I have been thoroughly entertained by this individuals designs, flavor-wise and through his strong use of mechanics and balance of power-level.
This is what happens when a true fan of Magic and a balanced approach to design happens. If BFZ had the balanced power level of this set (just Zendikar flavor instead), I would have really enjoyed the set and bought a few boxes instead of singles-hunted on Puca Trade.
Please share what you like about this tribute set, what could have been done differently, and about the balance of strength in these cards.
edit: OK, as I dive deeper into the uncommons, some feel like rares. But I wouldn't argue playing them. A set like this would create a faster paced, more aggressive Standard (why not?)
Some friends of mine have apparently printed the whole set out, and we're looking forward to drafting it in a 1(m)r/2u/3c set configuration (like modern masters). I'll probably report how it goes in the cube forum once we've played a session or two.
My only reservation would be how freaking good the fixing is at common. The holocrons are the best mana rocks for limited since the the signets (if not possibly even better) so I'd be concerned that 4-5 color control decks would dominate especially given the strength of the uncommon charms and the "good stuff" power level of the citp effect jedi.
Some of these commons like Capture (basically 3 mana instant threaten) and Force Adept (3 mana flash 3/3 with Peel from Reality stapled to it) seem bonkers for limited. But most of the cards seem more pushed than most set's commons so it'd probably be ok. Repair also seems worrying if the format isn't insanely fast. There's also just a tonne of built in 2 for 1s and insane tempo swings everywhere. This could be crazy broken and/or crazy fun. I'd love to hear how it plays out in draft.
Some of these commons like Capture (basically 3 mana instant threaten) and Force Adept (3 mana flash 3/3 with Peel from Reality stapled to it) seem bonkers for limited. But most of the cards seem more pushed than most set's commons so it'd probably be ok. Repair also seems worrying if the format isn't insanely fast. There's also just a tonne of built in 2 for 1s and insane tempo swings everywhere. This could be crazy broken and/or crazy fun. I'd love to hear how it plays out in draft.
Agreed. I like the set, it looks really interesting and well done. But the OP's comments about balance and insinuation that somehow these amateurs are better at this than the WOTC team are completely off base. There are some pretty obvious and significant mistakes in this set as it pertains to limited play, which is a major part of Magic design/development for real sets.
If only there was already another Customizable Card Game that epitomized everything Star Wars is and had a complexity that makes Magic: The Gathering look like checkers compared to chess. Wait. There is.
Some of these commons like Capture (basically 3 mana instant threaten) and Force Adept (3 mana flash 3/3 with Peel from Reality stapled to it) seem bonkers for limited. But most of the cards seem more pushed than most set's commons so it'd probably be ok. Repair also seems worrying if the format isn't insanely fast. There's also just a tonne of built in 2 for 1s and insane tempo swings everywhere. This could be crazy broken and/or crazy fun. I'd love to hear how it plays out in draft.
Agreed. I like the set, it looks really interesting and well done. But the OP's comments about balance and insinuation that somehow these amateurs are better at this than the WOTC team are completely off base. There are some pretty obvious and significant mistakes in this set as it pertains to limited play, which is a major part of Magic design/development for real sets.
Considering this is by one guy, and its a first draft, I disagree. The product that WotC puts out is created by a team and then put through Development to adjust the knobs and fill holes. We know from reading articles on the mothership that creative does not hand off sets to development that are free from significant mistakes or balanced for limited, even though they try to. Put this set through development and it would be a home run.
Now, once you move further back and consider Magic in a frame larger than one set, you start encountering issues like power creep, not playing well with other sets, and running out of design room, and that's where this set can run into trouble. The power level of individual cards is higher than average, and even though the designer did a good job in making sure that the mechanics are not overly parasitic, even a mild degree of parasitism in powerful mechanics is dangerous when coupled with a higher power level, as it means that if this set were released, it would likely overpower the preceding block and the succeeding block, creating a Mirrodin effect in Standard. It also wouldn't be sustainable long term.
