Next year, my birthday is also gonna be my 20th anniversary of starting to play Magic, so I want to include the game in the festivities. I always wanted to a draft of a custom set, so I'd like to actually complete one. Arkadia will be that set.
Non-Linear Tribal Mechanics: Arkadia features 10 main tribes, one for each allied shard and one for each enemy wedge. The shard tribes are race-based, while the wedge tribes are class-based. This means that they're like two layers laid on top of each other: You might focus on Wolf Shamans, or Wolf Monks.
Drafting Red/Black doesn't force you into one color, as you'll still have access to every single tribe to at least some degree. All of it's tribes are ones that aren't widely supported already: no Elves, Goblins, or Humans. Also, all it's races are specifically non-humanoid ones.
Race/Faction Themes: Besides cards that reward tribal synergies, each Race/Faction has a unique play style, similar to the guilds from Ravnica. For example, GWB Unicorns uses the graveyard as a resource, while WUB Monks are all about having more cards in hand than the opponent. Some have a keyword, others an ability world, while others are just general mechanical focuses (There's no keyword abilities just there because there has to be one).
Rich Draft Experience: The set is designed for draft, and has slightly more complexity than a typical set, similar to Modern or Eternal Masters.
Theme/Setting:
Arkadia is a plane abandoned. The being known as its god---in truth, a planeswalker---originally created it as a gentle cocoon of illusion, in response to some unknown shattering trauma. It was a land of peaceful whimsy, populated by unicorns, faeries, and other fanciful creatures.
However, the creator eventually disappeared from the world's sight. Some Arkadians say he died. Others say he left. Others say he is merely sleeping, waiting for the right time to reawaken. Either way, in its creator's absence, the world slowly changed. Through cracks in the looking glass, darkness crept in.
TL;DR Version: A mix of Narnia, My Little Pony, and Alice in Wonderland, with a more dark fantasy tone.
This is what I'm planning for the tribes so far (I'll fill in the flavor details later). I also have some example cards, just to show how the mechanics would work.
GWB: Unicorns
Mechanic: Using graveyard as a resource (usually by exiling a creature, enchantment, or land card...the card types are specified to make it work with the Shaman mechanic).
Keeper of Midnight's Garden 1G
Creature - Unicorn Mystic (C) T: Add W or B to your mana pool.
Remove a creature, enchantment, or land card from your graveyard: Untap Keeper of Midnight's Garden. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1
Return to Soil 2B
Enchantment
Sacrifice a land: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Sacrifice Return to Soil: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
BRW: Griffins
Griffin society is martial, based upon the principal that "might makes right."
Mechanic: Dominance. Abilities that are active as long as you have more life than opponent. Rewards aggressive play, as well as the burn/life gain/life drain found in the 3 colors.
2B
Creature - Griffin Minion (C)
Flying W: Until end of turn, ~ gets lifelink. R: Until end of turn, ~ gets first strike.
2/1
Warlord's Tribute 3BB
Sorcery (U)
Dominance - Each opponent with less life than you sacrifices two creatures. Each other opponent sacrifices one creature.
UBG: Moon Wolves
Hunters and seers, as well as dangerous opponents.
Mechanic: Clash and Scry. The wolves are all about manipulating the top of the deck, to win clashes with their high CMC cards, or just control the flow of the game.
1G
Creature - Wolf Warrior (C)
Whenever ~ blocks or is blocked, clash. If you win the clash, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
2/2
U
Enchantment
Whenever you assign attackers, scry X, where X is the number of attacking creatures.
4GG
Creature - Wolf Warrior (C) 1U: Put ~ on top of your library. 1B: ~ gets Intimidate until end of turn.
6/3
WUR: Pegasi
Mechanic: ETB effects, along with bounce/flickering?
RGU: Chimera
The Chimera of Arkadia aren't like the traditional ones from Greek mythology. They're all unique hybrids, combining various animals like foxes, snakes, or other less identifiable things. They are born from raw imagination.
