There were a lot of variations on Exemplify mechanics, but I think that this is the strongest contender. If playtesting proves us wrong, then we may shift to one of the other tweaks. The playtest name for the mechanic will be Illustrate.
Number Games
The next step is to make up a few cards and playtest with them. I'm still working on a loose design skeleton for the sets, but for now, I'm modelling the guild mechanic numbers off of RtR Block.
Gatecrash had very uniform numbers across the guilds for mechanics. Each guild had 5 cards at common with the mechanic (two in each color and one gold), three uncommons (one in each color and one gold) and three rares (ditto). RtR had more variance in numbers, especially in Azorius and Selesnya. Detain only appeared on nine cards in the set, and less frequently at lower rarities than higher. This was most likely a response to development wanting to keep removal at a reasonable level when doing as-fan analysis. Populate, on the other hand, showed up at the guild average of 11 times, but 7 of the populate cards were in common. It also had a lot more support cards than other mechanics, since it required an initial token to do anything to begin with.
For our purposes, we'll be sticking with the Gatecrash numbers except when it doesn't make sense to. And, of course, our first challenge is going to be one of those instances. Illustrate is a mechanic that's going to appear on aura's, which means we don't want to flood Suiroza players with cards that are dead without some support in the form of an enchantable creature. I think, for our first playtest, we're going to aim for 3 commons, 4 uncommons, and 2-3 rares.
We're also going to need more support cards than a typical mechanic would. We want creatures that scream "enchant me!" Other types of support would also be useful, including things in {W} and {U} that play nicely with enchantments.
So here's this week's challenge:
For our purposes, we'll be sticking with the Gatecrash numbers except when it doesn't make sense to. And, of course, our first challenge is going to be one of those instances. Illustrate is a mechanic that's going to appear on aura's, which means we don't want to flood Suiroza players with cards that are dead without some support in the form of an enchantable creature. I think, for our first playtest, we're going to aim for 3 commons, 4 uncommons, and 2-3 rares.
We're also going to need more support cards than a typical mechanic would. We want creatures that scream "enchant me!" Other types of support would also be useful, including things in {W} and {U} that play nicely with enchantments.
So here's this week's challenge:
- Each person may submit
- No more than three cards
- Up to one Common, one Uncommon, and one Rare/Mythic
- Up to one White, one Blue, and one Multicolor/Hybrid card
- No more than two cards with Illustrate
- No more than two support cards without Illustrate
- Up to one top-down Suiroza design, preferably in common, that doesn't have Illustrate nor supports it, but will add guild flavor to our playtest deck.
Since I'm going back to reviewing cards on an individual basis, I want to keep the numbers within reason. My computer is currently in the shop, so I'm not 100% certain when the review for the cards and the final playtest decklist will go up. Shouldn't be too long though.
Finally, I'm wondering if anyone wants to volunteer as "creative director" for the playtest cards. I don't have the time to hunt down appropriate pictures for the cards we're producing, but they're somewhat important to efficient playtesting, so if someone wants to do that, please get in touch with me (@zefferal) via DM.
That's it for now. Let's see what you guys got.
Start of Term, 3W
ReplyDeleteSorcery, common
Put three 1/1 white Human Student creature tokens onto the battlefield.
A functional reprint of Captain's Call seems a good thing for this guild. Some nice blank slates, ready to learn by example. Could be a reprint of Raise the Alarm instead. (I appreciate the name doesn't *quite* fit the Suiroza; I'll let the creative director sort that out.)
I'm assuming someone will submit the common illustrate cards for Lance/Knighthood, Vigilance/Serra's Blessing etc; you can easily throw them together yourself if not.
Solitary Lecturer, 2U
Creature - Vedalken Scholar, uncommon, 2/3
{1}: ~ gains hexproof UEOT.
A basic "enchant me" creature.
Love of Learning
Enchantment - Aura, WU, rare
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, you may draw a card."
Illustrate 1WU
A more killable Enchantress's Presence, that turns into... some hideous card-draw engine assuming you've still got any creatures alive?
Love of learning is awesome and the support cards are solid, but if we're making lots of auras I don't think we want anything this close to hexproof. I'd start Solitary Lecturer with an activation cost of {3}.
DeleteDetermined Apprentice 1U
ReplyDeleteCreature—Human Scholar (cmn)
CARDNAME has hexproof as long as it's enchanted.
