This is a thread in which I try to make several card sets based off of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere. It's currently a colaboration between me and Sperlman. You're welcome to join us, especially if you are a fan of Sanderson's works.
I'm trying to capture the flavor of the the Cosmere. This is an ambitious project, to say the least. Currently, We are planning on making a set out of each book. This puts the current tally at 10 sets: Two Stormlight Archive, 6 Mistborn, 1 Elantris, 1 Warbreaker, 1 White Sand, and 1 Arcanum Unbounded (Cosmere short stories). White Sand and Arcanum Unbounded aren't out yet, which puts them on the back burner. There are several planned Cosmere books in the future, however, so these numbers will change in the future. This is, to say the least, a very ambitious project. It won't be finished for years. If you want to brush up on Cosmere info and lore, visit the Coppermind.
Each setting will have its own theme. Stormlight Archive will focus on enchantments and legendary creatures, and have a minor artifact subtheme. Mistborn will focus more heavily on artifacts, and also have a minor white vs black mechanic. Elantris will be sorcery and instant focused, and Warbreaker will have a focus on colors. Arcanum Unbounded will be something like a core set. I haven't decided on what to do with White Sand yet, which is okay, as the book is currently unpublished. They will all share a new keyword, Invest, which will reflect the fact that all Cosmere magic systems are derived from the same underlying power.
Invest: This is the Cosmere mechanic. All Cosmere magic systems work by channeling a magical power source called Investiture. The variety of different magic systems means that Invest has to have a lot of design space. Currently, the format is something like this.
(pay cost): Invest (Put an investiture counters on this permanent.)
Remove X investiture counters: Some effect.
The effect could be anything form reducing costs, to dealing damage, to drawing cards. It should be generic enough to do quite a bit of flavorful stuff with it. The mechanic will be abundant across all colors. A fair amount of investing will be done with mana, but there are a number of other ways it can be accomplished. Also, each world's variety of magic user will come with it's new creature sub-type.
There are 15 legends in each set: 5 mono-colored rare, 5 mono-colored mythics, and 5 dual-colored mythics. This makes 30 total for the block, which is a lot, but not unreasonably so.
This block is a two set block, with one set based on The Way of Kings, and set two based on Words of Radiance. There will be several new creature types, and a couple of new mechanics. Themes will be enchantments matter, and there will also be a minor focus on artifacts.
Creature types: Surgebinder: A type of creature class. This represents Roshar's most prevalent "good guy" magic system, specifically, the Radiants. Surgebinders will more than likely be multicolored, and most will be legendary. Spren: The ethereal, faerie like creatures that populate Roshar. They are something of a combination of Faeries and Spirits. All Spren will be enchantment creatures. Listener: The Listeners (Parshendi) are a group of humanoid creatures living on Roshar. They will be largely Jund (BRG) in color. Voidbringer: The baddies. Splinters of Odium, they are similar to spren, but much, much more evil. They will be Grixis (UBR) colored
Some mechanics for the entire block include;
Double Faced Cards: Several aspects of Stormlight lore fit well with this, like Surgebinders speaking their oaths, and gaining more powers, and spren transforming into Shardblades. Parshendi would also be double faced, to represent their different forms. Fortifications: Why not? It would go well with the war-like nature of the Alethi and Veden peoples. They would be used sparingly, though.
This will be based mostly on the first Stormlight book, and will feature the allied color mechanics.
Mechanics: WU: Bestow
The first of the Spren oriented mechanics. It represents the Spren's magical nature. UB: Fateseal
Represents the sneaky political machinations of the Alethi nobility, and the dangerous workings of the various secret societies on Roshar. BR: Antagonize
Antagonize N (Whenever a creature card becomes the target of a spell or ability, this creature gets +N/+N until end of turn)
This is a primarily Parshendi mechanic, and represents their fierce reactions to disturbing bodies of the dead. RG: Formshift
Formshift (You may transform this card whenever you invest a permanent)
This represents the Parshendi changing forms. In the books, the Parshendi change forms by bonding with a Spren during a highstorm. Highstorms are represented in game with investing. GW: Devout
Devout - As long as you control an enchantment, ____)
This is the humans' mechanic. It gives effects for controlling enchantments, and represents the strong influence of religion in the societies of western Roshar.
The legendary creatures in Way of Kings are:
Rare: Teft, Grizzled VeteranW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Axies, the CollectorU
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter Tvlakv, Slave MerchantB
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue Moash, Defiant BridgemanR
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Rysn, Merchant ApprenticeG
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor
Mythic: Elhokar, King of AlethkarW
Legendary Creature - Human Coward Syl, HonorsprenU / Syl, WindbladeC
Legendary Creature - Spren / Enchantment Artifact - Equipment Pattern, CrypticsprenB / Pattern, CrypticbladeC
Legendary Creature - Spren / Enchantment Artifact - Equipment Kaladin, Resolute BridgeleaderR / Kaladin StormblessedWU
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder Rock, Hulking UnkalakiG
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Shallan Davar, Royal WardGW / Shallan, Wayfinder of UrithiruGW
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder Hoid, the King's WitRU / Hoid, the DrifterRU
Legendary Creature - Advisor / Planeswalker - Hoid Sadeas, Treacherous HighprinceUB
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor Kabsal, Deceptive ArdentBG
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric Adolin, Duelist AdeptRW
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior
Based on the second book, and also feature enemy mechanics.
WB: Something to represent the sacrifices that need to be made to survive the desolation? BG: Stormcall
Another Parshendi mechanic, it will represent them summoning the Everstorm GU: Something to represent cultivation, and possibly Old Magic UR: Something related to artifacts and invest. RW: Either Battalion or Battle Cry. This would be another human mechanic, this time focused on soldiers.
The legendary creatures in Words of Radiance are:
Rare: Gallant,Steed of the BlackthornW
Legendary Creature - Horse Navani, ArtifabrianU
Legendary Creature - Human Artificer Amaram, Ruthless BrightlordB
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Venli, Scholar of FormsR / Venli of the StormRG
Legendary Creature - Listener Advisor / Legendary Creature - Listener Voidbringer Sureblood, Duelist's SteedG
Legendary Creature - Horse
Mythic: Talenel'at, the StonesinewW
Legendary Creature - Human Renarin, Frail BrightlordU / Renarin, Esoteric WatcherGU
Legendary Creature - Human / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder Nalan, Blade of JudgementB / Nalan, Blade of LawW
Legendary Creature - Human / Legendary Creature - Human Taravangian, Mad KingR / Taravangian, Silent GathererU
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor / Legendary Creature - Human Advisor Relu-na, Wandering IslandG
Legendary Creature - Beast
Dalinar, Uniter of NationsWU / Dalinar, the OathbringerRW
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder Eshonai, Champion of NarakBR / Eshonai, Everstorm InstrumentBR
Legendary Creature - Listener Warrior / Legendary Creature - Listener Voidbringer Lift, Wandering UrchinRG / Lift, Baffling ThiefBG
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder Szeth, Assassin in WhiteWB / Szeth, Truthless RestoredWB
Legendary Creature - Human Assassin / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder Jasnah, Scholar of KharbranthGU / Jasnah, Heretical ElsecallerUB
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Limited archetypes will be two colored, and look something like this.
WU Enchantments matter control. Spren would be a major component. UB Attrition style contro. Would use darker Spren, along with rogues BR Parshendi and Voidbringer themed aggro. Possibly with a strong suicide component. RG Transform matters. Another Parshendi themed build. GW Tokens, powered by humans and Spren. WB Enchantments aggro. BG Ramp. Greatshells and other Rosharan nasties. GU Hand matters. Scholarly themed. UR Artifacts Matter. Based on the fabrials of Roshar. RW Soldier tribal aggro. The Alethi armies.
Surgebinding: The 10 surges that make up surgebinding would each be tri-colored, allowing the characters who use them to have different color identities depending on where they are in their character arcs. Each Surgebinder would only have two colors at a time.
Both Mistborn blocks will have a heavy focus on artifacts. Invest would require artifacts to charge, which might mean using artifact lands to make a stable base for the ability. This will be a three set block.