I also want to note that this set is far less daring than BFZ. The mechanics are relatively simple, though clever, and the set adds flavor to a relatively basic skeleton to great effect. Star Wars set basically pits slow and methodical value (meditate + repair) vs aggression (Hate + Spaceflight and other evasion) with Monstrosity, Bounty, and Troopers adding depth without being overly complex and backing up both. BFZ tried to shoehorn a colorless theme and a 5 color theme into the same set, along with tribal matters, exiling cards matters, big fatties along weenie rush both presented as viable, and land matters. That's a lot of pull from a lot of different directions.
Meditate: Clever way of translating the defensive and contemplative nature of the Jedi into a mechanic. On the surface, it seems like a dangerous mechanic as it could lead to repetitive play, but the cards are designed in a way that simply meditating repeatedly probably isn't the best option. Instead, this is an option mechanic that is at its strongest late game when you have extra mana lying around, but can be useful in a pinch early on if you can afford to stunt your board development.
Hate: Simple mechanic that is well executed and encourages aggression, which, combined with the name, does an excellent flavor job vis a vis the Sith. The inclusion of enablers that cause the opponent to lose life when they attack at common takes it a bit close to Raid. Also, I'm not quite sure if it works the way the designer wants it to, as he clearly wants it to be activated by life loss, but it reads as being activated by non-combat damage. Even if it works, it can be confusing, and a future draft would need to be less ambiguous.(I also like the life gain spell that is meant to hose hatred, as it hoses non combat life loss rather than the mechanic itself, making it more versatile.)
Repair: Flavorful mechanic that can push a few different play styles. The creatures are weak without repair, so you really only get value if they die and come back. I'd need to play with it to know for sure, but it seems like an interesting mechanic. I like the idea of a creature mechanic that plays the long game, and I don't think it would be too onerous as to require a lighting fast strategy to defeat. They creatures are overcosted without repair, so a player should have the option to go underneath with an aggro deck or overtop with stronger creatures.
Spaceflight: Shadow: Horsemanship Edition. Shadow was a good mechanic, and so is Spaceflight. Nice combination of upside and downside. Of course, the designer cannot take credit for it. The designer can, however, take credit for tying it to the creature type, and using the Future Shifted frame to great effect.
Bounty: Complicated and somewhat parasitic, I still like it. It creates an interesting mini game, and is saved from being too parasitic by many of the bounty cards being self contained (placing the counter and reaping the benefit). This is a nice way to do a parasitic mechanic, as you could throw a single bounty card in a deck and have it work, but they get much more powerful in groups supported by enablers. Of course, setting up a group to get the maximum benefit takes time, so there is a tension between maximizing benefit and getting the reward quickly.
Monstrosity: Star Wars has a lot of monsters, and the designer wisely chooses to exploit this. Maro often harps on the importance of having something going on for people who may not be interested in the main theme of the set, and the monsters fill that role. Monstrosity is a great mechanic with plenty of space left, and he uses it well as his returning mechanic.
Trooper: At least these Slivers have a reason to be humanoid. This is probably the laziest part of the set, but its executed well enough and it makes flavor sense, as the storm troopers are faceless peons that comprise a mighty army. I can't give much credit for recreating Slivers though.
Gold: Gold cards are an easy way to add depth and explore cool designs. They can also be a crutch. WotC can't overuse Gold because of limited design space, but custom designers are not constrained by this as they don't worry about making sure gold design space lasts another 20 years. Custom sets often end up with a higher amount of multi color cards than the average real set, which gives them a built in advantage because players love some multi color. This is particularly pronounced here as the set features a large compliment of shard cards, including commons, and is supported by some great fixing, ranging from good but fair (the sac lands) to Bah Roken (holocrons dear lord). He does, however, do a nice job of separating factions into shards without making the separations too strict.
+1/+1: The designer worked in a nice +1/+1 sub theme to play with Monstrosity. This adds to the overall depth of the set and has some nice interactions beyond its support of a particular mechanic.
The designer did a good job creating some neat legends, including using transform for Vader, but I disagree with using planeswalkers. There is no flavor reason for them, and they just seem really out of place. Big Papa Palpatine is appropriately absurd.
