For the last six or seven years I've been casually working away at my own custom Magic set, and I am proud to finally share it with it everyone!
The set is called 'Terranova'
Terranova, the ‘New Earth’, is a mysterious and only partially explored continent, embroiled in a conflict between civilized nations seeking to establish themselves and the primitive tribes who call it home.
The main mechanical theme behind the set is LANDS. Pretty much, lands matter- whether they’re on the battlefield, in your hand or in your graveyard. There are far more lands in this set than normally printed, including a whopping fifty nonbasic lands. What’s more, almost every card in the set interacts with lands in some particular way.
The new mechanics are Land Mass and Earthcast, and returning mechanic is Landcycling. The set also explores Fortifications.
The whole set is posted up on my blog. There is a FULL VISUAL SPOILER of all the cards created, and a comprehensive Planeswalker's Guide. You can see it at:
In general, landwalk is an ability that is much much less interesting and flavorful in game than on paper. On paper, it sounds cool and adds even more land-matters to a set. In game, it almost always feels like a waste of text or completely overpowering, with nothing in the middle. So I don't like the idea of landwalk, but it's your set.
What if Cloudrider Griffin got a +1/+1 counter from landcycling instead? I mean, it's pretty unlikely someone will ever landcycle twice in one turn, and opponents are only ever going to do it on end step. It also may be cleaner to only trigger when you landcycle. It could also get +2/+2 till end of turn, just to make it a more significant bonus for jumping through a hoop.
On Dustcloud Animus, it was just a tiny bit jarring to see reach on a white card. White so rarely doesn't have flying instead, and I don't think it would make much sense for ground creatures to block a tornado storm.
I wish Gift of the Serpent were a real card.
Trained Umbrosk probably doesn't need to be triple-white to cast. It's pretty rare to see triple cost cards at common. There are only like 3 cards ever printed at common with a triple cost, and when something costs 7 mana it's mostly irrelevant anyway. Same with entire cycle.
For Umyuk Mystic, I get that you want to emphasize the lands-matters theme, but the condition of having a basic plains is taking up text and mindspace for absolutely zero in-game value, the only value is in telling the reader that lands are important in this world. This card will never be played outside of limited, where the caster will always have a basic plains. Just to nitpick. Same with all the Mystics.
I think Capture could cost 3UU. Confiscate costs 4UU and does everything Capture does, and Capture is mostly just Mind Control with the possibility of Annex.
For Crushing Whirlpool, do you mean to say X of that player's choice, or what?
Herald of Aragus could probably cost 1U, and possibly even just U. Maybe if you restrict it to sorcery speed then U is fine, because of mana-denial possibilities.
Serpent's Suffering probably doesn't need to cost 8. I'd say 7 is enough.
Blazing Firecat could probably get another point of power or toughness, not sure which.
Negoti Whirlwind could probably cost 2 less.
Animus Mound is really weak compared to Vulshok Morningstar, which is already not a very strong card. It could cost one less to equip, in compensation.
Ambush Canyons seems more like a WR ability than GR. Or just W.
Cloudkeep Citadel is just worse than Fountain of Cho and company.
Desert Landmark might be fine to come into play untapped, power-wise.
It's a bit confusing that some lands have a one-time use charge counter ability and others sacrifice themselves to do a one-time ability. I can imagine that being very difficult to remember which is which. In general, I like the charge counter thing much more. Players hate sacrificing their lands, and the land mass thing is going to be a real problem if people are sacrificing lands.
Zaanuu, the Shaper's Realm should probably come into play tapped, since it's like Vesuva except waaaaaay better.
land mass is a really bad mechanic. 7 lands all but never happens in limited for one. 7 lands does happen in constructed but only if the decks are slow and controlling. but the land mass cards i saw were giving a TWO drop lifelink, or a five drop haste or something. this makes no sense why you would ever play these kinds of cards or build a deck around land mass, to give such marginal benefits to such mundane creatures. furthermore, of the 2 dozen or so cards i randomly looked at, i didn't see one instance of mana acceleration so i don't know how these 7 lands are ever happening.
land mass is a really bad mechanic. 7 lands all but never happens in limited for one. 7 lands does happen in constructed but only if the decks are slow and controlling. but the land mass cards i saw were giving a TWO drop lifelink, or a five drop haste or something. this makes no sense why you would ever play these kinds of cards or build a deck around land mass, to give such marginal benefits to such mundane creatures. furthermore, of the 2 dozen or so cards i randomly looked at, i didn't see one instance of mana acceleration so i don't know how these 7 lands are ever happening.
