Clockwise from left: Astral by James "If-not-for-Gravity" Henderson, Mesmeric by Jennie "sweetcivic" Yuen, Soulburner by Jessica "ArtLair" Feinberg, Shepherd by Anthony "Ubermonster" Francisco, and Foundry by Sarah "sarahfinnigan" Finnigan
I had an interesting idea for a new block...but then I realized that I will be too busy to focus on even a single set on my own. So then I thought, "Hm, there is an entire community of people who like to help design sets...I should ask them to join!"
So here's the concept: a plane where each faction is dedicated to certain types of psychic abilities. I noticed that there are quite a few different types of psychic powers, so I thought, "let's turn these into flavor and mechanics and make a set from them!"
So the outline of what will be be in this thread (the list below will be linked when we get past Phase I):
I. Story/Flavor of the plane and its factions
II. Mechanics
III. Cards!
Now, I did have a bit of development (like 40 minutes' worth) before realizing I wouldn't have time for a full focus, so here's what I have so far. Subject to immense change as we discuss it, of course; consider this a jumping-off point.
Blue Faction focuses on clairvoyance and mind reading. So its abilities will focus on seeing others' cards and library manipulation. My example blue keyword was Portent N, which meant "Reveal the top N cards of target player's library. Then you may have that player shuffle his or her library." So you can use it to see what your next few draws will be, to shuffle if you don't like them, to see your opponents' next few cards, and to make them shuffle if they're too strong for comfort.
Red Faction focuses on telekinesis--so hitting at a distance. My example red keyword was the ability word Throw N, which meant "Sacrifice a creature with power N or less. It deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player." The only other mechanical interpretation of telekinesis I could think of was twiddling, but that's blue, not red.
Black Faction focuses on mediumship, which is communicating with the dead. Its example keyword was Seance, which meant "When this ETB, you may return target creature card with CMC less than this card's CMC to the battlefield. If you do, sacrifice this at end of turn." The idea was that you'd be holding a seance to gather the dead, but if you did, they'd kill you after they arrived. Kind of a way to get back utility creatures. The CMCs might be a bit weird on these, as you need to balance the Seance potential with the creature's own abilities if Seance is not used. That's assuming this stays after discussion, of course .
Green Faction focuses on teleportation, which is represented by caring about what lands you have and changing that. Potentially, it would bring back Domain, but if not, the effects were going to be per-card. The example card was a sorcery for 1G that said "Sacrifice a land. Then search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped." This not only helps color screw, but as other green cards would care whether you controlled, say, an island, it could help support those. Of course, such a focus would encourage green to be run in a multicolor deck only, so...I don't know if that's bad or okay.
White Faction focuses on reading and manipulating auras--by manipulating Auras . The example keyword was Resurrect N, which was only on Auras and meant "As you cast this card, you may return a creature card with CMC N or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you do, attach this Aura to it." Though I was also considering Aura stealing or Aura swapping. Something like "Transfer [COST]" meaning "[COST]: Attach this Aura to another target creature." That may be more interesting and/or less abusable.
Again, those are JUST what I had and are not at all set in stone. Use them as inspiration as we discuss Mentalis!
Let's begin with the story.
What is Mentalis?
What sets it apart from other planes?
Why are all its inhabitants focusing their mana on psychic-type abilities?
Who ARE the inhabitants?
Who are the factions, and what are their psychic specialties?
What's the conflict that we're joining to link the block together?
W White: Photokinesis (psychic manipulation of light and EM radiation), and from the name, potentially astral projection? The idea behind them being the source of all light on the plane is really cool I'm a little worried, thinking ahead, about how that would be at all representable mechanically...but that's a problem for the future
U Blue: The Mesmeric Ones (I kind of like the name The Mesmerics...we should have a vote on names). I like the concept, they just need to be fleshed out. A group of people with deliberate, thought-out plans have as yet been unable to take control. Why? What's stopping them? Just a lack of brute-force? Surely they could manipulate other factions to do their bidding. If we can figure out why they haven't taken over, we can begin touching on the conflict of the block, I'd say.
