What if Shadow heroes had access to protector?

[BP Holy Punisher]

I was thinking about a card that is immune to abilities in general, which is something lacking from SE atm. So I came up with the following ally. Do you think that it is OP?



Name: Ravenlord
Type: Shadow Ally - Unique
Stats: 4 attack / 6 defense
Cost: 6cc
Passive Ability: Ravenlord can't be targetted by abilities.
Active Ability: 2cc Ravenlord gains protector until the start of your next turn.
Flavor: "A shield of ravens is impenetrable."

[Secruoser]

At the moment only Shadow Warriors have access to Protectors, but rarely use them.

Yari Spearman
Warrior Training

oh and Wulven too

Griptooth

[maxi1230]

One thing:
I thought about immunity to abilities too but noticed it would be extremely OP when the ally somehow has access to stealth - Moonstalker for example.

[BP Holy Punisher]

One thing:
I thought about immunity to abilities too but noticed it would be extremely OP when the ally somehow has access to stealth - Moonstalker for example.

That's a good point. What about if there is a clause like "While you control more than 3 allies, Ravenlord loses all passive abilities"?
So you can't overrun the board and still have it to protect them. It will lose both immunity, protector (if it is activated) and stealth (in MS case).

[Markmasters]

Sounds and looks cool, but really unfair in some ways.

It would be extremely overpowered for Gravebone if you ask me:

-Supernova the board to clear it
- Resurect a discarded ravenlord from the graveyard.

Opponent has no way to remove him instantly (since immunity to abilities) so will drop something else....

In your turn you can either wipe out what your opponent played or play another fatty like scourge colussus behind ravenlord, making 2 untargetable fatties. I can't see anyway to come back from that

[BP Holy Punisher]

Would it be more sensible then to change him to a Human ally? Although Humans have a handful of good options for 5-7 cc allies, I could definitely see some use of him.

[bobrossw]

Not being targetable by abilities is a very strong ability. You can see that it's strong with cards like stoneskin that give you the effect once by destroying themselves, or lay low that gives you hidden at the expense of not being able to attack (a major drawback for rogues). I don't think it could ever be a permanent effect like this, and would instead need to have strong limitations to make it temporary or activated or only works under non-constant conditions (for example, if your hero used his shadow ability this turn...), or specific sub-set of abilities (for example support abilities, direct damage or attachments). Immunity from all abilities essentially eliminates the effectiveness of one of the three types of cards (items, abilities, allies). It's just like cards that eliminate the effectiveness of allies (see: everything in millstalker decks) - it becomes a negative player experience and can partially define the meta. This sort of thing also can result in either the power level of the game going up - which is annoying for seasoned players who can't use their old favorite cards anymore, or whichever card pool has access to that card being forever limited by that fact and the need to balance the entire card pool against that card's power. You see this sort of thing in the wulven card pool, which must be balanced with the expectation that Moonstalker will abuse stealth - and will therefore always have very limited access to certain types of cards.

[BlanketEffect]

Drop his cost to (5) and his stats to 3/5, but change the text to read:

While Ravenlord is the only ally you control, it cannot be targeted by abilities.

(2): If you control at least one other friendly ally, Ravenlord gains protector until the start or your next turn.


Note: Not being targetable by abilities isn't the same as being immune to abilities. Mass effects will still get him.

[BP Holy Punisher]

^ That's true about the mass effect abilities like Supernova, TW, Nish ability, Smoke Screen. And also he can't be targetted by its controller too!
I just wanted something that could survive a plain Nova and kill a weenie by retaliation, that's why the higher stats. But if ppl thing that it would be too hard to kill, then your suggestion is a good fix

@bobross: I agree that it is a very strong ability, but the drawback is its cost first and the limitation of being untargettable by its controller. Stoneskin reduces damage as well and destroys the ability. This just prevents its use. Lay low is not even used except this fun Lance build, so I don't want to suggest something in this power range

So, all in all, do you believe that it would be better to turn him into a Human ally and avoid stealth/resurrection abuse?

[BlanketEffect]

Perhaps.

Also, you could enchant him whilst you had another ally, then when that ally dies he'd still have the attachment. Farfetched.

I think the corrected version is seemingly balanced.