Friday, June 1, 2018

Weekend Design Challenge 060118 - Finding A Good Mechanic

Hey, Artisans! Click through to see this weekend's design challenge, submissions due Monday morning.



Alright. Hopefully we'll be wrapping up our judging of the massive number of submissions for the first GDS Simulation challenge, and we'll be able to get started on the second one this week. I am optimistic our production schedule will be better than that of the actual GDS.

This weekend, we'll be continuing our GDS3 play at home challenges, doing the third round. Again, Inanimate and I, along with a guest judge (or maybe even two!), will be "judging" submissions like Maro & co. with the Top 8's designs. Here are the design guidelines, lifted directly from the mothership:

For the design test and the first two challenges, we didn't let you design any new mechanics. This design challenge is all about designing a new mechanic. Here's your assignment:

  • You are going to design a brand-new keyword mechanic or ability word.
  • You will have to name it and figure out its rules text and reminder text. Note it's more important that our judges can understand what it's supposed to do than its templating be 100% technically accurate.
  • You will have to design three commons, two uncommons, two rares, and one mythic rare.
  • You must use at least three colors.
  • No more than two of your cards may be multicolored.
  • Assume all the cards you are designing are in the same Standard-legal expansion.
Other than your new mechanic, you may use only evergreen mechanics.

Breadth of Mechanic – The point of this design challenge is proving you can make a mechanic that would have value in a set. A big part of that is flexibility. Demonstrate that this mechanic has enough breadth that it's worth keywording/ability wording. Note that this doesn't mean it has to go on multiple card types; it means that there is a variety of ways it can be used.

Backward Compatibility – How does your mechanic play into the overall latticework of the larger game? Is this something players can add to existing decks? Is it something that will do interesting things when blended with other mechanics in larger formats? The more parasitic your mechanic, the higher the barrier of fun is going to be.

Inspiring New Decks – One of the things good mechanics do is inspire players to create new decks. This doesn't mean this mechanic has to be a build-around mechanic, but it does need to introduce something new to the game that can be combined with in novel ways.

Fun in Density – Your new mechanic needs to be fun to play, but more than that it needs to justify having a keyword/ability word. Your mechanic needs to want to exist in volume.

Limited Applications – We're asking you to create a mechanic that can show up at common, which means it has to be something that would be fun to play in Limited. It is acceptable if its role in Limited and Constructed are different.

Set Feel – These cards are all from the same set. The designs need to reflect that.

Originality – You're not just showing off your mechanic, you're showing off your individual card designs. We want to see some innovation involving your new mechanic.

Color Pie Appropriateness – Your color choice needs to be appropriate to your flavor as well as your mechanical designs. Bends are allowed if appropriate (although be frugal with them), but breaks are not.

Rarity Appropriateness – Your designs need to fit into the rarity you're designing for. This design is asking for more commons than past designs because appropriateness for common of a new mechanic is key to it working well.

Card Type Appropriateness – Make sure that your cards are properly representing the card type they're in.

You will need to submit the following:

Design 1 (YOUR FIRST COMMON)
Design 2 (YOUR SECOND COMMON)
Design 3 (YOUR THIRD COMMON)
Design 4 (YOUR FIRST UNCOMMON)
Design 5 (YOUR SECOND UNCOMMON)
Design 6 (YOUR FIRST RARE)
Design 7 (YOUR SECOND RARE)
Design 8 (YOUR MYTHIC RARE)

Comments: You will have up to 250 words to say whatever you want about your design. You are free to talk about individual cards, but I would suggest spending some of your words explaining holistically what you were up to with your overall design.
Here's the limitations for you guys:

You may submit up to eight cards, but if you go under, no penalties. You may specify two cards you want us to review. We may not necessarily review both, but we will review at least one if you specify at least one. If you don't specify, we're not going to pick for you. The volume is just too much. We will, however, still offer general feedback on submissions as a whole.

PLEASE PUT YOUR CARDS IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT

1) Cardname
Mana Cost
Type
Rules
P/T

Other than that, usual Design Challenge rules apply. Give each other feedback. Use that feedback to revise your submissions any number of times, and we'll grab whatever you have on Monday and put it in our document for review. We'll get it posted as soon as we're able to finish offering our judge feedback.

That's it! Have a great weekend, have fun, good luck. The final three are heading to Renton for the final challenge soon, and the finale of the GDS3 is right around the corner. I'm psyched!

-Zeff

104 comments:

  1. Well here's my keyword.
    I decided to go with a keyword that you'd activate while casting your creatures and that'd have a lasting impact down the line. There's things like Unleash, but that one usually gets flack for being too simple from what I've seen.
    So I wanted to make it a bit more impactful and this is what I've come up with currently. (There might be templating problems, I'm sorry I'm very new at this)

    Gambit - You may have this creature enter the battlefield taking a chance. When a creature taking a chance leaves the battlefield it's controller loses 3 life

    The flavor of the mechanic is that your creature takes a risk as you summon it which can either lead to something really good happening, or something not good happening (duh) And Im using Grixis colors because I feel like that makes the most sense for a gambling sort of feel
    And so here are my 8 designs, which I am very aware need work.
    Design 1 (C):
    Faithful Risk Taker
    {1}{B}
    Creature - Human Rogue
    Gambit
    When CARDNAME dies, if it took a chance draw a card
    2/1
    Design 2 (C):
    Rabid Fang Goblin
    {1}{R}
    Creature - Goblin Berserker
    Gambit
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if it took a chance it gains haste and at the beginning of the end step return CARDNAME to its owner's hand
    3/3
    Design 3 (C):
    Desperate Librarian
    {2}{U}
    Creature - Naga Advisor
    Gambit
    when CARDNAME enters the battlefield, scry 1. If it took a chance, scry 3 instead
    2/2
    Design 4 (U):
    Cackling Hellraiser
    {B}{B}{B}
    Creature - Demon
    Gambit
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield if it took a chance put 2 +1/+1 counters one it. When CARDNAME dies discard a card from your hand
    3/3
    Design 5 (U):
    Nye the Bill
    {2}{U}
    Creature - Weird Wizard
    Gambit
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield if it took a chance it enters tapped and doesn't untap during your untap step. During your draw step if CARDNAME is tapped draw a card
    1/3
    Design 6 (R):
    Daredevil Hellkite
    {2}{R}{R}
    Creature - Dragon
    Haste
    Flying
    Gambit
    Whenever CARDNAME attacks, if it took a chance you may have it deal damage divided between up to 4 creatures equal to it's power
    4/4
    Design 7 (R):
    Greevo, Grinning Manipulator
    {U}{B}{R}
    Legendary Creature - Goblin Rogue
    Gambit
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield if it took a chance target creature you don't control must attack each attack step if able and whenever it attacks put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME
    2/2
    Design 8 (M):
    Napol, Ruinous Role Model
    {2}{U}{B}{R}
    First Strike
    Haste
    When this creature attacks all creatures you control take a chance. Creatures you control that take a chance have +2/+0 and trample and when they die you lose 3 life
    4/4

    ---

    And those are my designs. Again, Im very new to card design so there might be problems with the cards Im not seeing so feedback would be greatly appreciated. I also feel like some of these cards aren't the correct rarity but again, still new and currently struggle with that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is your second design a 1R 3/3 with upside?

      Delete
    2. If I understand the second design correctly, if you "take a chance" you're guaranteed to lose three life that turn. It's kind of like Jay's spill your own blood mechanic on that card, presented very differently.

      I think your mechanic fits great with red and black but not so sure with blue. Blue takes very calculated risks with long-term payoffs, and this mechanic doesn't seem to fit with blue philosophy. Maybe it could be in multicolor with blue and the other two colors, but it just kind of seems odd in mono-blue.

      There is a larger memory issue, but I think it's solvable. When you're looking at creatures on the battlefield, how would a player be able to know which ones took a chance and which did not?

      I think the solution to this may be +1/+1 counters, which may force you to rethink your casting costs. So if you "take a chance" with your creature, you designated it by putting a +1/+1 counter on it. Then, when it leaves the battlefield, if it had any +1/+1 counters on it, you lose three life.

      This does create an environment where other spells abilities that put counters on the creature could trigger the life loss, which makes for some interesting additional tension. You'd have to decide if you like that idea.

      Delete
    3. For the second design, yep if you take the chance you're guaranteed to lose 3 life, though maybe lowering his toughness would make him more fair?

      Rabid Fang Goblin
      {1}{R}
      Creature - Goblin Berserker
      Gambit
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if it took a chance it gains haste and at the beginning of the end step return CARDNAME to its owner's hand
      3/1
      Im lowering the toughness and not making him
      a bear because he needs to have 3 power to make the damage even out, though if I go with your idea of gambit adding a +1/+1 counter to the creature, I could reasonably make him a bear when you don't take the Gambit.

      And on your idea for Gambit adding a +1/+1 counter to the creature that took a chance, that seems like a pretty good idea, though it might make it too similar to Unleash so I'd have to think about that (It also clashes with the theme of my blue creatures hiding out to do research, mostly ignoring the battle around them but eh blue's theme could be easily changed)(also I'd have to change a few effects and stats to balance out the Gambit +1/+1 counter)

      And continuing on that, about the color pie issue, yes this mechanic is very much a more Rakdos mechanic. If I were to cut a color and make it a 2 color mechanic I'd cut blue in a heart beat. But since the challenge wanted 3 colors I decided to go for grixis since flavorfully this mechanic seemed to fit Grixis more than Mardu or Jund.

      Delete
  2. "Reave" is an ability word on a card that triggers when that card leaves the graveyard to cause various additional effects.

    Reave itself does not remove that card from the graveyard, so I'll acknowledge a big concern from the very start: This is a deeply parasitic mechanic that can only be used in a set that heavily encourages graveyard interactions. So my goal then is to make this mechanic seem like it's worth the set design challenges. To facilitate its use, it doesn't care where the card goes after it leaves the graveyard. It can be moved to exile, the library, the hand, or back to the battlefield and trigger. And it doesn't care who did it or how (so an opponent exiling a card with reave from your graveyard will trigger the ability). So it is a parasitic mechanic, but there's a wide variety of ways to trigger it.

    For this challenge, I've deliberately designed the cards with the idea of a return to Amonkhet in mind, flavoring it with the survivors struggling to recover from their zombie apocalypse and rebuild. Reave will be primary in green and black, available to be used on any card of those colors. In white, it may appear on small creatures and enchantments. In blue and red, it will appear only on sorceries and instants, if that. If aftermath makes a return, I'd consider removing access to non-permanent spells to avoid design overlap and cut blue and red access off entirely.

    I'd like reviews of Dunetoil Caravan (Too strong? Too weak? Too swingy?) and my incarnation of post-Hours mummified Temmet (Same questions).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tainted Exile - 1BB (Common)
      Creature – Minotaur Warrior
      Menace
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, each opponent loses two life and you gain two life.
      3/2

      (I'd prefer this one to let you put -1/-1 counters on a creature but the rules ordered evergreen only)


      Rewritten Teachings - 1UU (Common)
      Instant
      Draw two cards.
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, draw a card.


      Brackish Oasis (Common)
      Land - Desert
      CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped
      T: C
      T, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Add one mana of any color.
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, add one mana of any color.


      Dunetoil Caravan - 1GG (Uncommon)
      Creature – Camel
      As part of CARDNAME's casting cost, put two lands in your graveyard on top of your library or pay an additional 2.
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, untap up to two target lands.
      5/5


      Oketra's Lorewright - 3W (Uncommon)
      Creature – Bird Cleric
      Flying
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may return target enchantment or artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, you may destroy target enchantment or artifact.
      2/2


      Temmet, Vizier of Rebirth - 2BW (Rare)
      Legendary Creature – Human Zombie Cleric
      Creature tokens you control get +1/+1 and lifelink.
      Creature cards in your graveyard have "Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard create a 2/2 white Zombie token creature."
      3/3


      Registry of the Forgotten - 5 (Rare)
      Artifact
      2, exile target creature card from your graveyard, T: Draw a card
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, add three mana of any one color.


      Meroprux, Plague of the Wastes - 3BBB (Mythic)
      Legendary Creature - Demon
      Flying, Trample
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, exile all cards in all graveyards.
      Whenever the reave ability of one of your cards triggers, it triggers an additional time.
      7/7

      Delete
    2. This mechanic feels like it fell out of a lost set of the Odyssey block. I can't imagine them printing it now, but I think this would have fit right in with Madness and whatnot in Odyssey.

