EPTToday's character is Youmu Konpaku, who is a half-human half-phantom gardener serving under Yuyuko Saigyouji (who will probably be the next up; Hakugyokurou is my favorite faction, despite it only having 2 members). Youmu is known primarily for her difficulty (no surprises there) and her lovably straightforward and dutiful personality, which foils that of Yuyuko, who is, well, Yuyuko.
Youmu's cards are based on her appearance in Perfect Cherry Blossom, whose plot involves her gathering the spring from Gensokyo at Yuyuko's behest in order to cause a full bloom of the youkai cherry tree, the Saigyouji Ayakashi, which in turn would cause the resurrection of "someone special." Bizarrely, neither Yuyuko nor Youmu are aware that that someone is Yuyuko herself. Well, at least we got some rather awesome music in the process.
http://www.youtube.com/marasy8#p/u/34/khmjXA1Ye2o
In-game, Youmu's spell cards offer a window of drastically slowed movement in which the player can plan ahead to find safe paths, and to the chagrin of many, this results in her non-spell attacks being significantly more lethal.
This time I'm taking a few themes (life matters and reanimation) and playing with them. There won't be as tight a correspondence to in-game patterns, which gives me more flexibility in the design process. In the future, I'll probably alternate between mechanical and thematic interpretations.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/T6wnJ.jpg)
Youmu gains you life by collecting the power of the spring, which is then consumed in the resurrection process. Protection from black reflects her character traits of unselfishness and servitude, as well as the fact that, being half dead already, she is immune to black's removal. Coincidentally, this prevents her from being the target of her own Ageless Obsession (see below), which is a cute bonus.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IChgA.jpg)
In the cycle of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor cards with this structure (Firespout, Batwing Brume, etc), I was sad that they didn't explore that design space more creatively. Granted, I'm sure that they'll come back to it some day, but this is what I like in a Johnny design: a card that can be built around to great effect, but is still playable in your typical Limited format.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/y4hHo.jpg)
The artistic design of this spell card is great. Youmu fires a wave of large projectiles, then slices them midway into medium-sized and small bullets. That's where I got the idea of halving things, but I didn't want something too similar to the recently printed Sorin's Vengeance, so this ended up as a variation on Bond of Agony, which I think was far too narrow in its execution. This allows you to plan around the effect, either by gaining enough life to kill them in one go, or alternatively by having a lower life total but setting up a large enough alpha strike, so as to take a larger hit yourself but kill them in combat anyways.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kWOgA.jpg)
Ghostly Prison effects were moved into White a while back, but I think that they can be justified in Black with a life and not a mana payment (Hissing Miasma or its lethal forms, No Mercy or Dread), and I think that the death trigger ties it together. This isn't a terribly strong effect normally, and at best it's a convoluted Moat, but in between I think there's room for a handy but not overbearing hate card.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VO901.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7tslo.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/v02X6.jpg)
This is a simple vertical cycle that focuses on total life lost among players. Of the three, the second is probably the most breakable, but Wit's End guarantees hitting their whole hand for 2 more mana, which is probably less than what you have to invest to get 4-5 points of lifeloss for your opponent (granted 2 turns of tempo is worth quite a bit when designing discard). Of course, if you're bleeding yourself, more power to you, but in most cases this is no worse than Mind Sludge in mono-black.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/D90Ik.jpg)
In Limited, this is like Diabolic Tutor, in that it gets better when the rest of your deck is better. Being able to recur a bomb or aggressive creature is usually enough card advantage to win games despite the life loss, and in Constructed this has the opportunity to form an almost unlimited number of viable combos. Even something as simple as Fume Spitter turns into Plague Wind, Composite Golem gets you enough mana to hardcast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn; and Mogg Fanatic plus a burn spell is game. It shouldn't be breaking formats at 4 mana, though, and as always leaves you vulnerable to removal in response.
Comments and feedback welcome as always! Come back next time for Yuyuko Saigyouji, whose level of ridiculousness and entertainment value I cannot emphasize strongly enough.
