When morbid was brought back once in Conspiracy and then popped up again in Commander, it got me thinking about "deciduous" mechanics. For those unaware deciduous is a play off of evergreen that refers to a mechanic that's always available, but doesn't always show up. Currently, Hybrid is our only real example of a mechanic that fits this description, but we can also start to see WotC use Morbid in a similar fashion.
Major sets are getting more and more focused on big ideas, and they have less room to dedicate to named mechanics that don't directly support the theme. However, we're beginning to see more and more supplemental products with new cards. As Morbid has shown, deciduous mechanics are a great tool that can help tie things together in these situations (where cards mechanically and creatively fall all over the map).
My question is, if you had to pick a deciduous mechanic for each color to be used in supplemental sets, which ones would you pick?
The criteria we're looking for are:
- Simple
- Lots of design space
- Modular (plays well on individual cards, doesn't require lots of setup or more of itself to function)
- Fits into other colors easily
Off the top of my head, I'd definitely be looking at Raid for Red and Landfall for Green. Both are incredibly straight-forward while offering interesting gameplay decisions. They're highly representative of their colors while also working easily in others. Plus, both are great for teaching new players tiny parts of the game like using their second main phase or holding extra lands in hand.
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
I'm wary about the deciduousness of flashback particularly simply because so damn much of its design space has already been mined. How many effects and variants of effects can flashback possibly be placed on? It is a great keyword, one of the best ever, and I know there's enough in it for another block mechanic outing or three, but it's not on hybrid or landfall's level.
It's almost a shock to me that cycling/landcycling isn't deciduous. Like, c'mon, it works with anything and anywhere to a greater extent than even hybrid.
Bushido would need a rename in order to become truly deciduous, and it fits the bill considerably better than exalted, which legitimately promotes a specific strategy that isn't appropriate for the combat scene of every block. Of course, by that point, why not make the new "Whenever this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +N/+N until end of turn" fully evergreen, since it's just so simple and reusable?
My list is:
White - Reinforce
Blue - Cycling
Black - Unearth
Red - Raid
Green - Landfall
Major sets are getting more and more focused on big ideas, and they have less room to dedicate to named mechanics that don't directly support the theme.
I would say it's just the opposite: sets have become much lower-concept over the last 10 years. Neither KTK nor BFZ has a particularly central mechanical theme. I think you need to go all the way back to Mirrodin block (the first one) to find a set that really went all-in on a single big mechanical idea.
Populate and proliferate are two peas in a pod that I think make a great deal of sense as deciduous mechanics, rather than as evergreen or recurring block mechanics. You don't want to see them in every set, and you don't want to see a lot of either one in a single set. But, token / counter mechanics come up often enough that it would be cool to see one or two populate / proliferate cards every now and then.
Token themes, strictly speaking, are sort of unusual. Every set gets tokens but they're more of a design tool than a thing to build a theme around, partly because they have no flavor separate from ordinary creatures, no matter how valiantly Creative has tried to give them such. The Selesnya of RTR block's tokens come close to having a cohesive flavor though.
Proliferate would be much more easily usable as deciduous if not for that pesky player counter adding clause. It's almost sure to reappear in Commander 2015, but thanks to what it does it can't show up outside of the context of counters that players get.
I would say it's just the opposite: sets have become much lower-concept over the last 10 years. Neither KTK nor BFZ has a particularly central mechanical theme. I think you need to go all the way back to Mirrodin block (the first one) to find a set that really went all-in on a single big mechanical idea.
Notice how I didn't say "big mechanical idea". Sets aren't based around particular mechanics anymore but they most certainly have gotten more focused. Mirrodin is a great example: it was heavily focused on artifacts but had all sorts of random mechanics like Scry and Entwine. Compare that to something like BFZ, which has no mechanics that don't directly tie into the Zendikar vs Eldrazi theme.
Populate and proliferate are two peas in a pod that I think make a great deal of sense as deciduous mechanics, rather than as evergreen or recurring block mechanics. You don't want to see them in every set, and you don't want to see a lot of either one in a single set. But, token / counter mechanics come up often enough that it would be cool to see one or two populate / proliferate cards every now and then.
Token themes, strictly speaking, are sort of unusual. Every set gets tokens but they're more of a design tool than a thing to build a theme around, partly because they have no flavor separate from ordinary creatures, no matter how valiantly Creative has tried to give them such. The Selesnya of RTR block's tokens come close to having a cohesive flavor though.
I actually kinda like the populate idea, but my issues comes with the fact that most sets don't have tokens you really want to populate. RTR was set up to let you make 3/3s and 4/4s on the regular, but most sets populate is just a really hard way of making a 1/1.[/quote]
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It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
I really don't see cycling working out. There really isn't much design space for it that hasn't been explored, and if your using it to improve the flow of games in a set we have scry now that accomplishes the same thing with less feel bads.
