I have a confession to make: I really like Hearthstone. I picked the game up a few weeks ago and I'm hooked. It's everything digital Magic should be, but with some new and unique mechanics which keep things fresh. Some of these mechanics would be interesting if brought into Magic, so here goes:
Inspire (Whenever you activate an activated ability of your commander, [effect])
A niche but interesting mechanic which would find a home in a commander set.
Banana King3GG
Creature - Ape (R) Inspire - Whenever you activate an activated ability of your commander, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
4/4
Overload N (As an additional cost to cast this spell, choose N tapped lands you control. Those lands don't untap during your next untap step.)
An all in mechanic which makes for interesting mana management scenarios.
Void BlastR
Instant (C)
Overload 1 (As an additional cost to cast this spell, choose one tapped land you control. That land doesn't untap during your next untap step.
CARD deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Rage (When this creature attacks, you may instead remove it from combat and have it fight target creature.)
Attacking creatures is something which makes Hearthstone play well, and is something that I think could find a home in Magic.
Frenzy Plant2G
Creature - Plant (C)
Rage
3/1
Lure (This creature must be blocked if able.)
Keywording an existing ability, as it fits the Taunt ability from Hearthstone so well.
Banjo Bear2G
Creature - Bear (U)
Trample
Lure
3/3
Spell Damage N (Whenever an instant or sorcery you control would deal damage, instead it deals that much damage +N)
A limited format defined by slinging large amounts of damage around would be quite exciting.
Ullon Magi2U
Creature - Orc Wizard (C)
Spell Damage +1 (Whenever an instant or sorcery you control would deal damage, instead it deals that much damage +1)
1/4
You get N armor counters. (Whenever you would take damage, you may instead remove that many armor counters.)
Playing around in the "counters on players" space, I think with the technology of counter cards (like poison counters) armor could be viable.
Divine Shield2W
Sorcery (U)
You get five armor counters. (Whenever you would take damage, you may instead remove that many armor counters.)
Draw a card.
Burrow (You may put this card from your hand face down into exile for 2.)
AND
[trigger], play this creature from exile.
Basically a way to create trap creatures. This also works as a cheap version of Morph, since you can scale the costs down to 2 rather than 3.
Hidden Predator3R
Creature - Horror (C)
Burrow (You may put this card from your hand face down into exile for 2.)
Haste
When an opponent plays an artifact or planeswalker you may turn CARD face up and put it onto the battlefield.
3/1
Extract - [cost] ([cost], Exile this artifact: You get an emblem with [global version of effect]. Activate this ability only when you could cast a sorcery.)
AND
[effect]
Basically you can take a potent artifact (typically an Equipment) and extract it's power so it can be used by your whole team permanently.
Kossith's Blade5
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Equip 3
Equipped creature gets +4/+1 and gains deathtouch
Extract 7 (7, Exile this artifact: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +4/+1 and have deathtouch". Activate this ability only when you could cast a sorcery.)
Inspire - Pretty narrow even for a Commander supplement, as it restricts to use with legends that have activated abilities. Lieutenant was good because it could be used with any commander. Inspired is also already a keyword.
Overload - Keyworded drawbacks aren't a thing anymore, because it's no fun to make a theme around a drawback. Also... overload is also a keyword already.
Rage - Seen versions of this same thing designed before. Basically this is provoke reskinned. And provoke was something I liked, but had the issue of overcomplicating combat when it was a major keyword on a lot of cards and just generally making for unfun situations.
Lure - Lure means... well, the Lure ability in Magic slang, so while "must be blocked" is definitely a viable evergreen keyword, I don't think it would be called that.
Spell damage - I like this, I really do. I've designed it myself in the past. But it's also way too good of an effect to be seen en masse - primarily because of Pyroclasm-type effects.
Armor counters - That's... life. That's literally almost exactly gaining life. Absorb is different than extra toughness because of the possibility of multiple damage sources per turn and deathtouch and infect and yadda yadda. I like the idea, but maybe it should be, like: "If a source would deal damage to a player with an armor counter, that player loses an armor counter instead." In other words, making you a Judgment Phantom.
Burrow - This one I like almost unqualified. Not sure about the flavor of it though. And you need to specify you, the owner, can look at the card at any time.
Extract - Emblems shouldn't be in non-planeswalker abilities. This type of ability calls for transform, and it doesn't have that much design space, tbh.
Or maybe inspire could be "Whenever your commander attacks or activates an ability" so that it focus on what your commander is doing, and not any passive actions that are taken with it.
