Unseen-Eye Aven 2W
Creature - Bird
As an additional cost to cast Unseen-Eye Aven, cache a card from your hand. (To cache a card, exile it face down.)
Flying
3/1
Unseen-Eye Bear 1GG
Creature - Bear
At the beginning of your upkeep, cache a card from your hand.
Unseen-Eye Bear gets +1/+1 for each face-down card in exile you own.
3/3
Flesh Reprocessing B
Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control dies, cache it. Progress - Creature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast for as long as you own five or more face-down cards in exile.
Reach Beyond 2UU
Sorcery
Choose a face-down card in exile owned by an opponent and reveal it. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost.
Joint Research 3UU
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player may cache a card from their hand.
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws additional cards equal to the number of cards exiled with Joint Research.
Trap Between Pages 3W
Instant
Cache target attacking creature and Trap Between Pages.
Discharge 2R
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Discharge, put a face-down card in exile you own into your graveyard.
Discharge deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
So this is a drawback mechanic on almost every card with it? That doesn't seem very fun.
Private Mod Note
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Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Yeah, this could make for an interesting resource, as your progress ability word shows. Unfortunately, the cache keyword action is almost always a straight drawback.
1) do we need a new word for "exile face down"
2) is it important that the exiled cards be face down
The default is for exiled cards to be face up, so it's important for players to understand why they're face down instead.
Yes, it is important that the cards are face down, so that they're differentiated from cards that are exiled face up. For that I used another action word to indicate that it's a little different from normal exiling.
Quote from void_nothing »
Yeah, this could make for an interesting resource, as your progress ability word shows. Unfortunately, the cache keyword action is almost always a straight drawback.
Indeed, the idea behind the mechanic is that "face down cards in exile" can be used as a resource, just like how some colors use cards in the graveyard as a resource. Caching from hand is indeed a drawback, but it's entirely possible to cache from other zones (as seen in Trap Between Pages and Flesh Reprocessing).
Just another bunch of cards to illustrate that it's not always a drawback:
Windrider Lancer 1R
Creature - Human Warrior Energize - Whenever Windrider Lancer attacks, reveal the top card of your library and cache it. If it's a land card, Windrider Lancer gets +2/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
1/1
Paldia, the Crimson Storm 2RR
Legendary Creature - Human Knight
Double strike Energize - Whenever Paldia, the Crimson Storm attacks, reveal the top card of your library and cache it. It it's a land card, creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Put three face-down cards in exile you own into your graveyard: Creatures with power 2 or less can't block this turn.
2/3
Cached cards used as a resource. The card games by Bushiroad (Cardfight! Vanguard, Future Card Buddyfight, Weiss Schwarz) use this as their resource system.
Anelian Archivist 3U
Creature - Human Wizard T: Cache the top card of your library.
When Anelian Archivist dies, return all face-down cards exiled with Anelian Archivist to your hand.
1/3
In this sense, cached cards are used as charge counters without the need for pennies or beads.)
Gather From Dust 2G
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Gather From Dust, cache two cards in your graveyard.
Return target card in your graveyard to your hand.
Pulseblade Elf G
Creature - Elf Warrior
Put a face-down card in exile you own into your graveyard: Pulseblade Elf gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1
Reconstruction from Null 3B
Sorcery
Choose a face-down card in exile and reveal it. If it's a creature or land card, return it to the battlefield under your control tapped.
The idea is that players can't look at face-down cards in exile (CR 406.3, the most famous example being Pyxis of Pandemonium). You can use it to return one of your creature cards that you cached from your hand, or try to take a stab at your opponent's face down cards (which will most likely be lands I guess?).
Cache from your hand as in additional cost to something if very unfun and I thing should be used very sparingly. It shouldn't be on commons.
Energize starts showing that there are better methods to trigger caching. I like your second batch much better. However, the interactions on the new resource your creating here is very delicate. Cards that Cache more that one card at a time should be extremely rare otherwise overly strong interactions are likely to occur.
Your explanation of CR 406.3 makes it clear that Anelian Archivist doesn't work, since your creating a shared hidden zone with other cards that catch. How do I tell the difference? Do i need to start making separate cache piles for different card that cache? That seems really sloppy/adds unwanted complexity.
I can understand the desire to want to creature a new type of resource for magic, but what does this accomplish in terms of new interactions? It just creates a zone for the sake of creating a zone. A very non interactive one outside of cards that specifically reference it, which is parasitic.
I think if a mechanic like this were to move forward, you would need to make it distinct in how it is used and interacted with versus straight library/graveyard shenanigans. Right now it doesn't feel there yet.
Your explanation of CR 406.3 makes it clear that Anelian Archivist doesn't work, since your creating a shared hidden zone with other cards that catch. How do I tell the difference? Do i need to start making separate cache piles for different card that cache? That seems really sloppy/adds unwanted complexity.
