We've had some interesting discussions on the philosophies of RWU, GUB, and WBR. Now, I'd like to talk about one of the more challenging wedges, URG.
I'll start with my impression of URG's philosophy. Once again, I'll examine the two colors missing from the wedge - in this case, White and Black - and ask how their absence defines the wedge. So, what do White and Black have in common?
Not much, actually. White is selfless and community-oriented; Black is selfish, led by its own will. They are opposite extremes... and that's what we're looking for. White is so focused on serving others, and Black on advancing its own self-interest, that they have little time to enjoy life. White feels guilty over enjoying itself while others suffer, while Black inevitably views others as tools to be used in its quest for power. Both have a certain.. joylessness, if you will.
What happens when you purge yourself of the joylessness of serving others and yourself? You allow yourself to take joy in the experience of life. You delight in each discovery, each adventure, for its own sake. Blue, Red, and Green, each in their own way, celebrate the exploration of all life has to offer. Blue seeks to learn everything it can, fascinated by each new revelation. Red delights in the adventure of life. Green celebrates life itself, in all its infinite variety. URG is the wedge of adventure, of discovery, and of exploration.
What are your impressions of URG? What kind of world would these colors create? What sorts of mechanics are fundamentally URG?
When I was developing my wedge fragments, discovery was the watchword with URG. So I think you're exactly on the money. Blue desperately wants to know everything and understand, quantify and disassemble. Red simply wants to experience everything fully, feel everything new. And green, as you said, values exploration and understanding life to promote harmony. Together, the three form a combination intent on discovery.
I view the URG world as being Esper's opposite. Instead of progress and thought controlling nature, you'd have the unpredictability of nature overwhelming blue's will to dominate. Every time blue asserts control, nature grows and adapts, leaving blue stymied. It's a case of blue's controlling nature being frustrated, but it's desire to know and understand all being elated as the chaos of nature is an ever-developing puzzle to tackle. Blue is in a position to finally let go of its desire to control and embrace active learning completely. This is the closest blue will ever get to emotionality and impulsiveness, and it's obviously still not as gung-ho as red but it's closer than usual, with blue allowing itself to be a bit more direct and active in its pursuit of understanding.
As for the physical world of URG, I envision it as a vibrant tropical paradise. Colorful, breathtaking, wild and constantly evolving. Its jungles are deeper and more tangled, its peaks are higher and littered with caves, its lagoons are crystal clear and hiding unknowable depths. It's just more of everything, all of it ready to be seen and experienced. Civilizations are not unlike Naya's; few permanent and those that are fixtures are a utilitarian sort (think colleges, research outposts and vast zoos/libraries). The main conflict here is between the desire to explore and know and the desire to be left alone uninterrupted. Nature-abiding races fighting guerrilla wars with intrepid explorers, that sort of thing. The non-sapient life is dramatic, exotic, colorful and stubborn with a bit of a flair for the fantastical; I picture a lot of natural elementals.
Evoke is a fundamentally URG mechanic. So would be any mechanic that emphasizes casting more or overextending. Bonuses for bigger things (converted mana cost), bonuses for more things (storm), bonuses for digging deeper (hand size/card draw mechanics). Anything that exemplifies the value of discovery and exploration.
I see URG as sort of ethereal like a dream world that is continually growing and reinventing itself. New ideas pop up and old ideas vanish. Physical objects change into something completely different. Creatures appear out of thin air attacking you, then vanish just as quickly. A peaceful herbivore can be suddenly transfigured into giant ravenous predator. Even the ground under your feet can grow and shift or vanish altogether.
Mana flows quickly across the plane, ripping and changing the world in its wake, pools in some areas causing abundant growth, until it builds up too much pressure and erupts. The ground rises up and forms impassable peaks, falls into deadly ravines with rushing rivers, sprouts up with dense tangles of trees. The sentient inhabitants have settled in the few refuges of mostly stable land. Elemental creatures are abundant with a lot hybrid elemental creatures: a lion with a flowing mane of fire that engulfs its prey, an elephant that is a large flowering plant that scatters seedlings as it crashes through the forest, a school of icy fish that freezes the water around it as a defense mechanism, etc.
My take on what unified black and white is ambition. I see the two of them as the most goal-oriented colors, although in completely different directions. They're the colors most likely to have a target and follow it to completion, which is why blue (the color of meticulous planning and research) is what bridges the gap between them.
A world without any sort of ambition would be similar to the one(s) already described: Exploring life, not burdened by the need for achievement, just along for the ride. Not the color combo of laziness or complacency, just very laid back and accepting of change. Tolkien said it best with "not all who wander are lost."
