By Ye Olde Kafir (Kafir) on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 01:05 pm:

In Dungeons and Dragons the defining ability for a Druid is his/her ability to wild shape. In Magic most Druids do something with mana-fixing or land-searching instead. But what about they print some cards that make Wild Shape the new defining ability for Druids.

I'd be happy if someone could point out cards already existing that have an effect like this.

Here are some examples:

Wildshaper Apprentice <G>
Creature - Human Druid | Common | 1/1
<1><G>: ~ becomes a 2/2 hound until end of turn.

Wildshaper Druid <1><G>
Creature - Human Druid | Uncommon | 1/2
<2><G>: ~ becomes a 3/3 bear until end of turn.
<4><G>: ~ becomes a 5/5 elephant until end of turn.

Wildshaper Merfolk <1><G><U>
Creature - Merfolk Druid | Rare | 1/3
Flying.
<2><G><U>: ~ becomes a 6/6 serpent until end of turn. This serpent cannot attack until defending playing controls an island.

Kafir, Big-ass Wildshaper <2><G><G>
Legendary Creature - Human Druid | (Mythic) Rare | 0/2
Shroud.
<3><G><G>: ~ becomes an 8/8 wurm with trample until end of turn.
<3><G><G>: All other creatures you control become 3/5 treefolk until end of turn.

Cloak of Wildshaping <2><G>
Enchantment - Aura | Uncommon | Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has <3><G>: ~ becomes a 5/4 beast until end of turn.

Any suggestions?

By Ye Olde Kafir (Kafir) on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 03:16 pm:

Master of Many Forms <1><G><G>
Creature - Human Druid | Rare | 1/1
<3><G>: This becomes an 3/3 beast with trample until end of turn.
<3><U>: This becomes an 2/3 bird with flying until end of turn.
<3><R>: This becomes an 2/2 giant with first strike until end of turn.
<3><W>: This becomes an 3/1 angel with lifelink until end of turn.
<3><B>: This becomes an 2/3 imp with deathtouch until end of turn.

By Ghaleon (Xanatos_Yfel) on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 10:58 pm:

Ageless Sentinel sort of does it.
Lots of cards do it to lands.
Boldwyr Intimidator does something similar to lotsa people (and i love that "cowards can't block warriors")

i really like these cards, especially the flavor of the merfolk.
I think Kafir should transform forests with its second ability, though.

I also think it would be cool if cloak of wildshaping had "UU: Enchanted creature becomes the creature type of your choice until end of turn"

By Bwm Wil Mindctrl (Bwm) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 01:39 am:

Gigantomancer sort of does it.
And ofcourse Figure of Destiny, but it does it in another flavory way, he just grows stronger when time passes by

By Ye Olde Kafir (Kafir) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 07:20 am:

I see there are some cards that change size or type, but none of them really have the "druid wild shape"-flavour to me. Gigantomancer for example doesn't change creature type and Boldwyr Intimidator just trains warriors and scares people to become cowards. Ageless Sentinels transformation doesn't end at end of turn.

And you are right about the Legend, he should turn forests into treefolk while creatures could become wurms/beasts/bears or something.

By Puschkin (Puschkin) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 07:35 am:

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/od/282.jpg

Sort of.

By (Squeeman) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 10:01 am:

Aw, I was gonna say that one.

Honestly, though, I never much cared for the "wild shape" aspect. It always struck me as a lazy way around giving druids better powers. Like, I dunno, having vines burst from the trees and strangle people to doom or going all Wizard of Oz poppy field on people or perhaps using natural processes to accomplish something bad ass. It seems to me a little more creative than turning into an animal and bashing stuff till it breaks.

Not that I'm trying to rain on your thing, or that I'm saying you have a bad idea. It's just not how I see druids.

By (Squeeman) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 10:11 am:

But within the logic of this, maybe the legend ought to become an elemental or an avatar? I mean, y'know, something like Child of Gaea, or Gaea's Avenger or... uh... Gaea's Liege.

Gaea's Gaean Gaeamancer?

By Puschkin (Puschkin) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 10:57 am:

<awaits upcoming gay-joke>

By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:04 am:

After that setup? It would be a crime not to.

Or is it too easy?

By Ghaleon (Xanatos_Yfel) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 01:02 pm:

I honestly can't think of one.
I CAN tell you, however, that before i explained to my aunt what a necromancer was, she thought it was someone with a neck fetish.

By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 01:08 pm:

You mean it's not that?

Then why was Lim-Dul the most reviled person in all of Terisiare?

By Puschkin (Puschkin) on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 04:32 am:

Since nobody is able to crack a proper gay joke we might as well get back to topic.

Here is something to consider: The wildshaping skills might be represented with SPELLS in Magic. I am talking about spells like Snake Form but also about enchantments like Bear Umbra.

