Meilar's Makeover

How about making it so using Meilar's ability doesn't dizzy him and tacking on a 3 activation cost?
Why 3? It was actually an arbitrary number I came up with. No real basis other than at that amount the ability will still be rarely used due to +8/+8 on only Dark Elves not being worth 3 per boost. However, if someone has a lot of excess mana from Manamancers or so on and doesn't have a Firestorm in hand then this would actually be quite useful.

An argument against the change would be cards like Selection Committee, Kelar Sentry, Zero-G Facility, etc. that essentially gives 1 free use of his ability per turn. Also his ability would no longer double as a way to stop him from attacking in response to a spell.

Thoughts?

hmm it reminds me of prince glomps ability a bit
i like it

this ability seems a bit useless right now
if you're going to pay 12 for an 85/85 why would you want to boost DE's already in play when you could just attack a few times for the win?

his ability is crap right now, and 3 sound about right, so I vote yes.

I agree. I like this change.

If I wanted to sit there and grow Dark Elves, I could pay three mana for kelar citizens and get a bigger effect.

Dizzy abilities, especially weak ones like this, become worse the higher the monster's stats are. (This is also the problem with Holy Dragon, in my opinion...)

I'll vote yes, but would prefer it at 2.

I think 3 without dizzying a good way to use the ability. It's still not going to be that useful, but it's there if you need it.

I vote yes and prefer it at 3. At 2 it becomes a more effective win than firestorm in manamancer decks.

I'll vote 2, since a buffed creature is probably slightly more vulnerable than a spell (not to mention requiring you to play Meilar in the first place, and he's overcosted).  Alternatively, if he costs 11 to cast, then I'm fine with his ability costing 3.

i'd rather have him cost 11 and 3 then 12 and 2 if it comes down to it...

Meilar has stats ~ to Reckless Abandon, a bit better since attack is worth more then life; a better ability then it, even if we didn't change it; and dark elf synergy, including Elven City Kel'Sor. I'm against them costing the same. Dropping it to 2 would give you 4/4 per :mana:, 1 more then firestorm if the monster landed 1 direct hit, not to mention what happens if it lands 2, or the life boost. 12 and 3:gmana to activate at  is fine.

You know, it's entirely possible to boost Meilar without changing his ability. Here are some radical suggestions:

• Decrease the play cost!
• ncrease the stats!
• Make the ability stronger!

if his cost was decreased he'd probably only be played as a giant beatstick and his ability would still be ignored

same thing as above basically just a bit reversed

anything below +15/+15 seems pretty useless to me...and even then he would probably still see more combat action then ability use

though thats just what i think...

Maybe, just maybe, he's meant to see more combat than ability use?

Nacho Wrote:Meilar has stats ~ to Reckless Abandon, a bit better since attack is worth more then life; a better ability then it, even if we didn't change it; and dark elf synergy, including Elven City Kel'Sor. I'm against them costing the same. Dropping it to 2 would give you 4/4 per :mana:, 1 more then firestorm if the monster landed 1 direct hit, not to mention what happens if it lands 2, or the life boost. 12 and 3:gmana to activate at  is fine.

NOLDER Wrote:if his cost was decreased he'd probably only be played as a giant beatstick and his ability would still be ignored

same thing as above basically just a bit reversed

anything below +15/+15 seems pretty useless to me...and even then he would probably still see more combat action then ability use

though thats just what i think...

Exactly, which is why his ability isn't necessarily any better than Reckless Abandon (not to mention Reckless has a sac gain and its own limited synergy with Capt Navis).  In the off chance you encounter a Dethstrik deck, you might actually want to deal 35 damage to it rather than attacking it and scratching the paint on Reckless (or worse, if you happen to see a Suicider).  Meilar's ability, on the other hand, just isn't worth using.  Like pretty much ever, unless you're facing Diplomacy and have nothing better to do.  It's a cipher.  

I'm okay with dropping Meilar to 11 and tweaking his ability to around +12/+12 or so if we want to leave it as a dizzying ability, or bump it to something like +22/+22 if we leave his cost the same.  I don't necessarily have a problem with him being used as a beatstick with a minor secondary ability, but it shouldn't be completely pointless.

Really, unless there's a diplom out, you won't use that worthless ability. Even if you boost it to, like, +20/+20, you'd be sacrificing 85 power of attack. So... I'd support a 2 activation and no dizzy.

I think that changing his ability to +15/+15 should be fine. It seems like a good balance that wouldn't require his ability to be change, but that being said, the suggested balance also seems balanced so...

My original idea was to keep his ability still only marginally useful, just in a different way.
You may use it just once to boost a Warrior to 42/48 just to survive an attack (useful for Kelar General) or you may blow 30 you have saved up from Manamancer usage to make an all-out attack. Either way you're more likely to actually see the ability used, but it won't be so powerful that we'd need to make Meilar weaker in any other respect.

That of course assumes Meilar is fine as is. If he does need a boost as well, I'd suggest changing his play cost, stats, or the stats of the boost as a 1 mana change in activation cost adds up quickly and isn't nearly as flexible as stat number changes (with 12: +8/+8 at 3 = +32/+32; +8/+8 at 2 = +48/+48; +9/+9 at 3 = +36/+36).

If he is given a no dizzy ability, he'll become great in manamancer decks, much safer than firestorm.  With that in mind, I request either, 1.  Failure: Dizzy or better yet 2. Failure: Meilar loses activated ability.

I'm liking the non dizzying ability with the failure cost of losing his ability

Yes! And he should have Maintenance: Do the Hokey Pokey! And then explode!