Besides morbid, raid, dash, and landfall which have been covered I could see inspired and convoke being used more. Maybe even undying or detain. Bushido is a strong candidate too if renamed.
Good mechanics for these criteria are: Unearth, Flashback, Convoke, Delve, Exalted, Bloodthirst, Dash, Detain, Evoke, Exploit, Monstrosity, and Morbid. (Note that this includes all mechanics that got returned in M1X, except scry which has already been evergreened).
Sorting by primary color we get:
W: Convoke, Exalted, Detain
U: Flashback, Delve,
B: Unearth, Delve, Exploit, Morbid
R: Flashback, Bloodthirst, Dash
G: Convoke, Monstrosity
(I'm really unsure where to put evoke)
I feel like Convoke is better than Monstrosity for Green (I know landfall is popular for green, but I feel like it works better as a mechanic which is strongly tied to Zendikar). Following that White has to be either Exalted or detain, and I feel like Exalted is more flexible. Then I think I would give Flashback to Red, which means Blue gets Delve, and probably Unearth for Black.
I feel like Exalted is a decidedly bad choice TBH. While it's true that one exalted creature can technically work on their own, it's clearly a strategy that's strongly asking to be played with more of itself. Even the basic strategy of attacking with only one creature goes against white's major game plan in a lot of formats (go wide).
Delve and Convoke are both simple enough to be brought back many times, but do they have all that much design space? Cost reduction effects always seem limited in this way: once you've stapled them onto all the normal spells where are you left to go?
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
I agree about exalted being to much of a "build around" mechanic.
Convoke and Delve are simple enough, though I feel delve is often too dangerous developlment wise. They do have untapped design space though. For example:
Elvish Domain Guardian4GG
Creature - Elemental (U)
Convoke
For each elf tapped to pay Elvish Domain Guardian's cost, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
4/4
Reinforcement Captain5WW
Creature - Angel (R)
Convoke
Flying
When you cast Reinforcement Captain, put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield for each tapped creature you control.
4/4
Embodiment of All4WWW
Creature - Avatar (M)
Convoke
When Embodiment of All enters the battlefield, if 7 creatures where used to cast it, exile each other nonland permanent.
6/6
MOON-E I'd like to point out an additional important criteria of deciduous mechanics: They don't automatically force a certain playstyle. They need to be mechanics whose triggers will come up naturally (Morbid), are a simple combination of evergreen effects (pump spell + creature = Bloodthirst), or don't relate to the working of other cards directly (Convoke). Of course any good mechanic can be built around (include more 1 toughness guys to die to Morbid, more tokens to tap for Convoke), but the reward of playing with the mechanic should be extra utility on the specific card rather than a result of devoting yourself to an archetype. This is why Exalted & Delve don't work. Both expect a certain usage and are suboptimal if not directly supported, often to the point of uselessness.
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
@MOON-E
You can key it into power or toughness themes, for example, to help expand utility.
@Legend
I disagree. Rebound is weirder and works well on a smaller variety of card designs.
I could see a reworded flanking be a useful deciduous mechanic, it makes certain creatures really good against wide strategies with lots of tokens, and is the opposite of Bushido.
My two cents;
W Convoke
U Proliferate
B Morbid
R Raid (or Dash)
G Landfall
WUBRG-Cycling (or Kicker)
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Proliferate strikes me as a very odd choice, mostly in that it requires very specific interactions (with counters) that often times don't even appear in blue at all. While counters are basically universal to all sets at this point, decks that heavily rely on them are not. And outside of exceptions like RoE or Ravnica, blue often makes use of counters the least of all colors (even in SoM it's proliferate worked well with artifacts, not blue cards). I also don't see a ton of design space left for it.
Thanks for your input everyone. I'm toying with the idea of using these mechanics as the through-lines for a revamp of my Miniverse idea.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
Proliferate strikes me as a very odd choice, mostly in that it requires very specific interactions (with counters) that often times don't even appear in blue at all. While counters are basically universal to all sets at this point, decks that heavily rely on them are not. And outside of exceptions like RoE or Ravnica, blue often makes use of counters the least of all colors (even in SoM it's proliferate worked well with artifacts, not blue cards). I also don't see a ton of design space left for it.
Thanks for your input everyone. I'm toying with the idea of using these mechanics as the through-lines for a revamp of my Miniverse idea.
Will you be using the actual key/ability words or just the mechanics sans key/ability words?
Plenty of good suggestions if you take the premise at face value but TBH it seems super unlikely.
The only two deciduous mechanics are Protection and Hybrid right?
Notice that both of these are mechanics that they want to be able to be used rarely but can't be easily used without a keyword/mana symbol. While landfall etc can easily be replicated when needed as seen on cards like Sporemound. Making any mechanic deciduous that can be replicated without a keyword is unnecessary in my opinion.
