These are ideas for mechanics, both new and returning, that I would like to see upon a return to Alara.
Honor Knight1W
Creature — Human Knight
When ~ enters the battlefield, award. (Create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
2/2
Award is a tweak on Exalted, where instead of creatures providing +1/+1 boosts, it's an artifact token. There's a number of advantages to this mechanic:
If a creature dies, it doesn't cause your boost count to go down, helping you keep momentum in the late game.
It plays well with Esper's artifact theme while playing just as well as Exalted did with Naya's power 5 theme.
Unlike Exalted, which has to be put on permanents, Award can be used on any card type as part of an activated or triggered ability.
It's even more flavorful than Exalted was.
Additionally, Sigil tokens work well with token-doubling or replicating effects, and they play well with Exalted since they emphasize the same strategy.
Wingshaper1U
Artifact Creature — Human Wizard Utilize — U, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Target creature you control gains flying until end of turn.
1/3
Utilize is an activated ability word that asks you to tap two untapped artifacts you control. In the original Alara block, Esper didn't have a keyword, but it did have a theme of colored artifacts. For the second trip, I think it would be a good idea to give the artifact shard a mechanic that uses artifacts. And since the number one function of artifacts is to be tapped to use some manner of ability, what better angle to focus on for an artifact mechanic?
Utilize plays well with Award's Sigil tokens, giving you an extra use for them.
Necromancer's Servant2B
Creature — Zombie Wizard Morbid — When ~ enters the battlefield, if a creature died this turn, you may draw a card.
2/2
On Grixis, death is power. And what mechanic better represents that than Morbid? As an ability word with a simple condition, Morbid is highly flexible and lends itself well to utility and control as much as aggro.
Goblin Bloodseeker1R
Creature — Goblin Warrior
Bloodthirst 2 (This creature enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it if a player was dealt damage this turn.)
2/1
Devour was a highly flavorful mechanic for Jund, but it came with the problem that it was too easy to get two-for-one'd. Bloodthirst captures the same savage, predatory flavor, but encourages a more straightforward aggro theme that doesn't risk quite so much card disadvantage. It's also appeared in Jund's colors before, in Magic 2012. To help Bloodthirst play well with Devour, Jund could get a number of "+1/+1 counters matter" cards as a support theme.
Cylian Healer1G
Creature — Elf Druid Supreme — When ~ enters the battlefield, you may gain life equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
2/2
Like Esper, Naya didn't get a named mechanic during our first trip to Alara, but it did have a theme, in this case creatures with power 5 or greater. Supreme plays in a similar space, only now it cares about the greatest power among creatures you control, whether that's 5 or just 1. And just like Naya's power 5 theme last time, Supreme works well with power-boosting mechanics such as Bloodthirst and Award. The biggest hurdle with Supreme is that, as a scaling mechanic, you can only have so many cards using it at common. The upside is that, much like Award and Morbid, Supreme can be used on more than just creature cards, though it obviously works best on creatures.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I like the idea of the Sigil tokens, they're an excellent callback to exalted while presenting a new take on the mechanic, ripe for novel new designs.
I would say that s significantly stronger than Exalted in many situations, as it leaves the Exalted effect behind when it's gone, and gives you an artifact to play with as well, and on that basis I would suggest that it should cost more mana than Exalted in most situations.
As for the keyword, there are two obvious precedents here, Treasure tokens and Clue tokens, one with a keyword and one without. Clue tokens could have been done without the keyword, but the keyword there allowed other cards to reference the creation of the tokens for mechanical and flavorful interactions within the set. If you're not planning to use it in that way, I think that just creating the Sigils without the keyword is preferable.
Utilize is essentially Cohort, but for artifacts. That, of course, makes it substantially better than Cohort, as there are frequently artifacts that have no tap function, and so you don't mind tapping them for a cost like this. Take care with designs in an environment that has lots of excess artifact tokens, but it looks like a winner to me.
Morbid is as Morbid was, no comment needed, you all know everything about Morbid already.
Bloodthirst is in a similar boat, but is less interesting overall. Fine in the midst of a set with lots of mechanics though, as it was designed to be way back in Ravnica.
Supreme looks at the highest power among creatures you control to determine the variable for the effect. I feel like this fairly closely follows the theme from Scourge of cards that checked for highest converted mana cost, ie Torrent of Fire, but with much greater ability to improve the values. Definitely works well with the Sigil tokens. With a little care it should be no problem, but if you run wild with it, this one has the potential to make some really overpowered effects from some pretty innocuous cards.
All-in-all, the new mechanics are simple and well done, and I would be happy to see them appear in a future set, and the collection of these five together captures the flavor of the five shards of Alara well enough. But I feel like that's not how the set design will go when we eventually do return to the united Alara, just as when we returned to Zendikar, it wasn't to the same world of adventure theme that we had in the first go-around.
It's more that last time we visited Alara, two of the shards didn't have named mechanics and fans disliked that. For the next trip, I'd want all five to get a distinct, named mechanic, even if three of them are ability words in this case.
And while Alara may have reformed, the five shards still exist as identities. If nothing else, fans returning to Alara will expect five tricolor factions with distinct, named mechanics. Not to mention when we revisited Zendikar in BfZ, there were a LOT of complaints about the shift in theme from adventure to war. So a second trip to Alara will need to deliver on the Shards as factions.
Figured I'd share some more card designs using these five mechanics:
Scout's Mission1G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, sacrifice ~, then search your library for a land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped under your control, shuffle your library, and award. (Create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
Field of Honor2WW
Enchantment
When ~ enters the battlefield, award. (To award, create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
No more than one creature can attack each combat.
No more than one creature can block each combat.
Bant Surveillance3U
Instant
Award, then choose target creature you control. Until end of turn, that creature gains "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may draw that many cards." (To award, create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
Suppression Sphere3W
Artifact Utilize - 1, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Tap target artifact, creature, or land an opponent controls.
Ethersworn Scriptures2U
Artifact Utilize - 2, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Draw a card.
Tidehollow Shiv1B
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and has deathtouch. Utilize - 1, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Attach ~ to target creature you control.
Equip 2
Grixis Bounty2U
Instant Morbid — Draw two cards, then discard a card unless a creature died this turn.
Necromancer's Gambit4BB
Sorcery
Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. Morbid — If a creature died this turn, instead put up to two target creature cards from graveyards onto the battlefield under your control.
Restless Tormentor2R
Creature - Devil
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 red Devil creature token with "When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to a single target." Morbid — At the beginning of each end step, ~ deals damage to you equal to the number of Devils you control unless a creature died this turn.
1/3
Bloodbraid Warchief2BB
Creature - Human Warrior
Bloodthirst 1 (This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if an opponent was dealt damage this turn.)
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has menace.