Possible Themes:
- Possibly "Flash tribal", and an ability word called "Inscrutable" that gives you benefits at the beginning of your end step if all your lands are untapped.
4G
Creature - Chimera Shaman U: Until end of turn, creature cards in your hand have flash. R: Until end of turn, sorcery cards in your hand have flash.
4/2
- Prowess for card draw?
3G
Creature - Chimera
Whenever you draw a card, ~ gets +1/+1 until end of turn. 4U: Draw a card. 1R, discard a card: Draw a card.
2/2
BRG: Shamans
Mechanic: Primeval. This is a drawback found on sorceries (and possibly instants, depending on the Chimera mechanic). At the beginning of your upkeep, if a card with this ability is in your graveyard, an opponent of your choice chooses if you take X damage from the card, or mill X cards from your library. It favors aggressive play. (I always wanted to have cards that were bad to have in the graveyard)
Ancient Invocation R
Instant (C)
Primeval 1
Add BRG to your mana pool.
Thundering Voice 2R
Sorcery (U)
Primeval 2.
~ deals 2 damage to target player and all creatures that player controls.
2G
Creature - Wolf Shaman
Whenever ~ attacks, you may put target black, red, or green card in your graveyard on top of your library.
2/1
(There would be lots of cards designed like this that fit into the themes of both tribes...this helps you manage your Primeval cards, and also stack the deck for Wolf clashing)
WUB: Monks
Mechanic: Secrecy - Abilities that are active as long you have more cards in hand than an opponent. Combos with blue's card draw, black's discard, and white's "return to hand" protection effects.
Respect for the Cloth 2U
Enchantment
Secrecy - Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature he or she controls that's attacking you, as long as you have more cards in your hand than their controller.
UBR: Minion
Mechanic: Mill as a victory condition. I always felt like some parts of mill should fit in red's color pie, since they're basically burn.
B
Creature - Unicorn Minion B, T: Each opponent puts the top 2 cards of their library into their graveyard.
1/1
Planar Unravelling 2R
Sorcery
Target opponent reveals the top 12 cards of their library. Exile all land cards revealed this way. Put those cards back on top of that library in a random order.
WUG: ?
Ideas:
- Mystics, Nomads, or Scouts with an enchantment theme. The latter two would be about seeking out mystic leylines, sort of like magical archeologists.
- Advisors with tokens/convoke theme. Would create Citizen tokens.
RGW: ?
Ideas:
- Knights that are all about lots of small creatures and mass pump. Make Citizen tokens, which they represent as advocates.
- Warriors with similar "large amount of creatures matter" theme.
- Mystics or Nomads with a "resilient creatures and creature sweeping" theme. Sort of like apocalyptic survivors, or ones who belive they'll be the "chosen ones" in coming end times.
The set would also have lots of cards like in Lorwyn which weren't just "play lots of this creature type" but had random neat interactions based on creature type.
Boastful Brawler 3R
Creature - Pegasus Warrior
Flying, haste
Tap an untapped Pegasus you control: That pegasus fights Boastful Brawler. Any player may play this ability.
3/1
Quixotic Honorbound 1R
Creature - Chimera Knight
~ can't block Knights.
~ can't attack a player who controls any Knights.
3/1
And there'd be cycles of creatures that could support multiple tribes, including an "envoy" tribe of one race that supports two adjacent tribes.
Pegasus Ambassador 2R
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a Griffin or Chimera card, reveal it to all players, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your library.
1/1
Chimera Ambassador 2U
Creature - Chimera Advisor
Flash
Wolves you control have hexproof.
Pegasi you control have flash.
2/1
Non-Linear Tribal Mechanics: Arkadia features 10 main tribes, one for each allied shard and one for each enemy wedge. The shard tribes are race-based, while the wedge tribes are class-based. This means that they're like two layers laid on top of each other: You might focus on Wolf Shamans, or Wolf Monks.