      Rewritten Teachings - As Aaron comments, they've never printed an unconditional Draw Two instant at 3 mana. I think they could, but they're clearly afraid of its implication on counterspell decks. This is strictly better than a 3 mana draw 2 instant, so I think this is overpowered. I might aim for 1U Draw One, which still makes this very potent if you compare to constructed all star Think Twice.

      Dunetoil Caravan - This is super unfun. Being Plow Undered is the worst feeling in Magic. I do not want to do it to myself.

      Temmet - Making one token doesn't feel like a reward on a rare. Maybe two tokens would still be okay.

      Registry - This, minus the Reave, feels like it wants to be at Uncommon in the Reave set. The lack of connection between the abilities bothers me (here and on a few of your other cards)

      Meroprux - The last ability here does not work within the rules. That's becasue "Reave" is an ability word, and those are basically flavortext. There are various more ambitious templates you might try.

      Delete
    3. Rewritten Teachings -- I originally had draw two, discard one, but felt like I keep going to that well when designing blue commons. It should definitely be a sorcery.

      Ultimately, though as I stare at the card, I really don't think reave belongs on sorceries and instants. When those "leave" the graveyard, it's typically to be cast/played again, sometimes very efficiently. I don't think they need another bonus. There's a lot of knobs to turn when you talk about moving permanents around various zones. Less so with sorceries and instants. I should probably just cut the spell entirely.

      Dunetoil -- But a 5/5 for 3 mana! But! What if I cut it down to one land? And it's from your graveyard, not the battlefield, so maybe a little different? Maybe?

      Temmet assumes embalm would be making a return in Amonkhet. (So he's boosting them as well)

      Registry--I'm bad at recognizing potential loops so I'm trying to be careful to make it so the reave bonuses don't create game-breaking things. Note that it triggers the reave on your other creature cards in your graveyard. I would have no problems actually removing the reave mechanic from this and bumping it down to uncommon. (But then it's no longer contest appropriate)

      Meroprux - Oh how I hate that damned rule. I understand why it exists, but this is an elegant way of trying to avoid panharnomicon awkwardness.

      I suppose it should be "When an ability is triggered by a card leaving your graveyard, it triggers and additional time." That's actually not that awkward.

      But now it no longer says reave and is no longer contest appropriate.

      Yeah, this would have been the entry to get me bounced out of I made it to the finals.

      Delete
    4. I do see that it is a 5/5 for 3 mana, but blanking your own draw step is miserable. The most.. ahem... magical part of the game is the card you draw each turn.

      I would make it "As an additional cost to cast it return two land cards from your graveyard to your hand or pay 2G."

      Delete
    5. Okay, some changes:

      Rewritten Teachings - 1UU (Common)
      Sorcery
      Draw two cards.
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, draw a card.

      Dunetoil Caravan - 1GG (Uncommon)
      Creature – Camel
      As part of CARDNAME's casting cost, put two lands in your graveyard on the bottom of your library or pay an additional 2.
      Trample.
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, untap up to two target lands.
      5/5

      Registry of the Forgotten - 5 (Rare)
      Artifact
      1, exile target creature card from your graveyard, T: Draw a card
      Reave – When this card leaves your graveyard, exile up to three target cards in target player's graveyard.

      Meroprux, Plague of the Wastes - 3BBB (Mythic)
      Legendary Creature - Demon
      Flying, Trample
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, exile all cards in all graveyards.
      Whenever an ability is triggered by a card leaving your graveyard, it triggers an additional time.
      7/7

      Delete
    6. LOL, there's an artifact with essentially my mechanic in the new Core set: Desecrated Tomb. It's like my version of Temmet but it makes bats.

      Delete
  3. Informed – {effect} if you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn

    Design 1 (YOUR FIRST COMMON)
    Enlightened Scout
    1G
    Creature Scout
    Informed -- When Enlightened Scout deals combat damage to a player untap a permanent you control if you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn
    2/2
    Design 2 (YOUR SECOND COMMON)
    Knowledge to exploit
    1B
    Instant
    Target creature gets -3/-3
    Informed –each opponent looses three life if you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn
    Design 3 (YOUR THIRD COMMON)
    Think then Act
    1U
    Sorcery
    Draw a card
    Informed – you may return target non land permanent to its owners hand if you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn

    Design 4 (YOUR FIRST UNCOMMON)
    Scholarly Gardener 1UG
    Creature Human Scout
    Informed – When Scholarly Gardener enters the battlefield you may search you library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped and shuffle your library, if you control three lands or have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn
    3/2
    Design 5 (YOUR SECOND UNCOMMON)
    Library Automoton
    3
    Artifact
    Informed – T: scry 1 then if you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn add C

    Design 6 (YOUR FIRST RARE)
    Self-Serving Researcher 4BB
    Creature- Demon Wizard
    Sacrifice another creature you control, pay two life, 1: draw a card
    Informed – CARDNAME has flying and lifelink if you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn
    4/4
    Design 7 (YOUR SECOND RARE)
    Stealing Murder 1UU
    Flying
    When Stealing Murder deals combat damage to a player you may draw a card
    Informed – if you would draw a card and you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn, instead return Stealing Murder and up to one target creature you don’t control to their owner’s hands
    1/3

    Design 8 (YOUR MYTHIC RARE)
    Gardener’s Expertise 3GG
    Enchantment
    When Gardener’s Expertise enters the battlefield you may search your library for up to 5 basic forest and exile them, then shuffle your library.
    When you draw one or more card you may put a land you on in exile onto the battlefield tapped
    Informed – At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you have drawn a card outside your drawstep this turn, untap target forest you control it becomes a 5/5 green elemental with haste until your next turn, it is still a land.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the two cards i am most interested in feedback on are stealing murder and enlightened scout

      Delete
    2. stealing murder should be a creature- bird

      Delete
  4. Creatures with Call for Aid can, you guessed it, call other creatures for aid. My aim was to create a mechanic that allows meaningful interaction between your own creatures, and which creates a sense of teamwork. One could argue this is already captured in abilities with a ¨Tap an untapped creature you control¨ cost, but such abilities create complexity issues in volume, especially when they provide combat bonusses. As such, I took that concept and added restraints to it while hopefully increasing resonance.

    When creatures call on another creature for aid, they get some bonus. Some cards care about Call for Aid passively, providing a bonus to the creature they aid. I choose to keep the mechanic in White, Green and Blue for this challenge, as I think those colours match the flavour best, but it could also see use in Red, and perhaps very sparsely in Black (but Black avoids relying on others where possible).

    A creature aiding another creature is an event, not an ongoing effect, to prevent strange edge-cases (i.e. what happens if a creature currently providing aid to another creature dies?)

    To prevent this mechanic from increasing board complexity exponentially, each creature´s Call for Aid ability can only be used once each turn. To prevent creatures that are blocking from also aiding other creatures, and to help prevent board stalls, Call for Aid can only be used during your own turn.

    Judges, if you have the time I would love to get some feedback on Roc Transport and Absorbing Ooze.


    1) Aided Rootwalla (Common)
    {1}{G}
    Creature - Lizard
    Call for Aid {1}{G} (Pay {1}{G} and tap another untapped creature you control to have it aid this creature. Activate this only once each turn, and only during your turn.)
    Whenever ~ is aided, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
    2/2

    2) Lumbering Turtle (Common)
    {4}{U}
    Creature - Turtle
    Call for Aid {U} (Pay {U} and tap another untapped creature you control to have it aid this creature. Activate this only once each turn, and only during your turn.)
    ~ can´t attack unless it was aided this turn.
    5/5

    3) Roc Transport (Common)
    {2}{W}
    Creature - Bird
    Flying
    Whenever ~ provides aid to a creature, that creature gains flying until end of turn.
    1/3

    4) Battlefield Commander (Uncommon)
    {2}{W}
    Creature - Human Soldier
    Call for Aid {W} (Pay {W} and tap another untapped creature you control to have it aid this creature. Activate this only once each turn, and only during your turn.)
    Whenever a creature you control is aided, that creature gains first strike until end of turn.
    3/2

    5) Assisted Researcher (Uncommon)
    {2}{U}
    Creature - Vedalken Wizard
    Call for Aid {3}{U} (Pay {3}{U} and tap another untapped creature you control to have it aid this creature. Activate this only once each turn, and only during your turn.)
    {U},{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card unless ~ was aided this turn.
    1/3

    6) Seraph of the Shield (Rare)
    {3}{W}{W}
    Creature - Angel
    Flying, vigilance
    Whenever ~ provides aid to a creature, prevent the next 4 damage that would be dealt to that creature.
    4/4

    7) Rallying Banner (Rare)
    {4}
    Artifact - Equipment
    Equip {2}
    You may activate equipped creature´s Call for Aid abilities any number of times during your turn.
    Equipped creature has ¨Call for Aid {1}¨ and ¨Whenever this creature is aided, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn¨.

    8) Absorbing Ooze (Mythic)
    {2}{G}{U}
    Creature - Ooze
    Call for Aid {G}{U}
    Whenever a creature provides aid to ~, exile that creature until ~ leaves the battlefield.
    ~ has all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with it, and its power and toughness are increased by their total power and toughness.
    4/4

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aided Rootwalla is an onboard trick. Maybe okay, since it is on the card itself, but red flagged.

      This strikes me as a potentially fun mechanic with a lot of design space, and you've done a good job illustrating just how diverse a mechanic it can be with your card set. I expect that in practice WOTC would aim for a much narrower implementation.

      The fact that a random 1/1 token can satisfy the Call for Aid requirement also puts a very low ceiling on the power level of Call for Aid effects. You might consider requiring two creatures to aid it, instead of one, or a variable number (e.g. Call for Aid 2).

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the feedback Tommy :)

      Rootwalla definitely has an onboard trick, but it does require you to leave a creature and some lands untapped, giving a fairly clear signal (at least that was my reasoning). Perhaps that's still too complex for common though.
      I had Call for Aid at sorcery speed only for a bit for this very reason, but worried that would limit design space too much. Perhaps the reduced complexity would be worth it though. Thoughts?

      I definitely considered your last point about the mechanic having a low ceiling while I was working on the mechanic. To combat that, the Call for Aid ability has a mana cost attached as an additional development knob, and can only be used once a turn.
      I think requiring two creatures would make the mechanic too niche (it would very often be better to just use those two creatures themselves, if you even have two other creatures).
      I considered having a number/variable instead of the mana cost, but figured this was a better balancing lever.

      Delete
    3. I really, really like this. I think you are right to always make it one other creature that aids and have aid mana costs be similar to casting costs. I like the flavor, I like that some creatures need aid and some like to give it. And I love Absorbing Ooze! (Even if its second ability is probably a templating nightmare.)

      Almost all of these abilities are instants that want to be activated on both players' turns. But you don't want them to be activateable on your opponent's turns. That's weird. I see why you are doing it to prevent blocking weirdness, but that might be worth leaning in to and just exploring a slightly stranger combat environment.

      Either way, I'd try to develop this as regular instant-speed ability or a regular sorcery-speed ability, and balance it from there. I can't really think of any other your-turn-only combat tricks in Magic, and I think that's enough of a gimmick that it's worth exploring in itself, maybe with a slightly different mechanic in different colors (RED).

      Since the other Rootwallas have instant speed combat buffs, I would expect to be able to use its ability on my opponents turn. Also, lizards aren't particularly known for their social calls. I love the Call to Aid mechanic, but Rootwallas are not its mascot.

      Delete
    4. The Rootwalla name/type was just placeholder since it's so similar to the original (as were most of the other names/types, though the rest makes a bit more sense). I agree that it makes little sense to have a lizard ask for help :p

      If it were instant-speed, it would definitely be far too complex at common, and thus defeat the point of this challenge. The board would be littered with on-board tricks on both the attacker and blocker side, making combat a nightmare (especially since a creature would be able to block, and then before damage aid another creature).
      Two other options I considered were making it completely sorcery speed, or requiring you to tap another untapped creature that isn't in combat (but that made the reminder text somewhat difficult to parse, and still makes it difficult to see all possible lines of blocking).

