We know New Capenna is gonna be the MTG "Gangster" world, and that it will focus on five three-color crime families (most likely ally colors). However, one of the staple elements of organized crime stories is law enforcement and detective work. Without those elements, the word "crime" has no meaning. So I thought it would be neat to show the state of law enforcement on New Capenna given the elevated status of organized crime.
Notably, multicolor cards here will be enemy colored to differentiate themselves from the presumably ally colored crime families.
Police CorruptionWB
Enchantment (R)
When ~ enters the battlefield, investigate.
If you would create one or more tokens, you may create that many Treasure tokens instead.
Lose the Evidence1R
Instant (C)
Exile target artifact.
Cycling 2
Mob Boss2B
Creature - Demon Noble (R)
*/4
Flying
~'s power is equal to the number of Treasures you control.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, an opponent may have you create a Treasure token. If they do, tap ~.
Blind EyeU
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
When ~ enters the battlefield, create a Treasure token. 1: Enchanted creature can't be blocked this turn.
Stake OutW
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your end step, investigate.
Whenever you cast a spell or attack with a creature, sacrifice ~.
I don't love that police corruption uses a mechanic to create a token it will never make. I really like the flavor of the card but the execution is clunky. I love the flavor of the other two enchantments though. Stake Out in particular is really cool, I don't think WotC would print it in white but as a card to play with I love it in any color.
Blind Eye is great but does the flavor make more sense if it taps the enchanted creature rather than making it unblockable? It's a very different card that way but I think it captures the idea of an officer pocketing the bribe and looking away better if it's a negative enchantment on an opposing creature.
I don't love that police corruption uses a mechanic to create a token it will never make. I really like the flavor of the card but the execution is clunky. I love the flavor of the other two enchantments though. Stake Out in particular is really cool, I don't think WotC would print it in white but as a card to play with I love it in any color.
Blind Eye is great but does the flavor make more sense if it taps the enchanted creature rather than making it unblockable? It's a very different card that way but I think it captures the idea of an officer pocketing the bribe and looking away better if it's a negative enchantment on an opposing creature.
Police Corruption is a "may" ability. You can choose to actually get a Clue.
I could see Blind Eye changing a bit. Tapping could work just as well as unblockable. With unblockable, I see it as the creature with Blind Eye on it (as in the creature the "blind eye" is being turned to) pays off whoever is in the way.
Ohhh! Sorry completely missed the may. Then yeah that is very cool.
And that is a cool image, similar to gorgon's head. Anyway I really like your idea here! Having a police subtheme makes so much sense and there is precedence for it with the Azorious.
One more note I thought of with Mob Boss is that it's probably too generic for a whole set built around warring crime families. It should probably be whichever of Grixis, Esper, or Jund ends up being the most profit focused. Really like it as a spin on Desecration Demon or the new Vamp that is going to be eratta'd.
Edit: One more note if you were trying to fantasy cast the whole set Investigate is unlikely to be used again with clue tokens floating around in Midnight Hunt and cycling and investigation together in the same set are a bit redundant as consistency enablers. They fill slightly different niches but mechanics that smooth your draws like that probably don't both need to be in one set. Sorry if I'm coming off negative, overall I like the design here!
I would first like to say its interesting how you say you wanted to show law enforcement because without actual law enforcement crime is just a word. Then proceed to only create one law enforcement card with lots of corrupt cops that would just fall into the mob families.
Police Corruption, I like the feel of are you giving into the corruption or not. It doesn't feel white.
Brutal Vigilante, this is definitely a green card. Delaying the card draw isn't enough to shift it so much out of color.
Lose the Evidence, this is great but shouldn't be common. Even with cycling you don't want so many in a draft.
Mob Boss, this is sadly awful. The cost of keeping it tapped is inconsequential while there's also little incentive to keep it tapped. Making a clue actually makes this a threat.
Blind Eye doesn't need the cost to be unblockable. Its a fairly cheap ability.
Stake Out, this is the exact kind of card that should never be printed. You never want to encourage your players to not win or play the game.
I would first like to say its interesting how you say you wanted to show law enforcement because without actual law enforcement crime is just a word. Then proceed to only create one law enforcement card with lots of corrupt cops that would just fall into the mob families.
Police Corruption, I like the feel of are you giving into the corruption or not. It doesn't feel white.
