Daily Card Redesign #39: Mask of Riddles

Daily Card Redesign is a daily Magic: The Gathering design exercise where I randomly choose a card for the scenario of it being killed late during its own set's development, and I design a replacement card that uses the same art, is the same color, is the same rarity, and has a name that, alphabetically, keeps it within the same collector number for the set.

I LOVE "riddle" as a theme. Which is why I love Batman's The Riddler. Anyway, this card is part of a cycle of ally-color pair uncommon Equipment in Alara Reborn. FYI.

Redesign:

I wanted to involve guessing since the art depicts a Sphinx mask, but then it got too wordy and complex for an uncommon Equipment - especially one that is part of a cycle.

I made sure to not have the condition be based on "blocks or becomes blocked," since that would make the opponent possibly hesitant to attack, which is never a great thing to encourage. I don't want them discouraged from attacking and giving you a card and possibly losing a great creature to a not-so-great creature only to have it happen again with the next-in-line-to-be-equipped creature.

Nay, having the condition trigger only upon becoming blocked makes the right focus. Now the opponent has more things to consider than normal when blocking. The decision-making is that much more of a tricky thing to figure out. A bit closer to a riddle than without the mask.

I gave the reward to be based upon the land and not a nonland so that it's not too swingy.

I like how the flavor of "get this riddle right or die" sphinx thing is happening here with granting deathtouch. Kinda. The narrative can be in your head of what's happening with a creature equipped with this mask.