The citizens of Yeva don't know it yet, but war is coming. The Zaalas and Trivets have long held peace under the acknowledgment of its futility. Powers of the two factions are equivalent. War only means certain obliteration of both sides. An armistice was formed to ensure peace after the Oblivion. The brokerage was successful because of two planeswalkers who convinced their own kind for its need. The planeswalker Lesalia was originally a Zaalas who ignited her spark during the Oblivion. Trivets were represented by the planeswalker Javeck. His story is as much folklore as it is for jest. It is a mystery only he knows. Some say he sparked when he fought the great dragon Grevalisk. Others say it happened when an experiment with artifice went horribly wrong. The tales have grown so tall and numerous it has become a joke of sorts.
Lesalia (Mythic) 2WG
Planeswalker – Lesalia
+1: Search your library for a land, reveal it and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
-1: Search your library for enchantment, reveal it and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
-X: Enchantments you control become X/X spirit creatures with flying.
[3]
Such a fragile brokerage has sustained itself only because of this equality and the perseverance of their planeswalkers. Not to mention, the people at the time lost their bloodlust after the Oblivion. A young planeswalker Braemen has other plans. He was originally a powerful black mage searching for answers to bring down the two factions. As a necromancer, he could never hope of attaining power over Yeva. His dark magic had no sway over spirits or machines. Flesh was all he could control. Braemen spent many years convincing a cleric named Ralen to help him gain transcedence and manipulated artificers to train him in their craft. An artifact was created that had the ability to capture a transcendent being's spirit energy. Braemen brought the artifact to Ralen who had in the mean time transcended. Recklessly, Braemen used the artifact on Ralen and tried to simultaneously absorb his energy. His dark powers rejected the energy and the attempted fusion created an explosion. It would have killed Braemen if the event hadn't ignited his latent spark.
Javeck, Master Artificer (Mythic) 2UR
Planeswalker – Javeck
+1: Put a signet artifact token into play that has "tap: add 1 to your mana pool."
-1: Sacrifice an artifact you control, it deals three damage to target creature or player.
-6: Return all artifacts from your graveyard to the battlefield.
[3]
Braemen wasn't the only one to be affected by the explosion. The artifice had transformed into a relic capable of transmuting artifacts and enchantments into living creatures. Braemen called it the Vorali. Even together, the power wasn't enough to bring the factions to their knees. A plan was hatched to instigate war. Over the years, Braemen began to grow secret alliances and planting spies on both sides. This too was insufficient. The Zaalas and Trivets had been ingrained with the idea of peace and their geographic separation made creating hostilities all too difficult. Lesalia and Javeck also quickly extinguished any unrest and the two were too powerful together to be eliminated.
Braemen, the Necromancer (Mythic) 1B
Planeswalker – Braemen
+1: Put a -1/-1 counter on target permanent.
+1: Exile target permanent in a graveyard from the game.
-X: Choose a creature with a mana cost X that was exiled from the game by Braemen, the Necromancer. Put it onto the battlefield under your control.
[2]
*Braemen, the Necromancer would appear in the second set of this block.
Found by accident during a quest for more power, Braemen discovered his spells would become more powerful if momentarily suspended into the aether. The originally chaotic technique was honed and perfected with the help of loreley aliases. After the learning and perfecting it himself, Braemen killed his subordinates to keep it secret. Only afterwards did Braemen acknowledge his mistake. The power of charging spells with aether was the very leverage he needed to bring war to the lands of Yeva. He first taught the Trivets in secret on how to perform the technique and incorporate it into their technology. Next, Braemen's spies in the Zaalas began teaching it to the leaders of their faction who quickly recognized the power of aether laced spells. The subterfuge had the desired effect: fear.
Vorali (Mythic) 3
Legendary Artifact
Tap: Target enchantment or artifact becomes a creature with power and toughness equal to its casting cost. It is no longer an artifact and/or enchantment.
*Vorali would appear in the second set of this block.
Paranoia began to fill the hearts of the High Council of Zaalas. Many feared the Trivets would use the power of the aether to gain dominion over them. Others worried disturbing the natural flow of the aether could set off cataclysmic events like the Oblivion. Even the elementals and angels expressed trepidation. Despite her efforts as their leader, Lesalia could not stem the growing fear. Kraya secretly sent out her best scouts from her pride to spy on the Trivets. The overly proud angel Praven quietly commanded her Serra angels to be watchful over the skies of Trivet. The optimistic of the High Council believed the answer to their problems resided in the Eidolons.