Brutal Vigilante, this is definitely a green card. Delaying the card draw isn't enough to shift it so much out of color.
Lose the Evidence, this is great but shouldn't be common. Even with cycling you don't want so many in a draft.
Mob Boss, this is sadly awful. The cost of keeping it tapped is inconsequential while there's also little incentive to keep it tapped. Making a clue actually makes this a threat.
Blind Eye doesn't need the cost to be unblockable. Its a fairly cheap ability.
Stake Out, this is the exact kind of card that should never be printed. You never want to encourage your players to not win or play the game.
I should note about the color identities that I thought more about what colors I want to have access to these effects in the context of deckbuilding than historical precedent. By that I mean I don't think any of these card effects specifically do something a color shouldn't do, but also the cards aren't limited to what the colors traditionally do either. I wanted W to be focused on the Investigate mechanic because it's so closely linked with the flavor of law enforcement, which is a very W institution. I realize that an abundance of unconditional card draw is probably not something W should have access to, so I was careful to find holes for it to jump through to get Clues:
Stake Out requires that you play defensively, and makes you decide between drawing extra cards or being more active. I agree that having cards that disincentivize action isn't the best thing in the world, but I don't think a single card at a high rarity is an issue, especially since the overwhelming majority of the rest of the cards in any given set will encourage exactly the opposite, which makes the choice of drawing cards or being active that much more compelling. You either choose to be rewarded by other cards for being active, or you choose to lay low and be rewarded by this card.
Brutal Vigilante uses the R in its color identity to define the hoops the player has to jump through. This card requires that the creature deal damage, however it can, and even gives you the ability to fight with it. All of that is very mechanically red, and in the context of this set, the Clue is tied to the white half of the color identity. I understand that in most sets, W wouldn't be the card draw color, but colors have bent in the past to accommodate set themes and I think this is an example of one of those moments. Again, as long as W has to do specific things that fall in the color identity of the card (even if it's a second color like on this card), it's fine. That means that this card is less a RW card and more a R card that requires that you also be playing W in your deck. I don't believe that every multicolor card needs to include rules text that specifically represents each of its colors. Mana cost at its core exists to determine which decks are allowed to have access to it, and that's what drove this design.
Police Corruption uses a one-time investigate trigger, which is less than a cantrip, something any color can do. Again, this is less of a WB card and more of a B card that you can only play in a deck that's also playing W. I chose to put W in the mana cost to signal the theme of the color pair for the set (W is investigate, B is Treasure, WB is tokens).
I also want to reiterate that I specifically avoided using WU for investigate because I assume the crime families will be ally colored and I didn't want to step on the toes of the WUB or GWU families. I also just think the flavor works out better this way (in this context, W believes in following the rules, RW believes in following its own rules and punishing those who break the rules, and WB believes in manipulating the rules to protect itself).
As for your other comments, my goal was to show the state of law enforcement on New Capenna, not to show what it ideally would be in a perfect world. Here, (presumably) law enforcement is divided between good cops (investigate) and bad cops (treasure), and the bad cops clearly have the upper hand. The police being corrupt demonstrates that there was, at one time, a formidable force against crime, but that force has since been considerably weakened. The story this tells speaks to just how deeply entrenched New Capenna as a plane is in organized crime, and emphasizes how powerful the crime families are, while still offering up the possibility that there are still good cops fighting the good fight, even if it's a losing battle.
And as for the balancing of the rest of the cards, I took my best guess at costs and abilities, but mostly designed them from the top down. I figure after playtesting they'd change a bit. I chose these iterations because they are the best at demonstrating the flavor I was going for.
The argument that a single card that does something that shouldn't be done is ok because it's only one card is a terrible argument because one card sets precedence which leads to more cards.
As for colors bending for a set's theme. That's fine but its colors bending to a set's theme, not one color is bending for a set's theme that's only seen in that color. In New Phyrexia every color got access to players lose life. This was a bend for the theme. If your only changing one color then it's not really a theme. Also, as you mentioned bending white to a theme of drawing cards is a very heavy bend that can easily break on both individual cards and the whole set.
Brutal Vigilante, you describe a green/blue ability and say it's red to get access to this ability. It would have to be a red ability to gain access to it by being red. Add in that it's supposed to be white bending to get the card draw and this should either be combat damage or once a turn. It's just way off from the proper colors.
