Earlier, I had the idea of spicing up core set foils by having a few cycles of "full art" foils. Generally speaking, a core set is meant to introduce new players to core concepts of the game. This can be done with quality cards, like Vampire Nighthawk; however such cards with evergreen keywords should (when at common or uncommon) have reminder text to teach players the mechanics. However, Wizards sometimes drops reminder text from foils, which makes them more collectable/insteresting.
So here's the (updated) proposal: Include a cycle of "Extended/Full art" foil versions of core set cards, with gameplay text (but no reminder text or flavor text). (These would be similar to the gameday cards wizards puts out on occasion.) Do a cycle at each rarity: Instants @ (C), creatures @ (U), Sorceries @ (R), and Planeswalkers @ (M).
Rationale: Giant Growth and Holy Day do two classic, iconic, color-representing things. They're fringe playable, solid cards that should be in all core sets. Lightning Bolt is the premier burn spell. At (c) it represents a return to classic magic's freedom to put good removal at common. It also allows you to print competitive 1-3 drops at common and uncommon, as there will be answers to them at 1-3 mana in the format. Quicken always struck me as an excellent card as - at worst - it's a cantrip. However, it encourages designers to print more sorcery speed removal at common and uncommon - removal that gets better with a quicken in hand. Playing against B is different than playing against UB in a relevant way here. Historically Quicken has saw play at (R), but the gameplay changes it would allow at common justify moving it down a few rarities. It is an iconic card that perfectly demonstrates blue's color pie.
Finally, let's talk Vile Rebirth VS Entomb. In an ideal world, I'd want both cards in a core set. Vile Rebirth is a great combat trick and graveyard hoser at the same time. It's great at (C) or (U). Zombies are a popular tribe, and the token will likely be used by several cards in the set, so as long as we're okay with tokens in a core set (and I am), then this is pretty much an obvious inclusion.
Entomb, in contrast, is quite iconic. It enables flashback, reassembling Skeleton (likely an (U)), and - most importantly - zombify strategies, themselves iconic. Make no mistake, I realize I would be fighting an uphill battle just to get this card included in a core set at (R), to make it (C) would be seen as absurd to many people. However, the card is very particular at what it does, and it's not very good at much of anything else, so I don't know if it would warp limited. Although you could argue that making it (C) would be bad because it's so useless in limited (unless you have the right deck). In most drafts Entomb at common would be like Cranial Extraction at common; next to useless. But for the reanimator strategy, which should be a black staple strategy with Zombify (or similar) at uncommon and a Hell's Caretaker effect at (R) and/or (M), would love this card. In many respects, it would draft like Compelling Argument - a card only one strategy could use.
I think a core set should sell the game and include as many staples and iconic cards as possible that would allow for a diverse, everchanging and responsive standard. Entomb enables graveyard strategies, while encouraging players to run graveyard hate (like Vile Rebirth, Loaming Shaman, and some (U) artifact graveyard hate 2 drop that also serves as a signet variant?). Is this appropriate at (C)? I don't know; testing would be required. Given the sheer amount of bulk garbage commons that never have a chance of making your limited deck in contemporary sets, I think Entomb might have a shot at (C) if the set is built right. If that's the case, move Vile Rebirth to (U) along with Loaming Shaman and other, subtle graveyard hate/recycling cards, and give it a shot.
(U) Creature Cycle: Vampire Nighthawk1BB Vampire Shaman - Flying, Deathtouch, Lifelink 2/3 Hurloon Bodyguard1RR Minotaur Warrior - Haste, Menace, First Strike 2/3 (The new Hurloon Minotaur, marketing take note!) Faerie Guard1UU Faerie Soldier - Vigilance, Flying, Flash 2/3 Serra Peacekeeper1WW Angel Cleric - Flying, Lifelink, Vigilance 2/3 (The new Thunder Spirit, Marketing take note?) Ambush Basilisk 1GG Basilisk - Haste, Flash, Deathtouch 2/3 (I still like the Raging Kavu-style tension here.)
These feel Obvious, iconic, and yet - with Lightning Bolt at (C) along with some Dark Banishing variant, these don't seem too good.
(R) Sorcery Cycle: Day of Judgment2WW Scapeshift2GG Break Storm2RR Sorcery (R) Exile all artifacts. (IE, Shatterstorm that works against Darksteel Colossus and doesn't include regeneration text. Strictly better Shatterstorm to preserve a strict cycle for a core set seems okay with me.) Mutilate2BB (Alternative: Ill-Gotten Gains ?) Relicstorm2UU Sorcery (R) Return all artifact cards from all graveyards to their owner's hands.
(M) Planeswalker Cycle:
ETB; probably classic Lorywn walkers with a Gideon replacing Ajani, maybe a nissa > garuuk (but he is iconic)...
Lots of interesting stuff here, good reprint suggestions.
You are correct that Entomb probably wouldn't break limited, but it would absolutely dominate Standard if there was any decent reanimate spell in the format. Even if that weren't the case, perhaps it could be uncommon or rare to limit on the shuffling in limited. Vile Rebirth is a great pick though.