B Black: Ooh! So it's still mediumship, but with the twist of feeding those souls to an ancient demon? LOVE. Though mechanically, this sounds like it'd be something more like Devour than recursion. Which is fine, I'm sure we can come up with something unique for that. So this cult is just starting to regain its power...who destroyed it in the first place? The Astral Senate? Was it a Light vs Demons kind of thing, or something a bit less cliche? Also, is there more than one demon, or just one Master? Maybe they can bring the Master's minions back first, then they require larger sacrifices for the Master? Maybe even...the blood of the head of the Astral Senate?
R Red: The Soulburns...not sure about the name. That can be tweaked. But I can't believe I forgot about pyrokinesis! I don't know how much I like the idea of red getting very common exile, but fire-based spells and abilities could definitely work. Red likes combat, which makes it a little difficult to design for in a set where direct combat isn't emphasized (because psychic powers rule over hand-to-hand)... but maybe we could have something that deals with noncombat damage triggers? Gah, look at me, slipping into mechanic design again >_< . Back to story! So raiders, and I'm assuming pillagers and thugs as well. The kinds of people you wouldn't want to run into on the street. In fact, I think they'd be the kind of people that others actively avoid, except perhaps the Foundry. They might even be the Foundry's preferred victims, as no one will miss them if they're dead. So there could be a little mini-turf war going on between the Foundry and the Soulburns, with the Foundry constantly killing Soulburns and the Soulburns always out for revenge on them.
G Green: The Silent Shepherds... Sorry, but this is my least favorite idea. I don't see how summoning creatures really relates well to the psychic theme. Unless they're all energy creatures, but that either falls under the Foundry's territory (Spirits) or the Mesmerics (Illusions). One of my original concepts for green was a group that focused their psychic skills on harmonizing with nature. So being "in tune" with their environments and each other. They regard almost every other faction as chaotic and unnecessary. For the most part, they keep to themselves, but they will protect each other at all costs. They have a disliking of all the other factions: white because governmental rule is unnatural restraint, blue because life should conform to nature rather than to other minds, red because they're far too chaotic, and black because life is to be respected and not destroyed. They generally live outside the cities, preferring to keep to each other than to encounter other groups. When we start developing the conflict, I'm thinking that whatever power struggles are going on inside the city walls will lead to problems with the Astral Senate's light production, and this will cause death for many plants on the plane...at which point, the Shepherds will react in kind to protect their environment.
I'm liking the flavor of this set already! I like at lot of the current ideas for the factions, but I have a few comments/ideas.
W The Astral Senate: I think that the idea of creating the sun/light for the plane from pure psychic energy resonates very well, and is something we should focus on. Mechanically, I think that a focus on dispelling illusions might be cool, but revealing might work better. Something like.... Astral - Each player reveals his or her hand. For each BLANK revealed this way, EFFECT.
For example:
Sunlight Soldiers3W
Sorcery Astral - Each player reveals his or her hand. For each White card revealed this way, put a 1/1 white spirit tokens on to the battlefield.
Then put two 1/1 white spirit tokens on to the battlefield.
U The Mesmeric Ones: The whole concept of master illusionists fits right in with the theme and the color, and their goal of taking over the tour works well. Not certain what we're going to do mechanically though.
B The Foundry of Damnation: Seems like good villains.
r and G : Seem fine, but I'm not certain how they fit into the main story.
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Wantonwizard: Feeding off of MTG's bloated corpse since 1996.
I'm half tempted to create a card called "Dark Master Joe" right now
The Astral mechanic mentioned is...yeah, a bit pushed. Also, though it fits the flavor of the set, revealing stuff is generally blue and now white. I ran into that issue when I was coming up with ideas for the Astrals' mechanic as well. I guess we're not really following the orderly guidelines I put in the first post, so mechanical discussion is fine >_< . I had an idea for a mechanic that's an activated ability which can only be activated during combat and before blockers. It would tap a target and remove it from combat; basically white's usual "protect me!" mentality mixed with blinding your opponents with manipulated light. But then someone said that's not a good mechanic, so...back to the drawing board.
