izzet-always-r-versus-u:

imakethecard:

izzet-always-r-versus-u: The date is June 11th, 2015. I still have not figured out how to properly balance planeswalker cards. …also I could have sworn I had an image saved on my computer that I could use for the art. Apparently not. Anyway, this felt about right for Planeswalker!Taylor. Has her core abilities, anyway - summoning shitloads of bugs (repeatable emblems are super fun) and information gathering. And puppeteering things, eventually. I probably should have just had her -2 give her multiple tokens or possibly a deathtouch token, but like I said, repeatable emblems are fun. It shows how she makes what you’re already doing more effective. And, per her fandom interpretation, she escalates: the longer she sticks around to make more emblems, the more what you’re already doing lets you overwhelm your opponent. Taylor isn’t really a perfect fit for MTG’s planeswalker policy - usually, the characters roughly match their color identities in terms of both personality and abilities. That wasn’t really workable here: Taylor’s motivations are solidly blue/white/red, her Skitter persona is very black/blue…and, as the card above implies, her actual abilities are green/blue. I decided to represent her abilities rather than her character, in this case. If you ask me, Taylor’s pretty clearly monowhite. Strong morals, obsessed with order, tries to force everyone to cooperate peacefully, controls a perfectly-obedient army…if you asked me for an example of how white can be scary, I’d give you her. Here’s my take on her, for reference. That aside, I think the card’s a bit too strong. Drawing a card as a +1 ability is really nice, the -2 has strong value in a long game, and the ultimate is a game-winner. She just seems too efficient.

She’s definitely White primarily, but not exclusively: her actions and her worldview are colored by her emotions (er, pun not intended) much more than she realizes. Or lets herself realize, I suppose. We don’t see it much because the story’s told from her point of view and she’s very good at retroactively justifying her actions, but her morals frequently bend to accommodate her emotions. Also, Red’s whole shtick is seeking freedom through action, and Taylor’s main reason for joining the cape scene and trying to become a hero was tied to escapism, trying to get away from her problems. And then there’s the fact that she doesn’t really give a rat’s ass about the law or the government in general, which is the main thing that makes vigilantes White/Red normally. There’s a lot of different things that point her towards Red.

…the Blue is a lot weaker, admittedly, but a big part of her desire for cooperation is because she believes the in-fighting is preventing capes from maximizing their abilities and potential. It’s something she picks up more and more as the story goes on, but in general, she never stops trying to improve her abilities and her skills, and pushing those around her to do the same.

I guess it just depends on where you draw the line, how much of someone’s motivations have to be pointed in the same direction before they can be considered to represent that color. Personally, I’d put Blue just above that line and Black a bit below, with Red comfortably above it, but you might put the line somewhere else.

(…sorry if this comes off ranty. I’ve just spent far too much time thinking about this, and I jumped at the chance to go into my thoughts about it. Color theory is fun.)

(As for the card itself…yeah, I can see that. I wasn’t sure how powerful that middle effect was, and I basically wrote off the ultimate as “bah, she’ll never get there anyway.” I bumped it from five to seven permanents at the last minute because I thought it wasn’t ultimate-y enough. First edits I’d try would be bumping the CMC to 5, the starting loyalty to 4, and making the emblem a -3 so it’s harder to pull off repeatedly. And then adjusting the ultimate cost accordingly: -8? -9? Not sure if that’s enough or if it’s too far - like I said, balancing planeswalkers is tricky.)