Totem of Protection

[tophu]

Totem of Protection :1:
Artifact - Equipment
Equip :3:
If you would sacrifice equipped creature, sacrifice Totem of Protection instead.

(Edit: changed both mana cost and equip cost from :2: )

[eric_peel]

IMO, a very expensive card for a very circumstantial effect. You might consider letting it be attached as an instant and/or reducing the equip cost. It only seems like it would be useful when playing against a handful of black cards, but maybe I'm overlooking some hidden power...who knows.

[tophu]

maybe I'm overlooking some hidden power...who knows.

Yeah, the hidden power is that when equipped to a creature with an ability that costs ":t:, sacrifice ~this~:" it effectively becomes ":t:, sacrifice Totem of Protection:" instead. So you can reuse those effects. I did consider making the equip cost :3: and the casting cost :1: so that it was a "cog" that various Mirrodin block effects could recycle and/or tutor for it.

[OMFG Tom]

Make the equip 1.

[St@rWizard]

This can cost 1/0 to play/equip. or 1/1 plus some way to bring it back.

But this is just me and my desire for playability :D

[who is the pilot]

i agree with star. . .this as a cog would be pretty nice. . .especially with ways to recycle it from the grave. . .

[avatara]

like a million other cards i know it can be broken horribly.

[tophu]

like a million other cards i know it can be broken horribly.Care to share an example?

[avatara]

i just know theres like 10 or so cards that would turn this into an instant win engine

[tophu]

i just knowWe'd like to know, too.theres like 10 or so cardsSuch as? You've yet to provide a single concrete example.that would turn this into an instant win engineI personally can't think of a card that combos directly with this to be degenerate. Yeah, I can think of several three or four card combos that would be pretty good with this, but that's hardly a terrible thing. Perhaps you could simply name one of the "like 10 or so cards" that would make this degenerate when paired with it?

[Flash]

for one, Hells Caretaker would love this card in reanimation decks...

[avatara]

firstly dont act so degenerate towards me
secondly ill only pick standard legal cards composite golem
then auriok salvagers for infinite mana on turn 6 or so.

next theres rootrunner and the other cards from kamigawa that say sac this do this

the main abuser is of course auriok salvager which turns it to an infinite combo

[tophu]

I'm sorry if my message sounded antagonistic. I reread what I wrote and I can certainly see where you'd get that. I didn't mean to sound so gruff.

The examples you give aren't very scary. Auriok Salvagers costs two mana to use, and Composite Golem costs six mana to cast and gives you five when you sac it. With those two in play and the Totem, you'd be able to cycle it through the graveyard repeatedly, but you wouldn't net any mana. You have to pay three mana to equip it to the Golem, and then you get :w::u::b::r::g: and the Totem goes to the graveyard. Spend :1::w: to activate the Salvagers and you have three mana left, just enough to equip it back to the Golem, with nothing left over. Add a Disciple of the Vault to the mix and sure, that's nasty, but it also takes four cards. That's hardly degenerate, and several in print cards will combo better with a Disciple for less mana and trouble.
With Rootrunner and the Totem, the ability basically becomes a one time ":3::g::g:: Put target land on top of its owner's library." That's an effect that Wizards has previously costed at three or four mana (Fallow Earth and Uproot, respectively). Again, hardly degenerate.

[tophu]

With those two in play and the Totem, you'd be able to cycle it through the graveyard repeatedly, but you wouldn't net any mana. Actually, I just noticed that this is wrong. You wouldn't be able to cycle this through indefinately, unless you had some other infinite mana engine. I was thinking that the Salvagers put the cog directly back into play. Since it doesn't, you'd have to spend :1: to play this before you could re-equip it for :3:. Since it cost you :1::w: to get it back, you actually end up :1: down per cycle.

[Saknumssem]

What you could use to win the game is Composite Golem + the card+ Door to Nothingness