So I recently got the urge to start a new project and started piecing together a story and card arc for a Zelda inspired "Hyrule" plane. I've only been working on it for a few days (Maybe a week) and already it's turned into a bit of a monster. I figured I'd post some of the details and see what fellow players think.
Some notes for the set:
1: This is Zelda Inspired, not a set based on any one game. As such, it will not feature a retelling of a classic story, but will have elements of many different games etched into it.
2: The game play will be heavy tribal and primarily Legendary driven. Most of the classic characters will get a card or two devoted to them.
3: The story is being built along side the set. It will have a lot of classic Zelda tropes, but will also have a very "Magic" planar conflict feel to it.
4: I want the end result of this to be playable and balanced; like if this theoretical set was ever really created, players would want to buy and play with the cards
5: The block will be 3 sets. I don't like WotC's new two off block strategy. I feel that it rushes the story too much and doesn't give us enough time with individual mechanics, since they seem to change the strategies every set.
For the first 2 sets, I have a number of keywords and mechanics that I have considered/created for inclusion. There will be a lot of death and return to life mechanics in the set, so I have included Morbid and have considered Undying, but Undying just doesn't seem to fit what I had in mind for the set. Neither does Persist. The primary conflict in the set will be a war between the Kingdoms of Hyrule and the Wildsmen allied with the Moblins and Demons. To that end, I have considered adding Flanking to the set to represent the battlefield tactics. There will be Quest enchantments to try and capture the dungeon and puzzle aspect of the series. This set will be heavy Equipment and to support that I've created Elite. Elite will be a set wide mechanic used to grant bonuses to creatures that are equipped (i.e. Elite - While this creature is equipped, each time it attacks, it deals 2 damage to target creature of player.). Finally, I have Kindred, which is a mechanic that will trigger when you control at least three other creatures that share a specific type (i.e. Kindred - When this creature enters the battlefield, if you control at least three other zombies, target opponent sacrifices a creature.)
With that being said, I'd like to introduce you to the three planeswalkers that will appear in the first set, Chaos of Hyrule.
The first Walker is a returning favorite and my personal favorite Walker, Sorin Markov. Ignoring the story of the inbound Shadows over Innistrad block, Sorin's story begins after his work finding Nahiri and dealing with the Eldrazi has ended (whatever that may look like). Now that he has no more pressing concerns, he is searching the multiverse for a planeswalker that caused much trouble on his own homeplane recently. Sorin is right ticked and has some questions that he wants answered.
With that goal in mind, Sorin tracks the walker to Hyrule and begins his search. With very little knowledge of this young plane, he seeks out those who would know the most. His search inevitably leads him to the Shiekah, who for centuries have seen to the protection of Hyrule's kingdoms and the maintaining of Goddess-willed balance by being and doing that which no one else is capable (or willing) to be or do. When Sorin finally crosses paths with a young, but esteemed Shiekah warrior by the name of Shiek, the boy is not very keen to help this strange looking foreigner. With little patience for negotiation, Sorin does the one thing he knows will get him answers NOW. He turns Shiek, making Shiek the first Hylian Vampire and starting a chain reaction that would turn most of the Shiekah and many Hylians into a new Hylian race of Vampires. Sorin's actions would directly affect the the outcome of the future conflict and would put him squarely in the sights of the Hylian royalty, most of the kingdom's army (Including a young Lieutenant by the name of Link Shanewolf) and a Desert-born mage named Darien.
Sorin, Inquisitor {BBW}
Planeswalker - Sorin
+1) Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. It is a Black Vampire in addition to it's other types and colors.
-4) Take control of target Vampire.
-6) Target opponent gets an Emblem with "Whenever a Vampire does combat damage to you, it gets a +1/+1 Counter."
/3/
While a lot of this Planeswalker abilities are very familiar (Olivia Volderan and ALL of Innistrad's Vampires!), it really is the most appropriate setup for Sorin's part in the story. I do think that his mana cost should be re-evaluated, but everything else seems pretty balanced. I have considered another text for the emblem; something that fits more with the "Opponent loses life, you gain life" strategy that the Shiekah will be primarily using in at least the first set, but this is what I have recorded now.
The other 2 planeswalkers are born and raised on Hyrule. The first is Quin Fellis. Quin was born in the Wilds, the untamed areas of Hyrule that are not controlled by the kingdoms and are instead ruled by strength and war. These areas are populated with all manner of monsters, but mostly by the Moblin hoards left over after the many wars fought against the Dark Lords. Quin Fellis made his trade in these lands as a smith providing armor and weapons to varying mercenary outfits and criminals. He was considered the best at what he did and this was due to the fact that he used magic to aide in the creation of weapons. Shortly before the story arc begins, Quin was hired by a Moblin War Party, but at the conclusion of their task, the Moblins decided to cut their loses and eliminate the Artificer instead of pay him. When they came for Quin, he was unarmed and alone, with nothing but raw materials, his magic and his will. With not other alternative, Quin tried to create a weapon solely using his magic and raw materials. The effort succeeded, but would have killed him, if it hadn't ignited his Spark. His ignition killed the Moblins sent to kill him and after a month of absence, Quin returned to Hyrule a fully realized planeswalker. Now holding more power than he could have ever imagined, He set his sights on accomplishing something he never could have without this kind of power: Dramatically changing the world. But how could he do that? Maybe this dark woman has some ideas.
