I think I can figure something out with the evergreen. If it's a driver or an operator of a vehicle, a la an engineer, then he can be ground-bound and the card can represent the operator+enchantment/contraption rather than just the creature. Hmm...
I think taking out the evergreens and just going with ETB + racial ability might be best in terms of pure card mechanics and flavor.
so..
1CC
Uncommon
racial keyword
ETB ability that relates to the keyword in some way
P/T
I think is a good starting point. What do you think?
Flavor-wise, all of them can be some sort of a support? Healers, Engineers, Scavengers, Scouts, and the like.
That sounds good to me. It sounds like a nice start to an uncommon, definitely. I'm thinking mine will be a Cleric or a Martial. All the designs I come up with keep wanting flash, though. Oh well. *shrug*
This is me brainstorming for a commander for the lore challenge. They're all highly subject to change, but I'd appreciate some comments.
Chell, Kestrel Farwalker2U
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Scout (R)
Flying
Esferi creatures you control have flying. W,T: Put a legendary 2/2 white Esferi creature token named "Avi Avi" onto the battlefield.
2/2
I suppose this fulfills Option I or Option II, except that Achren isn't here to have something to do with it.
Imperator Mavarian2RW
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Soldier (M)
Defender, First Strike
Mistveil 3(If a source would deal damage to this, prevent that damage unless that source's controller pays 3.)
Other creatures you control with defnder have first strike and mistveil 3.
3/4
I'm pretty iffy about a mythic rare with defender.
Iro Voi, Noctiluminescent3WU
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Cleric (M)
Imbue
Whenever you or a spell or permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless its controller pays 2 for each card imbuing Iro Voi, Noctiluminescent.
2/2
Norlan Evet, Grand Questioner2UU
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (M) T,Exile a card from your hand: Search your library for a card that shares a card type with the exiled card, reveal it, and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each exiled card you own that shares a type with that spell.
2/3
Questioner Imrahim1UR
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (R) UR,T, Return a permanent you control to its owner’s hand: The next spell you cast this turn costs X less to cast, where X is the returned permanent’s converted mana cost.
Re: Lore challenge, this is my potential commander: Nalara, Feyrin Ambassador2UU
Legendary Creature - Feyrin Advisor (M)
Flying UU: Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a nonland card, it gains ambush 0 until end of turn.
Put a card from your hand on top of your library: Return Nalara, Feyrin Ambassador to its owner’s hand.
2/2 "My biggest surprise upon meeting the Feyrin were their astounding longevity. No wonder the humans lost, if leaders like her stuck around for a thousand years!" - Cloudkeeper Ivnarian, Journal Entry
note: Ambush 0 is (If a source would cause you to reveal this card from anywhere, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Ambush is given after the revealing, so you have to trigger the ability again if you want to cast it immediately.
Nalara seems very strong. The implementation of giving things ambush is very clunky and awkward. Why not just have her grant Ambush X to the top card of your library, and give X a value? I like the idea, though, as well as her bounce cost.
Yeswe did. You don't need dialogue to make a story. Lets not demean our own team - we had enough lore, it just didn't fit the organizer's idea of taste. Since the whole first round was apparently dependent on a single judge's subjective criteria, I decided to not put too much weight on the points.
Anyway.
Chell sounds fine, but it doesn't feel like a good commander material - I think it'd fit much more for challenge 2, and not as a legendary but as a regular zookeeper creature.
The defender mythic is also fine power-wise and flavor wise, but I don't see it being the center of a deck - especially a commander deck. I've yet to see a defender-focused commander deck btw, or any competitive deck focused on defenders. It just doesn't "win games."
Iro Voi is very strong, as it's a repeatable counter and hand protection and protector all in one. Creature cost of 3WU, or decreasing the ability to 1 may be better. Increased creature cost can probably warrant increased P/T. The flavor also needs more clarification - it hungers for flavor text. But it definitely feels like a commander.
Norlan is insanely strong... It's basically a free multicard repeatable tutor and accelerator all in one. I can think of a hundred ways to win immediately after casting this card. Add a T cost in the ability, as I can't think of any other easy way to balance it without changing the flavor. But apart from that, great card and great idea.
