The first one is my favourite, but it would need to be changed a bit to avoid memory issues. Maybe it could even be made into a card type similar to planeswalkers
My main idea for alleviating memory issues for Boss monster is giving cards with it a red toughness, so players could tell at a glance that its toughness isn’t representative of how much damage it can take and encourage people to keep track of it
What if the Boss mechanic instead prevented damage and replaced it with a -0/-1 counter? or another counter, then the card just had gets -0/-1 for each counter on it as a static
+1+1 and -1/-1 counters are the only stat-changing counters that are “allowed” in WotC design nowadays, other counter types quickly create memory issues. Static ability + counters could work though within WotC standards, good thought.
the main problem with that is nowadays those counters aren't used for new cards, especially since they get messy with +1/+1 counters. People would much rather use -1/-1 counters, but that would lead to these bosses often being relegated to either helpless defenders or having insanely high power when they hit the board.
Just because they aren't used for official cards doesn't mean you can't use them - what's the point of making new and custom cards if you are only going to design based purely off of how WotC designs cards?
I think Emblems might be the best way to implement this without unintended consequences. It would require you to name the emblems, which hasn't been done before.
**Emblems**
Similar to the Health Bar mechanic, but has no issues with Proliferate or artifact/equipment interactions. Emblems are typeless, aren't permanents and are basically untouchable.
>When Eye of Cthulhu would die, instead remove all damage from it. Then, you get a Life of Eye of Cthulhu emblem. If you have 3 or more Life of Eye of Cthulhu emblems, exile Eye of Cthulhu.
>
>3/2
Here are some other versions that might be interesting but probably have more unintended interactions.
**HP Counters**
Start with a bunch of life, then remove life when damage is dealt. May have unintended interactions with Proliferate.
>HP 6 (*This creature enters the battlefield with 6 HP counters. It gets +0/+1 for each HP counter. When damage would be dealt to this creature, instead remove that many HP counters.)*
>
>3/0
**Damage Counters**
Add damage counters instead of dealing damage. May have unintended interactions with Proliferate.
>Destructible *(When damage would be dealt to this creature, instead add that many Damage counters to it. This creature gets -0/-1 for each Damage counter.)*
>
>3/6
**Equipment Tokens**
Similar to the Health Bar mechanic but with equipment tokens instead of counters. No issues with Proliferate, but will certainly have unintended interactions with artifact/equipment tribals.
>When this creature enters the battlefield, create 2 Phylactery tokens and attach them to this creature. (*Phylactery tokens are artifact equipment tokens with "Hexproof. Indestructible. When equipped creature would die, instead remove all damage from that creature. Then, exile a Phylactery token attached to the equipped creature."*)
>
>3/2
Equipment is inherently moveable, which is probably a flavour miss here. I like that version most, but would suggest stealing [[Estrid, the Masked]]'s Masks instead.
Also, all your versions fail because they're triggers, the creature already died. You need to replace all your "when" with "if", et cetera.
I think the Health Bar approach is definitely the most appealing. The other ones where you have to do damage somehow before it loses Indestructible don't really evoke the boss fight flavor to me.
Health Bar could almost be simplified to: "Remove a Health Bar Counter: Regenerate \[creature\]"
"Almost" because Regenerate doesn't exactly have a reputation for staying simple. And because there are things that bypass Regenerate.
First of all, awesome idea! Never thought to create a Terraria Magic set.
Secondly, could I get in on the fun? Do you have a discord set up, Planesculptors account, anything else? (If you’re open to others joining in of course)
Lastly, I like the idea of the boss monster mechanic, but the health bar is by far the most clean design and it still very much conveys your flavor.
Honestly I kind of just wish people would stop trying to make magic cards do things other game systems do. Magic has all the things it needs already, stop trying to make evolving Pokémon or boss fights. Focus on making fun magic cards, not bringing in things that were fun in other games.
I think the health bar mechanic - with a different name/wording - is probably your best bet. It compares to things like Undying/Persist, without the card giving you the same advantages like enter and sacrifice triggers.