I view the URG world as being Esper's opposite. Instead of progress and thought controlling nature, you'd have the unpredictability of nature overwhelming blue's will to dominate. Every time blue asserts control, nature grows and adapts, leaving blue stymied. It's a case of blue's controlling nature being frustrated, but it's desire to know and understand all being elated as the chaos of nature is an ever-developing puzzle to tackle. Blue is in a position to finally let go of its desire to control and embrace active learning completely. This is the closest blue will ever get to emotionality and impulsiveness, and it's obviously still not as gung-ho as red but it's closer than usual, with blue allowing itself to be a bit more direct and active in its pursuit of understanding.
It might not be anything more than a matter of semantics, as far as design is concerned, but I think the idea that Blue's ability to control is overwhelmed in URG misses the point. It is Blue's desire for control that is limited in URG. This is Blue's higher self, liberated from the need of White and Black to control the outcome, freed to pursue discovery for its own sake.
As for the physical world of URG, I envision it as a vibrant tropical paradise. Colorful, breathtaking, wild and constantly evolving. Its jungles are deeper and more tangled, its peaks are higher and littered with caves, its lagoons are crystal clear and hiding unknowable depths. It's just more of everything, all of it ready to be seen and experienced. Civilizations are not unlike Naya's; few permanent and those that are fixtures are a utilitarian sort (think colleges, research outposts and vast zoos/libraries). The main conflict here is between the desire to explore and know and the desire to be left alone uninterrupted. Nature-abiding races fighting guerrilla wars with intrepid explorers, that sort of thing. The non-sapient life is dramatic, exotic, colorful and stubborn with a bit of a flair for the fantastical; I picture a lot of natural elementals.
I see URG as sort of ethereal like a dream world that is continually growing and reinventing itself. New ideas pop up and old ideas vanish. Physical objects change into something completely different. Creatures appear out of thin air attacking you, then vanish just as quickly. A peaceful herbivore can be suddenly transfigured into giant ravenous predator. Even the ground under your feet can grow and shift or vanish altogether.
Mana flows quickly across the plane, ripping and changing the world in its wake, pools in some areas causing abundant growth, until it builds up too much pressure and erupts. The ground rises up and forms impassable peaks, falls into deadly ravines with rushing rivers, sprouts up with dense tangles of trees. The sentient inhabitants have settled in the few refuges of mostly stable land. Elemental creatures are abundant with a lot hybrid elemental creatures: a lion with a flowing mane of fire that engulfs its prey, an elephant that is a large flowering plant that scatters seedlings as it crashes through the forest, a school of icy fish that freezes the water around it as a defense mechanism, etc.
Fun worlds waiting to be fleshed out. Certainly, these are the three colors that use Elementals the most, and a URG setting should have an above-average population of them. I could also imagine a swashbuckling adventure land, islands covered in tropical forests and volcanic peaks, where you never know what adventure awaits on the next island. Another possibility could be a Zendikar-like land of adventure - an imposing, impenetrable landscape that invites exploration.
Evoke is a fundamentally URG mechanic. So would be any mechanic that emphasizes casting more or overextending. Bonuses for bigger things (converted mana cost), bonuses for more things (storm), bonuses for digging deeper (hand size/card draw mechanics). Anything that exemplifies the value of discovery and exploration.
Other great mechanics that evoke themes of discovery include Morph, Transform, and Clash (What does that turn into? What's on top of our libraries?). Quests, in my mind, are also resonant with the flavor of adventure.
It might not be anything more than a matter of semantics, as far as design is concerned, but I think the idea that Blue's ability to control is overwhelmed in URG misses the point. It is Blue's desire for control that is limited in URG. This is Blue's higher self, liberated from the need of White and Black to control the outcome, freed to pursue discovery for its own sake.
I don't believe blue's desire for control is gone (in fact, I think you'd still see that trait exhibited in singular cards infrequently and in the odd character), just downplayed in favor of its desire to know everything which is being encouraged in the URG world.
In my URG setting, the Vedalken were blue's representative race and they were obsessed with studying all that nature threw at them. They went as far as to construct holding cells for specimens in their city/research outpost so they could trap an animal and bring it back to the lab for detailed study out of the wild. They want to understand everything because then they can better control and survive their world. They're ultimately failing, nature is constantly breaking free of the controls the Vedalken are putting in place and nature's constant unpredictability and evolution has meant that everything they've categorized, mapped or studied fully is moot within weeks/months. They still want to control, but they just can't until they know how to do it so research and discovery is their main focus. Only once they understand the problem can they begin to control it.