Imrahim is fine balancewise, but compared to the previous two cards, I can't help but feel "meh."
I see what you're saying for Nalara, but I want to give her the capability of casting things on her own, given enough mana. Just granting Ambush UU to top card of your library wouldn't do it. (Translation - that would be too boring.)
Although... UU,T: Until end of turn, the top card of your library has Ambush 0.
Also is possible...
Edit:
Wait, does that even work? Or does it cause too much memory issues? Is that the correct wording for saying that "until end of turn, whenever you reveal the top card of your library, you may cast it without paying its mana cost." Which can combo with Goblin Charbelcher, Demonic Consultation and the like.
This is me brainstorming for a commander for the lore challenge. They're all highly subject to change, but I'd appreciate some comments.
I definitely like Chell, just for the simplicity and the flavor. The defender mythic card probably would get some flak, but I've always been a fan of defender cards; it'd be cool if you could find a way to make it work. It almost doesn't seem powerful enough to me yet... maybe an activated ability to give other creatures defender, as well? Eh, not sure. The other three seem pretty nice. Iro Voi is probably my favorite among them; flavorful alternative to hexproof and, with imbue, has a pretty accurate cost (maybe bump it up just a little more, though? Hmm). Anyway, not the most useful of commentary, I know; sorry!
Quote from Komachi »
I think taking out the evergreens and just going with ETB + racial ability might be best in terms of pure card mechanics and flavor.
For an uncommon cycle, that may be best, but I'm not sure. It'll probably be difficult for me to cleanly link Infuse with an ETB effect; I'll see what I can come up with, though, if that's what we choose.
As for Lore, I'll try to get around to writing a decent bit of story for this round, but the Esferi are somewhat limiting in that regard. I'm not sure how I'll deal with the Lore challenge yet, though. Esferi don't really have individual leaders or commanders, or even names amongst themselves. Going to need to think on what I can get away with a bit more...
I don't think it necessarily has to link directly with the ETB effect - i.e. my Kilnkeeper has add RRRR to your mana pool as an ETB ability and ambush cost that's much cheaper than the casting cost. The ambush isn't necessarily related to the dark ritual ability, but they have a reasonable synergy when both are activated, as a faster acceleration.
Can anyone think of a good flavor/name theme for the cycle? Similar to the Kamigawa dscendant series? We can do the boring Feyrin this and Cloudwalker that, or we can do something more flavorful. I'm kinda out of ideas though...
Yeswe did. You don't need dialogue to make a story. Lets not demean our own team - we had enough lore, it just didn't fit the organizer's idea of taste. Since the whole first round was apparently dependent on a single judge's subjective criteria, I decided to not put too much weight on the points.
I'm not demeaning anyone or anything. I'm just giving a realistic statement of the facts. We wrote summaries.
The defender mythic is also fine power-wise and flavor wise, but I don't see it being the center of a deck - especially a commander deck. I've yet to see a defender-focused commander deck btw, or any competitive deck focused on defenders. It just doesn't "win games."
You know, for some reason, I wasn't at all thinking of these as commanders in the Commander format sense. Oops.
Iro Voi is very strong, as it's a repeatable counter and hand protection and protector all in one. Creature cost of 3WU, or decreasing the ability to 1 may be better. Increased creature cost can probably warrant increased P/T. The flavor also needs more clarification - it hungers for flavor text. But it definitely feels like a commander.
Fair enough. It should cost more. Too bad there's not really room for flavor text.
Norlan is insanely strong... It's basically a free multicard repeatable tutor and accelerator all in one. I can think of a hundred ways to win immediately after casting this card. Add a T cost in the ability, as I can't think of any other easy way to balance it without changing the flavor. But apart from that, great card and great idea.
Oops! I was copy-pasting from MSE. Norlan was supposed to have a mana activation, but I like T better.
I'm not demeaning anyone or anything. I'm just giving a realistic statement of the facts. We wrote summaries.