Quin Fellis {2RR}
Planeswalker - Quin
+1) Target creature you control gains Haste or First Strike until the start of the next end phase.
-3) Put a Red 'Blitz Blade' Equipment token with Equip{3} and "Equipped creature is +2/+0 and has Menace." onto the battlefield.
-8) You get an Emblem with "Whenever a creature you control becomes Equipped, you may have it fight target creature".
/4/
Quin's first ability is the one that I am most concerned with. I made it one or the other because I thought both would just be OP. That, and similar abilities that grant keywords like Ajani, Caller of the Pride's Flying and Double Strike are - abilities. So I felt it needed to be NERF'd. The rest i'm pretty happy with.
The third Walker is Ayiz Medua. Little is known about her other than she has lived in the forest Wilds between Hyrule Kingdom and Termina for her entire adult life and she is very fond of the Spiders that primarily populate said forests. She has no real quarrel with anyone specifically, unless you are causing trouble in her forests or harming those she calls friends. This is actually how she becomes involved in the story as her sanctuary is invaded by a small force of Stalfos. With her help, the forest's denizens drive the monsters back, but the battle truly ends with the arrival of Quin Fellis and his dark ally, the later of whom dispatches the skeletal monsters with the flick of her wrist. After being told of aggressive actions being taken by the kingdoms and knowing that Stalfos are the undead embodiment of kingdom dwellers who die in the forest, Ayiz joins Quin in his quest to bring change to the world and reign in the decadence and arrogance of the kingdoms. This is also how the dark ally of Quin becomes Ayiz's planeswalker teacher.
Ayiz Medua {GG}
Planeswalker - Ayiz
+1) Put a 1/2 Green Spider creature token with Reach onto the battlefield.
-3) Creatures you control are +2/+2 and gain Trample until the start of the next end step.
-7) You get an Emblem with 'Creature you control have "{1G}: Regenerate this creature."'.
/2/
Ayiz is your typical Iconic green Planeswalker, focusing, for now, on creature creation and support. Her -3 is the only one I am leery of, since it has the potential to end games very early and be broken on a 2 cast walker. She is not set, however, and I am more than willing to take criticism. Tell me what you think of the set so far and if this strikes your fancy, give me a heads up to what you might want to see in the set. And don't hold back on criticism... I'm a big boy, I can handle it.
KaijuKnight, Out!
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So I recently got the urge to start a new project and started piecing together a story and card arc for a Zelda inspired "Hyrule" plane. I've only been working on it for a few days (Maybe a week) and already it's turned into a bit of a monster. I figured I'd post some of the details and see what fellow players think.
Some notes for the set:
1: This is Zelda Inspired, not a set based on any one game. As such, it will not feature a retelling of a classic story, but will have elements of many different games etched into it.
2: The game play will be heavy tribal and primarily Legendary driven. Most of the classic characters will get a card or two devoted to them.
3: The story is being built along side the set. It will have a lot of classic Zelda tropes, but will also have a very "Magic" planar conflict feel to it.
4: I want the end result of this to be playable and balanced; like if this theoretical set was ever really created, players would want to buy and play with the cards
5: The block will be 3 sets. I don't like WotC's new two off block strategy. I feel that it rushes the story too much and doesn't give us enough time with individual mechanics, since they seem to change the strategies every set.
For the first 2 sets, I have a number of keywords and mechanics that I have considered/created for inclusion. There will be a lot of death and return to life mechanics in the set, so I have included Morbid and have considered Undying, but Undying just doesn't seem to fit what I had in mind for the set. Neither does Persist. The primary conflict in the set will be a war between the Kingdoms of Hyrule and the Wildsmen allied with the Moblins and Demons. To that end, I have considered adding Flanking to the set to represent the battlefield tactics. There will be Quest enchantments to try and capture the dungeon and puzzle aspect of the series. This set will be heavy Equipment and to support that I've created Elite. Elite will be a set wide mechanic used to grant bonuses to creatures that are equipped (i.e. Elite - While this creature is equipped, each time it attacks, it deals 2 damage to target creature of player.). Finally, I have Kindred, which is a mechanic that will trigger when you control at least three other creatures that share a specific type (i.e. Kindred - When this creature enters the battlefield, if you control at least three other zombies, target opponent sacrifices a creature.)
With that being said, I'd like to introduce you to the three planeswalkers that will appear in the first set, Chaos of Hyrule.
The first Walker is a returning favorite and my personal favorite Walker, Sorin Markov. Ignoring the story of the inbound Shadows over Innistrad block, Sorin's story begins after his work finding Nahiri and dealing with the Eldrazi has ended (whatever that may look like). Now that he has no more pressing concerns, he is searching the multiverse for a planeswalker that caused much trouble on his own homeplane recently. Sorin is right ticked and has some questions that he wants answered.
