Quick summary of the article for those who don't want to go through the whole thing or be redirected to another site:
Design goals and themes: Flavor: Art, dreams, inspiration, emotions. Mechanical: A new take on multicolored matters (see the mechanics below), cards that work well with each other (synergy), each game has to be unique, as is every work of art.
Mechanics Virtuoso – Whenever you cast a multicolored spell, [Effect]. Resonance [X](If you cast this spell for [X], exile it as it resolves. As you cast your next instant or sorcery spell, you may put this card into your graveyard and add its effects and colors to that spell.) Imaginarium – [Effect] for each color among cards in your graveyard. + 1 more I haven't decided yet (Cycling or Evoke are options)
For card examples, color pie analysis based on art types (music, dance, painting, etc.) and explanations on what's to come for this project, you can read the whole article on my site!
Sorry if having to go to another website bothers some of you, I just didn't feel like editing the article twice.
Feedback and criticism are very much welcome!
Edit: You can see the first 88 cards I've designed in this album, which will be updated more or less frequently.
Despite many people disliking card recursion and anything remotely strong, I would definitely look into Retrace as a returning mechanic. It seems way too fitting for the theme of your proposed idea to not be included.
Despite many people disliking card recursion and anything remotely strong, I would definitely look into Retrace as a returning mechanic. It seems way too fitting for the theme of your proposed idea to not be included.
I'm not really seeing any way that retrace contributes to the gameplay of the set other than its name.
Loving what you have so far. Resonance is especially awesome.
Virtuoso implies that multicolored spells are all going to be works of art and such? That's a pretty bold move for a multicolor block. I hope you can pull that off; it'll be really beautiful if you do.
Imaginarium rewards you for playing as many colors as possible, as well as getting things into your graveyard. How many colors do you envision the typical limited deck supporting?
How do you plan to support the goal of "each game has to be unique"?
Despite many people disliking card recursion and anything remotely strong, I would definitely look into Retrace as a returning mechanic. It seems way too fitting for the theme of your proposed idea to not be included.
I considered Retrace as well of Flashback for returning mechanics. The thing is, they almost take the same design space as Resonance since they are mechanics that allow spells effects to occur twice (or more in the case of Retrace). That's why the mechanics were discarded as returning mechanics, even though Retrace would be a good fit flavorfully.
Virtuoso implies that multicolored spells are all going to be works of art and such?
I don't think that every multicolored card of the set is doing to be a work of art. That would restrict my design space too much imo and it's something I don't want.
Imaginarium rewards you for playing as many colors as possible, as well as getting things into your graveyard. How many colors do you envision the typical limited deck supporting?
The typical limited deck would run 2-3 colors imo. With that plus hybrids at common, I think it would be pretty easy to reach 3-4 Imaginarium cap, which will make the spells very good. I designed them so that at 2, they are slightly worse than other commons (Refute at 2 is a worse mana leak) while at 4, they are definitely very good. If I implement Cycling or Evoke in the set, getting multicolored cards in your graveyard is also going to be easier.
How do you plan to support the goal of "each game has to be unique"?
Only with the mechanics that are there, there are lots of choices to be made. Do I resonate my spell to plan a move for later? Do I play my good multicolored spell right away or do I wait until I have a creature with Virtuoso out? I also have included a cycle of modal commons to reinforce that feeling of choice. The goal is that players design their game as they would design a work of art.
Virtuoso- Fine.
Resonance- What is this doing? Seems kinda clunky
Imaginarium- aka Domainhold . Fine.
Cycling seems like a good choice seeing the grave synergy and multicolour theme (cycling allows you to help deal with mana issues from playing more colours).
Resonance is the music-related ability of the set. I’ll try it so that all spells with resonance will have some kind of instrument in the art.
When you cast a spell for its resonance cost, it first resolves as normal. But after that, you exile it and the next instant or spell you cast will be completed by the resonated card’s effects and color. For instance, if I cast Enlightened Chord for 1W, I’ll gain 3 life then exile it. Next turn, if I cast Lightning Bolt and choose to put the resonated card in my graveyard, Lightning Bolt will be a white and red spell with mana cost R that will read "Lightning bolt deals 3 damage to target creature or player. You gain 3 life.” The Lightning Bolt will then be a multicolored spell that triggers Virtuoso!
