Hello
Currently, I am playtesting Runin, my a norse-mythology based set. As this will take some time and I don't want to make changes to the set until I have some results, I have been thinking about some other ideas of mine. This is the main one.
Most of you will know the Shards of Alara block and some of you have probably thought about what will happen next in that storyline and if (probably when) they will do a follow-up block. As with Runin, this block will be a two-set structure featuring evergreen mechanical changes (prowess is evergreen, landwalk and intimidate are gone).
On to the block information!
As you can probably guess, this is a multicolour set. HOWEVER, what you probably wouldn't have guessed is that this set introduces a unique and frankly dangerous concept as the block's MAIN THEME. Out of all the block ideas I have had, this is the most wacky. I won't keep you waiting any longer, the new theme is modular multicolour factions. What does that mean? Well... Invasion, the first multicolour set, featured a general sort of mish-mash of multicolour design. There was not supposed to be any concrete faction structure or anything, you just played whatever. Ravnica block came back with this new idea, a rigid faction system that wanted you to play only a specific set of multicolour combinations. Fate of Alara is somewhere in-between. To explain this all more clearly, here is a flowchart (or whatever) of how the faction system works in the set.
Ally-Colour Two-Colour -(shared themes)- Ally Three Colour Shard -(shared themes)- (Ally Two-Colour Primary) Four Colour
Yes. That does say four colour. This is a standard set, with four colour. Because nothing could possibly go wrong, right? Anyway, to explain why this all exists, the general idea is that in limited gameplay you start by choosing a two-colour combination. Then you can choose to add colours or stay in two colour, the median being the shards on which the system is based. The explanation for this is that the two and four colours are variations from the shards of Alara, which are now in a state of fluctuation. The two colours represent a more centralised version of the shards, where more focused goals and structure are represented. On the other hand, the four colours represent an overlap of two allied shards, for example, Grixis ( ) and Jund ( ) combine to form , where and are the primary colours. Because the variant factions are new and in competition, they do not have any formal sort of organisation, instead being bands of like-minded individuals striking out for their own cause. The variants and shards are not actually sides of a war, the conflict on Alara is currently too dynamic for that to be so, instead they are shifting groups working together or against each other based on who they are facing and what the circumstances are.
As you can probably tell, there is a lot going in to this set very early on. As a result, this system is going to integral to the set. Balancing the colours and maintaining the right amount of order will make or break this set. But, I think this is a very interesting idea and has the potential to be an extremely rewarding experience.
Mechanic Ideas
Convert (cost) (cost, discard this card: Put a 1/1 colourless artifact creature token onto the battlefield. Convert only as a sorcery) Chaotic- (trigger), if you discarded a card this turn, (effect)
Charge (cost) (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pay (cost). If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it(
Might (Your might is equal to the total power of creatures you control)
Retreat (cost) Whenever this creature would die, you may pay it's retreat cost. If you do, return it to your hand instead)
SOME CARDS to demonstrate the concept:
Mastery Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Your opponents can’t cast spells this turn.
Draw two cards, then discard a card.
Destroy target nonartifact creature.
Copy another target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
Eternal Chancellor ( )
Artifact Creature- Spirit (R)
Flying
Other artifact creatures you control have flying
Cards in your hand have convert .
3/3
Bio-Cleansing ( )
Sorcery (R)
Destroy all nonartifact creatures.
Convert
Vault of Secrets ( )
Artifact (R)
Artifact creatures you control get +1/+1
: Return a random card from your graveyard to your hand. If it doesn't have convert, it gains convert .
Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand.
Return target creature card from a graveyard to its owner’s hand.
Chaotic Command deals 4 damage to target creature.
Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library.
Cruel Tormentor ( )
Creature- Demon (R)
Flying Chaotic- When Cruel Tormentor enters the battlefield, if you discarded a card this turn, target opponent sacrifices a creature.
4/4
Insane Experiment ( )
Instant (R)
Put the top six cards of your library into your graveyard, Insane Experiment deals X damage to target player, where X is the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard. Chaotic- If you discarded a card this turn, return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
Bone Caster ( )
Creature- Zombie Shaman (U) Chaotic- When Bone Caster enters the battlefield, if you discarded a card this turn, draw a card.