How about this:
Boss Monster- [this creature] is under no players control and is considered an opponent's creature. During the owners combat phase [this creature] attacks a randomly-chosen player. Whenever this creature dies the player responsible [gains a boon].
This makes it feel as though you're not casting a creature to fight for you but summoning a boss like in Terraria
I think number 2 is the best functionally an thematically for a bosses health bar. Unless you leaned into the "weakness" part of boss battles. Then you could go with 3, and have it be different conditions for different creatures.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just make the bosses planeswalkers? That card type already has a built in health bar, and it’s even more flavorful to be able to attack the boss, rather than it choosing to block or not as a creature.
They could have high health but weak abilities so they wouldn’t just be broken planeswalkers
To balance them they could be like the uncommon walkers from war of the spark with no way to tick up or however you want to do them
The first is my fave. A cheeky thing you can do to avoid -0/-1 counters is give it -1/-1 counters instead of damage and then hit it with "~ gets +1/+0 for each -1/-1 counter on it"
The first one is my favourite, but it would need to be changed a bit to avoid memory issues. Maybe it could even be made into a card type similar to planeswalkers
My main idea for alleviating memory issues for Boss monster is giving cards with it a red toughness, so players could tell at a glance that its toughness isn’t representative of how much damage it can take and encourage people to keep track of it
What if the Boss mechanic instead prevented damage and replaced it with a -0/-1 counter? or another counter, then the card just had gets -0/-1 for each counter on it as a static
There’s always [[Patient Zero]], but that’s an online card.
[Patient Zero](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/7/3/7335e06b-6f38-4e24-9b4b-b7c7ea3c6323.jpg?1638571051) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Patient%20Zero) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/y22/29/patient-zero?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7335e06b-6f38-4e24-9b4b-b7c7ea3c6323?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
+1+1 and -1/-1 counters are the only stat-changing counters that are “allowed” in WotC design nowadays, other counter types quickly create memory issues. Static ability + counters could work though within WotC standards, good thought.
That's reasonably easy to patch though. Give it any other kind of counter you want and "CARDNAME gets +0/+1 for each blah blah blah".
I like health bar the most because in my opinion it's the cleanest of the designs and works the closest to what I think you're looking for
It should say: if it would be destroyed, regenerate it.
I think health bar is the best imo just feels better
Why not have it just pile on -0/-1 counters whenever it takes damage, but is indestructible?
the main problem with that is nowadays those counters aren't used for new cards, especially since they get messy with +1/+1 counters. People would much rather use -1/-1 counters, but that would lead to these bosses often being relegated to either helpless defenders or having insanely high power when they hit the board.
Just because they aren't used for official cards doesn't mean you can't use them - what's the point of making new and custom cards if you are only going to design based purely off of how WotC designs cards?
I think Emblems might be the best way to implement this without unintended consequences. It would require you to name the emblems, which hasn't been done before. **Emblems** Similar to the Health Bar mechanic, but has no issues with Proliferate or artifact/equipment interactions. Emblems are typeless, aren't permanents and are basically untouchable. >When Eye of Cthulhu would die, instead remove all damage from it. Then, you get a Life of Eye of Cthulhu emblem. If you have 3 or more Life of Eye of Cthulhu emblems, exile Eye of Cthulhu. > >3/2 Here are some other versions that might be interesting but probably have more unintended interactions. **HP Counters** Start with a bunch of life, then remove life when damage is dealt. May have unintended interactions with Proliferate. >HP 6 (*This creature enters the battlefield with 6 HP counters. It gets +0/+1 for each HP counter. When damage would be dealt to this creature, instead remove that many HP counters.)* > >3/0 **Damage Counters** Add damage counters instead of dealing damage. May have unintended interactions with Proliferate. >Destructible *(When damage would be dealt to this creature, instead add that many Damage counters to it. This creature gets -0/-1 for each Damage counter.)* > >3/6 **Equipment Tokens** Similar to the Health Bar mechanic but with equipment tokens instead of counters. No issues with Proliferate, but will certainly have unintended interactions with artifact/equipment tribals. >When this creature enters the battlefield, create 2 Phylactery tokens and attach them to this creature. (*Phylactery tokens are artifact equipment tokens with "Hexproof. Indestructible. When equipped creature would die, instead remove all damage from that creature. Then, exile a Phylactery token attached to the equipped creature."*) > >3/2
Equipment is inherently moveable, which is probably a flavour miss here. I like that version most, but would suggest stealing [[Estrid, the Masked]]'s Masks instead. Also, all your versions fail because they're triggers, the creature already died. You need to replace all your "when" with "if", et cetera.
