I've been working on some calculations to try and figure out how about how many artifacts and at what rarity they should be. For the purposes of calculations, I will be talking about colored cards (which can only really be played in their color) and colorless cards(which could be played in any deck though not neccesarily with equal strength)
In order to figure out how many colorless cards the set should need, I needed some way to compare a mono color environment to a normal (two-color) environment. I choose to use sealed as my base to compare with. When a player plays sealed, they open 6 packs of 14 playables. To simplify the math, I will further assume that the hypothetical environment features zero colorless cards. This means that each pack should contain an average of 2.8 cards of any given color in each pack. So in your pool, we should have an average of 16.8 cards of any given color in your pool. Since this is a normal two color format, any average two color combination will feature 33.6 cards. I believe that we should be trying to maintain this average in scholars of greystone. The simplest way to do this (though not necessarily the best) is to have exactly 25% of cards at each rarity be colorless. This ratio allows each monocolor strategy to feature 33.6 cards on average. This breakdown would mean that SOG would have approximately 26.25 common, 15 uncommon, 12.5 rare, and 3.25 mythic artifacts. I'd recommend a breakdown of 27 commons, 15 uncommon, 12 rare, and 3 mythic colorless cards
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
I can't respond to everything tonight, but I'll start with the simpler ones:
On the Blue Aura being broken: Yikes, Chicken Little over here. Broken is a very strong word. The Power Nine are broken. Memory Jar is broken. An Aura that can bounce itself? Strong, but not broken. Your hyperbole aside however, yes, it probably shouldn't bounce itself. The solution isn't "it should only bounce creatures", but rather, "it shouldn't bounce itself", which can be accomplished by adding "another" to the enters the battlefield trigger.
On Attuned raising p/t: If I recall correctly, Level up was inspired by both pen-and-paper and electronic RPGs. In such sources, whenever a character Levels up, they improve both their physical and magical prowess, which would translate in Magic to a p/t boost and an improvement in abilities, respectively, meaning that p/t was still meant to correlate to physical capability. Regardless, the flavor issue is only a portion of my concern; the idea of reducing the number of instants was a much larger worry for me. I think we can crack this nut, I'm not ready to give up my vision yet, and I think I have a solution that should work just fine.
On the number of artifacts: That is distressingly large amount of artifacts. I don't think devoting 25% of the rares and mythics is necessary, since that would amount to a difference of approximately 1 card in a sealed pool, but the commons and uncommons are a different story. I must confess my math was primarily concerned about (and worked out well in) Draft, but doesn't work out so well in Sealed. 27 common artifacts squeezes things a little more than I was hoping for (especially since Scars of Mirrodin only had 35), but if that's what must be done, then... I'm gonna hold out hope that I can get away with ~20 common artifacts and 12-13 uncommon and see what playtesting says. Yes, I know I'm being stubborn, but I want to see if my vision can pan out first.
Another quick update, this one featuring the newest version of the common Attuned creatures:
Steadfast Soldier1W
Creature--Soldier (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/2]
Level 1-2: Vigilance [2/2]
Level 3+: Vigilance. Whenever Steadfast Soldier attacks, you may untap target attacking creature. [2/2]
Ingenious Invisomancer1U
Creature--Wizard (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/1]
Level 1-2: Ingenious Invisomancer can't be blocked. [2/1]
Level 3+: Whenever Ingenious Invisomancer attacks, it and up to one target creature can't be blocked this turn. [2/1]
Darkness Duelmage1B
Creature--Wizard (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [1/3]
Level 1-2: Intimidate [1/3]
Level 3+: Intimidate. Whenever Darkness Duelmage attacks, target creature gains Intimidate until end of turn. [1/3]
Rage SageR
Creature--Goblin Shaman
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [1/1]
Level 1-2: Whenever Rage Sage attacks, it gets +1/+0 until end of turn. [1/1]
Level 3+: Whenever Rage Sage attacks, it and up to one target creature get +1/+0 until end of turn. [1/1]
Stampede Champion2G
Creature--Human Shaman (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [3/2]
Level 1-2: Trample [3/2]
Level 3+: Trample. Whenever Stampede Champion attacks, target creature gains trample until end of turn. [3/2]
Alrighty, so after a long weekend of board games and Korean barbecue, I'm back to finish up the Scholar and Attuned creatures. But before I do that, some notes on the past few updates:
The Attuned creatures revolve around attack triggers and instant-speed neutral* abilities
Giving the Attuned creatures abilities that trigger upon attacking means that triggering Attuned at instant speed will have no effect if cast during combat, since the trigger opportunity will already have passed. The only exception is Green gaining Trample, which I'm okay with since, though it changes player damage, it doesn't have any impact on creature damage unless the attacking creature has deathtouch. If players want to jump through that hoop to "break" Attuned, go for it.
