So I got to thinking about Innistrad's minor tribal themes and ways to expand on them in custom designs. A lot of people seem to think that the Innistrad blocks (the original in particular) were the best-executed "tribal" blocks ever, and I think there's room to do more with the creature types presented therein. My first instinct was to add a color to each of them, allowing for the flexibility of using them with multiple two-color combinations as well as all three colors together. I also decided that I'd keep them to an allied/shard dynamic rather than switching over to enemy/wedge triples as the originals were allied pairs and I didn't want to rock the boat too hard. So the possibilities are as follows:
GWU Spirits (There was a decent presence for G geists and I found the green Innistrad Spirit flavor to be cool and spooky) WUB Zombies (A bunch of non-Innistrad precedent recently from things like Varina, Lich Queen and embalm/Amonkhetu mummies) UBR Vampires (Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge as well as Runo Stromkirk pull Vamps to U) BRG Werewolves (Werewolves used to be B) RGW Humans (Humans can kinda be pulled in any direction as they go in all colors anyway)
OR
GWU Humans (Ditto what I just said) WUB Spirits (Being that they're undead, moving to black is fairly easy) UBR Zombies (Not much to say other than with R you can include slashers and "fast" Zombies although that might go a bit against the theme of Innistradi Zombies) BRG Vampires (I love the idea of feral Vamps in G and Vampires having their estates destroyed and being scattered into the woods makes story/karmic sense) RGW Werewolves (Wolfir feel GW and I think Arlinn would be interesting as a RGW character)
There are other possibilities - going three shard and two wedge is logistically possible (for example RWB Vampires seem to fit pretty well given the aristocratic image, Sorin, Edgar, and recent non-Innistrad precedent on Ixalan) but I want to keep it to one of the schemata I laid out.
Technically, spirits and humans are both 5 color tribes, so they function as wild cards. Grixis vampires seem about right given the blue-leaning Stromkirk flavor, though Mardu works just as well. I'm a little less thrilled about the prospect of white zombies and black werewolves on Innistrad.
White zombies are basically Amonkhet's trademark, with a handful outside the plane as well. Their flavor is about as different from Innistrad zombies (both kinds) as a divergence within a creature type can be. The other white zombies at least earn their whiteness one way or another, with the exception of Varina, Lich Queen, which acts more like one of the many examples of playing fast and loose with the color pie to contort to EDH deckbuilding rules. Varina's whiteness is trinket text, and therefore should not be any kind of indicator that informs Innistrad zombie design.
Calling werewolves a black-aligned tribe is a little disingenuous given that there have only been three of them in that color, two of which predate the color pie and have weird counter mechanics. I think them being creatures of the night is the only reason they ended up as black in the first place. I do like the idea of Naya werewolves more, with the Wolfir.
What if you had an unbalanced color pie, like Ixalan had?
WUBR Vampires (subdivided by family, so no UW or 4-color vampires) UB Zombies RG Werewolves GWU Spirits BRGW Humans (subdivided into GW good guys, WB cultists, and RG human form werewolves)
Stepping back and looking at what creatures could show up as a mono-colored card outside of the current color pair could be helpful
Spirits:
: clearly works.
: could play on the vengeance side of the disembodied dead (already shown a bit on instants.)
: has the most precedence on innistrad, and does give some of the most unique flavor.
Zombies:
: would feel really weird on innistrad.
: this is the easiest sell to me, make a couple of zombies that are rage-fueled and this feels pretty fine.
: even weirder than mono-white zombies.
Vampires:
: aristocratic vampires work as white, probably the highest precedence.
: Mono-blue vampires would feel really off to me. I feel like they would eccencaly be vampire wizard that was a wizard that just happened to also be a vampire (Etrata kinda feels like this.)
: Green vampires would be a really hard sell in general, I feel like trying to introduce them to Innistrad would just make that harder.
Werewolves:
: seems like a natural place for Wolfir or even a more civilized werewolf to go (think: the guy who binds himself in a basement whenever he knows he's going to shift.)
: I could see alchemical werewolves on another plane, but they don't feel particularly Innistrad to me (or would be a very big shift story wise).
: If Innistrad werewolves went black I would expect it to come as a plot point of a new alpha with more personal or ruthless ambitions or something like that.
Humans: Really anything goes, but they should probably avoid black as part of the townsfolk identity.
