This is an idea that I had floating around for the last months but never really came together. I wanted to create a set that evokes the feel of a desperate, post-apocalyptic world, where you have to scrape and scratch to survive. I've thought of a few mechanics, but i'm not sure if any of them is a great fit.
The first is ancestry, centered in blue and green, which represents the ancient relics of past civilizations:
Ancestry (This card costs 1 less to cast for each card that shares a card type with it in your graveyard.)
Lotus Husk4
Artifact (R)
Ancestry t, Sacrifice Lotus Husk: Add three mana of any one color to your mana pool.
I'm not sure ancestry works the best with NWO, but maybe it can be tweaked to work better.
The second mechanic is augment, which appears in blue and red, and represents the reckless scavengers, wanderers and wizards who have to find creative uses of magic to endure:
Augment {Cost} (Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may pay {Cost} and exile this card from your graveyard. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Double Check1U
Instant (C)
Draw a card.
Augment 1U
Improvised ExplosionR
Sorcery (C)
Improvised Explosion deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Augment 1R
The third mechanic is assault. Centered in red and white, it represents the warbands, bandits, mercenaries and warlike tribes that roam the wastes.
Assault - If you control two or more tapped creatures, [effect].
Damar Rider2W
Creature - Human Warrior (C) Assault - Damar Rider enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if you control two or more tapped creatures.
2/3
Pillage the CaravansR
Sorcery (U)
Discard two cards, then draw two cards. Assault - If you control two or more tapped creatures, instead discard two cards, then draw three cards.
Assault is a tweak on battalion and raid that can be less agressive, and works really well with the next mechanic:
Convoke is the returning mechanic and is once again centered in green-white. It represents the more-or-less civilzed people of the world, clinging to what little order remains and raising militias to protect their communities.
Last City's Call4WW
Sorcery (C)
Convoke
Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
Gather Supplies3G
Instant (C)
Convoke
You gain 2 life for each creature you control.
I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback, and maybe start creating a real set out of this!
In general, the post-apocalyptic theme is not coming through strong enough in what you've shown. The card names are doing it pretty well, but the mechanic names and the general gameplay of things could be adjusted to carry the theme better.
Ancestry- Seems difficult to balance for common. I recommend opening it to an ability word version
i.e. Ancestry- (effect) for each card that shares a card type with (this) in your graveyard
This will give you more room for development.
The name could be adjusted to reinforce the apocalyptic theme more to something like 'Legacy' (which gives more of a sense of something has gone) or 'Aftermath'.
Augment- I don't see what makes this sufficiently interesting compared to flashback, it's just very similar because the only real difference is a timing restriction which doesn't feel very meaningful. It would be more interesting in comparison if you didn't exile the card from your grave like with Retrace and just upped the cost for it.
The name could be adjusted to something like 'Improvise' to carry the sense of desperation, difficulty and urgency.
Flashback could also be used here, and the name takes an interesting direction in this setting as being a sort of link to before the apocalyptic event/s happened if you play it up with naming and art.
Assault- I like it. The name could however still be improved, perhaps 'Strife'?
Convoke- The synergy with Assault seems a little too obvious. It's generally not a good idea to tie your mechanics very close together especially not obviously, because it encourages 'on rails' gameplay and looses out on the appeal of players figuring out how to make a threshold mechanic work. The name isn't great either fr the setting either.
Other returning mechanics I'd consider are Modular (with the theme of tech scavenging), Bloodthirst (playing into 'savage bandit guys' trope, and/or wasteland monsters/mutants trope), Fortifications (with the theme of holding out the storm and rebuilding), Reinforce (in the same area as 'Assault'), Persist (with the theme of survivors), Wither (playing into wasteland monsters/mutants trope), Unearth (with theme of uncovering things from before apocalyptic event/s) and Scavenge (reasons should be obvious).
Thanks! If I'm not using convoke, I think I like persist here. It allows the use of -1/-1 counters, which should be a great fit.
The changes for ancestry sound good. Same with augment/retrace. I like all the name changes.
Do you have and idea for a new mechanic that would fit in black? At the moment it doesn't have any mechanics. Maybe it could have somewhat of a tribal theme? Maybe mutant tribal in black/green?
Thanks! If I'm not using convoke, I think I like persist here. It allows the use of -1/-1 counters, which should be a great fit.
The changes for ancestry sound good. Same with augment/retrace. I like all the name changes.
Do you have and idea for a new mechanic that would fit in black? At the moment it doesn't have any mechanics. Maybe it could have somewhat of a tribal theme? Maybe mutant tribal in black/green?
Legacy - [effect] for each card that shares a card type with it in your graveyard.