You need to realize what you perceive as fact may be different from the reality. If you're seriously considering everything we did for lore in the first round as mere "summaries," I can only reach the conclusion that I should digress from putting up any lore posts at all - as it appears my literary abilities are so lacking that the efforts are being ridiculed by my own team, from whom there should be the most support.
Anyway, I just realized the nonland clause isn't needed in my commander, so that makes the rules text a bit more compact.
Any ideas on a shared style name to make the challenge III cycle a bit more cohesive?
Komachi, I'm not trying to make you mad, and I'm not ridiculing you. I wasn't even criticizing. When I said "summary," I meant nothing bad by it. I'm sorry that you don't view what you wrote as summary, but what I wrote was. The term is not meant to describe quality or effort. You're putting plenty of work into this, and it is appreciated. Please keep it up.
As for a nifty naming convention to tie the cycle together... I'll have to keep working on that. I didn't mean to ignore your question. I just hadn't thought of anything yet.
What have I missed in terms of the round 2 challenge? Also: I think the Vaelshii are perfect for the second challenge. They make a habit out of modifying stuff, so the combo creature could be a modified ally with Vaelshii attributes.
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
Komachi and I have discussed making an uncommon cycle, probably at a 1CC mana cost. Both of us also posted possible entries for the commander lore challenge.
I'm pretty sure Komachi wants to do Option II with you.
UGH I had a whole thing typed out and for some reason the site logged me out and I lost it all. Here we go again.
Thoughts on the cycle names: 1. I thought of playing of Legionnaire in the thread title and suggesting "[Adjective] Legionnaire," but I don't think that really fits the flavor of most of our races. 2. Recalling one of my suggestions for the team name, "Watcher in the [Place]" has a nice ring to it, but sounds a bit passive. Ex: Watcher in the Clouds; Watcher in the Lake. 3. "Elite [Noun]" might be alright, though of course it takes directly from the wording of the challenge. 4. It's a bit more esoteric, but "Hand of [Noun]" has a nice ring to it, whether it be "Hand of Peace" or a reference to a place or one of our commanders. 5. Speaking of commanders, perhaps each card could simply reference one of your race's commanders, like the planeswalker signature spells from the M-sets or the ones for the legendary creatures in M13.
On the cycle itself:
Should we try to make a five-card cycle? We have all colors between us, though of course someone would be left out. If Achren participates in the cycle, the Esferi have to take white. That leaves the Cloudwalkers (me) in blue, the Platyn (KoolKoal) in black, the Feyrin (Komachi) in red, and either the Vaelshii (SmallChild) or the Annaki (Jimmy Groove) in green.
Achren: My Imbue mechanic and your Infusion mechanic function so similarly. We should change the terminology of one or both of them so that they interact, like making yours "Infuse/Imbe Other" and mine "Infuse/Imbue Self." Or maybe just keep the same terms, but come up with a unified term for creatures that are attached to others in exile... Well, Haunt already exists. Maybe Imbue could refer to Haunt (Imbue (2: Exile a creature card from your hand haunting this. When this leaves the battlefield, return all creatures haunting it to your hand.), and Infuse could just BECOME haunt that functions in a new way from Ravnica's haunt. Haunt and Infuse are almost the same already. If we do this, then doing Option I of the challenge (Making a creature that combos with another race) will be super easy for us, and then we get the bonus of interacting with previous cards, as well.
Any comments on this idea from the rest of the team?
I'm back now. Sorry, things went well on the looking-for-work front, and that took precedent over games for a bit. But now I'm at an internet cafe with a few hours, so I should be able to pitch in.
Making a cycle with each of us taking a color sounds good, and I'm sure I can come up with plenty of good ideas working within green. And Link's idea of uniting Infuse and Imbue is good. Likewise, we might be able to do the same thing with the spirits used by various races. Perhaps each race could make spirits with two types (so we could have Soulsprite Spirits, Annaki Spirits, etc.) but then only check on the Spirit type when they use abilities. That way, Annaki spirits could help power up Esferi abilities and the like.