Believe it or not, Land Mass has shown itself to work exactly as I intend it to. As in yes, I actually have tested and played this set in Limited, and done it multiple times.
The time it takes to get seven lands in a limited game is average seven turns. There are 10 Landcycling creatures at common, and 10 at Uncommon, all of which rate very highly. Then there are certain lands that double up as spell effects, further increasing the amount of lands players generally want to play. Hitting your land drops in batsh!t simple.
There are also quite a few accelerators available in all colors, except they may take a different form than you're used to.
Getting to this 'late game' stage is not only very easy in this set, its also exactly how I designed the set to play out.
Land Mass is simply an ability that makes sure your early game spells do not lose any effectiveness when the big guns come out to play. For example Negoti Blowfly gains deathtouch so its no longer a piddly weak chump block, Slavering Hiska can sneak in 4 points of hasty damage when the opponent taps out his creatures, and Serpent's Fiery Eye can end the game a lot faster.
If you have an issue with Land Mass I challenge you to print out the set and play it!
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Getting to this 'late game' stage is not only very easy in this set, its also exactly how I designed the set to play out.
Any particular reason why you hate aggro so much?
Even Rise of the Eldrazi had less uniformly terrible 1-2 drops than this set. I would rather play an 18th (or 19th) land than include the 1/1 flash cheetah or the 3/1 haste lizard in my deck. It doesn't help that virtually all of the fancy nonbasics can't make mana on the same turn they ETB.
Having so many free-cast combat tricks seems like it could lead to decision paralysis, especially if 5cc goodstuff turns out to be the dominant archetype.
In general, landwalk is an ability that is much much less interesting and flavorful in game than on paper. On paper, it sounds cool and adds even more land-matters to a set. In game, it almost always feels like a waste of text or completely overpowering, with nothing in the middle. So I don't like the idea of landwalk, but it's your set.
First off thank you for your lengthy and in-depth feedback!
Yeah the main inclusion for greater instances of Landwalk was for set flavor, but I made sure there were also specific ways to deal with it. Guardian's Pass for example.
The only card that seriously concerns me is Bunyip, which can just one-shot people. Aragus, the mythic sea serpent, one-shots as well, but he costs 10 and is suitably epic
What if Cloudrider Griffin got a +1/+1 counter from landcycling instead? I mean, it's pretty unlikely someone will ever landcycle twice in one turn, and opponents are only ever going to do it on end step. It also may be cleaner to only trigger when you landcycle. It could also get +2/+2 till end of turn, just to make it a more significant bonus for jumping through a hoop.
Believe it or not Cloudrider Griffin is not actually designed to be good. It's designed to be marginal, to be just able to get there. There's quite a few cards like that in this set.
Most of them are smaller creatures or non-reprint removal spells. The reason is first off, not everything can be good. The second is there was a certain play style I wanted this set to produce in limited games- that of fatty battlecruiser ramp. In order to get there, I had to bump the casting costs of little dudes up or lower their power or something, or at least make them not really worthwhile until you get Land Mass. There are exceptions of course, but the majority of smaller spells can't be good if you want people to start busting out 7 drops.
Cloudrider Griffin in particular isn't as amazing as it could be as white already has Bladesong Valkyrie and Griffin Nest at uncommon, and both are pretty savage fliers. Adding a third flying powerhouse to the mix is just too much.
It also doesn't add +1/+1 counters because I made the conscious choice not to have them or -1/-1 counters anywhere in the set. The reason for this was there were already charge counters lying around on all the lands, and it could potentially just get too confusing for the players.