Centered in GU and encourages a self-mill strategy.
Persist (returning mecanic) - (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.)
Encourages a midrange-y deck than outgrinds the opponent with creatures that just won't die. Centered in WB.
Improvise (COST)- (Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, if this is in your graveayrd, you may pay (COST). If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
This mechanic also synergizes with sel-milling and works well with legacy, since it encourages you to cast more instants and sorceries. Centerd in UR.
BG has mutant tribal. I don't want to have both persist and wither, since that is too close to shadowmoor, and I think persist is more important to the set's identity. Is there some unique thing we can do with mutants?
Strife - If you control two or more tapped creatures, [effect].
This mechanic is centered in RW and encourages a fast, aggressive strategy. We could also use some tap abiilities on creatures to create intereting gameplay. Things like Nettle Drone and Zada's Commando come to mind.
Some points: We seem to have an enemy-color focus. Is that something we want to expand on? What are we going to do with the allied color pairs?
That could be interesting, but when players see a creature with a -1/-1 counter, they think of that creature as less powerful. It also severely limits our design space for mutants with 1 toughness. Maybe we can use that idea, but I think we can find something better.
Thoughts about the allied color pairs:
WU: White is very focused on creatures, while blue has the two graveyard/selfmill archetypes in enemy colors. How can we combine those? Maybe this can be the creature legacy archetype?
UB: Maybe UB can be a classic contrlo deck that interacts with counters. Shadowmoor had cards like Fate Transfer, Leech bonder and Soul Snuffers so maybe this could work.
BR: Black and red both have a creaature focus, and black has persist. I think a token/sacrifice theme, which would also work well with strife, is a good fit.
RG: Green has mutants and self-mill, while red has improvise and strife. Maybe we just want a generic big-stuff deck with mutants and strife?
GW: Maybe this can be the creature legacy deck? I'm not sure what to do here.
Maybe some flavor can help with the allied colors.
WU could be the last kingdom/city/civilization of the world. What does that mean? Maybe we want a normal tempo that would represent the cunning tacticians and strategists needed to survive this world.
UB could represent some of the ancient secrets and monstrosities the ancient civilizations left behind, and powers that shouldn't be trifled with. This fits a slow control deck, with counterspells, removal and card draw.
BR can represent the marauders and hordes that ravage the wastes, and would fit the token/sac theme.
RG can give us some big creatures and mutants. Maybe RG will have an order of druids that believes that this state is the beginning of the world's reincarnation, and see the mutations and chaos as divine gifts.
GW may be the nomads and settlements of survivors. This color pair will have quite a bit of -1/-1 counters, which can give it a "scarred" feeling. Maybe this will be the -1/-1 counters matter archetype?
The first is ancestry, centered in blue and green, which represents the ancient relics of past civilizations:
Ancestry (This card costs 1 less to cast for each card that shares a card type with it in your graveyard.)
Aven Ruin Scout 4U
Creature - Bird Scout (C)
Flying
Ancestry
3/2
Lotus Husk 4
Artifact (R)
Ancestry
t, Sacrifice Lotus Husk: Add three mana of any one color to your mana pool.
I'm not sure ancestry works the best with NWO, but maybe it can be tweaked to work better.
The second mechanic is augment, which appears in blue and red, and represents the reckless scavengers, wanderers and wizards who have to find creative uses of magic to endure:
Augment {Cost} (Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may pay {Cost} and exile this card from your graveyard. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Double Check 1U
Instant (C)
Draw a card.
Augment 1U
Improvised Explosion R
Sorcery (C)
Improvised Explosion deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Augment 1R
The third mechanic is assault. Centered in red and white, it represents the warbands, bandits, mercenaries and warlike tribes that roam the wastes.
Assault - If you control two or more tapped creatures, [effect].
Damar Rider 2W
Creature - Human Warrior (C)
Assault - Damar Rider enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if you control two or more tapped creatures.
2/3
Pillage the Caravans R
Sorcery (U)
Discard two cards, then draw two cards.
Assault - If you control two or more tapped creatures, instead discard two cards, then draw three cards.
Assault is a tweak on battalion and raid that can be less agressive, and works really well with the next mechanic:
Convoke is the returning mechanic and is once again centered in green-white. It represents the more-or-less civilzed people of the world, clinging to what little order remains and raising militias to protect their communities.
Last City's Call 4WW
Sorcery (C)
Convoke
Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
Gather Supplies 3G
Instant (C)
Convoke
You gain 2 life for each creature you control.
I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback, and maybe start creating a real set out of this!
Ancestry- Seems difficult to balance for common. I recommend opening it to an ability word version
i.e.