Straight spirit tokens would probably be better. While it is nice to have different spirit types for flavor, using just the one type would save on room and get a lot of the same effects.
Anyway, if we go as a cycle, we should choose the unifying mechanics to the cycle. I'd suggest we all use the same mana cost (including amounts of generic and colorless mana), each use one of our own race's mechanics (and either use an evergreen keyword or be slightly stronger to make up for it), and then each make a token of some sort. For many of our races, we can make that token a Spirit for more integration.
Challenge 1 or 3 cards:
Master Dreamer2G
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R)
You may spend mana in your mana pool as if it were any color to cast or activate abilities of Dream or Dreamer cards.
Whenever a Dream or Dreamer enters the battlefield under your control, put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying onto the battlefield. She dreams wonders, and Annaki long-dead flock to her to share in them.
2/3
Dreamer Awakened2GG
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R) WGR: Put four +1/+1 counters on Dreamer Awakened. Play this ability only once each turn and only if Dreamer Awakened is not red or white.
As long as Dreamer Awakened has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, it is white, green, and red, is a Dream Enchantment in addition to its other types and has "At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying onto the battlefield for each Dream permanent you control."
3/3
Challenge 2 cards
Annaki would be most likely to pair up with the Feyrin, but Esferi and Platyns are also decent choices. These cards would have the advantage of showing the first step in other races learning the Dreamer class.
Annaki could team with the Feyrin to serve as scouts, combining flying and dreamweaving to find new lands. Horizon Scout-Team1WG
Creature - Annaki Feyrin Dreamer (U)
Flying
Whenever you cast a Dream spell, you may search your library for a basic land card, reveal it to all players, then put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
2/2
Or they could team with Esferi in order to work powerful spirit magic. Essence Weavers2W
Creature - Annaki Esferi Dreamer (U) X,T: Put a Spirit or Dream card with converted mana cost X or less from your hand onto the battlefield.
2/2
Teaming up with Platyns, they could use their dream magic for enhanced stealth and information gathering. Dream Spies1GU
Creature - Annaki Platyn Dreamer (U)
Stuntouch
Whenever you cast a Dream spell, Dream Spies gains hexproof and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card" until end of turn.
2/3
If you go through the last couple of pages, Komachi and I have been discussing ways to unify the cycle. I believe we had agreed upon a 1CC creature with a single keyword (probably a racial keyword) and an ETBs ability.Obviously, this was just an agreement between the two of us, so the rest of the team still needs to discuss it.
Possibilities to consider other than an ETBs trigger could be an attack trigger, a blocking trigger, a sacrifice ability, a "hexproof" ability (something that discourages opponents from targeting the creature), or an activated ability, whether that be a T ability or an ability requiring mana payment. I like the ETB ability well enough, but I like some of these a bit more.
Making spirit tokens is sensible for the Esferi, the Cloudwalkers, and the Annaki, but not so much for the Platyns or the Vaelshii, which makes it hard to put on a five-card cycle.
A 1CC creature with an ETB ability sounds good. The Annaki don't have any keywords of their own, but I could easily put an evergreen one on there, as they can make use of most of green's keywords. Or we could just go with "one ability" and instead of a keyword, I could have one of the other Annaki abilities like changing with +1/+1 counters. Personally, I'd like a slightly higher mana cost and some sort of ability that affects all creatures we control instead, as that would still be coherent but would also open up a lot of room for differences, but I can easily work within the 1CC-ETB framework.
With tokens, I was thinking just producing them could be the unifying theme, and the fact that Platyns and Vaelshii don't do spirits gives them an opportunity to come up with something uniting their side of the alliance. But that is a bit more complicated, and it's probably better to avoid it.
Dreamcaller1GG
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R)
Flash
When Dreamcaller enters the battlefield, you may put a Dream card with converted mana cost three or less from your hand onto the battlefield.
2/2
Annaki Inspirer1GG
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R)
When Annaki Inspirer enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Creatures with one or more +1/+1 counters on them that you control are Dreamers in addition to their other types.
1/1
Yeah, my creature in the cycle will probably have an evergreen keyword, since my keywords don't combo well with ETB effects.
