Hello and welcome to my Massively Multiplayer Online Custom Card Creation Role Playing Game. My ruleset/game methodology it slightly different than others, so I am going to lay it out here in this post: You will play as a character in a world of my creation, voyaging forth and doing whatever you want. Obstacles and challenges will stand in your path (and hopefully you will seek them out) and you will have to create custom magic cards to overcome them. These cards will be graded on a scale from 0-20, with up to 10 points assigned based on card design, and up to 10 points assigned based on how well it fits the lore and situation, including whether it feels connected to your particular character. If your card scores high enough (each challenge will have a score required for success that I will tell you), you succeed and move forward. If not, you may have to suffer the consequences. Each challenge will also have guidelines, restrictions, and in some cases bonus point opportunities.
You have no persistent mana pool or hand size for the purposes of your adventuring. Your only limitations for what you can design are those laid forth in the specific challenge. Also, as has always been a general rule for my MMOCCCRPGS, you can't take permanent cards with you. There may be exceptions for this, but they will have to be earned. The basic rule, though, is you can't design a creature/artifact/enchantment/land and then have access to it for the rest of the game.
You will be represented by a card, and as you progress through the story and world, your avatar will improve. You will also have abilities distinct from your card, which can be earned through progressing, and an inventory. It is up to you to keep track of your avatar, abilities, and inventory, and I beg of you to please post all three in every post you make in this thread, whether they've changed since your last post or not.
The final rule of the game is more lore-based: Please do not build the world too much. What I enjoy most in this is building the world and telling these stories, and I often have some long term plans in mind - please don't disrupt these plans by inventing your own locations or major characters - and please try to avoid speaking on NPCs' behalf in your posts.
I think, hopefully, that is all the rules I need to lay out. You can do whatever you want, and explore as you see fit. I will do my best to keep the lore consistent, from NPCs to geography to story and history and all that jazz. Your job is to have fun, explore, design interesting magic cards, and possibly decide the fate of our home plane:
KRYNSIA
I will not say much about this plane, partially because I want to give myself freedom to make stuff up, and partially because what I do know for sure about the plane is part of the story that I want you to unfold for yourselves. Hopefully that's more intriguing than it is frustrating.
SIGNUPS ARE BACK OPEN:
You can sign up one of two ways: 1) just say you want to play, or 2) if you want to skip the "character creation" part of the game, read what has happened up through post #27 and post a character who could exist at that point. I'd say what that means, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't been reading along and is looking to be surprised.
Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
My thoughts are with the friends and family of the Orlando Shooting victims and with the rest of the LGBTQA+ community.
Check out my Newborder Peasant Cube here! http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/37467
Necarg, please don't acknowledge this in any way whatsoever.
True Name Mafia (Win),Clan Contest IX Mafia (Win), Bravely Default Mafia (Loss), BOTAS (loss), BfV (Loss), Ace Attourney (loss)
Rules Advisor before they were eradicated
You awaken - for lack of a better word - in the middle of muck. Your vision is blurry and all you can see is a sort of translucent dark blueness all around. Your sense of touch comes more quickly, and you feel... “oozy.” The word struggles to come to your mind. All language, in fact, seems belabored, as does any self-reflexive thought. “Where am I?” leads to other questions: Who am I, What am I, etc. These precious seconds spent lost in philosophy have given your senses time to acclimate to your consciousness. You feel gravity - your first indication that one direction is “down” while another is “up.” You turn to look up and the color around you changes slightly for the browner. You move your body up through the ooze and emerge, suddenly flooded by a world of new images.
Looking around, you see several large black vats. One by one, you see forms emerge from them, each as confused-looking as you, and each seemingly made of the same ooze in which you were swimming, but in a vaguely humanoid form. You see one of the others climb out from their vat and step onto the ground. You look around and find that you are in a quite large room. There are no windows and the light is dim. You get the feeling you’re underground.
“We haven’t much time. Please, come with me.”
You and your oozy brethren look to an arched doorway, where you see a man - an apparent archer or ranger of sorts - standing and looking at you. “Please hurry, there’s no time to explain.”
The lot of you emerge from your vats and follow the man. You go up a spiral staircase that seems almost endless, finally emerging into a small circular courtyard, walled off by tall stones. Around the circumference stand a set of statues.