Drafting Red/Black doesn't force you into one color, as you'll still have access to every single tribe to at least some degree. All of it's tribes are ones that aren't widely supported already: no Elves, Goblins, or Humans. Also, all it's races are specifically non-humanoid ones.
Race/Faction Themes: Besides cards that reward tribal synergies, each Race/Faction has a unique play style, similar to the guilds from Ravnica. For example, GWB Unicorns uses the graveyard as a resource, while WUB Monks are all about having more cards in hand than the opponent. Some have a keyword, others an ability world, while others are just general mechanical focuses (There's no keyword abilities just there because there has to be one).
Rich Draft Experience: The set is designed for draft, and has slightly more complexity than a typical set, similar to Modern or Eternal Masters.
Theme/Setting:
Arkadia is a plane abandoned. The being known as its god---in truth, a planeswalker---originally created it as a gentle cocoon of illusion, in response to some unknown shattering trauma. It was a land of peaceful whimsy, populated by unicorns, faeries, and other fanciful creatures.
However, the creator eventually disappeared from the world's sight. Some Arkadians say he died. Others say he left. Others say he is merely sleeping, waiting for the right time to reawaken. Either way, in its creator's absence, the world slowly changed. Through cracks in the looking glass, darkness crept in.
TL;DR Version: A mix of Narnia, My Little Pony, and Alice in Wonderland, with a more dark fantasy tone.
This is what I'm planning for the tribes so far (I'll fill in the flavor details later). I also have some example cards, just to show how the mechanics would work.
GWB: Unicorns
Mechanic: Using graveyard as a resource (usually by exiling a creature, enchantment, or land card...the card types are specified to make it work with the Shaman mechanic).
Keeper of Midnight's Garden
1G
Creature - Unicorn Mystic (C)
T: Add W or B to your mana pool.
Remove a creature, enchantment, or land card from your graveyard: Untap Keeper of Midnight's Garden. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1
Return to Soil
2B
Enchantment
Sacrifice a land: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Sacrifice Return to Soil: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
BRW: Griffins
Griffin society is martial, based upon the principal that "might makes right."
Mechanic: Dominance. Abilities that are active as long as you have more life than opponent. Rewards aggressive play, as well as the burn/life gain/life drain found in the 3 colors.
2B
Creature - Griffin Minion (C)
Flying
W: Until end of turn, ~ gets lifelink.
R: Until end of turn, ~ gets first strike.
2/1
Warlord's Tribute
3BB
Sorcery (U)
Dominance - Each opponent with less life than you sacrifices two creatures. Each other opponent sacrifices one creature.
UBG: Moon Wolves
Hunters and seers, as well as dangerous opponents.
Mechanic: Clash and Scry. The wolves are all about manipulating the top of the deck, to win clashes with their high CMC cards, or just control the flow of the game.
1G
Creature - Wolf Warrior (C)
Whenever ~ blocks or is blocked, clash. If you win the clash, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
2/2
U
Enchantment
Whenever you assign attackers, scry X, where X is the number of attacking creatures.
4GG
Creature - Wolf Warrior (C)
1U: Put ~ on top of your library.
1B: ~ gets Intimidate until end of turn.
6/3
WUR: Pegasi
Mechanic: ETB effects, along with bounce/flickering?
RGU: Chimera
The Chimera of Arkadia aren't like the traditional ones from Greek mythology. They're all unique hybrids, combining various animals like foxes, snakes, or other less identifiable things. They are born from raw imagination.
Possible Themes:
- Possibly "Flash tribal", and an ability word called "Inscrutable" that gives you benefits at the beginning of your end step if all your lands are untapped.
4G
Creature - Chimera Shaman
U: Until end of turn, creature cards in your hand have flash.
R: Until end of turn, sorcery cards in your hand have flash.
4/2
- Prowess for card draw?