It works the same way how multiple Pyxes of Pandemonium or Windbrisk Heights works; you just put them under the card. In fact in a normal game of Magic it's very usual to see multiple piles of cards in exile. For example, players who play UB control in Standard would keep these piles separate even though they're in the same zone: Cards exiled by Treasure Cruise or Perilous Vault go into one pile, cards exiled by Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver can go into two piles: creatures and non-creatures, and if you played multiple Detention Spheres and Oblivion Rings back in RTR you would have even more piles in exile. We've already done that since a long time ago; it's nothing new, I'm just exploiting the fact that we all keep our exile piles separate.
I can understand the desire to want to creature a new type of resource for magic, but what does this accomplish in terms of new interactions? It just creates a zone for the sake of creating a zone. A very non interactive one outside of cards that specifically reference it, which is parasitic.
My fault for not mentioning this: I'm a big fan of cubes and especially custom card cubes. Whenever I make cards now, it's for a custom card cube, which is why I'm entirely fine with it being parasitic. Again I'm not creating an entirely new zone, I'm just using an under-utilized one as a resource. Interactions with exile zone is very limited for a very good reason: the designers at Wizards don't want it to be an 'extended graveyard', and I respect that design decision.
In fact, let me tweak the 'put face-down cards in exile' mechanic a little:
Pulseblade Elf G
Creature - Elf Warrior
Flip a face-down card in exile you own face up: Pulseblade Elf gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1
Paldrick, the Right Hand of Justice 3WB
Legendary Creature - Avatar Energize - Whenever Paldrick attacks, reveal the top two cards of your library and cache them. Paldrick gets +2/+2 for each land card revealed this way.
Flip five face-down cards in exile you own face up: Exile target permanent.
4/4
Ionize 2RR
Sorcery
Ionize deals 3 damage to each creature. If a creature would die this way, its controller caches it instead.
Anelian Architect 1W
Creature - Human Advisor
When Anelian Architect enters the battlefield, you may cache up to two cards from your hand. Progress - T: Cast a card exiled with Anelian Architect. That card costs 2 less to cast. Activate this ability only if you own five or more face-down cards in exile.
2/2
Only in the last card there's a need for a separate exile pile.
I can say pretty confidently that there's some mechanic along these lines that would be great, I'm not sure if that mechanic is what you have here though. The execution is definitely an important part, likely more important than how the mechanic actually works. I agree with others that 'cache' shouldn't normally be from your hand, I'd keep that as a black/red thing. I'd say cache from library is the best version, in fact, it may be better to just do:
Cache (n) (To cache (n), exile the top (n) cards of your library face down.)
This way you have something that feels more like a mechanic on it's own, rather than through execution. My next suggestion would be a la manifest, where you can cache from any zone, but it's specified in the keyword so it feels more like a mechanic:
Cache (card e.g. 'the top card of your library') (To cache a card, exile it face it down.)
Unseen-Eye Aven
2W
Creature - Bird
As an additional cost to cast Unseen-Eye Aven, cache a card from your hand. (To cache a card, exile it face down.)
Flying
3/1
Unseen-Eye Bear
1GG
Creature - Bear
At the beginning of your upkeep, cache a card from your hand.
Unseen-Eye Bear gets +1/+1 for each face-down card in exile you own.
3/3
Flesh Reprocessing
B
Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control dies, cache it.
Progress - Creature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast for as long as you own five or more face-down cards in exile.
Reach Beyond
2UU
Sorcery
Choose a face-down card in exile owned by an opponent and reveal it. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost.
Joint Research
3UU
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player may cache a card from their hand.
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws additional cards equal to the number of cards exiled with Joint Research.
Trap Between Pages
3W
Instant
Cache target attacking creature and Trap Between Pages.
Discharge
2R
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Discharge, put a face-down card in exile you own into your graveyard.
Discharge deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
Level 2 Judge
Token and Playmat Store
Beyond the Guildpact
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
1) do we need a new word for "exile face down"
2) is it important that the exiled cards be face down
The default is for exiled cards to be face up, so it's important for players to understand why they're face down instead.
Yes, it is important that the cards are face down, so that they're differentiated from cards that are exiled face up. For that I used another action word to indicate that it's a little different from normal exiling.
Indeed, the idea behind the mechanic is that "face down cards in exile" can be used as a resource, just like how some colors use cards in the graveyard as a resource. Caching from hand is indeed a drawback, but it's entirely possible to cache from other zones (as seen in Trap Between Pages and Flesh Reprocessing).