Lucentian (Uncommon) 1WW
Enchantment – Eidolon
Other creatures and enchantments you control gain protection from instants.
1W: Lucentian becomes a 2/2 creature with flying.
Javeck tried to hamper the pursuit of aether charging to the loreley and dwarves. The loreley were unable to be persuaded against their research. The shapeshifter water creatures only understood facts and wondered why they wouldn't pursue a new technology with vigor. They did not seek harm to the Zaalas and only wanted to obtain new technology that aether had to offer. The dwarves were more cautious for they understood the emotional appeal, but reserved the right to investigate the aether phenomenon due to a strong sense of curiosity. Dragons resisted the dwarves in their pursuits out of their sense of danger. Regardless of this fact, the red furnace breathers continued their symbiotic bond with the dwarves as they had done for centuries.
Hex, the Brood Leader (Rare) 2RR
Creature – Dragon
Flying, Haste
When Hex, the Brood Leader attackes, put a 1/1 red dragon whelp with flying onto the battlefield.
3/3
Despite their differences, Lesalia and Javeck know the future is paved with danger. Everyone began experimenting with the aether. The knowledge had been released upon the denizens of Yeva. It spread and grew like a virus. As it grew, so did the fear and paranoia. The secret pact that was formed between Lesalia and Javeck burned anew as they tried to stymie war. Old and wise, they knew enough that none of the machinations set in motion were mere coincidence. A puppet master was pulling strings, but the question was who?
Don't be confused with the terms Zaalas and Trivets. The distinction is more of a geographic location. The two are sparsely separated continents. Zaala is an older continent of flatter hills/raised lands and valleys. The basins are flush with rainforests and rivers. Dwarves cut off the mountaintops long ago. The cat tribes live atop these artificial plains. These Zaala plateaus peak out above the forests. The angels actually live atop old forgotten towers that spot the landscape. The towers consist of old forges and mysterious structures whose function has been lost in time. Trivet is a newer continent. Islands are uplift mountains or volcanoes that continue to form the eastern edge of the continent. Eventually, those islands will form into the rest of the continent. The rest of the continent is very treacherous with mountain range butted up next to more mountain ranges. In the early years of Yeva, the dwarves actually lived in Zaala. As the resources were depleted, the dwarves and lereley moved to the east in Trivet. They followed the uplift of the newer continent. They no longer open mine, but dig deep into the mountains with their machines.
The two continents were actually one continent. Various isthmuses bridge the continents pocketed by small islands. The result of this phenomenon was from the original war called the Oblivion. Lesalia and Javeck were both born out of this war. Lesalia was there when the cataclysmic events occurred. Deep scars lie underneath her fur from the Oblivion that nearly took her life. The spark kept her alive. She met Javeck who helped heal the scars in her mind and took care of her while she recovered. Javeck had only been a planeswalker for a brief time before Lesalia. Even though Javeck never told Lesalia the true story of his ignition, Lesalia garnered the event was equally tragic. He made up stories to hide the real event he did not wish to relive. He was originally a forger working deep inside a mountain harvesting rare metals. The materials were actually for lereley bombs. A cave-in trapped his entire crew inside the mountain. It is customary for dwarves to work with family and friends. As the days passed, food and water ran out. Crewmembers began dying from heat, starvation, or the build up of gases. Javeck watched them die one by one until he was the only one left. The combination of sorrow, pain, and imminent death ignited his spark. The result was a furious explosion that opened an escape route. Lesalia nor Javeck wished to see more death. Lesalia returned to Zaala and helped broker an armistice with Javeck's help in Trivet.
Changing Roles
Sorry for the delay in follow-up articles. I've been on vacation. I saw the sister-in-law in Seattle. It was fun and I even got to stop at Card Kingdom game store. Felt like I stepped into a slice of heaven. I really enjoyed how open the store and inviting it was for anyone. My non-magic crew especially enjoyed the bar while I took some time purchasing a few singles. It is definitely a store that should be replicated. Nice staff by the way. The one-hour detour to the store was the extent of my Magic time. We spent the rest of our time clamming for four clams, going to Portland, and enjoying time well spent waiting/missing ferries. We made the best of it as we always do. The tempo of the trip was set though when we missed our first flight and spent the next 12 hours on standby.