I feel like you haven't learned the right lesson from innistrad tribal. The very reason innistrad tribal was so well liked is that it was only a minor theme in the set. You could play the formats and weren't forced down a tribal path. The tribal paths were available, but alongside a half a dozen other paths you could take that were equally viable. As a result, the draft format was very diverse with a ton of different viable archetypes. Expanding the tribes to three color and making tribal a larger part of the set is going against the very thing that made innistrad tribal work so well. It's just not a good idea to do. Just consider what your draft format looks like when you expand all your tribes to three color. I'm going to list all the tribal archetypes you plan to support given the shard expansion you describe first.
WU : Supports both Zombies and Spirits UB : Supports both Vampires and Zombies BR : Supports both vampires and werewolves RG : Supports both humans and werewolves GW : Supports both humans and spirits WB : Supports zombies UR : Supports Vampires BG : Supports Werewolves RW : Supports Humans GU : Supports Spirits
In the original innistrad and in SOI, only half the color pairs were concerned with tribal. It was a minor but important theme of the formats and people liked it because there were other things to do alongside tribal. By expanding the tribes to three colors, you make tribal into a major theme of the format, to the point where literally every color pair is trying to support at least one tribe and sometimes multiple tribes.
I don't think the direction you are heading in is a good one. If you want to make the tribes of innistrad feel free fresh again, I'd recommend just coming up with new mechanical space for the existing tribes to play in. Make them play differently. If you really want to shake things up, you could push the tribes into different color pairs, but I suspect you will run into a different problem if you do. The tribes just won't feel like innistrad tribes. For example, zombies on innistrad are UB. If you push them to some other color pair, you will also change the underlying flavor and they will end up feeling like they belong on some other plane. WB zombies are an Amonkhet thing for example.
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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.
- Manite
To explain myself more fully, I'm really thinking about a Commander product themed around Innistrad and not an expansion. Basically I want to be able to give these tribes more... stuff, just more legends, lords, and synergies, to play with in EDH. That's why colors are so specifically important.
Hopefully I'll be able to do preliminary designs for this small project tonight.
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 don't think that white zombies really fit in Innistrad. I'm not sure what third color I'd want for them, though. Maybe green? There was Ghoultree... maybe most of the green zombies could also be Treefolk or other plants and maybe animals, too. You could also do something like the Ravnica black/green zombies for the flavor, where they are reanimated by spores or vines or whatever.
I guess that breaks from your allied triplets only concept. For what it's worth, I think a mix of allied and enemy triplets would be fun, and make it feel more like the focus is on the tribes and not the color combinations. And I like WBR Vampires, too.
So my take on it would be... WUG Spirits UBG Zombies WBR Vampires BRG Werewolves
And that leaves WUR for the humans.
The simplest option of course is to go Wedge for all of them.
WBG Humans URW Spirits BGU Zombies RWB Vampires GUR Werewolves
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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.
Wedges has the issues of giving R to Spirits when the precedent is Malignus and Raging Poltergeist as well as giving Werewolves the only third color that doesn't fit them.
My votes would be: GWU - Spirits UBR - Zombies RWB - Vampires RGW - Werewolves BGU - Humans I guess
I've kinda felt like humans should exist outside the tribal element of Innistrad, so I might try adding aberrations instead of humans as the 5th aligned tribe, probably introduced by the eldrazi influence on the plane.
Maro's said that he could see blue Werewolves in a more Shapeshifter-esque capacity, and red Spirits could indeed represent poltergeists or vengeful spirits. Don't forget Mercurial Geists. Incidentally, URW would also make for a good Ghostbuster legend. Say, some manner of Nephalian Artificer good at trapping geists?
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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've kinda felt like humans should exist outside the tribal element of Innistrad, so I might try adding aberrations instead of humans as the 5th aligned tribe, probably introduced by the eldrazi influence on the plane.
I kinda like the idea of humans in all colors. Horrors could work for UBG, like in your breakdown. I don't know what I'd replace my WUR humans with, though.
Since RG Werewolves include a lot of Humans, I'd say these would be my tricolor combinations for dedicated support:
RGW Humans WUB Spirits BGU Zombies RWB Vampires GUR Werewolves
Granted, you could also do GWU Humans, URW Spirits, and BRG Werewolves.
Really like this arrangement mixing up wedges and shards. Personally I like the second arrangement better as Jund Werewolves is awesome, while Temur werewolves are weak.
Also I would switch up Humans and Spirits. I know there's a strong precedent for GW humans in innistrad but the thing is, if one is promoting this color trios, you would need at least one card for each pair within trio. And UG in innistrad works way better in spirits over humans. Taking in consideration that the UG zombie card will already have awkward flavor, I think it's better to prioritize this pair.