Other great mechanics that evoke themes of discovery include Morph, Transform, and Clash (What does that turn into? What's on top of our libraries?). Quests, in my mind, are also resonant with the flavor of adventure.
Morph strikes me as a bit too much deception and duplicity for some reason (it feels more at home in GUB than with URG), but clash and transform are both great mechanical concepts for UGR. And when I revisited Zendikar's adventure theme for a set, Quests were a mechanical focus for blue, red and green - so make of that what you will.
The keyword for this wedge would be "change". There would be no power structures - the peoples would either be nomads living off the land or researchers concerned only with discovery for it's own sake. Something like Jurassic Park or (in Magic) the Riptide Laboratory would be quintessential of this wedge - this could easily be a world on the brink of destruction due to unregulated experiments. Of all the wedges this could be the most dangerous, not through any malice in it's denizens but just because there is simply no heed paid to safety in this environment.
I don't think the world itself is on the brink of destruction (for all its chaotic ways, nature still prefers a balance and on its own will typically find it), but certainly civilizations are.
Let's not forget that White and Black are the two colors most concerned with religion and religion is, mostly, concerned with the afterlife. In a world without White or Black, the concept of living by a code in order to achieve greatness in the next life would be nonexistent.
URG lives for today. Hell, it lives for right now, this second. Green's "Let nature take it's course" melds beautifully with Red's "I do what I want", and even Blue's usual forward thinking manifests only as "I wonder what happens if...".
A world where even the laws of physics are more like guidelines and subject to change for little (or no) reason sounds about par here. Evoke is fantastic; creatures appearing and then suddenly turning into mist that wafts away. Morph; Formless masses suddenly become fantastic creatures and may turn back into formless masses. (Vesuvan Shapeshifter). This would also be a great place to bring back the Changeling mechanic.
Since UR are the "spell colors" you might consider spell manipulation (Alter Reality), redirection (Shunt), and nullification (Shroud/Hexproof) as possible mechanical outlets.
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A world centered in the five classical elements can thrive here. Much like magic-ified version of the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
:symu:: Air, Water, Aether
:symr:: Fire
:symg:: Earth
Blue getting the 2:1:1 ratio of importance essentially. Having worked on a Avatar set parallel to MOON-E's. Activated abilities and/or "Bending" seems like it'd be a niffty way to explore a URG.
I'll start with my impression of URG's philosophy. Once again, I'll examine the two colors missing from the wedge - in this case, White and Black - and ask how their absence defines the wedge. So, what do White and Black have in common?
Not much, actually. White is selfless and community-oriented; Black is selfish, led by its own will. They are opposite extremes... and that's what we're looking for. White is so focused on serving others, and Black on advancing its own self-interest, that they have little time to enjoy life. White feels guilty over enjoying itself while others suffer, while Black inevitably views others as tools to be used in its quest for power. Both have a certain.. joylessness, if you will.
What happens when you purge yourself of the joylessness of serving others and yourself? You allow yourself to take joy in the experience of life. You delight in each discovery, each adventure, for its own sake. Blue, Red, and Green, each in their own way, celebrate the exploration of all life has to offer. Blue seeks to learn everything it can, fascinated by each new revelation. Red delights in the adventure of life. Green celebrates life itself, in all its infinite variety. URG is the wedge of adventure, of discovery, and of exploration.
What are your impressions of URG? What kind of world would these colors create? What sorts of mechanics are fundamentally URG?
RWU
GUB
WBR
URG
BGW
I view the URG world as being Esper's opposite. Instead of progress and thought controlling nature, you'd have the unpredictability of nature overwhelming blue's will to dominate. Every time blue asserts control, nature grows and adapts, leaving blue stymied. It's a case of blue's controlling nature being frustrated, but it's desire to know and understand all being elated as the chaos of nature is an ever-developing puzzle to tackle. Blue is in a position to finally let go of its desire to control and embrace active learning completely. This is the closest blue will ever get to emotionality and impulsiveness, and it's obviously still not as gung-ho as red but it's closer than usual, with blue allowing itself to be a bit more direct and active in its pursuit of understanding.
As for the physical world of URG, I envision it as a vibrant tropical paradise. Colorful, breathtaking, wild and constantly evolving. Its jungles are deeper and more tangled, its peaks are higher and littered with caves, its lagoons are crystal clear and hiding unknowable depths. It's just more of everything, all of it ready to be seen and experienced. Civilizations are not unlike Naya's; few permanent and those that are fixtures are a utilitarian sort (think colleges, research outposts and vast zoos/libraries). The main conflict here is between the desire to explore and know and the desire to be left alone uninterrupted. Nature-abiding races fighting guerrilla wars with intrepid explorers, that sort of thing. The non-sapient life is dramatic, exotic, colorful and stubborn with a bit of a flair for the fantastical; I picture a lot of natural elementals.
