Ruins of Doharum Expansion Code: [DHM] Tagline: Discover the secrets of the past in the ruins of a ravaged world. Size: 269 (104 Common, 85 Uncommon, 59 Rare, 15 Mythic) Block Structure: Large set + Small set
(Credits to Nick Keller)
Design Goals + Theme
Convey the feeling of a world impacted by a cataclysm, the mystery of an ancient/extinct race, and the artifacts they left behind.
Plot
Coming soon!
Mechanics:
Fortifications - Constitute most of the artifacts in this set, this is the debut of the mechanic, and will have a density of around equipment in Mirrodin.
Holding - Nonbasic land subtype that means a land has “As long as this land is fortified, X.” These show up in the land slot of packs.
Warband (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pair it with an unpaired attacking creature you control until end of turn.)
Lore <cost> (Rather than cast this card, you may pay 2 to put a colorless Relic artifact token onto the battlefield with “Sacrifice this artifact: Cast the sealed card for its lore cost.” and exile this card face down sealed to it.)
Archive <something> - (Exile it. If you would draw a card, you may instead return an archived card to your hand.)
Persist When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.
Main thread will get some major updates/style upgrades soon, just wanted the post out here.
Nerim is a new race of insectoid creatures based in green, that splashes into black.
Not sure if I want U/G to be ramp, it's kind of filler at this point.
Mechanically it looks like I'm at about the maximum amount, though I'm looking for a good way to show upgraded units, that isn't level up/monstrosity variants. I might just have a non-keyworded cycle at common that has one time activated abilities to give a permanent large boost.
Also I have to say I had come up with a defender unleash variant in my head, and looked at the Siege of Ravnica thread recently and thought to myself Entrench is a great name for it, so I stole it. Props to @Apoquallyp for that!
Updated the second post with links to the finished red, artifact, and land commons. I'm not sure what the best format for receiving feedback would be, so I just have images. If people would like I can get the text versions up as well.
Expand is cool, but I think it belongs more to green. Giving red the ability to mana ramp can be dangerous.
Warband - Not sure what pairing does. Does it mean they are just paired? I don't understand what it means to "Pair". Maybe some elaboration?
Fortify - Yea its neat but super OP. I think these need to be scaled back especially for common. I dig them and the idea is neat, but they are game breaking at common. For mythc or rare yea but not at common.
Expand is centered in green around naya colors, but all colors can access it, akin to scry being centered in blue.
Warband is like an attacking version of Soulbond.
Could you give some examples of what exactly is broken about the Fortifications at common? I can see maybe Ancient Library being maybe a bit too good, and Scarland Outpost is sort of pushed at common, but both of those cards require you to commit heavily to one type of basic land in limited (to reap the same name benefits), and this limited environment encourages going two colors and does not have much color fixing. Those cards also require you to give up 1-2 turns worth of tempo, so they probably won't be played too early unless you're heavy into the fortification strategy.
I also forgot to add (but just did) the common nonbasic lands into the artifact album.
Ok, well I think Scarland Outpost is really powerful for a common. You get to untap every upkeep. (To me that seems like a effect that is delegated to a rare rather than a common, but its just one persons opinion) However I do see what you are getting at, and with out knowing the rest of the set or the amount of artifact removal or shenanigans that will be in the set its hard to have a definite answer to why I feel they are overpowered.
This set looks really awesome. I that untapping a land every turn is possible (Urban Burgeoning) but Scarland Outpost might be pushing it. I'm definitely looking forward for the rest!
Added the black commons. A few of the older commons have received changes, but that won't show until I finish all of the commons and do a look over of each one.
I must say that these black commons seem pretty powerful. It's not a bad thing, as long, as you keep all the cards at that level of power.
Also, where do you take art from, if I could ask?
Wholethoroughly god job! I wish to see more of it.
Any cards that just stand out to you as more powerful? I hope to iron it all out after playtesting it, but opinions never hurt!
As for the art I use, unfortunately it's not from a single place. Useful places are obviously DeviantArt, but I have been using Google Image Search (phrasing it - *Subject* Art Fantasy) as well as Pintrest. Finding the right art takes as much or more effort as designing the card, and is a challenge sometimes.
Strategic assault is nonfunctional. You have to designate target before you start casting the spell, and so you can't have the number of target depend on something the card makes you do as part of its effect.
You have multiple common card that involve returning land cards from your library, but you don't have any common that actually put lands there other than via discard. What's up with that?
You do realise what people are actually going to do with all those gold counters in white and black is build decks with as many splashes as they can?