"Knowledge unshared is the world's greatest tragedy."—Erowyn, Academy Lecturer
1/3
(or 2U 2/3)
Evasive Tactics W/U
Aura (unc)
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may return it to it's owner's hand.
Exemplification 3WU
Crusader's Path W
Aura (rare)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
Exemplification WW
I'm glad i didn't post my version of Crusader's Path... becsause it was the same as yours.
Deletemy only question is how would you feel if the rare in your pack was a one mana enchantment that just gave a single creature +1/+1?
What about "+1/+1 for each enchantment you control"?
DeleteI think Crusader's Path is fine as is. There are very few printable exemplification cards that would make satisfying rares without having it.
DeleteI'm a bit worried that Determined Apprentice is going to cause rules confusion for lots of players with an aura on the stack and I'm not convinced that we need two common blue hexproof dudes in our test deck.
I considered something like Crusader's Path, but I was taking a cue from Kabira Vindicate that a card that turns into a Glorious Anthem can be uncommon if the step costs are high enough.
Deleteconsidering how powerful enchantments that give global buffs to your team are... I would like to propose that cards with illustrate to have a fairly high illustrate cost, similar to how bestow is done... or perhaps more like monstrous. regardless, the cost of casting it on a creature and then immediately illustrateing it should not cost less that what the global enchantment should cost. and the difference between the costs should be fairly great so that it makes the fact that they are auras matter, rather than having them as essentially weird global enchantments with echo.
ReplyDeletealso the number of global team buffing enchantments at common in magic can be counted on one hand. we might easily find ourselves in a situation where someone drafts 3 "levitation" for their deck (using the example from at the top)... talk about awkward.
could circumnavigate this by having more of the support cards at common (IE creatures) and the actual cards with illustrate at uncommon or higher, save for a very select few (IE 2 or 3 at most)
that out of the way, CARDS!
common
MAsterful teacher WU
creature- human adviser [C]
Illustrate costs for enchantments attached to CARDNAME cost 1 less to activate.
2/2
uncommon
lesson in Curiosity 1U
Enchantment - Aura [U]
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.
Illustrate 2UU
Rare:
lesson in Conviction 2W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gains double strike and vigilance and gains "Prevent all damage dealt to this creature by attacking creatures"
Illustrate 4WW
The multiples consideration is a good reason for putting Levitation and company at uncommon-- I hadn't thought of looking at it that way. I totally agree with you on the high Illustrate costs (and they *are* more like monstrous than bestow).
DeleteLevitation, and any other evasion abilities, absolutely. But I think vigilance and perhaps first strike can be at common, with high enough costs.
DeleteI think the problem with Ilustrate is that we simply don't see global enchantments at common. Flight is common, Levitation uncommon; Vigilance common, Serra's Blessing uncommon; Lance common, Knighthood uncommon. This is quite simply because there is a vast power level difference between an Aura (single creature, very susceptible to removal) and a global enchantment (any number of creatures, very difficult to remove). Giving the opponent the chance to remove the 'Lesson' before it can be made global does make it fairer; but I don't think it makes them common.
ReplyDeleteTough Teachings W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +0/+1.
Illustrate 3WW
Cards like this read terribly with both possibilities. Sure, at uncommon we can get far more intriguing designs; but I don't think there are any good designs at common. We'll see with playtesting, I guess.
Moving on...
Defensive Arts Adept WU
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
Spells you cast that target Defensive Arts Adept cost 1 less to cast. Spells your opponents cast that target Defensive Arts Adept cost 1 more to cast.
2/2
"A shield or armor are not true defenses, but merely deflections. The only perfect defense is perfect knowledge." - Kavi, Academy Lecturer
A bit pushed for a bear, but it seems fair. (:
Substitute Teacher 4UU
Creature - Shapeshifter (R)
You may have Substitute Teacher enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield except it gains "Each other creature you control gains all activated abilities of this creature."
0/0
"The Suiroza do not understand that wisdom is found in the world, not in musty old books nor dying old men." - Abhay, Grohm warrior-sage
He teaches the class how to do what he can, and he acts as a substitute for another creature. Harhar.
The illustrate cost on Tough Teachings could be way lower (as low as W-- see: Lumithread Field) and still be appropriate for common in power level. I appreciate your argument about putting global enchantments at uncommon, but I think it shows that global enchantments at common are a power level problem, not a complexity problem. So maybe the illustrate cost on Lesson of Levitation should be 3U or 4U rather than 2U: that's totally fine with me. The important thing is making sure that players will actually use the front half of the card. Once we have cards that are good Auras in themselves, we can start tinkering with Illustrate costs.