With that goal in mind, Sorin tracks the walker to Hyrule and begins his search. With very little knowledge of this young plane, he seeks out those who would know the most. His search inevitably leads him to the Shiekah, who for centuries have seen to the protection of Hyrule's kingdoms and the maintaining of Goddess-willed balance by being and doing that which no one else is capable (or willing) to be or do. When Sorin finally crosses paths with a young, but esteemed Shiekah warrior by the name of Shiek, the boy is not very keen to help this strange looking foreigner. With little patience for negotiation, Sorin does the one thing he knows will get him answers NOW. He turns Shiek, making Shiek the first Hylian Vampire and starting a chain reaction that would turn most of the Shiekah and many Hylians into a new Hylian race of Vampires. Sorin's actions would directly affect the the outcome of the future conflict and would put him squarely in the sights of the Hylian royalty, most of the kingdom's army (Including a young Lieutenant by the name of Link Shanewolf) and a Desert-born mage named Darien.
Sorin, Inquisitor {BBW}
Planeswalker - Sorin
+1) Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. It is a Black Vampire in addition to it's other types and colors.
-4) Take control of target Vampire.
-6) Target opponent gets an Emblem with "Whenever a Vampire does combat damage to you, it gets a +1/+1 Counter."
/3/
While a lot of this Planeswalker abilities are very familiar (Olivia Volderan and ALL of Innistrad's Vampires!), it really is the most appropriate setup for Sorin's part in the story. I do think that his mana cost should be re-evaluated, but everything else seems pretty balanced. I have considered another text for the emblem; something that fits more with the "Opponent loses life, you gain life" strategy that the Shiekah will be primarily using in at least the first set, but this is what I have recorded now.
The other 2 planeswalkers are born and raised on Hyrule. The first is Quin Fellis. Quin was born in the Wilds, the untamed areas of Hyrule that are not controlled by the kingdoms and are instead ruled by strength and war. These areas are populated with all manner of monsters, but mostly by the Moblin hoards left over after the many wars fought against the Dark Lords. Quin Fellis made his trade in these lands as a smith providing armor and weapons to varying mercenary outfits and criminals. He was considered the best at what he did and this was due to the fact that he used magic to aide in the creation of weapons. Shortly before the story arc begins, Quin was hired by a Moblin War Party, but at the conclusion of their task, the Moblins decided to cut their loses and eliminate the Artificer instead of pay him. When they came for Quin, he was unarmed and alone, with nothing but raw materials, his magic and his will. With not other alternative, Quin tried to create a weapon solely using his magic and raw materials. The effort succeeded, but would have killed him, if it hadn't ignited his Spark. His ignition killed the Moblins sent to kill him and after a month of absence, Quin returned to Hyrule a fully realized planeswalker. Now holding more power than he could have ever imagined, He set his sights on accomplishing something he never could have without this kind of power: Dramatically changing the world. But how could he do that? Maybe this dark woman has some ideas.
Quin Fellis {2RR}
Planeswalker - Quin
+1) Target creature you control gains Haste or First Strike until the start of the next end phase.
-3) Put a Red 'Blitz Blade' Equipment token with Equip{3} and "Equipped creature is +2/+0 and has Menace." onto the battlefield.
-8) You get an Emblem with "Whenever a creature you control becomes Equipped, you may have it fight target creature".
/4/
Quin's first ability is the one that I am most concerned with. I made it one or the other because I thought both would just be OP. That, and similar abilities that grant keywords like Ajani, Caller of the Pride's Flying and Double Strike are - abilities. So I felt it needed to be NERF'd. The rest i'm pretty happy with.
The third Walker is Ayiz Medua. Little is known about her other than she has lived in the forest Wilds between Hyrule Kingdom and Termina for her entire adult life and she is very fond of the Spiders that primarily populate said forests. She has no real quarrel with anyone specifically, unless you are causing trouble in her forests or harming those she calls friends. This is actually how she becomes involved in the story as her sanctuary is invaded by a small force of Stalfos. With her help, the forest's denizens drive the monsters back, but the battle truly ends with the arrival of Quin Fellis and his dark ally, the later of whom dispatches the skeletal monsters with the flick of her wrist. After being told of aggressive actions being taken by the kingdoms and knowing that Stalfos are the undead embodiment of kingdom dwellers who die in the forest, Ayiz joins Quin in his quest to bring change to the world and reign in the decadence and arrogance of the kingdoms. This is also how the dark ally of Quin becomes Ayiz's planeswalker teacher.
Ayiz Medua {GG}
Planeswalker - Ayiz
+1) Put a 1/2 Green Spider creature token with Reach onto the battlefield.
-3) Creatures you control are +2/+2 and gain Trample until the start of the next end step.
-7) You get an Emblem with 'Creature you control have "{1G}: Regenerate this creature."'.
/2/
Ayiz is your typical Iconic green Planeswalker, focusing, for now, on creature creation and support. Her -3 is the only one I am leery of, since it has the potential to end games very early and be broken on a 2 cast walker. She is not set, however, and I am more than willing to take criticism. Tell me what you think of the set so far and if this strikes your fancy, give me a heads up to what you might want to see in the set. And don't hold back on criticism... I'm a big boy, I can handle it.
KaijuKnight, Out!