As for stepping on the toes of the crime families. The corrupt cops should be part of the crime families. Which makes a clear distinction between the good and the bad. On the subject of set structure, I imagine that actual good cop cards would be quite few and would more than likely fall into the signpost uncommons for their draft archetypes along with a few supporting commons and rares.
One color has to be absolute. There can't be any equilibrium without this, because you're creating a reality that we absolutely know isn't true. And denying something exists, that we absolutely know exists.
White has to be absolutely pure, true, just. Any blending into other colors has to represent this, or has to be using neutral aspects of those colors, reflected in something true, pure, just. If it's impure, it's not absolute. If it's untrue, it's not absolute. If it's unjust, it's not absolute. Self-righteous is a maybe, and is one of the ways I thought to represent white and black. But in my experience, I have thought strongly against it, and considered going back on that in lieu of exactly what's mentioned above.
You'll find there actually isn't any 'research', in Magic's 'research and development'. And you wouldn't expect there would be from people who think they know everything. They would never think to question anything they know. These standards they blindly cling to, and could never survive cross-analysis against someone like myself, who could easily explain how biased, and subjective, and conditional many of their 'golden standards' are.
They would never think to test those things to see how they hold up. And I would honestly doubt they have the means to do such a thing or understand the nature of any of it in too much depth; let alone venture into research for ingenuity and improvisation. Garfield gets 75k salary as a consultant for Magic, and I have to say that he does earn. Many of the only significant innovations are of his design. Yet sadly also, it's clear to see that he's still designing for a game he obviously never really understood in physics and dynamics of, and thus, a game that he's never mastered (or finished).
Color effect utility and their characteure representation shine very true (or untrue) to prove this.
Notably, multicolor cards here will be enemy colored to differentiate themselves from the presumably ally colored crime families.
Police Corruption WB
Enchantment (R)
When ~ enters the battlefield, investigate.
If you would create one or more tokens, you may create that many Treasure tokens instead.
Brutal Vigilante 1RW
Creature - Rogue (R)
3/3
Whenever Brutal Vigilante deals damage, investigate.
2, Discard a card: ~ fights target creature you don't control.
Lose the Evidence 1R
Instant (C)
Exile target artifact.
Cycling 2
Mob Boss 2B
Creature - Demon Noble (R)
*/4
Flying
~'s power is equal to the number of Treasures you control.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, an opponent may have you create a Treasure token. If they do, tap ~.
Blind Eye U
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
When ~ enters the battlefield, create a Treasure token.
1: Enchanted creature can't be blocked this turn.
Stake Out W
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your end step, investigate.
Whenever you cast a spell or attack with a creature, sacrifice ~.
Blind Eye is great but does the flavor make more sense if it taps the enchanted creature rather than making it unblockable? It's a very different card that way but I think it captures the idea of an officer pocketing the bribe and looking away better if it's a negative enchantment on an opposing creature.
Police Corruption is a "may" ability. You can choose to actually get a Clue.
I could see Blind Eye changing a bit. Tapping could work just as well as unblockable. With unblockable, I see it as the creature with Blind Eye on it (as in the creature the "blind eye" is being turned to) pays off whoever is in the way.
And that is a cool image, similar to gorgon's head. Anyway I really like your idea here! Having a police subtheme makes so much sense and there is precedence for it with the Azorious.
One more note I thought of with Mob Boss is that it's probably too generic for a whole set built around warring crime families. It should probably be whichever of Grixis, Esper, or Jund ends up being the most profit focused. Really like it as a spin on Desecration Demon or the new Vamp that is going to be eratta'd.
Edit: One more note if you were trying to fantasy cast the whole set Investigate is unlikely to be used again with clue tokens floating around in Midnight Hunt and cycling and investigation together in the same set are a bit redundant as consistency enablers. They fill slightly different niches but mechanics that smooth your draws like that probably don't both need to be in one set. Sorry if I'm coming off negative, overall I like the design here!
Police Corruption, I like the feel of are you giving into the corruption or not. It doesn't feel white.
Brutal Vigilante, this is definitely a green card. Delaying the card draw isn't enough to shift it so much out of color.
Lose the Evidence, this is great but shouldn't be common. Even with cycling you don't want so many in a draft.