2/1
Fireblood Hellkite4RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying
Bloodthirst 3 (This creature enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it if an opponent was dealt damage this turn.)
Whenever you cast a Dragon creature spell, it gains bloodthirst 3.
4/4
Bloodthorn Snapper2G
Creature - Plant
Defender
Bloodthirst 2
As long as ~ has a +1/+1 counter on it, it has trample and it may attack as though it didn't have defender.
1/1
Earth-Shaking Roar3R
Sorcery Supreme — Choose a single target. ~ deals damage to that target equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
Godtoucher's Boon4GG
Sorcery
Create a 5/5 green Beast creature token with trample. Supreme — You may gain life equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
Behemoth's Wrath3WW
Sorcery Supreme — Destroy each creature with power less than the greatest power among creatures you control.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
My main concern with an Alara return is that the shards probably should have some color bleed to indicate that the plane has reunified. You see that to some extent with Alara Reborn and some of the Alaran characters that came out in the Commander sets.
I do like the mechanics though, especially Utilize and Award. Also, considering they developed independently of each other for a long time, the shards maintaining their mechanical and flavourful identities almost like nations wouldn't be a stretch.
My main concern with an Alara return is that the shards probably should have some color bleed to indicate that the plane has reunified. You see that to some extent with Alara Reborn and some of the Alaran characters that came out in the Commander sets.
I think you're correct, but I think that can be accomplished through mechanical synergy. Award making artifact tokens that Utilize can tap, for example. Bloodthirst making creatures larger for Supreme. I think that if there's some clever inter-Shard mechanical synergy, it would convey the feeling of the Shards coexisting and bleeding into one another.
In that vein, the glaring issue is Morbid, as it has zero synergy with the Shard mechanics adjacent to Grixis. It's a perfectly goof mechanic, with a good flavor for Grixis. Perhaps a subtheme within Grixis cards about sacrificing permanents and/or remove counters to generate effects? Like the flavor of harvesting vis to power magic. That feeds into Morbid, and creates that synergy with Esper and Jund.
Naya and Bant's overlap is relatively narrow, but with the right card design and support from both Shards, attacking with one creature that gets boosted by Award will help boost Supreme for combat tricks and second main phase stuff. I think that synergy would need a bit of encouragement via card choices and design to feel on par with other Shard pair synergies. Flavor choices will help sell that, as well as the bleed in general.
Last time Esper was the problem child as its artifact theme interacted minimally with the other Shards, while Grixis-Jund-Naya-Bant was basically a chain of synergies. This time it seems Grixis plays that role, but thankfully it's not as hard for Morbid to interact with Esper and Jund via artifact sacrifice in Esper which often equals creature sacrifice and +1/+1 counter Morbid cards in black and red for Bloodthirst synergy, not to mention creatures like Goblin Arsonist or Fanatical Firebrand.
As an alternative to Award, Exalted could return as Bant's mechanic, but this time be regulated to Sigil tokens, or we could at least see Sigil tokens with Exalted as a subtheme much like how Pirates had Treasure tokens as a subtheme in Ixalan. That way Bant still has some interaction with Esper. Personally though, I prefer Award.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
As an alternative to Award, Exalted could return as Bant's mechanic, but this time be regulated to Sigil tokens, or we could at least see Sigil tokens with Exalted as a subtheme much like how Pirates had Treasure tokens as a subtheme in Ixalan. That way Bant still has some interaction with Esper. Personally though, I prefer Award.
If the rule text of Sigils is identical to exalted, maybe just bringing the keyword back is better though. There is a reasonable chance anyway that Sigil tokens (while really cool in concept) will be problematic from a gameplay perspective. Creatures are more interactive (as in easier removed) than noncreature artifacts. These tokens with exalted will at the very least be more resilient. While that's probably the intent this might do weird stuff to the balancing and costing of cards leading to some more "unappealing" looking cards.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Yeah, Award seems pretty strong, potentially too strong, especially in Limited. You'd have to include a (low-CMC) artifact hate package at the lower rarities or some decks will just never be able to interact. While the idea and flavor is cool (I love Scout's mission!) maybe its just better to bring Exalted back.
When you remove Award, Utilize in turn becomes a pretty "meh" mechanic, just like Cohort. I think there's enough design space left for a proper artifact-related keyword mechanic.
Seeing the discussion on Award, perhaps it could be implemented as an alternate cost, like Awaken?
So:
Honorable Knight1W
Creature - Human Knight
Award 3W(If you cast this spell for 3W, also create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
2/2
Sage's PrestigeU
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, sacrifice ~, then draw two cards.
Award 2U(If you cast this spell for 2U, also create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
This is a less flavorful, but is easier to develop and could serve as the set's kicker/mana sink mechanic.
I don't see any reason that the Sigils shouldn't simply have Exalted, the existing keyword can be used either with or without the keyworded form of Award (i maintain that the Treasure token precedent is more apt, and keywording Award is unnecessary unless you have plans for other cards to reference the specific action).
Additionally, formally bringing Exalted into the set through the Sigils allows it to be used in other ways. A Noble Hierarch reprint would be very desirable in a return to Alara, and it could be included as a special case of Exalted even though the majority of the mechanic would be appearing through the Sigils.
As for Morbid not playing nicely with the other mechanics, I see that as more of a feature than a bug. Grixis is the most likely shard to cause the other four to unite against it, the death and undeath laden realm is thematically at odds with not only the opposing shards, but also the adjacent shards. Gross meat abominations and zombies really mar the orderly, sculpted Esper lands, and rising undead and conniving demons disrupt the predatory hierarchy of Jund.
I think Converge might also be a decent mechanic to use here. Assuming the mana-base to accommodate the multicolored theme is half-way decent, Converge would be a better fit for Alara than it was Zendikar.
Speaking of multicolored, there's a surprising lack of multicolored card examples in this thread.
I don't see any reason that the Sigils shouldn't simply have Exalted, the existing keyword can be used either with or without the keyworded form of Award (i maintain that the Treasure token precedent is more apt, and keywording Award is unnecessary unless you have plans for other cards to reference the specific action).
Additionally, formally bringing Exalted into the set through the Sigils allows it to be used in other ways. A Noble Hierarch reprint would be very desirable in a return to Alara, and it could be included as a special case of Exalted even though the majority of the mechanic would be appearing through the Sigils.
As for Morbid not playing nicely with the other mechanics, I see that as more of a feature than a bug. Grixis is the most likely shard to cause the other four to unite against it, the death and undeath laden realm is thematically at odds with not only the opposing shards, but also the adjacent shards. Gross meat abominations and zombies really mar the orderly, sculpted Esper lands, and rising undead and conniving demons disrupt the predatory hierarchy of Jund.
I guess his aim was to make the Bant mechanic truer to how Sigils work, but Exalted is a decent mechanic, and people would expect it to return. The perspective on Grixis being odd in terms of mechanical synergy is valid IMO.