Cloudcaller1UU
Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (U)
Flash
When Cloudcaller enters the battlefield, target permanent gains hexproof until end of turn.
1/2
Hand of Norlan Evet1UU
Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (U)
Flying
When Hand of Norlan Evet enters the battlefield, spells you cast cost UU less to cast this turn.
1/2
Is this as overpowered as it seems?
I need advice on the wording of Imbue. Which should it be? 1. Imbue (: Exile a creature card from your hand haunting this. When this leaves the battlefield, return that card to your hand.) 2. Imbue (:Exile a creature card from your hand haunting this. When this leaves the battlefield, return all cards haunting it to their owners' hands.)
So I'm odd one out on the cycle. Works for me I suppose.
Komachi, for the combo creature I'd just make it blue white. Both blue and white get artifacts and enchantments matter, so the green is a tad unnecessary. Also, making it 3 colors really feels to me like it clutters the card.
Anyone else have an opinion on it?
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
So I'm odd one out on the cycle. Works for me I suppose.
If you would like to be part of it, I don't mind giving my place to you. We haven't heard from Achren, though, so if he doesn't want to be a part, I can take white and you can take blue.
Komachi, for the combo creature I'd just make it blue white. Both blue and white get artifacts and enchantments matter, so the green is a tad unnecessary. Also, making it 3 colors really feels to me like it clutters the card.
Anyone else have an opinion on it?
The green doesn't seem out of place, but I agree that having fewer colors feels cleaner. The weirdest thing for me is the typeline, but the challenge almost requires that.
Heck what we could do to get everyone involved in that challenge is make mine an artifact creature.
Anyway, preliminary lore challenge designs:
Xalin, Mechina Visionary Cost U Artifact Creature - Vaelshii Construct Artificer (R)
Equipment attached to Xalin, Mechina Visionary gain all abilities of each other equipment you control not attached to Xalin and cannot become unnattached from Xalin. (If an effect would unattach an equipment, it doesn't.)
3/5
Gorahm, Augmenta Savant Cost G Creature - Vaelshii Mutant Wizard
Gorahm, Augmenta Savant may be enchanted as though it was any permanent type.
If an aura that could enchant Gorahm would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may attach it to Gorahm instead.
Just checking in now, and finally updated the first post. Hopefully I can post again tomorrow, but I'm going to a funeral for some portion of the day, so we'll see.
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I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
Xalin, Mechena Visionary Cost U Artifact Creature - Vaelshii Construct Artificer (R)
Equipment attached to Xalin, Mechena Visionary gain all abilities of each other equipment you control and cannot become unnattached from Xalin.
3/5
Oh, that's interesting. Not quite sure how "cannot become unnattached" works under the rules. Maybe it would rather say "loses all equip abilities?"
Gorahm, Augmenta Savant Cost G Creature - Vaelshii Mutant Wizard
Gorahm, Augmenta Savant may be enchanted as though it was any permanent type.
Whenever a permanent is put into the graveyard you may attach any number enchantments attached to that permanent to Gorahm.
5/3
I love that first ability. This probably needs to return the auras to the battlefield, since they'll have gone to the graveyard by the time this triggers. What if it said "If an aura would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, attach it to ~ instead?"
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C= Color 1, D= Color 2.
I think taking out the evergreens and just going with ETB + racial ability might be best in terms of pure card mechanics and flavor.
so..
1CC
Uncommon
racial keyword
ETB ability that relates to the keyword in some way
P/T
I think is a good starting point. What do you think?
Flavor-wise, all of them can be some sort of a support? Healers, Engineers, Scavengers, Scouts, and the like.
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Scout (R)
Flying
Esferi creatures you control have flying.
W,T: Put a legendary 2/2 white Esferi creature token named "Avi Avi" onto the battlefield.
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Soldier (M)
Defender, First Strike
Mistveil 3 (If a source would deal damage to this, prevent that damage unless that source's controller pays 3.)
Other creatures you control with defnder have first strike and mistveil 3.