“The magic of this place has waned long ago. It took all of its power to create you in the first place, but you aren’t like the others who came before. Soon your form will be set for life.”
This remark from the mysterious archer triggers a realization in you. You look down to your own arm and watch as you shift it from a human arm to a long bat’s wing to a giant hammer and back to an arm again.
“I know you don’t have much to go on, but you must choose a form now before it’s too late. Look to the statues for guidance. It is important that you be able to blend in, or else I fear you’ll be the subject of unwanted attention.”
GAME DETAILS:
Here, everyone, is your avatar and info for the time-being. Please start including it all in your posts, just to get in the habit of it, since it will be more crucial later.
Design a non-creature artifact card to represent the statue in the courtyard that you’re choosing to take the form of. It should be clear from the card what creature type (race, not class) the statue is, and this will become your creature type for the rest of the game - so choose wisely. It should be something that can travel on land, hold objects, and talk. I have given this challenge a pretty low difficulty, but if you fail this challenge, you may not end up being the creature type you were hoping for.
Difficulty Score: 12
Restrictions/Clarifications:
Must be a colorless non-creature artifact
Tribal is allowed
I see the image of many creatures. The fangs of a flying impostor, the wailing soul of a specter, the vigilance of the four-legged man, and the blandness of the normal man. But none strike my fancy as much as the power, fear, strength, and rage of the bull-headed one.
The Minotaur's Image4
Tribal Artifact - Minotaur (U)
Minotaur creatures you control have trample.
Whenever a Minotaur enters the battlefield, Minotaur creatures you control get +2/+0. "The embodiment of fear and power in one." ~Etched on the Statue
My thoughts are with the friends and family of the Orlando Shooting victims and with the rest of the LGBTQA+ community.
Check out my Newborder Peasant Cube here! http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/37467
Necarg, please don't acknowledge this in any way whatsoever.
True Name Mafia (Win),Clan Contest IX Mafia (Win), Bravely Default Mafia (Loss), BOTAS (loss), BfV (Loss), Ace Attourney (loss)
Rules Advisor before they were eradicated
It did not understand. What was it? What is made of? Why were there many like him? What was that thing that led them away? What was a "statue", and why was it so important? Why, after so many questions, did it feel a pounding sensation on the very top of its body?
It did not know, for it could not fathom what it was. The only thing it could do was to move towards the "statues", like he had been ordered by the two-legged thing. It roamed from statue to statue, looking at them with...what, exactly? It did not know, but it could see. Its legs did not stay in their original form, and although it walked it was on shaky ground; its slimy body did not stay in its original form for more than a second. In its confusion, it changed and changed, leaving a small trail of...something behind it as it moved.
Then, it settled before a peculiar statue. It was large, and it saw many things on it. Many small creatures, yes; the upper part of their body were like that of the thing that had led them there, but they had two horns sticking out from the top. Their lower body was very different; it was fuzzy and...what were those things, the things that they walked on? They looked strange; a uniform mass that it could not understand fully.
The small creatures were..."celebrating", it understood. With expressions of joy the smaller people "danced" - the words came to it like a flash as it thought -, celebrating...something, but what? As they danced, they knocked the "temple" around them to the ground, shattering its "stone". Dominating the other, smaller people was a large being of the same race. Its eyes were shining with "mischief" and "destruction". It pointed fiercely as it "laughed", visibly "commanding" the rest. Some of them, however, were not dancing. They were..."searching" for something? But what?
Its gaze drifted to a plaque under the statue. It could not read, but still it could see...
---- Image of Revelry and Wandering4
Artifact {R} T: Add R or G to your mana pool. 2R, T: Destroy target artifact. 2G, T: Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. "Drink! Feast! Tonight, we are kings!" - Xenagos
What do satyrs do? Well, they destroy stuff, and if they aren't destroying stuff they're out wandering. Thus...
Formlessness. It's a particularly eerie sensation, having no other frames of reference. One has to be chosen, a form that will serve as a template for the coming times. There are several to choose from, but one resonates strongly with...it. Still no good frame of reference. Ideally, however, that would change. The form of the statue was human, but possessed several angelic qualities as well - perhaps part of some higher blessing.
