tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post7494158808118173569..comments2024-03-11T02:32:15.295-04:00Comments on Goblin Artisans: Knowledge from the Helvault (Part One)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-12026868507813589722012-04-21T22:39:37.969-04:002012-04-21T22:39:37.969-04:00'twas a dumb Bushido Bear.
Here lies Bushido ...'twas a dumb Bushido Bear.<br /><br />Here lies Bushido Bear<br />A fine bear of valor<br />All of 2/2 for two<br />One white and a colorless<br />with Bushido 1 to boot<br />And still <br />Worse than Loyal Catharmetaghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18301191638894756414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-4569746045600274962012-04-21T22:01:44.079-04:002012-04-21T22:01:44.079-04:00Hey, I'm in this article! :D I'm grateful ...Hey, I'm in this article! :D I'm grateful to see that I've inspired such insightful musings here with my dumb Bushido Bear thing.Alex Spaldinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03747145070824848773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-82928972853363633542012-04-21T21:03:43.381-04:002012-04-21T21:03:43.381-04:00Thanks Jay!
I don't think you tweet enough ph...Thanks Jay!<br /><br />I don't think you tweet enough photos of your nonexistent children eating Korean fried chicken to really qualify as the Michael J Flores of Magic Design, but you're close.metaghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18301191638894756414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-47271748142261894192012-04-21T20:53:58.665-04:002012-04-21T20:53:58.665-04:00Thanks for taking a look, Jules. And yes, you'...Thanks for taking a look, Jules. And yes, you're absolutely right, there's way too much going on.<br /><br />I may never have a reason to write an article explaining the set as is because I'll be changing them, so I'll try to explain some things right now. But note that the thoughts that I covered in this article are the things that are going be to useful for how I proceed in revising this initial draft. <br /><br />To start, hopefully it's apparent that the "multiple spells" theme is the parent thematic element that drives (or is trying to drive) each keyword. Melody dictates spellcasting, rhythm reacts to spellcasting, and Delve supports spellcasting by both feeding on previous spells cast and allowing you to cast more spells by providing a discount.<br /><br />Whether that's sensible food chain is up to debate. We can look at Innistrad and see something similar, but demonstrated in smaller clusters, such as how Morbid and Self-Mill fed the graveyard for Zombies, or how Self-Mill fed Flashback which helped counter Werewolves.<br /><br />The tribal stuff was intended to just flesh out the flavor of the world, but as tribal ideas tend to demand a certain density, it got a bit out of control. The original idea was to just convey a class-system and define the colors according to regional race/class relationships. For instance, in White you have Humans and Birds as the dominant races and an ascending class order with Soldiers at Common, Knights at Uncommon, and Clerics/Advisors at Rare.<br /><br />Much of the very explicit tribal stuff (like what you find at higher rarities) is definitely something I want to scale back on.<br /><br />The equipment theme, and by extension much of what you can find in Red, was an attempt to carve out a more interesting niche for Red. Considering this is the SPELLCASTING set/block, it's doubtful this is the place to do such experimentation.<br /><br />The Shard vs. Wedge conflict is a result of me porting designs from older work into the set file without really thinking and then me trying to ultimately support both perspectives by just having fun designing multicolor stuff.<br /><br />In theory, the keywords break down like so:<br /><br />Melody - R/U dominant G middle W/B least<br />Rhythm - U/W/G dominant (it's like a weird vigilance)<br />Delve - B/G dominant U less<br /><br />Because Melody and Delve are Wedge-based and Rhythm is Shard-based, some of that confusion in intent was exacerbated as I tried to fill in blanks in the colors where a hypothetical cycle was getting cut short.<br /><br />Anyway, I hope that explaining all that might help you (or anyone) focus feedback.metaghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18301191638894756414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-59074767715678110232012-04-21T19:43:55.396-04:002012-04-21T19:43:55.396-04:00I've been looking over Melody, and the set jus...I've been looking over Melody, and the set just seems to have too much going on. There's support for both Shard and Wedge multicolor at common, you have a tribal component(Knights/Soldiers, Birds, and Mercenaries), a multiple spells theme, an equipment theme, a cmc 6 matters theme, and a graveyard theme. There are a lot of cool and interesting things here, and they interact in cool ways, so I see the reason you wanted them all together. Maybe these themes could be split among two consecutive blocks so they can play together in Standard without overloading this set.Juleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13784920130399590671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-81959521732167524412012-04-21T17:46:16.937-04:002012-04-21T17:46:16.937-04:00This really was a solid article.
Something that s...This really was a solid article.<br /><br />Something that struck me while reading about designers taking precedent for hard-and-fast rules is the direct analog to actually playing the game. As you get better at Magic, you start to observe trends which form guidelines that fossilize into rules and eventually limit you (unless your hyper-vigilant AKA a Pro). For example, playing your land and spells after you attack becomes so rote that it took a while to 100% remember to play them before combat in Zendikar to activate Landfall.<br /><br />In the same way, budding designers first progress by observing trends and adopting behaviors that conform to those trends, but it's dangerously easy to forget there are no rules, only guidelines and that everything has an exception at some point in time.<br /><br />Too bad observing this trap in theory is easier than avoiding it in practice. I'm like the Michael J Flores of Magic Design. Have I mentioned that I beat Jon Becker once?Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-48731696123730072002012-04-21T16:41:20.351-04:002012-04-21T16:41:20.351-04:00This is an awesome article! You pinned down a lot ...This is an awesome article! You pinned down a lot that hadn't quite come clear to me, and I expect to use this as a reminder to push things in the future. Now to look over that set of yours.Juleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13784920130399590671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-71656203307720767162012-04-21T16:24:29.804-04:002012-04-21T16:24:29.804-04:00I'll get to editing that, pronto.
But thanks!...I'll get to editing that, pronto.<br /><br />But thanks! Innistrad as a whole has a ton to chew on, and I wanted to take a look at AVR that went beyond just single-card evaluations.metaghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18301191638894756414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-89002823431258628082012-04-21T16:15:54.162-04:002012-04-21T16:15:54.162-04:00Wobbles the GOOSE :P
Otherwise, I really enjoyed ...Wobbles the GOOSE :P<br /><br />Otherwise, I really enjoyed this. I have no doubt that that Avacyn is going to be one of the most complex (Melvin-wise) set we've seen in a while. I look forward to diving into your set.Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03194969481571035486noreply@blogger.com