Inspire - I understand that it is narrow, but so are all the other Commander set mechanics. The point is to make Inspire effects powerful (and free), but require you to run a commander & strategy you wouldn't normally. I like the idea of adding whenever the commander attacks; multiple Inspire effects would effectively turn your commander into a super-Titan.
Overload - One of the best features of Hearthstone that Magic lacks from a card design perspective is Blizzard's willingness to make full use of its keywords. There are cards which care about specific keywords en mass, encouraging odd and unique synergies. Magic's massive depth of card pool is ripe for this type of design ("All creatures with haste get +1/+0" anyone?). Overload (yes it needs a new name, simple oversight when posting) would be just such a mechanic. Effects would care about overloaded spells & overloaded lands. "Pure drawback" can be easily solved by creating interesting cards and environments in which such a mechanic is not a drawback (such as when Echo originally appeared).
Rage - Provoke is a a great mechanic, and is something which I would like see return to modern Magic. When the game revolves around the combat step there needs to exist mechanics which allow you to control the pace of combat within combat (aka by attacking or blocking). The technology of the fight action word means that it is now much cleaner and flavourful to recreate, I see no issue with doing so.
Lure - As you could probably tell by my Overload mix up names are subject to change. The question should be on the viability of the mechanic, which I think we can both agree makes for an interesting evergreen keyword (ala Menace type blocking control).
Spell Damage - The simplest way to solve the Pyroclasm problem (which honestly isn't a problem with the mechanic, it's a problem with the standards of Magic) is to make sure that any card with Spell Damage has low toughness and is easily killed. Lure & Rage (whatever their names end up being) creatures should be more than capable of eating Spell Damage creatures for breakfast.
Armor counters - Armor can be referenced independently of life and, like Overload, can thus open up its own genre of design space. Say what you will about parasitism Magic could do with more "straight synergy" effects & direct mechanical references.
Burrow - The point is exactly as I said in the original post, to create trap creatures. Morph creatures are fundamentally not traps, they are 2/2s. Burrowed creatures will sit their until their condition comes up and then they spring out of the ground fully formed and ready to strike. The gameplay is very different when your flips are free & reactive rather than expensive & active.
Extract - The point is to make emblems. You've extracted the power of the artifact and bound it to yourself in such a profound way that you only lose its power when you die. How is that complicated?
@ .Rai: Downside mechanics don't suck, Wizards sucks at making them into upsides. Having a keyword should always be a good thing, so if that keyword is a cost it should be relevant elsewhere. Overload would exist in a space with cards which care about overload & overloaded lands, like so:
Void Storm2R
Sorcery(R)
Overload 2
CARD deals 2 damage to target creature or player for each overloaded land you control.
Void Beast2U
Creature - Beast (C)
As long as you control an overloaded land, CARD gets +1/+0 and gains flying.
2/2
If people have already said it, why do you need to too?
Spell Damage would be a limited mechanic in a Hearthstone-y format with little destruction and lots of damage.
I already mentioned Traps, stating that Burrow is creature-Trap. Traps have a couple of issues, most notably that they are all different and not necessarily immediately recognized as traps. The utility of a given Trap also varies a whole lot more than just dropping a creature on the board.
As I already mentioned Armor has utility as an extra mechanical extension of life, where the counting doesn't start at 20.
Not every mechanic here riffs off one in Hearthstone. Burrow & Extract are both references to Blizzard's other main franchises. The point, as I already stated, is to use emblems. You are taking the power of the artifact and extracting it & binding it to yourself. What better way to present that than an emblem? The "it's special" clause is fundamentally flawed. If you are going to add a new rule to a game as bogged down in rules as Magic, you better damn well use that rule. More cards should make emblems than already do, especially non-Planeswalkers.
What do mean "How Overload (aside: rename to Overcharge?) is NOT supposed to work?" How is Overcharge supposed to work, based on your understanding?
Spell Damage works in a limited environment (I'd imagine most of these mechanics would appear in supplementals or stand along sets) where white, black, and green damage dealing abilities are cranked right up. As I said an environment which lacks destruction and makes up for it with increased damage dealing effects.
The advantage of Burrow over the Opal cycle is that your opponent doesn't know what creature you have Burrowed. In the natural process of playing their deck a player will be forced to accidentally (or intentionally) trigger Burrow and give their opponent a cheap creature. There of course would exist cards which would interact with Burrowed creatures, such as by unburrowing them on command. Direct mechanical reference is an area I'd like to explore, especially in niche or relatively evergreen settings.
Double-face cards are fundamentally a bad thing in Magic. Magic simply can't support that kind of transformation gameplay without distorting the normal rules of play and creating irritating logistical problems. Any scenario in which double-face cards are the only option is not a scenario that should exist in Magic. Extract neither requires, nor is best served by the use of, double face cards.
