I’m working on a class tribal set based in Lorwyn with five primary classes, one of which is wizards.
I’m having trouble with the mechanic for wizards. They are in blue/red, and they are mostly merfolk, faeries, and elementals (flamekin).
I want the wizards play style to be focused on instant/sorceries but with plenty of wizard creatures as well, preferably they can be built (in both limited and constructed) to be control or tempo.
One of the main mechanics of the set is Kindred, which is a pseudo-keyword. It is an additional cost that requires you to control a permanent of the appropriate type or reveal a card of the appropriate type from your hand (like the Silumgar’s Scorn cycle from Dragons of Tarkir). Successfully fulfilling the Kindred cost means the spell is amplified or it means you don’t have to pay an additional mana cost (like Silvergill Adept).
Because of Kindred, wizard decks will need a relatively high volume of wizard cards. But if the wizard theme is spells, which is almost a requirement based on precedent for wizards in mtg, then wizard decks will also require a relatively high volume of instants/sorceries.
I have dedicated the wizards’ mechanic to solving this problem, but I haven’t found the right mechanic. I considered just doing Tribal Instant - Wizard, which counts for both, but that’s not really a new mechanic and also it would not work with abilities but that enhance wizard creatures in play. I considered using Evoke, which is a great mechanic from original Lorwyn and is an elegant way of making creature+sorceries, but it doesn’t have the instant/sorcery type so it wouldn’t work with spell-matters abilities.
I also considered an alternate version of Evoke, which is an instant/sorcery that has an optional additional cost that, if paid, the spell transforms after it resolves and enters play, with the back side being a wizard creature. This mechanic idea is really cool but it has some issues. One being that players would often need to check the back side of their card to see if they should pay the extra cost or not, and checking the back side of a card in your hand is obviously a big tell and will probably end up revealing the card to the opponent especially if it’s in a sleeve. Another problem with this mechanic is that the flavor of it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
For context, the other blue tribe, Rogues, uses Prowl and the other red tribe, Shamans, uses Elemental tokens and goes wide (no named mechanic).
;tldr I need a mechanic for u/r wizards that helps increase the density of both wizards and instant/sorceries
You might consider making some Wizard creatures/permanents that either return spells to your hand or let you play them from your graveyard/exile, a la Anarchist, Archaeomancer, or Snapcaster Mage.
But you want to be careful to not make them too cheap, as it can be a powerful mechanic.
You could probably combine this with a lord or several creatures that get bigger with every spell you play, along the lines of Adeliz.
Edit: Though turning it into an actual 'mechanic' would not be so easy. Maybe a mechanic that if you control a certain number of Wizards when the creature/permanent comes into play, you can return an instant or sorcery to your hand?
Like 'Gestalt 3 [When this creature comes into play, if you control 3 other Wizards, you may return target instant or sorcery from your graveyard to your hand.]' for a common Wizard.
That is a good idea because being able to reuse spells helps artificially inflate the number of spells you have. Which, now that I think about it, is why they used Jumpstart for izzet.
So maybe I should try to create a version of flashback/jumpstart that is somehow tied to wizard creatures.
I have tried a mechanic in the past that might work for Wizards and be in flavour, I personally used it for Rebels in my set. It was called Rememberance as the rebels had a bunch of martyrs dying for the cause and the like. It is sort of a play of Flashback and Unearth. Here's one of the commons from my set.
Forgotten Scout R
Creature - Human Scout (C)
Haste Rememberance - R, exile ~ from your graveyard: Up to two target creatures can't block this turn.
1/1
It could be flavoured that the Wizard is turning into the spell itself.
The other way you could go would be with the old mechanic Channel, this way you could literally use your creatures as spells.
The downside to both of these is they have no synergy with spells matters cards.
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I’m having trouble with the mechanic for wizards. They are in blue/red, and they are mostly merfolk, faeries, and elementals (flamekin).
I want the wizards play style to be focused on instant/sorceries but with plenty of wizard creatures as well, preferably they can be built (in both limited and constructed) to be control or tempo.
One of the main mechanics of the set is Kindred, which is a pseudo-keyword. It is an additional cost that requires you to control a permanent of the appropriate type or reveal a card of the appropriate type from your hand (like the Silumgar’s Scorn cycle from Dragons of Tarkir). Successfully fulfilling the Kindred cost means the spell is amplified or it means you don’t have to pay an additional mana cost (like Silvergill Adept).
Because of Kindred, wizard decks will need a relatively high volume of wizard cards. But if the wizard theme is spells, which is almost a requirement based on precedent for wizards in mtg, then wizard decks will also require a relatively high volume of instants/sorceries.
I have dedicated the wizards’ mechanic to solving this problem, but I haven’t found the right mechanic. I considered just doing Tribal Instant - Wizard, which counts for both, but that’s not really a new mechanic and also it would not work with abilities but that enhance wizard creatures in play. I considered using Evoke, which is a great mechanic from original Lorwyn and is an elegant way of making creature+sorceries, but it doesn’t have the instant/sorcery type so it wouldn’t work with spell-matters abilities.
I also considered an alternate version of Evoke, which is an instant/sorcery that has an optional additional cost that, if paid, the spell transforms after it resolves and enters play, with the back side being a wizard creature. This mechanic idea is really cool but it has some issues. One being that players would often need to check the back side of their card to see if they should pay the extra cost or not, and checking the back side of a card in your hand is obviously a big tell and will probably end up revealing the card to the opponent especially if it’s in a sleeve. Another problem with this mechanic is that the flavor of it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
For context, the other blue tribe, Rogues, uses Prowl and the other red tribe, Shamans, uses Elemental tokens and goes wide (no named mechanic).
;tldr I need a mechanic for u/r wizards that helps increase the density of both wizards and instant/sorceries
But you want to be careful to not make them too cheap, as it can be a powerful mechanic.
You could probably combine this with a lord or several creatures that get bigger with every spell you play, along the lines of Adeliz.
Edit: Though turning it into an actual 'mechanic' would not be so easy. Maybe a mechanic that if you control a certain number of Wizards when the creature/permanent comes into play, you can return an instant or sorcery to your hand?
Like 'Gestalt 3 [When this creature comes into play, if you control 3 other Wizards, you may return target instant or sorcery from your graveyard to your hand.]' for a common Wizard.
So maybe I should try to create a version of flashback/jumpstart that is somehow tied to wizard creatures.
Forgotten Scout R
Creature - Human Scout (C)
Haste
Rememberance - R, exile ~ from your graveyard: Up to two target creatures can't block this turn.
1/1
It could be flavoured that the Wizard is turning into the spell itself.
The other way you could go would be with the old mechanic Channel, this way you could literally use your creatures as spells.
The downside to both of these is they have no synergy with spells matters cards.