      The more I think about it, the more I feel making it sorcery speed is correct. Sure, you lose out on a bit of design space (and some lenticularity, as newer players often use abilities at sorcery speed by default), but it makes it much clearer when you are allowed to use it. Then again, it'd mean losing Seraph of the Shield :(

      Delete
    5. "Call for Aid" is a great name, but sounds like something that happens in battle, e.g. at instant speed. That said, you definitely don't want people saying "at the end of your turn, I call for aid my ..." because that is way way off flavor. So you could do some complicated condition like, only when it is attacking. But I think the gameplay is probably best at Sorcery speed.

      I respect using mana cost to vary the effects, instead of number/size of creatures, but it doesn't really sell me on the story if what happens in every limited game is someone puts their Saproling or one of their Raise the Alarm tokens on Call for Aid duty for the whole game, and then it is just a mana cost.

      Delete
  5. Ok, mechanics! I trawled through my old cards (mostly on AlexC's multiverse site) looking for the best mechanics I've come up with.

    Usually the mechanics that have the most design space are combat mechanics. Ideally, something where you can slap it on a french vanilla creature and get an interesting result. I know this mechanic doesn't HAVE to be that broad, but it would be nice if it could, and if it's supporting that many commons, a deep, broad mechanic would be desirable.

    The most promising I have is "escort", another (alas) spin on "fixed banding" or "a mount mechanic". There are surprisingly few mechanics that care about who a creature is attacking with at all. And I particularly like one that CAN be used to show a rider and mount, but doesn't HAVE to be.

    But as it turns out, I had two different versions and I'm not sure which to go with, or to go with a combination of both.

    1. Escort N (Whenever CARDNAME attacks, you may have another target attacking creature get +N/+N UEOT. [Further details])

    (N is always equal to the creature's printed power, but is spelled out to avoid extra math if the creature is pumped, and to allow future sets to change the number.)

    2. Escort (Whenever CARDNAME attacks, target attacking creature can't be blocked this turn unless CARDNAME is also blocked. [details])

    3. Escort N (Whenever CARDNAME attacks, target attacking creature gets +N/+N UEOT and can't be blocked this turn unless CARDNAME is also blocked. [details])

    In all cases, there are templating tweaks to make it clear what happens if there's multiple creatures with escort, but they are slgihtly different in each case.

    In all cases, what I like is that the creature provides a bonus which is useful if you just swing, but MORE useful if you can use it in the right situation. And that your opponent can limit its usefulness by killing either creature, but that usually still helps you, and because your creature helps another creautre get through.

    In all cases, extra effects can be tacked on (e.g. the blocking restriction version can have some cards that also give +N/+N, and the power pump mechanic can have some flying cards that also grant flying, and you can add other effects too like with soulbond).

    Examples include mounts of all sorts (small ones, big ones, mythic ones, flying ones), bodyguards, scouts, outriders, army vanguards, supernatural guides, etc.

    But please help -- which version sounds best to build on?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel the flavour you're trying to capture is cool, and could lead to an awesome mechanic with a good mechanic that incentivises attacking. The core of the mechanic, giving a boost to another attacking creature, is sound. However, I feel the rewards need some work.

      Version 1 and 3 are quite restricted in what creatures they can show up on. These versions get much better on bigger creatures; not only because of the +N/+N being tied to power, but also because a bigger creature can attack more safely. Perhaps you can think of a way to use a stat boost reward for Escort that also works on bigger creatures?

      Version 2 has an interesting effect. It's an effect for which I find it difficult to imagine how it would play out in actual games. That's not a bad thing (in fact it can be a very good thing), it can just go either way (could be very fun, or turn out to not be very fun). My gut feeling is it could lead to some unfun situations where it essentially gives your biggest baddy unblockable.
      That being said, I feel version 2 would be difficult to use in volume.

      You mention tacking on extra effects. It might be interesting to investigate where focusing on these varying effects instead of a set effect takes you.

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    2. think escort N (the first one without blocking) sounds best for a mechanic. The second one (not blocking) makes 2 creatures with the mechanic unblockable if they target each other, which sounds like something that would happen frequently and be bad.

      The first one might also be fiddly and decision intensive, but probably any banding esque mechanic will be like that.

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    3. Could there be Escort Flying,etc.?

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    4. Thank you for the advice!

      General thoughts. I think it's necessary (certainly in mode #2) to word it so you can have an escort and an escortee and that's it, no chains, no loops, no multiple-escorts-for-one-creature, mostly for simplicity.

      (I mean, technically, two escort creatures wouldn't by themselves make them unblockable, since if you block both that fulfils the criterion, but that's the sort of confusion it's necessary to avoid.)

      Hm. I could fix the boost, say always +2 for common, instead of matching power. I'm not sure if that would feel natural or not.

      By "escort flying" you mean "escort but only escort creatures with flying"? I think that's a good variant, I will probably include one of somewhere.

      Bonus abilities I considered, evasion, first strike, "destroy creature that deals damage to it", something draw a card etc.

      OK, mulling it over.

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    5. I was thinking when this creature attacks another attacking creature gets flying, could do menace, first strike, etc and also go with the power boost, I just feel like power boost would get stale, this would be with the first iteration, also is something you see on cards a lot so nice to be able to make it a shorter wording.

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    6. In fact, the new damage assignation rules might possibly make an actual mount mechanic like equip or crew that much closer to being plausible. Although I doubt it will work out, it's too ambitious for this challenge.

      The principles are something like (i) a mount may attack or block ridden by a single creature (which is itself neither mounting nor mounted) (ii) blocking restrictions on the rider are ignored, the rider blocks/is blocked when and only when the mount is (iii) damage is assigned to mount before rider (iv) it may be a "form a pair when you attack" thing or a "pay equip-like cost, become rider" thing.

      I think that covers all the necessary things, and it's quite intuitive. And I don't think there's a lot of edge cases. However, it's still a bit too much for reminder text, sadly.

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    7. OK, lets try my best with the "escorted creature can't be blocked" version. I did my best to include as many interesting variants as I could although I hope it's clear there could be more french vanilla commons.

      I wrote the reminder text as well as I could, but I may need to test how comprehensible it is. I'd be appreciative if people can judge it based on the actual functionality, not any mistakes I make in templating. For the record, the intent is that (i) escorting happens on attack, boosts are templated to avoid "oops died at end of combat" situations (ii) it's always one escort to one other creature, no loops, no multiple escorts, etc (iii) escorts flavoured as mounts also give a P/T boost usually equal to power.

      It's only on attack for simplicity's sake. It would be less relevant on blocking anyway. I would like a blocking version but felt an attack-only version is safer.

      The comprehensive rules will spell out that a creature targeted by an escort ability is being escorted, the original creature is escorting it etc, but I believe the reminder text doesn't need to define the words as long as it makes it clear what happens (indeed, that that makes it clearer).

      Common:
      Armoured Outrider
      1W
      Creature - Human Soldier
      Escort (Whenever CARDNAME attacks, target attacking creature can't be blocked this turn unless ~ is blocked as well. CARDNAME can't escort a creature that's already escorting or escorted.)
      2/1

      War Elephant
      4G
      Creature - Elephant
      Escort (...)
      Trample
      Whenever ~ escorts a creature, it gets +3/+3 and trample UEOT.

      Riding Drake
      3U
      Creature - Drake
      Flying
      Escort (...)
      2/2

      Uncommon:

      Battle Hound
      Creature - Hound
      R
      Haste, Menace
      Escort (...)
      1/1

      Guiding Wisp
      2U
      Creature - Spirit
      1/3
      Escort (...)
      Whenever a creature escorted by CARDNAME deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.

      Rare:

      Grim Bodyguard
      3B
      Creature - Human Assassin
      Deathtouch
      Escort (...)
      Whenever escorted creature is blocked, you may have ~ deal 1 damage to each creature blocking it.
      3/3

      Overprotective Dragon
      2RR
      Creature - Dragon
      Flying
      Escort (...)
      1R: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to each creature blocking it or blocking escorted creature.
      4/4

      Mythic:

      Turtleback City
      6GG
      Creature - Turtle
      Escort any number of creatures (Whenever ~ attacks, any number of target attacking creature can't be blocked this turn unless ~ is blocked as well. ~ can't escort a creature that's already escorted or escorting.)
      Whenever ~ escorts a creature, that creature gets +2/+2 UEOT.
      8/8

      You can also have variants like "escort power 3 or less" and "escort red or green creature" etc if you want, but I decided not to include those in the initial submission.

      I'm mostly interested in overall feedback but Overprotective Dragon is probably the best combination of representative of the mechanic and interesting in its own right.

      Delete
  6. Reflection(You may play this card for its reflection cost if you do it enters the battlefield transformed)
    1. Demonic Soldier-B (Common)
    creature-demon soldier
    Reflection W
    CARDNAME can't block
    2/1
    --
    Angelic Defender
    creature-angel
    defender
    flying
    1/3

    2. The Human-1W (Common)
    creature-human
    Reflection 1G
    First Strike
    2/2
    --
    The Beast
    creature-beast
    Trample
    3/1

    3. The Pot Smasher 1RR (Common)
    creature-human
    Reflection 1GG
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield destroy target artifact.
    3/2
    --
    The Crusher of Jewels
    creature-human
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield destroy target artifact.
    2/3

    4. The Holy Blade-2WW (Uncommon)
    Enchantment-Aura
    Reflection 2BB
    Enchant Creature
    Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and hexproof from black.
    --
    The Cursed Blade
    Enchantment-Aura
    Enchant Creature
    Enchanted creature gets +3/+1, hexproof from white, and cannot block.

    5. Quick Study-1R (Uncommon)
    creature-human
    Reflection-1U
    Haste
    1RT: Exile the top card of your library, you can cast it this turn.
    2/1
    --
    Purveyor of Knowledge
    creature-human
    1UT: Draw a card.
    1/2

    6. The Twisted Mirror-3WW (Rare)
    Artifact
    Reflection-3BB
    T:Transform target permanent.
    Gain 3 life whenever a permanent is transformed.
    --
    The Horrific Mirror
    Artifact
    T:Transform target permanent.
    Whenever a permanent is transformed target player loses 3 life.

    7. The Maniacal Mind-1UB
    Reflection-Discard 2 cards, R
    Creature-Human Horror Incarnation
    3UU,T: Gain control of target creature for as long as you control CARDNAME.
    Menace
    3/3
    --
    The Mad Scientist
    Creature-Human Horror Incarnation
    2RT: You may cast target instant or sorcery in your graveyard, exile it as it resolves.
    First Strike
    3/1
    8. The Darkened Scale-5RB (Mythic Rare)
    Creature-Dragon
    Reflection-3RW
    Flying, haste
    When CARDNAME deals damage to a player that player discards a card and loses life equal to the Converted Mana Cost of the discarded card.
    5/3
    --
    The Lightened Scale
    Creature-Dragon
    Flying, haste
    When CARDNAME deals damage to a player draw a card and discard a card at random and gain life equal to the discarded card's converted mana cost.
    3/5

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    Replies
    1. This seems like a cool mechanic that's fairly cleanly executed. Definitely captures the horror-esque flavour of everything having a dark side, too. Plenty of design space here; could even let go of having the mana costs mirrored, though that would be far less flavourful.

      Some individual card notes:
      - Demonic Soldier is a clean common that shows what your mechanic is about, with an interesting enough choice. Well done :)
      - Link destroys artifacts on both sides. Intentional? Seems more interesting as destroy artifact // destroy enchantment.
      - Purveyer of Knowledge's rate is waaay too high. 1U to draw a card every turn on a 2 mana creature?
      - Twisted Mirror's triggered ability doesn't actually work with your mechanic, since they enter the battlefield already transformed (I think). Cool card otherwise :)
      - I don't get the thematical connection between the two sides of The Maniacal Mind, but that might be me. Also, recurring mind controls seem unfun for the other player.
      - I really like the discard effect on The Darkened Scale, it adds another dimension to the discard choice the player has to make.

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    2. At one point I had the ability cause the creature to flip after entering but 1-Can't remember how I worded that and 2-I think it played more confusing, so actually for the pot smasher it had vigilance on the other side, being able to destroy enchantments might give the card too much flexibility but maybe that is good.
      The rate is not much different than azure mage, I could see upping it to 1UU to draw a card.
      Yeah I just noticed that Twisted Mirror will not trigger on reflection, but the mirrors give you the power to flip reflections on the table and get the effects, probably would be too strong if it just worked on every reflection cast but I guess it then forces you to choose the dark side, wow I am loving that flavor actually.
      For the Maniacal Mind, it is basically showing two super villains, I know most of my cards have been showing good and evil, but the whole idea is just alternate realities, I read a lot of comic books and enjoyed Spider-Verse, great to see what happens with little changes.

