, and the new one copies the whole damn creature. It does require a sacrifice, which is... a bit odd, to be honest. I feel like that's a bad way to do it, since if you already have the original creature... why make a copy? You don't need to, just use the original. But I suppose it can be useful for creatures that you WANT to put in your graveyard. And either way, I'm not critiquing the design here, just how well it matches the original card. And in that respect, it does well.
Marhault Elsdragon || 3RRG || Legendary Creature -- Elf Warrior || 4/6 || Rampage 1 || Flavor text: Marhault follows a strict philosophy, never letting emotions cloud his thoughts. No chance observer could imagine the rage in his heart.
General Marhault Elsdragon || 2RG || Legendary Creature -- Elf Warrior || 4/4 || Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn for each creature blocking it. || Flavor text: Driven by rage, directed by his emperor's claw.
This is really good. The original had rampage 1, and this grants pseudo-rampage 3 to your whole team. Perfect escalation.
Hazezon Tamar || 4RGW || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 2/4 || When Hazezon Tamar enters the battlefield, create X 1/1 Sand Warrior creature tokens that are red, green, and white at the beginning of your next upkeep, where X is the number of lands you control at that time. || When Hazezon leaves the battlefield, exile all Sand Warriors.
Hazezon, Shaper of Sand || RGW || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/3 || Desertwalk || You may play Desert lands from your graveyard. || Whenever a Desert enters the battlefield under your control, create two 1/1 red, green, and white Sand Warrior creature tokens.
Kinda a bit of a downgrade, honestly. Hazezon went from caring about all lands to just Deserts. I mean, it's still fine. I can tell that they based this on the original, since it still cares about lands and it makes the same tokens. And they did lower the mana cost substantially. But still? I think I'd rather have the original.
Jasmine Boreal || 3GW || Legendary Creature -- Human || 4/5 || Flavor text: Peace must prevail, even if the wicked must die.
Jasmine Boreal of the Seven || 1GW || Legendary Creature -- Human Druid || 2/4 || {T}: Add {G}{W}. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells with no abilities. || Creatures you control with no abilities can't be blocked by creatures with abilities. || Flavor text: I've had my adventures. All I wish now is to sit in peace and speak with the pines.
Talk about an ingenious idea. How do you make a legendary creature that's based on a vanilla? The answer? Make it care about vanillas. This is pretty clever.
Jedit Ojanen || 4WWU || Legendary Creature -- Cat Warrior || 5/5 || Flavor text: Mightiest of the cat warriors, Jedit Ojanen forsook the forests of his tribe and took service with the Robaran Mercenaries, rising through their ranks to lead them in the battle for Efrava.
Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary || 1WU || Legendary Creature -- Cat Mercenary || 3/3 || Whenever Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary or another legendary creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {G}. If you do, create a 2/2 green Cat Warrior creature token with forestwalk.
Huh. So, we got another vanilla. And they obviously can't just re-use the same trick. So instead of making it care about vanillas, they take another aspect of the card and care about that. Namely, Jedit Ojanen cares about legendary creatures, since his old card was a legendary creature. Again, very clever. But I feel like you're running out of ideas here. Pretty much all that's left is to care about color or to care about creature type.
The Lady of the Mountain || 4RG || Legendary Creature -- Giant || 5/5 || Flavor text: Her given name has been lost in the mists of time. Legend says that her silent vigil will one day be ended by the one who, pure of heart and spirit, calls out that name again.
The Lady of Otaria || 3RG || Legendary Creature -- Avatar || 5/5 || You may tap three untapped Dwarves you control rather than pay this spell's mana cost. || At the beginning of each end step, if a land you controlled was put into your graveyard from the battlefield this turn, reveal the top four cards of your library. Put any number of Dwarf cards from among them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Swing and a miss. This one is a good Commander for a Dwarf tribal deck. Which the original card had nothing to do with! So far, Wizards is 5-2 for making these feel like the original cards.