The R faction, I figured, would fit in as part of their turf war with the Foundry. Also, maybe because of their notoriety and rough-and-tumble attitudes, they're hired as bodyguards for the Astral Senate? (Also, I just noticed how close Astral Senate is to Azorius Senate...so maybe we should have a different collective noun here, if any? Astral House or simply Astrals could work?)
In terms of how the Shepherds would be involved, here's what I was thinking. The power struggle within the city between the Astrals, the Foundry, and the Mesmerics is weakening the light that the Astrals provide. As the light weakens, it affects life across the plane, killing plants and, because of the food chain, destroying life everywhere. The Shepherds feel that such destruction is intolerable, so they venture into the city walls to fight back anyone threatening the Astrals and their life-giving light source.
Yeah, basically they're mercenaries. The only thing they're good at is getting revenge and hurting people. I'd say, if there are any (B/R) creatures, they'd be the assassins of the plane. I don't know how they'd fit with the factions, though...maybe Soulburns who work for the Foundry to find new victims? Or ex-Foundry members who became Soulburns because they were too chaotic for the cult?
I'm not sure I like the name Astral Wardens. "Warden" makes me think of a prison, where they're keeping everyone in line just because they don't like trouble. I was think of the Astrals more as a protective government body, trying to keep order so they can help everyone. Hence giving light to the plane. Maybe the Astral Congress? Or the Astral Shield? Astral Guard? Astral Ward? Astral Tribunal? Astral Ministry? (*Synonyms*)
Hah, thanks about the art. Do you realize how difficult it is to find art for such specific concepts? I mean, the soul-sucking Foundry mage and the Shepherd were easy, but the rest...I spent hours just looking for anything that fit the idea of an illusion-making mage. And a light-controlling creature? Forget it. I often wish I had the money to hire my own personal artist .
The mechanics already? Well, okay. But first, I just want to throw in a few story aspects I thought up and put them open for discussion. I suppose it's fine for us to work on mechanics and story at the same time...so much for my attempts at organization .
The name "Soulburners/Soulburns" has bugged me since the beginning. Their concept is great, just the name sounds...bad, to me. Maybe that's just me, I don't know. But I did come up with a name I like a lot better: Flamehearts. So I guess we should put that up to a vote: do we all (all three of us, I guess?) like Soulburners, Soulburns, or Flamehearts better? Until we discuss and decide, I'll be referring to them as Flamehearts
I had some ideas of the origins of some creature types on Mentalis.
Whence Come the Myriad Creatures?
Fire elementals all used to be Flamehearts, but as their control of fire grew, so did their temper, until the very flames they controlled engulfed them, and all that was left was a blaze-filled shell in the shape of their old bodies.
Spirits normally pass on through the Darkveil into the afterlife, but because of the Foundry's messing with them to feed them to Joe (we need a better name for him), the Darkveil is unstable. Sometimes the Darkveil will spit out the souls of dead who have already passed over, leading to Spirits; other times, the dead can't even cross it, leading to Ghouls/Zombies.
Earth elementals are similar to golems in that they're created from the earth itself by the Shepherds, and imbued with intelligence as part of the Shepherds' usual harmonic psychic link.
Obviously, Illusions come from the Mesmerics. Also, the Djinn are not natural species on Mentalis. Djinn are Mesmerics who have become so powerful, honed their illusory skills so much, that they seem to bend reality to their will. Of course, it's all still just an illusion, so even though the Djinn provide wish-granting, it's almost always temporary. Usually, they grant the wish until you complete a favor for them, and then they take it away when you're done.
I wanted to complete the cycle of ideas here by connecting a creature type to the Astrals...but the Foundry have spirits, and I don't really know of a creature type that embodies light itself. So I thought, "Hey, why not introduce a new creature type?" I don't know if we should make the Astrals themselves a creature type, or introduce one for the creatures they create... for now, I'll go with the latter and call them Luminals. The Luminals are creatures made of pure light. As light never stops moving, they all have vigilance. Most of them will have a non-keyworded mechanic representing their special ability: they can create a burst of light from within themselves that blinds their opponents, but if they do, it burns them out quickly. Mechanically, that means Luminals would have something like "[COST]: ~ is unblockable until end of turn. Sacrifice it at end of turn."