DeleteAlso, I love Defensive Arts Adept. If Goblin Electromancer is OK as a bear, then this guy definitely is.
DeleteAlthough I agree the commons might be an issue, zephyr Charge disagrees with the premise. Using auras to cast non-boost effects cheaper (but in a risky manner) might be an option to look into. Something like Sphere of Purity or a Righteous Blow-style variant of Raid Bombardment come to mind.
DeleteTough Teachings adds more board complexity than I'm comfortable with at common. Global P/T bonuses are actually incredibly difficult to track. The other two cards are awesome.
DeleteIpaulsen: I agree entirely. My point was indeed that power level is the issue, not complexity. The problem I'm seeing is that all good Auras at common are broken global enchantments at common. Also, I didn't know Lumithread Field cost so little. I guess I might have been too wary of the card after all. :P
DeleteCirceus: Zephyr Charge has an activation cost, which balances it. A one-time investment to grant every dude an ability or p/t boost is surprisingly strong at common.
Jules: Yet another point in contention with Illustrate at common, haha... if we can't even mess with P/T at common, there are very few designs we can do. Though I think +0/+1 is fine, given precedence of Veteran Armorer and Lumithread Field (thanks Ipaulsen!)
To all: Thanks for the kind words on the other cards.
Solving the common problem will be the toughest part of this mechanic. The effect has to be good enough on one creature, but not that good when illustrated.
ReplyDeleteImbue Discipline W/U
Enchantment - Aura (c)
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, untap it.
Illustrate 2WU
Heroic Professor WW
Creature - Human Wizard (u)
Sacrifice ~: You may activate target aura's illustrate ability without paying its mana cost until end of turn.
2/1
"Teachers of the Suiroza are expected to protect their students at all costs. Doing so teaches them more than they can ever learn in a classroom. -- Suiroza Academy Teacher Handbook"
Unyielding Quartermaster - 1W
Creature - Spirit Shaman (r)
Permanents attached to ~ have indestructible.
2/2
I like Imbue Discipline, but the ability feels like a hack to make it multicolor. W, Vigilance, Illustrate 2WW is already a solid and not-too-powerful design, and this is pretty much strictly worse.
DeleteHeroic Professor is very sad when he's the only creature on the battlefield. Is that by design?
Casting Indestructibility on Unyielding Quartermaster seems very fun. Having it then get Unsummoned seems very un-fun.
Stormcaller's Boon suggests a cool way to do Illustrate at common:
ReplyDeletePlan of Attack W
Enchantment- Aura
Enchant creature
Sacrifice CARDNAME: Enchanted creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
Illustrate 2W
How about a build-around uncommon creature, inspired by Heroic?
Alert Student 2U
Creature- Human Wizard (Uncommon)
2/3
Whenever a player casts a spell that targets CARDNAME, untap up to three target lands.
And of course a splashy multicolor rare.
Dedicated Scholarship WU
Enchantment- Aura (Rare)
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, you draw a card and gain 3 life.
Illustrate 1WU
Plan of Attack and its ilk do well at working around power, but they add too much board complexity to be permissible at common when they affect combat.
DeleteSo it seems the issue we're struggling with is the balance of complexity and power at common... quite the tricky mechanic we have here!
DeleteI wouldn't want then as on-board combat tricks, but if we can find effects that can be done at sorcery speed, it's a great approach to commons.
DeleteAlert Student feels very green.
DeleteDedicated Scholarship is quite cute, but I feel like the 3 life is detached from the rest of the card. Perhaps tie it to damage somehow?
Dedicated Scholarship could grant lifelink instead of the second trigger. A different (and more powerful) option would be "put a 1/1 Human creature token into play." The more you research, the more students you get!
DeleteSuiroza Guildmage {1}{u}{w}
ReplyDeleteCreature -- Vedalken Wizard (R)
Other white creatures you control have hexproof.
Other blue creatures you control have first strike.
"Leave them to us, the lost and the weak, the poor and the lonely. We'll teach them all the same glory."
1/1
Prefect's Honor {w}
Enchantment -- Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +0/+2 and has vigilance as long as it's white or blue.
