Being in the baby stages of thinking up a custom set based around a plane inspired by ancient Egypt, I found that I wanted to give homage to the tradition of mummification in ancient Egyptian culture as well as the mythos surrounding such practices along with some trademark MtG shenanigans. In doing so I created the seemingly wonky "Embalm" mechanic for the plane's B aligned "faction". Here's how it reads:
Embalm X: When target non-land permanent you control would be put into the graveyard, if it was not put into the graveyard from exile, you may pay X. If you do, exile that permanent with ~ attached to it . As long as ~ is attached to that permanent, it has "xB: Put a token on the battlefield that is a copy of this permanent. X is equal to this permanent's converted mana cost." and "When a token that is a copy of this permanent leaves the battlefield, put this permanent and all permanents attached to it into the graveyard.".
So this, to me at least, reads to be something that is incredibly chunky and possibly even somewhat confusing but this is the best way I knew how to word it for what I want it to do. Speaking of which, here are the main points of the mechanic:
1.The ability triggers when a permanent would be sent to the graveyard from any place on your side of the table but exile. Now that I type this it does seem a bit broad. This is due to the fact that I felt it may be cute to reflect the treasures of one's life being buried with the body, also, I wanted it to work with mill. Perhaps I could narrow this up a bit by having it limited to only creatures or limit the places that its triggers can come from...
2. The "Embalmer" goes into exile attached to the "Embalmee". This is both for flavor and a reminder players that their embalmed cards aren't just their average exiled permanents.
3. By paying the CMC of the embalmed card along with a little extra mana it's controller can put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it. However, this returned essence of the permanent is heavily tied to it's "body" and once it is destroyed it's source is also rendered useless.(Get rid of the token(s) an embalmed card creates and you get rid of your opponent's ability to make those tokens.)
So, is there a better way to word this type of effect? Any mechanical missteps made by me?
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"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
I have absolutely no idea what this is trying to do. It would help immensely to have an example card, like is this supposed to go only on auras? Does the ability make copies of the card with embalm or the card it's attached to? Even with a better explanation I'm not sure this is something anyone is going to be able to wrap their head around, let alone grok.
What is it this mechanic is trying to do? Not mechanically, but the "big idea". This might help you come up with a simpler, more workable mechanic.
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"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
I have no idea what's going on here, but I like the name. Here's something a tad simpler based on my first impressions of whatever it is you're trying to do...
Extra Bandages 2B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has intimidate.
Embalm (When enchanted creature dies, exile this aura and return a creature card in your graveyard to the battlefield.)
^ That's too good, perhaps tie Embalm to the cmc or have a separate cost for the embalming? Life plus cmc perhaps?
Embalm (When this permanent is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay 1 life and exile it. If you do, put a creature card from your graveyard with converted mana cost less than or equal to this card from your graveyard onto the battlefield.)
Really allows you to push, plus makes more expensive cards more powerful in a naturally increasing fashion.
Rites of Sakar4B
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature and each opponent loses 1 life for each +1/+1 counter on that creature. When there are five or more +1/+1 counters on enchanted creature, sacrifice CARD.
Embalm (When this permanent is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay 1 life and exile it. If you do, put a creature card from your graveyard with converted mana cost less than or equal to this card from your graveyard onto the battlefield.)
Yeah... I knew it was going to be kind of confusing... What I was trying to do here was evoke the tradition of ancient Egyptians preserving their dead because they believed that the conditions in which their body was kept related to the condition of the person's soul in the afterlife, also the fact that a person's servants would be entombed with them to serve them after death. This mechanic is meant to only appear on creatures (making them the "embalmers") but can exile permanents period(which I'm really considering narrowing down). So what the mechanic is meant to do mechanically is that the creature with Embalm exiles a permanent that's going into your graveyard (thus, "mummifying" it) and exiled itself attached to that permanent(kind of like an enchantment). As long as the permanent you exiled has the creature with Embalm attached to it in exile you can pay the exiled permanent's converted mana cost plus some additional mana to recurr it via a token. However once a token that it's created leaves the battlefield, both cards are sent from exile to your graveyard and thus aren't viable for embalm any longer (i.e. when the body's spirit is compromised it's essentially just a husk).
Also, the Embalm cost on Embalm creatures is meant to scale down with the cost of the creature it's on. Meaning that you won't have a 1 CMC creature with an Embalm cost of 1(that would essentially give you a two mana embalm). Rather, the embalm cost would get cheaper the higher it's creature's CMC is.
And this is probably still convoluted so I may need to come up with a simpler mechanic that can do something similar.
Edit: As an aside, the idea for this mechanic came from another idea I had which is meant to be the "faction mechanic" of a tribe of norse raiders. That mechanic, called "Honored" worked like this:
Jormak Hidecleaver 1BR
Creature - Human Berserker Honored1BB (When this creature dies as a result of combat damage, you may pay it's Honored cost. If you do, exile it.)
As long as Jormak Hidecleaver is exiled, creatures you control get +1/+0.