Needless to say, I had a lot of downtime to think about this overzealous attempt at creating a Magic set. I realized my own worst enemy was myself. More importantly, this is a factor of how every action has an opposite but equal reaction. Instead of the law of momentum, I'm talking about the law of gaming. Take charge for example. The idea seems harmless. However, the addition of counters hinders the use of counters for the rest of the set. I can't have too many counters running around unless I want cumbersome game states. The same holds true for tokens. I want to do forge in red and blue. This means tokens. This prevents me from turning enchantments into token generators. I need to eliminate the number tokens especially since token cards are now included in packs. Every time I turn around, I am painting myself into the corner.
As this project continues, I am finding myself to be less and less of a card designer. Instead, I am shifting my outlook and seeing myself as a set designer. Cards mean nothing in a vacuum. Not to say designing cards is not an art, but designing cards for a set is a different creature entirely. It doesn't surprise me Wizards shifted to a set central theme for the second Great Designer Search. The first Great Designer Search was only about the cards for majority of the contest. A flaw I think they sort of rectified the second go around. It worked up to a point. The group hug aspect of the venture was the probably the least successful of the whole ordeal. I get the reasoning behind it. They wanted people to work together as if they were on the job. As with all group projects in college, they tend to epically fail because few of the group members were invested in the project. I always felt like professors were torturing me in college with group activities. Yes, yes, I get it. We are all supposed to work together and learn how to do something. Sometimes, one person in the group would be a type A and completely monopolize everything as a dictator. Everyone else wouldn't do a thing cause they are twenty something and would rather be partying or hooking up. Anyway, it is the way I felt with the second Great Designer Search.
It must be hard as a new hire at Wizards. There all these card ideas upstairs yearning to burst out. The problem is that it doesn't matter. It is not what you want to make. It is about what needs to be made. Got a great idea for a dragon. Sorry, we are doing a vampire and angel block. Stick it in a file. We might get to it in five years. The dream quickly vanishes and turns into a job. I suppose only some of the older readers can understand what I mean by job. Anything, I mean anything, eventually becomes a job. I'm not saying the fun will disappear. Reality is it all comes with job duties, deadlines, and those tasks that aren't always the most fun things to do.
I actually feel like I am working on my capstone or masters in game design. All those articles written over the years by R&D are flooding back. I've even gone back to reread a few. I feel like all these years I was listening, but I wasn't really hearing what they were saying. You know what? They were right. Even as I write this article, I feel I must change my outlook again. I'm not a set designer. I'm a block designer if I were staying true to the spirit of this project. I could stuff every idea I have for charge into the set I'm creating. Such an approach would make the set look chaotic, there would be no room for the mechanic to grow, it increase the complexity of the set, and etc. I'm constantly finding my thinking turning towards the future.
Take all of this and wrap it together. What do you get? Conflict. All these ideas create conflict with each other. Every time I pick a creature type, it negates the use of other creatures. It all goes back to momentum of game design. The theory can be also used for power level. If I push the white weenies in my block, it necessitates I lower the power level somewhere else in the colors. Take Steppe Lynx. The creation of the card required the power level be taken away elsewhere. If this equalization weren't performed, the color would dominate. The power level of the set would spiral out of control. Games would be too fast. The end of the world as we know it. If you giveth, you must taketh away.
World Building
I know I am supposed to start the Magic skeleton with the commons. I started designing a few of my mythics and rares to get a grasp of the storyline. Basically, I wanted to develop my story characters to understand what it is I care about. Otherwise, I have no target to hit. I'm starting to understand what Mark Rosewater means by hitting a moving target. Out of this, I was able to understand what creature types I wanted for this set. Let's talk about few of them.
Lesalia (Mythic) 2WG
Planeswalker – Lesalia
+1: Search your library for a land, reveal it and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
-1: Search your library for enchantment, reveal it and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
-X: Enchantments you control become X/X spirit creatures with flying.