By (Squeeman) on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 07:56 am:

Form of the Squirrel?

By (Squeeman) on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 12:12 pm:

Not to mention Aspect of Wolf, obviously.

You know what bothers me? The Embrace enchantments. Know why? All of them, save one, represent one of three things:

1) The target "becomes" something (e.g. Serra's Embrace #1, Shiv's Embrace #1, Zephid's Embrace, Vampiric Embrace).
2) The target is helped by something/someone (Serra's Embrace #2, Squee's Embrace obviously) or is at least "surrounded" by the spirit/essence of that thing (Verdant Embrace, Flowstone Embrace).
3) Target is forcefully recruited into someone's numbers (Dauthi Embrace, Yavimaya's Embrace).

So what the hell is up with Gaea's Embrace? Why does that lucky ass druid get to pilot a giant freaking mecha? (Made of wood and mulch and stuff, no less.) No one else gets to pilot a big wooden mecha! This is discrimination!

I won't rest until I am issued an apology from WotC, with new art for Squee's Embrace depicting it as someone piloting a giant robot Squee.

By (Squeeman) on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 01:24 pm:

No wait, I realized something that makes me feel better about it. You see, that guy on Gaea's Embrace is actually...

By (Squeeman) on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 01:25 pm:

By (Squeeman) on Friday, July 30, 2010 - 01:28 pm:

I wish I still had photoshop access. Oh well.

Anyway, that's enough distractions from me. Back to my last helpful information!

Aspect of Wolf, and stuff.

By (Squeeman) on Saturday, July 31, 2010 - 04:33 am:

You could also expand the Aspect/Form enchant creature cardpool, by working on other traditional green creature types. Like Aspect of Bear, of Form of the Wurm, or Form of the Treefolk or whatever. I forgot about Aspect of Mongoose. I guess that counts too, even though the artist clearly had no idea what a mongoose actually looks like, and just blurred the art from the 5th Edition Aspect of Wolf.

However, I still feel that druids ought to be more interesting than beefed up Bravestarrs. Then again, the movie is somewhat cooler than it deserves to be.

Out of sheer curiosity, what inspired the idea for a merfolk druid?

By Ye Olde Kafir (Kafir) on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 12:01 pm:

The Merfolk Druid? Well I just wanted to make up at least one multi-colored one and U/G is one of my favorite combinations. Then making it a merfolk that could wild shape into a serpent came kind of natural.

It could be achieved with spells, but I really had in mind creatures that could only shape themselves into a large creature and not change others. Of course if you, as a player, want to be a druidic-type planeswalker then you should have some spells available as well.

By (Squeeman) on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 01:11 pm:

Oh, okay. To be honest, I've always thought that blue was over-wizarded, classwise (and that most of the other colors have too few wizards, compared to other classes). From a flavor perspective, I like the idea of blue druids and shamans. Not exclusively, of course, but in some moderation. Unfortunately, the only examples I have to draw on are homarids and Balduvians. (Meanwhile, wouldn't it be cool to see some more green/white/red wizards rather than having those colors' spellcasters almost entirely represented by druids, clerics, and shamans?) But then that's just me.

But if you're going for the wild shaping (as opposed to enchantments), how about a druid that Aspect-of-Wolfifies or Blanchwood-Armors itself? Or Maros/Multanis itself?

Is it just me, or is the art of Blanchwood Armor kickass?

By Ye Olde Kafir (Kafir) on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 10:22 pm:

Yeah, it's okay to have a druid that Wolfifies, Blanchwoods or Multani's itself, though it should also change creature type. The only thing I'm still toying with is the cost; <1><G> is the normal cost for a 2/2 so it's probably a bit expensive for turning a 1/1 into a 2/2.

Flavourwise, wizards and the closely related artificers are definitely blue-ish in nature because of their affinity with things cultural and unnatural. Green and red should have sorcerers/mages that cast on impulse and inspiration from nature, while still having wizard as creature type. And a water/air druid makes sense as blue creature because of the classical elementals.

By Bwm Wil Mindctrl (Bwm) on Monday, August 02, 2010 - 03:11 am:

GG to turn it into a 3/3 Elephant seems fine...

By (Squeeman) on Monday, August 02, 2010 - 03:25 am:

What about for a 3/3 with trample?

Well, it's just my pet peeve, but I don't see wizards and artificers are "closely related" or that red/green spellcasters should necessarily ALL be impulsive (that just makes them stupid). I think WotC has oversold that aspect. But I'm just gonna say that quickly and don't want to risk hijacking the thread for a conversation that's already been had.

By (Squeeman) on Monday, August 02, 2010 - 03:28 am:

Or what about for the epitome of elephanthood, a white 2/2 with trample/banding?

You could also borrow from the idea of Werebear, and go with a threshold idea.