I'm a fan of all of these mechanics save for the return of Bloodthirst. Bloodthirst, in my opinion, is not very exciting and also does not have a lot of design space to play around with. I would enjoy seeing something else here if possible.
All of the other ideas seem pretty neat though, I especially like the Naya mechanic, it is one I have often considered using myself.
---
An interesting idea, which might be useful in your set design, would be to instead change your mechanics to fit color pairs instead of factions. This would show a blending of Alara factions. For example, Supreme could be a RED/GREEN ability, as it blends perfectly with the powerful beasts of Naya as equally as it does the powerful Dragons of Jund. This would allow people to play a Red Green deck, or a Naya deck, or a Jund Deck... and still get the advantages of "Supreme". This idea also works fairly well with your Award ability as a hybrid between Esper and Bant in BLUE/WHITE, although I might change the name to better fit the crossover.
An interesting idea, which might be useful in your set design, would be to instead change your mechanics to fit color pairs instead of factions. This would show a blending of Alara factions. For example, Supreme could be a RED/GREEN ability, as it blends perfectly with the powerful beasts of Naya as equally as it does the powerful Dragons of Jund. This would allow people to play a Red Green deck, or a Naya deck, or a Jund Deck... and still get the advantages of "Supreme". This idea also works fairly well with your Award ability as a hybrid between Esper and Bant in BLUE/WHITE, although I might change the name to better fit the crossover.
I get why that is an organic step, but I think it's a mistake for a set billed as a return to Alara to not utilize the trait most players would remember Alara for. It also steps on the toes of what players expect from a set taking place on Ravnica. Some planes have specific mechanical aspects baked into their DNA for most players. Mirrodin is artifact world, Lorwyn is tribal, Innistrad has double-sided cards, Kamigawa is Spirits and Legends, Ravnica is centred on two-color guilds, Alara was the world of five tri-colored demi-planes. Alara shifting mechanical focus to color pairs is encroaching on Ravnica's mechanical space.
Yes, as the Alara block progressed there was bleeding between Shards, but I think if any return to Alara did not have significant focus on the five tri-colored factions, it would be a big issue for the set. I think it's also important to demonstrate how those five worlds evolved after reunifying, not doing so would also be foolish, but in the balance a return to a plane needs to also be a return to what players found mechanically memorable in the first place.
I think the Shards could definitely evolve into the nations of Alara, much as Tarkir has the Clan territories.
I apologize for the lack of multicolor designs, I wanted to start with ideas for what each color could do by itself as an Alara set will still have a lot of monocolor cards, and it makes deckbuilding easier.
I suppose it would be best if the Sigil tokens were part of a larger Exalted theme, but I'd want to push the token subtheme as far as possible so it doesn't just feel like a rehash of what Bant did the first time.
I did look at giving Grixis something like a cross between Flashback and Unearth, but I felt Morbid was a good, simple direction that Grixis could easily support. Another option would be Undying, though two +1/+1 counter-based mechanics might feel a bit excessive, especially in adjacent shards. Right now Morbid feels right for Grixis; creatures die, your stuff gets better.
I'm a little ashamed I hadn't thought of Converge earlier. It feels like the exact mechanic Conflux should have had. Alara is the closest we've gotten to a WUBRG theme since Invasion, so I could see a handful of Converge cards.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I suppose it would be best if the Sigil tokens were part of a larger Exalted theme, but I'd want to push the token subtheme as far as possible so it doesn't just feel like a rehash of what Bant did the first time.
I definitely support using the Sigils as the main vessel for carrying the Exalted mechanic, its highly flavorful, different enough from last time so as to not feel like a redo, opens up new interactions, and I think would be representative of the losses suffered by Bant during the Conflux. There aren't many older, honored knights and soldiers left, the armies are earning new Sigils as they go. But, as I said, using Exalted leaves the door open for strategic reprints from old Bant. I would keep them to a minimum, and at higher rarities though, so as to not overshadow the new twist on the mechanic. It may be as little as one or two cards in total that would natively have Exalted, just for the taste of the old Bant, the few warriors left from before the Conflux.
Converge is an excellent overarching mechanic, akin to the Fuse mechanic of Dragon's Maze. Cards from any shard could converge as they bleed into the edges of the others, or could represent entirely new entities and magics that have grown out of the Maelstrom, native to none of the original shards at all. I like it.
Converge is an excellent overarching mechanic, akin to the Fuse mechanic of Dragon's Maze. Cards from any shard could converge as they bleed into the edges of the others, or could represent entirely new entities and magics that have grown out of the Maelstrom, native to none of the original shards at all. I like it.
My one concern is that Converge feels like it describes the Conflux, which has already played out, not to mention that Conflux specifically had a WUBRG theme while New Alara might not.
That, by the way, is what I think would be the perfect name for a return to Alara: New Alara. It's even alluded to in Knight of New Alara.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Award is non-interactive exalted. How well it synergizes with Esper is a problem and not a feature. Some synergy between the shards is good but too much synergy will create the problem you are trying to solve (cards being locked to archetypes). Every card with Award counts towards your artifact count while being better then the typical common/uncommon artifact AND always giving full support to Utilize. I wonder if people will bother to play Esper when they go for W/U Award.
Utilize is cool. I had a very similar mechanic for my RWU wedge (in my wedge block that predated khans). But instead of abilities that activated by untapping artifacts I had a ability that untapped artifacts (and all wedge artifacts had tapped abilities). Your idea is more exciting but on the other hand I think a ability that both gives you extra activations plus the card's ability itself is too much going on at once.
Morbid in Grixis is perfect ! Bloodthirst in Jund is also cool. Supreme is pretty nice and my fav among your own mechanics.
Converge is a mechanic that I love and it's home is Alara for sure.
Award is non-interactive exalted. How well it synergizes with Esper is a problem and not a feature. Some synergy between the shards is good but too much synergy will create the problem you are trying to solve (cards being locked to archetypes). Every card with Award counts towards your artifact count while being better then the typical common/uncommon artifact AND always giving full support to Utilize. I wonder if people will bother to play Esper when they go for W/U Award.
Non-interactive? You can remove artifact tokens just fine. Since Utilize requires tapping two artifacts specifically, there's a limit to how synergistic it is. If you build a WU deck built around Award, I would certainly expect Sigil tokens to be a higher priority than Esper cards, but WU can have more than just Sigils going for it; flying matters, tap/untap control, flickering...The general WU archetype in New Alara would be an overlap between Bant's defensive aggro and Esper's utility focus.