Burrow doesn't really need to exist.
Something or another 2BB
Creature - zombie
Morph
When something or another is flipped face up target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.
When a creature is put into the graveyard from the battlefield you may flip something or another face up.
3/4
Not only that, but in its current incarnation, it doesn't work.
The face-down card in exile doesn't have any characteristics, so it won't have the triggered ability that lets it turn face-up. Even if it did, the object as it exists with the ability isn't visible to each player, so the ability will never trigger.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Inspire (Whenever you activate an activated ability of your commander, [effect])
A niche but interesting mechanic which would find a home in a commander set.
Banana King 3GG
Creature - Ape (R)
Inspire - Whenever you activate an activated ability of your commander, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
4/4
Overload N (As an additional cost to cast this spell, choose N tapped lands you control. Those lands don't untap during your next untap step.)
An all in mechanic which makes for interesting mana management scenarios.
Void Blast R
Instant (C)
Overload 1 (As an additional cost to cast this spell, choose one tapped land you control. That land doesn't untap during your next untap step.
CARD deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Rage (When this creature attacks, you may instead remove it from combat and have it fight target creature.)
Attacking creatures is something which makes Hearthstone play well, and is something that I think could find a home in Magic.
Frenzy Plant 2G
Creature - Plant (C)
Rage
3/1
Lure (This creature must be blocked if able.)
Keywording an existing ability, as it fits the Taunt ability from Hearthstone so well.
Banjo Bear 2G
Creature - Bear (U)
Trample
Lure
3/3
Spell Damage N (Whenever an instant or sorcery you control would deal damage, instead it deals that much damage +N)
A limited format defined by slinging large amounts of damage around would be quite exciting.
Ullon Magi 2U
Creature - Orc Wizard (C)
Spell Damage +1 (Whenever an instant or sorcery you control would deal damage, instead it deals that much damage +1)
1/4
You get N armor counters. (Whenever you would take damage, you may instead remove that many armor counters.)
Playing around in the "counters on players" space, I think with the technology of counter cards (like poison counters) armor could be viable.
Divine Shield 2W
Sorcery (U)
You get five armor counters. (Whenever you would take damage, you may instead remove that many armor counters.)
Draw a card.
Burrow (You may put this card from your hand face down into exile for 2.)
AND
[trigger], play this creature from exile.
Basically a way to create trap creatures. This also works as a cheap version of Morph, since you can scale the costs down to 2 rather than 3.
Hidden Predator 3R
Creature - Horror (C)
Burrow (You may put this card from your hand face down into exile for 2.)
Haste
When an opponent plays an artifact or planeswalker you may turn CARD face up and put it onto the battlefield.
3/1
Extract - [cost] ([cost], Exile this artifact: You get an emblem with [global version of effect]. Activate this ability only when you could cast a sorcery.)
AND
[effect]
Basically you can take a potent artifact (typically an Equipment) and extract it's power so it can be used by your whole team permanently.
Kossith's Blade 5
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Equip 3
Equipped creature gets +4/+1 and gains deathtouch
Extract 7 (7, Exile this artifact: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +4/+1 and have deathtouch". Activate this ability only when you could cast a sorcery.)
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.
Overload - Keyworded drawbacks aren't a thing anymore, because it's no fun to make a theme around a drawback. Also... overload is also a keyword already.
Rage - Seen versions of this same thing designed before. Basically this is provoke reskinned. And provoke was something I liked, but had the issue of overcomplicating combat when it was a major keyword on a lot of cards and just generally making for unfun situations.
Lure - Lure means... well, the Lure ability in Magic slang, so while "must be blocked" is definitely a viable evergreen keyword, I don't think it would be called that.
Spell damage - I like this, I really do. I've designed it myself in the past. But it's also way too good of an effect to be seen en masse - primarily because of Pyroclasm-type effects.
Armor counters - That's... life. That's literally almost exactly gaining life. Absorb is different than extra toughness because of the possibility of multiple damage sources per turn and deathtouch and infect and yadda yadda. I like the idea, but maybe it should be, like: "If a source would deal damage to a player with an armor counter, that player loses an armor counter instead." In other words, making you a Judgment Phantom.
Burrow - This one I like almost unqualified. Not sure about the flavor of it though. And you need to specify you, the owner, can look at the card at any time.