If your going to use that mechanic more than two or three times then just make it a returning mechanic instead.
Cycling and Landfall first come to mind. To me, they seem like they can fit into all of the colors well too, which is always nice. Rebound could be easily done as deciduous. I always wanted to see a Green Rebound Rampant Growth and a Black Rebound Rise from the Grave.
Here's some of my ideas for Evergreen/Deciduous mechanics:
Lure (This creature must be blocked if able.)
Not what the card Lure does, but Lure itself as a keyword is too strong for common. This would most likely appear in green & blue primarily (green already has Lure, and blue needs more combat mechanics), secondary in white & black (both of whom have flavourful uses for Lure at uncommon+), and tertiary in red (although there might be flavourful uses for Lure in red, red already has Menace and thus tends to play the opposite direction).
Rage (Whenever this creature attacks you may remove it from combat and have it fight target creature you don't control.)
Revamped Provoke that uses the technology of the fight action word. Would find a home on the occasional green, red, or black creature.
Reclaim a [card type] (Put a [card type] from your graveyard on top of your library.)
Making an existing simple effect (also a simple card, Reclaim) into an action word for wider use as a rider/mechanic.
Obscure (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities from the turn it enters the battlefield to the beginning of your next upkeep.)
An alternate form of Shroud which is less punishing than Hexproof and more skill testing. Also not as powerful because the effect only lasts for one turn (while the creature has summoning sickness effectively), meaning that it could be more widely distributed at common. Would appear mostly in blue, additionally in black & green.
Manashift (Instead of playing a land this turn you may exile this card from your hand. Put a Desert basic land token onto the battlefield with "T: Add 1 to your mana pool.")
A version of Landcycling which doesn't require searching & shuffling. Simple enough to be used in multiple sets & environments. Note that it isn't abusable as the ability can only be used once per turn.
Chivalry (Whenever this creature blocks, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
A simpler version of Bushido that works on the defensive. Considering the addition of "or is targetted for a fight", to make for a truly defensive mechanic.
Major sets are getting more and more focused on big ideas, and they have less room to dedicate to named mechanics that don't directly support the theme. However, we're beginning to see more and more supplemental products with new cards. As Morbid has shown, deciduous mechanics are a great tool that can help tie things together in these situations (where cards mechanically and creatively fall all over the map).
My question is, if you had to pick a deciduous mechanic for each color to be used in supplemental sets, which ones would you pick?
The criteria we're looking for are:
- Simple
- Lots of design space
- Modular (plays well on individual cards, doesn't require lots of setup or more of itself to function)
- Fits into other colors easily
Off the top of my head, I'd definitely be looking at Raid for Red and Landfall for Green. Both are incredibly straight-forward while offering interesting gameplay decisions. They're highly representative of their colors while also working easily in others. Plus, both are great for teaching new players tiny parts of the game like using their second main phase or holding extra lands in hand.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
- Cycling or Flashback
- Morbid
- Raid
- Landfall
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
It's almost a shock to me that cycling/landcycling isn't deciduous. Like, c'mon, it works with anything and anywhere to a greater extent than even hybrid.
Bushido would need a rename in order to become truly deciduous, and it fits the bill considerably better than exalted, which legitimately promotes a specific strategy that isn't appropriate for the combat scene of every block. Of course, by that point, why not make the new "Whenever this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +N/+N until end of turn" fully evergreen, since it's just so simple and reusable?
My list is:
White - Reinforce
Blue - Cycling
Black - Unearth
Red - Raid
Green - Landfall
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Populate and proliferate are two peas in a pod that I think make a great deal of sense as deciduous mechanics, rather than as evergreen or recurring block mechanics. You don't want to see them in every set, and you don't want to see a lot of either one in a single set. But, token / counter mechanics come up often enough that it would be cool to see one or two populate / proliferate cards every now and then.
Proliferate would be much more easily usable as deciduous if not for that pesky player counter adding clause. It's almost sure to reappear in Commander 2015, but thanks to what it does it can't show up outside of the context of counters that players get.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Notice how I didn't say "big mechanical idea". Sets aren't based around particular mechanics anymore but they most certainly have gotten more focused. Mirrodin is a great example: it was heavily focused on artifacts but had all sorts of random mechanics like Scry and Entwine. Compare that to something like BFZ, which has no mechanics that don't directly tie into the Zendikar vs Eldrazi theme.
I actually kinda like the populate idea, but my issues comes with the fact that most sets don't have tokens you really want to populate. RTR was set up to let you make 3/3s and 4/4s on the regular, but most sets populate is just a really hard way of making a 1/1.[/quote]
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
U - buyback
B - annihilator
R - phase out
G - cumulative upkeep
or
W - Bushido/Battle Cry
U - Rebound/Proliferate
B - Unearth/Morbid
R - Raid/Dash
G - Landfall/Ferocious
Besides morbid, raid, dash, and landfall which have been covered I could see inspired and convoke being used more. Maybe even undying or detain. Bushido is a strong candidate too if renamed.