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Cleric (M)
Imbue
Whenever you or a spell or permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless its controller pays 2 for each card imbuing Iro Voi, Noctiluminescent.
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (M)
T,Exile a card from your hand: Search your library for a card that shares a card type with the exiled card, reveal it, and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each exiled card you own that shares a type with that spell.
Legendary Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (R)
UR,T, Return a permanent you control to its owner’s hand: The next spell you cast this turn costs X less to cast, where X is the returned permanent’s converted mana cost.
No, we didn't. We summarized the events that were going on, but we didn't properly dramatize them.
Nalara seems very strong. The implementation of giving things ambush is very clunky and awkward. Why not just have her grant Ambush X to the top card of your library, and give X a value? I like the idea, though, as well as her bounce cost.
Anyway.
Chell sounds fine, but it doesn't feel like a good commander material - I think it'd fit much more for challenge 2, and not as a legendary but as a regular zookeeper creature.
The defender mythic is also fine power-wise and flavor wise, but I don't see it being the center of a deck - especially a commander deck. I've yet to see a defender-focused commander deck btw, or any competitive deck focused on defenders. It just doesn't "win games."
Iro Voi is very strong, as it's a repeatable counter and hand protection and protector all in one. Creature cost of 3WU, or decreasing the ability to 1 may be better. Increased creature cost can probably warrant increased P/T. The flavor also needs more clarification - it hungers for flavor text. But it definitely feels like a commander.
Norlan is insanely strong... It's basically a free multicard repeatable tutor and accelerator all in one. I can think of a hundred ways to win immediately after casting this card. Add a T cost in the ability, as I can't think of any other easy way to balance it without changing the flavor. But apart from that, great card and great idea.
Imrahim is fine balancewise, but compared to the previous two cards, I can't help but feel "meh."
I see what you're saying for Nalara, but I want to give her the capability of casting things on her own, given enough mana. Just granting Ambush UU to top card of your library wouldn't do it. (Translation - that would be too boring.)
Although...
UU,T: Until end of turn, the top card of your library has Ambush 0.
Also is possible...
Edit:
Wait, does that even work? Or does it cause too much memory issues? Is that the correct wording for saying that "until end of turn, whenever you reveal the top card of your library, you may cast it without paying its mana cost." Which can combo with Goblin Charbelcher, Demonic Consultation and the like.
I definitely like Chell, just for the simplicity and the flavor. The defender mythic card probably would get some flak, but I've always been a fan of defender cards; it'd be cool if you could find a way to make it work. It almost doesn't seem powerful enough to me yet... maybe an activated ability to give other creatures defender, as well? Eh, not sure. The other three seem pretty nice. Iro Voi is probably my favorite among them; flavorful alternative to hexproof and, with imbue, has a pretty accurate cost (maybe bump it up just a little more, though? Hmm). Anyway, not the most useful of commentary, I know; sorry!
For an uncommon cycle, that may be best, but I'm not sure. It'll probably be difficult for me to cleanly link Infuse with an ETB effect; I'll see what I can come up with, though, if that's what we choose.
As for Lore, I'll try to get around to writing a decent bit of story for this round, but the Esferi are somewhat limiting in that regard. I'm not sure how I'll deal with the Lore challenge yet, though. Esferi don't really have individual leaders or commanders, or even names amongst themselves. Going to need to think on what I can get away with a bit more...
I'm not demeaning anyone or anything. I'm just giving a realistic statement of the facts. We wrote summaries.
You know, for some reason, I wasn't at all thinking of these as commanders in the Commander format sense. Oops.
Fair enough. It should cost more. Too bad there's not really room for flavor text.
Oops! I was copy-pasting from MSE. Norlan was supposed to have a mana activation, but I like T better.
Oh. Sad. I rather liked him.
You need to realize what you perceive as fact may be different from the reality. If you're seriously considering everything we did for lore in the first round as mere "summaries," I can only reach the conclusion that I should digress from putting up any lore posts at all - as it appears my literary abilities are so lacking that the efforts are being ridiculed by my own team, from whom there should be the most support.
