Sewers Under Kasprah – White Drain

Now that I've got my feet wet designing the cards for Sewers Under Kasprah, I'm taking a step back and re-evaluating all the archetypes. The original "archetypes" were just the three color combos that made up a singular mechanic, and that just won't do. So now, with these mechanics in mind, I'm considering proper two-color archetypes that can be supported by these mechanics. So I think I'm going to start from scratch, almost, redesigning the set with the new archetypes in mind. I am also strongly considering changing the story theme and flavor. Though it will remain about sewers, I'm unsure whether I want to alter things to make them more of a joke set as originally intended, or tighten up a story that can flow through the cards.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post all the cards I had originally designed. I'll break them up into a bunch of posts like I did with Seffala, starting today with White Drain cards.

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First, the common Drain cards. Moral Brutes is a simple card with the basic ETB effect we've all seen from cards like Skymarch Bloodletter. Ardent Purger is similar but requires you to pay the extra mana for the privilege, kind of like Extort. Dwarven Venger has more of an anti-block trigger, so it some ways it acts like Afflict, however since Dwarven Venger needs to have been dealt damage, zero-power creatures (like walls, usually) would not affect it. Anemic Peel is the first sorcery that drains. It uses the 'fairness' aspect of white in its second bit of text, allowing you to catch up to your opponent's life totals. Innervation sage is the common payoff, giving it a Prowess-type boost, but for lifegain.

Now, the uncommon and rare Drain cards. Longfingers is closer to a proper Afflict mechanic, because its trigger is on becoming blocked, not on being dealt damage. Sapping Trap is a removal spell with a variable Drain tacked on, which can be a very heavy swing if the opponent comes in or blocks with a big bomb. Feasting Leeches is the uncommon payoff for Drain, so at worst if you're below ten life, it's a 1/1, but if you've drained enough to get above 20 life, you're getting an above-rate creature. Mucilaginous Feaster has a bunch of triggers, first by having multiple Drain effects (on ETB and on attack), but then also has half of Dawn of Hope tacked onto it, appending card draw onto lifegain, which makes the card a rare payoff. Unusual Recruitment is a second rare payoff, allowing you to turn your potential lifegain into a go-wide token strategy. Notice here that it's a replacement effect, so you never gain the life. But it's also a may ability so you can choose whether the lifegain or soldiers are more useful at the moment.