3G
Creature - Chimera
Whenever you draw a card, ~ gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
4U: Draw a card.
1R, discard a card: Draw a card.
2/2
BRG: Shamans
Mechanic: Primeval. This is a drawback found on sorceries (and possibly instants, depending on the Chimera mechanic). At the beginning of your upkeep, if a card with this ability is in your graveyard, an opponent of your choice chooses if you take X damage from the card, or mill X cards from your library. It favors aggressive play. (I always wanted to have cards that were bad to have in the graveyard)
Ancient Invocation
R
Instant (C)
Primeval 1
Add BRG to your mana pool.
Thundering Voice
2R
Sorcery (U)
Primeval 2.
~ deals 2 damage to target player and all creatures that player controls.
2G
Creature - Wolf Shaman
Whenever ~ attacks, you may put target black, red, or green card in your graveyard on top of your library.
2/1
(There would be lots of cards designed like this that fit into the themes of both tribes...this helps you manage your Primeval cards, and also stack the deck for Wolf clashing)
WUB: Monks
Mechanic: Secrecy - Abilities that are active as long you have more cards in hand than an opponent. Combos with blue's card draw, black's discard, and white's "return to hand" protection effects.
1W
Creature - Pegasus Monk
Flying
1W: Return target Monk to it's owner's hand.
1/1
Respect for the Cloth
2U
Enchantment
Secrecy - Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature he or she controls that's attacking you, as long as you have more cards in your hand than their controller.
UBR: Minion
Mechanic: Mill as a victory condition. I always felt like some parts of mill should fit in red's color pie, since they're basically burn.
B
Creature - Unicorn Minion
B, T: Each opponent puts the top 2 cards of their library into their graveyard.
1/1
Planar Unravelling
2R
Sorcery
Target opponent reveals the top 12 cards of their library. Exile all land cards revealed this way. Put those cards back on top of that library in a random order.
WUG: ?
Ideas:
- Mystics, Nomads, or Scouts with an enchantment theme. The latter two would be about seeking out mystic leylines, sort of like magical archeologists.
- Advisors with tokens/convoke theme. Would create Citizen tokens.
RGW: ?
Ideas:
- Knights that are all about lots of small creatures and mass pump. Make Citizen tokens, which they represent as advocates.
- Warriors with similar "large amount of creatures matter" theme.
- Mystics or Nomads with a "resilient creatures and creature sweeping" theme. Sort of like apocalyptic survivors, or ones who belive they'll be the "chosen ones" in coming end times.
The set would also have lots of cards like in Lorwyn which weren't just "play lots of this creature type" but had random neat interactions based on creature type.
Boastful Brawler
3R
Creature - Pegasus Warrior
Flying, haste
Tap an untapped Pegasus you control: That pegasus fights Boastful Brawler. Any player may play this ability.
3/1
Quixotic Honorbound
1R
Creature - Chimera Knight
~ can't block Knights.
~ can't attack a player who controls any Knights.
3/1
And there'd be cycles of creatures that could support multiple tribes, including an "envoy" tribe of one race that supports two adjacent tribes.
Pegasus Ambassador
2R
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a Griffin or Chimera card, reveal it to all players, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your library.
1/1
Chimera Ambassador
2U
Creature - Chimera Advisor
Flash
Wolves you control have hexproof.
Pegasi you control have flash.
2/1
Corrupt Control B | Burn R | UG Turbofog UG | White Weenie W | GW Tethmos WG | BG Cycling Combo BG
Enchantress GBW | Colorless Tron C | Red Deck Wins R | UG Madness UG | Mono-G Tron G | UR Puzzlehorns UR
Rhystic Tron WU| WU Prowess WU | BR Reanimator BR | Mono-R Control R | Stompy G | Temur Tron URG
Mardu Infinite Priest WBR | 85-Card Dredge BRG | Elves GU | Boros Bully RW | Jeskai Familiars RWU