Originally posted by Spiderman
Some of it is undoubtably the play value of the card. In some cases, they may be too powerful in the book than to be on a card or they'll unbalance it and in others, their abilities in the book may not be interesting enough for the block.
Well, taking Glissa for example, they could have kept her interesting without making her too powerful.
Glissa:
First Strike is fitting, but maybe "Protection from Beasts" or even an ability to kill beasts. Maybe some boost when she's equipped. That would fit the book.
Slobad:
Tap to regen an artifact. Maybe something to recover artifacts from the graveyard. Maybe even protection from Artifacts, since he lived among Levelers for a while.
Bosh:
Just your standard huge fattie. However, maybe make him a lot cheaper and give him a "chimeric" aspect, since he tended to need repair a lot, hence a need for mana to work every turn.
Ixidor:
More fitting for card drawing and summoning assistance of some sort. Maybe a tapping for mana for critters. He certainly didn't have anything to do with morph creatures. He just created junk.
Chainer:
Somewhat fitting, except he should've had a targeting kill like Visara, but where you take the creature as a Nightmare. That would fit the book. And, he was a hell of a lot stronger than a mere 3/3, so upping his power to maybe 5/5 would warrant increasing his casting cost to match the ability.
The First:
Protection from Black is totally a must here, even though he did get killed by a nightmare from Braids. The rest of the time he was totally unkillable by his own black mafia. Oh, and his nature of sacrificing everyone should have meant he got the "everyone sacs something" ability that Braids has. Was strong, but should have been something like a 0/5 that makes life loss or -1/-1 counters.
Braids:
Give her sac ability to The First instead. She was really a lunatic, altering personality between different writers, but she should have been given a nightmare summoning assistance ability, even if it was just "nightmares you control get +1/+1."
Phage:
Actually, another character who fit the book compared to the card. Though she did have the ability to summon nightmare wurms, so maybe giving her an assitance to Bane of the Living woulda fit more. And in the art, she should have a visible nasty scar across the belly from Kamhal's Mirrari Sword.
Akroma:
She wasn't all-powerful in the books. She just had a crapload of tactical knowledge thanks to Ixidor's creations which she took over after his disappearance. Oh, and she had a lance, and was part jaguar, which is not reflected in the art.
Mirrari:
Did not mirror what you did. Instead, it boosted power towards destructive ends. Maybe a life payment for mana or something, to be more along the lines of Mirari's Wake (the wake shoulda been totally different though). Yes, mana to life cards are dangerous, but they should have made an exception.
Skellum:
Chainer's trainer. Never a card, but he damn certainly shoulda been. A master nightmare summoner and dementia mage.
. I was surprised at how bland he was, I think he should have been more along the lines of a 4/5 with double or first strike 