Okay, so now for mechanical discussion...
I don't know about Aglow. It seems a LOT like Forecast, and Forecast is solidly a blue mechanic. Then again, it turns out that most light-flavor mechanics fall under blue, weirdly enough. I don't know...I think we need a better fit for the Astrals. The mechanics I came up with before were all shot down for being OP or encouraging turtling... so we need to brainstorm.
While I see nothing wrong with Plot at its core, I do have two concerns about it. The first is that it feels almost no different from creatures that use +1/+1 counters as resources, only overall weaker because they don't get the buffs. The second is that I'm hoping the set will include +1/+1 and/or -1/-1 counters, and I've been yelled at quite a lot for using multiple counter types in the same set...adding a third new one might be even worse...
Carnage is...just an additional cost with no inherent properties? A lot of cards already do that...I'm not sure it's something specific enough to be keyworded...
I like Sear. I just have no idea about its power level. People keep telling me to consider how mechanics would work in Limited, but I only ever play Constructed formats, so I don't know about Limited . If I have a Sear creature out, and I make it a pinger (with something akin to Lavamancer's Skill), I could sit there and exile things all day long with a little power from other cards (which, in red, should not be hard to directly do)... might that be a bit too powerful to be keyworded? It feels to me like it's a good effect for a small handful of creatures, but too strong for a wide number of them.
And just so it doesn't sound like I'm just shooting down your ideas without contributing (I'm sorry!), here are the previous mechanics I thought of for Mentalis, and all the reasons other people said they're terrible >_< :
B
Seance (When this enters the battlefield, you may return target creature card with converted mana cost less than it from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you do, sacrifice this at the beginning of the next end step.)
-- Has been considered OP, and described as "always a clone of your biggest baddie in your graveyard."
Sacrificial (Sacrifice this permanent: cast a creature card from your graveyard as though it had flash.)
-- Apparently, same problem as Seance, except worse because flash.
U
Portent N (Reveal the top N cards of target player’s library. Then you may have that player shuffle his or her library.)
-- Shot down for inducing too much shuffling.
Wisp [COST] ([COST]: Return this permanent to its owner’s hand.)
-- Shot down for being both boring and OP. Described as creating "an unkillable blocker and an uncounterable strategy."
R
Vengefire (Whenever a source deals noncombat damage to you or a permanent you control, this deals 1 damage to that source’s controller.)
-- Shot down because it "feels more white than red, and is too narrow, as it would only really affect red decks."
-- A modified version that removed the noncombat requirement was deemed too powerful...and still too white.
W
Blind [COST] ([COST]: Tap target creature and remove it from combat. Activate this ability only during combat before blockers are declared.)
-- Considered boring as it "encourages people to hold back and block, and is deterministic as you'd always remove their biggest threat."
G
Harmonic [MANA] (Whenever this creature is dealt combat damage, add [MANA] to your mana pool. This mana doesn’t empty from your mana pool until end of turn.)
-- Considered hard to build around.
-- Originally shot down because the "doesn't empty" clause wasn't there (so it didn't work), and after added, no comments were made, so I don't even know what the judgment on this is anymore.
scout N (To scout N, reveal the top N cards of your library. You may put up to one basic land card revealed this way into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.)
-- Considered "good enough for a one-shot, but shouldn't be common enough to keyword."
Harmonize — [COST]: Another target creature gets/gains [SOMETHING] until end of turn. Activate this ability targeting the same creature only once each turn.
-- Based off the Rootwalla ability, but changed to affect other creatures to emphasize the harmonic connection the Shepherds have with each other and with nature.
-- Was told it would "lead to very complex board states" because of remembering which creatures have harmonized with which others...
That they have been >_< . At this moment, every mechanic I've come up with has been shot down, and I'm not sure of the ones that have been suggested. Hence why this is a discussion and community collaboration thread . Development will be collaborative and iterative. If you have any ideas/suggestions, please do contribute
At the moment, the only potentially still-in mechanic is the Luminal ability, which is "[COST]: This creature can't be blocked until end of turn. [Potential other buffs]. Exile it at end of turn." But then, someone over at NGA mentioned that unblockable is more blue than white, while the Luminals are white, so...that may not last long as-is.
