Animals and Elements (Real or Fiction)

[EmeraldTiger]

Here I would like to do in depth studies on various animals and figure out the best mechanics they could have as a card.

Real
A lot animals would naturally fall into , but if we can put an Elements twist on them. Some animals are naturally one element or another base on the environment they live in. Another possible aspect of determining element is an animal's known behavior. Many species of animals are different enough from ones of the same type that different element is needed.

Fiction
These kinds of animals for me, fall into two categories Historical Myths or Designer Created.

Historical Myths
Just as with real animals these require research. Fully understanding these creature's environment, behavior and the culture that created them is the best course to determining element and mechanic.

Designer Created
It came to mind that this has two sub-parts: Fiction Inspired and Own Inspired

Fiction Inspired
This is where a designer borrows a concept from another source of fiction, that can be found already written by someone else. A designer must be very cautious when using these kinds of ideas, due to copy write issues.

Own Inspired
This is where a designer totally designed a creature from their imagination. Justification maybe required for such ideas.

[UTAlan]

Dachshund. Definitely dachshund. (They are badger hunters...)

[EmeraldTiger]

One thing that stands out is they are able to hunt burrowed things well.

[LenardCzar]

how about termites.... they can have the ability to destroy a permanent for an amount of time.... maybe for 3 turns...

[EmeraldTiger]

From the wiki, what can be extracted for mechanics and element(s)?

[LenardCzar]

here is an another idea... Black Cat.... they can have the ability to give a random effect on a creature... just like in the beliefs were black cats give bad luck....

[DarknessDemon]

already have shroedingers cat though...

[Captain Scibra]

Cats have a great many things about them that can be applied to several elements.  Schrödinger's represented an unknown fact, which would cause a paradox, and was twisted into a creature that could trigger death effects at will.  The black cat myth is that passing one by was a curse of bad luck.  There is also a myth about them being able to cross dimensions, when they were just really good at sneaking around.

[EmeraldTiger]

If some one could find enough info about cats that would be very helpful.

[ZephyrPhantom]

If some one could find enough info about cats that would be very helpful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felines

We already have a card that represents the domesticated cat (sort of), but big cats could be an interesting path to explore.

[Korugar]

I'm not sure what element it would be, but a big cat with the ability "Pounce: attack target creature this turn instead." would be appropriate. Felines are some of the most agile creatures out there, so an ability like "Dodge: damage that would otherwise be dealt to this character has X% chance to miss." Or, due to their stealthy abilities, a cat could have an ability like "Sneak: this creature becomes invisible to your opponent for X turns."