On Dustcloud Animus, it was just a tiny bit jarring to see reach on a white card. White so rarely doesn't have flying instead, and I don't think it would make much sense for ground creatures to block a tornado storm.
I never expected this reaction. Its meant to be a purely defensive spell. In contrast the actual Negoti tornado creature doesn't have flying either.
Trained Umbrosk probably doesn't need to be triple-white to cast. It's pretty rare to see triple cost cards at common. There are only like 3 cards ever printed at common with a triple cost, and when something costs 7 mana it's mostly irrelevant anyway. Same with entire cycle.
If I was going to print a ramp-based set, I had to have some decent ramp options. Sets also need vanilla creatures. Should a player not get any splashy rare beast these things are a backup. The only sets that have seen creatures of this size at common in their respective colors are Rise of the Eldrazi and Scourge. I actually do consider them something special, and there really aren't that many creatures that can single handedly take down a Monstrous Wurm in combat.
For Umyuk Mystic, I get that you want to emphasize the lands-matters theme, but the condition of having a basic plains is taking up text and mindspace for absolutely zero in-game value, the only value is in telling the reader that lands are important in this world. This card will never be played outside of limited, where the caster will always have a basic plains. Just to nitpick. Same with all the Mystics.
Yep...that's exactly what they're intended to be and exactly how they're intended to be perceived
I think Capture could cost 3UU. Confiscate costs 4UU and does everything Capture does, and Capture is mostly just Mind Control with the possibility of Annex.
Yup. The comparison to Confiscate was not lost on me. This is one of the cards whose casting cost I bumped in accordance to pushing ramp style.
Herald of Aragus could probably cost 1U, and possibly even just U. Maybe if you restrict it to sorcery speed then U is fine, because of mana-denial possibilities.
Same thing here. Mana-denial possibilities were certainly considered, but I never thought of making it sorcery speed only.
That said, 1/1s can still beat face and he costs 3 along with many other cheaper dudes just so players aren't overwhelmed before they can hit seven lands like they're meant to while playing this set.
Serpent's Suffering probably doesn't need to cost 8. I'd say 7 is enough.
The main thing with this card costing 8 is I didn't want to break the synergy of the rare 'Serpent's' cycle.
But the other thing is this is mainly an EDH card, so it often reads 'Discard hand and lose 10 life'. Even in constructed duels the opponent is still copping at least a 5 point life loss. For such a brutal anal raping I think its fine to cost 8.
Blazing Firecat could probably get another point of power or toughness, not sure which.
Same deal as many other smaller creatures- I didn't want to push it too hard. Plus as a pumpable intimidate creature late game, its pretty easy to tank someone for 6 or 8 a turn.
Yeah... it could. But then the strategic implications of the card would totally change- from 'BIG FATTY' to 'you will never hit your big drops ever lockdown'.
Animus Mound is really weak compared to Vulshok Morningstar, which is already not a very strong card. It could cost one less to equip, in compensation.
It's a bit confusing that some lands have a one-time use charge counter ability and others sacrifice themselves to do a one-time ability. I can imagine that being very difficult to remember which is which. In general, I like the charge counter thing much more. Players hate sacrificing their lands, and the land mass thing is going to be a real problem if people are sacrificing lands.
The confusion problem is possibly a real issue. I'm not going to lie about it. It's certainly a valid point where this set's design could be better. I just couldn't think of a way to do it better though.
As for the uncommon spell lands sacrificing and effectively slowing down Land Mass or fatties from hitting, that's entirely intentional. Players have to make a choice.
Having so many free-cast combat tricks seems like it could lead to decision paralysis, especially if 5cc goodstuff turns out to be the dominant archetype.
As a designer I really like that idea- it forces tricky skill-testing gameplay scenarios.
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Ugin: His 0 ability should be in the middle, not at the bottom. And why is he in this set? You really don't need other characters - your set is strong on its own.
Eternal Dragon: Nice reprint! Perfect environment for it.