Evoke is a fundamentally URG mechanic. So would be any mechanic that emphasizes casting more or overextending. Bonuses for bigger things (converted mana cost), bonuses for more things (storm), bonuses for digging deeper (hand size/card draw mechanics). Anything that exemplifies the value of discovery and exploration.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Mana flows quickly across the plane, ripping and changing the world in its wake, pools in some areas causing abundant growth, until it builds up too much pressure and erupts. The ground rises up and forms impassable peaks, falls into deadly ravines with rushing rivers, sprouts up with dense tangles of trees. The sentient inhabitants have settled in the few refuges of mostly stable land. Elemental creatures are abundant with a lot hybrid elemental creatures: a lion with a flowing mane of fire that engulfs its prey, an elephant that is a large flowering plant that scatters seedlings as it crashes through the forest, a school of icy fish that freezes the water around it as a defense mechanism, etc.
A world without any sort of ambition would be similar to the one(s) already described: Exploring life, not burdened by the need for achievement, just along for the ride. Not the color combo of laziness or complacency, just very laid back and accepting of change. Tolkien said it best with "not all who wander are lost."
It might not be anything more than a matter of semantics, as far as design is concerned, but I think the idea that Blue's ability to control is overwhelmed in URG misses the point. It is Blue's desire for control that is limited in URG. This is Blue's higher self, liberated from the need of White and Black to control the outcome, freed to pursue discovery for its own sake.
Fun worlds waiting to be fleshed out. Certainly, these are the three colors that use Elementals the most, and a URG setting should have an above-average population of them. I could also imagine a swashbuckling adventure land, islands covered in tropical forests and volcanic peaks, where you never know what adventure awaits on the next island. Another possibility could be a Zendikar-like land of adventure - an imposing, impenetrable landscape that invites exploration.
Other great mechanics that evoke themes of discovery include Morph, Transform, and Clash (What does that turn into? What's on top of our libraries?). Quests, in my mind, are also resonant with the flavor of adventure.
I love this.
RWU
GUB
WBR
URG
BGW
I don't believe blue's desire for control is gone (in fact, I think you'd still see that trait exhibited in singular cards infrequently and in the odd character), just downplayed in favor of its desire to know everything which is being encouraged in the URG world.
In my URG setting, the Vedalken were blue's representative race and they were obsessed with studying all that nature threw at them. They went as far as to construct holding cells for specimens in their city/research outpost so they could trap an animal and bring it back to the lab for detailed study out of the wild. They want to understand everything because then they can better control and survive their world. They're ultimately failing, nature is constantly breaking free of the controls the Vedalken are putting in place and nature's constant unpredictability and evolution has meant that everything they've categorized, mapped or studied fully is moot within weeks/months. They still want to control, but they just can't until they know how to do it so research and discovery is their main focus. Only once they understand the problem can they begin to control it.
Morph strikes me as a bit too much deception and duplicity for some reason (it feels more at home in GUB than with URG), but clash and transform are both great mechanical concepts for UGR. And when I revisited Zendikar's adventure theme for a set, Quests were a mechanical focus for blue, red and green - so make of that what you will.
I don't think the world itself is on the brink of destruction (for all its chaotic ways, nature still prefers a balance and on its own will typically find it), but certainly civilizations are.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
URG lives for today. Hell, it lives for right now, this second. Green's "Let nature take it's course" melds beautifully with Red's "I do what I want", and even Blue's usual forward thinking manifests only as "I wonder what happens if...".
A world where even the laws of physics are more like guidelines and subject to change for little (or no) reason sounds about par here. Evoke is fantastic; creatures appearing and then suddenly turning into mist that wafts away. Morph; Formless masses suddenly become fantastic creatures and may turn back into formless masses. (Vesuvan Shapeshifter). This would also be a great place to bring back the Changeling mechanic.
Since UR are the "spell colors" you might consider spell manipulation (Alter Reality), redirection (Shunt), and nullification (Shroud/Hexproof) as possible mechanical outlets.
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:symu:: Air, Water, Aether
:symr:: Fire
:symg:: Earth
Blue getting the 2:1:1 ratio of importance essentially. Having worked on a Avatar set parallel to MOON-E's. Activated abilities and/or "Bending" seems like it'd be a niffty way to explore a URG.
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