New creature types would include: Allomancer Feruchemist
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I'm only familiar with the Mistborn series (only phase 1, have been meaning to start phase 2 for some time now), so I must say I'm interested to see how you capture Allomancy and Feruchemy in card form.
I'm still working on those. I have an few ideas for a new mechanic called "invest," which I hope to be able to use for several different Cosmere magic systems, including Feruchemy. Still working on Allomancy. Any input you have on this would be much appreciated.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I'm thinking of trying a Mistborn block. Maybe you could use investiture counters, and different creatures get them in different ways? For example, maybe an allomancer would have"1: put an investiture counter on ~. Spend only mana produced by an artifact to activate this ability." to represent digesting metals. Then they could remove these counters for an ability, say, a Coinshot or Lightweaver gaining flying until end of turn. That's what I plan to do.
I'm thinking of trying a Mistborn block. Maybe you could use investiture counters, and different creatures get them in different ways? For example, maybe an allomancer would have"1: put an investiture counter on ~. Spend only mana produced by an artifact to activate this ability." to represent digesting metals. Then they could remove these counters for an ability, say, a Coinshot or Lightweaver gaining flying until end of turn. That's what I plan to do.
Exactly, something like that. There would be a number of different ways to charge investiture, and a number of different ways to use it. A Feruchemist, for example, could get a +X/+X buff (pewter) or vigilance (tin) or first strike (steel). Other magic systems could use this. Windrunner squads could use something similar to represent their "powering up" on stormlight. It could also be applied to BioChroma and Awakening.
I think for Allomancers, we could get away with it requiring C to add a charge/investiture counter. What do you think.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I would recommend the artifact restriction or something similar (maybe tap an untapped artifact?) rather than C to avoid encroaching on the Eldrazi flavor.
As for specific abilities:
Steel:
Pinging creatures (coinshot) or gaining flying (pushing off of coins on ground)
Iron:
Untapping and tapping artifacts?
Pewter:
+X/+X sounds like a good idea.
Tin:
Vigilance works, or maybe just remove a counter to untap?
Zinc:
Force creatures to attack this turn if able?
Brass:
Tap creatures? Temporarily pacify creatures?
Copper:
Gives allomancers hexproof?
Bronze:
Removes hexproof?
Atium:
Scry?
Gold:
Mill opponent? Fateseal?
I would recommend the artifact restriction or something similar (maybe tap an untapped artifact?) rather than C to avoid encroaching on the Eldrazi flavor.
I'm not sure I would be. Judging by the three new colorless lands, the C would seem to be here to stay. Besides, that symbol is a lot less wordy than "Spend only mana produced by an artifact to activate this ability," which frees up a significant amount of space on the card. This would also work well flavor wise with pre-Ascension Scadrial, with the blasted landscape and all. It wouldn't look out of place on a Wastes card.
This actually gives me an idea for a cycle of non-basic lands on Scadrial, something like this.
Stunted Woods
Land - Forest T: Add C to your mana pool. T: Add CG to your mana pool.
As for specific abilities:
Steel:
Pinging creatures (coinshot) or gaining flying (pushing off of coins on ground)
Iron:
Untapping and tapping artifacts?
Pewter:
+X/+X sounds like a good idea.
Tin:
Vigilance works, or maybe just remove a counter to untap?
Zinc:
Force creatures to attack this turn if able?
Brass:
Tap creatures? Temporarily pacify creatures?
Copper:
Gives allomancers hexproof?
Bronze:
Removes hexproof?
Atium:
Scry?
Gold:
Mill opponent? Fateseal?
Ooh, I like those. Not sure how they'd all fit on the same card though...
Edit: If you want to get a rough idea of how much space stuff will take up on a card, try making a mockup on Cardsmith: http://mtgcardsmith.com/
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
About colorless: It has replaced generic mana completely as far as production is concerned, but will only be used in costs when flavorfully appropriate. Otherwise, generic mana will stay for costs. Note that no card in SoI required colorless as a cost.
About card space: This will be a problem for mistborn, but mistings will only have one ability. For example: Coinshot Adept1R
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Put an investiture counter on ~.
Remove ab investiture counter from ~: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature. Activate this ability only once each turn.
2/1
But yeah, for mistborn it's an issue.
Any chance I could join the design team for the Stormlight block? If you want to see previous designs, my most recent completed set is here: Fellowship of the Ring
And here's a work in progress (second set of the same block): Khazad-dûm
About colorless: It has replaced generic mana completely as far as production is concerned, but will only be used in costs when flavorfully appropriate. Otherwise, generic mana will stay for costs. Note that no card in SoI required colorless as a cost.
About card space: This will be a problem for mistborn, but mistings will only have one ability. For example: Coinshot Adept1R
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Put an investiture counter on ~.
Remove ab investiture counter from ~: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature. Activate this ability only once each turn.
2/1
But yeah, for mistborn it's an issue.
Yeah, mistings would be fine. Even the twinborn from the Wax and Wayne era would be doable. The Mistborns just wouldn't be possible. We might have to pick and choose abilities for Vin and Kel.
Regarding the colorless mana: We would only use it to charge up Allomatic abilities. No cards would have it in their cost. That said, if we just limit to "tap an untapped artifact you control," we might be able to get away with it. We could potentially do artifact lands, which might help it work. I also think we can keyword it as "Invest X," which would save some space on cards. We could also use the mechanic for other magic systems. It would look something like this:
Pewterarm Brute1G
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Invest 1
Remove an investiture counter from Pewterarm Brute: Pewterarm Brute gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1/2
Any chance I could join the design team for the Stormlight block? If you want to see previous designs, my most recent completed set is here: Fellowship of the Ring
And here's a work in progress (second set of the same block): Khazad-dûm
All you had to say were the words "Designed Lotr Magic." Welcome aboard. I'm assuming you're decently familiar with the Cosmere. Just look around the Coppermind if you need random inspiration. http://coppermind.net/wiki/Coppermind:Welcome
As you have probably seen above, I'm working on a couple of broader ideas for the set, and I already have several individual card designs down.
Food for thought: Perhaps we could add magic system subtypes, i.e Human Allomancer, Human Surgebinder, etc.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
That's a good idea. That way we can have type-specific interactions like Copper mistings granting hexproof specifically to Allomancers. So is the first block specifically stormlight focused? I'm very familiar with Roshar and Scadrial and I'm reading Warbreaker now, and I'm generally familiar with the overall concepts (shards, investiture, worldhoppers, etc.). By the way, will worldhoppers be planeswalkers? Also, how will the block be divided? Is set 1 the Way of Kings and set 2 the Words of Radiance, or is the entire block focused on Way of Kings?
That's a good idea. That way we can have type-specific interactions like Copper mistings granting hexproof specifically to Allomancers. So is the first block specifically stormlight focused? I'm very familiar with Roshar and Scadrial and I'm reading Warbreaker now, and I'm generally familiar with the overall concepts (shards, investiture, worldhoppers, etc.). By the way, will worldhoppers be planeswalkers? Also, how will the block be divided? Is set 1 the Way of Kings and set 2 the Words of Radiance, or is the entire block focused on Way of Kings?
I haven't really put that much thought into dividing sets and stuff. My current thinking is a three set block, one on Stormlight, one on Mistborn, and one on everything else. We'll see how it goes. As it stands, the Stormlight set won't likely be finished until at least Oathbringer comes out, which will be in late 2017. The Mistborn set will almost certainly be finished first. Even though I've made up several cards, I only have a general idea of how I want this to go overall. What do you think we should do?
As for worldhoppers, you pretty much read my mind. Hoid is the obvious one, as well as a certain character from Warbreaker.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I would recommend doing two-set blocks and keeping each block focused on a single world. That way synergies specific to that world can be explored more (enchantments on Roshar, artifacts on Scadrial, etc.) Personally, I generally give each book its own two-set block to fit in more characters without overloading on legends a-la-Kamigawa. That way you can fit 20-25 legends from one book as opposed to 10-15 per book if each set is a book. And yes, I think I know who said worldhopper is - does he appear in the Words of Radiance as well, as an Alethi soldier (trying not to give spoilers by being vague)? If so, we've got at least 3 'walkers for Roshar - Hoid, Demoux (shows up in an interlude in book one) and the aforementioned walker from Warbreaker. I like what you've got so far for Stormlight, but I think Transformation should be blue - things like Master Transmuter and Jalira, Master Polymorphist suggest this. It would also fix the Jasnah problem. Since so little is known abot Tension, maybe we could make it black?