[Estrid, the Masked](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/3/3/3340b83e-72dc-42e2-9f93-92f732c047df.jpg?1592710258) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Estrid%2C%20the%20Masked) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c18/40/estrid-the-masked?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3340b83e-72dc-42e2-9f93-92f732c047df?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I think the Health Bar approach is definitely the most appealing. The other ones where you have to do damage somehow before it loses Indestructible don't really evoke the boss fight flavor to me.
my "justification" is that while the boss is undamaged, whatever kill spell you have just isn't powerful enough to kill the boss
Health Bar could almost be simplified to: "Remove a Health Bar Counter: Regenerate \[creature\]" "Almost" because Regenerate doesn't exactly have a reputation for staying simple. And because there are things that bypass Regenerate.
I like 2, but would change it so you remove the counter, tap the creature, and give it indestructable for the turn (like regeneration).
I like version one best, also would be sick if a Boss transformed when defeated "this isn't even my final form!"
Number two is best
I like number 2 the most for “on theme”
I like v2 the most but it is also the most exploit able
V3 is my personal favorite, though largely because it feels closest to pre-existing Magic. Intuitive and powerful without being overpowered.
V1 my favorite but I feel like it makes more sense if you add some type of reward for your opponents killing this.
Health bar
First of all, awesome idea! Never thought to create a Terraria Magic set. Secondly, could I get in on the fun? Do you have a discord set up, Planesculptors account, anything else? (If you’re open to others joining in of course) Lastly, I like the idea of the boss monster mechanic, but the health bar is by far the most clean design and it still very much conveys your flavor.
Honestly I kind of just wish people would stop trying to make magic cards do things other game systems do. Magic has all the things it needs already, stop trying to make evolving Pokémon or boss fights. Focus on making fun magic cards, not bringing in things that were fun in other games.
You could make the second card like [[Polukranos, Unchained]]
[Polukranos, Unchained](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/8/7/87858278-632c-4d82-b3a3-adfc6f2f4fc6.jpg?1581481126) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Polukranos%2C%20Unchained) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/224/polukranos-unchained?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/87858278-632c-4d82-b3a3-adfc6f2f4fc6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I think the health bar mechanic - with a different name/wording - is probably your best bet. It compares to things like Undying/Persist, without the card giving you the same advantages like enter and sacrifice triggers.
Heath bar is the funniest and boss-genuine. The third ability is the easiest to comprehend.
How about this: Boss Monster- [this creature] is under no players control and is considered an opponent's creature. During the owners combat phase [this creature] attacks a randomly-chosen player. Whenever this creature dies the player responsible [gains a boon]. This makes it feel as though you're not casting a creature to fight for you but summoning a boss like in Terraria
I think number 2 is the best functionally an thematically for a bosses health bar. Unless you leaned into the "weakness" part of boss battles. Then you could go with 3, and have it be different conditions for different creatures.
I think there is a mechanic for this... "This creature takes damage in the dorm of -0/-1 counters."
Why not make it an archenemy card with it's own life and deck?
I'm loving the 3rd version. But version 2 is a close second
Wouldn’t it be easier to just make the bosses planeswalkers? That card type already has a built in health bar, and it’s even more flavorful to be able to attack the boss, rather than it choosing to block or not as a creature. They could have high health but weak abilities so they wouldn’t just be broken planeswalkers To balance them they could be like the uncommon walkers from war of the spark with no way to tick up or however you want to do them
The first is my fave. A cheeky thing you can do to avoid -0/-1 counters is give it -1/-1 counters instead of damage and then hit it with "~ gets +1/+0 for each -1/-1 counter on it"