There's also the POTENTIAL that the Foundry might use a Soulshift variant that doesn't have the Spirit type requirement...or something along those lines...maybe?
For green: Terraform- target creature you control becomes a copy of target land you control; or target land you control becomes a copy of target creature you control.
This can be a tap ability, or used on instants and sorceries. The idea is to protect your creatures, or to employ your lands.
Woah. The flavor is great, but...that can be very powerful! Just imagine: I have a Worldspine Wurm out, and then I use a cheap thing with Terraform to turn one of my lands into another Worldspine Wurm! If I have 11 mana, I can sacrifice one to end up with two 15/15 tramplers that, when they die, make 3 5/5 tramplers, leaving me with size 5/5 tramplers! And then the Worldspine AND the land get shuffled into my library.
As tempting as it is, generic clone effects are usually too powerful to be keyworded.
But, while we're on the subject of looking for a Sherpherd mechanic, here's what we've been discussing over at NGA:
To capture the flavor of being in harmony with each other and with nature, we could do something like Soulbond. But Soulbond is specificall one creature to one creature--not very "connected to everything". So the idea is a variant that lets you repair your bonds at instant speed (as long as you can tap it):
"Linkage [COST] ([COST], T : Link this creature to another unlinked creature. They remain linked for as long as you control both of them and you haven't linked either to another creature.)"
And then, like Soulbond, creatures give themselves and creatures they're linked to bonuses. Like "As long as ~ is linked to another creature, both creatures get/have [stuff]."
I feel it works well, as it has the very essence of "connected", while also letting you move it around to whoever needs it at the time (so you're connected to everyone, not just one other creature). The built-in tap in the cost means that although you can relink at instant speed, you can usually only do it once per turn without combo pieces. I really like it...but what are your ("your" meaning "everyone's") thoughts on this?
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Clockwise from left: Astral by James "If-not-for-Gravity" Henderson, Mesmeric by Jennie "sweetcivic" Yuen, Soulburner by Jessica "ArtLair" Feinberg, Shepherd by Anthony "Ubermonster" Francisco, and Foundry by Sarah "sarahfinnigan" Finnigan
I had an interesting idea for a new block...but then I realized that I will be too busy to focus on even a single set on my own. So then I thought, "Hm, there is an entire community of people who like to help design sets...I should ask them to join!"
So here's the concept: a plane where each faction is dedicated to certain types of psychic abilities. I noticed that there are quite a few different types of psychic powers, so I thought, "let's turn these into flavor and mechanics and make a set from them!"
So the outline of what will be be in this thread (the list below will be linked when we get past Phase I):
I. Story/Flavor of the plane and its factions
II. Mechanics
III. Cards!
Now, I did have a bit of development (like 40 minutes' worth) before realizing I wouldn't have time for a full focus, so here's what I have so far. Subject to immense change as we discuss it, of course; consider this a jumping-off point.
Again, those are JUST what I had and are not at all set in stone. Use them as inspiration as we discuss Mentalis!
For reference, this is the page I was using to get ideas for the factions' flavors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_psychic_abilities . Feel free to mention other psychic abilities if they fit the set!
Let's begin with the story.
What is Mentalis?
What sets it apart from other planes?
Why are all its inhabitants focusing their mana on psychic-type abilities?
Who ARE the inhabitants?
Who are the factions, and what are their psychic specialties?
What's the conflict that we're joining to link the block together?
That should be enough questions to get us started
W White: Photokinesis (psychic manipulation of light and EM radiation), and from the name, potentially astral projection? The idea behind them being the source of all light on the plane is really cool I'm a little worried, thinking ahead, about how that would be at all representable mechanically...but that's a problem for the future
U Blue: The Mesmeric Ones (I kind of like the name The Mesmerics...we should have a vote on names). I like the concept, they just need to be fleshed out. A group of people with deliberate, thought-out plans have as yet been unable to take control. Why? What's stopping them? Just a lack of brute-force? Surely they could manipulate other factions to do their bidding. If we can figure out why they haven't taken over, we can begin touching on the conflict of the block, I'd say.