Nice flavor. I put up a similar concept in the design a pack thread a long time ago, and it's nice to see I'm not the only one fascinated by the idea.
It's cute how you can often tell when a set began to be designed based on whether it has white prowess
I think duelists and dancers being both primarily RW (even if the main color differs) is going to make them too close. Plus mechanically they seem to have very little separation. And throwing smiths on top of that isn't going to help. Maybe duelists and blacksmith could be considered the same thing (R/W equipment is now well established as a regular archetype) and dancing would then move as the main red/blue (or white/ blue) art?
I'm personally not fond of the idea of shifting the satyrs into a new color pair. It's highly unusual for an already multicolor tribe to get assigned an extra monocolor option. I'd really look into "racializing" an existing mono-Green or -Black tribe instead (or if you prefer, adding a multicolor option to a race, like they've done a couple times too). I can't help feeling that Spiders may be an interesting match since they feature secondarily within the weaver theme and black spiders feel very appropriate.
I can't say I'm convinced by the white spirit flavoring. More accurately, it doesn't feel like the section really belongs in the article. It feels completely out of place, like a last-minute addition. Plus the flavor on Vengeful Apparition is great, but honestly just feel like a poor fit for the card.
It looks there may be a little too many Resonance cards at common. I dunno what testing methods you've applied, but I'd also keep a close eye on the Virtuoso cards, because (for example) Wardsong Flutist is way easier to trigger than Setessan Battle Priest, gains you more life, yet probably doesn't need to gay you that much for what seems to be a G/W/B lifegain archetype.
To be honest, I disagree that pressuring the players hard into multicolor decks is "giving them more choice", since you're pretty much literally saying "there is no salvation outside multicolor. It was a HUGE issue I had with Ravnica: the flavor wanted you to pick a faction, but mechanically, the abundant colorfixing meant the best decks tended to be three+ color goodstuff decks. The issue was slightly less troublesome, but still present in Tarkir (hence why I actually went and designed Suvnica with no common manafixing land cycle).
It's SUCH a shame that Exquisite Firecraft has Spell mastery, because man it's such a flavorful reprint for your set. Speaking of, anything interesting you intend to reprint?
Bladewhirl is a multicolor Uncaged Fury. Perfectly fine.
Ardent Choreography is really, REALLY good. the token is significantly undercosted right from the start, and the damage option is just gravy.
Oh yes, please include muses as a legend cycle! (although I could also see them as a sort of lesser nymph-like spirit, sorta like the Hödekins I've put in Suvnica)
You have three cards with "dreamborn" in their name, but who have little to no connection between them (compare your ballads)
Diminuendo is probably too good. The basic mode is probably undercosted!
I adore the flavor text on Kenoram Brawler, but its colors confuse me.
Flavorwise, Meditating Ancient and Primal Drummer both comes in as complete surprises (by that part of the spoiler, I'm definitely not expecting such creature types), but that may just be because you elaborate on your "art" tribes rather than the races present on Aenyr. Still, I would avoid having a single one of such races.
In Phantasmal Triad you need to put de "until end of turn" clause in Hexproof, just like Distortion Strike.
Keronam Keper probably need to be worded like "1B, T: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature has "If this creature would leave the battlefield, exile it instead." otherwise I'm not sure about the returned creature can has the "memory" of the ability.
I love lots of desing in cards like Facestealer, Faceless Monstruosity, Bold Poet... And more.
have you thought in include Eidolon creatures (like Verdant Eidolon) from the set Discordia as reprints? They fill the set very well and can be reworded to Virtuoso.
Thank you for your comments!
The cards are now fixed.
About the eidolons, I thought about them, but I didn't like them enough to include them in the set. Virtuoso takes their design space, anyway!
Nice flavor. I put up a similar concept in the design a pack thread a long time ago, and it's nice to see I'm not the only one fascinated by the idea.