2/2
Wake of Karakos ( )
Instant (U)
Wake of Karakos deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Chaotic- If you discarded a card this turn, Wake of Karakos deals 4 damage to that creature or player instead
Tormenting Voice ( ) (reprint)
Sorcery (C)
As an additional cost to cast Tormenting Voice, discard a card.
Draw two cards
Conquest Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Target opponent discards a card.
Conquest Command deals 4 damage to target opponent.
Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature and untap it.
Permanents you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
Groundbreaker Behemoth ( )
Creature- Beast (R)
Charge
Whenever a creature you control charges, put a +1/+1 on each other attacking creature you control.
6/6
Guardian Thoctar ( )
Creature- Beast (R)
First Strike
Charge
Whenever Guardian Thoctar charges, untap each attacking creature you control
4/4
Shadowpelt Nacatl ( )
Creature- Cat Rogue (U)
Charge
Whenever Shadowpelt Nacatl charges, each opponents loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
2/3
Behemoth Guard ( )
Creature- Elf Warrior (U)
: Move a +1/+1 counter from target creature onto another target creature.
: Untap target creature with a +1/+1 counter on it.
2/2
Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn
Counter target creature spell
Put two 1/1 white soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield
Great Primogenitor ( )
Creature- Beast (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if your might is seventeen or greater, you win the game.
7/7
Radiant Call ( )
Sorcery (R)
Look at the top seven cards of your library and reveal up to two creature cards from among them. You gain life equal to those card’s total power, then put those cards into your hand. Shuffle the rest into your library.
Blade of Fireheart ( )
Creature- Human Warrior (U)
First Strike
Whenever Blade of Fireheart attacks, if your might is seven or greater, it gains double strike until end of turn.
2/2
Strike Down ( )
Instant (U)
Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.
If your might is seven or greater, you gain life equal to that creature’s toughness.
Creeping Jungle ( )
Sorcery (C)
You may play an additional land this turn.
If your might is seven or greater, you may play two additional lands this turn.
Council Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you this turn.
Exile target permanent you control, then return to the battlefield under its owner’s control.
Council Command deals 2 damage to target creature and you gain 2 life.
Paradigm Shift ( )
Sorcery (R)
Exile all permanents, then return them to the battlefield under their owner’s control.
Temporal Surveyor ( )
Creature- Bird Soldier (R)
Flash, Flying
When Temporal Surveyor enters the battlefield, return another creature you control to its owner’s hand
Retreat
2/2
Nacatal Chronoblade ( )
Creature- Cat Warrior (R)
Trample
Whenever a permanent is put into your hand from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Nacatal Chronoblade.
4/3
Tezzeret’s Informant ( )
Artifact Creature- Zombie (U)
When Tezzeret’s Informant enters the battlefield, target player reveals their hand
Retreat
2/2
Arnam’s Follower ( )
Artifact Creature- Human Monk (C)
When Arnam’s Follower leaves the battlefield, draw a card.
1/1
-
Please let me know your thoughts on this idea and stay posted for more information (particularly once Runin is nearing completion).
For once, I actually like this four color concept. Combining the shards of Alara is a grokkable way of justifying quads from both a flavor and mechanical standpoint. Of course, this is coming from someone who knows and loves Alara. I bet a new player who has never heard of Alara would probably be overwhelmed by trying to learn not only 5 worlds, but all the ways those worlds bleed into each other. Plus there's [insert standard issues with four color design here].
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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.
Hi.
As you said, there is the usual difficulties with four colour design, and there is a number of other colour combinations supported in addition to make things more complex. This is why this set is risky. Fortunately, the modular system makes four colour design easier and gives more room to focus on other problems (there are a lot of them).
doesnt seem that modular. your examples almost force a subset of cards to be insular and linear.
now that i think about it, modular should encourage genericness, not factions. You mentioned Invasion and that seems a good place to start. It was a block about multicolors, but encourages up to 5 colors with Domain. Moreover the first 2 sets focused on dual colors, while 3rd expanded to 3. This was possible due to generic mechanics like kicker and domain.
In other words they didn't force a specific color group with insular mechanics. But rather allowed you to mix and match any way you wanted. Your artifactness goes against this.