Sorting by primary color we get:
W: Convoke, Exalted, Detain
U: Flashback, Delve,
B: Unearth, Delve, Exploit, Morbid
R: Flashback, Bloodthirst, Dash
G: Convoke, Monstrosity
(I'm really unsure where to put evoke)
I feel like Convoke is better than Monstrosity for Green (I know landfall is popular for green, but I feel like it works better as a mechanic which is strongly tied to Zendikar). Following that White has to be either Exalted or detain, and I feel like Exalted is more flexible. Then I think I would give Flashback to Red, which means Blue gets Delve, and probably Unearth for Black.
W: Exalted
U: Delve
B: Unearth
R: Flashback
G: Convoke
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Delve and Convoke are both simple enough to be brought back many times, but do they have all that much design space? Cost reduction effects always seem limited in this way: once you've stapled them onto all the normal spells where are you left to go?
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Delve is also developmentally problematic, so it's not something to just throw around.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Convoke and Delve are simple enough, though I feel delve is often too dangerous developlment wise. They do have untapped design space though. For example:
Elvish Domain Guardian 4GG
Creature - Elemental (U)
Convoke
For each elf tapped to pay Elvish Domain Guardian's cost, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
4/4
Reinforcement Captain 5WW
Creature - Angel (R)
Convoke
Flying
When you cast Reinforcement Captain, put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield for each tapped creature you control.
4/4
Embodiment of All 4WWW
Creature - Avatar (M)
Convoke
When Embodiment of All enters the battlefield, if 7 creatures where used to cast it, exile each other nonland permanent.
6/6
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
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I could be convinced that convoke is a good choice, though I'd much sooner expect it in white than in green. Theoretically that'd leave me with:
W: Convoke
U: ???
B: Morbid
R: Raid
G: Landfall
I'm a much bigger fan of morbid over unearth for black's spot. I could see Flashback being blue's mechanic, though I'm not super convinced.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
- Convoke or Bushido (renamed)
- Flashback or Proliferate
- Morbid
- Raid
- Landfall
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Do you imagine these mechanics as appearing with or without their associated key/ability words?
You can key it into power or toughness themes, for example, to help expand utility.
@Legend
I disagree. Rebound is weirder and works well on a smaller variety of card designs.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
My two cents;
W Convoke
U Proliferate
B Morbid
R Raid (or Dash)
G Landfall
WUBRG-Cycling (or Kicker)
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Thanks for your input everyone. I'm toying with the idea of using these mechanics as the through-lines for a revamp of my Miniverse idea.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Will you be using the actual key/ability words or just the mechanics sans key/ability words?
The only two deciduous mechanics are Protection and Hybrid right?
Notice that both of these are mechanics that they want to be able to be used rarely but can't be easily used without a keyword/mana symbol. While landfall etc can easily be replicated when needed as seen on cards like Sporemound. Making any mechanic deciduous that can be replicated without a keyword is unnecessary in my opinion.
If your going to use that mechanic more than two or three times then just make it a returning mechanic instead.
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Lure (This creature must be blocked if able.)
Not what the card Lure does, but Lure itself as a keyword is too strong for common. This would most likely appear in green & blue primarily (green already has Lure, and blue needs more combat mechanics), secondary in white & black (both of whom have flavourful uses for Lure at uncommon+), and tertiary in red (although there might be flavourful uses for Lure in red, red already has Menace and thus tends to play the opposite direction).
Rage (Whenever this creature attacks you may remove it from combat and have it fight target creature you don't control.)
Revamped Provoke that uses the technology of the fight action word. Would find a home on the occasional green, red, or black creature.
Reclaim a [card type] (Put a [card type] from your graveyard on top of your library.)
Making an existing simple effect (also a simple card, Reclaim) into an action word for wider use as a rider/mechanic.
Obscure (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities from the turn it enters the battlefield to the beginning of your next upkeep.)
An alternate form of Shroud which is less punishing than Hexproof and more skill testing. Also not as powerful because the effect only lasts for one turn (while the creature has summoning sickness effectively), meaning that it could be more widely distributed at common. Would appear mostly in blue, additionally in black & green.
Manashift (Instead of playing a land this turn you may exile this card from your hand. Put a Desert basic land token onto the battlefield with "T: Add 1 to your mana pool.")
A version of Landcycling which doesn't require searching & shuffling. Simple enough to be used in multiple sets & environments. Note that it isn't abusable as the ability can only be used once per turn.
Chivalry (Whenever this creature blocks, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
A simpler version of Bushido that works on the defensive. Considering the addition of "or is targetted for a fight", to make for a truly defensive mechanic.
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.