Quicken shouldn't be common. This is a set for new players and it's a relatively complicated card that would increase the likelihood of complicated combat tricks. It shouldn't be something new players are used to seeing and it isn't a common effect.
Instead of printing Serra Peacekeeper, you could reprint Aerial Responder.
I guess Break Storm is fine at rare, it's a major step up from Into the Core and Shatterstorm is already good, but it's understable.
For the rare Sorcery cycle, it seems annoying that white gets the better removal than black. You could print a new 2BB color shifted Day of Judgment (Damnation with no regeneration clause). White could reprint Decree of Justice or even Retether.
Entomb certainly isn't necessary to have decent reanimator options, but it is certainly a card that wants to make it happen. The ability to toolbox reanimate would be quite appealing. Mind you, with fair (and not silver bullet) checks, I don't see it being a problem. THAT SAID, the sheer bulk of proposals I'm making here, and my high standard of quality, probably means this is a fight for another day.
I'm going to fight you on Quicken; like many good cards, it fulfills two roles - 1, it's a 1-mana cantrip, on it's own playable in limited, and 2, it teaches you the difference between instants and sorceries by letting you break the rule that separates instants and sorceries. Yes, instant speed Day of Judgment is a "problem"... but not really much more than Day of Judgment on it's own.
Aerial Responder has a horrible creature type and mediocre art. The flavor just is not there. In contrast, the angel would be 4x of in casual angel decks. If dwarves were meant to fly, they'd be atop a giant eagle like any good skyknight.
Shatterstorm has the regeneration clause, a no-no for a contemporary core set. We could go full Day of Judgment here, AKA functionally worse. But I do want ONE indestructible card in the set - Darksteel Colossus - and this serves as one of a select few answers to it (Condemn, ???). At (R), I think this is fair so as to not spoil too many Darksteel Colossus drafts, but still serve as a potential answer for standard.
White has historically had the wrath-variants, so I don't see a problem here. I did toy with giving black something like "Each player discards all cards" (and not including one with nothing, but it is a junk rare that saw constructed play... so it almost has to get in). If we were cruel, I could print "Each player sacrifices all creatures they control. Lose life equal to the # sacrificed." but that seems a bit much. Mutilate would encourage mono-black play, which is nice for a core set to do... but I can see opting for something else. Maybe "Each player returns all creature cards in their graveyard to the battlefield." or "Each player exiles all creature cards form their graveyard and creates that many 2/2 zombie tokens."
Open to other suggestions for this cycle though.
Relicstorm might be a bit too much of a combo enabler; certainly needs testing. Alternatively, maybe a bounce spell that lets you choose the type(s) being bounced?
Earlier, I had the idea of spicing up core set foils by having a few cycles of "full art" foils. Generally speaking, a core set is meant to introduce new players to core concepts of the game. This can be done with quality cards, like Vampire Nighthawk; however such cards with evergreen keywords should (when at common or uncommon) have reminder text to teach players the mechanics. However, Wizards sometimes drops reminder text from foils, which makes them more collectable/insteresting.
So here's the (updated) proposal: Include a cycle of "Extended/Full art" foil versions of core set cards, with gameplay text (but no reminder text or flavor text). (These would be similar to the gameday cards wizards puts out on occasion.) Do a cycle at each rarity: Instants @ (C), creatures @ (U), Sorceries @ (R), and Planeswalkers @ (M).
Here's the proposed cycles:
(C) Instants:
Holy Day W
Giant Growth G
Lightning Bolt R
Vile Rebirth B (or Entomb at common if you want to push it.)
Quicken U
Rationale: Giant Growth and Holy Day do two classic, iconic, color-representing things. They're fringe playable, solid cards that should be in all core sets. Lightning Bolt is the premier burn spell. At (c) it represents a return to classic magic's freedom to put good removal at common. It also allows you to print competitive 1-3 drops at common and uncommon, as there will be answers to them at 1-3 mana in the format. Quicken always struck me as an excellent card as - at worst - it's a cantrip. However, it encourages designers to print more sorcery speed removal at common and uncommon - removal that gets better with a quicken in hand. Playing against B is different than playing against UB in a relevant way here. Historically Quicken has saw play at (R), but the gameplay changes it would allow at common justify moving it down a few rarities. It is an iconic card that perfectly demonstrates blue's color pie.
Finally, let's talk Vile Rebirth VS Entomb. In an ideal world, I'd want both cards in a core set. Vile Rebirth is a great combat trick and graveyard hoser at the same time. It's great at (C) or (U). Zombies are a popular tribe, and the token will likely be used by several cards in the set, so as long as we're okay with tokens in a core set (and I am), then this is pretty much an obvious inclusion.
Entomb, in contrast, is quite iconic. It enables flashback, reassembling Skeleton (likely an (U)), and - most importantly - zombify strategies, themselves iconic. Make no mistake, I realize I would be fighting an uphill battle just to get this card included in a core set at (R), to make it (C) would be seen as absurd to many people. However, the card is very particular at what it does, and it's not very good at much of anything else, so I don't know if it would warp limited. Although you could argue that making it (C) would be bad because it's so useless in limited (unless you have the right deck). In most drafts Entomb at common would be like Cranial Extraction at common; next to useless. But for the reanimator strategy, which should be a black staple strategy with Zombify (or similar) at uncommon and a Hell's Caretaker effect at (R) and/or (M), would love this card. In many respects, it would draft like Compelling Argument - a card only one strategy could use.