The CCC creatures have been scaled back to one keyword ability
With the Attuned creatures getting keyword abilities, the CCC creatures were turned down to one keyword (or keyword-ish, in the case of Black) ability so as to not have things be too crowded at common. In retrospect, this should have been the plan in the first place, since as my plan is to scale the CCC(C)(C) creatures up in complexity as they go up in rarity, starting them with too many abilities would make it tough to expand in a way that feels comfortable.
With that business attended to, here are the final six common mechanic creatures:
White
The tapper got nixed in favor of a design that fit with the rest of the cycle, but with White needing a second one and tapping being a simple, staple white ability, he returns in a slightly new guise:
Talented Trapmage1W
Creature--Human Wizard (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this) [1/2]
Level 1-2: T: Tap target creature with power 4 or less. [1/2]
Level 3+: T: Tap target creature. [1/2]
White also needs a second Scholar creature, so here we go:
Conjuring Commander3W
Creature--Human Soldier (C) Scholar--Whenever you draw a card, if it's the second card you've drawn that turn, you may put a 1/1 white Elemental creature token onto the battlefield.
2/4
Akroan Crusader does this ability at common and much more aggressively, so I'm okay giving it to Conjuring Commander.
Blue
Amnesia Afflicter2U
Creature--Human Wizard Scholar--Whenever you draw a card, if it's the second card you've drawn that turn, target player puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
2/2
In an environment where card-drawing abounds so freely, mill cards become more powerful. They probably still won't set the world on fire, but it makes me interested in pushing a mill deck as the set evolves.
Black
Mental Medic1B
Creature--Human Wizard Scholar--Whenever you draw a card, if it's the second card you've drawn that turn, you may regenerate target creature.
2/2
I'm still surprised that regeneration appears at common with the frequency that it does, but as long as it's okay this card should be fine.
Red
Flamethrower Adept1R
Creature--Human Shaman
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/1]
Level 1-2: Whenever Flamethrower Adept attacks, it deals 1 damage to target player. [2/1]
Level 3: Whenever Flamethrower Adept attacks, it deals 3 damage to target player. [2/1]
Damage to the face--it doesn't get much more Red than that.
Green
Wunderkind Cultivator1G
Creature--Human Shaman
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/2]
Level 1-2: t: Untap target land. [2/2]
Level 3+: t: Untap up to three target lands. [2/2]
As with the White tapper, untapping lands is a safe enough ability to grant at instant speed that the Cultivator can make a return, though with his tap ability slightly nerfed (t: Add 2 to your mana pool is a little strong at common).
And voila! Our common creatures showcasing the new mechanic have been designed. Assuming they get the stamp of approval, we can now build the common design skeleton around them and fill in the missing bones, or cards, or whatever. So join me next time when we do just that!
Until then, may you remember that the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
Now that we have our set foundation, it's time to put up some walls. I don't know exactly what I want out of my commons yet, so the skeleton is relatively sparse compared to the one MaRo used in his Nuts and Bolts column, but it will still serve as a nice guide as I fill out the rest of the commons. I won't go into the process of how I settled on the exact number of creatures and non-creatures, since it basically amounts to examining a lot of past sets in Gatherer and then playing with numbers in Excel until it felt right for what I wanted, but there is a method beyond all the decision that lead to creating the skeleton. Not that they're all guaranteed to be the correct decisions though, so please feel free to chime in if you have any thoughts on how it might be improved.
Time to create some commons. First, I'll start with a brand new card that has never been printed in any Magic set to date:
Patrol Falcon1W
Creature--Bird (C)
Flying, First Strike
1/1 Each school has their own flock of these fearsome birds, which exist solely to hinder their competitors' ability to communicate.
I have no idea why this card doesn't exist yet. I imagine it must have at some point, only to be cut by Development for some reason, but since we're not at that stage yet, in it goes!
Our second card is a design for a Counterspell that I've had bouncing around my head for awhile:
Punish Inefficiency1U
Instant (C)
Counter target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of lands controlled by that spell's controller. "If you want to beat me, it'll take everything you have!"