3/1
Obviously, Embalm isn't working out as smoothly as Honored.
Generic Embalming Spell1B
Sorcery
Target player loses 3 life.
Embalm (Then you may return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield face-down. It's a 2/2 Creature.)
By always getting a 2/2, you can cost the mechanic better, since it's no longer a zombify effect.
Anthem Mummy3WW
Creature - Human Warrior (R)
Creatures you control get +1/+1
Entomb 2WW (You may cast ~ from your graveyard for its entomb cost. If you do, it enters the battlefield as an artifact with no other types.)
2/2
The flavor was erecting a monument to honor the creature, giving the same ability the creature had in life.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
Generic Embalming Spell1B
Sorcery
Target player loses 3 life.
Embalm (Then you may return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield face-down. It's a 2/2 Creature.)
I like that. Or even:
Mumm-Ra3B
Creature — Human Wizard [C]
Embalm (When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature.)
[2/2]
Well, i'll chip in here, but the idea i came up with was a bit crazy. Entomb is already a card, and allows you to put a card from your library into your 'yard. I think following suite has potential.
Entomb <cost> (Whenever you search your library, you may pay <cost>. If you do, put this card into its owner's graveyard.)
Is there a way to phrase a clause that limits the number of instances of entomb you can activate to once per turn?
Dahammer4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature." t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
I too have worked on an Egypt-inspired set - presently named "Khamun" - and came up with a mechanic named Entomb that works like this:
Entomb (Whenever a creature you control dies, you may exile it entombed in a land you control.)
It's a bit like Exalted, where the keyword can effect either the creature with the keyword or another creature you control. The flavor works great, but I find myself wondering how entombing should matter mechanically. I have a couple possible takes here:
Tomb Guard W
Creature - Human Soldier
Entomb (Whenever a creature you control dies, you may exile it entombed in a land you control.)
~ gets +1/+1 as long as a creature is entombed in a land you control.
1/1
Embalming Priest W
Creature - Human Cleric
Entomb (Whenever a creature you control dies, you may exile it entombed in a land you control.)
Whenever you entomb a creature, you may gain 1 life.
1/1
I like the latter far more than the former because entombing matters more. With Tomb Guard, you need only entomb one creature the entire game to get the benefit which makes the mechanic feel a little underused. The latter rewards you for entombing repeatedly.
One previous version of Entomb had you entomb the creature with the keyword and grant an effect to the entombed land while another was an ability word that checked whether one or some other number of creature cards were in your graveyard. The former felt too difficult to answer without pushing land removal which is a big design no-no while the other is a threshold mechanic that would be trivial to enable in a set with the proper support. I even considered a class of abilities akin to Vengeful Pharaoh where cards gain functionality once they're in your graveyard, but that wouldn't be new player friendly as players are not conditioned to check the graveyard frequently and would be likely to forget some nasty trap was waiting in it. One more possible take on Entomb could simply be a death-triggered ability akin to Deathgreeter, possibly with an optional cost to represent the entombing ritual.
Regardless of how Entomb works, I feel it should be focused in WBG as they are the three colors that interact with creatures in the graveyard the most plus they are the three most creature-heavy colors.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Thank you all for you insight and suggestions. I'll take them into account as I continue to tinker with this mechanic but I'll probably put Emblam on the shelf for some time while I work on other things.
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"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
One other item I wanted to toss into the ring: if you can clean up the wording a bit, you might be able to limit it's scope and make it a recurring them but not a keyword. Maybe a few uncommon/rare cards with a simpler version of it?
They should pay you royalties. Looks like they took your idea and ran with it.
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Standard // nRG Aggro
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
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Embalm X: When target non-land permanent you control would be put into the graveyard, if it was not put into the graveyard from exile, you may pay X. If you do, exile that permanent with ~ attached to it . As long as ~ is attached to that permanent, it has "xB: Put a token on the battlefield that is a copy of this permanent. X is equal to this permanent's converted mana cost." and "When a token that is a copy of this permanent leaves the battlefield, put this permanent and all permanents attached to it into the graveyard.".
So this, to me at least, reads to be something that is incredibly chunky and possibly even somewhat confusing but this is the best way I knew how to word it for what I want it to do. Speaking of which, here are the main points of the mechanic:
1.The ability triggers when a permanent would be sent to the graveyard from any place on your side of the table but exile. Now that I type this it does seem a bit broad. This is due to the fact that I felt it may be cute to reflect the treasures of one's life being buried with the body, also, I wanted it to work with mill. Perhaps I could narrow this up a bit by having it limited to only creatures or limit the places that its triggers can come from...
2. The "Embalmer" goes into exile attached to the "Embalmee". This is both for flavor and a reminder players that their embalmed cards aren't just their average exiled permanents.
3. By paying the CMC of the embalmed card along with a little extra mana it's controller can put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it. However, this returned essence of the permanent is heavily tied to it's "body" and once it is destroyed it's source is also rendered useless.(Get rid of the token(s) an embalmed card creates and you get rid of your opponent's ability to make those tokens.)
