Eternal Victory Dojo -- Clans of Rokugan (Magic: the Gathering)

This article is part of a series exploring a custom M:tG block based on the original Legend of the Five Rings TCG. Timeline-wise it picks up around where that card game ended. The first set focuses on introducing the world, while the next two cover the apocalyptic events which occurred at the end of the "A Brother's Destiny" storyline. There is no thematic or mechanical similarity to the LCG which shares the name.

This card was designed a number of years ago, but is rated at time of publishing.

The Finished Product

One of the easier designs in this cycle of ETB tapped duals with 2 mana activation costs. The Lion clan, which this land represents, has two mechanical focuses in the set -- Foretelling cards, and playing around with counters. Seeing as the Stronghold card which shares this card's name was focused on augmenting units, it seemed fair to lean into that side of the Lion's mechanical profile for this design.

It's possible first strike at instant speed is too annoying, and would lead to slogs in combat-focused games. That's mostly a limited concern, though, and a light once, since this card is a rare.

My Rating

4/10

Not interesting enough for constructed, where the proactive decks which might be interested in the effect would be turned off by the ETB tapped. Forcing a target also would lead to those decks getting completely sunk by removal.

Probably makes the cut in commander, where any of the counters are interesting, and the ETD tapped means less.

Probably noxious in limited, where the ETB tapped opportunity cost rarely matters, and where first striking a whole board makes you effectively impossible to attack. Seeing as this set is primarily supposed to be a limited set, that's an almost lethal strike against this design, and