Soul of Alabaster4
Artifact (Uncommon)
Aura spells you cast cost WU less to cast. This effect reduces only the amount of colored mana you pay.
Creatures you control that are enchanted have flying. Bruna's sacred light reaches across even the deepest crevices of Innistrad's depths
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Staring at its slimy form-or rather lack thereof-the first thought that crossed the creature's mind was power. Looking a the statues, he was first drawn to that of a towering baloth but sought more than mere brute force. A glint in a dark corner struck its eye and it headed towards a gilded serpentine statue, that despite its obvious decay and the moss creeping across it, radiated a sense of ancient might. Noseless, it could not sense the stench of rotting flesh that emanated from it.
Sultai Relic 7
Artifact [R]
Delve 1B:Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard. 4G:Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. A clan of necromancers is never truly dead.
If there was a word for what the Vatborn was feeling, it would perhaps be disappointment. Despite it's formlessness, the vatborn enjoyed its versatility. So as he flowed amongst the staues, he saw forms of strength and forms of fear-inspiring viasages however none that appealed to it.
Until...
The Vatborn stopped at a statue. It was a humanoid creature whose gills,fins, and webbed fingers signified that it would thrive underwater and yet it stood on two legs and seemed equally comfortable on land. The creature was kneeling beside a pool of water. its finger dipping into the water. The Vatborn moved closer and saw that the pool of water was spinning around and around by it's own accord. Around and around it spun, and the Vatborn couldn't help but be mesmerized by it.
Around and around...
Around and around...
The Vatborn suddenly grew alarmed and pulled away from the pool as he realized what was happening. However after the surprise faded a new emotion set in.
Happiness.
Yes, this creature here seemed to posses the versatility and the cunning this Vatborn required. Stepping back up to the pool the Vatborn slid an oozy limb into the pool as his form began to shift and change into a duplicate of the kneeling creature.
Whirlpool Idol3
Tribal Artifact-Merfolk (R)
Merfolk creatures you control get +1/+1 and have islandwalk.
Whenever a Merfolk enters the battlefield, target creature an opponent controls gets -3/-0 until end of turn. As mysterious and mesmerizing as the sea itself.
Hopefully nothing got jumbled in all my pasting back and forth between this and google drive:
The Minotaur’s Image
Design: Starting off nitpicky, I feel like the player-friendly wording would have it say “Whenever ~ or another Minotaur” but I almost never take off for small wording things like that and I don’t plan to here. This is a fun tribal lordly artifact. It can be a little dangerous that it does indeed trigger off itself, especially if you have a decent minotaur deck and get this out in multiples. That said, minotaur support isn’t exactly brilliant right now so that’s not a huge worry. This is to say: It’s a fun card but bears the risk of being too bad in an environment without good minotaurs and too good in an environment with them, especially in limited at uncommon. I like all the internal flavor though. 7.5/10
Flavor: Yes, perfect, not much to say here. Couldn’t be truer to the challenge. 10/10
Score: 17.5 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn1
Creature - Minotaur (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Image of Revelry and Wandering
Design: That’s a long name! I’m on an MSE-less mac so I can’t test if it’s too long, but maybe... ANYWAY, I worry a bit about the power level of this, though at rare these days, I guess it’s really just a drop in the bucket. I would be more comfortable seeing it as a spellshaper artifact, which cheaper mana costs for the abilities but with “discard a card” costs added - and the main cost dropped. That said, it’s a four mana artifact that takes three more mana to make any immediate impact, so it’s probably absolutely fine and I’m just paranoid. I do like how the abilities each correspond to the words in the name. 7/10
Flavor: My barometer for this challenge is “can I look at the card first without reading the text and know what the creature type is” and with yours, I actually could, even though you don’t name it outright. That seems like a good thing to me. 9.5/10
Score: 16.5 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn1
Creature - Satyr (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Soul of Alabaster
Design: Very interesting. I’m sure there’s a way to break that cost reduction but since you have to play an artifact that’s not immediately threatening AND use Auras, maybe you deserve it if you manage to get a big win with this card. I worry a little about this at uncommon but it’s probably too weak for rare. It’s a nice niche card. 7.5/10
Flavor: My barometer for this challenge is “can I look at the card first without reading the text and know what the creature type is” and with yours, I couldn’t quite manage it. Then I read your game text and I still couldn’t quite tell if we’re going for human or angel or human angel. You have good statue-flavor here and I’m a sucker for the word alabaster, but you might not end up with the creature type you want just because I am not sure what it is. 4.5/10