I would recommend doing two-set blocks and keeping each block focused on a single world. That way synergies specific to that world can be explored more (enchantments on Roshar, artifacts on Scadrial, etc.) Personally, I generally give each book its own two-set block to fit in more characters without overloading on legends a-la-Kamigawa. That way you can fit 20-25 legends from one book as opposed to 10-15 per book if each set is a book. And yes, I think I know who said worldhopper is - does he appear in the Words of Radiance as well, as an Alethi soldier (trying not to give spoilers by being vague)? If so, we've got at least 3 'walkers for Roshar - Hoid, Demoux (shows up in an interlude in book one) and the aforementioned walker from Warbreaker. I like what you've got so far for Stormlight, but I think Transformation should be blue - things like Master Transmuter and Jalira, Master Polymorphist suggest this. It would also fix the Jasnah problem. Since so little is known abot Tension, maybe we could make it black?
The other two characters with Demoux are also worldhoppers, one from Elantris, one from White Sand. There is also another prominent worldhopper from White Sand.
Yeah, you have an excellent point. More blocks means more characters, and there are certainly enough of those in the Cosmere. One set per books seems about right for Stormlight, but might be a bit too much for Mistborn. Elantris and Warbreaker would each get their own set then. At this point, I give up on dividing them into coherent blocks.
Regarding the Transformation, well, I based that around Jasnah's use of Soulcasting in the alley way. Exchanging of resources is a typically black area, and it especially fits with the flavor of Jasnah using it to kill a person. Also, switching Tension and Transformation would throw everything out of balance. For example, it would make Surgebinder Dalinar blue and black, which is even worse than blue and red. I don't know. I'll take another look at aligning the orders with wedges and shards. On the other hand, if we are splitting Stormlight across two sets, we could do two versions of some characters, i.e. Blackthorn Dalinar & Bondsmith Dalinar, Scholar Jasnah and Elsecaller Jasnah, Bridgeman Kaladin and Windrunner Kaladin, etc.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
That's another thing I like about blocks spanning one book, it lets you show changes in characters, like bridgeman to Radiant. What do you think about making each surge three colors and then choosing one color from each of a character's Surges for that character's identity?
That's another thing I like about blocks spanning one book, it lets you show changes in characters, like bridgeman to Radiant. What do you think about making each surge three colors and then choosing one color from each of a character's Surges for that character's identity?
Ooh, I like this. Different states for different character moments. A more aggressive Kalladin, versus a more protective Kaladin. Scholar Jasnah, verses the darker side we saw in the alley. Wonderful idea. This also helps with the larger scheme of things, since the "Paragon Radiants" Will now be spread out across at *least* 10 sets. I will add this to the OP, once I get it rearranged and stuff.
Edit: In the mean time, I'm going to take a look at what one set a book will do for us legends-wise. If it's too limited, I'll switch to two sets per book.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
Cool. As for limited archetypes, were you thinking two- or three-colored? If we did two-color archetypes, my ideas are:
WU Enchantments Matter (controlling) UB Pure Control, Attrition-style BR Parshendi-themed Aggro - Maybe Suicide Aggro? (a-la-Death's Shadow) RG Transform matters (parshendi formshifting) GW Tokens WB Enchantments Aggro BG Ramp (greatshells) GU Number of Cards in Hand Matters (scholarly flavor) UR Artifacts Matter (fabrials) RW Soldier Tribal Aggro
One set per book could work, my only big issue there is that it would only allow for one incarnation of Kaladin, whereas two would better show his shift from Bridgeman (RW) in book 1 to Radiant (WU) in book 2. Maybe we could have characters that become radiants as DFCs, a normal side and then a radiant side? They would probably only flip one way.
If we did one set per book, it might look like this:
Way of Kings:
Elhokar? W
Renarin U (flips to GU)
Tvlakv B
Adolin R
Rock? G
Shallan GW (flips to stay GW, if we stick with the tricolor surge model)
Wit UR (maybe flips to a planeswalker? or we could make a second card for him in book 2 as a walker, a-la-Narset or Xenagos getting 2 different type cards in a block)
Kaladin RW (flips to WU)
Sadeas? UB
Kabsal BG
Words of Radiance:
Talenelat W (won't flip because he's a Herald not a Radiant)
Syl U
Lift or Graves B (if Lift, flip to BG or RG)
Taravangian R
Pattern G
Dalinar WU (flip to RW if we stick with tricolor model)
Szeth WB (flip to stay WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Eshonai BR
Venli RG
Actually, one set per book works out better than I expected if we fix the Kal problem with flip cards.
Planeswalkers:
Hoid UR (may be flipside of Wit's card)
Demoux WU? WG?
Zahel RW
Maybe Galladon and Blunt? I don't know anything about them.
Mraize or Iyatil BR
Nightblood? First artifact planeswalker?
Anyone else?
Random Mechanic Ideas:
Artifacts: Fortifications? Finally?
All Colors: Invest N (Cost: Put an investiture counter on ~) WU: Either Bestow, Soulbond, or Manifest could represent the Spren quite well. UB: Fateseal? BR: Enrage N (Whenever you lose life, ~ gets +N/+N until end of turn.) (for Parshendi) RG: Formshift (Whenever [EVENT REPRESENTING HIGHSTORM], you may transform ~.) GW: Devout (As long as you control an enchantment creature, EFFECT.) (for humans)
Other random comments relating to OP:
Is the Crustacean creature type necessary? Maybe we could either have them all as Beasts, or have the type Greatshell and then lump Chulls into the beast type.
Cool. As for limited archetypes, were you thinking two- or three-colored? If we did two-color archetypes, my ideas are:
WU Enchantments Matter (controlling) UB Pure Control, Attrition-style BR Parshendi-themed Aggro - Maybe Suicide Aggro? (a-la-Death's Shadow) RG Transform matters (parshendi formshifting) GW Tokens WB Enchantments Aggro BG Ramp (greatshells) GU Number of Cards in Hand Matters (scholarly flavor) UR Artifacts Matter (fabrials) RW Soldier Tribal Aggro
I was definitely thinking two colors. This would work well. It causes a small problem with the Tia-na being UG, but that could be fixed by shifting it to mono green.
One set per book could work, my only big issue there is that it would only allow for one incarnation of Kaladin, whereas two would better show his shift from Bridgeman (RW) in book 1 to Radiant (WU) in book 2. Maybe we could have characters that become radiants as DFCs, a normal side and then a radiant side? They would probably only flip one way.
If we did one set per book, it might look like this:
Way of Kings:
Elhokar? W
Renarin U (flips to GU)
Tvlakv B
Adolin R
Rock? G
Shallan GW (flips to stay GW, if we stick with the tricolor surge model)
Wit UR (maybe flips to a planeswalker? or we could make a second card for him in book 2 as a walker, a-la-Narset or Xenagos getting 2 different type cards in a block)
Kaladin RW (flips to WU)
Sadeas? UB
Kabsal BG
Words of Radiance:
Talenelat W (won't flip because he's a Herald not a Radiant)
Syl U
Lift or Graves B (if Lift, flip to BG or RG)
Taravangian R
Pattern G
Dalinar WU (flip to RW if we stick with tricolor model)
Szeth WB (flip to stay WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Eshonai BR
Venli RG
Actually, one set per book works out better than I expected if we fix the Kal problem with flip cards.
I really like this. Especially the idea of flip radiants. A couple things though:
I would prefer to keep Adolin RW. Even though he's quite reckless, and likes fighting, his defining character trait is his loyalty to his family and desire to protect them. Also, I think he would be better off in Words of Radiance, as that's when he starts using his dueling skills to their full extent. We would need someone mono-red to replace him though. Teft, maybe?
Having a full radiant Renarin in the first block seems a little out of place. Second set, perhaps, or maybe even the eventual third set. Replace him with Navani, perhaps?
Out of curiosity, why make Pattern green? He is a liespren, which is something generally associated with black. Moving him to black could put Lift in green, then have her flip to RG. If we keep him green though, I was thinking maybe Amaram as the mono-black?
