Happy Friday, Artisans! Click through to see this weekend's design parameters. With those as your guidelines, design a custom magic card. Over the course of the weekend, give feedback to your fellow designers on their designs, and incorporate their feedback to iterate on your own. If I have time over the course of next week, I will try to offer some of my own feedback.
Rosewater
previewed some art for the upcoming Zendikar set a couple of weeks ago. Here's a nifty little piece. Let's make a card for it! Bonus points for showing off a new mechanic you think could be in the set (I have
some theories about what the set would look like, personally).
Good luck, have fun, and I'll see you all next week.
Blossoming Hedron G
ReplyDeleteArtifact Creature - Plant Construct (U)
Landfall - When a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may add G to your mana pool.
“Hedrons can produce life both great and small”
0/2
Not gonna lie, my first thought on seeing the art was "green artifact- plant" too. I don't think it's something they'd actually print without a heavy artifact theme so it doesn't seem quite right for Zendikar, but it's a neat idea.
DeleteI suggest finding a way to weaken the landfall trigger. Lotus Cobra was already pretty busted at 2 mana; at 1 mana this is can easily lead into 4-mana plays on turn 2.
I definitely made the lotus cobra connection, and I think its a valid point, too much ramp that's too efficient makes for a bad standard environment. *cough*
DeleteI have a few thoughts about downplaying the mana production. Some of the landfall cards have stipulations about what lands satisfy the landfall trigger, so maybe dialing it back to only basic lands or even just basic forests would help to balance it out more. That way it kind of nestles it more tightly in the green camp. Ramping to 4 on turn 2 should be more difficult without triggering from fetch or other non-basic shenanigans.
As for the typing, I think Zendikar has a good history with the plant subtype, and this art definitely signals a kind of symbiosis between the hedrons and the natural world. BUT I think you're right about it being unlikely to see print that way. Maybe if this were a mirrodin set.
If I had to pick one I think I'd leave it as an artifact and remove the plant, so that there are more removal options to balance out the mana production strength.
Triggering on forests only is a great idea for dialing back the power level here.
DeleteI agree with all the Lotus Cobra talking points up above. I'm not sure that uncommon would be safe enough for this, but it might be, and it could easily be a reasonable rare.
DeleteThe other avenue explored was to narrow the scope of landfall. I don't think narrower landfall is an option on Zendikar, though anywhere else it would be fine (see Battlewand Oak, Staff of the cycle, etc.)
The bonus landfall cycle is a more viable option. Would landfall, add 1 life, forestfall, 1 life and 1 mana, be more reasonable for uncommon? Absolutely. It definitely loses some of the elegance of the original design though.
The Bonus Landfall is a great solution. As a sidebar I've always been curious as to why some things I would consider landfall don't get keyword-ed as such. With Battlewand Oak, it didn't exist yet, but there have been a lot of things printed with "when a land enters the battlefield under your control, do X" that aren't landfall cards. Courser of Kruphix, Architect of the Untamed, evolution sage, field of the dead, etc.
DeleteQuiet Disrepair reprint? :-)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds very fitting!
DeleteOvergrow G
ReplyDeleteEnchantment- Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant artifact, enchantment, or land
Enchanted permanent is a Forest.
Oh, I missed the bonus-points option. I'm a big fan of land tokens, so:
DeleteOvergrow G
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or land. Its controller creates a Forest token.
(This is a higher-synergy version anyway, since it creates extra landfall triggers!)
I like this because at first glance it seems like just a hate spell, but also using it as fixing for yourself could be really nice if you desperately need a forest. Do you think it would have a negative affect on mono colored aggro decks? Like say mono red aggro has some linchpin creature that is RR, and they play a low number of lands in the deck. Do you think a 1 drop land destruction is too powerful in those scenarios?
DeleteAgain, I really like the design on multiple levels!
Thanks! Yeah, mana denial effects have to be watched closely in case they makes the game unfun. I guessed that this would be okay mostly based on Spreading Seas, which does similar things *and* cantrips for just 1 more mana.
DeleteI too am a big fan of land tokens, and I would be surprised if they don't debut in Zendikar 3. Wirex's concerns re: hosing monocolor aggro decks is well-made, but more of a play design concern than a set design one. If it does prove to be oppressive to the health of the environment, is this still an exciting card as a 1-mana Naturalize? Maybe as a common?
DeleteAlternatively, that image doesn't strike me as an idle land spawning from the hedron. That thing is alive! What cool creature do you (or your opponent) get when the artifact crumbles?
Nature's Return G
ReplyDeletesorcery (U)
Destroy target artifact.
Uncover sacrifice a land (sacrifice a land: return this card from your graveyard to your hand.)
So this is retrace that's more flexible but also "costs" a land drop? Neat. Interesting idea to pair it with an effect that won't be worth a card in many games, but will be extra-valuable against decks that do have targets.
DeleteFWIW I don't think the new Zendikar set will have a land-sacrifice mechanic like this. Maro mentioned that in the original Zendikar design they steered away from making players "pay" land drops, and this set is largely about how the plane recovers so it's unlikely they'll focus on losing lands.
Uncover is a cool mechanic. Like Luke, I don't think that it's a great fit for Zendikar. There's a certain danger to mechanics like this and retrace for new players. Recurring a card is clearly cool, but how often is a player going to misjudge their land needs and end up manascrewing themselves? On a narrow card like Nature's Return, it won't be as impactful, but if this would appear on a Giant Growth or Shock variant, it could lead to a lot of players feeling baffled as to how they ended up unable to do anything. That said, it's still a good mechanic to explore in the right environment. This particular card would be an all-star in Commander, for instance.
