Redesign:
I decided that Alpha should really still have an Air Elemental to go along with its Water Elemental, even if I could try to come up with some kind of other interpretation of what creature this is from the art provided.
It'd be odd to see an Air Elemental not fly. So, I kept flying. I had no choice but to add an ability. What ability? Why, the ability to "blow away" something with a powerful whirlwind or gust of wind! What kinds of things can you blow away? Well, you can't blow away lands. Enchantments aren't physical objects. And planeswalkers didn't exist, yet. That left creatures and artifacts.
And that gives you the ability you see here! I thought it best to keep this an "enters the battlefield" ability to keep down the complexity (and its uncommon rarity). Especially considering Alpha!
You know, there isn't a card that returns specifically an artifact or creature as a result of a gust of wind. There's Disperse, which is strictly better. But you can't cost this new effect down to one blue mana, because then that would make Unsummon strictly worse. But, wait - sorcery speed! And voila:
I am happy this shares a name with a Pokemon TCG card, especially one I have vivid memories of.
Interesting fix! This does feel a little 'advanced' for Alpha, but it's a great reimagining.
ReplyDeleteI don't like Gust of Wind as much - it's always odd to see a Sorcery bounce spell, since it feels so out of blue's character. I think you could have simply made it an instant cantrip at 1UU.
I thought about making it into a cantrip, but I dislike making cards that are perfectly what the flavor of the text is into cantrips. Like how Lightning Bolt and Murder aren't cantrips.
DeleteWhat I would then do is rename the card to something else and have it be a cantrip and save Gust of Wind for another appropriate card.
I'd argue the opposite with cantrips... most cantrips nowadays are exactly what you describe. Though, I do agree that a cantrip effect does remove from the beauty of a simple text.
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