Lady Caleria || 3GGWW || Legendary Creature -- Elf Archer || 3/6 || {T}: Lady Caleria deals 3 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Ohabi Caleria || 1GW || Legendary Creature -- Elf Archer || 1/3 || Reach || Untap all Archers you control during each other player's untap step. || Whenever an Archer you control deals damage to a creature, you may pay {2}. If you do, draw a card.
I think this is a really cool design. Yeah, it cares about Archers, which the original also did. But more importantly? That final ability triggers on any damage, not just combat damage. That would include the ability that the original card has, making this the perfect next step.
Lady Orca || 5BR || Legendary Creature -- Demon || 7/4 || Flavor text: I do not remember what he said to her. I remember her fiery eyes, fixed upon him for an instant. I remember a flash, and the hot breath of sudden flames made me turn away. When I looked again, Angus was gone. -- A Wayfarer, on meeting Lady Orca
Orca, Siege Demon || 5BR || Legendary Creature -- Demon || 5/5 || Trample || Whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Orca, Siege Demon. || When Orca dies, it deals damage equal to its power divided as you choose among any number of targets.
I suppose you could argue that the flavor text mentions heat and flames, and this card does have a burn ability... but that's a huge stretch. So I'm calling this one a completely unrelated design. And yes, I know that there's not much you can do with vanillas, but still.
Ramirez DePietro || 3UBB || Legendary Creature -- Human Pirate || 4/3 || First strike || Flavor text: Ramirez DePietro is a most flamboyant pirate. Be careful not to believe his tall tales, especially when you ask his age.
Ramirez DePietro, Pillager || 2UB || Legendary Creature -- Human Pirate || 4/3 || When Ramirez DePietro, Pillager enters the battlefield, you lose 2 life and create two Treasure tokens. || Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled.
I mean, he cares about Pirates, so that's good. His abilities also evoke the flavor of being a pirate, since you're pillaging your opponent's cards and getting treasure. Sucks that he lost first strike, the only notable thing about his original card, but I do understand that it would be a color pie break if he did.
Ramses Overdark || 2UUBB || Legendary Creature -- Human Assassin || 4/3 || {T}: Destroy target enchanted creature.
Ramses, Assassin Lord || 2UB || Legendary Creature -- Human Assassin || 4/4 || Deathtouch || Other Assassins you control get +1/+1. || Whenever a player loses the game, if they were attacked this turn by an Assassin you controlled, you win the game. || Flavor text: Why butcher an army when you can slash a single throat for the same result?
I like it. It's called an Assassin lord, and it literally is an Assassin lord. The original is even an Assassin, so that works. I would have liked it if they expanded upon Aura-hate, but that's not a required thing. As it is, I'm giving them the thumbs-up here.
Rasputin Dreamweaver || 4WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 4/1 || Rasputin Dreamweaver enters the battlefield with seven dream counters on it. || Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Add {C}. || Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to Rasputin this turn. || At the beginning of your upkeep, if Rasputin started the turn untapped, put a dream counter on it. || Rasputin can't have more than seven dream counters on it.
Rasputin, the Oneiromancer || 1WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 4/1 || When Rasputin, the Onieromancer enters the battlefield, put a dream counter on it for each opponent you have. Each opponent creates a 1/1 red Goblin creature token. || {T}, Remove one or more dream counters from Rasputin: Add that much {C}. || {T}, Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with protection from red.
So, much like the original Rasputin, the new one makes use of dream counters. They can be removed for various effects, among them is colorless mana creation. It works. I would have preferred it if there were a way to get more dream counters than what you start with (probably by keeping the "if it started the turn untapped, give it another" ability), since it's kinda useless in a 1v1 game now. But oh well.
Rohgahh of Kher Keep || 2BBRR || Legendary Creature -- Kobold || 5/5 || At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay {R}{R}{R}. If you don't, tap Rohgahh of Kher Keep and all creatures named Kobolds of Kher Keep, then an opponent gains control of them. || Creatures you control named Kobolds of Kher Keep get +2/+2.
For completeness, the card being referenced is: Kobolds of Kher Keep || 0 || Creature -- Kobold || 0/1 || [Red color indicator.]