Extract - Emblems shouldn't be in non-planeswalker abilities. This type of ability calls for transform, and it doesn't have that much design space, tbh.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Overload - One of the best features of Hearthstone that Magic lacks from a card design perspective is Blizzard's willingness to make full use of its keywords. There are cards which care about specific keywords en mass, encouraging odd and unique synergies. Magic's massive depth of card pool is ripe for this type of design ("All creatures with haste get +1/+0" anyone?). Overload (yes it needs a new name, simple oversight when posting) would be just such a mechanic. Effects would care about overloaded spells & overloaded lands. "Pure drawback" can be easily solved by creating interesting cards and environments in which such a mechanic is not a drawback (such as when Echo originally appeared).
Rage - Provoke is a a great mechanic, and is something which I would like see return to modern Magic. When the game revolves around the combat step there needs to exist mechanics which allow you to control the pace of combat within combat (aka by attacking or blocking). The technology of the fight action word means that it is now much cleaner and flavourful to recreate, I see no issue with doing so.
Lure - As you could probably tell by my Overload mix up names are subject to change. The question should be on the viability of the mechanic, which I think we can both agree makes for an interesting evergreen keyword (ala Menace type blocking control).
Spell Damage - The simplest way to solve the Pyroclasm problem (which honestly isn't a problem with the mechanic, it's a problem with the standards of Magic) is to make sure that any card with Spell Damage has low toughness and is easily killed. Lure & Rage (whatever their names end up being) creatures should be more than capable of eating Spell Damage creatures for breakfast.
Armor counters - Armor can be referenced independently of life and, like Overload, can thus open up its own genre of design space. Say what you will about parasitism Magic could do with more "straight synergy" effects & direct mechanical references.
Burrow - The point is exactly as I said in the original post, to create trap creatures. Morph creatures are fundamentally not traps, they are 2/2s. Burrowed creatures will sit their until their condition comes up and then they spring out of the ground fully formed and ready to strike. The gameplay is very different when your flips are free & reactive rather than expensive & active.
Extract - The point is to make emblems. You've extracted the power of the artifact and bound it to yourself in such a profound way that you only lose its power when you die. How is that complicated?
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.
Void Storm 2R
Sorcery(R)
Overload 2
CARD deals 2 damage to target creature or player for each overloaded land you control.
Void Beast 2U
Creature - Beast (C)
As long as you control an overloaded land, CARD gets +1/+0 and gains flying.
2/2
If people have already said it, why do you need to too?
Spell Damage would be a limited mechanic in a Hearthstone-y format with little destruction and lots of damage.
I already mentioned Traps, stating that Burrow is creature-Trap. Traps have a couple of issues, most notably that they are all different and not necessarily immediately recognized as traps. The utility of a given Trap also varies a whole lot more than just dropping a creature on the board.
As I already mentioned Armor has utility as an extra mechanical extension of life, where the counting doesn't start at 20.
Not every mechanic here riffs off one in Hearthstone. Burrow & Extract are both references to Blizzard's other main franchises. The point, as I already stated, is to use emblems. You are taking the power of the artifact and extracting it & binding it to yourself. What better way to present that than an emblem? The "it's special" clause is fundamentally flawed. If you are going to add a new rule to a game as bogged down in rules as Magic, you better damn well use that rule. More cards should make emblems than already do, especially non-Planeswalkers.
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.
Spell Damage works in a limited environment (I'd imagine most of these mechanics would appear in supplementals or stand along sets) where white, black, and green damage dealing abilities are cranked right up. As I said an environment which lacks destruction and makes up for it with increased damage dealing effects.
The advantage of Burrow over the Opal cycle is that your opponent doesn't know what creature you have Burrowed. In the natural process of playing their deck a player will be forced to accidentally (or intentionally) trigger Burrow and give their opponent a cheap creature. There of course would exist cards which would interact with Burrowed creatures, such as by unburrowing them on command. Direct mechanical reference is an area I'd like to explore, especially in niche or relatively evergreen settings.
Double-face cards are fundamentally a bad thing in Magic. Magic simply can't support that kind of transformation gameplay without distorting the normal rules of play and creating irritating logistical problems. Any scenario in which double-face cards are the only option is not a scenario that should exist in Magic. Extract neither requires, nor is best served by the use of, double face cards.
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.
Something or another 2BB
Creature - zombie
Morph
When something or another is flipped face up target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.
When a creature is put into the graveyard from the battlefield you may flip something or another face up.
3/4
Not only that, but in its current incarnation, it doesn't work.
The face-down card in exile doesn't have any characteristics, so it won't have the triggered ability that lets it turn face-up. Even if it did, the object as it exists with the ability isn't visible to each player, so the ability will never trigger.
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
(1) Anti-poison. If you have an armor counter, you can simply drop a counter to stop yourself from taking infect damage and gaining poison.
(2) Proliferation becomes a lifegain effect. Not sure about that.