DeleteAlthough I remember seeing in the GDS3 judge comments that land tokens are confusing, I guess if land token cards are available in boosters, it can be a good way to reduce shuffling. Also, it could just fetch basic land cards from outside the game, although I don't know how to avoid shuffling it into the deck by mistake when the game is over.
ReplyDeleteMaro talked about including a set of 6 dual lands he designed years ago. Maybe they create land tokens of two types, and the sixth one can create any land tokens for a higher cost?
With land tokens the obvious designs to make are a cycle of 5 "fetches" and 1 "evolving wilds", so the number 6 is really encouraging here. Those are some of the first designs I put in the Zendikar custom set I made (http://mondaymorningmaro.blogspot.com/2017/06/escape-from-zendikar-10-card-image.html).
DeleteI think after keyword ability counters, land tokens are a lot more likely to be a thing.
DeleteHedron Head G
ReplyDeleteCreature - Plant Elemental (Uncommon)
Defender
Landfall - As long as a land entered the battlefield under your control this turn, CARDNAME gets +2/+0 and may attack as though it didn't have defender.
0/3
Green Steppe Lynx with somewhat less variance? I dig it. Neat how the alternate wording removes most of the incentive to play fetches to double up on landfall triggers.
DeleteThe art doesn't make me think "yikes this thing is coming after me for 2 damage" but hey, it's Zendikar, you never know.
Green Shoots 1G
ReplyDeleteSorcery
Destroy target artifact or enchantment an opponent controls
Snare - If it has converted mana cost 2 or more, gain 5 life.
I never quite liked the implementation of trap. This is going for something similar, but following the landfall philosophy of giving you something you want to do and an additional reward if you get to do it. Obviously you need to avoid making it too swingy. Also this particular example the case effect is situational to start with, but others may have a fairly standard base body but a snare bonus if the right situation arises. Ideally the "gotchas" would be things the opponent knows they're leaving themselves open but gets surprised when there's an additional bonus for you taking advantage of it.
For instance, maybe a red one-drop that pings opponent for 2 if the opponent has no creatures. Or blue card draw that draws an extra card if you have more cards than an opponent (if they over-extended). Or a white/black kill spell that punishes the opponent for having multiple 4-power creatures.
DeleteI liked that the OG Traps captured the classic "you activated my trap card!" feel, where you couldn't do something unless your opponent specifically tripped the condition. As you point out, though, that's frustratingly swingy. This "snare" design does a good job reducing the swinginess. It's so broad and non-traplike, though, that I'm not sure keywording it as such makes sense.
DeleteI know this is entering into Yu-Gi-Oh territory, but I wonder inf their is some room in the Morph/Manifest space for traps. Play face down for a flat cost, and then trigger for a separate cost. The unique element being that if they meet the trap's condition you can either flip for free or tack on an extra effect like you have here. Idk what they would be played down as though since I wouldnt think they would be 2/2 creatures.
DeleteRoaming Roots 1GG
ReplyDeleteCreature - Plant (Uncommon)
Landfall -- Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may add one mana of any color.
1/3
It looks like Wirex and I landed on pretty similar ideas here. I had in mind that this kind of design would do a good job of enabling color splashes and powerful turns in draft without coming online too fast. Obviously, no bonus points for using Landfall (and copying Lotus Cobra's triggered ability), but there it is.
I like how we came at this from different sides though. I made it really easy to remove and restricted the kind of mana it can produce, and you added another G to make it more difficult to cast outside of mainly green decks. I like it!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteInspired by Wirex's comment about morph-traps:
DeleteClutchvine Trap 2G
Instant - Trap (U)
Snare G (You may exile this card from your hand face down as a sorcery for 2. Cast it any time for its snare cost.)
Choose target attacking creature. Destroy all Auras and Equipment attached to that creature, then destroy that creature if it has flying.
Ah! That's interesting. I've seen other implementations of "prepare a spell to cast by exiling it for a cost", a friend did one trying to capture a "mastermind planning ahead" flavour. But this, letting you invest in a situational spell without always having to hold the mana up, gives you a good reason to actually use the mechanic. Although I wonder how many spells it will work with: they all have to cost more than the {2} cost, and they're all reactive, else you'd just play them.
DeleteI wonder if it might work to incentivise using the snare mechanic by making all of them sorceries that you can "set up as a trap" using this exile mechanic, and then you can use them at instant speed after they've been set up. Obviously there needs to be some care taken when designing sorceries that can feel impactful as instants without being overpowered, but I think that would capture the "setting a trap" aspect really well.
DeleteAlternatively you could have them do one thing when hard cast, but give them an additional boon when cast from exile. That gives the player some options and flexibility kind of like the half and half cards.
Hedron Bloom 1G
ReplyDeleteCreature - Plant (C)
When ~ enters the battlefield, return target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
1/2
Not sure how often lands would end up in the graveyard (fetches, manlands dying, cycling lands, harrow). If there's enough support, the idea is that this is a 2 drop with late game value, because it can get you landfall triggers again. Also, I think the gentle renewal that getting back a land represents is a nice match with the art and presumed tone of the set.
Groundskeeper saw print several times at uncommon so there's plenty of reason to believe a card like this can work in some Limited environments. And since this version says "land" not "basic land" it makes a lot of sense in the context of Zendikar with all the fetches etc. that you pointed out. Putting the design at common, and putting most of its power into the ETB ability (1/2 for 2 is very below rate these days), says that you expect graveyard-land interactions to be a big part of the environment. That's an interesting idea, and a pretty plausible one since the story is about Zendikar recovering from the Eldrazi. Nice work!
DeleteFloral hedronrangement 2g
ReplyDeleteSorcery Common
Kodamas reach, if you control a hedron, draw a card
So guesses that it was a small green mana creature with a set mechanic were right, but I don't think anyone guessed it was a double-faced land :)
ReplyDelete