Next, I couldn't be a disciple of MaRo's without including at least one bit of wordplay in a card title, and so I present the following:
BrainBB
Instant (C)
Destroy target nonartifact creature. Its controller loses life equal to the number of level counters on that creature. When they are no longer able to improve their own mind, students will often turn to destroying someone else's.
I wasn't sure if Brain as a verb had graduated past a slang term, but multiple online dictionaries listed it without the SLANG tag next to it, so all systems go.
With the increased amount of artifacts in the set, I definitely wanted to give Red an artifact destruction spell, especially since it ties into the "arcane is superior to artifice" part of the story.
BookblazeRR
Instant (C)
Destroy target artifact. If that artifact was a creature, that artifact's controller discards a card, then draws a card. At Greystone, few things cause more chaos than a flaming librarian.
The Vorthos side of me loved the idea of an automaton librarian running around desperately trying to deal with the flaming stack of books it was carrying, and the multiple ways that would disrupt the studious atmosphere, and the designer in me like stapling together two Red abilities in a way that had multiple functions (allowing you to draw a card if you have a useless--or indestructible--artifact and a terrible--empty--hand, or destroying your opponent's stuff and possibly disrupting his or her hand in the process) and that functioned very differently in Scholars of Greystone (extra artifacts, abilities triggering on card draw) than in other sets.
I have an interesting idea for a Llanowar Elves-esque creature, but given what I want to do with it, modern Design sensibility says it can't be a common. "Fight" cards, however, are frequently seen at common, and thus did the following design emerge:
Barkfight1G
Sorcery (C)
Target creature you control gets +0/+2 until end of turn. Then that creature fights another target creature. The more lopsided the brawl, the better the odds it was premeditated.
Believe it or not, the pun (Barkfight, rather than barfight) came after the design, which is a fairly simple riff on a fight sorcery.
And there we are: five more designs in the file. Join me next time when I... do more of the same.
Until then, may you always know how to deal with the skeletons in your closet.
First of all, I want thank very much everyone who has checked out and given feedback on Scholars of Greystone so far. You have been a source of great encouragement and inspiration throughout this endeavor, and for that I am very grateful.
For the time being, Scholars of Greystone is being put on hiatus. I have a professional creative project that has cropped that requires and deserves my full time and effort, and so for the moment all of my side creative projects must be put on hold. I imagine my subconscious will still be diligently working away in the world of Greystone, and if inspiration strikes I will most certainly take to the forums posthaste, but for the foreseeable future that will be the exception rather than the norm.
I'm sure you're all struggling to hold back tears now, so I'll let you go now to let your emotions in whatever way you see fit. Thanks everyone, and I hope to be back soon!
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In order to figure out how many colorless cards the set should need, I needed some way to compare a mono color environment to a normal (two-color) environment. I choose to use sealed as my base to compare with. When a player plays sealed, they open 6 packs of 14 playables. To simplify the math, I will further assume that the hypothetical environment features zero colorless cards. This means that each pack should contain an average of 2.8 cards of any given color in each pack. So in your pool, we should have an average of 16.8 cards of any given color in your pool. Since this is a normal two color format, any average two color combination will feature 33.6 cards. I believe that we should be trying to maintain this average in scholars of greystone. The simplest way to do this (though not necessarily the best) is to have exactly 25% of cards at each rarity be colorless. This ratio allows each monocolor strategy to feature 33.6 cards on average. This breakdown would mean that SOG would have approximately 26.25 common, 15 uncommon, 12.5 rare, and 3.25 mythic artifacts. I'd recommend a breakdown of 27 commons, 15 uncommon, 12 rare, and 3 mythic colorless cards
- Manite
On the Blue Aura being broken: Yikes, Chicken Little over here. Broken is a very strong word. The Power Nine are broken. Memory Jar is broken. An Aura that can bounce itself? Strong, but not broken. Your hyperbole aside however, yes, it probably shouldn't bounce itself. The solution isn't "it should only bounce creatures", but rather, "it shouldn't bounce itself", which can be accomplished by adding "another" to the enters the battlefield trigger.