Serpent's Glimmering Scales: Should be worded as "Choose one - abc; or xyz"
Trained Umbrosk: For 7cmc and 3 white symbols can be stronger than 6/6 vanilla. Compare to your Towering Tar Fiend. It's 1cmc more, 1 symbol less, 1 power more plus 2 abilities. Either the fiend goes 7/5 or make the Umbrosk a bit better (creature-wise: W > B)
Virenya: "Other creatures you control get +1/+1 and have x y and z."
Aragus: Neeeeed for my Ula's Temple Deck! Stormtide Leviathan's brother in arms.
Miniaturize: ALL? All creatures for just discarding an island + this spell? OP!
Nix: Again, perfect environment for this reprint.
Pack Ice: Neeeeeeeeeeeed.
Prismatic Terrain: Hmm...permanent color fixing in blue - feels pretty weird to me at first, because it's not a creature to do so, but it's ok.
Rimeblast: Instant Sleep for 1 creature. Could cost 1UU imo.
Rise from the Deep: OMG NEEEEED!!!! + Quicken = <3
Blue in general: I was really looking forward to see a new Force of Will aka a counterspell with Earthcast
Creative Bookkeeping: Say what now? *.* So. Good. Must. Resist. Card.
Forced Confession: Even way to OP for a mythic (if it was one). You choose ANY nonland card your opponent has to discard for only the cost to discard a swamp. No way. Imagine a turn 1 Thoughtseize plus THIS gainst you...auto-concede...
Occult Studies: For an uncommon too powerful, because for only 3 mana, it gives you ANY card. The drawback "only black" it kinda weak because it rules out lands and artifacts (Jitte) and nonblack decks wouldn't even consider playing it with BBB. Why not an effect like Beseech the Queen?
Corsair Ransacker: Too much weird stuff going on there. I get the islandwalk part (it's a pirate, arrrr), that's cool. But why the prot white?
Pyrodancer: Cool.
Seal the Entrance / Power Overflow: Both nice cards on their own, but I don't get it why you'd put two different hate cards in one single set that work against each other.
Surtek: Moar need.
Behemoth Crocodile: FEED ME CROCS!
Hornet Nest: Haha, funny flavor!
Murgosh: Woah!!!! Nice mythic.
Quallinar Earthspeaker: Wut.
Quallinar Renewal: Scapeshift into this = landfall overkill.
Sudden Fly-Trap: Why all landwalk? Imo, only forestwalk would be cool (and way more flavorful) instead of "Hey, you can't block my goblin with mountainwalk!" -> "But I can kill it with my venus fly trap, ha!" o_0 ?
Estate Tax: May be overcosted, not sure. Depends on your playtesting.
Ambush Kraken: Seriously, need.
Darkloam Goliath: Seriously overcosted. It's ok at rare, yes, the library thinning is powerful, but compare to Terravore power and cost-wise.
Dryad of Life's Petals: Why sacrificing? Sure, it's only a common, but up the activation cost a tiny bit and it's very fine w/o the sacrifice. -> Oracle of Nectars
Negoti Butterfly: Poor Heartstabber Mosquito...stealing his (he)art...
Negoti Whirlwind: Ha, nice flavor. Raze everything until there's nothing left.
Wandering Hellkite: Could loose that "basic" aspect of the search to make it waaay more cooler and powerful (dual lands = two abilities)
Quiescent Monastery: I'd rather run a normal Naturalize instead of this. Why is the ability so costy? Or should it be "all artifacts and enchantments"?
Shipwreck Cove: Either Boomerang or Recoil is better in my eyes. This land/ability is overcosted.
Overall: Nice set. Cool, fitting reprint choices. Can't wait to see Terranova's successor.
First off thank you for your lengthy and in-depth feedback!
Well thank you for your time and effort putting your set together.
Believe it or not Cloudrider Griffin is not actually designed to be good. It's designed to be marginal, to be just able to get there. There's quite a few cards like that in this set.
I see what you mean here. I think you're right that +1/+1 counters would be too much work, and that white doesn't need another strong flyer. But the thing with triggers like this is that if it's a very small reward, then it just feel unsatisfying as a player, almost like it's hardly worth remembering that it has an ability at all. Since you already have a 2/2 flyer for 3W, why not make this a 1/1 flyer for 2W that gets +2/+2 on landcycling? It just feels like you can get there and go off every once in a while by getting two triggers, it's like an achievement. I know you keep saying you want a slow limited environment, but I don' think a 1/1 flyer for 3 will be killing people before turn 7.