Mob Boss, this is sadly awful. The cost of keeping it tapped is inconsequential while there's also little incentive to keep it tapped. Making a clue actually makes this a threat.
Blind Eye doesn't need the cost to be unblockable. Its a fairly cheap ability.
Stake Out, this is the exact kind of card that should never be printed. You never want to encourage your players to not win or play the game.
I should note about the color identities that I thought more about what colors I want to have access to these effects in the context of deckbuilding than historical precedent. By that I mean I don't think any of these card effects specifically do something a color shouldn't do, but also the cards aren't limited to what the colors traditionally do either. I wanted W to be focused on the Investigate mechanic because it's so closely linked with the flavor of law enforcement, which is a very W institution. I realize that an abundance of unconditional card draw is probably not something W should have access to, so I was careful to find holes for it to jump through to get Clues:
I also want to reiterate that I specifically avoided using WU for investigate because I assume the crime families will be ally colored and I didn't want to step on the toes of the WUB or GWU families. I also just think the flavor works out better this way (in this context, W believes in following the rules, RW believes in following its own rules and punishing those who break the rules, and WB believes in manipulating the rules to protect itself).
As for your other comments, my goal was to show the state of law enforcement on New Capenna, not to show what it ideally would be in a perfect world. Here, (presumably) law enforcement is divided between good cops (investigate) and bad cops (treasure), and the bad cops clearly have the upper hand. The police being corrupt demonstrates that there was, at one time, a formidable force against crime, but that force has since been considerably weakened. The story this tells speaks to just how deeply entrenched New Capenna as a plane is in organized crime, and emphasizes how powerful the crime families are, while still offering up the possibility that there are still good cops fighting the good fight, even if it's a losing battle.
And as for the balancing of the rest of the cards, I took my best guess at costs and abilities, but mostly designed them from the top down. I figure after playtesting they'd change a bit. I chose these iterations because they are the best at demonstrating the flavor I was going for.
As for colors bending for a set's theme. That's fine but its colors bending to a set's theme, not one color is bending for a set's theme that's only seen in that color. In New Phyrexia every color got access to players lose life. This was a bend for the theme. If your only changing one color then it's not really a theme. Also, as you mentioned bending white to a theme of drawing cards is a very heavy bend that can easily break on both individual cards and the whole set.
Brutal Vigilante, you describe a green/blue ability and say it's red to get access to this ability. It would have to be a red ability to gain access to it by being red. Add in that it's supposed to be white bending to get the card draw and this should either be combat damage or once a turn. It's just way off from the proper colors.
As for stepping on the toes of the crime families. The corrupt cops should be part of the crime families. Which makes a clear distinction between the good and the bad. On the subject of set structure, I imagine that actual good cop cards would be quite few and would more than likely fall into the signpost uncommons for their draft archetypes along with a few supporting commons and rares.
There's no white in corruption of any kind.
That entire concept was poor decision making.
One color has to be absolute. There can't be any equilibrium without this, because you're creating a reality that we absolutely know isn't true. And denying something exists, that we absolutely know exists.
White has to be absolutely pure, true, just. Any blending into other colors has to represent this, or has to be using neutral aspects of those colors, reflected in something true, pure, just. If it's impure, it's not absolute. If it's untrue, it's not absolute. If it's unjust, it's not absolute. Self-righteous is a maybe, and is one of the ways I thought to represent white and black. But in my experience, I have thought strongly against it, and considered going back on that in lieu of exactly what's mentioned above.
You'll find there actually isn't any 'research', in Magic's 'research and development'. And you wouldn't expect there would be from people who think they know everything. They would never think to question anything they know. These standards they blindly cling to, and could never survive cross-analysis against someone like myself, who could easily explain how biased, and subjective, and conditional many of their 'golden standards' are.
They would never think to test those things to see how they hold up. And I would honestly doubt they have the means to do such a thing or understand the nature of any of it in too much depth; let alone venture into research for ingenuity and improvisation. Garfield gets 75k salary as a consultant for Magic, and I have to say that he does earn. Many of the only significant innovations are of his design. Yet sadly also, it's clear to see that he's still designing for a game he obviously never really understood in physics and dynamics of, and thus, a game that he's never mastered (or finished).
Color effect utility and their characteure representation shine very true (or untrue) to prove this.