On Attuned raising p/t: If I recall correctly, Level up was inspired by both pen-and-paper and electronic RPGs. In such sources, whenever a character Levels up, they improve both their physical and magical prowess, which would translate in Magic to a p/t boost and an improvement in abilities, respectively, meaning that p/t was still meant to correlate to physical capability. Regardless, the flavor issue is only a portion of my concern; the idea of reducing the number of instants was a much larger worry for me. I think we can crack this nut, I'm not ready to give up my vision yet, and I think I have a solution that should work just fine.
On the number of artifacts: That is distressingly large amount of artifacts. I don't think devoting 25% of the rares and mythics is necessary, since that would amount to a difference of approximately 1 card in a sealed pool, but the commons and uncommons are a different story. I must confess my math was primarily concerned about (and worked out well in) Draft, but doesn't work out so well in Sealed. 27 common artifacts squeezes things a little more than I was hoping for (especially since Scars of Mirrodin only had 35), but if that's what must be done, then... I'm gonna hold out hope that I can get away with ~20 common artifacts and 12-13 uncommon and see what playtesting says. Yes, I know I'm being stubborn, but I want to see if my vision can pan out first.
Quickish update for now, because it's late and I'm tired. I'll refine it in the near future.
Valiance Elemental WWW
Creature--Elemental (C)
First strike
3/4
Isolation Elemental UUU
Creature--Elemental (C)
Hexproof
1/5
Despair Elemental BBB
Creature--Elemental (C)
When Despair Elemental enters the battlefield, target player discards a card.
3/2
Alacrity Elemental RRR
Creature--Elemental (C)
Haste
4/3
Sprawl Elemental GGG
Creature--Elemental (C)
Reach
4/4
Steadfast Soldier 1W
Creature--Soldier (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/2]
Level 1-2: Vigilance [2/2]
Level 3+: Vigilance. Whenever Steadfast Soldier attacks, you may untap target attacking creature. [2/2]
Ingenious Invisomancer 1U
Creature--Wizard (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/1]
Level 1-2: Ingenious Invisomancer can't be blocked. [2/1]
Level 3+: Whenever Ingenious Invisomancer attacks, it and up to one target creature can't be blocked this turn. [2/1]
Darkness Duelmage 1B
Creature--Wizard (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [1/3]
Level 1-2: Intimidate [1/3]
Level 3+: Intimidate. Whenever Darkness Duelmage attacks, target creature gains Intimidate until end of turn. [1/3]
Rage Sage R
Creature--Goblin Shaman
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [1/1]
Level 1-2: Whenever Rage Sage attacks, it gets +1/+0 until end of turn. [1/1]
Level 3+: Whenever Rage Sage attacks, it and up to one target creature get +1/+0 until end of turn. [1/1]
Stampede Champion 2G
Creature--Human Shaman (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [3/2]
Level 1-2: Trample [3/2]
Level 3+: Trample. Whenever Stampede Champion attacks, target creature gains trample until end of turn. [3/2]
Alrighty, so after a long weekend of board games and Korean barbecue, I'm back to finish up the Scholar and Attuned creatures. But before I do that, some notes on the past few updates:
The Attuned creatures revolve around attack triggers and instant-speed neutral* abilities
Giving the Attuned creatures abilities that trigger upon attacking means that triggering Attuned at instant speed will have no effect if cast during combat, since the trigger opportunity will already have passed. The only exception is Green gaining Trample, which I'm okay with since, though it changes player damage, it doesn't have any impact on creature damage unless the attacking creature has deathtouch. If players want to jump through that hoop to "break" Attuned, go for it.
The CCC creatures have been scaled back to one keyword ability
With the Attuned creatures getting keyword abilities, the CCC creatures were turned down to one keyword (or keyword-ish, in the case of Black) ability so as to not have things be too crowded at common. In retrospect, this should have been the plan in the first place, since as my plan is to scale the CCC(C)(C) creatures up in complexity as they go up in rarity, starting them with too many abilities would make it tough to expand in a way that feels comfortable.
With that business attended to, here are the final six common mechanic creatures:
White
The tapper got nixed in favor of a design that fit with the rest of the cycle, but with White needing a second one and tapping being a simple, staple white ability, he returns in a slightly new guise:
Talented Trapmage 1W
Creature--Human Wizard (C)
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this) [1/2]
Level 1-2: T: Tap target creature with power 4 or less. [1/2]
Level 3+: T: Tap target creature. [1/2]
White also needs a second Scholar creature, so here we go:
Conjuring Commander 3W
Creature--Human Soldier (C)
Scholar--Whenever you draw a card, if it's the second card you've drawn that turn, you may put a 1/1 white Elemental creature token onto the battlefield.