It's cute how you can often tell when a set began to be designed based on whether it has white prowess
I think duelists and dancers being both primarily RW (even if the main color differs) is going to make them too close. Plus mechanically they seem to have very little separation. And throwing smiths on top of that isn't going to help. Maybe duelists and blacksmith could be considered the same thing (R/W equipment is now well established as a regular archetype) and dancing would then move as the main red/blue (or white/ blue) art?
I'm personally not fond of the idea of shifting the satyrs into a new color pair. It's highly unusual for an already multicolor tribe to get assigned an extra monocolor option. I'd really look into "racializing" an existing mono-Green or -Black tribe instead (or if you prefer, adding a multicolor option to a race, like they've done a couple times too). I can't help feeling that Spiders may be an interesting match since they feature secondarily within the weaver theme and black spiders feel very appropriate.
I can't say I'm convinced by the white spirit flavoring. More accurately, it doesn't feel like the section really belongs in the article. It feels completely out of place, like a last-minute addition. Plus the flavor on Vengeful Apparition is great, but honestly just feel like a poor fit for the card.
It looks there may be a little too many Resonance cards at common. I dunno what testing methods you've applied, but I'd also keep a close eye on the Virtuoso cards, because (for example) Wardsong Flutist is way easier to trigger than Setessan Battle Priest, gains you more life, yet probably doesn't need to gay you that much for what seems to be a G/W/B lifegain archetype.
To be honest, I disagree that pressuring the players hard into multicolor decks is "giving them more choice", since you're pretty much literally saying "there is no salvation outside multicolor. It was a HUGE issue I had with Ravnica: the flavor wanted you to pick a faction, but mechanically, the abundant colorfixing meant the best decks tended to be three+ color goodstuff decks. The issue was slightly less troublesome, but still present in Tarkir (hence why I actually went and designed Suvnica with no common manafixing land cycle).
It's SUCH a shame that Exquisite Firecraft has Spell mastery, because man it's such a flavorful reprint for your set. Speaking of, anything interesting you intend to reprint?
Bladewhirl is a multicolor Uncaged Fury. Perfectly fine.
Ardent Choreography is really, REALLY good. the token is significantly undercosted right from the start, and the damage option is just gravy.
Oh yes, please include muses as a legend cycle! (although I could also see them as a sort of lesser nymph-like spirit, sorta like the Hödekins I've put in Suvnica)
You have three cards with "dreamborn" in their name, but who have little to no connection between them (compare your ballads)
Diminuendo is probably too good. The basic mode is probably undercosted!
I adore the flavor text on Kenoram Brawler, but its colors confuse me.
Flavorwise, Meditating Ancient and Primal Drummer both comes in as complete surprises (by that part of the spoiler, I'm definitely not expecting such creature types), but that may just be because you elaborate on your "art" tribes rather than the races present on Aenyr. Still, I would avoid having a single one of such races.
White prowess eas definitely something I wanted to include in the set.
Duelists are mainly white, only some will be red at higher rarity. And about dancers, they definitely are in the Jeskai colors. Having Blacksmith/Duelists be a Red/White equipment tribal archetype isn't a bad idea!
Satyr fit very nicely in black imo, as do they in the flavor I want to have in this set. There is something there, flavorwise. That's just my opinion. Your spider tribal idea is very interesting. I wonder if that's ever going to be a thing, though, because almost every spider ever designed has reach. Having one tribe that denies flying so much would lead to bad gameplay imo, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to try and bypass the most important mechanical identity of spiders in order to do that. That being said, if you have any ideas, let me know and I could mobe Satyr tribal to Red/green like in theros and make the black/green one centrered on spiders. The things listed on this article are still rough ideas that need refining.
The Spirit flavor can still change, but I'm pretty happy with it as is. The "is art good or bad" thing is going to be pretty important theme in the set, and there is probably be someone who chases the bad guy and "free their soul" or something like that.
The number of times a mechanic appears hasn't been tested yet. Only the mechanics themselves were to ensure they were fun enough.