Score: 12 - SUCCESS (barely)
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn1
Creature - Human (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Cloudwalker Idol
Design: This seems right. I think you had a lower-costed-ability version up earlier and that one seemed too pushed, but now it’s much more balanced. Flavor makes sense internally, yada yada yada... 9/10
Flavor: Yup. Clearly a statue of a clearly specified creature type. 10/10
Score: 19 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn1
Creature - Faerie (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Sultai Relic
Design: Even with delve, I can’t help but feel like most aspects of this card are overcosted. If the grave-to-hand cost 1 less and the the casting cost were 1 or 2 less, I think we’d be looking at something a little more competitive, especially at rare these days. That said, even as-is, I can see this having a lot of combo potential, so maybe your playing it safer on costs is wise. It feels Sultai. I’m gonna go with 7/10
Flavor: My barometer for this challenge is “can I look at the card first without reading the text and know what the creature type is” and with yours, I wasn’t sure. Clearly it’s something of Sultai relevance, so probably Naga, but they also have zombies and stuff - though that sort of wouldn’t make sense for this game. A minor thing also - It’s a little odd that this courtyard in a plane that doesn’t have Sultai in it would have a statue called “Sultai Relic.” Just something to keep in mind moving forward. Reading your game text it almost looks like “snake” is what you want, but snakes don’t have hands so... 5/10
Score: 12 - SUCCESS (barely, and mostly because I like the idea of a Naga player)
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn1
Creature - Naga (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Whirlpool Idol
Design: Yup, feels like a good accessory to what blue merfolk can do. Like that it has a reason to be tribal because it triggers off of itself. I think I might like it better without the islandwalk just because I do agree with phasing out mechanics that are so situational, but other than that, cool fun card. 7.5/10
Flavor: Yeah, makes sense to me. Clear and what I asked for. 10/10
Score: 17.5 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn1
Creature - Merfolk (C)
1/1
You flop around for a bit and ensure that your final form is a sort of variant of merfolk that can actually travel on land and breathe oxygen. You finally end up with something mostly stable.
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Groove Watch
Design: The mana accel is a little aggressive by current standards but at rare with that condition MAYBE you can get away with it. That second ability is very cool though. Temporarily cloning based on creature type is interesting and new at least to me, and I feel like that ability is costed correctly. Not sure why it’s called what it’s called - thinking you meant grove. Let’s say 7/10
Flavor: The name doesn’t feel very statue-y and there’s no flavor text to help on that front, but I guess seeing as it’s an artifact with those abilities, what else could it be. And the creature type is clear and specific. 7/10
Score: 14 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn1
Creature - Elf (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
The group’s adventure continues...
“Interesting choices,” the mysterious archer remarks to the crowd. “I suppose they’ll have to do. Now come with me. Let’s see if you can do what you were made for.”
You follow the archer through one of the courtyard exits and are surrounded by tall, thick brush which obscures your view. You can only see behind you, ahead, and above, where you see a gloomy night sky. It seems as though dawn may be approaching as a glimmer of yellow is peeking from the eastern horizon.
You come into another courtyard, much like the one you just left in terms of shape and size. But rather than have statues around the edge, there is a smaller ring of pedestals in the center of the courtyard.
“As I had mentioned, the magic of this place has all but wasted away. Hopefully, though, there was enough left when you were created to give you the power we need. To any natural-born son or daughter of Krynsia, these crystals would bring only pain. But to you, they can bring strength and powerful magicks. I fear in your weaker forms, though, it may still bring great strain upon you to accomplish this. You will likely only have the strength to harness power from a single crystal, and even then, not without great effort.”
You look at the five crystals before you: One white, one blue, one black, one red, and one green.
CHALLENGE:
Design a card that represents you harnessing the energy of a crystal.
Restrictions/Clarifications:
It must be an instant or sorcery.
It must cost exactly one mana and exactly match the color of the crystal you’re trying to harness. (This is, if you hadn’t guessed, the color your avatar will become.)