I would be interested in experimenting with other mechanics for Esper, ideally one that can make use of artifacts on non-artifact cards in order to give the Shard more cohesiveness. Metalcraft would make an excellent Esper mechanic, what with the focus on the number three, and though it synergizes well with Sigils, it's not likely to get as out of control. Dare I even suggest revisiting Affinity for Artifacts? Modular has potential, but I feel that swings too close to Jund and Naya's "hit hard with big stuff" themes. I like the idea that Esper wants more of a utility/control focus in its cards, hence Utilize or Metalcraft.
If Metalcraft did return as the Esper mechanic, that would mean essentially 4/5 of the Shard mechanics are returning mechanics:
Bant Exalted, now mostly on Sigils
Esper Metalcraft
Grixis Morbid
Jund Bloodthirst
Leaving Naya as the only shard with a truly new mechanic. At that point Ferocious or Formidable might as well be the Naya mechanic.
One other Esper option occurs to me, though: Etherium Cell tokens. First produced by Tezzeret the Schemer, these tokens work similar to Treasure tokens in that you tap and sac them for mana of any color. The Esper mechanic could revolve around producing the tokens. But that would be very similar to Bant's Sigil token theme, and frankly I'd rather Bant get to have an artifact token theme before Esper since Esper has plenty of artifact mechanics to choose from.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I think it would be a good idea to settle on a mana smoothing mechanic if this is a multicolor set. Alara block had cycling (which morphed into the awesome landcycling).
Unless you believe trilands are enough fixing.
Award is non-interactive exalted. How well it synergizes with Esper is a problem and not a feature. Some synergy between the shards is good but too much synergy will create the problem you are trying to solve (cards being locked to archetypes). Every card with Award counts towards your artifact count while being better then the typical common/uncommon artifact AND always giving full support to Utilize. I wonder if people will bother to play Esper when they go for W/U Award.
Non-interactive? You can remove artifact tokens just fine.
I considerer it non-interactive because the game doesn't expect you to interact with artifacts/enchantments the way it does regarding creatures. This is the case because not all colors have access to artifact removal and the colors who does are not expected to main deck it. Moat is unprintable these days but a creature with moat ability is still a possibility.
Other issue is that you ability creates a token separated from the creature, so if your opponent spend a card to destroy the token you are up in card advantage.
While you can certainly play around and still beat a opponent with several Sigil tokens, the mechanic just provide overwhelming value late game. Play 2 random award critters and your wind drakes now attacks like Air Elementals. The same is true for Exalted but the main difference is that the opponent may force you to block and chip away your Exalted critters. In your mechanic you can chip block/trade and still keep the late game value.
Awards cards would have to cost really high in order to be balanced. Your Honor Guard for example is completely utterly bonkers. At 1W this is better then any other 2 drop in Ixalan block except for the 2 mana merfolk/vampire lords in their respective archetypes. That card would need to cost at least 3W and with multiple award creatures in the format, that still run the risk of being too good.
If you are really sold into this award idea I think you should at make it a kicker variant, like the previously suggested.
Award is non-interactive exalted. How well it synergizes with Esper is a problem and not a feature. Some synergy between the shards is good but too much synergy will create the problem you are trying to solve (cards being locked to archetypes). Every card with Award counts towards your artifact count while being better then the typical common/uncommon artifact AND always giving full support to Utilize. I wonder if people will bother to play Esper when they go for W/U Award.
Non-interactive? You can remove artifact tokens just fine.
I considerer it non-interactive because the game doesn't expect you to interact with artifacts/enchantments the way it does regarding creatures. This is the case because not all colors have access to artifact removal and the colors who does are not expected to main deck it. Moat is unprintable these days but a creature with moat ability is still a possibility.
Other issue is that you ability creates a token separated from the creature, so if your opponent spend a card to destroy the token you are up in card advantage.
While you can certainly play around and still beat a opponent with several Sigil tokens, the mechanic just provide overwhelming value late game. Play 2 random award critters and your wind drakes now attacks like Air Elementals. The same is true for Exalted but the main difference is that the opponent may force you to block and chip away your Exalted critters. In your mechanic you can chip block/trade and still keep the late game value.
Awards cards would have to cost really high in order to be balanced. Your Honor Guard for example is completely utterly bonkers. At 1W this is better then any other 2 drop in Ixalan block except for the 2 mana merfolk/vampire lords in their respective archetypes. That card would need to cost at least 3W and with multiple award creatures in the format, that still run the risk of being too good.
If you are really sold into this award idea I think you should at make it a kicker variant, like the previously suggested.
Every color has options for dealing with Sigils. Red, green, and white can destroy them, blue can bounce them or counter spells that create them, and black can discard cards that would create them or keep killing creatures. The Sigils also only affect a single creature at a time, during their controller's turn, with triggered effects that can be responded to. The main difference here is that the Exalted player isn't neutered as hard for losing a few creatures; if they've bothered to build up a couple Sigils, why can't their Wind Drake work like a discount Air Elemental? Especially since it only happens during their turn, and the effect only lasts until the end of that turn?
Now if you mix in Esper, any effect that scales with artifacts could become problematic. But again, you're spending time and resources building those tokens up; it's not like most of the Bant cards get to repeatedly create Sigil tokens by themselves. And if the Esper mechanic were to become Metalcraft, then the player only needs two or three tokens to begin with; having more than that won't necessarily make the Metalcraft cards even better.
On that note, I did want to venture some Esper Metalcraft designs here:
Ethersworn RecruitW
Artifact Creature — Human Soldier Metalcraft — ~ gets +2/+2 as long as you control three or more artifacts.
1/1
Caging Sphere3W
Artifact
Flash Metalcraft — ~ costs 3 less to cast if you control three or more artifacts.
When ~ enters the battlefield, exile target creature until ~ leaves the battlefield. (That creature returns to the battlefield under its owner's control.)
1/1
Esper Arcanist1U
Artifact Creature — Human Wizard Metalcraft — As long as you control three or more artifacts, noncreature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast.
1/3
Seekers' Dismissal3U
Instant Metalcraft — ~ costs 3 less to cast if you control three or more artifacts.
Counter target nonartifact spell.
Seekers' Surveillance2U
Sorcery Metalcraft — Draw two cards. If you control three or more artifacts, draw three cards instead.
Tidehollow Dreg1B
Artifact Creature — Human Rogue
~ can't block. Metalcraft — ~ gets +2/+1 and has menace as long as you control three or more artifacts.
2/1
Seekers' Condemnation3B
Instant Metalcraft — ~ costs 3 less to cast if you control three or more artifacts.
Destroy target nonartifact creature.
Ethersworn Inquisition2B
Sorcery
Target player reveals their hand. You may choose up to two nonartifact, nonland cards from it. That player discards each card chosen this way. Metalcraft — If you control three or more artifacts, you may choose up to three nonartifact, nonland cards instead of two.