Red is color of not blocking, and green is the color of creatures being forced to block. Made to total sense to me.
I've long suspected that they were never going to use the Fortify mechanic because it seems like it is too hard to make a Fortification that wouldn't be better just being a plain old artifact. Some of what you've done with fortify seems good, but other cards strike me as falling victim to this problem.
For example, Mobile Outpost costs 2 to play and 3 to fortify, then you have to spend 3 and tap the land it is attached to to make a creature. If it were simply an artifact that cost 5 and had 4, T to make a creature, how different would that really be? I'll also point out that's a fairly weak card. I know that you could move it and use it twice in one turn, but that would cost 9 mana plus tapping two additional lands to do. Eleven mana to make two 1/1's doesn't add much to the card.
How much different is Intensity Matrix from an artifact that costs 2 and has "T: The next enchantment, artifact or creature you cast can't be countered."?
I like the ones that animate the lands into creatures, and I also have a soft spot for the ones that give the lands +P/T if they are creatures, but I think they are a little overcosted considering how narrow they are. Also it seems a little excessive to have a fortification that gives hexproof and another that gives indestructibility and another that gives protection from everything all in the same set. I understand these are very different on creatures but on a non-creature land they are very same-y.
I'm going to try to come back and take a look at the rest of the set later, I just jumped to the artifacts first because this was a mechanic I didn't see a lot of potential for. I was pleasantly surprised to see that some of the ideas were really neat, though.
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The set is called 'Terranova'
Terranova, the ‘New Earth’, is a mysterious and only partially explored continent, embroiled in a conflict between civilized nations seeking to establish themselves and the primitive tribes who call it home.
The main mechanical theme behind the set is LANDS. Pretty much, lands matter- whether they’re on the battlefield, in your hand or in your graveyard. There are far more lands in this set than normally printed, including a whopping fifty nonbasic lands. What’s more, almost every card in the set interacts with lands in some particular way.
The new mechanics are Land Mass and Earthcast, and returning mechanic is Landcycling. The set also explores Fortifications.
The whole set is posted up on my blog. There is a FULL VISUAL SPOILER of all the cards created, and a comprehensive Planeswalker's Guide. You can see it at:
http://nyxathidgoestotown.com/terranova-custom-set/
To give you a sneak peek here are some preview cards:
Any comments or feedback anyone has would be greatly appreciated!
Creator of Nyxathid Goes To Town, the M:tG blog responsible for the most LoLs
http://nyxathidgoestotown.wordpress.com/
If you like what you see, please comment and subscribe!
What if Cloudrider Griffin got a +1/+1 counter from landcycling instead? I mean, it's pretty unlikely someone will ever landcycle twice in one turn, and opponents are only ever going to do it on end step. It also may be cleaner to only trigger when you landcycle. It could also get +2/+2 till end of turn, just to make it a more significant bonus for jumping through a hoop.
On Dustcloud Animus, it was just a tiny bit jarring to see reach on a white card. White so rarely doesn't have flying instead, and I don't think it would make much sense for ground creatures to block a tornado storm.
I wish Gift of the Serpent were a real card.
Trained Umbrosk probably doesn't need to be triple-white to cast. It's pretty rare to see triple cost cards at common. There are only like 3 cards ever printed at common with a triple cost, and when something costs 7 mana it's mostly irrelevant anyway. Same with entire cycle.
For Umyuk Mystic, I get that you want to emphasize the lands-matters theme, but the condition of having a basic plains is taking up text and mindspace for absolutely zero in-game value, the only value is in telling the reader that lands are important in this world. This card will never be played outside of limited, where the caster will always have a basic plains. Just to nitpick. Same with all the Mystics.
I think Capture could cost 3UU. Confiscate costs 4UU and does everything Capture does, and Capture is mostly just Mind Control with the possibility of Annex.
For Crushing Whirlpool, do you mean to say X of that player's choice, or what?