Awesome use of specific reprints (Doom Blade!!!) and some individual card designs make me smile (Force Choke). Fewer fall flat, but they are there. Specifically Lightsaber shouldn't be a common for flavor reasons. Lightsaber should have been rare, and more powerful (add T: prevent 2 noncombat damage to equipped creature to reflect blaster deflection). The Terentatek should be RBG not RWG, its a dark side affiliated critter.
Special shout outs
to the awesomeness of the Jar Jar Binks design: Here, you deal with him!
to the correctness of Han having First Strike: You're God Damn Right he does!
to the Dune and Star Trek references: Fracking Great!
to the Battle cycle: OP commander staples 4 eva (except for Yavin).
to the Death Star being a land: You think its a land, but its frame lets you know its a battle station.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
I enjoyed reading through this list of cards when I first encountered it, too, but my initial impression is that it isn't balanced. The rares and mythics, on average, are simply ludicrous, especially for Limited. Any one of those Mythics is an absolutely haymaker. And the Death Star seems like an absurdly unhealthy card to print, essentially stapling together Lux Cannon and Door to Nothingness and making it a land that still taps for mana and enters untapped.
Also, Spaceflight seems like a dangerous mechanic. Shadow wouldn't be healthy for Magic in its current state, and Spaceflight is the same thing except spread across all colors.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Angrypossum over at the now-defunct WotC forums.
I enjoyed reading through this list of cards when I first encountered it, too, but my initial impression is that it isn't balanced. The rares and mythics, on average, are simply ludicrous, especially for Limited. Any one of those Mythics is an absolutely haymaker. And the Death Star seems like an absurdly unhealthy card to print, essentially stapling together Lux Cannon and Door to Nothingness and making it a land that still taps for mana and enters untapped.
Also, Spaceflight seems like a dangerous mechanic. Shadow wouldn't be healthy for Magic in its current state, and Spaceflight is the same thing except spread across all colors.
First, I don't think either Shadow or Spaceflight would be very problematic. They could certainly increase the value of removal by being harder for other creatures to interact with, but I think that's fine. The good thing about the mechanic is that its upside is also its downside, as the Spaceflight/Shadow cards can only block each other.
The mythics are mostly crazy, but I honestly don't think the Death Star is that egregious. It would take 9 mana to use its lux cannon ability (since it taps to use its abilities, and it also taps for mana, I count the mana you are forgoing from the death star itself as part of the activation cost) while Lux Cannon only costs 4. The second ability would take a whopping 31 mana over 10 turns. Yeah, you can manipulate that with untap effects and things that manipulate charge counters, but still. Its an absurd card, but I doubt it would see play outside of EDH.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
I enjoyed reading through this list of cards when I first encountered it, too, but my initial impression is that it isn't balanced. The rares and mythics, on average, are simply ludicrous, especially for Limited. Any one of those Mythics is an absolutely haymaker. And the Death Star seems like an absurdly unhealthy card to print, essentially stapling together Lux Cannon and Door to Nothingness and making it a land that still taps for mana and enters untapped.
Also, Spaceflight seems like a dangerous mechanic. Shadow wouldn't be healthy for Magic in its current state, and Spaceflight is the same thing except spread across all colors.
First, I don't think either Shadow or Spaceflight would be very problematic. They could certainly increase the value of removal by being harder for other creatures to interact with, but I think that's fine. The good thing about the mechanic is that its upside is also its downside, as the Spaceflight/Shadow cards can only block each other.
The mythics are mostly crazy, but I honestly don't think the Death Star is that egregious. It would take 9 mana to use its lux cannon ability (since it taps to use its abilities, and it also taps for mana, I count the mana you are forgoing from the death star itself as part of the activation cost) while Lux Cannon only costs 4. The second ability would take a whopping 31 mana over 10 turns. Yeah, you can manipulate that with untap effects and things that manipulate charge counters, but still. Its an absurd card, but I doubt it would see play outside of EDH.
Shadow is simply non-interactive, which doesn't mesh well with the New World Order. It takes place on a "different" battlefield. Reintroducing it would be messy, and having it be a defining mechanic across all colors even more so.