B Black: Ooh! So it's still mediumship, but with the twist of feeding those souls to an ancient demon? LOVE. Though mechanically, this sounds like it'd be something more like Devour than recursion. Which is fine, I'm sure we can come up with something unique for that. So this cult is just starting to regain its power...who destroyed it in the first place? The Astral Senate? Was it a Light vs Demons kind of thing, or something a bit less cliche? Also, is there more than one demon, or just one Master? Maybe they can bring the Master's minions back first, then they require larger sacrifices for the Master? Maybe even...the blood of the head of the Astral Senate?
R Red: The Soulburns...not sure about the name. That can be tweaked. But I can't believe I forgot about pyrokinesis! I don't know how much I like the idea of red getting very common exile, but fire-based spells and abilities could definitely work. Red likes combat, which makes it a little difficult to design for in a set where direct combat isn't emphasized (because psychic powers rule over hand-to-hand)... but maybe we could have something that deals with noncombat damage triggers? Gah, look at me, slipping into mechanic design again >_< . Back to story! So raiders, and I'm assuming pillagers and thugs as well. The kinds of people you wouldn't want to run into on the street. In fact, I think they'd be the kind of people that others actively avoid, except perhaps the Foundry. They might even be the Foundry's preferred victims, as no one will miss them if they're dead. So there could be a little mini-turf war going on between the Foundry and the Soulburns, with the Foundry constantly killing Soulburns and the Soulburns always out for revenge on them.
G Green: The Silent Shepherds... Sorry, but this is my least favorite idea. I don't see how summoning creatures really relates well to the psychic theme. Unless they're all energy creatures, but that either falls under the Foundry's territory (Spirits) or the Mesmerics (Illusions). One of my original concepts for green was a group that focused their psychic skills on harmonizing with nature. So being "in tune" with their environments and each other. They regard almost every other faction as chaotic and unnecessary. For the most part, they keep to themselves, but they will protect each other at all costs. They have a disliking of all the other factions: white because governmental rule is unnatural restraint, blue because life should conform to nature rather than to other minds, red because they're far too chaotic, and black because life is to be respected and not destroyed. They generally live outside the cities, preferring to keep to each other than to encounter other groups. When we start developing the conflict, I'm thinking that whatever power struggles are going on inside the city walls will lead to problems with the Astral Senate's light production, and this will cause death for many plants on the plane...at which point, the Shepherds will react in kind to protect their environment.
W The Astral Senate: I think that the idea of creating the sun/light for the plane from pure psychic energy resonates very well, and is something we should focus on. Mechanically, I think that a focus on dispelling illusions might be cool, but revealing might work better. Something like....
Astral - Each player reveals his or her hand. For each BLANK revealed this way, EFFECT.
For example:
Sunlight Soldiers 3W
Sorcery
Astral - Each player reveals his or her hand. For each White card revealed this way, put a 1/1 white spirit tokens on to the battlefield.
Then put two 1/1 white spirit tokens on to the battlefield.
U The Mesmeric Ones: The whole concept of master illusionists fits right in with the theme and the color, and their goal of taking over the tour works well. Not certain what we're going to do mechanically though.
B The Foundry of Damnation: Seems like good villains.
r and G : Seem fine, but I'm not certain how they fit into the main story.
The Astral mechanic mentioned is...yeah, a bit pushed. Also, though it fits the flavor of the set, revealing stuff is generally blue and now white. I ran into that issue when I was coming up with ideas for the Astrals' mechanic as well. I guess we're not really following the orderly guidelines I put in the first post, so mechanical discussion is fine >_< . I had an idea for a mechanic that's an activated ability which can only be activated during combat and before blockers. It would tap a target and remove it from combat; basically white's usual "protect me!" mentality mixed with blinding your opponents with manipulated light. But then someone said that's not a good mechanic, so...back to the drawing board.