Rohgahh, Kher Keep Overlord || 3BR || Legendary Creature -- Kobold Warrior || 4/4 || Other Kobolds you control get +2/+2. || Whenever you cast a Kobold spell, you may pay {2}. If you do, create a 4/4 red Dragon creature token with flying. || Whenever you cast a Dragon spell, create a 0/1 red Kobold creature token named Kobolds of Kher Keep.
I think this is good. Each of them will give you +2/+2 to your Kobolds of Kher Keep, and the new version also helps you make more such Kobolds. Nicely done.
Stangg || 4RG || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/4 || When Stangg enters the battlefield, create Stangg Twin, a legendary 3/4 red and green Human Warrior creature token. Exile that token when Stangg leaves the battlefield. Sacrifice Stangg when that token leaves the battlefield.
Stangg, Echo Warrior || 2RG || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/4 || Whenever Stangg, Echo Warrior attacks, create Stangg Twin, a legendary 3/4 red and green Human Warrior creature token. It enters the battlefield tapped and attacking. For each Aura and Equipment attached to Stangg, create a token that's a copy of it attached to Stangg Twin. Sacrifice all tokens created this way at the beginning of the next end step.
Both versions of Stangg create copies of himself, but do so in different ways. The old card just gives you two copies of Stangg, but if one dies, you lose both. The new version gives you just one, but the clone appears whenever he attacks, but only for the turn, then it goes away. The fact that you can't use it while blocking is a bit of a misstep. I think I prefer the original. That said, the new one one does give you a direction to build, since it encourages heavy use of Auras and Equipment. But still, can't fault it for mimicking the original design of giving you a pair of 3/4s. And that is what I'm judging after all, so this one works. Good job, Wizards. You're 11-3.
Sivitri Scarzam || 5UB || Legendary Creature -- Human || 6/4 || Flavor text: Even the brave have cause to tremble at the sight of Sivitri Scarzam. Who else has tames Scarzam's Dragon?
Sivitri, Dragon Master || 2UB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Sivitri || 4 || [+1]: Until your next turn, creatures can't attack you or planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays 2 life for each of those creatures. || [-3]: Search your library for a Dragon card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. || [-7]: Destroy all non-Dragon creatures. || Sivitri, Dragon Master can be your commander.
Nice. They took the flavor text of the original card and expanded it by making a card that cares about Dragons... in a color combination that doesn't get too many Dragons. Looking at all the Dragons that exist in Magic as of Dominaria United, there's 26 blue ones, 16 black ones, 4 multicolor blue/black ones, and 7 colorless ones (not counting Ramos because he has a five-color color identity due to symbols in his text box). That's it; that's all you get in this deck. By comparison, mono-red alone has 127 Dragons. That makes deckbuilding here... tricky. Hopefully you can figure something out!
Tetsuo Umezawa || UBR || Legendary Creature -- Human Archer || 3/3 || Tetsuo Umezawa can't be the target of Aura spells. || {U}{B}{B}{R}, {T}: Destroy target tapped or blocking creature.
Tetsuo, Imperial Champion || UBR || Legendary Creature -- Human Samurai || 3/3 || Whenever Tetsuo, Imperial Champion attacks, if it's equipped, choose one -- || • Tetsuo deals damage equal to the highest mana value among Equipment attached to it to any target. || • You may cast an instant or sorcery spell from your hand with mana value less than or equal to the highest mana value among Equipment attached to Tetsuo without paying its mana cost.
Honestly? This is a bit of a stretch. I get it, the original cannot be enchanted (well, okay, it can't be targeted by the Aura spell, but it can technically have an Aura that's already in play be moved to it by a card effect). So because of that, the way to power it up is with Equipment, not Auras. But the original card didn't reference Equipment at all, or even artifacts (yes, I know Equipment didn't exist back then). And the last ability of the original card is nowhere to be seen in the new one. Not even a variation on it. I'm calling this one a miss.
Tobias Andrion || 3WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Advisor || 4/4 || Flavor text: Administrator of the military state of Sheoltun, Tobias is the military right arm of the empire and figurehead of its freedom.