Anyway, I just realized the nonland clause isn't needed in my commander, so that makes the rules text a bit more compact.
Any ideas on a shared style name to make the challenge III cycle a bit more cohesive?
As for a nifty naming convention to tie the cycle together... I'll have to keep working on that. I didn't mean to ignore your question. I just hadn't thought of anything yet.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
I'm pretty sure Komachi wants to do Option II with you.
Thoughts on the cycle names:
1. I thought of playing of Legionnaire in the thread title and suggesting "[Adjective] Legionnaire," but I don't think that really fits the flavor of most of our races.
2. Recalling one of my suggestions for the team name, "Watcher in the [Place]" has a nice ring to it, but sounds a bit passive. Ex: Watcher in the Clouds; Watcher in the Lake.
3. "Elite [Noun]" might be alright, though of course it takes directly from the wording of the challenge.
4. It's a bit more esoteric, but "Hand of [Noun]" has a nice ring to it, whether it be "Hand of Peace" or a reference to a place or one of our commanders.
5. Speaking of commanders, perhaps each card could simply reference one of your race's commanders, like the planeswalker signature spells from the M-sets or the ones for the legendary creatures in M13.
On the cycle itself:
Should we try to make a five-card cycle? We have all colors between us, though of course someone would be left out. If Achren participates in the cycle, the Esferi have to take white. That leaves the Cloudwalkers (me) in blue, the Platyn (KoolKoal) in black, the Feyrin (Komachi) in red, and either the Vaelshii (SmallChild) or the Annaki (Jimmy Groove) in green.
Achren: My Imbue mechanic and your Infusion mechanic function so similarly. We should change the terminology of one or both of them so that they interact, like making yours "Infuse/Imbe Other" and mine "Infuse/Imbue Self." Or maybe just keep the same terms, but come up with a unified term for creatures that are attached to others in exile... Well, Haunt already exists. Maybe Imbue could refer to Haunt (Imbue (2: Exile a creature card from your hand haunting this. When this leaves the battlefield, return all creatures haunting it to your hand.), and Infuse could just BECOME haunt that functions in a new way from Ravnica's haunt. Haunt and Infuse are almost the same already. If we do this, then doing Option I of the challenge (Making a creature that combos with another race) will be super easy for us, and then we get the bonus of interacting with previous cards, as well.
Any comments on this idea from the rest of the team?
Making a cycle with each of us taking a color sounds good, and I'm sure I can come up with plenty of good ideas working within green. And Link's idea of uniting Infuse and Imbue is good. Likewise, we might be able to do the same thing with the spirits used by various races. Perhaps each race could make spirits with two types (so we could have Soulsprite Spirits, Annaki Spirits, etc.) but then only check on the Spirit type when they use abilities. That way, Annaki spirits could help power up Esferi abilities and the like.
Anyway, if we go as a cycle, we should choose the unifying mechanics to the cycle. I'd suggest we all use the same mana cost (including amounts of generic and colorless mana), each use one of our own race's mechanics (and either use an evergreen keyword or be slightly stronger to make up for it), and then each make a token of some sort. For many of our races, we can make that token a Spirit for more integration.
Challenge 1 or 3 cards:
Master Dreamer 2G
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R)
You may spend mana in your mana pool as if it were any color to cast or activate abilities of Dream or Dreamer cards.
Whenever a Dream or Dreamer enters the battlefield under your control, put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
She dreams wonders, and Annaki long-dead flock to her to share in them.
2/3
Dreamer Awakened 2GG
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R)
WGR: Put four +1/+1 counters on Dreamer Awakened. Play this ability only once each turn and only if Dreamer Awakened is not red or white.
As long as Dreamer Awakened has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, it is white, green, and red, is a Dream Enchantment in addition to its other types and has "At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying onto the battlefield for each Dream permanent you control."
3/3
Challenge 2 cards
Annaki would be most likely to pair up with the Feyrin, but Esferi and Platyns are also decent choices. These cards would have the advantage of showing the first step in other races learning the Dreamer class.