Illustrate {2}{W}
[this and the previous one are keeping with my general theme of encouraging 2- over 3-color play.]
Student Transport {2}{u}
Creature -- Drake (C)
Flying
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, ~ gains hexproof UEOT.
2/2
Suiroza Guildmage makes sense as a way to encourage 2-color play. Prefect's Honor doesn't-- the color restriction reads as very weird and artificial. Try not to make cards that tell players how to build their decks.
DeleteStudent Transport is nice. It makes me really hope we get some flash enchantments.
Honor's that way because the bonus and vigilance are REALLY good together (playing against Hold the Gates was nightmarish in GTC/DGR limited), and IMO you really don't want it to be easily splashable (though I might have achieved that with a {2}{w}{w} illustrate cost). That it encourages two-colors is just an added bonus.
DeleteStudent Transport promises to keep itself safe, but barring flash auras or Divine Verdict it never does: they'll just kill it in response. I don't want to mislead the players like that.
DeleteIf you want Student Transport to keep itself safe, an alternative template might be "CARDNAME has hexproof as long as you've cast an enchantment spell this turn."
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCommons are definitely an issue here, but we really only need three of them. I'm fairly confident that there are three Illustrate cards out there that can work as a reasonable common.
ReplyDelete+0/+1 seems to be one.
DeleteFlying, vigilance, first strike all have precedents at uncommon, so common is probably not possible. Lifelink is too swingy when applied to multiple creatures, and hexproof too oppressive when applied to multiple evasive creatures.
Activated abilities seem too complex for common. Some people suggested Zephyr Charge or Stormcaller's Boon style effects, but those also seem quite complex.
Quite the conundrum!
I don't think Lesson of Levitation is common-suitable, but I do think a Vigilance illustrate card could be. If you want you could replace the common white card from my submission with:
DeleteLesson in Alertness, W
Enchantment - Aura, common
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has vigilance.
Illustrate 3WW
I'm really not sure whether the cost needs to be up at 5 or higher or if it can be down at 4 or even lower, but as a demonstration that it can work at common I'd try it at 5.
Oh! Or maybe the way to do it is:
Lesson in Mercy, 1W, common
Enchanted creature has "Wherever this creature attacks, you gain 1 life."
Illustrate 3WW
The illustrated form is a variant of Path of Victory, which is certainly doable without the latter's +1/+1
DeleteThere's one other angle here that we haven't discussed much. Namely, it's very difficult to make commons with a front half that's already playable. Flight and Vigilance are both "bad" cards to begin with. As uncommons they'd be positively depressing. Yet they're incredibly obvious designs that deserve to be included.
DeleteLook at Chemister's Trick from RTR for an example of how complex a (good) multicolor common had to be. The "each" mode of that card is pretty clearly uncommon outside the context of overload. For that reason-- and because, as several people have pointed out, these cards are substantially harder to deploy than their global enchantment cousins-- I'll continue to advocate for flying and vigilance at common.
This is not my official submission, but here's what I think the three commons should be:
W, +0/+1 and vigilance, Illustrate 4W
U, +0/+1 and flying, Illustrate 4U
WU, lifelink and hexproof, Illustrate 4WU
Exact numbers and abilities are flexible, but I believe this is the easiest-to-understand format consistent with the cards being Limited playable (and not just for their illustrate ability). Anyone who wants to prove me wrong with a design is more than welcome to.
Why is granting two abilities instead of one more common?
DeleteGranting multiple abilities is not the issue we're dealing with here. As several people have pointed out, granting abilities globally does NOT present a complexity problem. The main reasons for a thing like this to be uncommon are (1) Limited power level and (2) the not-good-in-multiples consideration. These issues are eminently fixable with good development, and the above designs are my attempts to fix them. I realize that the WU design is not so good on this count; there we *do* run into complexity issues, but no worse than those on Chemister's Trick.
DeleteCritical Thinking {U}
ReplyDeleteEnchantment-Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has "{2}, {T}: Draw a card, then discard a card."
Illustrate {2}{U}{U}
Begin Anew {1}{w/u}
Instant (U)
Exile ~ and all permanents attached to it, then return each of those cards to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Proctor of the Meek {2}{W}
Creature-Human Advisor (R)
Whenever ~ attacks, you may return target permanent card in your graveyard with converted mana cost 1 or less to the battlefield.
2/2
Somehow I typed "~" instead of "target creature" on Begin Anew, but that's what it should be.
