Name: Mufferfish
Kingdom: Blackhawk
Troop Type/lvl: Merfolk/Mech (epic)
Colors: Blue/Brown (12 mana)
Quote: “Of all the fish in the sea, I’m so glad you swam to me”
Spell - Gulp:
Transform all Blue Gems to Green and Submerge myself.
If I am damaged, destroy myself and deal [(Magic/2) +30] damage to the first enemy. (Magic:8 at lvl 20)
Traits:
Venomous (Poison enemies when doing Skull damage)
Engulf/Flood (Deal double Skull damage vs. Submerged enemies) NEW TRAIT
Stealthy (Cannot be targeted by spells)
Background:
The pirates of Blackhawk found an ancient treasure map, showing the exact location of the forgotten kingdom of Merlantis. To Captain Skullbeard’s surprise, it was located right to the northwest of Blackhawk. What treasure of untold riches could they find there? What lurks below to guard it?
Captain Skullbeard went on an exploration mission and encountered a strange looking fish in Merlantis.
A deck hand captured it, but got bitten in the process. Apparently these little creatures were highly toxic and the deck hand quickly died from the poison! The captured fish must have been a Pufferfish, pet fish of the Merfolk who live here.
Knowing the Merfolk wouldn’t be too happy, Captain Skullbeard set sail back to Blackhawk to report his findings.
The pirates needed better weaponry if they were to claim treasure from Merlantis. Treasure they couldn’t stop thinking about. Lil’Johnny realized the potential of the Pufferfish and, armed with a hefty amount of gold, traveled to the kingdom of Adana.
Once there, he handed over the Pufferfish plus the gold and asked Sparkgrinder to manufacture a weapon based on the Pufferfish. Sparkgrinder couldn’t resist the gold and set his royal engineers to work. The result? A living sea mine in the form of a mechanical Pufferfish. Armed with sharp teeth and a huge amount of Tetrodotoxin, this sea mine would proof to be a great weapon for the pirates of Blackhawk. They could use them to protect their border or, even better, launch them with their ship cannons into enemy territory! Surely the Merfolk wouldn’t spot the difference with their own pet fish?
And so the Mufferfish were born. Mechanically engineered Pufferfish to fight the Merfolk and claim their Treasure.
Notes:
Spell
-
Thematically, transforming blue gems stands for when Pufferfish quickly ingest (gulp) huge amount of water to grow several times their normal size. They do this to protect themselves.
These gems are turned into green gems, because Pufferfish are extremely venomous. The green gems represent Poison.
Submerge is pretty self-explanatory, both Pufferfish and sea mines are submerged below sea. -
The second part of the spell is more about the sea mine aspect.
“If i am damaged, destroy myself” was chosen because a sea mine explodes when it is approached.
It doesn’t explode by itself, only until something comes in direct combat/contact with it.
That’s why the “If i am damaged” condition was used.
It will damage the first troop, because that represents the unit who is most likely to initiate contact. -
Blue mana cost represents aquatic and Brown mana is used for the mechanical aspect and the fact that it’s a sea mine.
Gameplay
- Submerge/Stealthy combo is used as a way to play around the destroy condition. Didn’t want the troop to be too easily countered and they make sense thematically.
- Troop can be used in first position in a summoner team, purposefully triggering the self-destruct explosion for extra damage. Venomous and Engulf/Flood traits support this play style.
- The existence of the Mechanist Hero is the reason for picking 12 mana and no mana link traits.
- No troop exists yet that transforms all blue gems to green.
I decided against the idea of a Pufferfish eating sea mines, because it didn’t adequately fulfill the Mech fantasy. One could argue the troop is not really a Merfolk, but rather a Beast. Couldn’t pass on the idea though and I hope the background story shows enough of a link to Merfolk. You can find the original voting concept below:
Closure:
This was my second troop idea, after the community decided on a Merfolk/Mech troop from Blackhawk.
The rules stated it was going to be an Epic Troop so design space was limited. Typically unique traits and spells are reserved for legendary and mythic troops.
To find out more about my first troop concept, Jack Lumber (Human, Maugrim Woods), click here:
Art presented is not my own and is merely used as a concept.