So, is there a better way to word this type of effect? Any mechanical missteps made by me?
-Chandra Nalaar
What is it this mechanic is trying to do? Not mechanically, but the "big idea". This might help you come up with a simpler, more workable mechanic.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Extra Bandages 2B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has intimidate.
Embalm (When enchanted creature dies, exile this aura and return a creature card in your graveyard to the battlefield.)
Mummy Rot 2BB
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -2/-2.
Embalm
Skeletal Figure B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature with power 2 or less.
B: Regenerate enchanted creature.
Embalm
Banner by Topher!
Embalm (When this permanent is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay 1 life and exile it. If you do, put a creature card from your graveyard with converted mana cost less than or equal to this card from your graveyard onto the battlefield.)
Really allows you to push, plus makes more expensive cards more powerful in a naturally increasing fashion.
Rites of Sakar 4B
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature and each opponent loses 1 life for each +1/+1 counter on that creature. When there are five or more +1/+1 counters on enchanted creature, sacrifice CARD.
Embalm (When this permanent is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay 1 life and exile it. If you do, put a creature card from your graveyard with converted mana cost less than or equal to this card from your graveyard onto the battlefield.)
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.
Also, the Embalm cost on Embalm creatures is meant to scale down with the cost of the creature it's on. Meaning that you won't have a 1 CMC creature with an Embalm cost of 1(that would essentially give you a two mana embalm). Rather, the embalm cost would get cheaper the higher it's creature's CMC is.
And this is probably still convoluted so I may need to come up with a simpler mechanic that can do something similar.
Edit: As an aside, the idea for this mechanic came from another idea I had which is meant to be the "faction mechanic" of a tribe of norse raiders. That mechanic, called "Honored" worked like this:
Jormak Hidecleaver 1BR
Creature - Human Berserker
Honored1BB (When this creature dies as a result of combat damage, you may pay it's Honored cost. If you do, exile it.)
As long as Jormak Hidecleaver is exiled, creatures you control get +1/+0.
3/1
Obviously, Embalm isn't working out as smoothly as Honored.
-Chandra Nalaar
Generic Embalming Spell 1B
Sorcery
Target player loses 3 life.
Embalm (Then you may return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield face-down. It's a 2/2 Creature.)
By always getting a 2/2, you can cost the mechanic better, since it's no longer a zombify effect.
Anthem Mummy 3WW
Creature - Human Warrior (R)
Creatures you control get +1/+1
Entomb 2WW (You may cast ~ from your graveyard for its entomb cost. If you do, it enters the battlefield as an artifact with no other types.)
2/2
The flavor was erecting a monument to honor the creature, giving the same ability the creature had in life.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Mumm-Ra 3B
Creature — Human Wizard [C]
Embalm (When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature.)
[2/2]
Entomb <cost> (Whenever you search your library, you may pay <cost>. If you do, put this card into its owner's graveyard.)
Is there a way to phrase a clause that limits the number of instances of entomb you can activate to once per turn?
Sigpic by Rivenor
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature."
t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Courtesy of Crepes
[OMC] Omerium's Collapse
Entomb (Whenever a creature you control dies, you may exile it entombed in a land you control.)
It's a bit like Exalted, where the keyword can effect either the creature with the keyword or another creature you control. The flavor works great, but I find myself wondering how entombing should matter mechanically. I have a couple possible takes here:
Tomb Guard W
Creature - Human Soldier
Entomb (Whenever a creature you control dies, you may exile it entombed in a land you control.)
~ gets +1/+1 as long as a creature is entombed in a land you control.
1/1
Embalming Priest W
Creature - Human Cleric
Entomb (Whenever a creature you control dies, you may exile it entombed in a land you control.)
Whenever you entomb a creature, you may gain 1 life.
1/1
I like the latter far more than the former because entombing matters more. With Tomb Guard, you need only entomb one creature the entire game to get the benefit which makes the mechanic feel a little underused. The latter rewards you for entombing repeatedly.
One previous version of Entomb had you entomb the creature with the keyword and grant an effect to the entombed land while another was an ability word that checked whether one or some other number of creature cards were in your graveyard. The former felt too difficult to answer without pushing land removal which is a big design no-no while the other is a threshold mechanic that would be trivial to enable in a set with the proper support. I even considered a class of abilities akin to Vengeful Pharaoh where cards gain functionality once they're in your graveyard, but that wouldn't be new player friendly as players are not conditioned to check the graveyard frequently and would be likely to forget some nasty trap was waiting in it. One more possible take on Entomb could simply be a death-triggered ability akin to Deathgreeter, possibly with an optional cost to represent the entombing ritual.
Regardless of how Entomb works, I feel it should be focused in WBG as they are the three colors that interact with creatures in the graveyard the most plus they are the three most creature-heavy colors.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
-Chandra Nalaar
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"