You could always use off-color cards in lieu of gold cards. For example, a Green Human with a blue ability and a blue Zombie with a green ability. Or just pick one color to be the central color and have two off-color cards for each tribe.
W Human with U ability W Human with G ability U Spirit with W ability U Spirit with R ability B Zombie with U ability B Zombie with G ability R Vampire with B ability R Vampire with W ability G Wolf with R ability G Wolf with B ability
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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.
For a set return to Innistrad What if the tribal shifted to other aspects of Innistrad life? Maybe based more around class? This might be hard to fill out a whole set but if tribal remains a minor theme it could work.
WB cultists/angels
WR cathars/mercenaries
BG witches/shamans/elemental horrors
UR mad scientists/experiments
UG alchemists/hermits
For EDH does color balance across tribes matter? What about tribal color expansion going in the direction of the potential commanders available?
More Vampire support for Edgar Markov and Jeleva. Runo Stromkirk would make for a good UBR Vampire.
I could see a WGR Alena and Halana, Kessig Rangers card. A WRG Wolfir for Johanna and Pavel of the Silverfurs would also be cool. These could be sweet as partner commanders too
Black fits very well with the description of the Mondronen, Leeraug and Vildin Howlpacks. I could see a BR or BRG werewolf for Tovolar, Skaharra, and Rahilda
A UBG legendary sea monster could work on Innistrad. I think there is some lore about Nephalia cults to back that up.
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GWU Spirits (There was a decent presence for G geists and I found the green Innistrad Spirit flavor to be cool and spooky)
WUB Zombies (A bunch of non-Innistrad precedent recently from things like Varina, Lich Queen and embalm/Amonkhetu mummies)
UBR Vampires (Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge as well as Runo Stromkirk pull Vamps to U)
BRG Werewolves (Werewolves used to be B)
RGW Humans (Humans can kinda be pulled in any direction as they go in all colors anyway)
OR
GWU Humans (Ditto what I just said)
WUB Spirits (Being that they're undead, moving to black is fairly easy)
UBR Zombies (Not much to say other than with R you can include slashers and "fast" Zombies although that might go a bit against the theme of Innistradi Zombies)
BRG Vampires (I love the idea of feral Vamps in G and Vampires having their estates destroyed and being scattered into the woods makes story/karmic sense)
RGW Werewolves (Wolfir feel GW and I think Arlinn would be interesting as a RGW character)
There are other possibilities - going three shard and two wedge is logistically possible (for example RWB Vampires seem to fit pretty well given the aristocratic image, Sorin, Edgar, and recent non-Innistrad precedent on Ixalan) but I want to keep it to one of the schemata I laid out.
Thoughts?
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White zombies are basically Amonkhet's trademark, with a handful outside the plane as well. Their flavor is about as different from Innistrad zombies (both kinds) as a divergence within a creature type can be. The other white zombies at least earn their whiteness one way or another, with the exception of Varina, Lich Queen, which acts more like one of the many examples of playing fast and loose with the color pie to contort to EDH deckbuilding rules. Varina's whiteness is trinket text, and therefore should not be any kind of indicator that informs Innistrad zombie design.
Calling werewolves a black-aligned tribe is a little disingenuous given that there have only been three of them in that color, two of which predate the color pie and have weird counter mechanics. I think them being creatures of the night is the only reason they ended up as black in the first place. I do like the idea of Naya werewolves more, with the Wolfir.
What if you had an unbalanced color pie, like Ixalan had?
WUBR Vampires (subdivided by family, so no UW or 4-color vampires)
UB Zombies
RG Werewolves
GWU Spirits
BRGW Humans (subdivided into GW good guys, WB cultists, and RG human form werewolves)
Spirits:
: clearly works.
: could play on the vengeance side of the disembodied dead (already shown a bit on instants.)
: has the most precedence on innistrad, and does give some of the most unique flavor.
Zombies:
: would feel really weird on innistrad.
: this is the easiest sell to me, make a couple of zombies that are rage-fueled and this feels pretty fine.
: even weirder than mono-white zombies.
Vampires:
: aristocratic vampires work as white, probably the highest precedence.
: Mono-blue vampires would feel really off to me. I feel like they would eccencaly be vampire wizard that was a wizard that just happened to also be a vampire (Etrata kinda feels like this.)