Tobias, Doomed Conqueror || 2WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Soldier || 3/2 || Flash || When Tobias, Doomed Conqueror dies, for each nontoken creature you controlled that died this turn, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token. || Flavor text: Tobias spent decades tormenting pirates on the open sea and decades more dancing lifelessly beneath it.
So... I like the design of this. You flash it in, in response to a boardwipe. And then everyone's stuff dies, but you get Zombies as replacements. It's a really nice card design. But it has nothing to do with the original card, so in terms of what I'm actually grading on, this one is another failure.
Tor Wauki || 2BBR || Legendary Creature -- Human Archer || 3/3 || {T}: Tor Wauki deals 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Tor Wauki the Younger || 3BR || Legendary Creature -- Human Archer || 3/3 || Reach, lifelink || If another source you control would deal noncombat damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much damage plus 1 to that permanent or player instead. || Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Tor Wauki the Younger deals 2 damage to any target.
So, this one. It triggers off of noncombat damage, which the original was doing. And it itself can still do 2 damage at a time, which is the same as the original. Definitely can see the progression here. This one is a solid A plus. Wizards is 13-5 so far.
Torsten Von Ursus || 3GGW || Legendary Creature -- Human Soldier || 5/5 || Flavor text: How can you accuse me of evil? Though these deeds be unsavory, no one will argue: good shall follow from them.
Torsten, Founder of Benalia || 5GW || Legendary Creature -- Human Soldier || 7/7 || When Torsten, Founder of Benalia enters the battlefield, reveal the top seven cards of your library. Put any number of creature and/or land cards from among them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. || When Torsten dies, create seven 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
The new version seems to be obsessed with the number seven. It has a mana value of 7, a power of 7, a toughness of 7, looks at 7 cards when it comes in, and dies to give you 7 tokens. If the original had anything whatsoever to do with the number 7, I'd be impressed that they found something clever to reference there. But, there isn't any such thing. So this one is no good.
Xira Arien || BRG || Legendary Creature -- Insect Wizard || 1/2 || Flying || {B}{R}{G}, {T}: Target player draws a card. || Flavor text: A regular guest at the Royal Masquerade, Arien is the envy of the Court. She appears in a new costume every hour.
Xira, the Golden Sting || 1BRG || Legendary Creature -- Insect Assassin || 3/3 || Flying, haste || Whenever Xira, the Golden Sting attacks, put an egg counter on another target creature without an egg counter on it. When that creature dies, if it has an egg counter on it, draw a card and create a 1/1 black Insect creature token with flying.
So... this is like... insects laying eggs inside of a body, and then the hatchlings bursting through the chest of the person carrying them when that person dies. That's terrifying and I LOVE IT. The design on this is absolutely brilliant. It's just a shame that it has nothing to do with the original design, so this one is a miss.
Well that's a sour note to end on. Oh well.
So overall, Wizards got 13 hits and 7 misses. Or roughly two-thirds. That's honestly not as good of a hit rate as I was expecting. I mean, it's not bad. But I thought they'd do better.
Or are they?
Did Wizards do a good job of matching the original designs? Like, can you tell that these are meant to bet he same? Or are they just done completely from scratch. Well, I decided to take a look and find out. There's only 20 of them, so this won't take long. We'll start by looking at the Legends card, and then examine the Legends Retold version, for each of these guys.
Note that I am only judging these cards based on the cards themselves, not the characters. I'm just not familiar enough with Magic lore dating back to Legends, so... that's the best I can give you.
Anywho, let's look at our first pair of cards.
Ayesha Tanaka || WWUU || Legendary Creature -- Human Artificer || 2/2 || Banding || {T}: Counter target activated ability from an artifact source unless that ability's controller pays {W}.
Ayesha Tanaka, Armorer || 3WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Artificer || 2/4 || Whenever Ayesha Tanaka, Armorer attacks, look at the top four cards of your library. You may put any number of artifact cards with mana value less than or equal to Ayesha's power from among them onto the battlefield tapped. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. || Ayesha can't be blocked as long as defending player controls three or more artifacts.
