It's called "agile," and the idea is that it groups the evergreen creature keywords that are most evocative of agile or nimble movement. What I need help with is deciding which mechanics are deemed "agile".
I specifically need mechanics that, in a total vacuum, communicate that the creature has enhanced mobility, and not mechanics that could, under certain conditions, be interpreted that way. For example, I think haste would count as agile, but vigilance would not, even though both could be interpreted to represent physical speed, as seen on Samut, Voice of Dissent. I also want to avoid mechanics like first strike, which have flavor more associated with combat ability than nimble movement, because this mechanic is supposed to care more about traversal than specifically moving around in combat.
The three I have in mind at the moment are flash, flying, and haste. I especially like the idea of a mechanic caring about creatures with flash and haste, because those keywords are usually meaningless after a turn. This would turn them into markers similar to creature types for the purposes of "tribal" bonuses, which seems like untapped design space. Here are some examples of the kinds of cards this mechanic would go on:
Nimble Mountaineer2R
Creature - Goat Rogue
2/2
Haste
Whenever ~ or another agile creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +1/+0 until your next turn. (Creatures that have flash, flying, and/or haste are agile.)
Canyon GuideURW
Creature - Bird Scout
2/3
Flying
Other agile creatures you control get +1/+1 and can't be blocked except by agile creatures. (Creatures that have flash, flying, and/or haste are agile.)
This seems like it could be a fun grouping for a'la historic was in dominaria. I guess the next step would be you need a set where this is relevant and probably a faction to play it off against.
As to your actual request if hexproof was still evergreen it would be the hardest for me to decide upon. It has been depicted in different ways at different times but mostly struck me as agile. But of the current ones I think Flash, Haste, and flying are the ones you want so I think the mechanic is good to go as is you just need a reason for it to exist in your context just like historic needed a reason to exist.
edit: fwiw I agree that vigilance doesn't convey speed to me and always felt it felt weird on Samut. I do think double strike feels agile but first strike doesn't and splitting them feels weird.
This seems like it could be a fun grouping for a'la historic was in dominaria. I guess the next step would be you need a set where this is relevant and probably a faction to play it off against.
As to your actual request if hexproof was still evergreen it would be the hardest for me to decide upon. It has been depicted in different ways at different times but mostly struck me as agile. But of the current ones I think Flash, Haste, and flying are the ones you want so I think the mechanic is good to go as is you just need a reason for it to exist in your context just like historic needed a reason to exist.
I have a setting and faction in mind. It's basically Bizarre Alara, five sub planes that each represent a wedge of the color pie. Each one is an extremely hostile environment for one reason or another. The set focuses on how people within that environment survive the harsh conditions. The URW environment is a vast canyon carved up by deadly rapids, so in order to survive there, you need to have ways of getting around without falling to your death. Climbing, jumping, grappling, flying, parkour, etc. are all ways to traverse the crumbling cliffs. That's what this mechanic is supposed to emphasize.
I've reviewed most keywords and I could only see two other mechanics fit there:
- Ninjutsu (even if IMO it's too much of a niche mechanic to be revelant here),
- Skulk (but it's been discontinued).
Flying, Haste and Flash work well, but if you wanted to expand it a bit, I think the best option would be to add First and Double Strikes. Even if they are mostly tied to combat, they are linked to a certain kind of dexterity and swiftness. It might not match with 100% of creatures, but in the same way, Flying is sometimes given to big creatures that don't scream agility like great dragons or demons.
Either way, I've always really liked batching mechanics, especially here where it gives a cool interest to Haste beyond the first turn.
The one tracking caveat is that there are cards and abilities like Riot that grant haste and never take it away (since it doesn’t matter after turn 1) so players would need to be aware of those instances of stealth haste when counting
The only thing I might add is adding a set specific mechanic to the batch like Historic did with Saga's. Otherwise that seems like a perfect match of flavor and mechanics.
If you wanted more abilities in the batch you could bring dash back and use Dash (not sure if this works as I don't know the comprehensive rules but it's a great fit for flavor and maybe could work in your hypothetical set).
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I specifically need mechanics that, in a total vacuum, communicate that the creature has enhanced mobility, and not mechanics that could, under certain conditions, be interpreted that way. For example, I think haste would count as agile, but vigilance would not, even though both could be interpreted to represent physical speed, as seen on Samut, Voice of Dissent. I also want to avoid mechanics like first strike, which have flavor more associated with combat ability than nimble movement, because this mechanic is supposed to care more about traversal than specifically moving around in combat.
The three I have in mind at the moment are flash, flying, and haste. I especially like the idea of a mechanic caring about creatures with flash and haste, because those keywords are usually meaningless after a turn. This would turn them into markers similar to creature types for the purposes of "tribal" bonuses, which seems like untapped design space. Here are some examples of the kinds of cards this mechanic would go on:
Nimble Mountaineer 2R
Creature - Goat Rogue
2/2
Haste
Whenever ~ or another agile creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +1/+0 until your next turn. (Creatures that have flash, flying, and/or haste are agile.)
Canyon Guide URW
Creature - Bird Scout
2/3
Flying
Other agile creatures you control get +1/+1 and can't be blocked except by agile creatures. (Creatures that have flash, flying, and/or haste are agile.)
As to your actual request if hexproof was still evergreen it would be the hardest for me to decide upon. It has been depicted in different ways at different times but mostly struck me as agile. But of the current ones I think Flash, Haste, and flying are the ones you want so I think the mechanic is good to go as is you just need a reason for it to exist in your context just like historic needed a reason to exist.
edit: fwiw I agree that vigilance doesn't convey speed to me and always felt it felt weird on Samut. I do think double strike feels agile but first strike doesn't and splitting them feels weird.
- Ninjutsu (even if IMO it's too much of a niche mechanic to be revelant here),
- Skulk (but it's been discontinued).
Flying, Haste and Flash work well, but if you wanted to expand it a bit, I think the best option would be to add First and Double Strikes. Even if they are mostly tied to combat, they are linked to a certain kind of dexterity and swiftness. It might not match with 100% of creatures, but in the same way, Flying is sometimes given to big creatures that don't scream agility like great dragons or demons.
Either way, I've always really liked batching mechanics, especially here where it gives a cool interest to Haste beyond the first turn.
The one tracking caveat is that there are cards and abilities like Riot that grant haste and never take it away (since it doesn’t matter after turn 1) so players would need to be aware of those instances of stealth haste when counting
If you wanted more abilities in the batch you could bring dash back and use Dash (not sure if this works as I don't know the comprehensive rules but it's a great fit for flavor and maybe could work in your hypothetical set).