      Yeah I really liked how the dragon turned out and think it is the Timmiest card, what is better than one dragon? Two dragons.

      Thanks for all the feedback. I wish there was a way to put this on instant and sorceries but I cannot think of a way and it might not be needed. I think a land would be sweet.

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    3. This is a really interesting space, creature split cards. One thing I've always wanted them to do is split cards with a permanent on one half and a non-permanent on the other, and the back side of the card is a full size version of the permanent. This is a bit like that.

      The biggest problem I see here (since split cards are a well known entity) is purely a question of how this plays in paper. Is the fulltext of the otherside on the front? Or do I have to flip all of my cards over (removing them from the sleeve) to see what the backside is? This is already an issue for DFCs, but at least with a DFC I don't need to know what the backside is until later, and I assume it is good. Here I need to know when I'm deciding how to cast the card. I'm confident you can find a nice execution here, and that it would be beautiful digitally, but I'm not sure i can quite work it out.

      Demonic Soldier - They don't print 2 power 1 drops at common in a typical set. I like the "aesthetic" of the other side being a defender, but a 1/3 defender is super weak. If you're going to do this mechanic, it has to be the case that both sides of the cards get cast roughly equally often, and that would not be the case here.

      The Human is again quite aggressive for a common. First strike causes such ugly board stalls that it is usually at a lower power level at common. Especially since you're also offering the versatility to cast the backside, I would up the cost or nerf the stats or do the "first strike on attack" thing.

      The real missed opportunity here, though, is the back. a 3/1 Trampler is just worse than a 2/2 first striker so much of the time. I think it would be better to make this more expensive, like a 6 mana 4/4 with trample. Then players can choose where to put this card in their curve, and it plays differently if you draw it early vs late, etc.

      The Pot Smasher - These two cards are very similar. I would make the Green one destroy an Enchantment and the Red one destroy an Artifact so that it feels like more of a choice. I'd also probably up the costs and the stats to 3/4 and 4/3 at 5 mana so there is a greater chance that they have a chance to hit. Also, I think you've designed an uncommon not a common here, because this is a clean two for one if it actually hits.

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    4. I can see a 1/3 flying defender being very good in a blue white control deck. Yeah the big issue with this mechanic is getting the rate right. There might be memory issues but I don't think you would have the complete text on the otherside, since the chance to flip back is low. The flavor takes a little hit if the cmc is not the same but I did that with the dragon, so might just be better

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    5. I actually was talking about flipping it over not when it was on the battlefield, but it was in my hand, and I was deciding which side I wanted to cast. Even if I have sleeves, I can't look at it without showing my opponent I have the card basically.

      Delete
    6. Also, regarding your 1/3 flying defender, keep in mind, it is not going in a Blue White control deck, it is going in a deck with a 2/1 can't block, and that deck would basically never want a 1/3 flying defender. (I'd argue that in limited a 1/3 flying defender is unplayable unless it cantripped because it is not worth a card).

      The key is that, once development gets its hands on this, both sides of the card get a small tax for the added flexibility to play the other side. That means that most of the time, they will end up in decks that can play both sides because they can leverage that flexibility. Also, I think as the designer, you want a player to be able to play both sides, because it is only then they get the fun of making this choice.

      I will again say, I think this is an excellent mechanic that could easily support 10 commons in a set, if only one could get past the implementation issues.

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    7. Yeah, which is where I was getting at memory issues, in limited/draft it probably would be terrible, in constructed you would probably know what your cards do. Would be a very Spikey set. If the card is basically a simple creature maybe we could show it.

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    8. I think it has a lot of potential in limited, especially if you push the two sides apart in terms of stats and cost. Limited needs mana sinks and flexibility a lot more than constructed does.

      Delete
    9. Yeah the part I am wondering if remembering which side does what might be a headache, but going with gameplay over flavor probably can get it across in name and casting cost, like the case with the morph rule in tarkir.

      Delete
    10. In the worst case, this is very dooable in any of the many digital only games out there.

      Delete
    11. Okay time to change the cards based on user feedback.
      1. Demonic Soldier 1BB(Common)
      Creature-Demon Soldier
      Reflection-3W
      CARDNAME can't block.
      4/2
      --
      Angelic Defender
      Creature-Angel
      Flying
      2/3
      2. The Human(Common)
      Creature-Human
      Reflection-4GG
      First Strike
      2/1
      --
      The Beast
      Creature-Beast
      Trample
      6/4
      3. The Pot Smasher 2RR (Common)
      Creature-Human
      Reflection-1G
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield destroy target artifact.
      3/3
      --
      The Wizardry Fracturer
      Creature-Human
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield destroy target enchantment.
      2/2
      5. Quick Study-1R
      Creature-Human
      Reflection-2U
      Haste
      1RT: Exile the top card of your library, you can cast it this turn.
      2/1
      --
      The Purveyor of Knowledge
      Creature-Human
      1UUT:Draw a card
      1/3

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    12. Review the dragon and the second version of human and beast.

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    13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Shapeshift - When this creature enters the battleground, other creatures you control become a copy of this creature until end of turn.

    Paragon of Growing Things G
    Creature - Treefolk C
    Shapeshift
    Whenever a unit enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Paragon of Growing Things.
    0/1

    Paragon of the Seas 2U
    Creature – Fish C
    Flash
    Shapeshift, Hexproof
    0/4

    Paragon of the Skyies 2UU
    Creature - Bird
    Shapeshift, Flying
    2/2

    Paragon of the Apes 1GG
    Creature – Ape U
    Flash
    Shapeshift
    When Paragon of the Apes deals damage to an opponent, draw a card.
    1/1

    Paragon of Reptiles 2L
    Creature – Lizard U
    Flash
    Shapeshift, Deathtouch
    1/3

    Paragon of Skittering Things 1GW
    Creature - Insect R
    Shapeshift
    TAP: Create a 1/1 green Insect creature token.
    1/1

    Paragon of Beasts 5GG
    Creature - Beast R
    Shapeshift, Trample
    5/5

    Paragon of Forms 4GU
    Creature - Changeling M
    As Paragon of Forms enters the battlefield, it becomes a copy of a creature and gains Shapeshift.
    0/0

    Specifically Looking for 5 and 8.

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    Replies
    1. Can shapeshift be a may? I feel turning all my creatures into 1/1's is not very fun.

      Delete
    2. But drawing multiple cards is fun. Its a drawback but a balanced one.

      Delete
    3. Seems like a cool mechanic, though I would expect it to be mostly blue/red (those two colours can copy things in the color pie, blue permanently and red temporarily).

      However, this mechanic seems very difficult to pull off at common, since you'll generally want the Scapeshift keyword plus some other keyword on the same card, and Scapeshift itself is already a very complex keyword.
      For example, Paragon of the Seas is a common creature card essentially reads:
      Flash, Hexproof, When ~ enters the battlefield, all creatures you control become 0/4 creatures with hexproof and no other abilities until end of turn.
      That doesn't seem very common to me; it's part combat trick, part protective spell, part creature, all at instant speed, at common.

      Delete
    4. WOTC has held pretty firm to not doing copying at common, or even uncommon. This can be (and has been) a neat rare but I do not believe this can be a mechanic because it cannot fill out the lower rarities.

      Delete
    5. Setting aside complexity and plausability, do you think the mechanic would be fun and innovative?

      I think red makes more sense than white as the third color.

      Delete
  8. My mechanic, Limbo, was inspired by Karn, Scion of Urza's silver counters. It reads:

    Limbo X (X: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs X less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)

    It allows players to break up the mana costs of their cards into two payments. While it's fairly generic and can go on most kinds of cards, the main theme I've gone with for Limbo is caring about the number of cards that have been exiled with limbo counters, to try to encourage building up a big store of exiled cards and not casting them right away.

    1) Spectral Lion
    {2}{W}{W}
    Creature - Cat (C)
    Limbo {W} ({W}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {W} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)
    3/3

    2) Draw from the Void
    {2}{U}
    Instant (C)
    Draw a card. If you own a card in exile with a limbo counter on it, draw an additional card.
    Limbo {2} ({2}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {2} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)

    3) Pocket of Flame
    {3}{R}{R}
    Sorcery (C)
    Pocket of Flame deals 3 damage to target creature and 3 damage to that creature's controller.
    Limbo {1}{R} ({1}{R}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {1}{R} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)

    4) Sleeping Spirit
    {4}{W}{W}
    Creature - Spirit (U)
    At the beginning of your upkeep, if Sleeping Spirit is in exile or on the battlefield, you gain 1 life.
    Limbo {3}{W} ({3}{W}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {3}{W} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)
    2/2

    5) Veilborn Wailer
    {4}{B}
    Creature - Spirit (U)
    When Veilborn Wailer enters the battlefield, it deals X damage to target opponent and you gain X life, where X is the number of cards you own in exile with limbo counters on them.
    Limbo {1} ({1}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {1} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)
    2/1

    6) Seep into Reality
    {2}{U}{U}
    Sorcery (R)
    Reveal the top four cards of your library. Exile all nonland cards revealed this way with a limbo counter on them. For as long as they remain exiled, you may cast them. Put the rest into your graveyard.
    Limbo {1}{U} ({1}{U}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {1}{U} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)

    7) Canopy Lord
    {1}{G}{G}
    Creature - Beast Human (R)
    Reach, trample
    Canopy Lord gets +1/+1 for each card you own in exile with limbo counters on them.
    Limbo {G} ({G}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {G} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)
    2/2

    8) Azul, God of Limbo
    {7}{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}
    Legendary Creature - God (M)
    When Azul enters the battlefield, you may cast any number of cards you own in exile with limbo counters on them without paying their mana costs.
    Limbo {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} ({W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: Exile this card from your hand with a limbo counter. For as long as it remains exiled, you may cast it and it costs {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} less. Limbo only as a sorcery.)
    6/6

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    Replies
    1. Very innovative mechanic, slight suspend vibe, I like it. Slight risk of watering down the exile zone as 'stuff that goes here doesn't come back' zone, but that's happened plenty over the past decade anyway.
      A potential concern is that spreading out the mana cost of cards over more than 1 turn inherently bypasses Magic's limiting factor on what you can do: the amount of mana available to you. This can be overcome by careful balancing, but it's something to keep in mind.

      Notes on individual cards:
      - Spectral Lion is super clean, balanced, and shows the potential of your mechanic. Great card :)
      - Draw from the Void seems more like an uncommon. Not because of complexity, but because generally speaking common should have a quality/trait, while uncommon cares about the quality/trait (according to MaRo)
      - Sleeping Spirit is a pain to track while it's in exile, doesn't seem worth it. You also pretty much NEVER want to just hardcast it, so you lose out on a meaningful choice there.
      - Veilborn Walker's Limbo ability doesn't seem to add a whole lot. Might be cleaner with just the etb trigger, and allows you to make its stats slightly better too. Good build-around effect though.
      - Azul is begging to cost 6WUBRG, so I can limbo it turn 5, cast it turn 6. Might be too powerful then though (already seems quite powerful as is so)


      P.S. If you want the judges to judge cards, you have to specify which two cards you want them to look at.

      Delete
    2. This is a neat mechanic, with the downside that it is 100% Spike. It takes a high degree of sophistication to appreciate why paying W+2W is better than paying 2WW. One could view this as a nicer Echo, in that it lets you choose ot pay the Echo now or later.

      Unfortunately, your lion is not helping them get that, as White gets 2W 3/3's frequently (albeit not at common) and of course Green gets 2G 3/3s all the time. As such, for someone to appreciate the "upside" here they need to know that a 3 mana 3/3 at common in White is good(ish).

      I agree this mechanic probably wants multiple common vanilla creatures, but I don't think you've found the right combination here just yet.

      Delete
    3. Thanks for the great feedback! You both really honed in on the weaknesses of the mechanic. :) To respond to some of the individual points:

      - Yes, the benefits of using limbo might not be apparent to many players at first glance. However, I think it would quickly become clear as soon as they start playing with the cards and using it.

      - I like Spectral Lion where it's at, but the set would definitely include some bigger, more pushed vanilla creatures with limbo that would emphasize the difference. Off the top of my head, maybe a 5/4 for 4 in green at common.

