I have to say, I like the idea of +1/+1 counters on the Santa faction cards and -1/-1 counters on the Tatiana faction cards. I know that Wizards has a "don't cross the streams" policy in place about this, but the mirroring of the two sounds sexy (in theory).
It's very sexy in theory, and I've been wickedly tempted to do it. I think this set might be able to justify it if it tried to hide it under the idea "use red and green counters, red for -1/-1 and green for +1/+1... it's christmasy!"
Ideally though, I'd rather not cross that bridge until we know we have to.
Thanks for the comments everybody. I am too busy to fix them but I will start to make more- I was going to make gingerbeard cards but no pictures were available- I really take time to find pictures and I think that splitting Frostborn Giant up is a good idea. I do want to keep the counters on him though. What about taking away haste and trample and giving it shroud.
Shroud doesn't fit within modern card design at all. Hexproof is the best you can do.
As for what you should do Niko, I think there's no point rushing a vote until people have contributed several iterations of cards to work on. After all, it's not like we're on a deadline for these cards. Keeping this thread open for general-purpose suggestions and brainstorming about cards feels like a good idea - while more specific threads can handle the proper progression of the set that need to get worked out in order.
Don't have time for in-depth comments right now, but a few notes on the giant.
1) Counting your AND your opponents' creatures is bad gameplay. It randomly gets better in some matchups which you have no control over and makes you not want to kill their snow creatures - which is just odd. Lorwyn learned Onslaught's lesson about affecting ALL things of a type in play. Only have it count your creatures.
2) There's no such thing as a +3/+3 counter. You have to do it with +1/+1 counters - which is fine. Just put three of them on there. However, there isn't much point to that... It's already a huge creature that killthe the opponent (unblockably) in two sings. You'd have to activate the ability 3-4 times to make a meaningful difference.
1) Frostborn Giant is in the wrong colors right now. Green is the color of growth, so if you want a creature to put lots of +1/+1 counters on itself it shouldbe a green creature (there are TONS of examples of green creatures doing this, mostly hydras, and very few examples of blue or white doing this in modern card design).
2) In a creature that can put counters on itself, it needs to start smaller than 10 power. There's no point putting counters on what's already the biggest creature in the format (likely). Put counters on mid-sized creatures or small creatures to help them grow bigger. Putting counters on something that large is just win-more.
3) Frostborn mage also has some color issues. Making tons of tokens isn't blue's thing - it does that VERY rarely. Even Master of Waves makes much more temporary tokens and it's on a mythic rare (which get to break color rules more than other rarities). Also, temporarily making your creatures snowy is an interesting effect and it synergizes with the token production - which is cool - but it doesn't have great gameplay (because in a snow-matters deck, your creatures should already have the snow type).
4) Northern Marauder is also in the wrong colors. Mana rituals are red, not green or blue. You based it off tat RG 2/2 (forget the name), which was red so... It works there. Te design seems clunky at first, because there is no obvious flavorful synergy between the abilities, but I like how you can play it early to drop a buc of gurs or play it late to power up your army. Well designed on that level. It's worth noting that blue can untap lands, so that might be a way to keep it in green/blue. It'd be nice if it tied to the snow-flavor in some way though (such as only untapping snow lands).
5) Blue doesn't get to put +1/+1 counters on things, so this doesn't work. Also, compare to Gavony Township for the relative power level of the effect. Something like it can work, but without a tap effect build in you can just tap all your lands and put a billion counters on all your guys. Making it a tap ability works a lot better.
Conclusion
A lot of neat ideas, and one very sweet card concept (the marauder plays perfectly into solving practical gameplay needs, which is rare to see). If you want to take your work to the next level, check out Mark Rosewater's articles on the color pie to fit your ideas inside magic's rules.
Alright guys. I know we have not been very active lately but I just made a thread for commons( by Stairc's request) It can be found here or at the beginning of the thread.
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GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Ideally though, I'd rather not cross that bridge until we know we have to.
