Friday, July 28, 2017

Weekend Design Challenge 072817—Ixalan

Click through to see the illustration and design requirements for your single card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which you may use to revise your submission any number of times. I will aim to review the most recent submission from each designer.

Design a common card for Ixalan.

24 comments:

  1. What's the consensus on spoilers here?

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    1. I have thus far avoided being spoiled by the rare sheet on Ixalan, and would appreciate a heads up if others are going to blatantly discuss spoilers.

      Delete
    2. No one discuss spoilers here.
      And don't expect judging to account for spoilers at this stage either.

      Delete
  2. Forerunner of the Pack 1G
    Creature - Lizard
    2/1
    {T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
    {T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Use this mana only to cast primal creatures. (Primal creatures have power greater than or equal to their CMC.)

    I designed a lot of dinosaur mechanics of various merit. I don't think any are quite right for Ixalan but this is one of the ones I liked.

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    1. FYI - Maro has confirmed that Dinosaur is going to be a supported creature type.

      That's an interesting mana dork, but it doesn't feel especially common to me. I could see this at rare, maybe even uncommon, but between the hoops and the multiple abilities, Common is pushing it.

      On Primal: Primal can be a creature type, or maybe even a supertype depending on a wide variety of factors, but to start defining perennial game concepts like P>T = Primal wouldn't work. It would work as an ability word on spells as well - Primal-- As long as you control (or this targets) a creature with Power greater than its toughness, [effect].

      Is there anything lost by just spelling out the paradise ability rider? Templating might be a concern. I'm not 100% certain that Power and Toughness are checkable attributes in hand or on the stack (although I believe they must be).

      All that said, I do think that P>T is both an interesting mechanical space to check out, and appropriate for Red and Green dinosaurs (I'm assuming some will be in Blue as well).

      Delete
  3. Crypt Raid
    2BB
    Sorcery - Common
    Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.
    Excavate (Put a gold token onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this: Add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool.")

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    1. It makes sense that gold tokens will play into a Mezoamerican themed set. Development is my primary concern here. How many times can you put excavate at common? Enough to justify it as a keyword? Does it need to have an additional cost to keep mana from running rampant? Clues were often free, but using them had a cost. Gold tokens are predefined (and by nature, have to be) free to use. Do we need to attach some kind of cost to their frequent generation? Or will the cost be baked into the mana costs of the cards that generate them?

      Either way, an on-theme solid common.

      Delete
  4. Boasting Corsair 1R
    Creature - Human Pirate (c)
    3R: CARDNAME gains Renown 3 until end of turn.
    2/1

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    1. I'm really interested in "bidding" mechanics - a la "when CARDNAME attacks, pay X. when cardname deals damage to an opponenent, scry X", because they're an untapped resource for affecting combat from an unusual axis.

      This isn't exactly that, but it's me thinking about selling "boasting" using mechanics Magic already has; I don't expect to see Renown in Ixalan, but it's a solid fit for both Dinosaurs and adventurers/pirates, as both come with a heavy "reputation" aspect.

      Delete
    2. Renown could definitely be a Pirate-flavored mechanic. Activated renown might be a tad complex for common, but it's not a dealbreaker, especially if it's on the more complex side of the set's named mechanics.
      Keeping 3R open on the attack can signal both a combat trick or willingness to use the renown, which would put your opponent in a tricky position.

      Delete
  5. becalm 1W

    enchantment aura

    enchant creature
    enchanted creature cant attack or block

    At the begining of your upkeep return becalm to it's owners hand

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    1. I had to look up Becalm in the dictionary to find its nautical usage, which negated my primary critique over the card's connection to Ixalan.
      I'm not sure if the self bounce makes me want to price this the same as Pacifism or higher. On the one hand, most of the time it will be a drawback. On the other, this will spend the better part of a year in the same standard as Aether Revolt and the Revolt mechanic. Something development would have to address.

      Pirate worlds push cards to Blue from a flavor perspective, so its nice to see a flavorful white card come up from the water.

      Delete
  6. Avast! 1U
    Instant
    Counter target spell with converted mana cost two or less.

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    1. Avast! UU
      Instant
      Counter target spell with converted mana cost three or less.

      Standard has too many 1U counters for the earlier version to stand out, and three or less hots a lot of juicy targets.

      Delete
    2. Again with the dictionary. I knew Avast was piratese, I didn't know it meant "stop." I can see the original version at common, less so with the second version. Additionally, while the name is clever, and used appropriately on a counterspell, it sounds too exciting to use on a basic counter. Unless you find countering particularly exciting. If I say "Avast!" I almost want it to be a Time Stop variant.

      Delete
  7. Greedy Buckaneer 2R
    Creature - Human Pirate (c)
    Whenever you attack with CARDNAME, if defending player controls a treasure, CARDNAME gets +2/+0 and gains trample until end of turn.
    2/1

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    1. Assuming treasures or uncommon or higher, this can be a 1R.

      Delete
    2. Treasure Chest 3
      Artifact - Treasure (u)
      At the beginning of your end step, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
      Booty 4 (Whenever a creature attacks you, you may have that creature's controller gain control of this artifact. If you do, gain 4 life.)

      Delete
  8. Orazca Tamer 1G
    Creature - Human Shaman
    T: Target Dinosaur creature gains vigilance and trample until end of turn. Activate this ability only as a sorcery
    2/2

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    1. A solid bear with some late game usage. A lot of this is tied to a few (reasonable) assumptions about the dinosaurs. That they'll be larger and more mid- to late-game creatures, they'll have a solid presence in Green, and that they'll receive some tribal support.

      My only critique is to pick one of the two abilities. Both feels like overkill, and you can open up a cycle or partial cycle of dinosaur tamers. Otherwise a solid common, with a good eye to NWO.

      Delete
    2. trample feels like the opposite of tame

      Delete
  9. Cause it's fun thinking of the intersection of magic and dinosaurs...

    Raptor's Feather 3
    Artifact (u)
    Dinosaur creatures you control have haste.
    Sacrifice CARDNAME: Return target dinosaur creatures card from your graveyard to your hand.

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    1. This is wacky as an artifact. If this card was printed I'd imagine it'd be a RB enchantment. Even then it might be more interesting if the haste ability was granted to all creatures and the raise dead was only dinos. That would make it a bit less linear.

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