Herald of Aragus could probably cost 1U, and possibly even just U. Maybe if you restrict it to sorcery speed then U is fine, because of mana-denial possibilities.
Serpent's Suffering probably doesn't need to cost 8. I'd say 7 is enough.
Blazing Firecat could probably get another point of power or toughness, not sure which.
Negoti Whirlwind could probably cost 2 less.
Animus Mound is really weak compared to Vulshok Morningstar, which is already not a very strong card. It could cost one less to equip, in compensation.
Ambush Canyons seems more like a WR ability than GR. Or just W.
Cloudkeep Citadel is just worse than Fountain of Cho and company.
Desert Landmark might be fine to come into play untapped, power-wise.
It's a bit confusing that some lands have a one-time use charge counter ability and others sacrifice themselves to do a one-time ability. I can imagine that being very difficult to remember which is which. In general, I like the charge counter thing much more. Players hate sacrificing their lands, and the land mass thing is going to be a real problem if people are sacrificing lands.
Zaanuu, the Shaper's Realm should probably come into play tapped, since it's like Vesuva except waaaaaay better.
Believe it or not, Land Mass has shown itself to work exactly as I intend it to. As in yes, I actually have tested and played this set in Limited, and done it multiple times.
The time it takes to get seven lands in a limited game is average seven turns. There are 10 Landcycling creatures at common, and 10 at Uncommon, all of which rate very highly. Then there are certain lands that double up as spell effects, further increasing the amount of lands players generally want to play. Hitting your land drops in batsh!t simple.
There are also quite a few accelerators available in all colors, except they may take a different form than you're used to.
Getting to this 'late game' stage is not only very easy in this set, its also exactly how I designed the set to play out.
Land Mass is simply an ability that makes sure your early game spells do not lose any effectiveness when the big guns come out to play. For example Negoti Blowfly gains deathtouch so its no longer a piddly weak chump block, Slavering Hiska can sneak in 4 points of hasty damage when the opponent taps out his creatures, and Serpent's Fiery Eye can end the game a lot faster.
If you have an issue with Land Mass I challenge you to print out the set and play it!
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Any particular reason why you hate aggro so much?
Even Rise of the Eldrazi had less uniformly terrible 1-2 drops than this set. I would rather play an 18th (or 19th) land than include the 1/1 flash cheetah or the 3/1 haste lizard in my deck. It doesn't help that virtually all of the fancy nonbasics can't make mana on the same turn they ETB.
Having so many free-cast combat tricks seems like it could lead to decision paralysis, especially if 5cc goodstuff turns out to be the dominant archetype.
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First off thank you for your lengthy and in-depth feedback!
Yeah the main inclusion for greater instances of Landwalk was for set flavor, but I made sure there were also specific ways to deal with it. Guardian's Pass for example.
The only card that seriously concerns me is Bunyip, which can just one-shot people. Aragus, the mythic sea serpent, one-shots as well, but he costs 10 and is suitably epic
Believe it or not Cloudrider Griffin is not actually designed to be good. It's designed to be marginal, to be just able to get there. There's quite a few cards like that in this set.
Most of them are smaller creatures or non-reprint removal spells. The reason is first off, not everything can be good. The second is there was a certain play style I wanted this set to produce in limited games- that of fatty battlecruiser ramp. In order to get there, I had to bump the casting costs of little dudes up or lower their power or something, or at least make them not really worthwhile until you get Land Mass. There are exceptions of course, but the majority of smaller spells can't be good if you want people to start busting out 7 drops.
Cloudrider Griffin in particular isn't as amazing as it could be as white already has Bladesong Valkyrie and Griffin Nest at uncommon, and both are pretty savage fliers. Adding a third flying powerhouse to the mix is just too much.
It also doesn't add +1/+1 counters because I made the conscious choice not to have them or -1/-1 counters anywhere in the set. The reason for this was there were already charge counters lying around on all the lands, and it could potentially just get too confusing for the players.
I never expected this reaction. Its meant to be a purely defensive spell. In contrast the actual Negoti tornado creature doesn't have flying either.
Me too bro, me too.
