Random Card of the Day #16

Random Card of the Day #16:

Chaos Lord - 4RRR

Creature - Human
At the beginning of your upkeep, target opponent gains control of Chaos Lord if the number of permanents is even.

Chaos Lord can attack as though it had haste unless it entered the battlefield this turn.

Initial thoughts:

I normally hate high converted mana cost spells in red. It just doesn't seem to add up. Red is known for "burning out" fairly quickly so to have something that takes 7 mana means you are looking at maybe 12-14 turn games, without any ramp. And if you are playing green ramp for 7 converted mana cost.

I always see it that if you are playing a 7+ cost card, you should win the game if it resolves. Memnarch and Legacy Weapon are perfect examples of 7 costs that win games--aside from the obvious Ultimatum's.

That's not to mention that since the Ice Age block, the power creep on creatures as grown considerably. Back then a 4 cost 4/4 was slightly better than average. Now a 5 cost 5/5 flying lifelink first striker with protections is what sees play.

Not to mention you can lose control of it. I mean I guess you can flash in creatures to prevent it, but to be honest if I was going to play a silly game where you lose control of permanents it would be playing Burning Cinder Fury of Crimson Chaos Fire, just because.

How to fix this card:

I'm not actually sure how without ruining the flavor of the card. Maybe cutting the costs and making it so that during the end step if he is untapped target opponent gains control of him, but he would enter the battlefield tapped. Let's see...

Fixed Chaos Lord - 2RRR

Creature - Human

First strike

Fixed Chaos Lord enters the battlefield tapped.

At the beginning of each end step, if Chaos Lord is untapped, target opponent gains control of Fixed Chaos Lord.

7/7

That makes the card playable at least. But it's hard to make something playable when the card itself is supposed to cause chaos. Reliability is a major portion of viability of cards.

But as that card is a 7-cost 7/7 first striker that you lose control of, I would rather be playing Goblin Cadets. At least you can do something about losing your creature or prevent it from happening. 2/5