I'm definitely starting to lean towards Metalcraft over Utilize.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
^ Do you expect people to main deck artifact hate ? And again, using one card to destroy the token and not the creature is card disadvantageous. You will simply lose the game if your plan is to spend one card to eliminate "free" artifact tokens.
Again, this combos too well with Metalcraft and Utilize. It almost feels like the shards of Bant and Espers are allies and merging. It's simply not balanced in the sense there isn't similar synergy in among other shards.
Again, for constructed this is not a concern (you can always keep the ability and balance the cards individually). However for limited (where these concerns matter most) the abilities cannot be too synergistic to a point people are drafting the same decks over and over. It also can't give you too strong late game while also not costing you anything early. Neither it can be balanced assuming people are playing heavy amount of efficient removal or specific hate cards. It has to conform to the expected limited game play of few and slow removal and clogged battlefields.
I think it would be a good idea to settle on a mana smoothing mechanic if this is a multicolor set. Alara block had cycling (which morphed into the awesome landcycling).
Unless you believe trilands are enough fixing.
Seeing how Tarkir printed common duals and mana rocks in addition to the trilands, I would expect likewise of New Alara.
They would probably leave the enemy duals out as representing all ten pairs isn't as important for Alara as it was for Tarkir. We'd get new Obelisks that match the Tarkir Banners, or actual Banners if the Shards define themselves as nations of Alara following the Conflux. If they introduce faction symbols, those can appear on the Banners. I could also see them reprinting Evolving Wilds and Rupture Spire or Shimmering Grotto. Traveler's Amulet would be a good third choice as it supports Esper's artifact theme.
^ Do you expect people to main deck artifact hate ? And again, using one card to destroy the token and not the creature is card disadvantageous. You will simply lose the game if your plan is to spend one card to eliminate "free" artifact tokens.
Again, this combos too well with Metalcraft and Utilize. It almost feels like the shards of Bant and Espers are allies and merging. It's simply not balanced in the sense there isn't similar synergy in among other shards.
Again, for constructed this is not a concern (you can always keep the ability and balance the cards individually). However for limited (where these concerns matter most) the abilities cannot be too synergistic to a point people are drafting the same decks over and over. It also can't give you too strong late game while also not costing you anything early. Neither it can be balanced assuming people are playing heavy amount of efficient removal or specific hate cards. It has to conform to the expected limited game play of few and slow removal and clogged battlefields.
Artifact hate isn't the only way to deal with a Sigil deck. Counterspells, discard, kill spells, deathtouch...there's a myriad of ways to deal with the creatures themselves. How many Sigils would you expect a player on average to be able to play during a game, anyway? I would expect around three or four. Most Sigil makers have cmc 2 and up, to make the shard less aggressive than Jund or Naya.
Sigils and Esper synergize about the same as Naya power matters and Sigils, or Naya power matters and Jund Bloodthirst. Grixis Morbid unfortunately doesn't get a lot of direct synergy, though that doesn't mean there can't be enablers in Esper and Jund.
Fact is, in an Alara draft the five ally pairs will dominate just as enemy pairs dominated in Tarkir draft, and by design adjacent shards will synergize well with each other.
And this is provided Sigils are even that prolific; Exalted is for all intents and purposes the main mechanical theme with Bant, I just thought that adding Sigil artifact tokens makes it easier for Bant and Esper to work together, rather than leaving two shards out of the synergy loop this time.
I did ponder the possibility of Sigils being a type of Equipment token, essentially making them equippable +1/+1 counters. With the new token naming convention, I guess Award could say "Create a Sigil, a colorless Equipment artifact token with equip 1 and 'Equipped creature gets +1/+1'"? But that already sounds like a mouthful.
Although, I did want to pioneer a new template for p/t modifying Auras and Equipment:
Sigil
Token Artifact — Equipment
Equip 1
+1/+1
The idea being that, instead of writing "Enchanted/equipped creature gets +N/+N", you use the p/t box to indicate the values being added, in which case Award's text would be written as "Create a Sigil, a colorless +1/+1 Equipment artifact token with equip 1." That's much breezier, and hopefully intuitive.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
[spoiler=]Although, I did want to pioneer a new template for p/t modifying Auras and Equipment:
Sigil
Token Artifact — Equipment
Equip 1
+1/+1
The idea being that, instead of writing "Enchanted/equipped creature gets +N/+N", you use the p/t box to indicate the values being added, in which case Award's text would be written as "Create a Sigil, a colorless +1/+1 Equipment artifact token with equip 1." That's much breezier, and hopefully intuitive.
If they didn't create vehicles that might have been a possibility as the rules could have defined what p/t on various non-creatures meant. But because we now see p/t on non-creatures it would be unintuitive for them to mean anything else.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Honor Knight 1W
Creature — Human Knight
When ~ enters the battlefield, award. (Create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
2/2
Award is a tweak on Exalted, where instead of creatures providing +1/+1 boosts, it's an artifact token. There's a number of advantages to this mechanic:
Additionally, Sigil tokens work well with token-doubling or replicating effects, and they play well with Exalted since they emphasize the same strategy.
Wingshaper 1U
Artifact Creature — Human Wizard
Utilize — U, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Target creature you control gains flying until end of turn.
1/3
Utilize is an activated ability word that asks you to tap two untapped artifacts you control. In the original Alara block, Esper didn't have a keyword, but it did have a theme of colored artifacts. For the second trip, I think it would be a good idea to give the artifact shard a mechanic that uses artifacts. And since the number one function of artifacts is to be tapped to use some manner of ability, what better angle to focus on for an artifact mechanic?
Utilize plays well with Award's Sigil tokens, giving you an extra use for them.
Necromancer's Servant 2B
Creature — Zombie Wizard
Morbid — When ~ enters the battlefield, if a creature died this turn, you may draw a card.
2/2
On Grixis, death is power. And what mechanic better represents that than Morbid? As an ability word with a simple condition, Morbid is highly flexible and lends itself well to utility and control as much as aggro.
Goblin Bloodseeker 1R
Creature — Goblin Warrior
Bloodthirst 2 (This creature enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it if a player was dealt damage this turn.)
2/1
Devour was a highly flavorful mechanic for Jund, but it came with the problem that it was too easy to get two-for-one'd. Bloodthirst captures the same savage, predatory flavor, but encourages a more straightforward aggro theme that doesn't risk quite so much card disadvantage. It's also appeared in Jund's colors before, in Magic 2012. To help Bloodthirst play well with Devour, Jund could get a number of "+1/+1 counters matter" cards as a support theme.