DeleteCritical Thinking seems quite complicated for a common...
DeleteBegin Anew is a beautiful expression of one of blue's most underappreciated flavor aspects. I think you meant "exile target creature", though.
Proctor of the Meek is a great design that taps into some relatively unexplored space in white. Much like!
Begin anew would need the text of Flickerform, else it allows the "enchant hexproof guy" shenanigans of Sun Titan. I know it's hard to achieve, but it's still not something you want happening IMO.
DeleteBut in other situations moving auras around to different creatures is cool. I think that's worth the possibility of hexproof-enchanting to maintain.
DeleteSun Titan-style shenanigans should certainly not be allowed in the first place IMO. They're right up there with the bouncing-a-Fiend Hunter loophole that has been recently fixed with a new template and I am exceedingly disappointed they have not ruled to fix it (e.g. by commonsensically adding a rule that an aura can't enter the battlefield if it isn't targeting anything).
DeleteThat solution doesn't make sense to me. The problem with Sun Titan bringing back auras is that players expect them to work just like casting the aura. It does just that except in the rare case of shroud or hexproof. The other 95% of the time making them not come back would be unintuitive, and if you're making them learn an unintuitive rule anyway, the current one makes for much more fun gameplay than literally changing Retether's text to "do nothing."
DeleteVeterancy W
ReplyDeleteEnchantment - Aura (c)
Enchant creature
At the end of combat, if enchanted creature attacked or blocked, put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature.
Illustrate 3W
Weights and Measures U
Enchantment - Aura (u)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "T: Until end of turn, target creature gains flying, or target creature loses flying."
Illustrate 4UU
Lammasu Rector 2W/UW/U
Creature - Lammasu (r)
Flying
During your turn, creatures have hexproof.
Tomorrow we may fight, but today, we learn.
4/4
Okay, there's a lot going on here, and I'm really eager for feedback. Lammasu Rector seems like a cute way to support playing auras and give you an undercosted flier by not giving it a strict upside, but it obviously exists in a world where Weights and Measures is too ridiculous to print (which may be our world).
Veterancy is pretty exciting. I love that the bonus is both conditional and not instant speed. Unfortunately, the ability to let all your creatures grow unbounded just isn't common. Would adding "if it has none" be too kludgy?
DeleteRector is a sweet rare that somewhat subtly helps aura/illustrate.
The twist with Veterancy of course is that, once illustrated, it only works when all your creatures attack or all your creatures block (as opposed to triggering individually). I like to think that that helps bound the counters.
DeleteThe other upside is that multiple Veterancy's stack better than most of these enchantments, and also synergize well with vigilance and/or evasion.
Oh, good point. Hmm. That reveals a danger from illustrate's text replacement.
DeleteYikes. That is a problem. I was loving Veterancy until that quirk of the illustrated wording was pointed out.
DeleteIt's easy to work around, though.
DeleteSuiroza Veterancy {W}
Enchantment - Aura
Enchanted creature has "At the end of combat, if this attacked or blocked, put a +1/+1 counter on it."
Illustrate 3W
or
Veteran's Treaty {W}
Enchantment - Aura
Enchanted creature has "At the end of combat, if this creature attacked or blocked, put a +1/+1 counter on it if it has none."
Illustrate 2W
Rather than Jay's "if it has none", it could also be tied to power or toughness instead. Plenty of knobs for development to fiddle.
Lead the Way {W}
Enchanted creature has "At end of combat, if this creature attacked or blocked and has no counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature."
Illustrate 3W
This means, once illustrated, each new creature can give your team a boost, but they won't grow out of hand on their own.
Evasive Training {U}
ReplyDeleteEnchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't be blocked unless defending player pays {1} for each creature blocking it.
Illustrate {3}{U}
There have been several commons with Illustrate in white so far, but only one in blue. This could also be a white/blue card if necessary.
~ {W}{W}
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each creature you control.
Illustrate {4}{W}{W}
My attempt at a splashy Illustrate rare.
I have no idea what the rare design is called, but I *really* like it.
DeleteThe common design is interesting, but I don't like that the front half is so much worse than Aqueous Form. "Can't be blocked unless defending player pays {2}" is more powerful and less complex, so I would recommend that.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAgreed. Revised entry:
DeleteStealth Training {U}
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't be blocked unless defending player pays {2}.