2/4
Akroan Crusader does this ability at common and much more aggressively, so I'm okay giving it to Conjuring Commander.
Blue
Amnesia Afflicter 2U
Creature--Human Wizard
Scholar--Whenever you draw a card, if it's the second card you've drawn that turn, target player puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
2/2
In an environment where card-drawing abounds so freely, mill cards become more powerful. They probably still won't set the world on fire, but it makes me interested in pushing a mill deck as the set evolves.
Black
Mental Medic 1B
Creature--Human Wizard
Scholar--Whenever you draw a card, if it's the second card you've drawn that turn, you may regenerate target creature.
2/2
I'm still surprised that regeneration appears at common with the frequency that it does, but as long as it's okay this card should be fine.
Red
Flamethrower Adept 1R
Creature--Human Shaman
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/1]
Level 1-2: Whenever Flamethrower Adept attacks, it deals 1 damage to target player. [2/1]
Level 3: Whenever Flamethrower Adept attacks, it deals 3 damage to target player. [2/1]
Damage to the face--it doesn't get much more Red than that.
Green
Wunderkind Cultivator 1G
Creature--Human Shaman
Attuned (Whenever you cast a spell that shares a color with this, put a level counter on this.) [2/2]
Level 1-2: t: Untap target land. [2/2]
Level 3+: t: Untap up to three target lands. [2/2]
As with the White tapper, untapping lands is a safe enough ability to grant at instant speed that the Cultivator can make a return, though with his tap ability slightly nerfed (t: Add 2 to your mana pool is a little strong at common).
And voila! Our common creatures showcasing the new mechanic have been designed. Assuming they get the stamp of approval, we can now build the common design skeleton around them and fill in the missing bones, or cards, or whatever. So join me next time when we do just that!
Until then, may you remember that the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
Now that we have our set foundation, it's time to put up some walls. I don't know exactly what I want out of my commons yet, so the skeleton is relatively sparse compared to the one MaRo used in his Nuts and Bolts column, but it will still serve as a nice guide as I fill out the rest of the commons. I won't go into the process of how I settled on the exact number of creatures and non-creatures, since it basically amounts to examining a lot of past sets in Gatherer and then playing with numbers in Excel until it felt right for what I wanted, but there is a method beyond all the decision that lead to creating the skeleton. Not that they're all guaranteed to be the correct decisions though, so please feel free to chime in if you have any thoughts on how it might be improved.
The Skeleton
CW01-Creature: WWW
CW02-Creature: Attuned
CW03-Creature: Attuned
CW04-Creature: Scholar
CW05-Creature: Scholar
CW06-Creature
CW07-Creature:
CW08-Creature
CW09-Creature
CW10-Creature
CW11-Experiment
CW12-Aura: Colored Mana Matters
CW13-Aura: Pacifism
CW14-Instant: Exile
CW15-Instant: Pump
CW16-Aura: Protection
CW17-Sorcery: Enchantment Kill
CU01-Creature: UUU
CU02-Creature: Attuned
CU03-Creature: Scholar
CU04-Creature: Scholar
CU05-Creature: Looter
CU06-Creature: Flier
CU07-Creature
CU08-Creature
CU09-Experiment
CU10-Aura: Colored Mana Matters
CU11-Card Draw
CU12-Soft Counter
CU13-Hard Counter
CU14-Bounce
CU15- -X/-0
CU16-Aura: Curiosity
CU17-Spell
CB01-Creature: BBB
CB02-Creature: Attuned
CB03-Creature: Scholar
CB04-Creature: Scholar
CB05-Creature
CB06-Creature
CB07-Creature
CB08-Creature
CB09-Creature
CB10-Experiment
CB11-Aura: Colored Mana Matters
CB12-Creature Kill
CB13-Spell
CB14-Spell
CB15-Spell
CB16-Spell
CB17-Spell
CR01-Creature: RRR
CR02-Creature: Attuned
CR03-Creature: Attuned
CR04-Creature: Scholar
CR05-Creature
CR06-Creature
CR07-Creature
CR08-Creature
CR09-Experiment
CR10-Aura: Colored Mana Matters
CR11-Direct Damage
CR12-Direct Damage
CR13-Artifact Kill
CR14-Spell
CR15-Spell
CR16-Spell
CR17-Spell
CG01-Creature: GGG
CG02-Creature: Attuned
CG03-Creature: Attuned
CG04-Creature: Scholar
CG05-Creature
CG06-Creature
CG07-Creature
CG08-Creature
CG09-Creature
CG10-Experiment
CG11-Aura: Colored Mana Matters
CG12-Giant Growth
CG13-Anti-Flier
CG14-Naturalize
CG15-Spell
CG16-Spell
CG17-Spell
CA01-Artifact Creature (Alloy Librarian)
CA02-Artifact Creature
CA03-Artifact Creature