And finally:
Lopen, the King of the World WUBRG
Planeswalkers:
Hoid UR (may be flipside of Wit's card)
Demoux WU? WG?
Zahel RW
Maybe Galladon and Blunt? I don't know anything about them.
Mraize or Iyatil BR
Nightblood? First artifact planeswalker?
Anyone else?
Artifact Planeswalker? That would be fun. He could turn into an equipment ala Gideon of Zendikar style. His ultimate would have to be extremely destructive. I think Hoid could get away with being just a planeswalker. If he transforms, he would have to transform both ways, which could potentially be a mechanical nightmare. I would prefer to have Nazh (The dude who retrieved Shallan's sketches from the bottom of the ocean) over Galloden or Baon (Blunt).
Random Mechanic Ideas:
Artifacts: Fortifications? Finally?
All Colors: Invest N (Cost: Put an investiture counter on ~) WU: Either Bestow, Soulbond, or Manifest could represent the Spren quite well. UB: Fateseal? BR: Enrage N (Whenever you lose life, ~ gets +N/+N until end of turn.) (for Parshendi) RG: Formshift (Whenever [EVENT REPRESENTING HIGHSTORM], you may transform ~.) GW: Devout (As long as you control an enchantment creature, EFFECT.) (for humans)
I was thinking Bestow, and maybe reserving Soulbond for Ryshadium. Or, maybe, we could do one mechanic for Way of Kings, and another for Words of Radiance.
Flavor-wise, Fateseal works incredibly well with Sadeas's betrayal. It would also be quite effective with voidspren, corrupting your essence.
Enrage would work for the Parshendi. Could we tweak it to care about the graveyard a little? The Parshedi hate when the dead are disturbed, so maybe it could be a necro-hosing mechanic?
Formshift looks good, though I'm not sure how we would represent a Highstorm. Let me think about it.
Devout: Fits will with the religious oriented Alethi society.
Fortifications: Yes! Yes please. So many ways this would be awesome...
Other random comments relating to OP:
Is the Crustacean creature type necessary? Maybe we could either have them all as Beasts, or have the type Greatshell and then lump Chulls into the beast type.
I suppose not. I did that before we decided to have magic system sub-tupes, so I was just trying to add a few more types for the set. Sure, we can drop it. The problem with a Greatshell, is then there's nowhere to fit Cremlings, Whitespines, etc. They aren't exactly Greatshells.
Again, as of this moment, the OP is very out of date. I will try to update it as soon as possible.
Not to distract you too much, but I've had a thought regarding Mistborn. Vin is of both Ruin and Preservation. I was thinking, we could have one version of her in each set: Mono W, Mono B, and than an ultimate WB version.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
Is the Tia-Na mentioned in Stormlight? I don't remember it.
As for Adolin, the issue is that Kal already has the RW legend spot. Maybe Kaladin could start mono-red and flip to WU?
For Renarin, how about switching him with Syl?
Maybe we could make Pattern B, Lift G, get rid of Venli, make Eshonai RG, and make Amaram BR? You're right, green Liespren don't make sense.
That's The Lopen to you.
We could do Hoid a-la-Arlinn Kord but with one creature side, maybe? As for Nazh, what colors would he be? I only know him from Mistborn: Secret History.
Using soulbond solely (soul-ly?) for Ryshadium seems odd to me, as they are very rare to have their own mechanic.
How about: Enrage N (Whenever a card in a graveyard becomes the target of a spell or ability, put N +1/+1 counters on ~ and you lose N life.)
Cremlings: Insects? Elemental Insect? I think whitespines can be beasts, though.
I feel like Vin could be mono-U, white and black's shared ally, maybe?
Is the Tia-Na mentioned in Stormlight? I don't remember it.
As for Adolin, the issue is that Kal already has the RW legend spot. Maybe Kaladin could start mono-red and flip to WU?
For Renarin, how about switching him with Syl?
Maybe we could make Pattern B, Lift G, get rid of Venli, make Eshonai RG, and make Amaram BR? You're right, green Liespren don't make sense.
That's The Lopen to you.
We could do Hoid a-la-Arlinn Kord but with one creature side, maybe? As for Nazh, what colors would he be? I only know him from Mistborn: Secret History.
Using soulbond solely (soul-ly?) for Ryshadium seems odd to me, as they are very rare to have their own mechanic.
How about: Enrage N (Whenever a card in a graveyard becomes the target of a spell or ability, put N +1/+1 counters on ~ and you lose N life.)
Cremlings: Insects? Elemental Insect? I think whitespines can be beasts, though.
I feel like Vin could be mono-U, white and black's shared ally, maybe?
Tia-Na, the island sized greatshell Rysn visited in Words of Radiance. If we don't make a card out of one of those, we are in some serious trouble.
Regarding the legends, I have a feeling there is no way to make this work 100%. It's rumored that the Stormlight novella that will be included in Arcanum Unbounded will focus on either Lopen or Lift. If it is Lift, we could potentially move her to the Arcanum Unbounded set, which would free up a spot here. Let me try some things. It feels a little wrong that Taravanigan is mono-red.
A flip card with Hoid, the King's Wit on one side, and Hoid, the Drifter on the other side. Secret History is pretty much the only thing Nazh has directly been in. He had a cameo in WoR, sketching the Bridgemen's tatoos, and he was also in the BoM broadsheet story.
Agreed. Soulbond can be used in one set, and Bestow in the other.
Regarding Enrage: I was thinking perhaps we could split it into two mechanics. Enrage: buff for losing life, and Antagonize: buff for touching the graveyard. Enrage would be red, and Antagonize, since it's black-hate, would be green.
Yeah, beasts and insects would work. Just lumping them all under Greatshells would be unreasonable, which is why I tried crustacean.
Really? I always thought Vin was way to aggressive to be mono-blue. I always pictured her as Mardu, a force of annihilation.
*lightbulb moment*
At least one Vin card has to have Annihilator.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I'm getting a Mad Prophet feel from Taravangian, especially with his intellectual fluctuation.
Maybe the way to solve this is a cycle of five rare legends in WoK:
Way of Kings:
Elhokar? W
Syl U
Tvlakv B
Kaladin R (flip to WU)
Rock? G
Shallan GW (flips to stay GW, if we stick with the tricolor surge model)
Wit UR (flip to Hoid)
Adolin RW
Sadeas? UB
Kabsal BG
Words of Radiance:
Talenelat W (won't flip because he's a Herald not a Radiant)
Renarin U (flip to GU)
Pattern B
Taravangian R
Lift G (flip to BG)
Dalinar WU (flip to RW if we stick with tricolor model)
Szeth WB (flip to stay WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Amaram BR
Eshonai RG
Rare:
Gallant W
Rysn U
Graves B
Moash R
Tia-Na G
Between formshift and enrage, we already have two parshendi mechanics, I think adding a third might be overboard.
*has ability to walk between planets* *sits at bottom of ocean waiting for people to drop stuff instead*
I'm getting a Mad Prophet feel from Taravangian, especially with his intellectual fluctuation.
Maybe the way to solve this is a cycle of five rare legends in WoK:
15 legends per set should be manageable. Moving minor characters like Tvlakv to the rare slot will free up a significant amount of space. I'll be back in a few with a list.
Just another random thought on another set: For the Warbreaker set, how about this keyword:
Vivid (This card is all colors)
Kind of like the opposite of Devoid, and would mesh with a colors matter theme.
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"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
Hmmm... I like Vivid. Maybe a return of Devotion, too? It cares about color and fits Hallandren well. (Disclaimer: I'm only about halfway through Warbreaker.)
Which 5 legends would you want to add doing 30 total instead of 25? For white, maybe Teft or Tien? We could do Navani in blue, Roshone in black, Brightlord Davar in red, and not sure about green.
Hmmm... I like Vivid. Maybe a return of Devotion, too? It cares about color and fits Hallandren well. (Disclaimer: I'm only about halfway through Warbreaker.)
Which 5 legends would you want to add doing 30 total instead of 25?
That would also work well in the conext.
This is what I came up with for 30 legends.
