Ruin of Seffala – B/R/G Creatures: Witherkin

Wither is an old mechanic from Shadowmoor that I've always been fond of. Wither is simply a replacement effect that says that a creature with Wither deals damage in the form of -1/-1 counters. This means that damage done by Wither creatures doesn't go away at the end of the turn.

When I was growing up, and not understanding how to properly play Magic, I thought damage was permanent. Much of Ruin of Seffala is nostalgia for me (even the misunderstanding of the game is nostalgic), so I decided to add Wither as a major mechanic for the set and see how other strategies would deal with it.

Witherkin, then, is simply a race of creatures that all have Wither. In the lore of Seffala, they were originally swamp-dwellers, minding their own business, until their land was invaded and they were forced to move out. Some stuck to their swampy homeland, while others traveled to the mountains to survive, and others traveled further, to explore the forests.

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These cards are fairly simple, as far as Witherkin go. Martial Balder can be screwy with combat math, where, if it gets through to the player for damage, it only deals one damage, but as soon as it meets one blocker, it deals three damage to that blocker. I like the way it kind of gets angrier the more it gets blocked.

Slay the Weak is a conditional removal card that takes a little bit of work to set up, but if you manage to fill your deck with Witherkin I don't think it'll be too tricky to pull off.

This does suggest many other subthemes of this set, such as -1/-1 counters in general, and a heavy 'toughness matters' motif. I'll be expanding on those as I continue.

For a little bit on lore: in the Witherkin language, "Balder" means rebel, "Nettler" means nomad, and "Jarren" means something like 'scout', so these words will come up often in card names, and their subtypes reflect that. Balders are usually black, Nettlers red, and Jarren green, though there's some wiggle room.