So i think for 4 colored cards to work, the whole block should utilize only generic abilities that can go on any card regardless of color association. like cycling, kicker, domain, etc. Theros is a good recent example, with heroic, monstrous, etc. except with some focus on color matters.
I really like this idea, and the cards you've proposed. I would happily play them all! I'll be looking out to see how this set works, as the idea seems to warrant a possibly good outcome. I had tried a similar design a long time ago with ally colors moving to shards or to wedges depending on the outcome of the story.
I think Alara is a smart setting to tackle a 4 color set, if there was ever a serious attempt to do so. Flavorwise the meshing after the shards converging support that possibility too. It'll be important to think about what kind of gameplay you want to encourage from the get go that still meets some prior expectations of returning to Alara. Defining what is your plan to take experience/reference wise from Alara and what you'll change is essential along with your design goal.
Card-wise though, I can't really give an impressions based on "mechanic X" without having an idea what that is and whether or not it makes your implementation interesting.
I strongly suggest using hybrid mana to offset the difficulty of playing multicolor cards. Not only is CDE/F, like GW(U/R), easier to play in Limited than CDEF, like RGWU, it's also a nice continuation of Alara Reborn's CD/E cards. You can also try monocolor cards with hybrid off-color abilities, like a white creature with a (G/U) ability, which has the benefit of supporting two pairs at once and fits neatly into a larger four color theme. Twobrid like (2/U)(2/R)GW has the benefit of softening the multicolor requirements and helping emphasize the central pair, though you'll have to take care that the abilities or effects are all something that at least one of the non-twobrid colors can do.
As for keyword distribution, I would recommend two monocolor cards with each keyword in the central ally pair and one for each color in the enemy pair. So the GWUB ability for example wants to show up mainly in WU - two white cards and two blue cards - and tangentally in BG - one black card and one green card.
You also need to think about the frequency of multicolor at common. Since the set is effectively multilayered between two, three, and four colors, CD cards with EF abilities seems like the way to go. Using GWUB again, you can have a WU creature with a B ability and a G ability or maybe just a B/G ability.
And make sure there's a full set of ten common duals in the set, plus uncommon trilands since this is Alara we're talking about.
Now for some mechanic suggestions:
GWUB Bant + Esper
This quad can't focus on artifacts outright as green doesn't like artifacts. However, there may be some kind of mechanic that both artifacts and nonartifacts can use or play into. Since we're looking at the colors best at using enchantments and thus Auras, I'm thinking this would be a good place for the Decorated mechanic from another topic, the one that boosts a creature as long as it's equipped or enchanted.
Esper as the artifact shard can provide a healthy number of Equipment that also turn the creature into an artifact Silverskin Armor style, in order to play with Esper's other artifacts-matter cards. Esper also has a few Auras, though the majority are disruptive in effect and thus not as ideal for supporting Decorated.
Bant has the two currently best enchantment colors, green and white, so it can provide more Auras for the mechanic.
WUBR Esper + Grixis
This is the quad that will best use artifacts as it's the only one that lacks green. However, Grixis' necromancy theme also needs to matter. I'm thinking a variant of Undying where you bond a dying creature to an artifact or another creature and thus return it to the battlefield with the stipulation that if either permanent leaves the battlefield, the returned creature is exiled, much like with Unearth.
UBRG Grixis + Jund
These are the two Shards that care about creature death in some form or another; both were once in competition for the "carnage" mechanic that triggered whenever a creature died. Obviously, this quad wants a "death matters" mechanic. Morbid comes to mind as an elegant way to reward creature death as it only requires one creature to die per turn. Creature sacrifice also comes to mind, like in the form of a Devour or Offering-esque mechanic.
There's the option of a Sengir Vampire-esque "killer" mechanic - though such mechanics are not Limited-friendly - or even a simple combat damage-triggered Slith mechanic. Evoke or a variant thereof can interact with a "death matters" subtheme. Delve fits Grixis but not Jund as much since the latter generally focuses on the living consuming the living, though some scavenging does occur.
One more option that occurs to me would be a Modular variant that isn't restricted to artifact creatures. It shouldn't say nonartifact creatures for the sake of interaction, simply be a variant that can affect any creature you control.