If I was going to print a ramp-based set, I had to have some decent ramp options. Sets also need vanilla creatures. Should a player not get any splashy rare beast these things are a backup. The only sets that have seen creatures of this size at common in their respective colors are Rise of the Eldrazi and Scourge. I actually do consider them something special, and there really aren't that many creatures that can single handedly take down a Monstrous Wurm in combat.
Yep...that's exactly what they're intended to be and exactly how they're intended to be perceived
Yup. The comparison to Confiscate was not lost on me. This is one of the cards whose casting cost I bumped in accordance to pushing ramp style.
Ha yeah I do, each player chooses what they bounce. I'm surprised to get a comment on this. If it's not clear enough I'll have to change it
Same thing here. Mana-denial possibilities were certainly considered, but I never thought of making it sorcery speed only.
That said, 1/1s can still beat face and he costs 3 along with many other cheaper dudes just so players aren't overwhelmed before they can hit seven lands like they're meant to while playing this set.
The main thing with this card costing 8 is I didn't want to break the synergy of the rare 'Serpent's' cycle.
But the other thing is this is mainly an EDH card, so it often reads 'Discard hand and lose 10 life'. Even in constructed duels the opponent is still copping at least a 5 point life loss. For such a brutal anal raping I think its fine to cost 8.
Same deal as many other smaller creatures- I didn't want to push it too hard. Plus as a pumpable intimidate creature late game, its pretty easy to tank someone for 6 or 8 a turn.
Yeah... it could. But then the strategic implications of the card would totally change- from 'BIG FATTY' to 'you will never hit your big drops ever lockdown'.
Its just fine enough for limited
Red is color of not blocking, and green is the color of creatures being forced to block. Made to total sense to me.
These cards I think are better, as you can tap them for mana as soon as your turn ends.
Don't want it to be too good.
The confusion problem is possibly a real issue. I'm not going to lie about it. It's certainly a valid point where this set's design could be better. I just couldn't think of a way to do it better though.
As for the uncommon spell lands sacrificing and effectively slowing down Land Mass or fatties from hitting, that's entirely intentional. Players have to make a choice.
You're probably right. Testing indicates the card is BoNkErs is 99.9% of all gameplay scenarios.
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Its not that I hate aggro at all, its just that I looooove ramp!
There's enough in there to feasibly draft Ponza style aggro I think.
As a designer I really like that idea- it forces tricky skill-testing gameplay scenarios.
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Eternal Dragon: Nice reprint! Perfect environment for it.
Serpent's Glimmering Scales: Should be worded as "Choose one - abc; or xyz"
Trained Umbrosk: For 7cmc and 3 white symbols can be stronger than 6/6 vanilla. Compare to your Towering Tar Fiend. It's 1cmc more, 1 symbol less, 1 power more plus 2 abilities. Either the fiend goes 7/5 or make the Umbrosk a bit better (creature-wise: W > B)
Virenya: "Other creatures you control get +1/+1 and have x y and z."
Aragus: Neeeeed for my Ula's Temple Deck! Stormtide Leviathan's brother in arms.
Miniaturize: ALL? All creatures for just discarding an island + this spell? OP!
Nix: Again, perfect environment for this reprint.
Pack Ice: Neeeeeeeeeeeed.
Prismatic Terrain: Hmm...permanent color fixing in blue - feels pretty weird to me at first, because it's not a creature to do so, but it's ok.
Rimeblast: Instant Sleep for 1 creature. Could cost 1UU imo.
Rise from the Deep: OMG NEEEEED!!!! + Quicken = <3
Blue in general: I was really looking forward to see a new Force of Will aka a counterspell with Earthcast
Creative Bookkeeping: Say what now? *.* So. Good. Must. Resist. Card.
Forced Confession: Even way to OP for a mythic (if it was one). You choose ANY nonland card your opponent has to discard for only the cost to discard a swamp. No way. Imagine a turn 1 Thoughtseize plus THIS gainst you...auto-concede...