Cylian Healer 1G
Creature — Elf Druid
Supreme — When ~ enters the battlefield, you may gain life equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
2/2
Like Esper, Naya didn't get a named mechanic during our first trip to Alara, but it did have a theme, in this case creatures with power 5 or greater. Supreme plays in a similar space, only now it cares about the greatest power among creatures you control, whether that's 5 or just 1. And just like Naya's power 5 theme last time, Supreme works well with power-boosting mechanics such as Bloodthirst and Award. The biggest hurdle with Supreme is that, as a scaling mechanic, you can only have so many cards using it at common. The upside is that, much like Award and Morbid, Supreme can be used on more than just creature cards, though it obviously works best on creatures.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I would say that s significantly stronger than Exalted in many situations, as it leaves the Exalted effect behind when it's gone, and gives you an artifact to play with as well, and on that basis I would suggest that it should cost more mana than Exalted in most situations.
As for the keyword, there are two obvious precedents here, Treasure tokens and Clue tokens, one with a keyword and one without. Clue tokens could have been done without the keyword, but the keyword there allowed other cards to reference the creation of the tokens for mechanical and flavorful interactions within the set. If you're not planning to use it in that way, I think that just creating the Sigils without the keyword is preferable.
Utilize is essentially Cohort, but for artifacts. That, of course, makes it substantially better than Cohort, as there are frequently artifacts that have no tap function, and so you don't mind tapping them for a cost like this. Take care with designs in an environment that has lots of excess artifact tokens, but it looks like a winner to me.
Morbid is as Morbid was, no comment needed, you all know everything about Morbid already.
Bloodthirst is in a similar boat, but is less interesting overall. Fine in the midst of a set with lots of mechanics though, as it was designed to be way back in Ravnica.
Supreme looks at the highest power among creatures you control to determine the variable for the effect. I feel like this fairly closely follows the theme from Scourge of cards that checked for highest converted mana cost, ie Torrent of Fire, but with much greater ability to improve the values. Definitely works well with the Sigil tokens. With a little care it should be no problem, but if you run wild with it, this one has the potential to make some really overpowered effects from some pretty innocuous cards.
All-in-all, the new mechanics are simple and well done, and I would be happy to see them appear in a future set, and the collection of these five together captures the flavor of the five shards of Alara well enough. But I feel like that's not how the set design will go when we eventually do return to the united Alara, just as when we returned to Zendikar, it wasn't to the same world of adventure theme that we had in the first go-around.
And while Alara may have reformed, the five shards still exist as identities. If nothing else, fans returning to Alara will expect five tricolor factions with distinct, named mechanics. Not to mention when we revisited Zendikar in BfZ, there were a LOT of complaints about the shift in theme from adventure to war. So a second trip to Alara will need to deliver on the Shards as factions.
Figured I'd share some more card designs using these five mechanics:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, sacrifice ~, then search your library for a land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped under your control, shuffle your library, and award. (Create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
Field of Honor 2WW
Enchantment
When ~ enters the battlefield, award. (To award, create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
No more than one creature can attack each combat.
No more than one creature can block each combat.
Bant Surveillance 3U
Instant
Award, then choose target creature you control. Until end of turn, that creature gains "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may draw that many cards." (To award, create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
Suppression Sphere 3W
Artifact
Utilize - 1, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Tap target artifact, creature, or land an opponent controls.
Ethersworn Scriptures 2U
Artifact
Utilize - 2, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Draw a card.
Tidehollow Shiv 1B
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and has deathtouch.
Utilize - 1, Tap two untapped artifacts you control: Attach ~ to target creature you control.
Equip 2
Grixis Bounty 2U
Instant
Morbid — Draw two cards, then discard a card unless a creature died this turn.
Necromancer's Gambit 4BB
Sorcery
Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
Morbid — If a creature died this turn, instead put up to two target creature cards from graveyards onto the battlefield under your control.
Restless Tormentor 2R
Creature - Devil
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 red Devil creature token with "When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to a single target."
Morbid — At the beginning of each end step, ~ deals damage to you equal to the number of Devils you control unless a creature died this turn.
1/3
Bloodbraid Warchief 2BB
Creature - Human Warrior
Bloodthirst 1 (This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if an opponent was dealt damage this turn.)
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has menace.
2/1
Fireblood Hellkite 4RR
Creature - Dragon
Flying
Bloodthirst 3 (This creature enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it if an opponent was dealt damage this turn.)
Whenever you cast a Dragon creature spell, it gains bloodthirst 3.
4/4
Bloodthorn Snapper 2G
Creature - Plant
Defender
Bloodthirst 2
As long as ~ has a +1/+1 counter on it, it has trample and it may attack as though it didn't have defender.
1/1
Earth-Shaking Roar 3R
Sorcery
Supreme — Choose a single target. ~ deals damage to that target equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
Godtoucher's Boon 4GG
Sorcery
Create a 5/5 green Beast creature token with trample.
Supreme — You may gain life equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
Behemoth's Wrath 3WW
Sorcery
Supreme — Destroy each creature with power less than the greatest power among creatures you control.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I do like the mechanics though, especially Utilize and Award. Also, considering they developed independently of each other for a long time, the shards maintaining their mechanical and flavourful identities almost like nations wouldn't be a stretch.
I think you're correct, but I think that can be accomplished through mechanical synergy. Award making artifact tokens that Utilize can tap, for example. Bloodthirst making creatures larger for Supreme. I think that if there's some clever inter-Shard mechanical synergy, it would convey the feeling of the Shards coexisting and bleeding into one another.
In that vein, the glaring issue is Morbid, as it has zero synergy with the Shard mechanics adjacent to Grixis. It's a perfectly goof mechanic, with a good flavor for Grixis. Perhaps a subtheme within Grixis cards about sacrificing permanents and/or remove counters to generate effects? Like the flavor of harvesting vis to power magic. That feeds into Morbid, and creates that synergy with Esper and Jund.
Naya and Bant's overlap is relatively narrow, but with the right card design and support from both Shards, attacking with one creature that gets boosted by Award will help boost Supreme for combat tricks and second main phase stuff. I think that synergy would need a bit of encouragement via card choices and design to feel on par with other Shard pair synergies. Flavor choices will help sell that, as well as the bleed in general.
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
As an alternative to Award, Exalted could return as Bant's mechanic, but this time be regulated to Sigil tokens, or we could at least see Sigil tokens with Exalted as a subtheme much like how Pirates had Treasure tokens as a subtheme in Ixalan. That way Bant still has some interaction with Esper. Personally though, I prefer Award.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
If the rule text of Sigils is identical to exalted, maybe just bringing the keyword back is better though. There is a reasonable chance anyway that Sigil tokens (while really cool in concept) will be problematic from a gameplay perspective. Creatures are more interactive (as in easier removed) than noncreature artifacts. These tokens with exalted will at the very least be more resilient. While that's probably the intent this might do weird stuff to the balancing and costing of cards leading to some more "unappealing" looking cards.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
When you remove Award, Utilize in turn becomes a pretty "meh" mechanic, just like Cohort. I think there's enough design space left for a proper artifact-related keyword mechanic.