BRGW Jund + Naya
This quad wants to play big creatures aggressively, which makes it another good candidate for an Offering-esque mechanic, even better than UBRG in fact. It would also fit an aggression mechanic like Battle cry or Raid, though it would have to find an option that feels right in black and green as well as red and white, generally something that builds up individual creatures as opposed to affecting the whole army. Frenzy comes to mind, but I feel it's a rather problematic mechanic as it doesn't work when creatures actually interact. Variants of Rampage or Bushido want interaction but discourage the opponent from actually blocking, meaning you either have to force a block or the mechanic effectively does nothing besides serve as a contrived form of evasion.
A Reinforce variant that borrows Scavenge's "equal to this card's power" technology could also work, perhaps accompanied with additional effects to make the mechanic extra combat tricky.
RGWU Naya + Bant
This quad might actually like creature utility of all things, using creatures as a means of making your spells stronger like Convoke crossbred with Kicker. I designed such a mechanic for this quad called Contribute, which asks for you to tap a specific number of untapped creatures you control and gives you a reward if you do so.
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.
The set isn't about modularity. The set is about the idea of the modular factions. The basis of the set is the Alara shards, which is why it is set on Alara, the modular multicolour system is an expansion of what Alara had. In order to make the four variant colour combinations play together in the way I described previously, there is need for some linear design. Otherwise, what's to stop people whatever they want? It is different from Invasion, it's supposed to be. Invasion's design just isn't interesting in modern day where we have had many multicolour themed sets. The point of having factions that vary in colour within themselves is to introduce a new and interesting way to do multicolour.
'Allowed to mix and match any way you want' is going directly against the idea of the set.
Hybrid mana is in the set, as you said, it helps to make things work more smoothly.
Keywords are mainly in the primary colours, as you would expect.
The percentage of multicolour will be pretty consistent across rarities but lower rarities will still have less. Multicolour at lower rarities is also mostly two colour, where the majority of three colour and almost all four colour are absent.
I have some mechanic ideas in mind, but as this set is still supposed to be early in design, they are completely open to change. I will keep some of your suggestions in mind.
Card-wise though, I can't really give an impressions based on "mechanic X" without having an idea what that is and whether or not it makes your implementation interesting.
Mechanic Idea: Chaotic- (trigger), if you discarded a card this turn, (effect)
This mechanic represents the willingness of both Jund and Grixis to use methods that others consider to be unethical or dangerous to achieve their goals and an embrace of the destruction caused. Chaotic works with both of the shard's graveyard synergy and fits the colours well, and being the biggest discard colours and white being the least (although green doesn't really discard more, it has more graveyard synergy) (blue has looting to increase it's count). My only real concern with this mechanic is it has no real synergy with Devour from Alara, although they fit well it into similar themes and strategies.
vault of whispers -- doesn't work. There's no way to tell or track if a card has convert. Cards have no memory when they change zones.
For example, there's a runeclaw bears in the graveyard. Your opponent uses vault of whispers, and now it has convert and in his hand.
How can you tell which card in his hand has convert? Keep in mind that the hand is a hidden zone (even if revealed). he can also shuffle his hand without telling you which card is which.
Let's say he casts brainstorm. He puts 2 cards back to the top of the library. How do those cards remember if they have convert?
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
vault of whispers -- doesn't work. There's no way to tell or track if a card has convert. Cards have no memory when they change zones.
For example, there's a runeclaw bears in the graveyard. Your opponent uses vault of whispers, and now it has convert and in his hand.
How can you tell which card in his hand has convert? Keep in mind that the hand is a hidden zone (even if revealed). he can also shuffle his hand without telling you which card is which.
Let's say he casts brainstorm. He puts 2 cards back to the top of the library. How do those cards remember if they have convert?
Hmm, seems like you have a point.
EDIT: If anyone has any suggestions about how to make this work, if would like to hear them. Otherwise, I will likely change it.
Why not have it say "artifact creature cards in your hand have convert" as a static ability? Then memory issues won't be a problem.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
Why not have it say "artifact creature cards in your hand have convert" as a static ability? Then memory issues won't be a problem.