Remaking Magic - A Podcast for those that love MTG and Game Design
The Dungeon Master's Guide - A Podcast for those that love RPGs and Game Design
Sig-Heroes of the Plane
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Remaking Magic - A Podcast for those that love MTG and Game Design
The Dungeon Master's Guide - A Podcast for those that love RPGs and Game Design
Sig-Heroes of the Plane
Edit: I took it down. Nevermind
Remaking Magic - A Podcast for those that love MTG and Game Design
The Dungeon Master's Guide - A Podcast for those that love RPGs and Game Design
Sig-Heroes of the Plane
As for what you should do Niko, I think there's no point rushing a vote until people have contributed several iterations of cards to work on. After all, it's not like we're on a deadline for these cards. Keeping this thread open for general-purpose suggestions and brainstorming about cards feels like a good idea - while more specific threads can handle the proper progression of the set that need to get worked out in order.
Remaking Magic - A Podcast for those that love MTG and Game Design
The Dungeon Master's Guide - A Podcast for those that love RPGs and Game Design
Sig-Heroes of the Plane
1) Counting your AND your opponents' creatures is bad gameplay. It randomly gets better in some matchups which you have no control over and makes you not want to kill their snow creatures - which is just odd. Lorwyn learned Onslaught's lesson about affecting ALL things of a type in play. Only have it count your creatures.
2) There's no such thing as a +3/+3 counter. You have to do it with +1/+1 counters - which is fine. Just put three of them on there. However, there isn't much point to that... It's already a huge creature that killthe the opponent (unblockably) in two sings. You'd have to activate the ability 3-4 times to make a meaningful difference.
Remaking Magic - A Podcast for those that love MTG and Game Design
The Dungeon Master's Guide - A Podcast for those that love RPGs and Game Design
Sig-Heroes of the Plane
1) Frostborn Giant is in the wrong colors right now. Green is the color of growth, so if you want a creature to put lots of +1/+1 counters on itself it shouldbe a green creature (there are TONS of examples of green creatures doing this, mostly hydras, and very few examples of blue or white doing this in modern card design).
2) In a creature that can put counters on itself, it needs to start smaller than 10 power. There's no point putting counters on what's already the biggest creature in the format (likely). Put counters on mid-sized creatures or small creatures to help them grow bigger. Putting counters on something that large is just win-more.
3) Frostborn mage also has some color issues. Making tons of tokens isn't blue's thing - it does that VERY rarely. Even Master of Waves makes much more temporary tokens and it's on a mythic rare (which get to break color rules more than other rarities). Also, temporarily making your creatures snowy is an interesting effect and it synergizes with the token production - which is cool - but it doesn't have great gameplay (because in a snow-matters deck, your creatures should already have the snow type).
4) Northern Marauder is also in the wrong colors. Mana rituals are red, not green or blue. You based it off tat RG 2/2 (forget the name), which was red so... It works there. Te design seems clunky at first, because there is no obvious flavorful synergy between the abilities, but I like how you can play it early to drop a buc of gurs or play it late to power up your army. Well designed on that level. It's worth noting that blue can untap lands, so that might be a way to keep it in green/blue. It'd be nice if it tied to the snow-flavor in some way though (such as only untapping snow lands).
5) Blue doesn't get to put +1/+1 counters on things, so this doesn't work. Also, compare to Gavony Township for the relative power level of the effect. Something like it can work, but without a tap effect build in you can just tap all your lands and put a billion counters on all your guys. Making it a tap ability works a lot better.
Conclusion
A lot of neat ideas, and one very sweet card concept (the marauder plays perfectly into solving practical gameplay needs, which is rare to see). If you want to take your work to the next level, check out Mark Rosewater's articles on the color pie to fit your ideas inside magic's rules.
Remaking Magic - A Podcast for those that love MTG and Game Design
The Dungeon Master's Guide - A Podcast for those that love RPGs and Game Design
Sig-Heroes of the Plane
Creature-Elemental
R: Coal Elemental deals 1 damage to target creature with a counter on it
2/3