The R faction, I figured, would fit in as part of their turf war with the Foundry. Also, maybe because of their notoriety and rough-and-tumble attitudes, they're hired as bodyguards for the Astral Senate? (Also, I just noticed how close Astral Senate is to Azorius Senate...so maybe we should have a different collective noun here, if any? Astral House or simply Astrals could work?)
In terms of how the Shepherds would be involved, here's what I was thinking. The power struggle within the city between the Astrals, the Foundry, and the Mesmerics is weakening the light that the Astrals provide. As the light weakens, it affects life across the plane, killing plants and, because of the food chain, destroying life everywhere. The Shepherds feel that such destruction is intolerable, so they venture into the city walls to fight back anyone threatening the Astrals and their life-giving light source.
I'm not sure I like the name Astral Wardens. "Warden" makes me think of a prison, where they're keeping everyone in line just because they don't like trouble. I was think of the Astrals more as a protective government body, trying to keep order so they can help everyone. Hence giving light to the plane. Maybe the Astral Congress? Or the Astral Shield? Astral Guard? Astral Ward? Astral Tribunal? Astral Ministry? (*Synonyms*)
The mechanics already? Well, okay. But first, I just want to throw in a few story aspects I thought up and put them open for discussion. I suppose it's fine for us to work on mechanics and story at the same time...so much for my attempts at organization .
The name "Soulburners/Soulburns" has bugged me since the beginning. Their concept is great, just the name sounds...bad, to me. Maybe that's just me, I don't know. But I did come up with a name I like a lot better: Flamehearts. So I guess we should put that up to a vote: do we all (all three of us, I guess?) like Soulburners, Soulburns, or Flamehearts better? Until we discuss and decide, I'll be referring to them as Flamehearts
I had some ideas of the origins of some creature types on Mentalis.
Whence Come the Myriad Creatures?
Spirits normally pass on through the Darkveil into the afterlife, but because of the Foundry's messing with them to feed them to Joe (we need a better name for him), the Darkveil is unstable. Sometimes the Darkveil will spit out the souls of dead who have already passed over, leading to Spirits; other times, the dead can't even cross it, leading to Ghouls/Zombies.
Earth elementals are similar to golems in that they're created from the earth itself by the Shepherds, and imbued with intelligence as part of the Shepherds' usual harmonic psychic link.
Obviously, Illusions come from the Mesmerics. Also, the Djinn are not natural species on Mentalis. Djinn are Mesmerics who have become so powerful, honed their illusory skills so much, that they seem to bend reality to their will. Of course, it's all still just an illusion, so even though the Djinn provide wish-granting, it's almost always temporary. Usually, they grant the wish until you complete a favor for them, and then they take it away when you're done.
I wanted to complete the cycle of ideas here by connecting a creature type to the Astrals...but the Foundry have spirits, and I don't really know of a creature type that embodies light itself. So I thought, "Hey, why not introduce a new creature type?" I don't know if we should make the Astrals themselves a creature type, or introduce one for the creatures they create... for now, I'll go with the latter and call them Luminals. The Luminals are creatures made of pure light. As light never stops moving, they all have vigilance. Most of them will have a non-keyworded mechanic representing their special ability: they can create a burst of light from within themselves that blinds their opponents, but if they do, it burns them out quickly. Mechanically, that means Luminals would have something like "[COST]: ~ is unblockable until end of turn. Sacrifice it at end of turn."
Okay, so now for mechanical discussion...
While I see nothing wrong with Plot at its core, I do have two concerns about it. The first is that it feels almost no different from creatures that use +1/+1 counters as resources, only overall weaker because they don't get the buffs. The second is that I'm hoping the set will include +1/+1 and/or -1/-1 counters, and I've been yelled at quite a lot for using multiple counter types in the same set...adding a third new one might be even worse...
Carnage is...just an additional cost with no inherent properties? A lot of cards already do that...I'm not sure it's something specific enough to be keyworded...
I like Sear. I just have no idea about its power level. People keep telling me to consider how mechanics would work in Limited, but I only ever play Constructed formats, so I don't know about Limited . If I have a Sear creature out, and I make it a pinger (with something akin to Lavamancer's Skill), I could sit there and exile things all day long with a little power from other cards (which, in red, should not be hard to directly do)... might that be a bit too powerful to be keyworded? It feels to me like it's a good effect for a small handful of creatures, but too strong for a wide number of them.
