Pointed Discussion

In past sets a creature like this would have been devastating. Its surely no Spiritmonger but is definitely a spiritual successor to the beast. For a green creature, its 7/7 trampler for 7 at max, nothing new or amazing but a solid creature. For black however, a 5/5 or 6/6 regenerating trampler is nothing to scoff at. The Deity's main strength is in its ability to be cast rather cheaply early on and built up later (it also has a resistance to wither).

Regenerating 5/5 or 6/6 for 5 hybrid. This isn't the new Spiritmonger, but it is very much in the same vein.

nice i cant wait to use this guy

TERMINATE him and let Demigod of Revenge rule all of the spirit avatars...

A great, solid card with multiple uses. Definitely viable to toss a few of these in any pure green, black, or black/ green deck. (Not to forget the most beast-like flavor text ever)

equip him with gift of the deity, and so long as he has a -1/-1, he is not a tank, he is a walking engine of armageddon.

He is very much meant to be played with his own enchantment, the only issue I see is the same as another comment mentioned, there are equally good cards for the same mana cost. Terra stomper is 8/8 uncounterable with trample for 6 cmc, though without the regeneration, being only 1 mana higher. I still wouldn't hesitate to use this guy in a black/green deck with his own enchantment and creakwood liege. A gorgon flail wouldn't hurt either, or a quietus spike. A troll ascetic played early and enchanted with a powerful enchantment might be just as good though. Play with cauldron of souls, then use his regeneration to remove negative counters gained during persist, and you have an undying creature, so long as it doesn't get exiled.

TERMENATE him God_of_Destruction? You obviously didn't read his last ability. Just regenerate and make him stronger, then attack and trample down that Demigod of Revenge to the graveyard, Then use rise from the grave and hit you in your ass with your own spirit avatar!

Hey, powerdude. Not that I'm in the TERMINATE the Deity camp or anything, but Terminate specifically says the creature can't be regenerated. However, Maelstrom Pulse to the Demigod's would be an adequate response.

This was my favorite demigod by far,
Simply because his aura, Gift of the Deity, fit his abilities most fluidly.
I can't recall how many boardwipes my opponents went through with this guy.
And considering one of my friends was using R/W weenie, is was one of the funniest moments I got to experience.

Aaron's Random Card Comment of the Day #8, 10/6/10

This dude is part of a ten-card cycle across Shadowmoor and Eventide that we called “quints”, meaning creatures with five hybrid mana symbols in their cost (each of whose name is a synonym for “god“). The goal of the cycle was to make aggressively-costed creatures that could only go into certain decks. The Deity, for instance, would be impressive in a mono-green, mono-black, or black-green deck, but would not be a realistic option for, say, a red-green deck. We hoped they’d be good enough for high-level constructed play, which was a challenge because many of the creature decks at the time relied on tribal synergies. The Shadowmoor ones did pretty well in this regard--Demigod of Revenge was a defining card in Standard for a while, Oversoul of Dusk showed up from time to time, and Deus of Calamity was a part of an “All-In Red” deck in Extended. The Eventide ones didn’t do so well, however. Considering that they could go in many of the same decks as the Shadowmoor ones, it must be that the later group is just weaker than the first five, which is unfortunate. We typically don’t want the second version of something to be weaker than the first.

As for this particular card, he began life with a very powerful ability, coming out of design with something we were calling “super-persist.” Super-persist basically stated that each time the creature went to the graveyard, it return to play with one more -1/-1 counter on it. There were three problems with this--1) While reasonable in scenarios in which it was running into other creatures (it was kind of like bad, albeit free, regeneration), it was absolutely insane against control decks and in combination with sacrifice outlets; 2) “super-persist” wasn’t going to be keyworded, and it’s not a good idea to have an ability that is almost like the hallmark ability of your set except a little different; 3) the template that prevented it from continually re-entering the battlefield and dying after it had finally been dispatched (with 100 counters on it, then 101, then 102, ad infinitum) was clunky. So we ditched it in favor of the current abilities.

At first, the regeneration ability didn’t have the activation on it. The decision between 0 mana and 1 mana on an activated ability is one of the most difficult a developer has to make. “Free” activations are generally the best way to get cards into constructed play--cards like Triskelion, Ravenous Baloth, and all Planeswalkers are amazing because you never need to worry about investing additional mana into them once they're in play. But in general we consider gameplay to be most interesting--and challenging--when players need to decide when to tap out and when to leave up mana for other things. Cards with mana activations can still get into constructed--Spike Weaver, Selesnya Guildmage, Triskelavus--but often even a single mana activation can be the difference between great and mediocre.

For the Deity, it was the gameplay more than the power that made us put the mana activation on it, as players would typically cast it and take the counters off immediately, making the ability essentially irrelevant. With a cost to activate it, you have to think about when to remove the counters, and are therefore more likely to keep them on until the right moment. Is that single mana symbol the reason it didn’t make it into constructed? We’ll never know.

@Aaron
I appreciate reading these random comments, as they've given me some insight on how cards are looked at from R&D.

But you mentioned Deity of Scars not making it into Constructed and how he could only fit into mono Green or mono Black or a Green/Black deck. A friend of mine and I pooled our cards together and tried to submit a rogue deck to a PTQ (or was it States?) in Indianapolis. The deck was a B/R/G deck using Manaforge Cinder and Bloom Tender so that on turn 3 you can tap for 3 mana. The deck played 4 copies of Reflecting Pool and then played the B/G B/R and G/R "quints." It also played Cloudthresher to stop Faeries.