That would work better, but it is too similar to Eternal Chancellor. The convert grafting part is not an important part of Vault of Secrets design, so I'm not going to add anything too simple. Plus, part of the point of the ability was to be able turn your nonartifact cards into artifacts.
The flavour of the mechanic is Grixis wizards learning some artifice from esper and using it to create their own machines and esper learning Grixis dark powers to convert things into 'improved' machine variants, so nonartifact conversion is important.
Yet Another Mechanic Idea: Charge (cost) (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pay (cost). If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it
This mechanic represents the Jund and Naya shards overlap. It uses +1/+1 o******ers, supporting Jund's previous Devour mechanic and it increases power for Naya.
You just gave me an idea for a Reinforce-like mechanic that uses Scavenge's "equal to this card's power" technology:
Empower -cost- (-cost-, Discard this card: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature.)
This can be further combined with various "whenever you empower a creature with ~" effects to create combat tricks like Predator's Strike and Slaughter Cry.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
You just gave me an idea for a Reinforce-like mechanic that uses Scavenge's "equal to this card's power" technology:
Empower -cost- (-cost-, Discard this card: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature.)
This can be further combined with various "whenever you empower a creature with ~" effects to create combat tricks like Predator's Strike and Slaughter Cry.
This is way too similar to Reinforce to warrant a new keyword. Literally the only time you couldn't use Reinforce is with creatures that have characteristic defining abilities, which aren't very common.
Was Infect too similar to Wither? Bloodrush too similar to Channel? Devotion too similar to Chroma? Reinforce defines the number of +1/+1 counters by a number like "Reinforce 3-2G", which looks awkward thanks to that hyphen. Empower only cares about the power of the creature card itself, like Scavenge does, and would be an acceptable replacement for Reinforce that works differently enough to warrant a keyword.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
New Mechanic: Might(Your might is equal to the total power of creatures you control)
Might represents the combination of Naya's strength and Bant's unity in numbers. It works to support multiple different but similar strategies. Might is not a keyword ability, it is like devotion in that it represents a quality that is always present.
Currently, I am playtesting Runin, my a norse-mythology based set. As this will take some time and I don't want to make changes to the set until I have some results, I have been thinking about some other ideas of mine. This is the main one.
Most of you will know the Shards of Alara block and some of you have probably thought about what will happen next in that storyline and if (probably when) they will do a follow-up block. As with Runin, this block will be a two-set structure featuring evergreen mechanical changes (prowess is evergreen, landwalk and intimidate are gone).
On to the block information!
As you can probably guess, this is a multicolour set. HOWEVER, what you probably wouldn't have guessed is that this set introduces a unique and frankly dangerous concept as the block's MAIN THEME. Out of all the block ideas I have had, this is the most wacky. I won't keep you waiting any longer, the new theme is modular multicolour factions. What does that mean? Well... Invasion, the first multicolour set, featured a general sort of mish-mash of multicolour design. There was not supposed to be any concrete faction structure or anything, you just played whatever. Ravnica block came back with this new idea, a rigid faction system that wanted you to play only a specific set of multicolour combinations. Fate of Alara is somewhere in-between. To explain this all more clearly, here is a flowchart (or whatever) of how the faction system works in the set.
Ally-Colour Two-Colour -(shared themes)- Ally Three Colour Shard -(shared themes)- (Ally Two-Colour Primary) Four Colour
Yes. That does say four colour. This is a standard set, with four colour. Because nothing could possibly go wrong, right? Anyway, to explain why this all exists, the general idea is that in limited gameplay you start by choosing a two-colour combination. Then you can choose to add colours or stay in two colour, the median being the shards on which the system is based. The explanation for this is that the two and four colours are variations from the shards of Alara, which are now in a state of fluctuation. The two colours represent a more centralised version of the shards, where more focused goals and structure are represented. On the other hand, the four colours represent an overlap of two allied shards, for example, Grixis ( ) and Jund ( ) combine to form , where and are the primary colours. Because the variant factions are new and in competition, they do not have any formal sort of organisation, instead being bands of like-minded individuals striking out for their own cause. The variants and shards are not actually sides of a war, the conflict on Alara is currently too dynamic for that to be so, instead they are shifting groups working together or against each other based on who they are facing and what the circumstances are.