Illustrate {3}{U}
Lesson of Unity {W}{W}
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each creature you control.
Illustrate {4}{W}{W}
For reference: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?color=|[W]|[U]&type=+[Enchantment]&subtype=+![aura]&rarity=+[c]&text=+[creature]
ReplyDeleteAnd notice how few of even these are relevant. Common enchantments that affect potentially all your creatures is indeed rather uncharted territory.
DeleteA few more relevant cards:
DeleteGate Hound
Veteran Armorer
Frostwind Invoker
Sentinel Sliver
To my mind, these play more like Illustrate would. They're creatures first and foremost, but under the right circumstances they function as global enchantments.
From my perspective, this mechanic is unprintable at common. Global enchantments that continuously grant abilities or P/T bonuses are simply not common under NWO. I can't think of a single example of one printed in the last ten years, Future Sight notwithstanding.
ReplyDeleteIf your concern is complexity, then that's a NWO issue, but I think that a couple of the fabled complexity points can be spent on a given guild mechanic, especially one that will only show up on three or four cards in the block. If the concern is power level, it's not a NWO issue and something that we can feel out in playtesting.
DeleteThree points:
Delete1. Guild mechanics need to be simpler than your average block mechanic, because there will be five new ones in each large set.
2. Board complexity at common is, in my opinion, not the right investment for complexity points. Better to spend them on comprehension complexity (e.g., Bestow, DFCs).
3. Adjusting power level by bumping up costs (as some have suggested above) does not make uncommon effects printable at common. We don't see common Pyroclasm at 4R or common Duskdale Wurm at 7GG. So there is some notion of rarity appropriateness besides NWO and power level.
I more or less agree with Havelock's points, and was going to post the same thing. I think the model of commons that needs to be used is the cycles of Invokers, meaning that the Illustrate ability needs to basically be flavor text in all but the late-late game.
DeleteExample:
Spectral Flight School
2U
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying.
Illustrate 7UU
I think this mechanic is going to be really stretched to get enough cards to fill out the slots because of the desire to make both the front and back half of the cards exciting. Keep in mind the mechanic this is most similar to, Overload, was a pretty big failure for the same reason (Mark ranked it the worst of the guild mechanics, if I recall correctly).
I disagree with points 2 and 3. Slivers in M14 showed complexity point can be used on board complexity and that global effects aren't unworkable (but are dangerous and have to be distributed judiciously). Boulderfall and Thassa's Bounty show that uncommon effects can be common if you overcost them.
DeleteThat said, I agree with point 1, and I think that's the deal breaker here.
Okay, fair enough. Perhaps a more accurate version of point 3 is that if you're going to make something common that usually lives at higher rarities, there needs to be a reason for it. Commons like Ulamog's Crusher and Boulderfall don't see print in every; only the sets where there's an environment where they make sense. So what is it about Suvnica that really wants Levitation (or whatever) at common?
DeleteThe Suiroza being all about shared learning could justify Levitation at common. Should it, is a VERY fair question, I don't pretend to know the answer to.
DeleteNo takers for creative director yet?
ReplyDeleteIn thinking about this, I wonder if perhaps Illustrate should give your other creatures the buff until end of turn, instead of falling off and becoming a global enchantment? I think that would greatly increase what you could do at common, but might increase the risk of there being too many on board tricks (though I have some fear of that with the mechanic as is).
ReplyDeleteActually, thinking further, I like the idea of it being an activated ability to give another target creature you control the ability until end of turn, probably with an "Activate this ability at most once per turn" clause.
DeleteThat was one of the variants that was considered. I ultimately decided that this was the most unique and grokable variation of the mechanic - whether it's in aura or global mode is clear based on whether it's attached to a creature or not.
DeleteThe biggest issue with the mechanic that I see is that if the impact of the aura is big enough on one creature to be worth playing, then it is just "win the game" on all your creatures, and that is boring.
DeleteOne way to make this work, I think, is to have your auras grant activated abilities that cost mana (or tapping).
Examples:
Looting Lessons
U
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted Creature has T: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Illustrate 3UUU
Shield Lessons
W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted Creature has W: ~ gets +0/+1 until end of turn.
Illustrate 3W
(This might lead to horrible board stalls, one could instead do a blue version that gives the ability 1: ~ gets +1/-1 until end of turn.)
If the mechanic was allowed in black, I'd really like one for the Vampire Hounds ability.