Occult Studies: For an uncommon too powerful, because for only 3 mana, it gives you ANY card. The drawback "only black" it kinda weak because it rules out lands and artifacts (Jitte) and nonblack decks wouldn't even consider playing it with BBB. Why not an effect like Beseech the Queen?
Corsair Ransacker: Too much weird stuff going on there. I get the islandwalk part (it's a pirate, arrrr), that's cool. But why the prot white?
Pyrodancer: Cool.
Seal the Entrance / Power Overflow: Both nice cards on their own, but I don't get it why you'd put two different hate cards in one single set that work against each other.
Surtek: Moar need.
Behemoth Crocodile: FEED ME CROCS!
Hornet Nest: Haha, funny flavor!
Murgosh: Woah!!!! Nice mythic.
Quallinar Earthspeaker: Wut.
Quallinar Renewal: Scapeshift into this = landfall overkill.
Sudden Fly-Trap: Why all landwalk? Imo, only forestwalk would be cool (and way more flavorful) instead of "Hey, you can't block my goblin with mountainwalk!" -> "But I can kill it with my venus fly trap, ha!" o_0 ?
Estate Tax: May be overcosted, not sure. Depends on your playtesting.
Ambush Kraken: Seriously, need.
Darkloam Goliath: Seriously overcosted. It's ok at rare, yes, the library thinning is powerful, but compare to Terravore power and cost-wise.
Dryad of Life's Petals: Why sacrificing? Sure, it's only a common, but up the activation cost a tiny bit and it's very fine w/o the sacrifice. -> Oracle of Nectars
Negoti Butterfly: Poor Heartstabber Mosquito...stealing his (he)art...
Negoti Whirlwind: Ha, nice flavor. Raze everything until there's nothing left.
Wandering Hellkite: Could loose that "basic" aspect of the search to make it waaay more cooler and powerful (dual lands = two abilities)
Quiescent Monastery: I'd rather run a normal Naturalize instead of this. Why is the ability so costy? Or should it be "all artifacts and enchantments"?
Shipwreck Cove: Either Boomerang or Recoil is better in my eyes. This land/ability is overcosted.
Overall: Nice set. Cool, fitting reprint choices. Can't wait to see Terranova's successor.
Signature done by DNC from the Heroes of the Plane Studios
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Official Ink Bearer of [The Crafters]
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Old Custom Set: Imminence over Marycion
Well thank you for your time and effort putting your set together.
I see what you mean here. I think you're right that +1/+1 counters would be too much work, and that white doesn't need another strong flyer. But the thing with triggers like this is that if it's a very small reward, then it just feel unsatisfying as a player, almost like it's hardly worth remembering that it has an ability at all. Since you already have a 2/2 flyer for 3W, why not make this a 1/1 flyer for 2W that gets +2/+2 on landcycling? It just feels like you can get there and go off every once in a while by getting two triggers, it's like an achievement. I know you keep saying you want a slow limited environment, but I don' think a 1/1 flyer for 3 will be killing people before turn 7.
I was thinking of cards like Master Warcraft, Deftblade Elite, Odric, Master Tactician.
For example, Mobile Outpost costs 2 to play and 3 to fortify, then you have to spend 3 and tap the land it is attached to to make a creature. If it were simply an artifact that cost 5 and had 4, T to make a creature, how different would that really be? I'll also point out that's a fairly weak card. I know that you could move it and use it twice in one turn, but that would cost 9 mana plus tapping two additional lands to do. Eleven mana to make two 1/1's doesn't add much to the card.
How much different is Intensity Matrix from an artifact that costs 2 and has "T: The next enchantment, artifact or creature you cast can't be countered."?
I like the ones that animate the lands into creatures, and I also have a soft spot for the ones that give the lands +P/T if they are creatures, but I think they are a little overcosted considering how narrow they are. Also it seems a little excessive to have a fortification that gives hexproof and another that gives indestructibility and another that gives protection from everything all in the same set. I understand these are very different on creatures but on a non-creature land they are very same-y.
I'm going to try to come back and take a look at the rest of the set later, I just jumped to the artifacts first because this was a mechanic I didn't see a lot of potential for. I was pleasantly surprised to see that some of the ideas were really neat, though.