      - I agree that Sleeping Spirit should be bigger than it is now to encourage players to want it on the battlefield. I'm thinking either 3/3 or 2/5.

      - I put Draw from the Void at common because I wanted the limbo limited deck to have easy access to card draw to refill their hand after putting a bunch of cards in limbo that they might not want to cast immediately. However, maybe I should have made a more generic card draw spell at common and moved Draw up to uncommon.

      - For similar reasons, I gave Veilborn Wailer limbo so that the set would have a high volume of limbo cards for limited.

      - For Azul, you can limbo him on turn 5, put a bunch of other cards in limbo on turn 6, and then cast him on turn 7.

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    4. Oh, and I'd say that Limbo is at least 10% jonny, as it really gets me excited thinking of ways to build around and take advantage of cards like Azul and Veilborn Wailer.

      Delete
    5. Does limbo have the suspend problem where you think the creature should have haste? Where in suspends case they gave the creatures haste, which actually I thought was actually unintuitive but their playtesting said otherwise.

      Delete
    6. I honestly have no idea. I would think it doesn't, since you still have to spend mana to cast a card from limbo, but I haven't actually playtested these, so who knows.

      Delete
    7. I actually was very surprised when reading the design for suspend that people thought the creatures had haste, so then they gave them haste.

      Delete
    8. I had the exact same thought process about the Suspend / Haste issue. I think the fact that you are paying mana to "cast" it will probably stave off the mental shortcut of "Of course I controlled this creature at the start of my turn, it's been sitting here for ages," but maybe not, playtesting will tell you.

      It would offer a lot more flexibility in designs if there was sometimes a choice about whether to put the creature in Limbo or not. That might require too many costs, I'm not sure.

      Delete
  9. Hey there, I'm here to debut my mechanic Enshrine. It plays as follows: To enshrine, create an artifact token of target permanent. It loses all other types.

    It is similar to Embalm and Eternalize in terms of aesthetics, except the permanent has to be on the battlefield rather than in a graveyard. For flavor, this is set in a war-torn plane in which warriors are praised for their combat prowess. Those who perform especially well have monuments erected in their honor and are given a proper burial in order to ferry their soul to this plane's version of Valhalla (hence Enshrine).
    It can be primarily found in the {W}{U}{R} color combination because they care the most about artifacts, but can sometimes (with a proper reason) bleed into {B} and {G}.


    Lasting Memorial {W}{U}
    Instant {common}
    Enshrine target creature. (Create an artifact token of it. It loses all other types.)
    Draw a card.

    Viashino Raider {2}{R}
    Creature - Viashino {common}
    When Viashino Raider enters the battlefield, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
    {R}, Sacrifice Viashino Raider: Enshrine Viashino Raider. (Create an artifact token of it. It loses all other types.)
    2/1

    Egotistic Vizier {2}{U}
    Creature - Human Cleric {uncommon}
    When Egotistic Vizier dies, if it’s a creature, enshrine it. (Create an artifact token of it. It loses all other types.)

    Whenever a blue creature enters the battlefield under your control, target player puts the top two cards of their library into their graveyard.
    2/2

    Portentious Pool {3}{U}
    Artifact {uncommon}
    Whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under you control, scry 1.
    {4}{U}, {T}: Enshrine another target nontoken artifact or creature you control. (Create an artifact token of it. It loses all other types.)

    Righteous Imprisonment {1}{W}{U}
    Enchantment {rare}
    When Righteous Imprisonment enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent until Righteous Imprisonment leaves the battlefield. Enshrine that permanent.

    Honorable Demise {4}{W}
    Instant {rare}
    Exile all attacking creatures target player controls. For each creature exiled this way, its controller may enshrine it.

    The Collector {2}{R}{U}{W}
    Legendary Creature - Avatar {mythic rare}
    Indestructible
    Whenever another nontoken permanent you control dies, enshrine it.
    5/5

    Looking to submit #1 and #7 for review (Lasting Memorial and The Collector)

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Copying is not done at common because it is pretty complex (aside from Populate, where they can tightly control the complexity).

      Enshrine, though, is way more complicated than just copying, because you're copying something, removing its type, and replacing that type with Artifact. It is actually a very interesting puzzle to ask, for each card type, what does this do?

      Artifacts - Great, it is the same as it was before!

      Creatures - Usually enshrining a creature does nothing. My Artifact Nessian Courser can't attack or block, and isn't even a Centaur anymore. on the bright side, now it counts towards my metalcraft or I could Artilerize it?

      Creatures with activated abilities fare much better. My Merfolk Looter actually gets better, as now it is harder to kill, and gives me all the benefits. Creatures with static abilities work too, my Benalish Marshall becomes a Glorious Anthem. Hooray!

      Lands are especially weird. If I Enshrine my Mountain, it becomes a paper weight (it doens't do anything). If I enshrine my Hallowed Fountain it politely offers me the option to pay two life, but then does nothing. But on the other hand if I Enshrine my Azorious Guildgate, suddenly I have made my own mana rock (it won't be a gate anymore, of course). This is because a Mountain's ability to tap for mana comes from the land subtype Mountain, which is stripped away when we make a Mountain that isn't a land and hence isn't a Mountain (the type). The same happens to our poor Hallowed Fountain. But the Azorious Guildgate actually has a mana ability printed on the card, so it keeps it.

      Global Enchantments work fine, and are usually not impacted in any way.

      Local Enchantments actually cause total craziness. Flight of Fancy would lose it's Aura-ness, but still has "ENchant Creature" in its textbox, so who knows what would happen.

      Anyway, I think my understanding of the rules is good enough that the above descriptions are correct, but they might be wrong. But most Magic players could not see the various distinctions above. Most would probably think they could attack with their statue of a Nessian Courser.

      I don't think Enshrine can be a keyword mechanic, but I do think that you can put this line of text on a rare or mythic, probably in a supplemental set. Let JudgeCast spoil it, and they can do a whole episode on all the ramifications, and that whole class of players that get really into layers and such will love it. I certainly enjoyed thinking through what happens in various rules contexts with it.

      Delete
  10. My keyword is called dragonform, a mechanic designed for Tarkir.

    Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)

    It’s flavor is this: Dekai is a draconic martial art created by the Dragonlords which allows their subjects to tap into the power of the Dragon Tempest. Practitioners magically become dragons, growing stronger the more they use the style.

    Mechanically, dragonform resembles morph using face down tech to limit players to activating the ability once each turn. It also resembles morph in that it’s cost is hard-set at 4. (The mechanic is doing enough complicated stuff – it doesn’t also need variable costs to activate.) Last way it’s like morph is that it’s in all five dragon broods and all five colors. (Which means there would be a few mono-G creatures with dragonform that are part of 5-card cycles.) The reminder text is shortened. A longer version would be “You may turn this card face down as a colorless 2/2 creature until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down it gains flying and is a Dragon.”

    My eight cards have commons which are cheap, to enable a natural curve into activating dragonform. Commons are also mostly vanilla. Reach is important in this set, more so than normal, so Minaret Archer gets that keword. Uncommon Herald of the Hunt buffs other dragons you control if you keep him face up, and Rare Silumgar’s Pet can get it’s keywords whether it attacks face up or face down. I don’t know if the set wants both interaction, but I’m just showing the design space dragonform offers. Dragonform can also enable “+1/+1 counters matter” which Oasis and my mythic rare show. The +1/+1 counter aspect of the ability turns out to be really important because it make the face up version of the creature still matter turns later when you need to spend your mana some other way. The counters also help keep gameplay dynamic, getting around the morph issue where players could stall out against each other with a field full of 2/2’s Early dragonform activations mean creatures will be of different sizes during the game. Also, since this is a pay-upfront ability, as opposed to morph’s pay to flip for tricks, those counters keep things interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1) Mardu Warwing (Common)
      1W
      Creature – Human Warrior
      Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      3/1

      2) Scalelord’s Tonguelasher (Common)
      U
      Creature – Naga Wizard
      Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      1/1

      3) Minaret Archer (Common)
      2G
      Creature – Hound Archer
      Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      1/4

      4) Dekai Acolyte’s Medallion (Uncommon)
      1
      Equipped creature has dragonform unless it has one or more +1/+1 counters on it. (You may turn it face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      Equip 1

      5) Herald of the Great Hunt (Uncommon)
      3R
      Creature – Orc Berserker
      Dragons you control have trample.
      Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      3/3

      6) Silumgar’s Pet (Rare)
      2B
      Creature – Zombie Ape
      Whenever Silumgar’s Pet attacks, it gains lifelink and deathtouch until end of turn.
      Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      1/4

      7) Oasis, the Wandering Fortress (Rare)
      3WBG
      Legendary Creature – Beast
      Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has double strike.
      Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      3/3

      8) Honored Dekai Master (Mythic Rare)
      3UU
      Creature – Human Monk
      Activate abilities of each creature you control cost 1 less to activate for each +1/+1 counter on that creature. This effect can’t reduce the amount of mana an ability costs to activate to less than one mana.
      Dragonform (You may turn this card face down until end of turn for 4. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it. While it’s face down, it’s a 2/2 flying Dragon.)
      2/4

      Delete
    2. I wonder if this works within the rules/amount of rules rewriting because now I think any face down card is defined as a 2/2, I guess the reminder text helps and I guess the until end of turn takes away a lot of memory issues.

      Delete
    3. This mechanic would pretty seriously slant your limited format towards aggressive decks. If each aggro deck has a few commons that can become 3/3 fliers in the late game, that offers so much reach it is impossible for a control deck to stabilize against. (See, for example, Gustwalker.) That's not automatically a bad thing, but it tends to lead to formats that are unpopular.

      Also, I expect you meant for your Archers to have Reach?

      Delete
    4. @Doug it should work within the rules because dragonform's actually giving flying and Dragon as a type while face down. The reminder text is simplified and doesn't spell that out.

      @Tommy Yeah the archer has reach. As for control, I see what you're saying about control. Since all these creatures are Dragons when they're face down, some control friendly anti-Dragon effects could be included to balance Limited. The nice thing about that is whatever effects those were could still be simple and have clear flavor. Instead of "enchanted creature can't turn face down and blah blah blah" it could just be "enchanted creature can't attack if it's a dragon" or whatever.

      Delete
    5. It really depends on how many two and three drop aggressive creatures there are with Dragonform.

      One can't simply print answers to dragonform, those would be narrow, and only answer the threats one at a time. One would have to have many reasonable answers floating around. The fact that the mechanic existing would anger control players is not intrinsically a problem. It is just a note that this is an aggro mechanic, and one that will scare the bejeezus out of anyone who hopes to stabilize at 6 life and claw their way back into the game.

      Delete
    6. Morph for 2 was deemed too warping when they were originally designing Khans of Tarkir, but I think dragonform for 4 is much slower. Still, I take your point. I look forward to the other mechanics in a hypothetical set with dragonform. They could go in a completely different direction.

      Delete
  11. For this challenge, I will go with a mechanic that older Artisans will recognize:

    Mutate N (As this enters the battlefield, you may exile a nontoken creature you control until this leaves the battlefield. If you do, this enters with N additional +1/+1 counters on it.)

    I consolidated the flavor and distributed the mechanic in black, blue and green.

    Uber-bear {1}{G}
    Creature - Bear Mutant (c)
    Mutate 2
    2/2

    Autoresearcher {2}{U}
    Creature - Human Wizard Mutant (c)
    Mutate 1
    {U}, {T}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from CARDNAME: Draw a card, then discard a card.
    1/3

    Vampire {3}{B}
    Creature - Vampire Mutant (c)
    Mutate 1
    Lifelink
    2/2

    Overgrown Cheetah {3}{G}
    Creature - Cat Mutant (u)
    Flash
    Mutate 1
    3/3

    Unstable Specimen {2}{U}
    Creature - Beast Mutant (u)
    Mutate 1
    {1}{U}: Return CARDNAME to its owner's hand.
    2/2

    Vivisectionist's Lab
    Land (r)
    CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
    Mutate 3
    {T}:Add {B}.
    {2}, {T}, Remove X +1/+1 counters from CARDNAME: Target creature gets -X/-X untile end of turn. Activate this only as a sorcery.