The number of available color combinations is giving them more choice, though. That's what I'm going to try, though. But thanks for the advice, I'll ask you some more questions about that if I ever face a "multicolored design wall"
I haven't thought about reprints much at the moment, but I've considered Springleaf Drum and Madcap Skills...
Ardent Choreography will probably end up costing 3R or 1RR.
Look at that, I think I just like the sound of Dreamborn. I need to change those names, hahaha.
Diminuendo will probably need to cost 2U and the resonance cost should be 4U.
Why? He's a brawler. He's an idea I had when I figured hey, satyrs can be red too, why not. He's just the beginning of an idea.
Those are also ideas I had. I don't know yet which tribes will be in Aenyr. Time will tell
Thanks for your great feedback, both of you! If you have any other questions/suggestions, let me know!
]Satyr fit very nicely in black imo, as do they in the flavor I want to have in this set. There is something there, flavorwise. That's just my opinion. Your spider tribal idea is very interesting. I wonder if that's ever going to be a thing, though, because almost every spider ever designed has reach. Having one tribe that denies flying so much would lead to bad gameplay imo, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to try and bypass the most important mechanical identity of spiders in order to do that. That being said, if you have any ideas, let me know and I could mobe Satyr tribal to Red/green like in theros and make the black/green one centrered on spiders. The things listed on this article are still rough ideas that need refining.
Why? He's a brawler. He's an idea I had when I figured hey, satyrs can be red too, why not. He's just the beginning of an idea.
I was surprised because you had pretty consistent satyr and then suddenly this one seemed to clash with that.
Of course this commentary is entirely based on my philosophy/understanding of R&D's approach about assigning colors to tribes (which I can summarize as: tribes get gradually assigned secondary colors to allow more options in design/creative, and new/returning tribes should be introduced in multiple colors, I can list my examples if you want XD). I have no objection to you keeping with it, as it is a rather interesting idea. (I would've been more concerned if they had been green/white, sicne monowhite satyrs seems a very poor fit).
The Spirit flavor can still change, but I'm pretty happy with it as is. The "is art good or bad" thing is going to be pretty important theme in the set, and there is probably be someone who chases the bad guy and "free their soul" or something like that.
I have absolutely no issue about the card designs (other than the fact I'm sure you could design a better card to fit the flavor text in question on!). That was more of a general writing issue about the article (you can tell I work in that area XD).
Look at that, I think I just like the sound of Dreamborn. I need to change those names, hahaha.
It is a nice word. I'd also look into either separating, or bringing closer the two cards with "chord" in their names.
Those are also ideas I had. I don't know yet which tribes will be in Aenyr. Time will tell
Again, this is more of an issue because the article didn't go in much details about the tribes. However, you may have to be careful or you'll end up with too many tribes fighting for space in green between satyrs, treefolks, giants and oigus (who are multicolor, but seem to be mostly G/x).
Another cheap creatures that you can add are Mimics from Eventide (Nightsky Mimic), they synergice well with Resonance and they fill Virtuoso and Imaginarium as well.
Mimics have interesting design space, but it's too restricted imo. They require to cast a spell that's both X and Y colors. I could mix both your ideas and create a cycle of commons that do something when you cast a creature that's more than one color!
I'd also look into either separating, or bringing closer the two cards with "chord" in their names.
It's beginning to become hard to find original names for cards representing music.
Chord, hymn, melody, ballad, chant, song, etc. I don't think I can make cards with those words in their name all share something... maybe I should just make more "original" names like for Diminuendo.
Chord, hymn, melody, ballad, chant, song, etc. I don't think I can make cards with those words in their name all share something... maybe I should just make more "original" names like for Diminuendo.
Maybe you need to go deeper (there's so much crazy vocabulary available!) or more tofu with your names. For a simple example Maybe something isn't a chord, but can be, say "chordic" or "chordian", so you get "Chordic Blaze" instead of "Blazing Chord", and they are no longer very similar at all. Or just flipping the noun around (with a plural thrown in): "Chords of Enlightement" no longer feels so similar to "Blazing Chord". Here though your Ballads not all having the same template reduces the effect
Outside of Opera Ghost, singing doesn't seem very prominent in your music-centric designs, and that could also help diversify it.