Rare:
Elhokar W
Axies U
Tavlakv B
Moash R
Rysn G
Gallant W
Navani U
Amaram B
Vinli R (flip to BR)
Sureblood G
Mythic:
Kaladin WU (flip to RW) I figured Kaladin was protecting people more as a bridgeman, and then he took a level in badass to fight Szeth.
Sadeas UB
Eshonai BR (flip to BR)
Lift RG (flip to ???)
Shallan GW (Flip to GU)
Szeth WB (flip to WB)
Kabsal BG
Jasnah UG (flip to UB)
Wit RU (flip to RU)
Adolin RW
Talenlat W
Renarin U (flip to UG)
Pattern B (flip to colorless)
Dalinar R (flip to WU) The Blackthorn sounds like he was mono R. Would this work?
Rock G
Teft W
Syl U (flip to colorless)
Nalan BI really want to make him WB somehow. Maybe have a W ability?
Taravanigan R (flip to U) He switches between intelligent and passionate, so he would flip both ways.
Relu-na G
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Gallant W
Navani U
Amaram B
Vinli R (flip to BR)
Sureblood G
Mythic:
Kaladin WU (flip to RW) I figured Kaladin was protecting people more as a bridgeman, and then he took a level in badass to fight Szeth.
Sadeas UB
Eshonai BR (flip to BR)
Lift RG (flip to ???)
Shallan GW (Flip to GU)
Szeth WB (flip to WB)
Kabsal BG
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Wit RU (flip to RU)
Adolin RW
Talenlat W
Renarin U (flip to UG)
Pattern B (flip to colorless)
Dalinar R (flip to WU) The Blackthorn sounds like he was mono R. Would this work?
Rock G
Teft W
Syl U (flip to colorless)
Nalan BI really want to make him WB somehow. Maybe have a W ability?
Taravanigan R (flip to U) He switches between intelligent and passionate, so he would flip both ways.
Relu-na G
I like this list of legends. Just a few ideas:
Venli: Can she flip to RG? We already have Eshonai flipping to BR
Kaladin and Dalinar: I would flip these two and have Kal flip from R to WU. I feel like Dalinar's front face should be him when he begins to play politics in Azorius colors, then when he turns Radiant he gains back his warrior mentality, becoming Boros. Kaladin, while he is protective as a bridgeman, becomes protective when he realizes his powers. At first, he is focused on charisma (inspiring strong emotions=R), but then he uses his Radiant powers to protect his bridge crew and later to protect Dalinar and the Kholin family. Even in fighting Szeth, his goal is protecting Dalinar.
Lift: I think she should flip to BG, as she uses her skills to rob people.
Shallan: Can she flip to GW? Renarin is already flipping to GU.
Teft vs. Elhokar: Can we switch these? Elhokar, as the most important human being on Roshar (debatably) feels like he should be a mythic.
Taravangian: I like that idea!
Nalan/Nin: Maybe a flip card, B to and from W?
So with my suggestions, it would look like:
WoK:
Rare:
Teft W
Axies U
Tvlakv B
Moash R
Rysn G
Mythic:
Elhokar W
Syl U (flip to/from colorless)
Pattern B (flip to/from colorless)
Kaladin R (flip to WU)
Rock G
Shallan GW (Flip to GW)
Wit RU (flip to RU 'walker)
Sadeas UB
Kabsal BG
Adolin RW
WoR:
Rare
Gallant W
Navani U
Amaram B
Venli R (flip to RG)
Sureblood G
Mythic:
Talenel'at W
Renarin U (flip to GU)
Nalan B (flip to/from W)
Taravangian R (flip to/from U)
Relu-na G
Dalinar WU (flip to RW)
Eshonai BR (flip to BR)
Lift RG (flip to BG)
Szeth WB (flip to WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Another thing: What should we do for Odium, Cultivation, and Tanavast/Honor/The Almighty? (and other shards in future blocks)
EDIT: Also, we're missing a UR Radiant. Not sure if others exist as far as we know.
I like this list of legends. Just a few ideas:
Venli: Can she flip to RG? We already have Eshonai flipping to BR
Kaladin and Dalinar: I would flip these two and have Kal flip from R to WU. I feel like Dalinar's front face should be him when he begins to play politics in Azorius colors, then when he turns Radiant he gains back his warrior mentality, becoming Boros. Kaladin, while he is protective as a bridgeman, becomes protective when he realizes his powers. At first, he is focused on charisma (inspiring strong emotions=R), but then he uses his Radiant powers to protect his bridge crew and later to protect Dalinar and the Kholin family. Even in fighting Szeth, his goal is protecting Dalinar.
Lift: I think she should flip to BG, as she uses her skills to rob people.
Shallan: Can she flip to GW? Renarin is already flipping to GU.
Teft vs. Elhokar: Can we switch these? Elhokar, as the most important human being on Roshar (debatably) feels like he should be a mythic.
Taravangian: I like that idea!
Nalan/Nin: Maybe a flip card, B to and from W?
So with my suggestions, it would look like:
WoK:
Rare:
Teft W
Axies U
Tvlakv B
Moash R
Rysn G
Mythic:
Elhokar W
Syl U (flip to/from colorless)
Pattern B (flip to/from colorless)
Kaladin R (flip to WU)
Rock G
Shallan GW (Flip to GW)
Wit RU (flip to RU 'walker)
Sadeas UB
Kabsal BG
Adolin RW
WoR:
Rare
Gallant W
Navani U
Amaram B
Venli R (flip to RG)
Sureblood G
Mythic:
Talenel'at W
Renarin U (flip to GU)
Nalan B (flip to/from W)
Taravangian R (flip to/from U)
Relu-na G
Dalinar WU (flip to RW)
Eshonai BR (flip to BR)
Lift RG (flip to BG)
Szeth WB (flip to WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Another thing: What should we do for Odium, Cultivation, and Tanavast/Honor/The Almighty? (and other shards in future blocks)
EDIT: Also, we're missing a UR Radiant. Not sure if others exist as far as we know.
This looks good. I'll put it in the OP. I'm not entirely comfortable having Shallan without a U component, but considering how well everything else works out, this scheme sounds the best overall.
Yeah, that's something I've been thinking about. Maybe gods of some sort? The closest I have is "Glimpse the Stormfather," a blue sorcery representing Kaladin seeing the Stormfather when he was tied to the building. That's it.
Well, we're missing a UR, but we have Hoid instead. That should hopefully be adequate compensation for the lack of a Radiant currently. Ym doesn't have a card, but his progression surge is missing both blue and red. I guess it will have to do for now.
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This is a thread in which I try to make several card sets based off of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere. It's currently a colaboration between me and Sperlman. You're welcome to join us, especially if you are a fan of Sanderson's works.
I'm trying to capture the flavor of the the Cosmere. This is an ambitious project, to say the least. Currently, We are planning on making a set out of each book. This puts the current tally at 10 sets: Two Stormlight Archive, 6 Mistborn, 1 Elantris, 1 Warbreaker, 1 White Sand, and 1 Arcanum Unbounded (Cosmere short stories). White Sand and Arcanum Unbounded aren't out yet, which puts them on the back burner. There are several planned Cosmere books in the future, however, so these numbers will change in the future. This is, to say the least, a very ambitious project. It won't be finished for years. If you want to brush up on Cosmere info and lore, visit the Coppermind.
Each setting will have its own theme. Stormlight Archive will focus on enchantments and legendary creatures, and have a minor artifact subtheme. Mistborn will focus more heavily on artifacts, and also have a minor white vs black mechanic. Elantris will be sorcery and instant focused, and Warbreaker will have a focus on colors. Arcanum Unbounded will be something like a core set. I haven't decided on what to do with White Sand yet, which is okay, as the book is currently unpublished. They will all share a new keyword, Invest, which will reflect the fact that all Cosmere magic systems are derived from the same underlying power.
Invest: This is the Cosmere mechanic. All Cosmere magic systems work by channeling a magical power source called Investiture. The variety of different magic systems means that Invest has to have a lot of design space. Currently, the format is something like this.
(pay cost): Invest (Put an investiture counters on this permanent.)
Remove X investiture counters: Some effect.