I'll be honest, I'm not impressed here. Ayesha Tanaka, Armorer wants to go in a deck full of artifacts, since she cheats them into play. But the original Ayesha was not about playing artifacts. In fact, just the opposite. She COUNTERED artifacts. And yeah, the new Ayesha does become unblockable if the opponent is playing a ton of artifacts, but still. I don't think this is a good follow-up design.
Halfdane || 1WUB || Legendary Creature -- Shapeshifter || 3/3 || At the beginning of your upkeep, change Halfdane's base power and toughness to the power and toughness of target creature other than Halfdane until the end of your next upkeep. || Flavor text: Hail from Tolaria the ever changing 'Dane.
The Ever-Changing 'Dane || WUB || Legendary Creature -- Shapeshifter || 3/3 || {1}, Sacrifice another creature: The Ever-Changing 'Dane becomes a copy of the sacrificed creature, except it has this ability. || Flavor text: He could be anyone, anywhere, but he'll never again be "half" of anything.
This feels solid. The original version copied power/toughness, and the new one copies the whole damn creature. It does require a sacrifice, which is... a bit odd, to be honest. I feel like that's a bad way to do it, since if you already have the original creature... why make a copy? You don't need to, just use the original. But I suppose it can be useful for creatures that you WANT to put in your graveyard. And either way, I'm not critiquing the design here, just how well it matches the original card. And in that respect, it does well.
Marhault Elsdragon || 3RRG || Legendary Creature -- Elf Warrior || 4/6 || Rampage 1 || Flavor text: Marhault follows a strict philosophy, never letting emotions cloud his thoughts. No chance observer could imagine the rage in his heart.
General Marhault Elsdragon || 2RG || Legendary Creature -- Elf Warrior || 4/4 || Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn for each creature blocking it. || Flavor text: Driven by rage, directed by his emperor's claw.
This is really good. The original had rampage 1, and this grants pseudo-rampage 3 to your whole team. Perfect escalation.
Hazezon Tamar || 4RGW || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 2/4 || When Hazezon Tamar enters the battlefield, create X 1/1 Sand Warrior creature tokens that are red, green, and white at the beginning of your next upkeep, where X is the number of lands you control at that time. || When Hazezon leaves the battlefield, exile all Sand Warriors.
Hazezon, Shaper of Sand || RGW || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/3 || Desertwalk || You may play Desert lands from your graveyard. || Whenever a Desert enters the battlefield under your control, create two 1/1 red, green, and white Sand Warrior creature tokens.
Kinda a bit of a downgrade, honestly. Hazezon went from caring about all lands to just Deserts. I mean, it's still fine. I can tell that they based this on the original, since it still cares about lands and it makes the same tokens. And they did lower the mana cost substantially. But still? I think I'd rather have the original.
Jasmine Boreal || 3GW || Legendary Creature -- Human || 4/5 || Flavor text: Peace must prevail, even if the wicked must die.
Jasmine Boreal of the Seven || 1GW || Legendary Creature -- Human Druid || 2/4 || {T}: Add {G}{W}. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells with no abilities. || Creatures you control with no abilities can't be blocked by creatures with abilities. || Flavor text: I've had my adventures. All I wish now is to sit in peace and speak with the pines.
Talk about an ingenious idea. How do you make a legendary creature that's based on a vanilla? The answer? Make it care about vanillas. This is pretty clever.
Jedit Ojanen || 4WWU || Legendary Creature -- Cat Warrior || 5/5 || Flavor text: Mightiest of the cat warriors, Jedit Ojanen forsook the forests of his tribe and took service with the Robaran Mercenaries, rising through their ranks to lead them in the battle for Efrava.
Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary || 1WU || Legendary Creature -- Cat Mercenary || 3/3 || Whenever Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary or another legendary creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {G}. If you do, create a 2/2 green Cat Warrior creature token with forestwalk.
Huh. So, we got another vanilla. And they obviously can't just re-use the same trick. So instead of making it care about vanillas, they take another aspect of the card and care about that. Namely, Jedit Ojanen cares about legendary creatures, since his old card was a legendary creature. Again, very clever. But I feel like you're running out of ideas here. Pretty much all that's left is to care about color or to care about creature type.
