Had this idea for a new format guys. It's called the Firefight format. The idea came to me yesterday, while I was just derping around the Gatherer—and came across Searing Flesh. After being hit with the faint essence of nostalgia (taking me back to my origin days)—I thought how interesting it would be to come up with a format that revolves around monored burn.
Based on what I've got so far, the format involves two 40 card decks of monored burn. Now, just two monored burn decks against each other would easily grind down to a bore—so one the aspects that I realized right away that would need to be implemented in order to stretch the playability of this format was some aspect of healing.
From this, the two ideas I came up with involve either gaining life between turns if your opponent didn't burn you that turn—or including a stand-alone monowhite deck that contains the healing spell (of which a player can diversify themselves with). Akin to the first idea—the amount of life gained between turns you're undamaged is yet to be defined (as is the starting life total). And I thought that I would take some suggestions first when it comes to this—and see what appeals most to everyone.
The concept of healing between turns bridges on the realism of being a Deity. Magic: the Gathering has always been a game that resolves around the caster being a God/Goddess. A being of immortal power—whom can genetically engineer creatures, or manipulate the movement of matter and energy to form fireballs, lightning bolts, or even open up a dimensional rift in space (or transport themselves or carry another person away). And that's where the healing concept comes from. As an immortal, your cellular division process is greatly enhanced (juxtaposed with mortality). You're like Wolverine. In the sense that, you get cut—and the cut heals nearly instantly. You get burned—and it also heals nearly instantly.
Well—that's the idea behind the concept here. Between turns, if your opponent doesn't burn you, and gives you time to heal—your immortal body recovers itself a bit (and thus, you gain a little life between turns). And this function is intended to add interaction to the format in order make it more fun.
Another major aspect in regards to the format involves constraining the proportions of the mana curve. If the mana curve were to go unregulated in a format such as this, it would interrupt the flow of the cards and the gameplay—and the end result would be just as boring as two monored decks against each other. Where whichever player draws into their burn first wins, and decks loaded with cheap burn spells easily pulling ahead with a distinct advantage. That's just all kinds of boring.
So—in order to patch that little problem, and further add some unique diversity to the style of the format. I believe that the mana curve needs to be constrained to a proportion something like...
1-of R 1 CMC
1-of R 2 CMC
2-of R 3 CMC
2-of R 4 CMC
3-of R 5 CMC
2-of R 6 CMC
2-of R 7 CMC
1-of R 8 CMC
1-of R 9 CMC
And that about sums it up the best I can right now. The monowhite deck would probably use the same constrained proportions to it. And the decks would be respectively named—the Artiliery Deck—and the Medical Deck. However, don't quote me on that. It's all still very up in the air, and I would probably perfer something like Firepower deck in place of the word Artilery.
So let me know what you all think. Comments, questions, and suggestions are all very welcome.
Although that would open up diversity a bit, it actually dilutes the concentration of focus here. In order to preserve a concentration of focus in the gameplay, the method I have suggested is an absolute. It keeps the game focused on the aspect of burn, it keeps all the spells along those same lines, and that creates a potency of optical appeal in regards to the format as a whole. Otherwise, you're going to be all over the place, into all kinds of other colors, with artwork that's also all over the place. In which from that, the potency of fantasy becomes scattered and diluted. The focus must remain around this central point in order to preserve the aspect of fantasy potency here.
I've come to the conclusion that the mana curve will have to be increased a bit on the low end in order to bridge of difference between the 40 card deck limit and the 20 card land allotment.
The mana curve would need to be constrained to the proportions of...
2-of R 1 CMC
2-of R 2 CMC
2-of R 3 CMC
3-of R 4 CMC
3-of R 5 CMC
3-of R 6 CMC
2-of R 7 CMC
1-of R 8 CMC
1-of R 9 CMC
In the process of this, I've also come to the conclusion that there could possibly need to be some form of card cycling (Uno-style) in the event that the deck runs dry of spells and method of healing had kept one or more players alive. The idea I came up with for this—would be to simply shuffle the spell cards raw into the deck—from which the game would go into a Sudden Death Mode style of gameplay. Every card drawn is going to be firepower—and with all the lands on the table (a full twenty)—that's going to create a very tense atmosphere. Still waiting on some feedback here. It does seem like the Magic forums are all seriously dead. It'a a ghost town these days, huh?
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Based on what I've got so far, the format involves two 40 card decks of monored burn. Now, just two monored burn decks against each other would easily grind down to a bore—so one the aspects that I realized right away that would need to be implemented in order to stretch the playability of this format was some aspect of healing.
From this, the two ideas I came up with involve either gaining life between turns if your opponent didn't burn you that turn—or including a stand-alone monowhite deck that contains the healing spell (of which a player can diversify themselves with). Akin to the first idea—the amount of life gained between turns you're undamaged is yet to be defined (as is the starting life total). And I thought that I would take some suggestions first when it comes to this—and see what appeals most to everyone.
The concept of healing between turns bridges on the realism of being a Deity. Magic: the Gathering has always been a game that resolves around the caster being a God/Goddess. A being of immortal power—whom can genetically engineer creatures, or manipulate the movement of matter and energy to form fireballs, lightning bolts, or even open up a dimensional rift in space (or transport themselves or carry another person away). And that's where the healing concept comes from. As an immortal, your cellular division process is greatly enhanced (juxtaposed with mortality). You're like Wolverine. In the sense that, you get cut—and the cut heals nearly instantly. You get burned—and it also heals nearly instantly.
Well—that's the idea behind the concept here. Between turns, if your opponent doesn't burn you, and gives you time to heal—your immortal body recovers itself a bit (and thus, you gain a little life between turns). And this function is intended to add interaction to the format in order make it more fun.
Another major aspect in regards to the format involves constraining the proportions of the mana curve. If the mana curve were to go unregulated in a format such as this, it would interrupt the flow of the cards and the gameplay—and the end result would be just as boring as two monored decks against each other. Where whichever player draws into their burn first wins, and decks loaded with cheap burn spells easily pulling ahead with a distinct advantage. That's just all kinds of boring.
So—in order to patch that little problem, and further add some unique diversity to the style of the format. I believe that the mana curve needs to be constrained to a proportion something like...
1-of R 1 CMC
1-of R 2 CMC
2-of R 3 CMC
2-of R 4 CMC
3-of R 5 CMC
2-of R 6 CMC
2-of R 7 CMC
1-of R 8 CMC
1-of R 9 CMC
And that about sums it up the best I can right now. The monowhite deck would probably use the same constrained proportions to it. And the decks would be respectively named—the Artiliery Deck—and the Medical Deck. However, don't quote me on that. It's all still very up in the air, and I would probably perfer something like Firepower deck in place of the word Artilery.
So let me know what you all think. Comments, questions, and suggestions are all very welcome.
Draft my cube! (630 cards)
The mana curve would need to be constrained to the proportions of...
2-of R 1 CMC
2-of R 2 CMC
2-of R 3 CMC
3-of R 4 CMC
3-of R 5 CMC
3-of R 6 CMC
2-of R 7 CMC
1-of R 8 CMC
1-of R 9 CMC
In the process of this, I've also come to the conclusion that there could possibly need to be some form of card cycling (Uno-style) in the event that the deck runs dry of spells and method of healing had kept one or more players alive. The idea I came up with for this—would be to simply shuffle the spell cards raw into the deck—from which the game would go into a Sudden Death Mode style of gameplay. Every card drawn is going to be firepower—and with all the lands on the table (a full twenty)—that's going to create a very tense atmosphere. Still waiting on some feedback here. It does seem like the Magic forums are all seriously dead. It'a a ghost town these days, huh?