CCDD 08202020 - Krenko's Big Move

I had a long twitter conversation about the best Goblins last night, and that got me thinking about having a central Goblin villain in a story. Krenko is the closest existing contender, but we never get to see him do something truly despicable on screen. I came up with a story beat that might escalate him to villain status, and I came up with a story spotlight card for the set where it happens. 

Weekend Design Challenge 021519 - Out-of-Guild Ravnica Keywords II

Hey Artisans. Click through to see the requirements for this weekend's design challenge, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, so once you've got your great idea down, give some thoughtful critique to some of your peers. Revise your submission any number of times, and, time permitting, I'll review the most recent submission from each designer.

What I've Learned from Guilds of Ravnica's Mechanics (Part 5)

Please enjoy the third in a series of five guest posts from Larcent about the mechanics of Guilds of Ravnica. —Jay Treat

Lesson Five: Undergrowth and identity vs. gameplay

Green and black decks are doing quite well in Standard right now and are even seeing high-end competitive Magic play. This makes it all the more interesting that the undergrowth mechanic landed with such a thud with players. There's very little of it to be found in these decks. There are cards from Guilds of Ravnica in these successful decks, though, and there's a lot to learn about why those made the cut and cards with undergrowth did not.

What I've Learned from Guilds of Ravnica's Mechanics (Part 4)

Please enjoy the third in a series of five guest posts from Larcent about the mechanics of Guilds of Ravnica. —Jay Treat

Lesson Four: Surveil and liberating the jank

Mark Rosewater and other Magic designers are pretty open about the challenges of designing for blue and black together. They've been allied colors from the start, but the relationship between the blue and black is thematic and not mechanical.

What I've Learned from Guilds of Ravnica's Mechanics (Part 3)

Please enjoy the third in a series of five guest posts from Larcent about the mechanics of Guilds of Ravnica. —Jay Treat

Lesson Three: Mentor and simple complexity

I have to start by confessing that I have a hard time designing for the red and white color identity, and Boros is the guild I have the least connection with as a player. I'm a lover of weird and crazy combos, and the Boros Legion has no time for the shenanigans of Johnnies and Jennies. They're too busy busting the skulls of miscreants.

What I've Learned from Guilds of Ravnica's Mechanics (Part 2)

Please enjoy the second in a series of five guest posts from Larcent about the mechanics of Guilds of Ravnica. —Jay Treat

Lesson Two: Jump-start and making "spells matter" matter

In draft and sealed formats, where players have 40-card rather than 60-card decks, creatures are highly prioritized and other spells tend to be limited. Non-creature spells tend to be focused primarily on impactful cards that help swing the game in your favor. A limited deck may have only a handful of non-creature spells, often removal and combat tricks.

What I've Learned from Guilds of Ravnica's Mechanics (Part I)

Please enjoy the first in a series of five guest posts from Larcent about the mechanics of Guilds of Ravnica. —Jay Treat

Lesson One: Convoke as comfort food.

Anecdotal experience tells me that we amateur Magic designers tend toward the Jenny/Johnny play style and are very interested in seeing mechanics and sets that do new and different things. That's certainly my Magic identity.

Weekend Design Challenge 092118 - What's Bolas Up To, Anyway?

Hey Artisans. Click through to see the requirements for this weekend's design challenge, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, so once you've got your great idea down, give some thoughtful critique to some of your peers. Revise your submission any number of times, and I'll review the most recent submission from each designer on Monday evening.

Weekend Design Challenge 091418 - Out-of-Guild Ravnica Keywords

Hey Artisans. Click through to see the requirements for this weekend's design challenge, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, so once you've got your great idea down, give some thoughtful critique to some of your peers. Revise your submission any number of times, and I'll review the most recent submission from each designer.

Weekend Design Challenge 081018 - Guild Leaders/Champions

Hey Artisans. Click through to see the requirements for this weekend's design challenge, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, so once you've got your great idea down, give some thoughtful critique to some of your peers. Revise your submission any number of times, and on Monday-ish, I'll review the most recent submission from each designer.

CCDD 080918 - Guild Excommunicates

This week we looked into joining a guild, and benefiting from being a part of it. Have any cards explored what leaving a guild looks like?

CCDD 080818 - Guild Loyalty Cards

Moving right along with some more Ravnica 3 stuff, I'm pretty convinced at this point that devotion is a fantastic mechanic for a world built around belonging (or not) to a guild. So here's some devotion cards.

CCDD 080718 - Guild Recruitment

I don't know if I made this quite clear yet, but I'm super pumped to be spending a whole year on Ravnica. I was revisiting my dusty old thread about what I would do if I was in charge of designing Ravnica 3, and one of the themes I wanted to explore was being recruited into a guild.

Weekend Design Challenge 080318 - Return 3x Combo!!!

Hey Artisans. Click through to see the requirements for this weekend's design challenge, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, so once you've got your great idea down, give some thoughtful critique to some of your peers. Revise your submission any number of times, and on Monday-ish, I'll review the most recent submission from each designer.

CCDD 02132018 - DFC Evolution

KingRitz's submission over the weekend had me thinking about DFCs that could just straight-up be cast on either side.

Tesla: The Dish on Kaladesh

Lately, we've been focusing on designing mechanics and finding themes for Tesla, building up a toolbox and refining our vision for when we move from exploratory design to individual card design. This week, I'd like to zoom out from mechanics, and look at an even bigger picture than Tesla's themes - this week, let's look at the setting of Tesla.

Suvnica Week 17 Review: No Mercy (Ruthless Designs)

Today we'll be taking a look at the submissions for our second guild keyword challenge: Ruthless for the Radkar.

Designing Suvnica, Week 17: Alpha Dog Days

The test deck we'll be pairing off our Illustrate test deck against will showcase this mechanic:

Suvnica Week 16 Review: Show Your Work (Illustrate Designs)

Illustrate was one of my favorite Suiroza mechanics to come out of this project so far. It does present us with a lot of problems, not all of which I'm convinced are surmountable, but I think of the exemplar family of mechanic designs, it had the most going for it - it was unique, memorable, fit nicely in both the {W}{U} color pie and Suiroza's creative vision.

However, it doesn't mesh too well with NWO (both in terms of mechanical and board complexity), it is very hard to create interesting cards that are useful as an aura that don't become bah-roken once they're global bonuses, and finally, the mechanic sits on auras, with all the baggage that comes with it - two-for-one removal, dead cards if you don't have an enchantable creature, etc.

Designing Suvnica, Week 16(b): An Offer You Can't Refuse

While the designs for Illustrate are coming in, being evaluated, and put into a test deck, we might as well get the ball rolling on giving the Suiroza a test deck to fight against. There weren't nearly as many Radkar keyword submissions, so I think we'll try to narrow this list down to just three final keywords to test.