The deck's goal was between the filter-lands, reflecting pool, Manaforge's ability, and Bloomtender, turn 3 you had 6 mana available to you, in any color combination of GGGGGG RRRRRR or BBBBBB. Unfortunately we got shut down and dropped after losing twice. That allowed you to play any of the quints, especially making a turn 3 Deus of Calamity a game-ender, and a turn 3 Demigod of Revenge a crazy clock that even when he was countered, we'd play him again and bring him back.

tl;dr I tried to fit him into a rogue deck, he was one of my favorites because at that Standard (and even at the Block level) he was very hard to deal with, and after each regeneration he was stronger. This deck was capable of casting him turn 3 with a mana open just in case. And I kind of wanted to point out he fitted into a Jund-colored list without any problems, bumping elbows with his "quint" buddies.

I do not think, that second cycle of avatars is much worse, than the original. For example Divinity of Pride is one of my beloved cards, either for its self-sustaining abilities, either its cool picture and flavor. I used it in my monowhite Lifegain-Avatar deck (which turned out to not be as good as I thought) and then it helped me in great multiplayer games against seven another players. For me it is best of the avatars:-)

I am very suprised. Aaron should better know that in constructed play what makes a creature playable vs unplayable is the cost of activation for their abilities. an even a relatively low cost like a single mana is a huge barrier as you want to optimize your mana every turn.

i like it

Anyone else notice how great he is against infect?

is it just me or does he look like a big lorwyn elf?
(so this is what happens when a giant and an elf do it together --- how perverted)

Thats Like A Ram, Buffalo, Minotaur, Biker, Horse, Linebacker. Next To Some Scary Shrubs

This guy is awesome against infect and wither. You want to give my creature -1/-1 counters? Sure, I'll take them. *regenerates Deity of Scars back to 7/7*.

I'm a big fan of this entire cycle, but I consider Scarsy here one of the worst members thereof. I'll write about my opinions of all of them someday, but for now I'll stay on topic. The name is rather boring compared to something like "Demigod of Revenge" or "Overbeing of Myth", the flavor text is incredibly dull, and the ability, while decent, feels well short of deity status.

Here's an off-the-cuff attempt at a better version. The name isn't perfect, as I'm finding it hard to come up with a single word which means "refusal to surrender to the inevitability of death" or the like (basically, for being The Terminator, that's what I see as being the concept behind a BG "god"); I've settled for "relentlessness" but would rather have not used "-ness". I also prefer "Progenitor" as the first part of the name, as this is the most BG-appropriate synonym for "Deity", but I figured that a four-syllable first word followed by "of" leaves very few options for the name's final word without rendering the name unpronounceable.

Primarch of Relentlessness
Creature - Spirit Avatar, (B/G) x5, 5/5
Trample
If Primarch of Relentlessness would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, instead put a -1/-1 counter on it if its toughness is 2 or greater.
"He is the urge of all life to persist at any cost."

Thanks to M12 rules, that ability might be shortenable to "If Primarch of Relentlessness would die", but I'm not sure if that's how "dies" is intended to be applied (and I'm remaking a card from before that rules change anyway, so I want to try to seem like the card could have actually been made back then), so I'll leave it alone for now.

Slap a Glistening Oil on this guy for unlimited Regeneration.

The flavour text really doesn't do him justice. Go read his part in the Seer's Parables, and learn why he's awesome.

A list of all Shadowmoor/Eventide gods.

Godhead of Awe
Divinity of Pride
Nobilis of War
Oversoul of Dusk
Ghastlord of Fugue
Dominus of Fealty
Deus of Calamity
Overbeing of Myth
Demigod of Revenge
Deity of Scars

because I wanted one.

a 5/5 trample for 5 mana, that can regenarate itself twice for {S/F} and only gets bigger in the process?

Rather a nice card. Saving its skin and making it bigger at the same time are definitely a plus.

If they ever do persist again I hope they make a 3 mana cost version of this guy with persist. Maybe:

{(b/g)}{(b/g)}{(b/g)}
Creature
Persist
{(b/g)}{(b/g)}, Remove a -1/-1 counter, regenerate ~
2/2

Basically this makes it a super skeleton that can only be exiled if you keep pumping mana into him. Survives -X/-X debuffs, sacrifices, and destroy. It still dies to -1/-1 counters if you don't have mana, but.. that's fine. They could alternatively do the opposite with undying:

{(b/g)}{(b/g)}
Creature
Undying
{(b/g)}, Remove a +1/+1 counter, regenerate ~
1/1

which would be neat as it makes killing the thing a pain, but it's also not much of a threat

In a casual Modern deck, this is kind of a beast with Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

For those interested in the Eventide/Shadowmoor Deity (Spirit Avatar) Cycles:

Godhead of Awe
Ghastlord of Fugue
Demigod of Revenge
Deus of Calamity
Oversoul of Dusk

Divinity of Pride
Deity of Scars
Overbeing of Myth
Dominus of Fealty
Nobilis of War

@Sutebe: Long story short, he's basically a wild animal turned into the physical embodiment of the instinct to survive.