The main mechanic of a set I've been designing for years now. Adayum is like generating mana, but the mana acts a little differently. It's composed of 2 or more colors.
Dreglight Timbers (C)
Land
Dreglight Timbers enters the battlefield tapped and you lose 1 life. T: add a. This mana is both B and G mana.
The uncommon lands enter the battlefield untapped. Are fetchable, but allow your opponent to scry 1 when they enter and are a little slower than shocklands.
Eerie Hallows (U)
Land - Forest
When Eerie Hallows enters the battlefield your opponents may scry 1. GT: add 1a. This a mana is both B and G
Mana produced by these lands can pay for either color in a mana cost.
So if you were casting a spell that costs BG you could pay for either the Black or the Green with either. Pretty basic. BUT where this stands out is in the cards in the set.
Decaying Growth 1a (C)
Instant
If a was paid with G create a 2/1 Green fungus creature token.
If a was paid with B put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.
This feature is fantastic for limited as both "cards" are somewhat playable. More the green side, but a really decent card if you can manage to produce the Adayum mana to fully power the spell.
The set is designed so each color pair has a common and an uncommon land to produce this mana. The rare land also exists so it's possible to have 12 lands in a 2 color deck that do this as well as a few green creatures and 2 artifacts. If you wanted to design your deck around this mechanic it's totally possible.
Adayumite Core (R)
Legendary Land
At the beginning of your upkeep you may tap an untapped permanent you control. If you do not you lose 1 life, sacrifice Adayumite Core, and draw a card. T: add a. This mana is WUBRG mana. (All colors)
A few more cards from the set.
Adayum Dispersal 1Ua (U)
Instant
If a was paid with U counter target noncreature spell.
If a was paid with W tap target creature, put a stun counter on it and gain 2 life.
Keeper of the Furnace RBa (U)
Creature - Goblin Zombie
Firststrike
If a was paid with B put a +1/+1 counter on Keeper of the Furnace and target player loses 2 life.
If a was paid with R put a +1/+1 counter on Keeper of the Furnace and it deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
1/1
Beastial Carnage a (C)
Instant
If a was paid with R target creature gets +1/+1 and Firststrike until end of turn.
If a was paid with G target creature gets +1/+1 and Trample until end of turn.
The lands are purposely designed to be slow and have a slight drawback. Adayum spells are quite powerful so they are designed to play catch-up for proper balancing. Also the spells are designed to be slightly suboptimal if you can't produce the Adayum mana needed. That way they are passable, not completely unplayable, if you don't get the producers needed. This is heavily designed for limited play. Probably would be able to enter standard and possibly pioneer or modern with the right deck build but not be a dominant force.
Adayum Helix a (C)
Instant
If a was paid with W you gain 2 life.
If a was paid with R Adayum Helix deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
Story wise Adayum (ã dāy ūm) is the force that holds a broken plane together. The plane was shattered like so many when Urza actived the Sylex. The plane consists of floating lands around a fiery core. The lands, or floating continents, frequently smash into one another. When this happens a strange mana is shot off. Like a spark from a flint. Over the years the tribes on these lands have tried to tether lands together. The advanced people use iron cables to do this. The more primitive tribes use vines and ropes. The dark tribes use negative energy. The holy use spirit bindings. They do this to actively try to prevent these collisions from taking place. This has benefits. First it stops cities from being crushed in these collisions. Sometimes the impact could ricochet the smaller floating island in an unpredictable way. A peace loving tribe could find themselves coming closer and closer to an unholy land filled with devils and the undead for instance. In the worst case scenario the people of a smaller continent could find themselves floating off into space. In between the core and the floating lands is a thick heavy mist. It's nearly a fluid made up of water and pure mana. This keeps the intense heat of the core from baking everyone on the lands as well as being a breeding ground for leviathans and other large unnatural creations. On the most outer continents there are frozen glaciers hiding ancient secrets beneath impenetrable ice sheets. No one here knows what force shattered their once peaceful realm. The only choice left is to try to survive in these dark times. The very same Adayum mana that holds the plane somewhere intact is also responsible for holding the unhallowed spirits to this realm. Hope is nearly lost to all who dwell here.
Recently however one of the lands holding a frozen glacier drifted down. As the ice began to melt the people found tablets and clay cylinders describing machinations that could alter the entire plane. Many have visions of the world being whole again. Releasing the Adayum mana and once again belonging. That's where this story begins.