Colorless holdings are very likely to do weird things to the mana bases, especially with those gold counters around. Have you considered a cycle of colored lands instead?
Ancient Library is not a common. It's probably not even an uncommon, being almost a better Seer's Sundial!
What's the point of exiling with Expand over revealing? Since the mechanic does not say "exile face down", the opponent is going to see them anyway.
Strategic assault is nonfunctional. You have to designate target before you start casting the spell, and so you can't have the number of target depend on something the card makes you do as part of its effect.
You have multiple common card that involve returning land cards from your library, but you don't have any common that actually put lands there other than via discard. What's up with that?
You do realise what people are actually going to do with all those gold counters in white and black is build decks with as many splashes as they can?
Colorless holdings are very likely to do weird things to the mana bases, especially with those gold counters around. Have you considered a cycle of colored lands instead?
Ancient Library is not a common. It's probably not even an uncommon, being almost a better Seer's Sundial!
What's the point of exiling with Expand over revealing? Since the mechanic does not say "exile face down", the opponent is going to see them anyway.
1. Yeah I need to update the earlier galleries, namely everything before black commons. Lots of changes and Strategic Assault doesn't exist anymore.
2. What do you mean multiple commons cards returning lands from the library? I don't think I understand your statement.
3. Gold is definitely a tricky thing to work with. Most of the gold producers at common/uncommon cost at least 4 (with a heavy color cost) or have a condition that needs to be met to provide the gold first. I'm going to be evaluating this through playtests but I'm hoping it'll work out and it's ok if they end up splashing one off color bomb. There will also be a decent amount of artifact destruction/bounce spread around so splashing something completely offcolor might just be a bad idea.
4. Don't worry! The only colorless holdings are the three commons ones (one which fixes colors when fortified), all higher rarity Holdings tap for colors.
5. I forgot about the Sundial, woops. Originally this card just scryed, and I bumped it up, but it might be way too powerful. I'll bump back down to scrying.
6. Expand now reveals, and that's reflected in the first post. All the cards will get updated after I post the blue commons.
Updated second post with White, Red, Artifact, and Land commons! Green is all that's left to go.
So I've posted all of these so far on reddit as some of you may know, so all of these cards are going to go through one more iteration of changes based on feedback, then I'll try to get playtests going to get some real data.
Updated second post with a full visual spoiler of all completed commons!
Edit: A few discrepencies,
1. Druid Outrider mana cost should be 2R.
2. Volcanic Turmoil's mana cost should be 3R.
3. Runestone Elemental's effect should untap target creature, not permanent.
Long overdue update! This set has gone through a top to bottom mechanical overhaul, and all commons have now been redone. Check the second post for the image gallery!
Things to note:
1. I consider cards over four lines of text to be redflagged. This is a point of contention with some designers, but I'm fine with a slightly more complex set.
2. Holdings do not take a common slot. Instead they can be found in the land slot. Think land slots in zendikar or flip cards in the land slot in innistrad.
3. This is what I will be considering the first draft. These cards are obviously not final, and some cards will need rarity shifts or complete redesigns I'm sure as playtesting will show.
4. The wording for Lore is still in flux, I've just used this version for consistency.
5. If people are interested, I can make a cockatrice plugin for an all common draft test. I was personally thinking in waiting until I get the commons done, but it might be nice to see what works and what doesn't before that. What are peoples thoughts on this? If we were to do this I imagine we could draft up deck lists for each color pair and play them against each other.
Ruins of Doharum is now ready for playtesting! Updated the second post with the PlaneSculptor link containing a gallery of card images as well and the set's cockatrice files!
Expansion Code: [DHM]
Tagline: Discover the secrets of the past in the ruins of a ravaged world.
Size: 269 (104 Common, 85 Uncommon, 59 Rare, 15 Mythic)
Block Structure: Large set + Small set
(Credits to Nick Keller)
Convey the feeling of a world impacted by a cataclysm, the mystery of an ancient/extinct race, and the artifacts they left behind.
Plot
Fortifications - Constitute most of the artifacts in this set, this is the debut of the mechanic, and will have a density of around equipment in Mirrodin.
Holding - Nonbasic land subtype that means a land has “As long as this land is fortified, X.” These show up in the land slot of packs.
Warband (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pair it with an unpaired attacking creature you control until end of turn.)
Lore <cost> (Rather than cast this card, you may pay 2 to put a colorless Relic artifact token onto the battlefield with “Sacrifice this artifact: Cast the sealed card for its lore cost.” and exile this card face down sealed to it.)
Archive <something> - (Exile it. If you would draw a card, you may instead return an archived card to your hand.)