So:
Honorable Knight 1W
Creature - Human Knight
Award 3W (If you cast this spell for 3W, also create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
2/2
Sage's Prestige U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, sacrifice ~, then draw two cards.
Award 2U (If you cast this spell for 2U, also create a colorless Sigil artifact token with "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.")
This is a less flavorful, but is easier to develop and could serve as the set's kicker/mana sink mechanic.
Additionally, formally bringing Exalted into the set through the Sigils allows it to be used in other ways. A Noble Hierarch reprint would be very desirable in a return to Alara, and it could be included as a special case of Exalted even though the majority of the mechanic would be appearing through the Sigils.
As for Morbid not playing nicely with the other mechanics, I see that as more of a feature than a bug. Grixis is the most likely shard to cause the other four to unite against it, the death and undeath laden realm is thematically at odds with not only the opposing shards, but also the adjacent shards. Gross meat abominations and zombies really mar the orderly, sculpted Esper lands, and rising undead and conniving demons disrupt the predatory hierarchy of Jund.
Speaking of multicolored, there's a surprising lack of multicolored card examples in this thread.
I guess his aim was to make the Bant mechanic truer to how Sigils work, but Exalted is a decent mechanic, and people would expect it to return. The perspective on Grixis being odd in terms of mechanical synergy is valid IMO.
All of the other ideas seem pretty neat though, I especially like the Naya mechanic, it is one I have often considered using myself.
---
An interesting idea, which might be useful in your set design, would be to instead change your mechanics to fit color pairs instead of factions. This would show a blending of Alara factions. For example, Supreme could be a RED/GREEN ability, as it blends perfectly with the powerful beasts of Naya as equally as it does the powerful Dragons of Jund. This would allow people to play a Red Green deck, or a Naya deck, or a Jund Deck... and still get the advantages of "Supreme". This idea also works fairly well with your Award ability as a hybrid between Esper and Bant in BLUE/WHITE, although I might change the name to better fit the crossover.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
I get why that is an organic step, but I think it's a mistake for a set billed as a return to Alara to not utilize the trait most players would remember Alara for. It also steps on the toes of what players expect from a set taking place on Ravnica. Some planes have specific mechanical aspects baked into their DNA for most players. Mirrodin is artifact world, Lorwyn is tribal, Innistrad has double-sided cards, Kamigawa is Spirits and Legends, Ravnica is centred on two-color guilds, Alara was the world of five tri-colored demi-planes. Alara shifting mechanical focus to color pairs is encroaching on Ravnica's mechanical space.
Yes, as the Alara block progressed there was bleeding between Shards, but I think if any return to Alara did not have significant focus on the five tri-colored factions, it would be a big issue for the set. I think it's also important to demonstrate how those five worlds evolved after reunifying, not doing so would also be foolish, but in the balance a return to a plane needs to also be a return to what players found mechanically memorable in the first place.
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
I apologize for the lack of multicolor designs, I wanted to start with ideas for what each color could do by itself as an Alara set will still have a lot of monocolor cards, and it makes deckbuilding easier.
I suppose it would be best if the Sigil tokens were part of a larger Exalted theme, but I'd want to push the token subtheme as far as possible so it doesn't just feel like a rehash of what Bant did the first time.
I did look at giving Grixis something like a cross between Flashback and Unearth, but I felt Morbid was a good, simple direction that Grixis could easily support. Another option would be Undying, though two +1/+1 counter-based mechanics might feel a bit excessive, especially in adjacent shards. Right now Morbid feels right for Grixis; creatures die, your stuff gets better.
I'm a little ashamed I hadn't thought of Converge earlier. It feels like the exact mechanic Conflux should have had. Alara is the closest we've gotten to a WUBRG theme since Invasion, so I could see a handful of Converge cards.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I definitely support using the Sigils as the main vessel for carrying the Exalted mechanic, its highly flavorful, different enough from last time so as to not feel like a redo, opens up new interactions, and I think would be representative of the losses suffered by Bant during the Conflux. There aren't many older, honored knights and soldiers left, the armies are earning new Sigils as they go. But, as I said, using Exalted leaves the door open for strategic reprints from old Bant. I would keep them to a minimum, and at higher rarities though, so as to not overshadow the new twist on the mechanic. It may be as little as one or two cards in total that would natively have Exalted, just for the taste of the old Bant, the few warriors left from before the Conflux.
Converge is an excellent overarching mechanic, akin to the Fuse mechanic of Dragon's Maze. Cards from any shard could converge as they bleed into the edges of the others, or could represent entirely new entities and magics that have grown out of the Maelstrom, native to none of the original shards at all. I like it.
NO!!! >:C
Of course! Go right ahead.
My one concern is that Converge feels like it describes the Conflux, which has already played out, not to mention that Conflux specifically had a WUBRG theme while New Alara might not.
That, by the way, is what I think would be the perfect name for a return to Alara: New Alara. It's even alluded to in Knight of New Alara.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Utilize is cool. I had a very similar mechanic for my RWU wedge (in my wedge block that predated khans). But instead of abilities that activated by untapping artifacts I had a ability that untapped artifacts (and all wedge artifacts had tapped abilities). Your idea is more exciting but on the other hand I think a ability that both gives you extra activations plus the card's ability itself is too much going on at once.
Morbid in Grixis is perfect ! Bloodthirst in Jund is also cool. Supreme is pretty nice and my fav among your own mechanics.
Converge is a mechanic that I love and it's home is Alara for sure.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
Non-interactive? You can remove artifact tokens just fine. Since Utilize requires tapping two artifacts specifically, there's a limit to how synergistic it is. If you build a WU deck built around Award, I would certainly expect Sigil tokens to be a higher priority than Esper cards, but WU can have more than just Sigils going for it; flying matters, tap/untap control, flickering...The general WU archetype in New Alara would be an overlap between Bant's defensive aggro and Esper's utility focus.
I would be interested in experimenting with other mechanics for Esper, ideally one that can make use of artifacts on non-artifact cards in order to give the Shard more cohesiveness. Metalcraft would make an excellent Esper mechanic, what with the focus on the number three, and though it synergizes well with Sigils, it's not likely to get as out of control. Dare I even suggest revisiting Affinity for Artifacts? Modular has potential, but I feel that swings too close to Jund and Naya's "hit hard with big stuff" themes. I like the idea that Esper wants more of a utility/control focus in its cards, hence Utilize or Metalcraft.
If Metalcraft did return as the Esper mechanic, that would mean essentially 4/5 of the Shard mechanics are returning mechanics:
Bant Exalted, now mostly on Sigils
Esper Metalcraft
Grixis Morbid
Jund Bloodthirst
Leaving Naya as the only shard with a truly new mechanic. At that point Ferocious or Formidable might as well be the Naya mechanic.