    Abhorrent Bloohunter {4}{B}{B}
    Creature - Bat Mutant (r)
    Mutate 2
    Flying
    Whenever CARDNAME attacks, you may sacrifice it. If you do, each opponent loses X life and you gain X life, where X is CARDNAME's power.
    4/4

    Shapesharer Blob {4}{G}
    Creature - Ooze Mutant (M)
    Mutate 2
    Each creature you control has flying if CARDNAME mutated from a card with flying. The same is true for first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, reach, trample and vigilance.
    4/4

    Feedback appreciated as always.
    For single cards, I would like to know your review of the land and the blue common.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So kind of a devour and champion hybrid. Very clean simple cards, nothing out there but I think the mechanic would play okay, I kind of wish I could mutate from tokens, but might confuse people too much that they wouldn't get the token back. I am trying to determine how often I would want to mutate, especially the mutate 1 because it was rare to want to devour 1.

      Delete
    2. Nice! I liked the idea of devour and champion, but this feels a lot better, I never liked giving up my creature to either. I like the rules being able to care about the exiled card too.

      Delete
  12. ***New Keyword Ability: Ambition***

    Ambition is an ability that allows a creature to grow in size when another creature is put into your graveyard from your library.

    The official rules for ambition are as follows:

    702.XXX. Ambition

    702.XXXa Ambition is a static ability. "Ambition N" means "As this object enters the battlefield, put the top N cards of your library into your graveyard. This permanent enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card put into your graveyard this way."

    * Ambition appears only on creature cards.

    Merriam-Webster definition of Ambition:
    - an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power
    - desire to achieve a particular end

    Design 1
    Overeager Aeronaut
    1WW
    Creature – Human Soldier (Common)
    Flying
    Ambition 1 (As this creature enters the battlefield, put the top card of your library into your graveyard. This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card put into your graveyard this way.)
    2/2

    Design 2
    Aspiring Mystic
    2U
    Creature – Human Wizard (Common)
    Ambition 1 (As this creature enters the battlefield, put the top card of your library into your graveyard. This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card put into your graveyard this way.)
    When Aspiring Mystic enters the battlefield, draw a card for each +1/+1 counter on it.
    1/1

    Design 3
    Highland Lancer
    2R
    Creature – Human Soldier (Common)
    First strike
    Ambition 1 (As this creature enters the battlefield, put the top card of your library into your graveyard. This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card put into your graveyard this way.)
    2/2

    Design 4
    Young Cutthroat
    B
    Creature – Human Rogue (Uncommon)
    1/1
    Ambition 2 (As this creature enters the battlefield, put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard. This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card put into your graveyard this way.)

    Design 5
    Goblin Sociopath
    3R
    Creature – Goblin Assassin (Uncommon)
    Ambition 2 (As this creature enters the battlefield, put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard. This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card put into your graveyard this way.)
    When Goblin Sociopath enters the battlefield, it deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.
    1/1

    Design 6
    Desirous Conjurer
    XUUU
    Creature – Human Wizard (Rare)
    Ambition X
    Desirous Conjurer enters the battlefield with an additional X +1/+1 counters on it.
    When Desirous Conjurer enters the battlefield, you may put an artifact, creature, or land card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on Desirous Conjurer from your hand onto the battlefield.
    0/0

    Design 7
    Rapacious Necromancer
    4BB
    Creature – Human Wizard (Rare)
    Ambition 3
    When Rapacious Necromancer enters the battlefield, put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control if its power is less than or equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on Rapacious Necromancer.
    2/2

    Please review Desirous Conjurer and Rapacious Necromancer.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is super swingy, and basically random. Remember how much people disliked Clash? This mechanic is in a similar space.

      The difference between a 2/2 flier on turn 3 and a 3/3 flier on turn 3 is huge, and there is very little you can do to affect whether it hits.

      With Aspiring Mystic, it is actually even swingier, you either get a vanilla 1/1 for 3, or you get a 2/2 and draw a card. I think that putting the outcome totally outside the player's control like this is a mistake.

      Delete
    2. I had a similar mechanic called enlightened, but it was more like an explore that scaled, you would get one counter if you put the cards in the graveyard and could keep the cards on top or rearrange them. You might want to do something similar, maybe scry x and then put the cards into the graveyard but that might be hard to balance, could also go with nonland card to up the likelihood.

      Delete
  13. A sailor faces many threats to his in life in Hexagua, the Plane of the Cursed Sea. The omnipresent bruise-purple ocean is a strange and devilish sea, as its waters not only often toss and churn, but sometimes boil, change color or wail! Storm waters seem to reach out and grab an unwary berk, to haul him back into a gobbling sea. The raft cities that bravely try to thrive on the seas are hives of gangs, tribes, secret societies, and hidden associations - each city is a tapestry of handshake rituals and coded cant, and saying hello in the wrong language at the wrong brothel will get a cutter led into a dark alley to greet the ogre merfolk bouncer and knifesman. To escape such a fate, a sailor can tack sails to his oars and ride the great vaporous updrafts from the boiling sea into the air (avoiding the deadly electric strato-storms, of course) and visit the Imported Lands. The colonizing planeswalkers who transport their entire lands, towns, towers and allies into the skies of Hexagua, well, they can make a lad rich beyond his wildest dreams. But they'll look at you like you're bugs and not give a snail's slime if you're squashed in whatever misadventure they'd hire you for. But the most dangerous threat to a sailor's life is always the threat from within-

    Mutiny!

    The mutiny mechanic and the Hexagua set are multi-player focused and meant to showcase Hexagua's conceit: As it's an elemental plane of water, most cards are blue, blue hybrid or blue gold. In fact, in Hexagua, black has been completely subsumed by blue; there are no mono-black cards. So the mechanic is thus:

    Mutiny - (When this card enters the battlefield, declare a color in this card’s color identity. You may wear the captain hat of that color until another player declares a mutiny in that color or you control no creatures of that color.)

    Each hat is basically an emblem with "Creatures you control of this color gain +1/+1". So many cards treat Mutiny like a combat mechanic, and riff on that. Some cards rely on your wit as a captain, and gain greater effects while you wear a captain's hat.

    Yes, it's pretty similar to being the monarch, except now there are five different "monarchies". I'd mostly like criticism about the mechanic and how to develop it, rather than focusing on specific cards. Mutiny can exist in all colors, but I wanted it to be in a specific color-themed set in which most players will be expected to make decks with that color. That gives them a specific captain's hat to fight over. And, again, it's a multi-player focused set, so that gives more opportunity for treachery on the cursed seas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. COMMON

      Surprise Boarder
      1UW
      Instant
      Mutiny (When this card enters the battlefield, declare a color in this card’s color identity. You may wear the captain hat of that color until another player declares a mutiny in that color or you control no creatures of that color.)
      Create a 1/1 blue and white Sailor creature token.

      Ropefleet Town
      Land - Island
      Ropefleet Town enters the battlefield tapped.
      T: Add U.
      T, sacrifice Ropefleet Town: Add one mana of any color. Activate this ability only if you are wearing a captain’s hat.


      UNCOMMON

      Et Tu?
      3RU
      Sorcery
      Mutiny (When this card enters the battlefield, declare a color in this card’s color identity. You may wear the captain hat of that color until another player declares a mutiny in that color or you control no creatures of that color.)
      Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.

      Treacherous Weather-witch
      2UR
      Creature - Hag Druid
      Mutiny (When this card enters the battlefield, declare a color in this card’s color identity. You may wear the captain hat of that color until another player declares a mutiny in that color or you control no creatures of that color.)
      T: Deal 1 damage to any target. If you are wearing a captain’s hat, deal 2 damage instead.
      0/2


      RARE

      Double-Dealing Navigator
      3UG
      Creature - Ogre Merfolk Sailor
      Mutiny
      Pay 2 life: You may cast a creature card as though it had flash until end of turn. If you are wearing a captain's hat, you may pay 1 life instead.
      4/4

      Turnaround Lookout
      3UW
      Creature - Human Sailor
      Flash
      Mutiny
      When Turnaround Lookout enters the battlefield, creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn.
      2/2


      Mythic

      Raftcity Skane
      Legendary Land
      Raftcity Skane enters the battlefield tapped.
      T: Add U, or one mana of any color if you are wearing a captain’s hat.
      6: Create a 1/1 Rebel creature token of any one color of the mana used to activate this ability. It has mutiny. Any player may activate this ability, but only on their turn and only once per turn.

      Hex Whale
      5UUBB
      Creature - Whale Horror
      When Hex Whale enters the battlefield, exile all opponents' nonland permanents. If you are wearing a captain’s hat add B for each permanent exiled this way.
      11/13

      Delete
    2. I think in order to get Et Tu? to work, I need to change the wording of mutiny; specifically getting rid of the "When this card enters the battlefield" part.

      If I just phrase it as "Mutiny (Declare a color in this card’s color identity. You may wear the captain hat of that color until another player declares a mutiny in that color or you control no creatures of that color.)" then does it work to just phrase Et Tu? as:

      "
      Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap it. It gains haste until end of turn.

      Mutiny
      "?

      Because it's not a creature, it adds weirdness to the resolution of mutiny. I.e., if you declare a color that you have no creatures of, you immediately lose your hat. I hope phrasing mutiny this way is clear, and that it lets Et Tu? grab a creature and have its caster get to be a captain. Rather than casting Et Tu?, declaring mutiny in blue or red and having no creatures in either, so you immediately lose your hat, and then using Et Tu? to grab a blue or red creature. That would suck.

      Delete
    3. Instant and sorceries never actually enter the battlefield. You would want this to be a cast ability and I think it could check on resolution.

      Delete
    4. Also, let me update the whale. It shouldn't exile opponents' stuff, it should return everything to hand and grant black or blue mana:

      Hextide Whale
      5UUBB
      Legendary Creature - Whale Horror
      When Hextide Whale enters the battlefield, return each nonland permanents to its owner’s hand. If you are wearing a captain’s hat add B or U in any combination for each permanent exiled this way.
      11/13

      Delete
    5. So how should I phrase it to make it a cast ability that checks on resolution?

      Delete
    6. This is potentially a very interested mechanic for a deliberately prepared multiplayer environment, but perhaps not a standard set. I'm having a hard time visualizing the circumstances that they'd put a fight over five different emblems in a standard set with the assumption of two-player games, and I'm having a hard time visualizing a set that's heavily weighted toward a particular color in card identity.

      Delete
  14. Well, my mechanic seems a lot simpler than most of the ones posted here (and most of the ones in the competition). I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

    Cooperate - "...you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do..."

    Cooperate is an ability word that shows up entirely on creatures (like Batallion, Heroic, Enrage, or Formidable). Some cooperate triggers occur when the creature ETBs, others trigger when the creature attacks. Cooperate is a simple mechanic, easy to grok, and would probably work best in a core set (or in a multiplayer set with the wording "tap another untapped creature your team controls", but this assignment was for a standard-legal set). Cooperate could show up in any color, but White and Green are the best fits (and Black is the biggest stretch).

    Cooperate represents two creatures working together to achieve something greater than a single of them could accomplish. As such, it is an ability that works best (both in gameplay and in flavor) on creatures. The non-creature cooperate cards I attempted to design ended up simply feeling clunky and unnecessary. Besides, one of the appeals of cooperate is that it gives your creatures spell-like effects.

    There is intentionally not a huge amount of tension in the decision of whether or not to use some of these abilities. Rather, the sequencing requirements and inherent tempo loss should make for some interesting decisions for experienced players while guiding newer players towards proper sequencing. Cooperate encourages a slower environment (and discourages trading early), I chose effects to break up board stalls rather than accumulate value through +1/+1 counters.

    Common 1:
    Sky-Boosted Aerialist
    1W
    Creature – Human Warrior
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME attacks, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, CARDNAME gains flying until end of turn.
    2/2

    Common 2:
    Whirlwind Conjurer
    3U
    Creature – Human Wizard
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, return target creature to its owner’s hand.
    3/2

    Common 3:
    2R
    Creature – Goblin Berserker
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME attacks, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, target creature an opponent controls can’t block this turn.
    3/2

    Uncommon 1:
    Harnessed Warbeast
    3GG
    Creature - Beast
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, CARDNAME fights target creature you don’t control.
    4/3

    Uncommon 2:
    Charismatic Warleader
    2WW
    Vigilance
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain vigilance until end of turn.
    2/3

    Rare 1:
    Doomsday Martyr
    3WW
    Creature – Human Cleric
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, destroy all creatures.
    3/4

    Rare 2:
    Bestial Warcaller
    2GGG
    Creature – Human Shaman
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain trample until end of turn.
    2/2

    Mythic 1:
    Viashino Sandrunner
    3RR
    Creature – Viashino Warrior
    First Strike, Trample
    Cooperate – When CARDNAME attacks for the first time this turn, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, untap all creatures you control, and after this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
    4/4


    Mostly I'd want comments on the mechanic itself, but card-wise maybe look at Rare 1 and Common 1.