The Lady of the Mountain || 4RG || Legendary Creature -- Giant || 5/5 || Flavor text: Her given name has been lost in the mists of time. Legend says that her silent vigil will one day be ended by the one who, pure of heart and spirit, calls out that name again.
The Lady of Otaria || 3RG || Legendary Creature -- Avatar || 5/5 || You may tap three untapped Dwarves you control rather than pay this spell's mana cost. || At the beginning of each end step, if a land you controlled was put into your graveyard from the battlefield this turn, reveal the top four cards of your library. Put any number of Dwarf cards from among them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Swing and a miss. This one is a good Commander for a Dwarf tribal deck. Which the original card had nothing to do with! So far, Wizards is 5-2 for making these feel like the original cards.
Lady Caleria || 3GGWW || Legendary Creature -- Elf Archer || 3/6 || {T}: Lady Caleria deals 3 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Ohabi Caleria || 1GW || Legendary Creature -- Elf Archer || 1/3 || Reach || Untap all Archers you control during each other player's untap step. || Whenever an Archer you control deals damage to a creature, you may pay {2}. If you do, draw a card.
I think this is a really cool design. Yeah, it cares about Archers, which the original also did. But more importantly? That final ability triggers on any damage, not just combat damage. That would include the ability that the original card has, making this the perfect next step.
Lady Orca || 5BR || Legendary Creature -- Demon || 7/4 || Flavor text: I do not remember what he said to her. I remember her fiery eyes, fixed upon him for an instant. I remember a flash, and the hot breath of sudden flames made me turn away. When I looked again, Angus was gone. -- A Wayfarer, on meeting Lady Orca
Orca, Siege Demon || 5BR || Legendary Creature -- Demon || 5/5 || Trample || Whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Orca, Siege Demon. || When Orca dies, it deals damage equal to its power divided as you choose among any number of targets.
I suppose you could argue that the flavor text mentions heat and flames, and this card does have a burn ability... but that's a huge stretch. So I'm calling this one a completely unrelated design. And yes, I know that there's not much you can do with vanillas, but still.
Ramirez DePietro || 3UBB || Legendary Creature -- Human Pirate || 4/3 || First strike || Flavor text: Ramirez DePietro is a most flamboyant pirate. Be careful not to believe his tall tales, especially when you ask his age.
Ramirez DePietro, Pillager || 2UB || Legendary Creature -- Human Pirate || 4/3 || When Ramirez DePietro, Pillager enters the battlefield, you lose 2 life and create two Treasure tokens. || Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled.
I mean, he cares about Pirates, so that's good. His abilities also evoke the flavor of being a pirate, since you're pillaging your opponent's cards and getting treasure. Sucks that he lost first strike, the only notable thing about his original card, but I do understand that it would be a color pie break if he did.
Ramses Overdark || 2UUBB || Legendary Creature -- Human Assassin || 4/3 || {T}: Destroy target enchanted creature.
Ramses, Assassin Lord || 2UB || Legendary Creature -- Human Assassin || 4/4 || Deathtouch || Other Assassins you control get +1/+1. || Whenever a player loses the game, if they were attacked this turn by an Assassin you controlled, you win the game. || Flavor text: Why butcher an army when you can slash a single throat for the same result?
I like it. It's called an Assassin lord, and it literally is an Assassin lord. The original is even an Assassin, so that works. I would have liked it if they expanded upon Aura-hate, but that's not a required thing. As it is, I'm giving them the thumbs-up here.
Rasputin Dreamweaver || 4WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 4/1 || Rasputin Dreamweaver enters the battlefield with seven dream counters on it. || Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Add {C}. || Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to Rasputin this turn. || At the beginning of your upkeep, if Rasputin started the turn untapped, put a dream counter on it. || Rasputin can't have more than seven dream counters on it.
Rasputin, the Oneiromancer || 1WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Wizard || 4/1 || When Rasputin, the Onieromancer enters the battlefield, put a dream counter on it for each opponent you have. Each opponent creates a 1/1 red Goblin creature token. || {T}, Remove one or more dream counters from Rasputin: Add that much {C}. || {T}, Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with protection from red.