Maybe you need to go deeper (there's so much crazy vocabulary available!) or more tofu with your names. For a simple example Maybe something isn't a chord, but can be, say "chordic" or "chordian", so you get "Chordic Blaze" instead of "Blazing Chord", and they are no longer very similar at all. Or just flipping the noun around (with a plural thrown in): "Chords of Enlightement" no longer feels so similar to "Blazing Chord". Here though your Ballads not all having the same template reduces the effect
Outside of Opera Ghost, singing doesn't seem very prominent in your music-centric designs, and that could also help diversify it.
Good advice, thanks About signing, that's true. However, it's quite hard to find appropriate art for a card centered on signing.
Yeah, there are a lot of Chords/Ballads/Melodies/etc. Just copy Zelda; they typically name their songs after styles of musical composition. Serenade of Water, Bolero of Fire, Minuet of Forest, Prelude of Light, Nocturne of Shadows, Requiem of Spirits, Wind Gods' Aria, Sonata of Awakening, to name a few.
Again, thanks for that. Bolero, Minuet, Serenade, Prelude, etc. are very appropriate words for music related cards. Thanks!
I have been active on reddit/custommagic for a while now, posting design and card ideas.
Quick summary of the article for those who don't want to go through the whole thing or be redirected to another site: For card examples, color pie analysis based on art types (music, dance, painting, etc.) and explanations on what's to come for this project, you can read the whole article on my site!
Sorry if having to go to another website bothers some of you, I just didn't feel like editing the article twice.
Feedback and criticism are very much welcome!
Edit: You can see the first 88 cards I've designed in this album, which will be updated more or less frequently.
Custom set projects:
Aenyr: Art is Magic (100% done and fully draftable!)
Elestral: Astronomy, Weather and Duality (Currently in early design.)
Multiplayer commander decks
RGWU Bruse and Thrasios: Enchanted Alliance | BR Grenzo's Jail of Malevolence | RWU Shu Yun's Teachings | B Toshiro Umezawa's Eternal Journey | WU Ephara's City of Wonders
Avatar art by Stephan A. McGowan
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
I'm not really seeing any way that retrace contributes to the gameplay of the set other than its name.
Loving what you have so far. Resonance is especially awesome.
Virtuoso implies that multicolored spells are all going to be works of art and such? That's a pretty bold move for a multicolor block. I hope you can pull that off; it'll be really beautiful if you do.
Imaginarium rewards you for playing as many colors as possible, as well as getting things into your graveyard. How many colors do you envision the typical limited deck supporting?
How do you plan to support the goal of "each game has to be unique"?
I considered Retrace as well of Flashback for returning mechanics. The thing is, they almost take the same design space as Resonance since they are mechanics that allow spells effects to occur twice (or more in the case of Retrace). That's why the mechanics were discarded as returning mechanics, even though Retrace would be a good fit flavorfully. I don't think that every multicolored card of the set is doing to be a work of art. That would restrict my design space too much imo and it's something I don't want. The typical limited deck would run 2-3 colors imo. With that plus hybrids at common, I think it would be pretty easy to reach 3-4 Imaginarium cap, which will make the spells very good. I designed them so that at 2, they are slightly worse than other commons (Refute at 2 is a worse mana leak) while at 4, they are definitely very good. If I implement Cycling or Evoke in the set, getting multicolored cards in your graveyard is also going to be easier. Only with the mechanics that are there, there are lots of choices to be made. Do I resonate my spell to plan a move for later? Do I play my good multicolored spell right away or do I wait until I have a creature with Virtuoso out? I also have included a cycle of modal commons to reinforce that feeling of choice. The goal is that players design their game as they would design a work of art.
Custom set projects:
Aenyr: Art is Magic (100% done and fully draftable!)
Elestral: Astronomy, Weather and Duality (Currently in early design.)