: Green vampires would be a really hard sell in general, I feel like trying to introduce them to Innistrad would just make that harder.
Werewolves:
: seems like a natural place for Wolfir or even a more civilized werewolf to go (think: the guy who binds himself in a basement whenever he knows he's going to shift.)
: I could see alchemical werewolves on another plane, but they don't feel particularly Innistrad to me (or would be a very big shift story wise).
: If Innistrad werewolves went black I would expect it to come as a plot point of a new alpha with more personal or ruthless ambitions or something like that.
Humans: Really anything goes, but they should probably avoid black as part of the townsfolk identity.
So... of the two, I would go with your first set.
WU : Supports both Zombies and Spirits
UB : Supports both Vampires and Zombies
BR : Supports both vampires and werewolves
RG : Supports both humans and werewolves
GW : Supports both humans and spirits
WB : Supports zombies
UR : Supports Vampires
BG : Supports Werewolves
RW : Supports Humans
GU : Supports Spirits
In the original innistrad and in SOI, only half the color pairs were concerned with tribal. It was a minor but important theme of the formats and people liked it because there were other things to do alongside tribal. By expanding the tribes to three colors, you make tribal into a major theme of the format, to the point where literally every color pair is trying to support at least one tribe and sometimes multiple tribes.
I don't think the direction you are heading in is a good one. If you want to make the tribes of innistrad feel free fresh again, I'd recommend just coming up with new mechanical space for the existing tribes to play in. Make them play differently. If you really want to shake things up, you could push the tribes into different color pairs, but I suspect you will run into a different problem if you do. The tribes just won't feel like innistrad tribes. For example, zombies on innistrad are UB. If you push them to some other color pair, you will also change the underlying flavor and they will end up feeling like they belong on some other plane. WB zombies are an Amonkhet thing for example.
- Manite
Hopefully I'll be able to do preliminary designs for this small project tonight.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
RGW Humans
WUB Spirits
BGU Zombies
RWB Vampires
GUR Werewolves
Granted, you could also do GWU Humans, URW Spirits, and BRG Werewolves.
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 guess that breaks from your allied triplets only concept. For what it's worth, I think a mix of allied and enemy triplets would be fun, and make it feel more like the focus is on the tribes and not the color combinations. And I like WBR Vampires, too.
So my take on it would be...
WUG Spirits
UBG Zombies
WBR Vampires
BRG Werewolves
And that leaves WUR for the humans.
• Recent Card Ideas • My Drawings at DeviantArt
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
WBG Humans
URW Spirits
BGU Zombies
RWB Vampires
GUR Werewolves
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.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
GWU - Spirits
UBR - Zombies
RWB - Vampires
RGW - Werewolves
BGU - Humans I guess
I've kinda felt like humans should exist outside the tribal element of Innistrad, so I might try adding aberrations instead of humans as the 5th aligned tribe, probably introduced by the eldrazi influence on the plane.
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.
• Recent Card Ideas • My Drawings at DeviantArt
Really like this arrangement mixing up wedges and shards. Personally I like the second arrangement better as Jund Werewolves is awesome, while Temur werewolves are weak.
Also I would switch up Humans and Spirits. I know there's a strong precedent for GW humans in innistrad but the thing is, if one is promoting this color trios, you would need at least one card for each pair within trio. And UG in innistrad works way better in spirits over humans. Taking in consideration that the UG zombie card will already have awkward flavor, I think it's better to prioritize this pair.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
W Human with U ability
W Human with G ability
U Spirit with W ability
U Spirit with R ability
B Zombie with U ability
B Zombie with G ability
R Vampire with B ability
R Vampire with W ability
G Wolf with R ability
G Wolf with B ability
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.
WB cultists/angels
WR cathars/mercenaries
BG witches/shamans/elemental horrors
UR mad scientists/experiments
UG alchemists/hermits
For EDH does color balance across tribes matter? What about tribal color expansion going in the direction of the potential commanders available?
More Vampire support for Edgar Markov and Jeleva. Runo Stromkirk would make for a good UBR Vampire.
I could see a WGR Alena and Halana, Kessig Rangers card. A WRG Wolfir for Johanna and Pavel of the Silverfurs would also be cool. These could be sweet as partner commanders too
Black fits very well with the description of the Mondronen, Leeraug and Vildin Howlpacks. I could see a BR or BRG werewolf for Tovolar, Skaharra, and Rahilda
A UBG legendary sea monster could work on Innistrad. I think there is some lore about Nephalia cults to back that up.