Annaki could team with the Feyrin to serve as scouts, combining flying and dreamweaving to find new lands.
Horizon Scout-Team 1WG
Creature - Annaki Feyrin Dreamer (U)
Flying
Whenever you cast a Dream spell, you may search your library for a basic land card, reveal it to all players, then put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.
2/2
Or they could team with Esferi in order to work powerful spirit magic.
Essence Weavers 2W
Creature - Annaki Esferi Dreamer (U)
X,T: Put a Spirit or Dream card with converted mana cost X or less from your hand onto the battlefield.
2/2
Teaming up with Platyns, they could use their dream magic for enhanced stealth and information gathering.
Dream Spies 1GU
Creature - Annaki Platyn Dreamer (U)
Stuntouch
Whenever you cast a Dream spell, Dream Spies gains hexproof and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card" until end of turn.
2/3
Possibilities to consider other than an ETBs trigger could be an attack trigger, a blocking trigger, a sacrifice ability, a "hexproof" ability (something that discourages opponents from targeting the creature), or an activated ability, whether that be a T ability or an ability requiring mana payment. I like the ETB ability well enough, but I like some of these a bit more.
Making spirit tokens is sensible for the Esferi, the Cloudwalkers, and the Annaki, but not so much for the Platyns or the Vaelshii, which makes it hard to put on a five-card cycle.
With tokens, I was thinking just producing them could be the unifying theme, and the fact that Platyns and Vaelshii don't do spirits gives them an opportunity to come up with something uniting their side of the alliance. But that is a bit more complicated, and it's probably better to avoid it.
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R)
Flash
When Dreamcaller enters the battlefield, you may put a Dream card with converted mana cost three or less from your hand onto the battlefield.
2/2
Annaki Inspirer 1GG
Creature - Annaki Dreamer (R)
When Annaki Inspirer enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Creatures with one or more +1/+1 counters on them that you control are Dreamers in addition to their other types.
1/1
Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (U)
Flash
When Cloudcaller enters the battlefield, target permanent gains hexproof until end of turn.
Creature- Cloudwalker Wizard (U)
Flying
When Hand of Norlan Evet enters the battlefield, spells you cast cost UU less to cast this turn.
I need advice on the wording of Imbue. Which should it be?
1. Imbue (: Exile a creature card from your hand haunting this. When this leaves the battlefield, return that card to your hand.)
2. Imbue (:Exile a creature card from your hand haunting this. When this leaves the battlefield, return all cards haunting it to their owners' hands.)
Komachi, for the combo creature I'd just make it blue white. Both blue and white get artifacts and enchantments matter, so the green is a tad unnecessary. Also, making it 3 colors really feels to me like it clutters the card.
Anyone else have an opinion on it?
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
If you would like to be part of it, I don't mind giving my place to you. We haven't heard from Achren, though, so if he doesn't want to be a part, I can take white and you can take blue.
The green doesn't seem out of place, but I agree that having fewer colors feels cleaner. The weirdest thing for me is the typeline, but the challenge almost requires that.
Heck what we could do to get everyone involved in that challenge is make mine an artifact creature.
Anyway, preliminary lore challenge designs:
Artifact Creature - Vaelshii Construct Artificer (R)
Equipment attached to Xalin, Mechina Visionary gain all abilities of each other equipment you control not attached to Xalin and cannot become unnattached from Xalin. (If an effect would unattach an equipment, it doesn't.)
Creature - Vaelshii Mutant Wizard
Gorahm, Augmenta Savant may be enchanted as though it was any permanent type.
If an aura that could enchant Gorahm would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may attach it to Gorahm instead.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
Just checking in now, and finally updated the first post. Hopefully I can post again tomorrow, but I'm going to a funeral for some portion of the day, so we'll see.
Oh, yeah! That's a good plan.
Oh, that's interesting. Not quite sure how "cannot become unnattached" works under the rules. Maybe it would rather say "loses all equip abilities?"
I love that first ability. This probably needs to return the auras to the battlefield, since they'll have gone to the graveyard by the time this triggers. What if it said "If an aura would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, attach it to ~ instead?"