Aracades Sabboth

These Elder Dragon Legends were impressive for their day -- unusual abilities, evasion, huge bodies, weird and prohibitive costs -- it's the complete casual package. (Their name and type stems from their race -- this guy, Chromium Rhuell, Nicol Bolas, Vaevictus Asmodi and Palladia-Mors were survivors of the Elder Dragon Wars, the original seminal event of the Magic storyline and the oldest known event in Dominaria's history. That type line is problematic for a number of reasons, and the change made in Oracle -- handwaving that allows them to be both elders and dragons, rather than elder-dragons -- is probably the easiest.)

Still, they've got a raft of problems. First, they're overcosted, and by a good chunk. This guy, for example, is an 8-mana wall that makes your other walls better. The ability is just needlessly narrow at 8 mana, especially since six of it is colored and he's got an upkeep cost! Second, while their high casting cost and large power and toughness mean they should all pretty close in terms of power levels, their abilities are all over the place. Here's a rundown: all have flying; Arcades has Castle and W: +0/+1; Chromium has Rampage 2; Nicol Bolas famously forces a foe to discard his or her hand on damage; Palladia-Mors gets trample; and Vaevictis gets +1/+0 for each R, B or G mana you spend.

That's right, "Discard your hand" is considered the equal of trample or, more ludicrously, rampage 2. If you ever needed evidence of pet cards and lazy design, this is it -- it's just so blatant that it makes me a little angry, the same way it did when I first saw these when I was 14. Sure, trample's very relevant on a 7-power dude -- and, as a point of comparison, it's doubtful Nicol Bolas was ever hardcast and meaningfully stripped out a hand -- but that ignores the dozens of powerful reanimation effects the early game offered. Again, it's just aggravating.

Next, these guys are meant to be flagships of the set, but only two are actually interesting. The other three are just overcosted dorks. These guys should not only reflect their draconic heritage, but they should showcase their color combinations. While two are decent stabs at this -- this guy and Nicol Bolas -- the other two aren't. We're going to take a bit of a detour and completely redesign all of these guys, rather than trying to just update them, something I've avoided doing for the most part on other cards.

Finally, they're iconic. We're going to keep the flying, 7/7 bodies; the hefty color requirements (if not the exact 8 converted-mana cost); and the type line. Upkeep costs are so 1998; we'll be dropping those because they're ugly and stupid. We'll be moving all the dragons to mythic rarity and overhauling their abilities. (Chromium is particularly galling; rampage 2 on anything that's not aggressive and solidly mid-range is just embarrassing, especially when it doesn't have trample. It's also a green/red ability, both in flavor and mechanics. Oh, and rampage is terrible.)

So, for Arcades -- first, he's clearly meant to be the "defensive" dragon. The other dragons actively want to tag the opponent; this guy punishes you for attacking. That's going to have to change -- we don't punish players for attacking in Magic -- but I think going for a "toughness matters" strategy isn't a bad call in GWU. First, white and blue are known for having high-toughness duders. Second, white has the most toughness-boosting abilities in the game; green and white have the lion's share of the market for toughness- and power-boosting abilities overall. Finally, blue has a neat little niche of power-and-toughness-swapping abilities.
So, here's the first go:

The first ability may not be templated correctly, but there's no ability exactly like it in the game. I had to wing it, so feel free to point out how it wouldn't work as printed if you see a problem.

I like this guy on a lot of levels. First, he's defensive, but he also powers aggression -- when you swing, your toughness pumps not only save your dudes, but they power your ability to damage opponents and kill opposing duders. Second, he feels very GWU to me, but he also feels true to the original. I like that the activated abilities feel in-color and that they're reminiscent of the original's 1-of-each upkeep. I'm especially happy with the GU activated ability. On your dudes, it's going to result in larger power, which is green; but on your opponents', it's typically going to result in smaller power, and that's blue. It also can't be used to kill a creature, something that both blue and green have a hard time doing.

I don't like how this guy will impact layers; he'll be a rules nightmare in more than situation, but them's the breaks. He's mythic, and most of the bad interactions are with known quantities (Humility-type abilities and the like).

Here's another card, one I don't like as much, but keeps the "untapped" vibe:

That's probably more printable -- it doesn't screw with layers nearly as badly -- but I don't care for cards that encourage players to go all in, especially at higher rarities. The thrill of Wrathing an overplayed board is pretty thin -- it rarely happens against good players, so it's often just a swift kick to inexperienced genitals. Still, Arcades is in the colors to be a walking, one-sided Coat of Arms -- between small dudes and tokens, GWU does it better than any other color combination.