The effect could be anything form reducing costs, to dealing damage, to drawing cards. It should be generic enough to do quite a bit of flavorful stuff with it. The mechanic will be abundant across all colors. A fair amount of investing will be done with mana, but there are a number of other ways it can be accomplished. Also, each world's variety of magic user will come with it's new creature sub-type.
There are 15 legends in each set: 5 mono-colored rare, 5 mono-colored mythics, and 5 dual-colored mythics. This makes 30 total for the block, which is a lot, but not unreasonably so.
Creature types:
Surgebinder: A type of creature class. This represents Roshar's most prevalent "good guy" magic system, specifically, the Radiants. Surgebinders will more than likely be multicolored, and most will be legendary.
Spren: The ethereal, faerie like creatures that populate Roshar. They are something of a combination of Faeries and Spirits. All Spren will be enchantment creatures.
Listener: The Listeners (Parshendi) are a group of humanoid creatures living on Roshar. They will be largely Jund (BRG) in color.
Voidbringer: The baddies. Splinters of Odium, they are similar to spren, but much, much more evil. They will be Grixis (UBR) colored
Some mechanics for the entire block include;
Double Faced Cards: Several aspects of Stormlight lore fit well with this, like Surgebinders speaking their oaths, and gaining more powers, and spren transforming into Shardblades. Parshendi would also be double faced, to represent their different forms.
Fortifications: Why not? It would go well with the war-like nature of the Alethi and Veden peoples. They would be used sparingly, though.
http://www.magicmultiverse.net/cardsets/1441/visualspoiler
Mechanics:
WU: Bestow
The first of the Spren oriented mechanics. It represents the Spren's magical nature.
UB: Fateseal
Represents the sneaky political machinations of the Alethi nobility, and the dangerous workings of the various secret societies on Roshar.
BR: Antagonize
Antagonize N (Whenever a creature card becomes the target of a spell or ability, this creature gets +N/+N until end of turn)
This is a primarily Parshendi mechanic, and represents their fierce reactions to disturbing bodies of the dead.
RG: Formshift
Formshift (You may transform this card whenever you invest a permanent)
This represents the Parshendi changing forms. In the books, the Parshendi change forms by bonding with a Spren during a highstorm. Highstorms are represented in game with investing.
GW: Devout
Devout - As long as you control an enchantment, ____)
This is the humans' mechanic. It gives effects for controlling enchantments, and represents the strong influence of religion in the societies of western Roshar.
The legendary creatures in Way of Kings are:
Rare:
Teft, Grizzled Veteran W
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Axies, the Collector U
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter
Tvlakv, Slave Merchant B
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue
Moash, Defiant Bridgeman R
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Rysn, Merchant Apprentice G
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor
Mythic:
Elhokar, King of Alethkar W
Legendary Creature - Human Coward
Syl, Honorspren U / Syl, Windblade C
Legendary Creature - Spren / Enchantment Artifact - Equipment
Pattern, Crypticspren B / Pattern, Crypticblade C
Legendary Creature - Spren / Enchantment Artifact - Equipment
Kaladin, Resolute Bridgeleader R / Kaladin Stormblessed WU
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Rock, Hulking Unkalaki G
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Shallan Davar, Royal Ward GW / Shallan, Wayfinder of Urithiru GW
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Hoid, the King's Wit RU / Hoid, the Drifter RU
Legendary Creature - Advisor / Planeswalker - Hoid
Sadeas, Treacherous Highprince UB
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor
Kabsal, Deceptive Ardent BG
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric
Adolin, Duelist AdeptRW
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior
WB: Something to represent the sacrifices that need to be made to survive the desolation?
BG: Stormcall
Another Parshendi mechanic, it will represent them summoning the Everstorm
GU: Something to represent cultivation, and possibly Old Magic
UR: Something related to artifacts and invest.
RW: Either Battalion or Battle Cry. This would be another human mechanic, this time focused on soldiers.
The legendary creatures in Words of Radiance are:
Rare:
Gallant,Steed of the Blackthorn W
Legendary Creature - Horse
Navani, Artifabrian U
Legendary Creature - Human Artificer
Amaram, Ruthless Brightlord B
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Venli, Scholar of Forms R / Venli of the Storm RG
Legendary Creature - Listener Advisor / Legendary Creature - Listener Voidbringer
Sureblood, Duelist's Steed G
Legendary Creature - Horse
Mythic:
Talenel'at, the Stonesinew W
Legendary Creature - Human
Renarin, Frail Brightlord U / Renarin, Esoteric Watcher GU
Legendary Creature - Human / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Nalan, Blade of Judgement B / Nalan, Blade of Law W
Legendary Creature - Human / Legendary Creature - Human
Taravangian, Mad King R / Taravangian, Silent Gatherer U
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor / Legendary Creature - Human Advisor
Relu-na, Wandering Island G
Legendary Creature - Beast
Dalinar, Uniter of Nations WU / Dalinar, the Oathbringer RW
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Eshonai, Champion of Narak BR / Eshonai, Everstorm Instrument BR
Legendary Creature - Listener Warrior / Legendary Creature - Listener Voidbringer
Lift, Wandering Urchin RG / Lift, Baffling Thief BG
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Szeth, Assassin in White WB / Szeth, Truthless Restored WB
Legendary Creature - Human Assassin / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Jasnah, Scholar of Kharbranth GU / Jasnah, Heretical ElsecallerUB
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor / Legendary Creature - Human Surgebinder
Limited archetypes will be two colored, and look something like this.
WU Enchantments matter control. Spren would be a major component.
UB Attrition style contro. Would use darker Spren, along with rogues
BR Parshendi and Voidbringer themed aggro. Possibly with a strong suicide component.
RG Transform matters. Another Parshendi themed build.
GW Tokens, powered by humans and Spren.
WB Enchantments aggro.
BG Ramp. Greatshells and other Rosharan nasties.
GU Hand matters. Scholarly themed.
UR Artifacts Matter. Based on the fabrials of Roshar.
RW Soldier tribal aggro. The Alethi armies.
Surgebinding: The 10 surges that make up surgebinding would each be tri-colored, allowing the characters who use them to have different color identities depending on where they are in their character arcs. Each Surgebinder would only have two colors at a time.
Gravitation: WUB
Abrasion: UBR
Division: BRG
Cohesion: RGW
Illumination: GWU
Progression: GWB
Adhesion: RWU
Transformation: UBG
Transportation: RGU
Tension: WBR
New creature types would include:
Allomancer
Feruchemist
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I'm still working on those. I have an few ideas for a new mechanic called "invest," which I hope to be able to use for several different Cosmere magic systems, including Feruchemy. Still working on Allomancy. Any input you have on this would be much appreciated.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
Exactly, something like that. There would be a number of different ways to charge investiture, and a number of different ways to use it. A Feruchemist, for example, could get a +X/+X buff (pewter) or vigilance (tin) or first strike (steel). Other magic systems could use this. Windrunner squads could use something similar to represent their "powering up" on stormlight. It could also be applied to BioChroma and Awakening.
I think for Allomancers, we could get away with it requiring C to add a charge/investiture counter. What do you think.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
As for specific abilities:
Steel:
Pinging creatures (coinshot) or gaining flying (pushing off of coins on ground)
Iron:
Untapping and tapping artifacts?
Pewter:
+X/+X sounds like a good idea.
Tin:
Vigilance works, or maybe just remove a counter to untap?
Zinc:
Force creatures to attack this turn if able?
Brass:
Tap creatures? Temporarily pacify creatures?
Copper:
Gives allomancers hexproof?
Bronze:
Removes hexproof?
Atium:
Scry?
Gold:
Mill opponent? Fateseal?
I'm not sure I would be. Judging by the three new colorless lands, the C would seem to be here to stay. Besides, that symbol is a lot less wordy than "Spend only mana produced by an artifact to activate this ability," which frees up a significant amount of space on the card. This would also work well flavor wise with pre-Ascension Scadrial, with the blasted landscape and all. It wouldn't look out of place on a Wastes card.
This actually gives me an idea for a cycle of non-basic lands on Scadrial, something like this.
Stunted Woods
Land - Forest
T: Add C to your mana pool.
T: Add CG to your mana pool.
Thoughts?
Ooh, I like those. Not sure how they'd all fit on the same card though...