I think a core set should sell the game and include as many staples and iconic cards as possible that would allow for a diverse, everchanging and responsive standard. Entomb enables graveyard strategies, while encouraging players to run graveyard hate (like Vile Rebirth, Loaming Shaman, and some (U) artifact graveyard hate 2 drop that also serves as a signet variant?). Is this appropriate at (C)? I don't know; testing would be required. Given the sheer amount of bulk garbage commons that never have a chance of making your limited deck in contemporary sets, I think Entomb might have a shot at (C) if the set is built right. If that's the case, move Vile Rebirth to (U) along with Loaming Shaman and other, subtle graveyard hate/recycling cards, and give it a shot.
(U) Creature Cycle:
Vampire Nighthawk 1BB Vampire Shaman - Flying, Deathtouch, Lifelink 2/3
Hurloon Bodyguard 1RR Minotaur Warrior - Haste, Menace, First Strike 2/3 (The new Hurloon Minotaur, marketing take note!)
Faerie Guard 1UU Faerie Soldier - Vigilance, Flying, Flash 2/3
Serra Peacekeeper 1WW Angel Cleric - Flying, Lifelink, Vigilance 2/3 (The new Thunder Spirit, Marketing take note?)
Ambush Basilisk 1GG Basilisk - Haste, Flash, Deathtouch 2/3 (I still like the Raging Kavu-style tension here.)
These feel Obvious, iconic, and yet - with Lightning Bolt at (C) along with some Dark Banishing variant, these don't seem too good.
(R) Sorcery Cycle:
Day of Judgment 2WW
Scapeshift 2GG
Break Storm 2RR Sorcery (R) Exile all artifacts. (IE, Shatterstorm that works against Darksteel Colossus and doesn't include regeneration text. Strictly better Shatterstorm to preserve a strict cycle for a core set seems okay with me.)
Mutilate 2BB (Alternative: Ill-Gotten Gains ?)
Relicstorm 2UU Sorcery (R) Return all artifact cards from all graveyards to their owner's hands.
(M) Planeswalker Cycle:
ETB; probably classic Lorywn walkers with a Gideon replacing Ajani, maybe a nissa > garuuk (but he is iconic)...
You are correct that Entomb probably wouldn't break limited, but it would absolutely dominate Standard if there was any decent reanimate spell in the format. Even if that weren't the case, perhaps it could be uncommon or rare to limit on the shuffling in limited. Vile Rebirth is a great pick though.
Quicken shouldn't be common. This is a set for new players and it's a relatively complicated card that would increase the likelihood of complicated combat tricks. It shouldn't be something new players are used to seeing and it isn't a common effect.
Instead of printing Serra Peacekeeper, you could reprint Aerial Responder.
I guess Break Storm is fine at rare, it's a major step up from Into the Core and Shatterstorm is already good, but it's understable.
For the rare Sorcery cycle, it seems annoying that white gets the better removal than black. You could print a new 2BB color shifted Day of Judgment (Damnation with no regeneration clause). White could reprint Decree of Justice or even Retether.
Any ideas for rare/mythic rare creature cycle?
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
I'm going to fight you on Quicken; like many good cards, it fulfills two roles - 1, it's a 1-mana cantrip, on it's own playable in limited, and 2, it teaches you the difference between instants and sorceries by letting you break the rule that separates instants and sorceries. Yes, instant speed Day of Judgment is a "problem"... but not really much more than Day of Judgment on it's own.
Aerial Responder has a horrible creature type and mediocre art. The flavor just is not there. In contrast, the angel would be 4x of in casual angel decks. If dwarves were meant to fly, they'd be atop a giant eagle like any good skyknight.
Shatterstorm has the regeneration clause, a no-no for a contemporary core set. We could go full Day of Judgment here, AKA functionally worse. But I do want ONE indestructible card in the set - Darksteel Colossus - and this serves as one of a select few answers to it (Condemn, ???). At (R), I think this is fair so as to not spoil too many Darksteel Colossus drafts, but still serve as a potential answer for standard.
White has historically had the wrath-variants, so I don't see a problem here. I did toy with giving black something like "Each player discards all cards" (and not including one with nothing, but it is a junk rare that saw constructed play... so it almost has to get in). If we were cruel, I could print "Each player sacrifices all creatures they control. Lose life equal to the # sacrificed." but that seems a bit much. Mutilate would encourage mono-black play, which is nice for a core set to do... but I can see opting for something else. Maybe "Each player returns all creature cards in their graveyard to the battlefield." or "Each player exiles all creature cards form their graveyard and creates that many 2/2 zombie tokens."
Open to other suggestions for this cycle though.
Relicstorm might be a bit too much of a combo enabler; certainly needs testing. Alternatively, maybe a bounce spell that lets you choose the type(s) being bounced?