Death Star isn't efficient, but it's all upside. Running one of them in a control deck is "free", and it's capable of winning the game. It doesn't matter how inefficient that is when it's free to do. Think if Maze's End came in untapped AND didn't need to be built around AND could blow up permanents in addition to winning the game. That's the power level we're working with here, and that's not even considering untap effects to abuse it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Angrypossum over at the now-defunct WotC forums.
The spaceships are just super flying and has the same parasitic problems that shadow and horsemanship has. Power level is closer to modern than standard, and the development is very loose. Also the rares and mythics are just ridiculous in both power level and effects.
7.5/10 Overall. About on par with most custom sets and falls into the same pitfalls that most amateur designers face. Flavor is very good though and that does speak for something.
Can't believe all the whining this idea is getting. It's really well thought out and creative. Like you guys wouldn't die if Wizards printed this set, everyone would be losing their minds and it would be remembered fondly as one of the most beloved sets ever. Great job.
The amount of self BSing people were doing trying to convince themselves BFZ was playable, and how amazing this idea actually is...get your priorities straight guys.
Can't believe all the whining this idea is getting. It's really well thought out and creative. Like you guys wouldn't die if Wizards printed this set, everyone would be losing their minds and it would be remembered fondly as one of the most beloved sets ever. Great job.
The amount of self BSing people were doing trying to convince themselves BFZ was playable, and how amazing this idea actually is...get your priorities straight guys.
I think the star wars set is quite well done, actually. I just took issue with the OP's opinion that it was better than some official sets. The accomplishment here is a flavor and mechanical win, as the creator(s) of this custom set skillfully wove existing mechanics and new mechanics into Star Wars lore and produced interesting and unique cards. In a vacuum, most of the cards are well-designed. But altogether as a set, the balance of power levels is extremely top-heavy in favor of the mythics, and several of the cards are simply busted. A Standard environment with this set would likely just be two players hurling haymakers at each other, with the player drawing fewer "Battle of" cards simply losing.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Angrypossum over at the now-defunct WotC forums.
Can't believe all the whining this idea is getting. It's really well thought out and creative. Like you guys wouldn't die if Wizards printed this set, everyone would be losing their minds and it would be remembered fondly as one of the most beloved sets ever. Great job.
The amount of self BSing people were doing trying to convince themselves BFZ was playable, and how amazing this idea actually is...get your priorities straight guys.
The flavor would resonate, but the mechanics are shallower than they seem at first glance. Magic sets need both to be successful and many people are just pointing out the obvious problems. I am a amateur mtg designer myself an love looking at other peoples work and learning from their mistakes.
I enjoyed reading through this list of cards when I first encountered it, too, but my initial impression is that it isn't balanced. The rares and mythics, on average, are simply ludicrous, especially for Limited. Any one of those Mythics is an absolutely haymaker. And the Death Star seems like an absurdly unhealthy card to print, essentially stapling together Lux Cannon and Door to Nothingness and making it a land that still taps for mana and enters untapped.
Also, Spaceflight seems like a dangerous mechanic. Shadow wouldn't be healthy for Magic in its current state, and Spaceflight is the same thing except spread across all colors.
First, I don't think either Shadow or Spaceflight would be very problematic. They could certainly increase the value of removal by being harder for other creatures to interact with, but I think that's fine. The good thing about the mechanic is that its upside is also its downside, as the Spaceflight/Shadow cards can only block each other.
The mythics are mostly crazy, but I honestly don't think the Death Star is that egregious. It would take 9 mana to use its lux cannon ability (since it taps to use its abilities, and it also taps for mana, I count the mana you are forgoing from the death star itself as part of the activation cost) while Lux Cannon only costs 4. The second ability would take a whopping 31 mana over 10 turns. Yeah, you can manipulate that with untap effects and things that manipulate charge counters, but still. Its an absurd card, but I doubt it would see play outside of EDH.
Shadow is simply non-interactive, which doesn't mesh well with the New World Order. It takes place on a "different" battlefield. Reintroducing it would be messy, and having it be a defining mechanic across all colors even more so.
Death Star isn't efficient, but it's all upside. Running one of them in a control deck is "free", and it's capable of winning the game. It doesn't matter how inefficient that is when it's free to do. Think if Maze's End came in untapped AND didn't need to be built around AND could blow up permanents in addition to winning the game. That's the power level we're working with here, and that's not even considering untap effects to abuse it.
Khans block didn't mesh with NWO either, and neither neither is the craziness going on in BFZ. Is understanding shadow/spaceflight really any more complex than having to now track the exile zone to see if processors will work while keeping track of colorless creatures with colored mana costs? I've played a ton of Tempest block draft, and Shadow was a balanced mechanic. Yes, it can be somewhat non-interactive if your opponent lacks shadow creatures, but so is flying if your opponent lacks flying creatures. Of course, your opponent is more likely to be running flyers, but in a format with Shadow your opponent probably has Shadow creatures. Having played with it as much as I have, both casually and during drafts, I've never had problems with it. And hey, removal is thing.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
I have to say that are so many flavorful and mechanical wins in this set (little things like how condemn makes me want to point and laugh at the creature that it was used on akin to Jar Jar getting owned). I also really love the bounty mechanic. The flavor is so rich and mechanically elegant that I don't care how parasitic it would be. Meditate also seems so simple in the context of ETB effects, and is also a flavorful win as a Jedi mechanic.
I also liked the way starships felt the more and more I thought about it. In the end, it's pretty much just shadow, and works mechanically on a different plane of existence. The power levels of the starships also felt balanced and even makes sense in the context if one were to hit you as a general from a distance. The only thing is that I can see people at first scratching their heads when looking at how something like a tauntaun can theoretically take out an x-wing if they ever somehow meet by merely looking at the numbers. While I feel the future sight border is a good indicator of differentiation, I feel that starships may actually benefit from having an additional "weapons" and "hull shield" icon next to their power and toughness to show that they're different things from normal creatures in comparison. In turn, this may also require changing any of the fight cards to include the clause to "fight target non-starship creature."
And the only other thing I was wondering about is how "hate" would work within the given card pool. While I've only seen the commons so far (planning to read the rest in the morning!), I don't see too many ways to trigger "hate." This would also make it difficult to make it work within mono-blue where the mechanic still exists.
But again, this is overall awesomely done, and is definitely a heck of a lot better than that old Star Wars TCG by Decipher many years ago. But yeah, I'm understandably a bit partial to MtG's mechanics anyway.
Flavor-wise this set is a home run. It captures so much with solid mechanics (I don't even mind that several are re-purposed ones that already exist).
However, it seems like the power creep is real. It has pre-NWO level spells (the battles) and several JTMS level planeswalkers as well as post-NWO level creatures that put Siege Rhino and Thragtusk to shame. As a rough draft it's excellent, however playtesting will reveal things like Planeswalkers Emblems on a non-ultimate seems insane.
Design hit it out of the park, now Development gets to mold and shape it into a workable set. Does anyone know if the creator is on MTGSal?
RW Blaze Commando Soldier Swarm BW Edgewalker Clerics i.e. All the prevention R Ogre Menial (Fallen Feromancer) Tunnelin' Infectors GB Shaman of the Pack Elves URReclusive Artificer Artifact Control GBCatacomb Sifter Sac-Attack
Tiny Leader Decks
WU Geist of Saint Traft WKembha's Cats WRG Marath Slide Control
I have a hard time believing the set is not over-powered, especially regarding modern. (After all, in isolation, no set can be over-powered.) As I said in the other thread:
Set is so over-powered it's not funny. Half+ of it's cards are instantly modern playable, with quite a bunch that instantly break modern and would be insta-banned or make existing decks even more powerful. (brainstorm that draw 2 instead of one for 2 more mana and still draw three if you have shuffle effect? dual lands that instantly give mana and give two with amulet of vigor, artifact that give two mana if you play a phyrexian cantrip, mana dork that give two mana a boost creatures you play with the mana, slivers troopers that are better than slivers, crazy common with upside all over, commons that keep coming back, and much more).
Given, it would be an exciting set to draft and play with, assuming there is balance in the force colors.
It's quite easy to make an exciting set when you don't put limits on the overall power level. Plus, anything S-W is not that hard to make flavorful. You got a well-known, pre-built world handed to you on a platter.
I really want this loaded online where we can draft it and then a custom set file for cockatrice so we can play it.
I also feel like if it catches on Lord of The Rings could be done next. Even Harry Potter or Avengers.
This is what happens when a true fan of Magic and a balanced approach to design happens. If BFZ had the balanced power level of this set (just Zendikar flavor instead), I would have really enjoyed the set and bought a few boxes instead of singles-hunted on Puca Trade.
Please share what you like about this tribute set, what could have been done differently, and about the balance of strength in these cards.
Here's the link: https://imgur.com/a/4EcK2
edit: OK, as I dive deeper into the uncommons, some feel like rares. But I wouldn't argue playing them. A set like this would create a faster paced, more aggressive Standard (why not?)
hahaha i love it!!
I must say im surprised, i like this set a lot!
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
Agreed. I like the set, it looks really interesting and well done. But the OP's comments about balance and insinuation that somehow these amateurs are better at this than the WOTC team are completely off base. There are some pretty obvious and significant mistakes in this set as it pertains to limited play, which is a major part of Magic design/development for real sets.
Considering this is by one guy, and its a first draft, I disagree. The product that WotC puts out is created by a team and then put through Development to adjust the knobs and fill holes. We know from reading articles on the mothership that creative does not hand off sets to development that are free from significant mistakes or balanced for limited, even though they try to. Put this set through development and it would be a home run.
Now, once you move further back and consider Magic in a frame larger than one set, you start encountering issues like power creep, not playing well with other sets, and running out of design room, and that's where this set can run into trouble. The power level of individual cards is higher than average, and even though the designer did a good job in making sure that the mechanics are not overly parasitic, even a mild degree of parasitism in powerful mechanics is dangerous when coupled with a higher power level, as it means that if this set were released, it would likely overpower the preceding block and the succeeding block, creating a Mirrodin effect in Standard. It also wouldn't be sustainable long term.
I also want to note that this set is far less daring than BFZ. The mechanics are relatively simple, though clever, and the set adds flavor to a relatively basic skeleton to great effect. Star Wars set basically pits slow and methodical value (meditate + repair) vs aggression (Hate + Spaceflight and other evasion) with Monstrosity, Bounty, and Troopers adding depth without being overly complex and backing up both. BFZ tried to shoehorn a colorless theme and a 5 color theme into the same set, along with tribal matters, exiling cards matters, big fatties along weenie rush both presented as viable, and land matters. That's a lot of pull from a lot of different directions.
Meditate: Clever way of translating the defensive and contemplative nature of the Jedi into a mechanic. On the surface, it seems like a dangerous mechanic as it could lead to repetitive play, but the cards are designed in a way that simply meditating repeatedly probably isn't the best option. Instead, this is an option mechanic that is at its strongest late game when you have extra mana lying around, but can be useful in a pinch early on if you can afford to stunt your board development.
Hate: Simple mechanic that is well executed and encourages aggression, which, combined with the name, does an excellent flavor job vis a vis the Sith. The inclusion of enablers that cause the opponent to lose life when they attack at common takes it a bit close to Raid. Also, I'm not quite sure if it works the way the designer wants it to, as he clearly wants it to be activated by life loss, but it reads as being activated by non-combat damage. Even if it works, it can be confusing, and a future draft would need to be less ambiguous.(I also like the life gain spell that is meant to hose hatred, as it hoses non combat life loss rather than the mechanic itself, making it more versatile.)
Repair: Flavorful mechanic that can push a few different play styles. The creatures are weak without repair, so you really only get value if they die and come back. I'd need to play with it to know for sure, but it seems like an interesting mechanic. I like the idea of a creature mechanic that plays the long game, and I don't think it would be too onerous as to require a lighting fast strategy to defeat. They creatures are overcosted without repair, so a player should have the option to go underneath with an aggro deck or overtop with stronger creatures.
Spaceflight: Shadow: Horsemanship Edition. Shadow was a good mechanic, and so is Spaceflight. Nice combination of upside and downside. Of course, the designer cannot take credit for it. The designer can, however, take credit for tying it to the creature type, and using the Future Shifted frame to great effect.
Bounty: Complicated and somewhat parasitic, I still like it. It creates an interesting mini game, and is saved from being too parasitic by many of the bounty cards being self contained (placing the counter and reaping the benefit). This is a nice way to do a parasitic mechanic, as you could throw a single bounty card in a deck and have it work, but they get much more powerful in groups supported by enablers. Of course, setting up a group to get the maximum benefit takes time, so there is a tension between maximizing benefit and getting the reward quickly.
Monstrosity: Star Wars has a lot of monsters, and the designer wisely chooses to exploit this. Maro often harps on the importance of having something going on for people who may not be interested in the main theme of the set, and the monsters fill that role. Monstrosity is a great mechanic with plenty of space left, and he uses it well as his returning mechanic.
Trooper: At least these Slivers have a reason to be humanoid. This is probably the laziest part of the set, but its executed well enough and it makes flavor sense, as the storm troopers are faceless peons that comprise a mighty army. I can't give much credit for recreating Slivers though.
Gold: Gold cards are an easy way to add depth and explore cool designs. They can also be a crutch. WotC can't overuse Gold because of limited design space, but custom designers are not constrained by this as they don't worry about making sure gold design space lasts another 20 years. Custom sets often end up with a higher amount of multi color cards than the average real set, which gives them a built in advantage because players love some multi color. This is particularly pronounced here as the set features a large compliment of shard cards, including commons, and is supported by some great fixing, ranging from good but fair (the sac lands) to Bah Roken (holocrons dear lord). He does, however, do a nice job of separating factions into shards without making the separations too strict.
+1/+1: The designer worked in a nice +1/+1 sub theme to play with Monstrosity. This adds to the overall depth of the set and has some nice interactions beyond its support of a particular mechanic.
The designer did a good job creating some neat legends, including using transform for Vader, but I disagree with using planeswalkers. There is no flavor reason for them, and they just seem really out of place. Big Papa Palpatine is appropriately absurd.
Awesome use of specific reprints (Doom Blade!!!) and some individual card designs make me smile (Force Choke). Fewer fall flat, but they are there. Specifically Lightsaber shouldn't be a common for flavor reasons. Lightsaber should have been rare, and more powerful (add T: prevent 2 noncombat damage to equipped creature to reflect blaster deflection). The Terentatek should be RBG not RWG, its a dark side affiliated critter.
Special shout outs
to the awesomeness of the Jar Jar Binks design: Here, you deal with him!
to the correctness of Han having First Strike: You're God Damn Right he does!
to the Dune and Star Trek references: Fracking Great!
to the Battle cycle: OP commander staples 4 eva (except for Yavin).
to the Death Star being a land: You think its a land, but its frame lets you know its a battle station.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Also, Spaceflight seems like a dangerous mechanic. Shadow wouldn't be healthy for Magic in its current state, and Spaceflight is the same thing except spread across all colors.
First, I don't think either Shadow or Spaceflight would be very problematic. They could certainly increase the value of removal by being harder for other creatures to interact with, but I think that's fine. The good thing about the mechanic is that its upside is also its downside, as the Spaceflight/Shadow cards can only block each other.
The mythics are mostly crazy, but I honestly don't think the Death Star is that egregious. It would take 9 mana to use its lux cannon ability (since it taps to use its abilities, and it also taps for mana, I count the mana you are forgoing from the death star itself as part of the activation cost) while Lux Cannon only costs 4. The second ability would take a whopping 31 mana over 10 turns. Yeah, you can manipulate that with untap effects and things that manipulate charge counters, but still. Its an absurd card, but I doubt it would see play outside of EDH.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Shadow is simply non-interactive, which doesn't mesh well with the New World Order. It takes place on a "different" battlefield. Reintroducing it would be messy, and having it be a defining mechanic across all colors even more so.
Death Star isn't efficient, but it's all upside. Running one of them in a control deck is "free", and it's capable of winning the game. It doesn't matter how inefficient that is when it's free to do. Think if Maze's End came in untapped AND didn't need to be built around AND could blow up permanents in addition to winning the game. That's the power level we're working with here, and that's not even considering untap effects to abuse it.
7.5/10 Overall. About on par with most custom sets and falls into the same pitfalls that most amateur designers face. Flavor is very good though and that does speak for something.
The amount of self BSing people were doing trying to convince themselves BFZ was playable, and how amazing this idea actually is...get your priorities straight guys.
I think the star wars set is quite well done, actually. I just took issue with the OP's opinion that it was better than some official sets. The accomplishment here is a flavor and mechanical win, as the creator(s) of this custom set skillfully wove existing mechanics and new mechanics into Star Wars lore and produced interesting and unique cards. In a vacuum, most of the cards are well-designed. But altogether as a set, the balance of power levels is extremely top-heavy in favor of the mythics, and several of the cards are simply busted. A Standard environment with this set would likely just be two players hurling haymakers at each other, with the player drawing fewer "Battle of" cards simply losing.
The flavor would resonate, but the mechanics are shallower than they seem at first glance. Magic sets need both to be successful and many people are just pointing out the obvious problems. I am a amateur mtg designer myself an love looking at other peoples work and learning from their mistakes.
Khans block didn't mesh with NWO either, and neither neither is the craziness going on in BFZ. Is understanding shadow/spaceflight really any more complex than having to now track the exile zone to see if processors will work while keeping track of colorless creatures with colored mana costs? I've played a ton of Tempest block draft, and Shadow was a balanced mechanic. Yes, it can be somewhat non-interactive if your opponent lacks shadow creatures, but so is flying if your opponent lacks flying creatures. Of course, your opponent is more likely to be running flyers, but in a format with Shadow your opponent probably has Shadow creatures. Having played with it as much as I have, both casually and during drafts, I've never had problems with it. And hey, removal is thing.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
I also liked the way starships felt the more and more I thought about it. In the end, it's pretty much just shadow, and works mechanically on a different plane of existence. The power levels of the starships also felt balanced and even makes sense in the context if one were to hit you as a general from a distance. The only thing is that I can see people at first scratching their heads when looking at how something like a tauntaun can theoretically take out an x-wing if they ever somehow meet by merely looking at the numbers. While I feel the future sight border is a good indicator of differentiation, I feel that starships may actually benefit from having an additional "weapons" and "hull shield" icon next to their power and toughness to show that they're different things from normal creatures in comparison. In turn, this may also require changing any of the fight cards to include the clause to "fight target non-starship creature."
And the only other thing I was wondering about is how "hate" would work within the given card pool. While I've only seen the commons so far (planning to read the rest in the morning!), I don't see too many ways to trigger "hate." This would also make it difficult to make it work within mono-blue where the mechanic still exists.
But again, this is overall awesomely done, and is definitely a heck of a lot better than that old Star Wars TCG by Decipher many years ago. But yeah, I'm understandably a bit partial to MtG's mechanics anyway.
However, it seems like the power creep is real. It has pre-NWO level spells (the battles) and several JTMS level planeswalkers as well as post-NWO level creatures that put Siege Rhino and Thragtusk to shame. As a rough draft it's excellent, however playtesting will reveal things like Planeswalkers Emblems on a non-ultimate seems insane.
Design hit it out of the park, now Development gets to mold and shape it into a workable set. Does anyone know if the creator is on MTGSal?
EDH DECKS:
GBCatacomb Sifter Sac-Attack
It's quite easy to make an exciting set when you don't put limits on the overall power level. Plus, anything S-W is not that hard to make flavorful. You got a well-known, pre-built world handed to you on a platter.
I also feel like if it catches on Lord of The Rings could be done next. Even Harry Potter or Avengers.
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU