Blog

Enigma, Mentalist Battle-Mage

This is the card I designed around the unveiling of Symbiote Enigma’s “Combat Mode” (later dubbed “Perfect Bond”).

In truth, it’s not the first version of the card. Though the core concept never wavered, the original mechanics were quite different. Instead of transforming into a creature with his +1 and -1 abilities, he would create temporary tokens that would exile themselves after their time was up.

Remember at the time, War of the Spark had still yet to be released, so the only planeswalkers he knew that could become creatures were all named Gideon. I wasn’t aware that there was a whole set of rules that deal with what happens when a planeswalker becomes a creature and loses the planeswalker type. As far as I knew, particularly through rulings on Gideon’s cards, if a planeswalker became a creature and took damage, they would still lose loyalty. With that in mind, I used tokens as a way of representing Enigma taking the field without making him easily defeated with a few chump blocks.

Since then, we’ve learned a lot about planeswalker rules because of the cards that play around in that space. And at some point, I lost the original Magic Set Editor file that contained this design. As a result, I remade the card in a way that makes more sense, such that Enigma becomes a creature even if that means leaving him more vulnerable to removal.

Thankfully, the connective tissue remains largely the same for both versions. The +1 ability represents an aggressive posture, taking the offensive to force the enemy to block or otherwise lose a card. By contrast, the -1 ability is a more defensive style that allows Enigma to brainwash creatures that attack into him. (Note that the power for that second form is 1 and Enigma remains a creature until your next turn begins, not when the current turn end.) The ultimate could probably use some more work, but I’m overall still very happy with the design, which is the first custom card I could ever really say that for.

That said, I’ve never play-tested it, so it’s hard to say how it would perform out in the wilds, and whether or not it would make for fun gameplay.

Addendum: You may also notice that like the symbiote homunculi cards, Enigma is a Horror when he’s in creature form. That’s to demonstrate that this Enigma is part symbiote. “Horror” seemed like the most fitting creature type for such beings, and it will be a through-line for this version of the character.