So, much like the original Rasputin, the new one makes use of dream counters. They can be removed for various effects, among them is colorless mana creation. It works. I would have preferred it if there were a way to get more dream counters than what you start with (probably by keeping the "if it started the turn untapped, give it another" ability), since it's kinda useless in a 1v1 game now. But oh well.
Rohgahh of Kher Keep || 2BBRR || Legendary Creature -- Kobold || 5/5 || At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay {R}{R}{R}. If you don't, tap Rohgahh of Kher Keep and all creatures named Kobolds of Kher Keep, then an opponent gains control of them. || Creatures you control named Kobolds of Kher Keep get +2/+2.
For completeness, the card being referenced is: Kobolds of Kher Keep || 0 || Creature -- Kobold || 0/1 || [Red color indicator.]
Rohgahh, Kher Keep Overlord || 3BR || Legendary Creature -- Kobold Warrior || 4/4 || Other Kobolds you control get +2/+2. || Whenever you cast a Kobold spell, you may pay {2}. If you do, create a 4/4 red Dragon creature token with flying. || Whenever you cast a Dragon spell, create a 0/1 red Kobold creature token named Kobolds of Kher Keep.
I think this is good. Each of them will give you +2/+2 to your Kobolds of Kher Keep, and the new version also helps you make more such Kobolds. Nicely done.
Stangg || 4RG || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/4 || When Stangg enters the battlefield, create Stangg Twin, a legendary 3/4 red and green Human Warrior creature token. Exile that token when Stangg leaves the battlefield. Sacrifice Stangg when that token leaves the battlefield.
Stangg, Echo Warrior || 2RG || Legendary Creature -- Human Warrior || 3/4 || Whenever Stangg, Echo Warrior attacks, create Stangg Twin, a legendary 3/4 red and green Human Warrior creature token. It enters the battlefield tapped and attacking. For each Aura and Equipment attached to Stangg, create a token that's a copy of it attached to Stangg Twin. Sacrifice all tokens created this way at the beginning of the next end step.
Both versions of Stangg create copies of himself, but do so in different ways. The old card just gives you two copies of Stangg, but if one dies, you lose both. The new version gives you just one, but the clone appears whenever he attacks, but only for the turn, then it goes away. The fact that you can't use it while blocking is a bit of a misstep. I think I prefer the original. That said, the new one one does give you a direction to build, since it encourages heavy use of Auras and Equipment. But still, can't fault it for mimicking the original design of giving you a pair of 3/4s. And that is what I'm judging after all, so this one works. Good job, Wizards. You're 11-3.
Sivitri Scarzam || 5UB || Legendary Creature -- Human || 6/4 || Flavor text: Even the brave have cause to tremble at the sight of Sivitri Scarzam. Who else has tames Scarzam's Dragon?
Sivitri, Dragon Master || 2UB || Legendary Planeswalker -- Sivitri || 4 || [+1]: Until your next turn, creatures can't attack you or planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays 2 life for each of those creatures. || [-3]: Search your library for a Dragon card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. || [-7]: Destroy all non-Dragon creatures. || Sivitri, Dragon Master can be your commander.
Nice. They took the flavor text of the original card and expanded it by making a card that cares about Dragons... in a color combination that doesn't get too many Dragons. Looking at all the Dragons that exist in Magic as of Dominaria United, there's 26 blue ones, 16 black ones, 4 multicolor blue/black ones, and 7 colorless ones (not counting Ramos because he has a five-color color identity due to symbols in his text box). That's it; that's all you get in this deck. By comparison, mono-red alone has 127 Dragons. That makes deckbuilding here... tricky. Hopefully you can figure something out!
Tetsuo Umezawa || UBR || Legendary Creature -- Human Archer || 3/3 || Tetsuo Umezawa can't be the target of Aura spells. || {U}{B}{B}{R}, {T}: Destroy target tapped or blocking creature.