It's interesting but it might be a bit paracidic as only the lands from the set can cast the spells in the set at full power. The spells might be better with the "if X was spent do A, if Y was spent do B" Lorrowin hybrid text.
The lands could be interesting along side the existing hybrid spells, again hybrid mana might just be an easier way to do this kinda thing but I don't know how the rules handle tapping for hybrid.
First, a rules problem. Your ability of "If _ was paid do X" Due to how the rules for casting spells work. This can't target unless it's part of a creature's ETB or part of a delayed trigger. That is because targets are chosen long before costs are paid and you can't look into the future to see what you will pay but you can look to the past to see what you did pay.
Second, you are vastly underestimating your lands. As is, your uncommon lands are heads and shoulders above every other uncommon land in print. Uncommon lands don't get to tap for colored mana unrestricted and enter untapped. If you look, you won't find any other than one or two early mistakes. You yourself compare them to shocklands. Which are considered some of the most powerful rare lands in modern-day magic. Further, your rare land is broken as heck. It not only is a rainbow land without a downside on the first turn its played. But it also lets you cast an instant on your second turn after playing it then it sacrifices to draw a card. While leaving you the option of putting off the sacrifice either by tapping itself it it was played the first turn or by tapping any other land or worthless permanent you happened to play.
Last, I have a question. You're not using the existing hybrid symbol in either the costs or the creation. So is this going to be eleven+ new symbols or would it reuse the hybrid symbol, except where impossible? (B/G) vs a If you don't know how to do hybrid symbols it's [mana ]{BG}[ /mana] without the spaces. The order matters for each pair.
I think it would be better to word your cards like Tin Street Hooligan etc..
Also, i think the wording would be better to add (R/G) etc... on the lands as WOTC already established it as such.
How would you track the colors/type of mana with multiple lands, mana flare etc..
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I simply don’t think that this would work in a draft environment.
I remember when people were playing Oath of the Gatewatch and needing to draft colorless producers and wastes in order to use the strongest cards (or drafting sources of snow mana in Kaldheim, for a more recent example) was a bit of a headache when there was essentially just ONE category of mana (snow mana or colorless mana) being introduced.
Making a set where there are 10 new forms of mana and your spells feel underwhelming unless you match the exact right mana to the right spell sounds like an exercise in absolute frustration, even if you go the way of Dragon’s maze and have a dedicated land slot for your fixing lands in each pack.
Dreglight Timbers (C)
Land
Dreglight Timbers enters the battlefield tapped and you lose 1 life.
T: add a. This mana is both B and G mana.
The uncommon lands enter the battlefield untapped. Are fetchable, but allow your opponent to scry 1 when they enter and are a little slower than shocklands.
Eerie Hallows (U)
Land - Forest
When Eerie Hallows enters the battlefield your opponents may scry 1.
GT: add 1a. This a mana is both B and G
Mana produced by these lands can pay for either color in a mana cost.
So if you were casting a spell that costs BG you could pay for either the Black or the Green with either. Pretty basic. BUT where this stands out is in the cards in the set.
Decaying Growth 1a (C)
Instant
If a was paid with G create a 2/1 Green fungus creature token.
If a was paid with B put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.
This feature is fantastic for limited as both "cards" are somewhat playable. More the green side, but a really decent card if you can manage to produce the Adayum mana to fully power the spell.
The set is designed so each color pair has a common and an uncommon land to produce this mana. The rare land also exists so it's possible to have 12 lands in a 2 color deck that do this as well as a few green creatures and 2 artifacts. If you wanted to design your deck around this mechanic it's totally possible.
Adayumite Core (R)
Legendary Land
At the beginning of your upkeep you may tap an untapped permanent you control. If you do not you lose 1 life, sacrifice Adayumite Core, and draw a card.
T: add a. This mana is WUBRG mana. (All colors)
A few more cards from the set.
Adayum Dispersal 1Ua (U)
Instant
If a was paid with U counter target noncreature spell.
If a was paid with W tap target creature, put a stun counter on it and gain 2 life.
Keeper of the Furnace RBa (U)
Creature - Goblin Zombie
Firststrike
If a was paid with B put a +1/+1 counter on Keeper of the Furnace and target player loses 2 life.