CA04-Artifact Creature
CA05-Artifact Creature
CA06-Artifact Creature
CA07-Artifact Creature
CA08-Artifact Creature
CA09-Artifact
CA10-Artifact
CA11-Artifact
CA12-Artifact
CA13-Artifact
CA14-Artifact
CA15-Artifact
CL01-White Archive
CL02-Blue Archive
CL03-Black Archive
CL04-Red Archive
CL05-Green Archive
Put Some Meat on those Bones
Time to create some commons. First, I'll start with a brand new card that has never been printed in any Magic set to date:
Patrol Falcon 1W
Creature--Bird (C)
Flying, First Strike
1/1
Each school has their own flock of these fearsome birds, which exist solely to hinder their competitors' ability to communicate.
I have no idea why this card doesn't exist yet. I imagine it must have at some point, only to be cut by Development for some reason, but since we're not at that stage yet, in it goes!
Our second card is a design for a Counterspell that I've had bouncing around my head for awhile:
Punish Inefficiency 1U
Instant (C)
Counter target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of lands controlled by that spell's controller.
"If you want to beat me, it'll take everything you have!"
Next, I couldn't be a disciple of MaRo's without including at least one bit of wordplay in a card title, and so I present the following:
Brain BB
Instant (C)
Destroy target nonartifact creature. Its controller loses life equal to the number of level counters on that creature.
When they are no longer able to improve their own mind, students will often turn to destroying someone else's.
I wasn't sure if Brain as a verb had graduated past a slang term, but multiple online dictionaries listed it without the SLANG tag next to it, so all systems go.
With the increased amount of artifacts in the set, I definitely wanted to give Red an artifact destruction spell, especially since it ties into the "arcane is superior to artifice" part of the story.
Bookblaze RR
Instant (C)
Destroy target artifact. If that artifact was a creature, that artifact's controller discards a card, then draws a card.
At Greystone, few things cause more chaos than a flaming librarian.
The Vorthos side of me loved the idea of an automaton librarian running around desperately trying to deal with the flaming stack of books it was carrying, and the multiple ways that would disrupt the studious atmosphere, and the designer in me like stapling together two Red abilities in a way that had multiple functions (allowing you to draw a card if you have a useless--or indestructible--artifact and a terrible--empty--hand, or destroying your opponent's stuff and possibly disrupting his or her hand in the process) and that functioned very differently in Scholars of Greystone (extra artifacts, abilities triggering on card draw) than in other sets.
I have an interesting idea for a Llanowar Elves-esque creature, but given what I want to do with it, modern Design sensibility says it can't be a common. "Fight" cards, however, are frequently seen at common, and thus did the following design emerge:
Barkfight 1G
Sorcery (C)
Target creature you control gets +0/+2 until end of turn. Then that creature fights another target creature.
The more lopsided the brawl, the better the odds it was premeditated.
Believe it or not, the pun (Barkfight, rather than barfight) came after the design, which is a fairly simple riff on a fight sorcery.
And there we are: five more designs in the file. Join me next time when I... do more of the same.
Until then, may you always know how to deal with the skeletons in your closet.
First of all, I want thank very much everyone who has checked out and given feedback on Scholars of Greystone so far. You have been a source of great encouragement and inspiration throughout this endeavor, and for that I am very grateful.
For the time being, Scholars of Greystone is being put on hiatus. I have a professional creative project that has cropped that requires and deserves my full time and effort, and so for the moment all of my side creative projects must be put on hold. I imagine my subconscious will still be diligently working away in the world of Greystone, and if inspiration strikes I will most certainly take to the forums posthaste, but for the foreseeable future that will be the exception rather than the norm.
I'm sure you're all struggling to hold back tears now, so I'll let you go now to let your emotions in whatever way you see fit. Thanks everyone, and I hope to be back soon!