Tetsuo, Imperial Champion || UBR || Legendary Creature -- Human Samurai || 3/3 || Whenever Tetsuo, Imperial Champion attacks, if it's equipped, choose one -- || • Tetsuo deals damage equal to the highest mana value among Equipment attached to it to any target. || • You may cast an instant or sorcery spell from your hand with mana value less than or equal to the highest mana value among Equipment attached to Tetsuo without paying its mana cost.
Honestly? This is a bit of a stretch. I get it, the original cannot be enchanted (well, okay, it can't be targeted by the Aura spell, but it can technically have an Aura that's already in play be moved to it by a card effect). So because of that, the way to power it up is with Equipment, not Auras. But the original card didn't reference Equipment at all, or even artifacts (yes, I know Equipment didn't exist back then). And the last ability of the original card is nowhere to be seen in the new one. Not even a variation on it. I'm calling this one a miss.
Tobias Andrion || 3WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Advisor || 4/4 || Flavor text: Administrator of the military state of Sheoltun, Tobias is the military right arm of the empire and figurehead of its freedom.
Tobias, Doomed Conqueror || 2WU || Legendary Creature -- Human Soldier || 3/2 || Flash || When Tobias, Doomed Conqueror dies, for each nontoken creature you controlled that died this turn, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token. || Flavor text: Tobias spent decades tormenting pirates on the open sea and decades more dancing lifelessly beneath it.
So... I like the design of this. You flash it in, in response to a boardwipe. And then everyone's stuff dies, but you get Zombies as replacements. It's a really nice card design. But it has nothing to do with the original card, so in terms of what I'm actually grading on, this one is another failure.
Tor Wauki || 2BBR || Legendary Creature -- Human Archer || 3/3 || {T}: Tor Wauki deals 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Tor Wauki the Younger || 3BR || Legendary Creature -- Human Archer || 3/3 || Reach, lifelink || If another source you control would deal noncombat damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much damage plus 1 to that permanent or player instead. || Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Tor Wauki the Younger deals 2 damage to any target.
So, this one. It triggers off of noncombat damage, which the original was doing. And it itself can still do 2 damage at a time, which is the same as the original. Definitely can see the progression here. This one is a solid A plus. Wizards is 13-5 so far.
Torsten Von Ursus || 3GGW || Legendary Creature -- Human Soldier || 5/5 || Flavor text: How can you accuse me of evil? Though these deeds be unsavory, no one will argue: good shall follow from them.
Torsten, Founder of Benalia || 5GW || Legendary Creature -- Human Soldier || 7/7 || When Torsten, Founder of Benalia enters the battlefield, reveal the top seven cards of your library. Put any number of creature and/or land cards from among them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. || When Torsten dies, create seven 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
The new version seems to be obsessed with the number seven. It has a mana value of 7, a power of 7, a toughness of 7, looks at 7 cards when it comes in, and dies to give you 7 tokens. If the original had anything whatsoever to do with the number 7, I'd be impressed that they found something clever to reference there. But, there isn't any such thing. So this one is no good.
Xira Arien || BRG || Legendary Creature -- Insect Wizard || 1/2 || Flying || {B}{R}{G}, {T}: Target player draws a card. || Flavor text: A regular guest at the Royal Masquerade, Arien is the envy of the Court. She appears in a new costume every hour.
Xira, the Golden Sting || 1BRG || Legendary Creature -- Insect Assassin || 3/3 || Flying, haste || Whenever Xira, the Golden Sting attacks, put an egg counter on another target creature without an egg counter on it. When that creature dies, if it has an egg counter on it, draw a card and create a 1/1 black Insect creature token with flying.
So... this is like... insects laying eggs inside of a body, and then the hatchlings bursting through the chest of the person carrying them when that person dies. That's terrifying and I LOVE IT. The design on this is absolutely brilliant. It's just a shame that it has nothing to do with the original design, so this one is a miss.
Well that's a sour note to end on. Oh well.
So overall, Wizards got 13 hits and 7 misses. Or roughly two-thirds. That's honestly not as good of a hit rate as I was expecting. I mean, it's not bad. But I thought they'd do better.