Edit: If you want to get a rough idea of how much space stuff will take up on a card, try making a mockup on Cardsmith: http://mtgcardsmith.com/
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
About card space: This will be a problem for mistborn, but mistings will only have one ability. For example:
Coinshot Adept 1R
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Put an investiture counter on ~.
Remove ab investiture counter from ~: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature. Activate this ability only once each turn.
2/1
But yeah, for mistborn it's an issue.
Fellowship of the Ring
And here's a work in progress (second set of the same block):
Khazad-dûm
Yeah, mistings would be fine. Even the twinborn from the Wax and Wayne era would be doable. The Mistborns just wouldn't be possible. We might have to pick and choose abilities for Vin and Kel.
Regarding the colorless mana: We would only use it to charge up Allomatic abilities. No cards would have it in their cost. That said, if we just limit to "tap an untapped artifact you control," we might be able to get away with it. We could potentially do artifact lands, which might help it work. I also think we can keyword it as "Invest X," which would save some space on cards. We could also use the mechanic for other magic systems. It would look something like this:
Pewterarm Brute 1G
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Invest 1
Remove an investiture counter from Pewterarm Brute: Pewterarm Brute gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1/2
All you had to say were the words "Designed Lotr Magic." Welcome aboard. I'm assuming you're decently familiar with the Cosmere. Just look around the Coppermind if you need random inspiration. http://coppermind.net/wiki/Coppermind:Welcome
As you have probably seen above, I'm working on a couple of broader ideas for the set, and I already have several individual card designs down.
Food for thought: Perhaps we could add magic system subtypes, i.e Human Allomancer, Human Surgebinder, etc.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I haven't really put that much thought into dividing sets and stuff. My current thinking is a three set block, one on Stormlight, one on Mistborn, and one on everything else. We'll see how it goes. As it stands, the Stormlight set won't likely be finished until at least Oathbringer comes out, which will be in late 2017. The Mistborn set will almost certainly be finished first. Even though I've made up several cards, I only have a general idea of how I want this to go overall. What do you think we should do?
As for worldhoppers, you pretty much read my mind. Hoid is the obvious one, as well as a certain character from Warbreaker.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
The other two characters with Demoux are also worldhoppers, one from Elantris, one from White Sand. There is also another prominent worldhopper from White Sand.
Yeah, you have an excellent point. More blocks means more characters, and there are certainly enough of those in the Cosmere. One set per books seems about right for Stormlight, but might be a bit too much for Mistborn. Elantris and Warbreaker would each get their own set then. At this point, I give up on dividing them into coherent blocks.
Regarding the Transformation, well, I based that around Jasnah's use of Soulcasting in the alley way. Exchanging of resources is a typically black area, and it especially fits with the flavor of Jasnah using it to kill a person. Also, switching Tension and Transformation would throw everything out of balance. For example, it would make Surgebinder Dalinar blue and black, which is even worse than blue and red. I don't know. I'll take another look at aligning the orders with wedges and shards. On the other hand, if we are splitting Stormlight across two sets, we could do two versions of some characters, i.e. Blackthorn Dalinar & Bondsmith Dalinar, Scholar Jasnah and Elsecaller Jasnah, Bridgeman Kaladin and Windrunner Kaladin, etc.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
It could look something like:
Gravitation: WUB
Abrasion: UBR
Division: BRG
Cohesion: RGW
Illumination: GWU
Progression: GWB
Adhesion: RWU
Transformation: UBG
Transportation: RGU
Tension: WBR
Ooh, I like this. Different states for different character moments. A more aggressive Kalladin, versus a more protective Kaladin. Scholar Jasnah, verses the darker side we saw in the alley. Wonderful idea. This also helps with the larger scheme of things, since the "Paragon Radiants" Will now be spread out across at *least* 10 sets. I will add this to the OP, once I get it rearranged and stuff.
Edit: In the mean time, I'm going to take a look at what one set a book will do for us legends-wise. If it's too limited, I'll switch to two sets per book.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
WU Enchantments Matter (controlling)
UB Pure Control, Attrition-style
BR Parshendi-themed Aggro - Maybe Suicide Aggro? (a-la-Death's Shadow)
RG Transform matters (parshendi formshifting)
GW Tokens
WB Enchantments Aggro
BG Ramp (greatshells)
GU Number of Cards in Hand Matters (scholarly flavor)
UR Artifacts Matter (fabrials)
RW Soldier Tribal Aggro
One set per book could work, my only big issue there is that it would only allow for one incarnation of Kaladin, whereas two would better show his shift from Bridgeman (RW) in book 1 to Radiant (WU) in book 2. Maybe we could have characters that become radiants as DFCs, a normal side and then a radiant side? They would probably only flip one way.
If we did one set per book, it might look like this:
Way of Kings:
Elhokar? W
Renarin U (flips to GU)
Tvlakv B
Adolin R
Rock? G
Shallan GW (flips to stay GW, if we stick with the tricolor surge model)
Wit UR (maybe flips to a planeswalker? or we could make a second card for him in book 2 as a walker, a-la-Narset or Xenagos getting 2 different type cards in a block)
Kaladin RW (flips to WU)
Sadeas? UB
Kabsal BG
Words of Radiance:
Talenelat W (won't flip because he's a Herald not a Radiant)
Syl U
Lift or Graves B (if Lift, flip to BG or RG)
Taravangian R
Pattern G
Dalinar WU (flip to RW if we stick with tricolor model)
Szeth WB (flip to stay WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Eshonai BR
Venli RG
Actually, one set per book works out better than I expected if we fix the Kal problem with flip cards.
Planeswalkers:
Hoid UR (may be flipside of Wit's card)
Demoux WU? WG?
Zahel RW
Maybe Galladon and Blunt? I don't know anything about them.
Mraize or Iyatil BR
Nightblood? First artifact planeswalker?
Anyone else?
Random Mechanic Ideas:
Artifacts: Fortifications? Finally?
All Colors: Invest N (Cost: Put an investiture counter on ~)
WU: Either Bestow, Soulbond, or Manifest could represent the Spren quite well.
UB: Fateseal?
BR: Enrage N (Whenever you lose life, ~ gets +N/+N until end of turn.) (for Parshendi)
RG: Formshift (Whenever [EVENT REPRESENTING HIGHSTORM], you may transform ~.)
GW: Devout (As long as you control an enchantment creature, EFFECT.) (for humans)
Other random comments relating to OP:
Is the Crustacean creature type necessary? Maybe we could either have them all as Beasts, or have the type Greatshell and then lump Chulls into the beast type.
I was definitely thinking two colors. This would work well. It causes a small problem with the Tia-na being UG, but that could be fixed by shifting it to mono green.
I really like this. Especially the idea of flip radiants. A couple things though:
I would prefer to keep Adolin RW. Even though he's quite reckless, and likes fighting, his defining character trait is his loyalty to his family and desire to protect them. Also, I think he would be better off in Words of Radiance, as that's when he starts using his dueling skills to their full extent. We would need someone mono-red to replace him though. Teft, maybe?
Having a full radiant Renarin in the first block seems a little out of place. Second set, perhaps, or maybe even the eventual third set. Replace him with Navani, perhaps?
Out of curiosity, why make Pattern green? He is a liespren, which is something generally associated with black. Moving him to black could put Lift in green, then have her flip to RG. If we keep him green though, I was thinking maybe Amaram as the mono-black?
And finally:
Lopen, the King of the World WUBRG
Artifact Planeswalker? That would be fun. He could turn into an equipment ala Gideon of Zendikar style. His ultimate would have to be extremely destructive. I think Hoid could get away with being just a planeswalker. If he transforms, he would have to transform both ways, which could potentially be a mechanical nightmare. I would prefer to have Nazh (The dude who retrieved Shallan's sketches from the bottom of the ocean) over Galloden or Baon (Blunt).
I was thinking Bestow, and maybe reserving Soulbond for Ryshadium. Or, maybe, we could do one mechanic for Way of Kings, and another for Words of Radiance.
Flavor-wise, Fateseal works incredibly well with Sadeas's betrayal. It would also be quite effective with voidspren, corrupting your essence.