One other Esper option occurs to me, though: Etherium Cell tokens. First produced by Tezzeret the Schemer, these tokens work similar to Treasure tokens in that you tap and sac them for mana of any color. The Esper mechanic could revolve around producing the tokens. But that would be very similar to Bant's Sigil token theme, and frankly I'd rather Bant get to have an artifact token theme before Esper since Esper has plenty of artifact mechanics to choose from.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Unless you believe trilands are enough fixing.
I considerer it non-interactive because the game doesn't expect you to interact with artifacts/enchantments the way it does regarding creatures. This is the case because not all colors have access to artifact removal and the colors who does are not expected to main deck it. Moat is unprintable these days but a creature with moat ability is still a possibility.
Other issue is that you ability creates a token separated from the creature, so if your opponent spend a card to destroy the token you are up in card advantage.
While you can certainly play around and still beat a opponent with several Sigil tokens, the mechanic just provide overwhelming value late game. Play 2 random award critters and your wind drakes now attacks like Air Elementals. The same is true for Exalted but the main difference is that the opponent may force you to block and chip away your Exalted critters. In your mechanic you can chip block/trade and still keep the late game value.
Awards cards would have to cost really high in order to be balanced. Your Honor Guard for example is completely utterly bonkers. At 1W this is better then any other 2 drop in Ixalan block except for the 2 mana merfolk/vampire lords in their respective archetypes. That card would need to cost at least 3W and with multiple award creatures in the format, that still run the risk of being too good.
If you are really sold into this award idea I think you should at make it a kicker variant, like the previously suggested.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
Every color has options for dealing with Sigils. Red, green, and white can destroy them, blue can bounce them or counter spells that create them, and black can discard cards that would create them or keep killing creatures. The Sigils also only affect a single creature at a time, during their controller's turn, with triggered effects that can be responded to. The main difference here is that the Exalted player isn't neutered as hard for losing a few creatures; if they've bothered to build up a couple Sigils, why can't their Wind Drake work like a discount Air Elemental? Especially since it only happens during their turn, and the effect only lasts until the end of that turn?
Now if you mix in Esper, any effect that scales with artifacts could become problematic. But again, you're spending time and resources building those tokens up; it's not like most of the Bant cards get to repeatedly create Sigil tokens by themselves. And if the Esper mechanic were to become Metalcraft, then the player only needs two or three tokens to begin with; having more than that won't necessarily make the Metalcraft cards even better.
On that note, I did want to venture some Esper Metalcraft designs here:
Artifact Creature — Human Soldier
Metalcraft — ~ gets +2/+2 as long as you control three or more artifacts.
1/1
Caging Sphere 3W
Artifact
Flash
Metalcraft — ~ costs 3 less to cast if you control three or more artifacts.
When ~ enters the battlefield, exile target creature until ~ leaves the battlefield. (That creature returns to the battlefield under its owner's control.)
1/1
Esper Arcanist 1U
Artifact Creature — Human Wizard
Metalcraft — As long as you control three or more artifacts, noncreature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast.
1/3
Seekers' Dismissal 3U
Instant
Metalcraft — ~ costs 3 less to cast if you control three or more artifacts.
Counter target nonartifact spell.
Seekers' Surveillance 2U
Sorcery
Metalcraft — Draw two cards. If you control three or more artifacts, draw three cards instead.
Tidehollow Dreg 1B
Artifact Creature — Human Rogue
~ can't block.
Metalcraft — ~ gets +2/+1 and has menace as long as you control three or more artifacts.
2/1
Seekers' Condemnation 3B
Instant
Metalcraft — ~ costs 3 less to cast if you control three or more artifacts.
Destroy target nonartifact creature.
Ethersworn Inquisition 2B
Sorcery
Target player reveals their hand. You may choose up to two nonartifact, nonland cards from it. That player discards each card chosen this way.
Metalcraft — If you control three or more artifacts, you may choose up to three nonartifact, nonland cards instead of two.
I'm definitely starting to lean towards Metalcraft over Utilize.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Again, this combos too well with Metalcraft and Utilize. It almost feels like the shards of Bant and Espers are allies and merging. It's simply not balanced in the sense there isn't similar synergy in among other shards.
Again, for constructed this is not a concern (you can always keep the ability and balance the cards individually). However for limited (where these concerns matter most) the abilities cannot be too synergistic to a point people are drafting the same decks over and over. It also can't give you too strong late game while also not costing you anything early. Neither it can be balanced assuming people are playing heavy amount of efficient removal or specific hate cards. It has to conform to the expected limited game play of few and slow removal and clogged battlefields.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
Seeing how Tarkir printed common duals and mana rocks in addition to the trilands, I would expect likewise of New Alara.
They would probably leave the enemy duals out as representing all ten pairs isn't as important for Alara as it was for Tarkir. We'd get new Obelisks that match the Tarkir Banners, or actual Banners if the Shards define themselves as nations of Alara following the Conflux. If they introduce faction symbols, those can appear on the Banners. I could also see them reprinting Evolving Wilds and Rupture Spire or Shimmering Grotto. Traveler's Amulet would be a good third choice as it supports Esper's artifact theme.
Artifact hate isn't the only way to deal with a Sigil deck. Counterspells, discard, kill spells, deathtouch...there's a myriad of ways to deal with the creatures themselves. How many Sigils would you expect a player on average to be able to play during a game, anyway? I would expect around three or four. Most Sigil makers have cmc 2 and up, to make the shard less aggressive than Jund or Naya.
Sigils and Esper synergize about the same as Naya power matters and Sigils, or Naya power matters and Jund Bloodthirst. Grixis Morbid unfortunately doesn't get a lot of direct synergy, though that doesn't mean there can't be enablers in Esper and Jund.
Fact is, in an Alara draft the five ally pairs will dominate just as enemy pairs dominated in Tarkir draft, and by design adjacent shards will synergize well with each other.
And this is provided Sigils are even that prolific; Exalted is for all intents and purposes the main mechanical theme with Bant, I just thought that adding Sigil artifact tokens makes it easier for Bant and Esper to work together, rather than leaving two shards out of the synergy loop this time.
I did ponder the possibility of Sigils being a type of Equipment token, essentially making them equippable +1/+1 counters. With the new token naming convention, I guess Award could say "Create a Sigil, a colorless Equipment artifact token with equip 1 and 'Equipped creature gets +1/+1'"? But that already sounds like a mouthful.
Although, I did want to pioneer a new template for p/t modifying Auras and Equipment:
Sigil
Token Artifact — Equipment
Equip 1
+1/+1
The idea being that, instead of writing "Enchanted/equipped creature gets +N/+N", you use the p/t box to indicate the values being added, in which case Award's text would be written as "Create a Sigil, a colorless +1/+1 Equipment artifact token with equip 1." That's much breezier, and hopefully intuitive.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.