[3]
I tried to develop as much synergy between the abilities as I could. The first and second abilities don't appear to correlate at first glance. The land searching ability allows for a player to play enchantments. The problem with enchantments compared to artifacts is they have color requirements. It does me no good to search up Underworld Dreams if I can't play it. With the ability, I can search up Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Is the ability too powerful? Maybe, but it feels very green and white. Although, it is one of those designs I can easily switch to basic later in development. I like it. The ability is sexy and I think it is something players will swoon over. For the second ability, I first copied Tezzeret the Seekers ability for putting artifacts into play. The trouble is most cards that care about enchantments want them to be played like Mesa Enchantress. Her ultimate is a little different for I wanted an ultimate that could be used the turn she comes into play. I wanted to introduce something new. I like it. It is an ultimate that will only grow over time. Obviously.
Javeck, Master Artificer (Mythic) 2UR
Planeswalker – Javeck
+1: Put a signet artifact token into play that has "tap: add 1 to your mana pool."
-1: Sacrifice an artifact you control, it deals three damage to target creature or player.
-6: Return all artifacts from your graveyard to the battlefield.
[3]
I wanted these two planewalkers to mirror each other to some extent. I wanted to complement the storyline of the two sides starting out equally. It is the reason I created the signet ability. It is an ability I will probably put on a creature (artificer). Both can ramp up mana in their own way. Tezzeret the Seeker has really thrown a wrench into the creation of this card. I needed to create something different. I also need to find a way for it to protect itself. Turning artifacts into bombs felt appropriate. The first two abilities also complement each other. Make an artifact then sacrifice it. Rinse and repeat. The ultimate wasn't too hard. It feels very red and blue with cards like Goblin Welder and Argivian Restoration.
Braemen, the Necromancer (Mythic) 1B
Planeswalker – Braemen
+1: Put a -1/-1 counter on target permanent.
+1: Exile target permanent in a graveyard from the game.
-X: Choose a creature with a mana cost X that was exiled from the game by Braemen, the Necromancer. Put it onto the battlefield under your control.
[2]
Yes, a two mana planeswalker. Magic needs new. This is new. However, I wanted to make the planewalker somewhat weak since he is a new planeswalker compared to Lesalia and Javeck. I must say, designing plus abilities are hard. They can't be too powerful without being too weak. It is a delicate balance. Again, I wanted synergy and flavor. It kills creature with his first ability, graveyard control in the second, and followed by bringing them back with the third. It doesn't really have an ultimate. It feels very flavorful though in the fact it doesn't. It is a young planeswalker. It shouldn't have an ultimate. It is a card I think would be more powerful in Legacy than Standard. Lots of one toughness creatures to kill. Graveyard control is always needed. Stealing Tarmogoyfs is always fun.
As we move on, the next step was to flesh out the creature types. Enchantments are very spirit-like. In this world, enchantments are spirit energy. More specifically, they are creatures or thoughts that have transcended physical form. Stargate comes to mind. In the sci-fi series, it is possible to ascend to a higher state of being. It is the thought process I will use here. Coming up with a creature type for it was almost impossible. If I were to write about an Off-Topic, it would be about the creature types in Magic. A lot of the creature types are pretty uninspiring. Here are a few:
Anteater, antelope, aurochs, bat, bear, boar, camel, crab, crocodile, elephant, elk, fish, fox, frog, goat, hippo, hippogriff, horse, hound, hyena, insect, leech, lizard, mongoose, octopus, ox, oyster, rabbit, rat, rhino, salamander, scorpion, serpent, sheep, slug, spider, sponge, squid, squirrel, turtle, whale, wolf, worm
Wow, a lot of inspiration. Sarcasm is intended. I think Wizards spends too much time at the zoo. I say this in good jest. I am making a point. We take something real world and make it mythical. I think this is wrong to an extent. People don't go to Star Trek conventions to dress up as a normal person. They go to dress up as Klingons. They want fantasy. Normal is a lack of fantasy. Ox doesn't make me think of fantasy. I can't wait to rip open my pack and pull an ox. Again, more sarcasm. A lot of creature types are a bunch of junk. I started recognizing the problem as I searched for creature types for my set. It is the reason I will be creating my own. I want to create fantasy not a trip to the zoo.