Ancestry- (effect) for each card that shares a card type with (this) in your graveyard
This will give you more room for development.
The name could be adjusted to reinforce the apocalyptic theme more to something like 'Legacy' (which gives more of a sense of something has gone) or 'Aftermath'.
Augment- I don't see what makes this sufficiently interesting compared to flashback, it's just very similar because the only real difference is a timing restriction which doesn't feel very meaningful. It would be more interesting in comparison if you didn't exile the card from your grave like with Retrace and just upped the cost for it.
The name could be adjusted to something like 'Improvise' to carry the sense of desperation, difficulty and urgency.
Flashback could also be used here, and the name takes an interesting direction in this setting as being a sort of link to before the apocalyptic event/s happened if you play it up with naming and art.
Assault- I like it. The name could however still be improved, perhaps 'Strife'?
Convoke- The synergy with Assault seems a little too obvious. It's generally not a good idea to tie your mechanics very close together especially not obviously, because it encourages 'on rails' gameplay and looses out on the appeal of players figuring out how to make a threshold mechanic work. The name isn't great either fr the setting either.
Other returning mechanics I'd consider are Modular (with the theme of tech scavenging), Bloodthirst (playing into 'savage bandit guys' trope, and/or wasteland monsters/mutants trope), Fortifications (with the theme of holding out the storm and rebuilding), Reinforce (in the same area as 'Assault'), Persist (with the theme of survivors), Wither (playing into wasteland monsters/mutants trope), Unearth (with theme of uncovering things from before apocalyptic event/s) and Scavenge (reasons should be obvious).
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
The changes for ancestry sound good. Same with augment/retrace. I like all the name changes.
Do you have and idea for a new mechanic that would fit in black? At the moment it doesn't have any mechanics. Maybe it could have somewhat of a tribal theme? Maybe mutant tribal in black/green?
Persist works good for black.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
GU: Ancestry
WB: Persist
UR: Aumgent/retrace/flashback-esque mechanic
BG: Mutant tribal
RW: Assault
This can give us the basic design for the enemy color archetypes. What can we do in allied colors?
Mechanics at the moment:
Legacy - [effect] for each card that shares a card type with it in your graveyard.
Centered in GU and encourages a self-mill strategy.
Persist (returning mecanic) - (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.)
Encourages a midrange-y deck than outgrinds the opponent with creatures that just won't die. Centered in WB.
Improvise (COST)- (Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, if this is in your graveayrd, you may pay (COST). If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
This mechanic also synergizes with sel-milling and works well with legacy, since it encourages you to cast more instants and sorceries. Centerd in UR.
BG has mutant tribal. I don't want to have both persist and wither, since that is too close to shadowmoor, and I think persist is more important to the set's identity. Is there some unique thing we can do with mutants?
Strife - If you control two or more tapped creatures, [effect].
This mechanic is centered in RW and encourages a fast, aggressive strategy. We could also use some tap abiilities on creatures to create intereting gameplay. Things like Nettle Drone and Zada's Commando come to mind.
Some points: We seem to have an enemy-color focus. Is that something we want to expand on? What are we going to do with the allied color pairs?
Thoughts about the allied color pairs:
WU: White is very focused on creatures, while blue has the two graveyard/selfmill archetypes in enemy colors. How can we combine those? Maybe this can be the creature legacy archetype?
UB: Maybe UB can be a classic contrlo deck that interacts with counters. Shadowmoor had cards like Fate Transfer, Leech bonder and Soul Snuffers so maybe this could work.
BR: Black and red both have a creaature focus, and black has persist. I think a token/sacrifice theme, which would also work well with strife, is a good fit.
RG: Green has mutants and self-mill, while red has improvise and strife. Maybe we just want a generic big-stuff deck with mutants and strife?
GW: Maybe this can be the creature legacy deck? I'm not sure what to do here.
WU could be the last kingdom/city/civilization of the world. What does that mean? Maybe we want a normal tempo that would represent the cunning tacticians and strategists needed to survive this world.
UB could represent some of the ancient secrets and monstrosities the ancient civilizations left behind, and powers that shouldn't be trifled with. This fits a slow control deck, with counterspells, removal and card draw.
BR can represent the marauders and hordes that ravage the wastes, and would fit the token/sac theme.
RG can give us some big creatures and mutants. Maybe RG will have an order of druids that believes that this state is the beginning of the world's reincarnation, and see the mutations and chaos as divine gifts.
GW may be the nomads and settlements of survivors. This color pair will have quite a bit of -1/-1 counters, which can give it a "scarred" feeling. Maybe this will be the -1/-1 counters matter archetype?