And just so it doesn't sound like I'm just shooting down your ideas without contributing (I'm sorry!), here are the previous mechanics I thought of for Mentalis, and all the reasons other people said they're terrible >_< :
B
Seance (When this enters the battlefield, you may return target creature card with converted mana cost less than it from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you do, sacrifice this at the beginning of the next end step.)
-- Has been considered OP, and described as "always a clone of your biggest baddie in your graveyard."
Sacrificial (Sacrifice this permanent: cast a creature card from your graveyard as though it had flash.)
-- Apparently, same problem as Seance, except worse because flash.
U
Portent N (Reveal the top N cards of target player’s library. Then you may have that player shuffle his or her library.)
-- Shot down for inducing too much shuffling.
Wisp [COST] ([COST]: Return this permanent to its owner’s hand.)
-- Shot down for being both boring and OP. Described as creating "an unkillable blocker and an uncounterable strategy."
R
Vengefire (Whenever a source deals noncombat damage to you or a permanent you control, this deals 1 damage to that source’s controller.)
-- Shot down because it "feels more white than red, and is too narrow, as it would only really affect red decks."
-- A modified version that removed the noncombat requirement was deemed too powerful...and still too white.
W
Blind [COST] ([COST]: Tap target creature and remove it from combat. Activate this ability only during combat before blockers are declared.)
-- Considered boring as it "encourages people to hold back and block, and is deterministic as you'd always remove their biggest threat."
G
Harmonic [MANA] (Whenever this creature is dealt combat damage, add [MANA] to your mana pool. This mana doesn’t empty from your mana pool until end of turn.)
-- Considered hard to build around.
-- Originally shot down because the "doesn't empty" clause wasn't there (so it didn't work), and after added, no comments were made, so I don't even know what the judgment on this is anymore.
scout N (To scout N, reveal the top N cards of your library. You may put up to one basic land card revealed this way into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.)
-- Considered "good enough for a one-shot, but shouldn't be common enough to keyword."
Harmonize — [COST]: Another target creature gets/gains [SOMETHING] until end of turn. Activate this ability targeting the same creature only once each turn.
-- Based off the Rootwalla ability, but changed to affect other creatures to emphasize the harmonic connection the Shepherds have with each other and with nature.
-- Was told it would "lead to very complex board states" because of remembering which creatures have harmonized with which others...
At the moment, the only potentially still-in mechanic is the Luminal ability, which is "[COST]: This creature can't be blocked until end of turn. [Potential other buffs]. Exile it at end of turn." But then, someone over at NGA mentioned that unblockable is more blue than white, while the Luminals are white, so...that may not last long as-is.
There's also the POTENTIAL that the Foundry might use a Soulshift variant that doesn't have the Spirit type requirement...or something along those lines...maybe?
Please help
This can be a tap ability, or used on instants and sorceries. The idea is to protect your creatures, or to employ your lands.
As tempting as it is, generic clone effects are usually too powerful to be keyworded.
But, while we're on the subject of looking for a Sherpherd mechanic, here's what we've been discussing over at NGA:
To capture the flavor of being in harmony with each other and with nature, we could do something like Soulbond. But Soulbond is specificall one creature to one creature--not very "connected to everything". So the idea is a variant that lets you repair your bonds at instant speed (as long as you can tap it):
"Linkage [COST] ([COST], T : Link this creature to another unlinked creature. They remain linked for as long as you control both of them and you haven't linked either to another creature.)"
And then, like Soulbond, creatures give themselves and creatures they're linked to bonuses. Like "As long as ~ is linked to another creature, both creatures get/have [stuff]."
I feel it works well, as it has the very essence of "connected", while also letting you move it around to whoever needs it at the time (so you're connected to everyone, not just one other creature). The built-in tap in the cost means that although you can relink at instant speed, you can usually only do it once per turn without combo pieces. I really like it...but what are your ("your" meaning "everyone's") thoughts on this?