    Thanks for the feedback!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool idea, I think it will play well. The biggest problem is that tapping one creature is easy, so this only becomes a cost if you have several cooperate cards at once (which the mechanic actively discourages you from doing). Having such a small hoop has big advantages, like that these cards shoot into most any limited deck and play well there.

      But the disadvantage of small hoop mechanics is that you have very narrow design space because the card has to be printable even if you assume the ability is always on, which means to an acute eye these cards are always below rate. This is the case for mechanics like Raid.

      Delete
    2. The balancing factor I used for the hoop being so easy to jump through is that most of these are aggressive or tempo abilities that aren't quite as effective if you're not able to utilize your whole team. For instance, you need 2 creatures already on the battlefield to benefit at all from giving your team +1/+1.

      Delete
  15. I'd actually really want to use challenge (or feud as I call it normally, challenge was just the more flavor neutral name i useed when I used it in the art challenge previously) since it's a mechanic I'd really like to work on finetuning and troubleshooting but I haven't evolved or changed it since then so I guess it'd be sort of lame to use it for another challenge, so I'll use a different one.

    Train (If this creature isn't fully trained, put a +1/+1 counter on it. Then, if it has three or more +1/+1 counters, it becomes fully trained.)

    This mechanic was born as a tweak to level up. It seemd more natural to me that rather than having the frame redesign and a nonstandard counter, it made a lot more sense to just use the counters we already have that represent growth. By making it a limited count, it also fixes issues of it growing too far out of hand, which would be an issue if there were a lot of it in the set. Every train creature, if unbound, would be able to grow into a wild threat if left alone. This keeps them in check, while also being a way to mark growth.

    Knight-in-Training (Common)
    {1}{W}
    Creature - Human Knight
    {3}: Train. (If this creature isn't fully trained, put a +1/+1 counter on it. Then, if it has three or more +1/+1 counters, it becomes fully trained.)
    2/2

    Wizarding Scholar
    {2}{U}
    Creature - Human Wizard
    {1}{U}: Train.
    Wizarding Scholar has flying as long as it has two or more +1/+1 counters on it.
    Wizarding Scholar has hexproof as long as it's fully trained.
    2/3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And of course these are the two I'd like to see looked at.

      Delete
    2. Sorcery speed only I assume?

      I’d be inclined to cap fully trained at twice, as +3/+3 makes nearly anything enormous. Not everyone agrees but I really dislike humans becoming 5/5s.

      This is a really, really sweet idea! There are many knobs to tweak and it is obvious how to make Uncommons and Rares. And lots of them. I think this is the right way to go with level up.

      Alt idea: what counts as fully trained could be your parameter, instead of the cost (which could, say, always be 3).

      Delete
    3. Re:Wizarding Scholar, I would stick to triggers on training and static abilities on fully trained. Caring about one or two feels unnatural with this language.

      Knight Captain 1WW
      Creature- Knight (Mythic)
      Train 3
      Whenever you train ~ make a 2/2 knight token with vigilance.

      As long as ~ is fully trained, other creatures you control get +2/+2.

      Delete
    4. I intended that to be a 3/3 btw.

      Delete
    5. After realizing that similarity, I templated it after monstrosity, which to my surprise was not sorcery speed only. However, it's mana investment on average will probably be more than train is, so perhaps it was allowed instant speed because of the high mana costs. I know we can get this activated abilities for a counter at instant speed but perhaps at a large number, it's not okay?

      I chose 3 activations because it felt like the minimum for something to feel "built up" but I'm not against only 2, though perhaps that isn't different enough from monstrosity? Perhaps it could even be variable? Would add comprehension complexity, but also some granularity-- I actually fear this mechanic isn't really granular enough. You can adjust mana payments but you can only go so low and so high when your boost is always +1/+1, compared to level up.

      If it feels too strange, I'd be interested in finding the best way to execute a Figure of Destiny type card, which is what Wizardly Scholar was meant to feel like. The default would be to normally only care about fully trained (Knight-in-Training originally got first strike when fully trained, for flavor especially, but I thought I could go even simpler), but I was interested in some cards being able to emulate the in-between modes of figure/Warden and levelers.

      Delete
  16. My goal for this challenge, rather than creating something novel, was to find a mechanic that could go in any set and in any color. I came up with Pray:

    Pray (Ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)

    The inspiration for Pray is Explore, from Ixalan. The main difference between the two, other than flavor, is that Pray is more “swingy” (the difference between a good result and a bad result is bigger).

    To alleviate that, some cards with Pray (at uncommon and higher rarities) give you bonuses when you don’t get the card you asked for. This could represent the mortals getting angry at the gods for not hearing their demands.

    I think the mechanic’s biggest limitation is that it really needs to go in a set where religion plays a large role. My designs are part of a hypothetical return to Theros, but Pray could be part of any mythology-based set.

    And that’s it. Any feedback is welcome.

    1) Innocent Tribute (C)
    {B}
    Creature – Human
    When Innocent Tribute dies, pray. (Ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
    1/1

    2) Consult the Oracle (C)
    {1}{U}
    Sorcery
    Pray, then pray again. (To pray, ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)

    3) Fervent Hoplite (C)
    {1}{R}
    Creature – Human Soldier
    Fervent Hoplite attacks each combat if able.
    Whenever Fervent Hoplite attacks, pray. (Ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
    2/1

    4) Oreskos Battle Priest (U)
    {2}{W}
    Creature – Cat Cleric
    Whenever you cast an Aura spell, pray. (Ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
    2/3

    5) Nylea’s Renegade (U)
    {2}{G}{G}
    Creature – Centaur Warrior
    When Nylea’s Renegade enters the battlefield, pray. (Ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
    Whenever you pray and don’t get what you asked for, put a +1/+1 counter on Nylea’s Renegade.
    3/2

    6) Oracle of Kruphix (R)
    {2}{U}
    Creature – Human Wizard
    If you would pray, instead scry 1, then pray.
    {3}{U}, {T}: Pray. (Ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
    2/2

    7) Pray for the Dead (R)
    {2}{B}{B}
    Enchantment
    Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, pray. (Ask for land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s what you asked for, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
    Whenever you pray and don’t get what you asked for, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.

    8) Karametra, God of Fertility (M)
    {3}{G}
    Legendary Enchantment Creature – God
    Indestructible
    As long as you haven’t prayed this turn, Karametra isn’t a creature.
    You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
    Whenever you play your second land each turn, pray.
    5/5

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think that this mechanic, but the name, is what's tied to religion. Thus, if you renamed the mechanic to anything else, it could go in any set. For example, you could call it "Instinct" or "Farsight".

      As for the mechanic itself, it is probably swingy, mainly because you get to draw what you desired. However, it is a nice mechanic that it lets me dig deeper to what I need (because if I name nonland and mill a land, that makes me closer to draw the nonlands). It also depends on the frequency of triggers. I don't know if you would get dinged for wording, because you could template it like Abundance: "Choose land or nonland, then reveal the top card of your library. If the card is of the chosen kind, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put that card into your graveyard."

      On the cards themselves, I think you did well! I would change the 1R common, because pray does not give any combat advantage. This means that he would die most of the time after the first or second attack.
      The oracle of kruphix has a nice effect but I think that it could be an uncommon buildaround.

      Delete
    2. This is a cantrip roughly half the time, and a dud the ohter half. That is a pretty huge swing, and could easily lead to games where my pray is successful and yours isn't and I win the game because of that shift in card advantage. (That is a free Divination worth of card advantage that happened to swing my way.) If we both Pray once in a game, half the time one of us will succeed and the other will fail.

      As such, though I think the "land or nonland" idea is great, I think this mechanic as it is is too swingy. There are a lot of ways you can mitigate that though.

      Delete
  17. Research N (To research N, exile the top N card(s) of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)


    Student of Investigation (Common)
    W
    Creature - Human Cleric
    1/2
    When Student of Investigation enters the battlefield, research 1. (To research 1, exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)

    Student of Aeromancy (Common)
    3U
    Creature -- Vedalken Wizard
    2/2
    Flying
    When Student of Aeromancy enters the battlefield, research 2. (To research 2, exile the top two cards of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)

    Student of Impulses (Common)
    2RR
    Creature -- Dwarf Warrior
    4/3
    When Student of Impulses enters the battlefield, you may discard a card. If you do, research 2. (To research 2, exile the top two cards of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)

    Shameful Lesson (Uncommon)
    2UU
    Instant
    Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner’s graveyard, then you research 2. (To research 2, exile the top two cards of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)

    Seek Its Nemesis (Uncommon)
    4BB
    Sorcery
    Choose target creature. Research 4, then you may put a creature card from your research into your graveyard. If you do, destroy the target. (To research 4, exile the top four cards of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Archioscope (Rare)
      5
      Legendary Artifact
      If you would draw a card from your library, you may draw it from your research instead.
      XX, T: Research X. Activate only as a sorcery. (To research X, exile the top X cards of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)

      Beastbond Master (Rare)
      3GG
      Creature -- Elf Druid Beast
      4/4
      Trample
      Other Beasts you control get +1/+1 and have trample.
      Whenever Beastbond Master or a Beast you control deals combat damage to a player, research 1.

      Voidseeker Emperiarch (Mythic)
      4BB
      Creature -- Aetherborn Wizard
      1/1
      Voidseeker Emperiarch gets +1/+1 for each card you own in exile.
      B, Exile a card from your graveyard: Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
      1B, Pay 2 life: Research 2. (To research 2, exile the top two cards of your library face down. You may look at your research at any time and pay 2 as a sorcery to draw a card from it.)


      Commentary

      The research mechanic is, at its heart, a glue mechanic, and a bit swingy in high doses in Limited. It was heavily influenced by Investigate, as I had been having difficulties with Research's gameplay for quite some time. It was the reminder text for Investigate (not its Comprehensive Rules) that gave me the jolt that led Research to where it is today. In a very real sense, I got a Clue and paid 2, and here I am today with this submission.

      The three commons were designed to represent a loose cycle, for Limited purposes, and the choice of white was intentional as both a throwback to Thraben Inspector, as well as to show that white doesn't really get a big piece of the research pie, compared to other colors, but it does get a little (green largely gets it via the magpie ability). This is also why blue and black each got more cards in their colors; blue-black is the "how much is in exile" archetype for Limited. The number after research and the mana costs were also given restrictions to try and keep the mechanic under control in Limited: common: 2 (for colors that could "draw two" normally); uncommon 4. Commons with research 2 were also intentionally costed to not be easily played outside the color.

      Of all eight, I think Seek Its Nemesis best represents the world in which Research would debut: Your threat isn't one and still I know more than you.

      Delete
    2. This is very similar to a mechanic that Jon Louck's submitted to GDS2 that I thought was pretty cool, but the judges despised called, if I recall correctly, Infuse.

      This has the advantage that it does not replace your draw step, but it does effectively give you a second hand. I worry slightly that game play will have players switching between their hand and their "hand" of research cards, and it may be easy in the heat of the moment to lose track of which is which (never mind the potential for cheating).

      Researching is far better than Investigating, since it has an impulse built in, and there is no buyer's remorse. Often with a Clue token you have a mediocre four drop and five mana, you crack the Clue, and figrue you'll either draw a land or a good two or three drop. Here, you only use the Research pile if you like what you're getting. For this reason, I think drawing a card from your research pile needs to cost more than 2. It could be 3 or even 4. I would playtest starting at 3.

      Student of Impulses is a color pie violation. It is just a Red Divination attached to a 4/3, and Red doesn't get to do that. I would probably not put Research in Red at all, but if I did, I would limit it to Research 1.

      Shameful Lesson and Seek its Nemesis are both incredibly powerful, even if you make Research cost 3. They will lead to games that are very grindy and long, as players will have a much easier time "drawing" the card they need, since, after all, they can pick anything from their research pile.

      After saying all of that about the developmental concerns and red flags this mechanic sets off in my brain, this is the mechanic out of this weeks submissions that I most want to play with. It is Spike-y and grind-y and card advantage-y and gives me dozens of extra decision points to outplay my opponent.

      Delete
    3. Funny enough, I started Research's draw cost at 3. You can blame Investigate for it going to 2. The other reason I put it at 2 instead of 3 was due to the sorcery speed restriction. I fiddled with a few things, such as being able to draw from the research instead of library (needless to say, too good for its basic behavior, but it makes for a nice rare), but I eventually stalled on how to fully implement it. When Shadows Over Innistrad previews began, the behavior of Investigate's Clues is what led it to the pay mana as a sorcery special action.

      You may be right regarding Student of Impulses, but the intention of it was to be the research version of Tormenting Voice / Wild Guess on a critter. Since you don't get the cards into your hand immediately with research, it didn't strike me as a violation, based on that particular card. That said, I was thinking of Keldon Raider when I made Student of Impulses, but apparently I misremembered Keldon Raider being discard-one-to-draw-one and not discard-one-to-draw-two. Oops.

      There've been a few tweaks especially to cards like Seek Its Nemesis (I'd been bouncing between 3 and 4 for a while and decided to leave it at 4 for the sake of feedback), but Shameful Lesson I couldn't decide if it was closer to rare or not since it was a "draw two" counterspell; Confirm Suspicions was what led me to dither there. The exile-if-countered clause was supposed to be relevant to Limited as well, as the hypothetical set has a "what and/or how much is in exile" theme for blue-black in Limited (Seek Its Nemesis and the black mythic more than hint here).

      Either way, I appreciate the time you spent since it's the mechanic I've most wanted to hear back about because as you said, it needs a lot of scrutiny to iron out the kinks and especially power level.

      Delete
    4. So this mechanic is very similar to one I've been designing with for years -- Upload, from Netropolis.

      Upload keeps similar gameplay (you're exiling cards and their owner can pay 2 at sorcery speed to return them to their hand) but is different in three ways:

      1. You generally only upload one card at a time, particularly at common. Having a whole fist of extra cards that you may or may not want to pick from creates tons of analysis paralysis. Just playing two Research cards will flood the decision tree way past acceptable NWO levels, IMO.

      2. You can upload cards from the top of your library, or opponent's creatures, or specific cards in your library, or cards from hand as a cost... it's a lot more flexible design-wise. I've actually found that the most interesting gameplay with Upload is when you upload one of your opponent's cards. They can pay two to get it back, but how does taht mess with their turn? Is the tempo loss worth it, or is the card advantage (or that specific card) more important? It's an interesting interactive space.

      3. Research exiles the cards face-down, while Upload exiles face-up. That's necessary for Upload because you're uploading all kinds of different things, including opposing cards, so it feels like they need to be face-up so opponents don't feel like they have to write everything down that's being uploaded. I do think, however, that Research benefits from the analysis paralysis affecting only one of the two players, at least. In high-upload games all this extra information bogged down decision moments for both players; in Research, at least it's only one player.

      If you want to check out Netropolis, there's an outdated spoiler here: http://www.planesculptors.net/set/netropolis#cards (I'm in the middle of a fairly extensive rework). Nice job on Research.

      Delete
  18. Again, right at the wire!

    My mechanic is "______ Familiar," taking after the "animal companion" mechanics from RPGs, The Golden Compass, D&D, and other classic fantasy. The rules text is (using Cat as an example):

    Cat Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put a Cat card into the command zone from outside the game.)

    Downsides to this mechanic:
    It references the command zone. I decided to do this version because it doesn't break the game with Eldrazi processors. The command zone also feels better flavorfully than exile -- the creature should be close with its familiar, not communing with it from far off the battlefield.
    It's parasitic. Like all tribal mechanics, you need to have creatures of the creature type to take advantage of it.
    It's likely impossible in digital -- Alexis Janson referenced this when discussing Jeremy Geist's Fear Tyrant Syreth on her stream last week. A before the game trigger moving a card from outside the game into a zone that doesn't exist in a normal game of Magic? Yikes.
    I'm no judge, but I bet there's some rules insanity.

    Upsides to this mechanic:
    It does "threshold one" tribal on a very different axis. You don't have to put bad cards in your deck just to get the benefits of tribal. You have to spend draft picks on them or sideboard slots on them -- or, in the case of casual games, you just get the benefit by owning the card!
    The physical actions of it are smooth. No shuffling. Using the creature cards themselves as Familiars helps open up a lot of design space by helping with memory issues.
    The decision making tension in draft has a lot of potential (a la the Conspiracy "draft matters" cards).
    The flavor is good, and not something Magic has ever really done with a full mechanic before.

    Cards are in the comment!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Griffin Knight (common)
      1W
      Creature -- Human Knight
      2/2
      Griffin Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put a Griffin into the command zone from outside the game.)
      Griffin Knight has flying as long as you have a Griffin in your command zone.

      Eagle Scout (common)
      2U
      Creature -- Human Scout
      2/3
      Bird Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put a Bird into the command zone from outside the game.)
      You may cast Birds from your command zone.

      Swarm Tender (uncommon)
      3G
      Creature -- Human Shaman
      3/3
      Insect Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put an Insect into the command zone from outside the game.)
      2G: Create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. Activate this ability only if you have an Insect in the command zone.

      Vermin Herder (uncommon)
      3BB
      Creature -- Ogre Rogue
      4/3
      Rat Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put a Rat card into the command zone from outside the game.)
      2B, exile a nonlegendary Rat card in your command zone: Target player discards two cards. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

      Giant Worshiper (uncommon)
      2R
      Creature -- Goblin Shaman
      1/4
      Giant Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put a Giant into the command zone from outside the game.)
      Giant Worshipper gets +3/-3 and has menace as long as you control a Giant.
      You may cast Giants from your command zone.

      Allosaurus Rancher (rare)
      3G
      Creature -- Elf Shaman
      4/4
      Dinosaur Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put a Dinosaur into the command zone from outside the game.)
      You may cast Dinosaurs from the command zone.
      As long as there is a Dinosaur in your command zone, whenever you tap a land for mana, add one mana of any type that land could produce.

      Satanic Priest (rare)
      4BR
      Creature -- Human Cleric
      5/5
      Devil and Demon Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put a Devil and/or a Demon into the command zone from outside the game.)
      1R, Sacrifice a creature: Put a Devil card from your command zone onto the battlefield.
      2B, Sacrifice two creatures: Put a Demon card from your command zone onto the battlefield.

      Eon Champion (mythic rare)
      2WUBRG
      Creature -- Human Soldier
      5/5
      Iconic Familiar (Before the game, you may reveal this card from your deck and put up to one creature of each Iconic type into your command zone from outside the game. Iconics are Angels, Sphinxes, Demons, Dragons, and Hydras.)
      You may cast Iconic creature spells from the command zone.

      Delete
    2. Clearly I missed the "these cards should all feel like they're from the same set" memo. Oh well :)

      Delete
    3. There is some really interesting space here, mostly on Eagle Scout. I'm not a big fan of the ones where the card in your command zone never enters the game, it feels really anticlimactic in Draft. And in constructed you just keep a Mothdust Changeling in your command zone forever, so this is exclusively a limited mechanic.

      That being said, I don't think that Eagle Scout is a common, since it can draw you multiple cards. I could see this as maybe a cycle of Rares? Mayyyyybe Uncommons?

      I'd also want to see if the moving to Command zone part was worth the text, or if it was easier to just make it "You may play birds from your sideboard."

      Delete
    4. You're right that if you have multiple Eagle Scouts in your deck and multiple Birds in your sideboard, you get to cast multiple Birds with your first Eagle Scout if it survives, which is not ideal. There is a lot of upside to this version instead:

      When this creature enters, put a [creature type] card into exile from outside the game. You may cast it as long as you control this creature.

      This has some confusing rules interplay -- what happens if you blink it?? Rona, Disciple of Gix from Dominaria suggests that WoTC isn't completely unwilling to go there, but it's a lot for common; even something like impulsive draw is a lot for such a low rarity. A version that tells you what to do with the cards (Put it on the bottom of your library when this creature leaves the battlefield) probably has too much reminder text.

      The other thing about this version is that it's an ETB trigger rather than a "before the game" trigger. I don't know whether I like that better or not. Tutoring leads to repetitive play patterns, and this version of Familiar is more similar to those patterns than the "before the game" blind decision point.

      Re: Mothdust Changeling, I don't mind that particular dynamic. If a player wants to spend a sideboard slot on a Mothdust Changeling to improve these cards, that's kind of cool, as far as I can see.

      Delete
  19. On the war torn plane of Vryn, you always have to be one step ahead of your opponent. Or two steps. Or seven. That why it helps to

    Strategize (Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend mana up to the number of cards you control with Strategize. For each mana spent this way, scry that many cards.)

    Commons
    Frontline Tactician 1W
    Creature - Human Soldier
    Strategize (Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend mana up to the number of cards you control with Strategize. For each mana spent this way, scry that many cards.)
    3/1

    Overhead Surveyor 3U
    Creature - Drake Rogue
    Flying
    Strategize (Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend mana up to the number of cards you control with Strategize. For each mana spent this way, scry that many cards.)
    Whenever an opponent scrys you may look at the top card of their library.
    2/3

    Compromising Info B
    Enchantment Aura
    Enchant Creature
    Strategize (Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend mana up to the number of cards you control with Strategize. For each mana spent this way, scry that many cards.)
    Enchanted creature deals 1 damage to its controller at the end of their turn.

    Uncommons
    Council Chambers 3W
    Enchantment U
    Strategize (Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend mana up to the number of cards you control with Strategize. For each mana spent this way, scry that many cards.)
    Whenever you scry, gain 2 life.

    Dastardly Saboteur B
    Creature Human Rogue
    Menace
    Strategize (Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend mana up to the number of cards you control with Strategize. For each mana spent this way, scry that many cards.)
    Whenever Dastardly Saboteur deals damage to an opponent, you may have that player put the top card of their library into their graveyard.
    1/2

    Rare
    M, Chief Spy Master 3UU
    Legendary Creature - Rogue
    Strategize (Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend mana up to the number of cards you control with Strategize. For each mana spent this way, scry that many cards.)
    Instants and sorceries cost 1 less to cast for each creature you control with Strategize.
    3/5

    ReplyDelete

  20. Quicken
    “This spell gains flash if the quicken additional cost is payed.”

    Blue - Sorceries.
    Black - Creatures with a non-mana cost
    Red - Creatures for colored mana and Damage Spells.
    White - Creatures by tapping other creatures and Enchantments
    Green - Creatures for generic mana and Pump spells.

    Design 1 (YOUR FIRST COMMON)
    Church Support
    Enchantment - Aura
    1W
    Enchanted Creature gets +1/+1 and Lifelink.
    Quicken - Tap two creatures you control.

    Design 2 (YOUR SECOND COMMON)
    Spear Goblin
    Creature - Goblin
    2R
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield another target creature you control gets first strike until end of turn.
    Quicken 1R
    3/2

    Design 3 (YOUR THIRD COMMON)
    Anti Quicken Spider
    3G
    Creature - Spider
    Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your opponent’s control, target creature you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
    1/4

    Design 4 (YOUR FIRST UNCOMMON)
    Sprinting Warlord
    3R
    Whenever CARDNAME or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, CARDNAME gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
    4/3
    Quicken - 1R

    Design 5 (YOUR SECOND UNCOMMON)
    Blast of Speed
    Enchantment
    2RR
    Whenever you cast a spell on your opponent’s turn, you may deal two damage to target creature, player or planeswalker.

    Design 6 (YOUR FIRST RARE)
    Fast Demon
    3UB
    Flying
    Sacrifice a creature: The next spell you cast this turn has flash.
    Quicken - Sacrifice a creature.
    5/4

    Design 7 (YOUR SECOND RARE)
    Risen Vampire
    1BB
    Creature - Vampire
    Flying, Lifelink
    Whenever a creature you control enters the battlefield under your control during your opponent’s turn, each opponent loses one life and you gain one life.
    Quicken - Pay 5 life.
    2/3

    Design 8 (YOUR MYTHIC RARE)
    Speed of Thought
    Enchantment
    1UU
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield return target sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
    Spells you cast on your opponent’s turn cast 2 less to cast.
    Spells you cast have Quicken U.


    Id love feedback on speed of thought and Risen Vampire

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