Multiplayer commander decks
RGWU Bruse and Thrasios: Enchanted Alliance | BR Grenzo's Jail of Malevolence | RWU Shu Yun's Teachings | B Toshiro Umezawa's Eternal Journey | WU Ephara's City of Wonders
Avatar art by Stephan A. McGowan
Resonance- What is this doing? Seems kinda clunky
Imaginarium- aka Domainhold . Fine.
Cycling seems like a good choice seeing the grave synergy and multicolour theme (cycling allows you to help deal with mana issues from playing more colours).
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
Custom set projects:
Aenyr: Art is Magic (100% done and fully draftable!)
Elestral: Astronomy, Weather and Duality (Currently in early design.)
Multiplayer commander decks
RGWU Bruse and Thrasios: Enchanted Alliance | BR Grenzo's Jail of Malevolence | RWU Shu Yun's Teachings | B Toshiro Umezawa's Eternal Journey | WU Ephara's City of Wonders
Avatar art by Stephan A. McGowan
The cards are now fixed.
About the eidolons, I thought about them, but I didn't like them enough to include them in the set. Virtuoso takes their design space, anyway!
Custom set projects:
Aenyr: Art is Magic (100% done and fully draftable!)
Elestral: Astronomy, Weather and Duality (Currently in early design.)
Multiplayer commander decks
RGWU Bruse and Thrasios: Enchanted Alliance | BR Grenzo's Jail of Malevolence | RWU Shu Yun's Teachings | B Toshiro Umezawa's Eternal Journey | WU Ephara's City of Wonders
Avatar art by Stephan A. McGowan
I was surprised because you had pretty consistent satyr and then suddenly this one seemed to clash with that.
Of course this commentary is entirely based on my philosophy/understanding of R&D's approach about assigning colors to tribes (which I can summarize as: tribes get gradually assigned secondary colors to allow more options in design/creative, and new/returning tribes should be introduced in multiple colors, I can list my examples if you want XD). I have no objection to you keeping with it, as it is a rather interesting idea. (I would've been more concerned if they had been green/white, sicne monowhite satyrs seems a very poor fit).
I have absolutely no issue about the card designs (other than the fact I'm sure you could design a better card to fit the flavor text in question on!). That was more of a general writing issue about the article (you can tell I work in that area XD).
It is a nice word. I'd also look into either separating, or bringing closer the two cards with "chord" in their names.
Again, this is more of an issue because the article didn't go in much details about the tribes. However, you may have to be careful or you'll end up with too many tribes fighting for space in green between satyrs, treefolks, giants and oigus (who are multicolor, but seem to be mostly G/x).
Chord, hymn, melody, ballad, chant, song, etc. I don't think I can make cards with those words in their name all share something... maybe I should just make more "original" names like for Diminuendo.
Custom set projects:
Aenyr: Art is Magic (100% done and fully draftable!)
Elestral: Astronomy, Weather and Duality (Currently in early design.)
Multiplayer commander decks
RGWU Bruse and Thrasios: Enchanted Alliance | BR Grenzo's Jail of Malevolence | RWU Shu Yun's Teachings | B Toshiro Umezawa's Eternal Journey | WU Ephara's City of Wonders
Avatar art by Stephan A. McGowan
Maybe you need to go deeper (there's so much crazy vocabulary available!) or more tofu with your names. For a simple example Maybe something isn't a chord, but can be, say "chordic" or "chordian", so you get "Chordic Blaze" instead of "Blazing Chord", and they are no longer very similar at all. Or just flipping the noun around (with a plural thrown in): "Chords of Enlightement" no longer feels so similar to "Blazing Chord". Here though your Ballads not all having the same template reduces the effect
Outside of Opera Ghost, singing doesn't seem very prominent in your music-centric designs, and that could also help diversify it.
Custom set projects:
Aenyr: Art is Magic (100% done and fully draftable!)
Elestral: Astronomy, Weather and Duality (Currently in early design.)
Multiplayer commander decks
RGWU Bruse and Thrasios: Enchanted Alliance | BR Grenzo's Jail of Malevolence | RWU Shu Yun's Teachings | B Toshiro Umezawa's Eternal Journey | WU Ephara's City of Wonders
Avatar art by Stephan A. McGowan