As you can probably tell, there is a lot going in to this set very early on. As a result, this system is going to integral to the set. Balancing the colours and maintaining the right amount of order will make or break this set. But, I think this is a very interesting idea and has the potential to be an extremely rewarding experience.
Mechanic Ideas
Convert (cost) (cost, discard this card: Put a 1/1 colourless artifact creature token onto the battlefield. Convert only as a sorcery)
Chaotic- (trigger), if you discarded a card this turn, (effect)
Charge (cost) (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pay (cost). If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it(
Might (Your might is equal to the total power of creatures you control)
Retreat (cost) Whenever this creature would die, you may pay it's retreat cost. If you do, return it to your hand instead)
SOME CARDS to demonstrate the concept:
Mastery Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Eternal Chancellor ( )
Artifact Creature- Spirit (R)
Flying
Other artifact creatures you control have flying
Cards in your hand have convert .
3/3
Bio-Cleansing ( )
Sorcery (R)
Destroy all nonartifact creatures.
Convert
Vault of Secrets ( )
Artifact (R)
Artifact creatures you control get +1/+1
: Return a random card from your graveyard to your hand. If it doesn't have convert, it gains convert .
Lifeless Servant ( )
Creature- Zombie (C)
Convert
2/2
Negation Tech ( )
Instant (U)
Counter target spell
Convert
Havoc Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Cruel Tormentor ( )
Creature- Demon (R)
Flying
Chaotic- When Cruel Tormentor enters the battlefield, if you discarded a card this turn, target opponent sacrifices a creature.
4/4
Insane Experiment ( )
Instant (R)
Put the top six cards of your library into your graveyard, Insane Experiment deals X damage to target player, where X is the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard.
Chaotic- If you discarded a card this turn, return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
Bone Caster ( )
Creature- Zombie Shaman (U)
Chaotic- When Bone Caster enters the battlefield, if you discarded a card this turn, draw a card.
2/2
Wake of Karakos ( )
Instant (U)
Wake of Karakos deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Chaotic- If you discarded a card this turn, Wake of Karakos deals 4 damage to that creature or player instead
Tormenting Voice ( ) (reprint)
Sorcery (C)
As an additional cost to cast Tormenting Voice, discard a card.
Draw two cards
Conquest Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Groundbreaker Behemoth ( )
Creature- Beast (R)
Charge
Whenever a creature you control charges, put a +1/+1 on each other attacking creature you control.
6/6
Guardian Thoctar ( )
Creature- Beast (R)
First Strike
Charge
Whenever Guardian Thoctar charges, untap each attacking creature you control
4/4
Shadowpelt Nacatl ( )
Creature- Cat Rogue (U)
Charge
Whenever Shadowpelt Nacatl charges, each opponents loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
2/3
Behemoth Guard ( )
Creature- Elf Warrior (U)
: Move a +1/+1 counter from target creature onto another target creature.
: Untap target creature with a +1/+1 counter on it.
2/2
Borderland Ranger ( )
Creature- Elf Scout (C)
Charge
2/3
Radiant Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Creature- Beast (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if your might is seventeen or greater, you win the game.
7/7
Radiant Call ( )
Sorcery (R)
Look at the top seven cards of your library and reveal up to two creature cards from among them. You gain life equal to those card’s total power, then put those cards into your hand. Shuffle the rest into your library.
Blade of Fireheart ( )
Creature- Human Warrior (U)
First Strike
Whenever Blade of Fireheart attacks, if your might is seven or greater, it gains double strike until end of turn.
2/2
Strike Down ( )
Instant (U)
Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.
If your might is seven or greater, you gain life equal to that creature’s toughness.
Creeping Jungle ( )
Sorcery (C)
You may play an additional land this turn.
If your might is seven or greater, you may play two additional lands this turn.
Council Command ( )
Instant (R)
Choose two-
Sorcery (R)
Exile all permanents, then return them to the battlefield under their owner’s control.
Temporal Surveyor ( )
Creature- Bird Soldier (R)
Flash, Flying
When Temporal Surveyor enters the battlefield, return another creature you control to its owner’s hand
Retreat
2/2
Nacatal Chronoblade ( )
Creature- Cat Warrior (R)
Trample
Whenever a permanent is put into your hand from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Nacatal Chronoblade.
4/3
Tezzeret’s Informant ( )
Artifact Creature- Zombie (U)
When Tezzeret’s Informant enters the battlefield, target player reveals their hand
Retreat
2/2
Arnam’s Follower ( )
Artifact Creature- Human Monk (C)
When Arnam’s Follower leaves the battlefield, draw a card.
1/1
-
Please let me know your thoughts on this idea and stay posted for more information (particularly once Runin is nearing completion).
Thank you for reading
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
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
As you said, there is the usual difficulties with four colour design, and there is a number of other colour combinations supported in addition to make things more complex. This is why this set is risky. Fortunately, the modular system makes four colour design easier and gives more room to focus on other problems (there are a lot of them).
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
now that i think about it, modular should encourage genericness, not factions. You mentioned Invasion and that seems a good place to start. It was a block about multicolors, but encourages up to 5 colors with Domain. Moreover the first 2 sets focused on dual colors, while 3rd expanded to 3. This was possible due to generic mechanics like kicker and domain.
In other words they didn't force a specific color group with insular mechanics. But rather allowed you to mix and match any way you wanted. Your artifactness goes against this.
So i think for 4 colored cards to work, the whole block should utilize only generic abilities that can go on any card regardless of color association. like cycling, kicker, domain, etc. Theros is a good recent example, with heroic, monstrous, etc. except with some focus on color matters.
........................
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Card-wise though, I can't really give an impressions based on "mechanic X" without having an idea what that is and whether or not it makes your implementation interesting.
As for keyword distribution, I would recommend two monocolor cards with each keyword in the central ally pair and one for each color in the enemy pair. So the GWUB ability for example wants to show up mainly in WU - two white cards and two blue cards - and tangentally in BG - one black card and one green card.
You also need to think about the frequency of multicolor at common. Since the set is effectively multilayered between two, three, and four colors, CD cards with EF abilities seems like the way to go. Using GWUB again, you can have a WU creature with a B ability and a G ability or maybe just a B/G ability.
And make sure there's a full set of ten common duals in the set, plus uncommon trilands since this is Alara we're talking about.
Now for some mechanic suggestions:
This quad can't focus on artifacts outright as green doesn't like artifacts. However, there may be some kind of mechanic that both artifacts and nonartifacts can use or play into. Since we're looking at the colors best at using enchantments and thus Auras, I'm thinking this would be a good place for the Decorated mechanic from another topic, the one that boosts a creature as long as it's equipped or enchanted.
Esper as the artifact shard can provide a healthy number of Equipment that also turn the creature into an artifact Silverskin Armor style, in order to play with Esper's other artifacts-matter cards. Esper also has a few Auras, though the majority are disruptive in effect and thus not as ideal for supporting Decorated.
Bant has the two currently best enchantment colors, green and white, so it can provide more Auras for the mechanic.
This is the quad that will best use artifacts as it's the only one that lacks green. However, Grixis' necromancy theme also needs to matter. I'm thinking a variant of Undying where you bond a dying creature to an artifact or another creature and thus return it to the battlefield with the stipulation that if either permanent leaves the battlefield, the returned creature is exiled, much like with Unearth.
These are the two Shards that care about creature death in some form or another; both were once in competition for the "carnage" mechanic that triggered whenever a creature died. Obviously, this quad wants a "death matters" mechanic. Morbid comes to mind as an elegant way to reward creature death as it only requires one creature to die per turn. Creature sacrifice also comes to mind, like in the form of a Devour or Offering-esque mechanic.
There's the option of a Sengir Vampire-esque "killer" mechanic - though such mechanics are not Limited-friendly - or even a simple combat damage-triggered Slith mechanic. Evoke or a variant thereof can interact with a "death matters" subtheme. Delve fits Grixis but not Jund as much since the latter generally focuses on the living consuming the living, though some scavenging does occur.
One more option that occurs to me would be a Modular variant that isn't restricted to artifact creatures. It shouldn't say nonartifact creatures for the sake of interaction, simply be a variant that can affect any creature you control.
This quad wants to play big creatures aggressively, which makes it another good candidate for an Offering-esque mechanic, even better than UBRG in fact. It would also fit an aggression mechanic like Battle cry or Raid, though it would have to find an option that feels right in black and green as well as red and white, generally something that builds up individual creatures as opposed to affecting the whole army. Frenzy comes to mind, but I feel it's a rather problematic mechanic as it doesn't work when creatures actually interact. Variants of Rampage or Bushido want interaction but discourage the opponent from actually blocking, meaning you either have to force a block or the mechanic effectively does nothing besides serve as a contrived form of evasion.
A Reinforce variant that borrows Scavenge's "equal to this card's power" technology could also work, perhaps accompanied with additional effects to make the mechanic extra combat tricky.
This quad might actually like creature utility of all things, using creatures as a means of making your spells stronger like Convoke crossbred with Kicker. I designed such a mechanic for this quad called Contribute, which asks for you to tap a specific number of untapped creatures you control and gives you a reward if you do so.
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.
'Allowed to mix and match any way you want' is going directly against the idea of the set.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Keywords are mainly in the primary colours, as you would expect.
The percentage of multicolour will be pretty consistent across rarities but lower rarities will still have less. Multicolour at lower rarities is also mostly two colour, where the majority of three colour and almost all four colour are absent.
I have some mechanic ideas in mind, but as this set is still supposed to be early in design, they are completely open to change. I will keep some of your suggestions in mind.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
'Mechanic X' is
Convert (cost) (cost, discard this card: Put a 1/1 colourless artifact creature token onto the battlefield. Convert only as a sorcery.
Convert gives Esper artifact creatures, and feeds Grixis graveyard synergy.
Cards in original post updated with convert
Negation Tech added to original post
More mechanical exploration and design discussion ahead.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
How about now?
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Mechanic Idea: Chaotic- (trigger), if you discarded a card this turn, (effect)
This mechanic represents the willingness of both Jund and Grixis to use methods that others consider to be unethical or dangerous to achieve their goals and an embrace of the destruction caused. Chaotic works with both of the shard's graveyard synergy and fits the colours well, and being the biggest discard colours and white being the least (although green doesn't really discard more, it has more graveyard synergy) (blue has looting to increase it's count). My only real concern with this mechanic is it has no real synergy with Devour from Alara, although they fit well it into similar themes and strategies.
Cards added to OP
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
For example, there's a runeclaw bears in the graveyard. Your opponent uses vault of whispers, and now it has convert and in his hand.
How can you tell which card in his hand has convert? Keep in mind that the hand is a hidden zone (even if revealed). he can also shuffle his hand without telling you which card is which.
Let's say he casts brainstorm. He puts 2 cards back to the top of the library. How do those cards remember if they have convert?
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Hmm, seems like you have a point.
EDIT: If anyone has any suggestions about how to make this work, if would like to hear them. Otherwise, I will likely change it.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
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.
That would work better, but it is too similar to Eternal Chancellor. The convert grafting part is not an important part of Vault of Secrets design, so I'm not going to add anything too simple. Plus, part of the point of the ability was to be able turn your nonartifact cards into artifacts.
The flavour of the mechanic is Grixis wizards learning some artifice from esper and using it to create their own machines and esper learning Grixis dark powers to convert things into 'improved' machine variants, so nonartifact conversion is important.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Cards added to OP (a while ago)
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Yet Another Mechanic Idea: Charge (cost) (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pay (cost). If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it
This mechanic represents the Jund and Naya shards overlap. It uses +1/+1 o******ers, supporting Jund's previous Devour mechanic and it increases power for Naya.
Cards added to OP.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Empower -cost- (-cost-, Discard this card: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature.)
This can be further combined with various "whenever you empower a creature with ~" effects to create combat tricks like Predator's Strike and Slaughter Cry.
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.
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.
Actually added cards with Charge. Sorry for the delay.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
New Mechanic: Might (Your might is equal to the total power of creatures you control)
Might represents the combination of Naya's strength and Bant's unity in numbers. It works to support multiple different but similar strategies. Might is not a keyword ability, it is like devotion in that it represents a quality that is always present.
Cards added to OP.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice