Benjammn's Sunbursts
Out of the gate Benjammn came up with a cycle that, like sunburst cards, cares about the number of colors used to play it. This is a great mechanic, and one I think would have been great to see in Conflux. On Suvnica it makes a little less sense, since the block really wants to encourage 2-card decks, and drafting one of these is going to push against that in a big way.
Pasteur's Cycles
Pasteur had a few ideas for possible cycles. His first is the rare part of a cycle of vertical cycles that wants to encourage 1 drops, possibly even the common cards in the cycle.
The power level is all over the place here, but that could be tweaked a little bit. Green is also an outlier here in granting a static ability, while all the others are triggered, breaking the 3/2 cycle design rule. Otherwise I like the cycle a lot.
Pasteur's other cycle is a series of enchantments that penalize particular card types.
Here the outlier is Absolute Pain, which doesn't care about card type, unlike the others. I also wish that blue and red didn't both care about creatures. When setting up a cycle like this, players are going to be especially picky about pattern completion. If we knock out planeswalkers from the list of potential types, and collapse instants and sorceries, then each color could really focus in on one type or group to make the pattern tighter.
Circeus' Walks
Circeus' cycle gives a basic on-color effect and a bonus if you're running a multicolored creature. I think this is a fine cycle for uncommon, but I don't think that the effects or the bonus cantrip are nearly splashy enough to justify five rares in the set.
Jay Treat's Cycles
Jay started by suggesting that we could use (and complete) cones as a cycle for the guild-neutral cards.
There were some humorous suggestions for the white and blue additions to the cycle, but ultimately, these two were the most serious contenders:
(Pasteur designed Cone of Light)
Light isn't nearly as powerful as the existing three. Cone is closer, but its template is difficult to parse.
Jay's other cycles focus on the discriminatory aspects of a caste-based society. I like this cycle a lot, especially given how much more versatile color hosers like this are in a multicolor set.
Jay's final cycle took a look at discrimination through a different lens, this time bolstering creatures that are already more prominent (by virtue of being on the higher end of your curve). I like that they inherently protect the creature from certain types of 2-for-1 situations that generally discourage auras.
lpaulsen's Prophesies
I love this mechanic, and I'm almost certainly going to steal it when we get around to the Kismi mechanic week. Like Pasteur's Absolutes, I wish that the types of cards cared about were either uniform or unique to each member of the cycle. I also wish there was a bigger prize for guessing right, although if the prize goes too big, then they all might as well just be pithing needle and be done with it.
The Cozen's Gazes
While this cycle would be a boon in a multicolor blcok more like Invasion or Alara, in Suvnica, the card's colors are, almost without exception, going to amount to two. I like the idea, but like the sunburst mechanic that Benjammn pitched above, the counting is almost never going to matter here.
You're entirely right my cycle was a poor answer to the challenge. I forgot to check if you were asking for a rarity and specifically aimed at a common or uncommon cycle.
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