Enrage would work for the Parshendi. Could we tweak it to care about the graveyard a little? The Parshedi hate when the dead are disturbed, so maybe it could be a necro-hosing mechanic?
Formshift looks good, though I'm not sure how we would represent a Highstorm. Let me think about it.
Devout: Fits will with the religious oriented Alethi society.
Fortifications: Yes! Yes please. So many ways this would be awesome...
I suppose not. I did that before we decided to have magic system sub-tupes, so I was just trying to add a few more types for the set. Sure, we can drop it. The problem with a Greatshell, is then there's nowhere to fit Cremlings, Whitespines, etc. They aren't exactly Greatshells.
Again, as of this moment, the OP is very out of date. I will try to update it as soon as possible.
Not to distract you too much, but I've had a thought regarding Mistborn. Vin is of both Ruin and Preservation. I was thinking, we could have one version of her in each set: Mono W, Mono B, and than an ultimate WB version.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
As for Adolin, the issue is that Kal already has the RW legend spot. Maybe Kaladin could start mono-red and flip to WU?
For Renarin, how about switching him with Syl?
Maybe we could make Pattern B, Lift G, get rid of Venli, make Eshonai RG, and make Amaram BR? You're right, green Liespren don't make sense.
That's The Lopen to you.
We could do Hoid a-la-Arlinn Kord but with one creature side, maybe? As for Nazh, what colors would he be? I only know him from Mistborn: Secret History.
Using soulbond solely (soul-ly?) for Ryshadium seems odd to me, as they are very rare to have their own mechanic.
How about: Enrage N (Whenever a card in a graveyard becomes the target of a spell or ability, put N +1/+1 counters on ~ and you lose N life.)
Cremlings: Insects? Elemental Insect? I think whitespines can be beasts, though.
I feel like Vin could be mono-U, white and black's shared ally, maybe?
Tia-Na, the island sized greatshell Rysn visited in Words of Radiance. If we don't make a card out of one of those, we are in some serious trouble.
Regarding the legends, I have a feeling there is no way to make this work 100%. It's rumored that the Stormlight novella that will be included in Arcanum Unbounded will focus on either Lopen or Lift. If it is Lift, we could potentially move her to the Arcanum Unbounded set, which would free up a spot here. Let me try some things. It feels a little wrong that Taravanigan is mono-red.
A flip card with Hoid, the King's Wit on one side, and Hoid, the Drifter on the other side. Secret History is pretty much the only thing Nazh has directly been in. He had a cameo in WoR, sketching the Bridgemen's tatoos, and he was also in the BoM broadsheet story.
Agreed. Soulbond can be used in one set, and Bestow in the other.
Regarding Enrage: I was thinking perhaps we could split it into two mechanics. Enrage: buff for losing life, and Antagonize: buff for touching the graveyard. Enrage would be red, and Antagonize, since it's black-hate, would be green.
Yeah, beasts and insects would work. Just lumping them all under Greatshells would be unreasonable, which is why I tried crustacean.
Really? I always thought Vin was way to aggressive to be mono-blue. I always pictured her as Mardu, a force of annihilation.
*lightbulb moment*
At least one Vin card has to have Annihilator.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
Maybe the way to solve this is a cycle of five rare legends in WoK:
Way of Kings:
Elhokar? W
Syl U
Tvlakv B
Kaladin R (flip to WU)
Rock? G
Shallan GW (flips to stay GW, if we stick with the tricolor surge model)
Wit UR (flip to Hoid)
Adolin RW
Sadeas? UB
Kabsal BG
Words of Radiance:
Talenelat W (won't flip because he's a Herald not a Radiant)
Renarin U (flip to GU)
Pattern B
Taravangian R
Lift G (flip to BG)
Dalinar WU (flip to RW if we stick with tricolor model)
Szeth WB (flip to stay WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Amaram BR
Eshonai RG
Rare:
Gallant W
Rysn U
Graves B
Moash R
Tia-Na G
Between formshift and enrage, we already have two parshendi mechanics, I think adding a third might be overboard.
*has ability to walk between planets* *sits at bottom of ocean waiting for people to drop stuff instead*
15 legends per set should be manageable. Moving minor characters like Tvlakv to the rare slot will free up a significant amount of space. I'll be back in a few with a list.
Just another random thought on another set: For the Warbreaker set, how about this keyword:
Vivid (This card is all colors)
Kind of like the opposite of Devoid, and would mesh with a colors matter theme.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
Which 5 legends would you want to add doing 30 total instead of 25? For white, maybe Teft or Tien? We could do Navani in blue, Roshone in black, Brightlord Davar in red, and not sure about green.
This is what I came up with for 30 legends.
Rare:
Elhokar W
Axies U
Tavlakv B
Moash R
Rysn G
Gallant W
Navani U
Amaram B
Vinli R (flip to BR)
Sureblood G
Mythic:
Kaladin WU (flip to RW) I figured Kaladin was protecting people more as a bridgeman, and then he took a level in badass to fight Szeth.
Sadeas UB
Eshonai BR (flip to BR)
Lift RG (flip to ???)
Shallan GW (Flip to GU)
Szeth WB (flip to WB)
Kabsal BG
Jasnah UG (flip to UB)
Wit RU (flip to RU)
Adolin RW
Talenlat W
Renarin U (flip to UG)
Pattern B (flip to colorless)
Dalinar R (flip to WU) The Blackthorn sounds like he was mono R. Would this work?
Rock G
Teft W
Syl U (flip to colorless)
Nalan B I really want to make him WB somehow. Maybe have a W ability?
Taravanigan R (flip to U) He switches between intelligent and passionate, so he would flip both ways.
Relu-na G
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I like this list of legends. Just a few ideas:
Venli: Can she flip to RG? We already have Eshonai flipping to BR
Kaladin and Dalinar: I would flip these two and have Kal flip from R to WU. I feel like Dalinar's front face should be him when he begins to play politics in Azorius colors, then when he turns Radiant he gains back his warrior mentality, becoming Boros. Kaladin, while he is protective as a bridgeman, becomes protective when he realizes his powers. At first, he is focused on charisma (inspiring strong emotions=R), but then he uses his Radiant powers to protect his bridge crew and later to protect Dalinar and the Kholin family. Even in fighting Szeth, his goal is protecting Dalinar.
Lift: I think she should flip to BG, as she uses her skills to rob people.
Shallan: Can she flip to GW? Renarin is already flipping to GU.
Teft vs. Elhokar: Can we switch these? Elhokar, as the most important human being on Roshar (debatably) feels like he should be a mythic.
Taravangian: I like that idea!
Nalan/Nin: Maybe a flip card, B to and from W?
So with my suggestions, it would look like:
WoK:
Rare:
Teft W
Axies U
Tvlakv B
Moash R
Rysn G
Mythic:
Elhokar W
Syl U (flip to/from colorless)
Pattern B (flip to/from colorless)
Kaladin R (flip to WU)
Rock G
Shallan GW (Flip to GW)
Wit RU (flip to RU 'walker)
Sadeas UB
Kabsal BG
Adolin RW
WoR:
Rare
Gallant W
Navani U
Amaram B
Venli R (flip to RG)
Sureblood G
Mythic:
Talenel'at W
Renarin U (flip to GU)
Nalan B (flip to/from W)
Taravangian R (flip to/from U)
Relu-na G
Dalinar WU (flip to RW)
Eshonai BR (flip to BR)
Lift RG (flip to BG)
Szeth WB (flip to WB)
Jasnah GU (flip to UB)
Another thing: What should we do for Odium, Cultivation, and Tanavast/Honor/The Almighty? (and other shards in future blocks)
EDIT: Also, we're missing a UR Radiant. Not sure if others exist as far as we know.
This looks good. I'll put it in the OP. I'm not entirely comfortable having Shallan without a U component, but considering how well everything else works out, this scheme sounds the best overall.
Yeah, that's something I've been thinking about. Maybe gods of some sort? The closest I have is "Glimpse the Stormfather," a blue sorcery representing Kaladin seeing the Stormfather when he was tied to the building. That's it.
Well, we're missing a UR, but we have Hoid instead. That should hopefully be adequate compensation for the lack of a Radiant currently. Ym doesn't have a card, but his progression surge is missing both blue and red. I guess it will have to do for now.
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit