I've been quietly plugging away at a set project and have a particularly troublesome cycle I'm struggling to nail down. In short, the plane is a feral nature world, and I'm trying to capture the idea of a food chain using a cycle of common creatures. I've been through several iterations on the idea, and here's my current frontrunner. While I like the general concept, I really don't like a few of the specific effects on most of them and am looking for alternatives.
Lizardeater Frog3U
Creature - Frog (C)
When Lizardeater Frog dies, draw a card.
Sacrifice a creature named Bugeater Lizard: Draw a card.
3/3
Bugeater Lizard2R
Creature - Lizard (C)
When Bugeater Lizard dies, it deals 2 damage to each opponent.
Sacrifice a creature named Shroomeater Bug: Bugeater Lizard deals 2 damage to each opponent.
2/3
Shroomeater Bug1W
Creature - Insect (C)
When Shroomeater Bug dies, you gain 3 life.
Sacrifice a creature named Germeater Shroom: You gain 3 life.
2/2
Germeater Shroom1G
Creature - Fungus (C)
When Germeater Shroom dies, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
Sacrifice a creature named Frogeater Germ: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
1/2
Frogeater Germ1B
Creature - Germ (C)
When Frogeater Germ dies, target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Sacrifice a creature named Lizardeater Frog: Target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
1/1
I know it's been a long time, but seeing Ankheret at the top of the threadlist reminded me that I should probably give an update on Magic Villains too. There's been a substantial amount of tweaking and exploring new ideas and falling back to old ones, but Villains is now in a very stable place. There's been a lot more development of Frenzy and Traps that make the archetypes more cohesive. The most up to date version is in the same link from the OP, or just click here.
Yeah, the proposed cards were hastily constructed and not much thought was put into costs. It's definitely more of a brainstorm of "what kind of design space exists here". Honestly, I don't see much room to innovate beyond the
"Effect A, followed by related Effect B" blueprint.
Someone posted a possible, unconfirmed Amonkhet card, which got me thinking about this flashback variant.
Overwhelm1U
Sorcery (R)
Target player puts the top six cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
// Brilliant Recollection3UU
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Cast target instant or sorcery spell from a graveyard without paying its mana cost.
Dark OmenB
Sorcery (C)
Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.
// Come to Pass2B
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Destroy target creature with a -1/-1 counter on it.
First Response1U
Instant (U)
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1.
// Final ResponseUU
Instant
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Counter target spell.
Haters Gonna Hate1R
Sorcery (C)
Destroy target artifact.
// A Man Can Dream2R
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Destroy target land.
Obviously there's a decent amount of design space for something like this, but the limitations tend to be that there's very little room for text so the effects all have to be simple.
Seems like a reasonable enough starting point to get a grasp of how the mechanic plays. I usually like to have a bit more variety in the types of effects so I test a wider range of options to edit down, but that's far from necessary if you know what you want to do with the design space.
What other duel decks will you be testing it out against?
ParoleWU
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block unless its controller pays 1 for each attacking or blocking creature he or she controls.
Red Rare4RR
Sorcery (R)
Two target lands erupt. Untap all creatures you control. After this phase there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase.
Balance might require only one land erupting?
Rare Artifact4
Artifact (R) T: Draw a card. Then discard a card or sacrifice a permanent.
I'll be sure to bring up the name thing with him. We have a friend who works at PrintPlayGames.com that does most of our "official" printing of game pieces, cards included. He's started commissioning art for the first set. I'll see if he wants to get in this thread and post up some sample cards. He might not be comfortable sharing quite yet though.
Yeah, we didn't do a perfect job of explaining it. Essentially, you shuffle a 30 card deck and draw 7 cards. You can play any cards from your hand face down onto the table as "speed", the primary resource used to play other cards. Once both players have taken their turn, they untap two speed and draw a card. Untapping just two speed each turn doesn't sound like a lot, but depending on the card(s) you play you might recover additional speed (based on that card's recovery value). You can use Attack techniques to attack a player, use Defense or Counter techniques to respond to Attacks, or bide your time with Power ups techniques. There are three different methods to victory: Injure your opponent's Head, injure your opponent's Body, or injure both their Arms and Legs. Each of the body parts has different starting life totals, and different Attacks can only target specific parts (eg a Kick might only target Body or Leg). That's the basics. There's also the "Spirit" resource, which asks you to reveal a specified number of other cards with Spirit values from your hand. This is how FzGhoul enables things like a "flaming punch" or a "shadow dash" for his world.
There aren't really any online resources yet as the game is still pretty far off from being published, but I'll be sure to give an update on the podcast when that changes.
Test Fate2B
Sorcery (C)
Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard. You may return them to your hand. If you don't, draw two cards.
You lose 2 life.
I've been quietly plugging away at a set project and have a particularly troublesome cycle I'm struggling to nail down. In short, the plane is a feral nature world, and I'm trying to capture the idea of a food chain using a cycle of common creatures. I've been through several iterations on the idea, and here's my current frontrunner. While I like the general concept, I really don't like a few of the specific effects on most of them and am looking for alternatives.
Lizardeater Frog 3U
Creature - Frog (C)
When Lizardeater Frog dies, draw a card.
Sacrifice a creature named Bugeater Lizard: Draw a card.
3/3
Bugeater Lizard 2R
Creature - Lizard (C)
When Bugeater Lizard dies, it deals 2 damage to each opponent.
Sacrifice a creature named Shroomeater Bug: Bugeater Lizard deals 2 damage to each opponent.
2/3
Shroomeater Bug 1W
Creature - Insect (C)
When Shroomeater Bug dies, you gain 3 life.
Sacrifice a creature named Germeater Shroom: You gain 3 life.
2/2
Germeater Shroom 1G
Creature - Fungus (C)
When Germeater Shroom dies, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
Sacrifice a creature named Frogeater Germ: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
1/2
Frogeater Germ 1B
Creature - Germ (C)
When Frogeater Germ dies, target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Sacrifice a creature named Lizardeater Frog: Target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
1/1
"Effect A, followed by related Effect B" blueprint.
Overwhelm 1U
Sorcery (R)
Target player puts the top six cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
//
Brilliant Recollection 3UU
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Cast target instant or sorcery spell from a graveyard without paying its mana cost.
Dark Omen B
Sorcery (C)
Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.
//
Come to Pass 2B
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Destroy target creature with a -1/-1 counter on it.
First Response 1U
Instant (U)
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1.
//
Final Response UU
Instant
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Counter target spell.
Haters Gonna Hate 1R
Sorcery (C)
Destroy target artifact.
//
A Man Can Dream 2R
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Exile it as it resolves.)
Destroy target land.
Obviously there's a decent amount of design space for something like this, but the limitations tend to be that there's very little room for text so the effects all have to be simple.
What other duel decks will you be testing it out against?
In this episode Zarepath tells us about his cyberpunk set Netropolis and we talk about top down design.
Podcast contact details:
Jake Mosby aka Piar
Email: CardographyCast@gmail.com
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block unless its controller pays 1 for each attacking or blocking creature he or she controls.
Sorcery (R)
Two target lands erupt. Untap all creatures you control. After this phase there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase.
Balance might require only one land erupting?
Rare Artifact 4
Artifact (R)
T: Draw a card. Then discard a card or sacrifice a permanent.
Not sure about this one. It's probably bad.
In this episode I talk with Trevor Cashmore aka TurboJustice about why and how designs should focus on the experience their games provide to players.
Podcast contact details:
Jake Mosby aka Piar
Email: CardographyCast@gmail.com
In this episode I answer a question from listener Zarator - breaking down the most important aspects of making a limited environment fun and balanced.
Resource Shoutout:
yeefbear.com/as-fan/
Podcast contact details:
Jake Mosby aka Piar
Email: CardographyCast@gmail.com
There aren't really any online resources yet as the game is still pretty far off from being published, but I'll be sure to give an update on the podcast when that changes.
Test Fate 2B
Sorcery (C)
Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard. You may return them to your hand. If you don't, draw two cards.
You lose 2 life.