Shepherd's Sling

[guyarney]

Shepherd's Sling (Common)

Artifact – Equipment
Shepherd's Sling enters the battlefield with five stone counters on it.
Equipped creature has “, Remove a stone counter from Shepherd's Sling: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature. If it's a Bear, Cat, Giant, or Wolf, destroy it.”
Equip – Pay 1 life

[GoblinToken]

Magic the Gathering needs a good sling. Love this one. Why can't the damage be prevented though? And why does it hurt to pick up?

[S3ptic]

I like the flavor, but all in all the card tries to do too much, especially considering it is a mundane sling, not some magic weapon!

I'd reduce the counters to 3 and make it hit players as well as creatures. Can either keep the destroy or the tap effect but red rid of unpreventable damage. Mana cost to equip would fit better as well, I think.

[Xyx]

I don't like the idea of powerful magic being presented as a mundane item. This thing does more than Viridian Longbow or Wolfhunter's Quiver, yet pretends to be unassuming. If it only took a strip of leather and a pebble to to ping, tap and destroy lions, giants and wolves, then almost every creature with opposable thumbs should have that ability.

How does a mundane sling run out of ammo anyway? Shortage of pebbles?

[guyarney]

The concept is based on the Biblical account of David and Goliath wherein David slays Goliath with a single stone slung from his sling, but not before gathering five stones - just in case, I guess.

David was a shepherd of sheep whose weapon of choice was a sling. The reason I expanded the instant death clause from Giants to include Bears, Cats, and Wolves is because I imagine those would be the types of threats a shepherd of his time would have to fight off.

If you think a mundane sling can't slay something outright, think again. There is at least one renowned slinger who has been scientifically documented via ballistic testing (or whatever it's called) as being capable of doing just that, repeatedly, accurately, and from long distances and he probably doesn't spend half the time with a sling as David and other shepherds of his time did.

The reason the equip cost is 1 life is symbolic quite honestly.

[fallenonme]

I understood the flavor behind it (David and Goliath), and still get the idea behind it, even the 5 rocks. Even so, I still think there shouldn't be a limit. Or at the least, make it so they have to do something to get counters (representing them having to look for, and pick up rocks that are good enough for a sling).

[Xyx]

The concept is based on the Biblical account of David and Goliath

Yeah, I got that much. So, is this The Biblical Holy Sling of Slaying(TM), or just a regular strip of leather?

The reason I expanded the instant death clause from Giants to include Bears, Cats, and Wolves is because I imagine those would be the types of threats a shepherd of his time would have to fight off.

So is this simple piece of leather enchanted to do this kind of thing? Or is it a result of a shepherd's lifelong experience of knowing just how to hit said creatures?

If you think a mundane sling can't slay something outright, think again.

Yeah, yeah. Almost every single card shows implements that can kill something outright, be it claws, knives, axes, swords, spears, arrows, spikes, clubs, teeth, pointy sticks... yet not all creatures have deathtouch. What is it that makes this thing special?

[guyarney]

I dropped the unpreventable part and the tap part.