Persist When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.
Archetypes:
UW - Gating (Returning permanents to hand)
BW - Persist Matters/-1/-1 counters Matter
RW - Dwarf Tribal/Artifact ETB subtheme
GW - Fortify Matters
RB - Warband Matters
UB - Lore Matters
UG - Archive Matters
UR - Artifacts Matter
GR - Land Count Matters/Elemental Tribal subtheme
GB - Sacrifice Matters/Insect Tribal subtheme
PlaneSculptors Drafting Link (Contains Cockatrice files) - August 13 Update
Main thread will get some major updates/style upgrades soon, just wanted the post out here.
Nerim is a new race of insectoid creatures based in green, that splashes into black.
Not sure if I want U/G to be ramp, it's kind of filler at this point.
Mechanically it looks like I'm at about the maximum amount, though I'm looking for a good way to show upgraded units, that isn't level up/monstrosity variants. I might just have a non-keyworded cycle at common that has one time activated abilities to give a permanent large boost.
Also I have to say I had come up with a defender unleash variant in my head, and looked at the Siege of Ravnica thread recently and thought to myself Entrench is a great name for it, so I stole it. Props to @Apoquallyp for that!
Warband - Not sure what pairing does. Does it mean they are just paired? I don't understand what it means to "Pair". Maybe some elaboration?
Fortify - Yea its neat but super OP. I think these need to be scaled back especially for common. I dig them and the idea is neat, but they are game breaking at common. For mythc or rare yea but not at common.
Cool idea man, keep it up.
Warband is like an attacking version of Soulbond.
Could you give some examples of what exactly is broken about the Fortifications at common? I can see maybe Ancient Library being maybe a bit too good, and Scarland Outpost is sort of pushed at common, but both of those cards require you to commit heavily to one type of basic land in limited (to reap the same name benefits), and this limited environment encourages going two colors and does not have much color fixing. Those cards also require you to give up 1-2 turns worth of tempo, so they probably won't be played too early unless you're heavy into the fortification strategy.
I also forgot to add (but just did) the common nonbasic lands into the artifact album.
Any cards that just stand out to you as more powerful? I hope to iron it all out after playtesting it, but opinions never hurt!
As for the art I use, unfortunately it's not from a single place. Useful places are obviously DeviantArt, but I have been using Google Image Search (phrasing it - *Subject* Art Fantasy) as well as Pintrest. Finding the right art takes as much or more effort as designing the card, and is a challenge sometimes.
2. What do you mean multiple commons cards returning lands from the library? I don't think I understand your statement.
3. Gold is definitely a tricky thing to work with. Most of the gold producers at common/uncommon cost at least 4 (with a heavy color cost) or have a condition that needs to be met to provide the gold first. I'm going to be evaluating this through playtests but I'm hoping it'll work out and it's ok if they end up splashing one off color bomb. There will also be a decent amount of artifact destruction/bounce spread around so splashing something completely offcolor might just be a bad idea.
4. Don't worry! The only colorless holdings are the three commons ones (one which fixes colors when fortified), all higher rarity Holdings tap for colors.
5. I forgot about the Sundial, woops. Originally this card just scryed, and I bumped it up, but it might be way too powerful. I'll bump back down to scrying.
6. Expand now reveals, and that's reflected in the first post. All the cards will get updated after I post the blue commons.
Thanks for the feedback!
So I've posted all of these so far on reddit as some of you may know, so all of these cards are going to go through one more iteration of changes based on feedback, then I'll try to get playtests going to get some real data.
Any feedback is appreciated!
Edit: Added Green Commons
Edit: A few discrepencies,
1. Druid Outrider mana cost should be 2R.
2. Volcanic Turmoil's mana cost should be 3R.
3. Runestone Elemental's effect should untap target creature, not permanent.
Things to note:
1. I consider cards over four lines of text to be redflagged. This is a point of contention with some designers, but I'm fine with a slightly more complex set.
2. Holdings do not take a common slot. Instead they can be found in the land slot. Think land slots in zendikar or flip cards in the land slot in innistrad.
3. This is what I will be considering the first draft. These cards are obviously not final, and some cards will need rarity shifts or complete redesigns I'm sure as playtesting will show.
4. The wording for Lore is still in flux, I've just used this version for consistency.
5. If people are interested, I can make a cockatrice plugin for an all common draft test. I was personally thinking in waiting until I get the commons done, but it might be nice to see what works and what doesn't before that. What are peoples thoughts on this? If we were to do this I imagine we could draft up deck lists for each color pair and play them against each other.
Let me know what you think!