Wake of Judgment3W
Enchantment [C]
When Wake of Judgment enters the battlefield, destroy target tapped creature.
Rippling WakeU
Enchantment [C]
When Rippling Wake enters the battlefield, return another target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
Blood Wake2B
Enchantment [C]
When Blood Wake enters the battlefield, target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Wake of Defiance4R
Enchantment [C]
When Wake of Defiance enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains first strike and haste until end of turn.
Mighty Wake1G
Enchantment [C]
When Mighty Wake enters the battlefield, target creature gets +5/+5 until end of turn.
EDIT: Renamed Wake of Justice to Wake of Judgment, because I think it sounds cooler.
EDIT: Renamed Crashing Wake to Mighty Wake.
What purpose do these fulfill in your set that creatures with ETB effects wouldn't?
They're here to give spectrum some options that are robust against creature removal.
But these aren't taking up slots that would normally be allotted to creatures; they're taking up slots that would normally be allotted to instants and sorceries.
I'll buy that and I think your justifications for them are good.
They still feel weird to me though. (Which is not necessarily a bad thing if you're going for an environment that feels really different from normal Magic.)
The cost on all of these feels about right. White doesn't really do Vengeance anymore, but I feel that it would be O. K. to give white this effect every now and then. You could also just reuse Banishing Light if you wanted to.
Can I suggest that these be Seals? It would give interesting gameplay where a player would want an effect but may have to leverage that effect against losing spectrum. It would also feel a lot less weird.
Can I suggest that these be Seals? It would give interesting gameplay where a player would want an effect but may have to leverage that effect against losing spectrum. It would also feel a lot less weird.
Interestingly enough, I first did them as Seals, but I faced two problems with those designs:
Unless I'm doing non-interactive effects like the JOU Fonts, Seals create an NWO hurdle, and I have plenty of complexity among my commons already.
Spectrum creates a disincentive to crack Seals, which is a feel-bad design, IMO. I want players to both get the effect and get the spectrum count. I think this is the most straightforward way to do it.
I too could see the Seals working here, though the Wakes are certainly more "win-win" and with the Seals, players might accidentally forget about the negative interaction sacrificing the seals has with Spectrum.
I knew what they were for the second I saw them. Which bodes well because if a knucklehead like me gets it, your drafters probably will too.
"When ~ enters or leaves the battlefield..." could make for some interesting but not overly complicated gameplay, tickle Johnny's fancy, make casual ripples, and tease out more "wake" flavor.
btw, I love horizontal cycles with staircased mana costs.
I get that you're supporting spectrum, but these don't feel like enchantments. Enchantments should have a reason to remain on the battlefield based on their own merit. It kinda the same issue that making enchantments tap has, you're taking one of the defining concepts of the card type and mudding it, and here I don't feel it's justified or flavorful.
Will players get why they are in your set? Sure, most of them will catch on. But this is the kind of card that confuses new players. "What? Aren't enchantments supposed to be like..."
Legend's solution is a fair one as it gives some meaning to them sticking around that's self contained on the card. You could also work in some psuedo buyback mechanic, add a clause like. "3W: Return ~ to it's owners hand." making it repeatable. That would make the NWO friendly though. Maybe this cycle isn't the best solution for what you want at common?
I understand that you want these to make spectrum better, but they feel very inelegant to me. First off, these are just going to make the board cluttered and annoying. If your opponent plays one, it will be easy to push it off to the side and forget about it if they don't have something that cares about Spectrum on board.
I think you would be better off making your individual spectrum cards better, then trying to make them artificially stronger by turning your sorceries into enchantments.
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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.
- Manite
Is the blue Wake meant to be able to infinitely bounce itself?
These feel like the charge counter artifacts from Scars of Mirrodin. Could these be similar? I get that on-board tricks cause all kinds of NWO issues, even with sorcery-speed limitations. My concern is that -- given that these are positioned as "resilient spectrum providers" -- sometimes it will be correct to play these to inflate spectrum when the trigger doesn't do anything, which feels bad.
...this is the kind of card that confuses new players.
But they're so simple. I think they're the kind of cards that teach new players how to see the forest one tree at a time.
It has nothing to do with how complicated they are and everything to do with the fact that they don't act like enchantments. That's very confusing when you're learning a game.
It's like teaching new players the trees of the forest only to point to a boulder and call it a tree too.
New Player: "I thought trees where supposed to be alive and grow."
New Player: "I thought enchantments and permanents are supposed to have effects/abilities on the battlefield."
Except the blue one should say "...return another target permanent."
Good catch, guys. I'll fix it.
@IcariiFA: I hear what you're saying, and it's an important consideration. I am kind of defying the identity of enchantments in one significant way, and you have picked up on that. I agree that they're not great learning tools for new players.
Of course, I'm inclined to stick with them as-is, but if I can come up with another solution for the cycle that still addresses the NWO + spectrum issues that I need it to address, I would happily go with something that felt more enchantment-like.
I do feel like they have lasting board significance in this environment. So, within this spectrum-laden context, it's possible that they will feel perfectly enchantment-like. I may just want to playtest with them to see if it feels right.
Set 1 of 3 in Dominaria block
Wake of Judgment 3W
Enchantment [C]
When Wake of Judgment enters the battlefield, destroy target tapped creature.
Rippling Wake U
Enchantment [C]
When Rippling Wake enters the battlefield, return another target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
Blood Wake 2B
Enchantment [C]
When Blood Wake enters the battlefield, target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Wake of Defiance 4R
Enchantment [C]
When Wake of Defiance enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains first strike and haste until end of turn.
Mighty Wake 1G
Enchantment [C]
When Mighty Wake enters the battlefield, target creature gets +5/+5 until end of turn.
EDIT: Renamed Wake of Justice to Wake of Judgment, because I think it sounds cooler.
EDIT: Renamed Crashing Wake to Mighty Wake.
But these aren't taking up slots that would normally be allotted to creatures; they're taking up slots that would normally be allotted to instants and sorceries.
They still feel weird to me though. (Which is not necessarily a bad thing if you're going for an environment that feels really different from normal Magic.)
The cost on all of these feels about right. White doesn't really do Vengeance anymore, but I feel that it would be O. K. to give white this effect every now and then. You could also just reuse Banishing Light if you wanted to.
I think this set is definitely going to feel different from normal. I'm just hoping it's good different.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
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My bad, I forgot about those.
I too could see the Seals working here, though the Wakes are certainly more "win-win" and with the Seals, players might accidentally forget about the negative interaction sacrificing the seals has with Spectrum.
"When ~ enters or leaves the battlefield..." could make for some interesting but not overly complicated gameplay, tickle Johnny's fancy, make casual ripples, and tease out more "wake" flavor.
btw, I love horizontal cycles with staircased mana costs.
Will players get why they are in your set? Sure, most of them will catch on. But this is the kind of card that confuses new players. "What? Aren't enchantments supposed to be like..."
Legend's solution is a fair one as it gives some meaning to them sticking around that's self contained on the card. You could also work in some psuedo buyback mechanic, add a clause like. "3W: Return ~ to it's owners hand." making it repeatable. That would make the NWO friendly though. Maybe this cycle isn't the best solution for what you want at common?
I think you would be better off making your individual spectrum cards better, then trying to make them artificially stronger by turning your sorceries into enchantments.
- Manite
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But they're so simple. I think they're the kind of cards that teach new players how to see the forest one tree at a time.
These feel like the charge counter artifacts from Scars of Mirrodin. Could these be similar? I get that on-board tricks cause all kinds of NWO issues, even with sorcery-speed limitations. My concern is that -- given that these are positioned as "resilient spectrum providers" -- sometimes it will be correct to play these to inflate spectrum when the trigger doesn't do anything, which feels bad.
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It has nothing to do with how complicated they are and everything to do with the fact that they don't act like enchantments. That's very confusing when you're learning a game.
It's like teaching new players the trees of the forest only to point to a boulder and call it a tree too.
New Player: "I thought trees where supposed to be alive and grow."
New Player: "I thought enchantments and permanents are supposed to have effects/abilities on the battlefield."
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(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Yeah, you beat me to it.
Except the blue one should say "...return another target permanent."
@IcariiFA: I hear what you're saying, and it's an important consideration. I am kind of defying the identity of enchantments in one significant way, and you have picked up on that. I agree that they're not great learning tools for new players.
Of course, I'm inclined to stick with them as-is, but if I can come up with another solution for the cycle that still addresses the NWO + spectrum issues that I need it to address, I would happily go with something that felt more enchantment-like.
I do feel like they have lasting board significance in this environment. So, within this spectrum-laden context, it's possible that they will feel perfectly enchantment-like. I may just want to playtest with them to see if it feels right.