For green and white, I wanted creatures to fill the spiritual genre. I picked angels for the big white creatures. Elementals fill the void for green with it splashing in red for limited. The elementals in this block are spirits of a certain mind frame (vitality, anger). Think of souls coming together to fuse together to form an elemental. In certain lore, angels oversaw elementals. I don't want to overuse angels, but the needs of the set come first. I feel like I am quoting Spock. Cats will span the colors green and white as they have historically. They feel very mythical as can also been seen in history such as Egyptian times. This still left me in a void for enchantments.
Magic didn't have a creature type I wanted so I created the Eidolons. We had a few Eidolons before in the Ravnica block such as Enigma Eidolon that were spirits. I'm stealing the name and making it a type. Eidolons will be ascended beings. Multiple stages will exist. There will be beings that have ascended. We saw this a little in Champions as in Erayo, Soratami Ascendant. Some naturally ascended beings will exist as enchantment creatures. Others, as I stated, will ascend. Three stages will exist. Creatures that will/can go enchantment creature to enchantment. I could have used the level up mechanic to create the effect. I didn't want to use counters, but I found I really didn't need to go down that path. Most cards will not evolve completely. Only a few will be able to fully transform. As a few cards have been designed, I really have found level up to be unnecessary and overwhelming. The few rares and mythics will be inspired by or resemble Figure of Destiny.
Why am I making this so complicated you ask? I want green and white enchantments to feel fluid. This is meant to contrast with artifacts that are rigid and mechanical. It is largely how I came to the concept of enchantments for this set. I couldn't figure out enchantments so I approached the problem from a different angle. I looked at artifacts. I made a list of what all artifacts entailed. Made a little word cloud for artifacts. After I got done with artifacts, I took the complete opposite outlook for enchantments. This is how I got to spiritual and fluid. The concept was there, but I still had the snafu of designing enchantments. I took a lesson from the evoke mechanic. The design was to transform creatures into spells. The idea I am implementing with Eidolons is to do something similar. We get effect now and creature later. They will be green and white with a splash in blue for limited.
Red was easy. Dwarves will be the small creatures that produce artifacts and large dragons to fuel smelting. In this world, dragons have formed an evolving relationship. It will be much like the Anne McCaffrey novel series and others. Basically, dragons won't be a bunch of mindless blockheads. Sure, they will be big burning balls of fury, but not idiots. A few red elementals will fill a few holes here and there. A big decision is there will be lots of tap effects in red. Tapping feels very mechanical. Tap to produce effect or forge an artifact. This will contrast with white and green which use mana to transcend.
Blue was harder yet. One thing I have learned is creating Magic cards entails some research. I didn't like any of the existing creature types for blue. I hate cephalids. Hate might be an understatement. I find them completely boring. I doubt any Magic player will ever dress up as a cephalid at a Magic event. Boring. Merfolk were out. Again, I had to create a creature type. I found myself surfing for resources on mythology. I searched for water creature mythology. Eventually, I found a name I liked in the loreley. Of course, as many Magic designers do, I will twist the original concept to my whim (Off-Topic: you'd be amazed at how much of Magic comes from mythology. I constantly finding myself saying, "Oh, that is where they got that from"). The loreley are sentient water beings. They are not powerful creatures. It is the reason for their love of artifacts. They use machines to give them might. Think crabs using shells. A better example is Johann Krauss as the ectoplasmic being contained in a suit in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Thusly, loreley will be artifact creatures in a nontraditional sense. They will be artifacts and creatures.
Dwarves and loreleys will both produce artifacts. To make a distinction between them, dwarves will produce more generic artifacts and use more tap effects. Loreley will create more sophisticated artifacts and use more come into play effects. The idea loreley spend a lot of work creating a masterpiece while the dwarves are more about volume than quality. The large question I have at the moment is what to use for big creatures for blue. I will default to sphinxes. The decision seems straightforward. Even though the two tribes work closely together, the clans have differences. The loreley have a natural fear of dragons. They understand the practical need, but the thought of being evaporated freaks them out. Sphinxes are elitist and only deal with the dwarves and dragons when necessary. The cooperation between them is more of a business deal. The loreley can't sustain high temperatures required to work in the smelters and mining. The loreley actually prefer the mountaintops since they can harden into ice. Still weak, but they are stronger than their water from. On islands, they will typically be found at the tops of those peaks.
That is all I got for now. Join me next time as I start building my skeleton and fleshing out more cards.
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