Just another bunch of cards to illustrate that it's not always a drawback:
Windrider Lancer
1R
Creature - Human Warrior
Energize - Whenever Windrider Lancer attacks, reveal the top card of your library and cache it. If it's a land card, Windrider Lancer gets +2/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
1/1
Paldia, the Crimson Storm
2RR
Legendary Creature - Human Knight
Double strike
Energize - Whenever Paldia, the Crimson Storm attacks, reveal the top card of your library and cache it. It it's a land card, creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Put three face-down cards in exile you own into your graveyard: Creatures with power 2 or less can't block this turn.
2/3
Cached cards used as a resource. The card games by Bushiroad (Cardfight! Vanguard, Future Card Buddyfight, Weiss Schwarz) use this as their resource system.
Anelian Archivist
3U
Creature - Human Wizard
T: Cache the top card of your library.
When Anelian Archivist dies, return all face-down cards exiled with Anelian Archivist to your hand.
1/3
In this sense, cached cards are used as charge counters without the need for pennies or beads.)
Gather From Dust
2G
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Gather From Dust, cache two cards in your graveyard.
Return target card in your graveyard to your hand.
Pulseblade Elf
G
Creature - Elf Warrior
Put a face-down card in exile you own into your graveyard: Pulseblade Elf gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1
Reconstruction from Null
3B
Sorcery
Choose a face-down card in exile and reveal it. If it's a creature or land card, return it to the battlefield under your control tapped.
The idea is that players can't look at face-down cards in exile (CR 406.3, the most famous example being Pyxis of Pandemonium). You can use it to return one of your creature cards that you cached from your hand, or try to take a stab at your opponent's face down cards (which will most likely be lands I guess?).
Level 2 Judge
Token and Playmat Store
Beyond the Guildpact
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Energize starts showing that there are better methods to trigger caching. I like your second batch much better. However, the interactions on the new resource your creating here is very delicate. Cards that Cache more that one card at a time should be extremely rare otherwise overly strong interactions are likely to occur.
Your explanation of CR 406.3 makes it clear that Anelian Archivist doesn't work, since your creating a shared hidden zone with other cards that catch. How do I tell the difference? Do i need to start making separate cache piles for different card that cache? That seems really sloppy/adds unwanted complexity.
I can understand the desire to want to creature a new type of resource for magic, but what does this accomplish in terms of new interactions? It just creates a zone for the sake of creating a zone. A very non interactive one outside of cards that specifically reference it, which is parasitic.
I think if a mechanic like this were to move forward, you would need to make it distinct in how it is used and interacted with versus straight library/graveyard shenanigans. Right now it doesn't feel there yet.
It works the same way how multiple Pyxes of Pandemonium or Windbrisk Heights works; you just put them under the card. In fact in a normal game of Magic it's very usual to see multiple piles of cards in exile. For example, players who play UB control in Standard would keep these piles separate even though they're in the same zone: Cards exiled by Treasure Cruise or Perilous Vault go into one pile, cards exiled by Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver can go into two piles: creatures and non-creatures, and if you played multiple Detention Spheres and Oblivion Rings back in RTR you would have even more piles in exile. We've already done that since a long time ago; it's nothing new, I'm just exploiting the fact that we all keep our exile piles separate.
My fault for not mentioning this: I'm a big fan of cubes and especially custom card cubes. Whenever I make cards now, it's for a custom card cube, which is why I'm entirely fine with it being parasitic. Again I'm not creating an entirely new zone, I'm just using an under-utilized one as a resource. Interactions with exile zone is very limited for a very good reason: the designers at Wizards don't want it to be an 'extended graveyard', and I respect that design decision.
In fact, let me tweak the 'put face-down cards in exile' mechanic a little:
Pulseblade Elf
G
Creature - Elf Warrior
Flip a face-down card in exile you own face up: Pulseblade Elf gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
1/1
Paldrick, the Right Hand of Justice
3WB
Legendary Creature - Avatar
Energize - Whenever Paldrick attacks, reveal the top two cards of your library and cache them. Paldrick gets +2/+2 for each land card revealed this way.
Flip five face-down cards in exile you own face up: Exile target permanent.
4/4
Ionize
2RR
Sorcery
Ionize deals 3 damage to each creature. If a creature would die this way, its controller caches it instead.
Anelian Architect
1W
Creature - Human Advisor
When Anelian Architect enters the battlefield, you may cache up to two cards from your hand.
Progress - T: Cast a card exiled with Anelian Architect. That card costs 2 less to cast. Activate this ability only if you own five or more face-down cards in exile.
2/2
Only in the last card there's a need for a separate exile pile.
Level 2 Judge
Token and Playmat Store
Beyond the Guildpact
Cache (n) (To cache (n), exile the top (n) cards of your library face down.)
This way you have something that feels more like a mechanic on it's own, rather than through execution. My next suggestion would be a la manifest, where you can cache from any zone, but it's specified in the keyword so it feels more like a mechanic:
Cache (card e.g. 'the top card of your library') (To cache a card, exile it face it down.)
Anyway, that's just my suggestions.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
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Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
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