If a was paid with R put a +1/+1 counter on Keeper of the Furnace and it deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
1/1
Beastial Carnage a (C)
Instant
If a was paid with R target creature gets +1/+1 and Firststrike until end of turn.
If a was paid with G target creature gets +1/+1 and Trample until end of turn.
The lands are purposely designed to be slow and have a slight drawback. Adayum spells are quite powerful so they are designed to play catch-up for proper balancing. Also the spells are designed to be slightly suboptimal if you can't produce the Adayum mana needed. That way they are passable, not completely unplayable, if you don't get the producers needed. This is heavily designed for limited play. Probably would be able to enter standard and possibly pioneer or modern with the right deck build but not be a dominant force.
Adayum Helix a (C)
Instant
If a was paid with W you gain 2 life.
If a was paid with R Adayum Helix deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
Story wise Adayum (ã dāy ūm) is the force that holds a broken plane together. The plane was shattered like so many when Urza actived the Sylex. The plane consists of floating lands around a fiery core. The lands, or floating continents, frequently smash into one another. When this happens a strange mana is shot off. Like a spark from a flint. Over the years the tribes on these lands have tried to tether lands together. The advanced people use iron cables to do this. The more primitive tribes use vines and ropes. The dark tribes use negative energy. The holy use spirit bindings. They do this to actively try to prevent these collisions from taking place. This has benefits. First it stops cities from being crushed in these collisions. Sometimes the impact could ricochet the smaller floating island in an unpredictable way. A peace loving tribe could find themselves coming closer and closer to an unholy land filled with devils and the undead for instance. In the worst case scenario the people of a smaller continent could find themselves floating off into space. In between the core and the floating lands is a thick heavy mist. It's nearly a fluid made up of water and pure mana. This keeps the intense heat of the core from baking everyone on the lands as well as being a breeding ground for leviathans and other large unnatural creations. On the most outer continents there are frozen glaciers hiding ancient secrets beneath impenetrable ice sheets. No one here knows what force shattered their once peaceful realm. The only choice left is to try to survive in these dark times. The very same Adayum mana that holds the plane somewhere intact is also responsible for holding the unhallowed spirits to this realm. Hope is nearly lost to all who dwell here.
Recently however one of the lands holding a frozen glacier drifted down. As the ice began to melt the people found tablets and clay cylinders describing machinations that could alter the entire plane. Many have visions of the world being whole again. Releasing the Adayum mana and once again belonging. That's where this story begins.
The lands could be interesting along side the existing hybrid spells, again hybrid mana might just be an easier way to do this kinda thing but I don't know how the rules handle tapping for hybrid.
Second, you are vastly underestimating your lands. As is, your uncommon lands are heads and shoulders above every other uncommon land in print. Uncommon lands don't get to tap for colored mana unrestricted and enter untapped. If you look, you won't find any other than one or two early mistakes. You yourself compare them to shocklands. Which are considered some of the most powerful rare lands in modern-day magic. Further, your rare land is broken as heck. It not only is a rainbow land without a downside on the first turn its played. But it also lets you cast an instant on your second turn after playing it then it sacrifices to draw a card. While leaving you the option of putting off the sacrifice either by tapping itself it it was played the first turn or by tapping any other land or worthless permanent you happened to play.
Last, I have a question. You're not using the existing hybrid symbol in either the costs or the creation. So is this going to be eleven+ new symbols or would it reuse the hybrid symbol, except where impossible? (B/G) vs a If you don't know how to do hybrid symbols it's [mana ]{BG}[ /mana] without the spaces. The order matters for each pair.
Also, i think the wording would be better to add (R/G) etc... on the lands as WOTC already established it as such.
How would you track the colors/type of mana with multiple lands, mana flare etc..
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I remember when people were playing Oath of the Gatewatch and needing to draft colorless producers and wastes in order to use the strongest cards (or drafting sources of snow mana in Kaldheim, for a more recent example) was a bit of a headache when there was essentially just ONE category of mana (snow mana or colorless mana) being introduced.
Making a set where there are 10 new forms of mana and your spells feel underwhelming unless you match the exact right mana to the right spell sounds like an exercise in absolute frustration, even if you go the way of Dragon’s maze and have a dedicated land slot for your fixing lands in each pack.