Bonuses/Penalties:
Doesn’t use “target”: +1
Is rare: -1
The minotaur, as the humanoid said it, walked to the pedestal. He examined the lights surrounding him. He shunned the blinding light, and disregarded the shimmering of the blue crystal. He shivered at the dark light, but was somewhat intrigued by it. The green light was bland and uninteresting to the minotaur. But the red crystal enticed him. The flare of the crystal, the power that surrounded it. He loved it.
He grasped for the red crystal, and with it, he screamed in pain. His mouth started to look as if it were burning coals. His eyes stated to burn with flame. As his pain climaxed, lightning formed out of his mouth before he shot back, his hair now a brilliant red.
Energy of RageR
Sorcery (C)
Energy of Rage deals 1 damage to each creature and each player.
Spell Mastery - If there are two or more instants and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, Energy of Rage instead deals 1 damage to each creature you don't control and 1 damage to each player. The power is unwieldy at first, but the skilled use it masterfully.
My thoughts are with the friends and family of the Orlando Shooting victims and with the rest of the LGBTQA+ community.
Check out my Newborder Peasant Cube here! http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/37467
Necarg, please don't acknowledge this in any way whatsoever.
True Name Mafia (Win),Clan Contest IX Mafia (Win), Bravely Default Mafia (Loss), BOTAS (loss), BfV (Loss), Ace Attourney (loss)
Rules Advisor before they were eradicated
Horns. "Hooves" and "fur", it finally understood. As its form shifted further, turning into a Satyr, the Vatborn finally began to understand. Words and images were forming in its head that it did not understand before; a personality was starting to form it, an identity. But, for now, it wasn't even sure it could speak properly. Therefore, it didn't add anything, although he was starting to understand that he didn't like the "human" that had been leading them along all this time. Who was he, to give them orders but no answers?
For now, however, the newly-formed Satyr decided to obey. There was no sense in rebelling while its own identity wasn't fully formed, it knew. It observed the crystals quietly for a moment, tapping its hooves on the ground as it watched. As the Minotaur put on quite the light show for them all, the Satyr raised its eyebrows with a quick chuckle. Now, that seemed interesting - although he was also drawn to the green crystal, the red one had proved that it could hold something more immediately interesting.
The Satyr hopped towards the red crystal once the Minotaur had been done with it. With a nimble step forward, he instead decided to put a single hand on it. Immediately, its hair and fur rose a sparkled with electricity as a thousand ideas ran through his head - the final step towards forming its...no...HIS final identity.
--- Unstable KnowledgeR
Sorcery {U}
Discard a card, then draw a card. Landfall - If you had a land enter the battlefield under your control this turn, instead discard a card, then draw two cards. A thousand images passed through him in an instant - and his own mind recoiled from the rush.
"Discard, then draw" is definitely in red's piece of the pie. But then, boom! Here comes the Landfall for a more conditional, but cheaper, Tormenting Voice. And Landfall is still evocative of Satyr themes.
The creature looked in dismay as its skins thickened and grew hard and scaly. It had expected a surge of power to accompany its transformation but now if anything was weaker, having lost its malleability, the sole power it possessed. Seeing the crystals, its spirits rose and it seized the black crystal.
Necromantic Toxin B
Instant {C}
Target creature gains deathtouch and persist until end of turn. "The advantage of using zombies is that you can coat them with the deadliest of toxins and only make them stronger"-Archlich Mordicant
Energy of Rage
Design: I like this, but can’t help but wonder if that spell mastery change might make it a pushed common.But I guess by the time you’ve mastered spells, a 1 damage sweep isn’t so devastating, and I do think it’s a cool use of spell mastery as a sort of overload-esque thing. 7.5/10
Flavor: I don’t get a huge energy-harnessing vibe from this. I kind of get it with the word energy in the name - which makes me think this is the energy itself that you’re harnessing, and it’s damaging you in the process like I said it would. I’m gonna call this not a total flavor win, but something that I can understand making some sense in the scenario. 6.5/10
Score: 14+1 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the red crystal and your avatar becomes:
VatbornR
Creature - Minotaur (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Show of Talent
Design: Sure. A sort of underwhelming “trick” to get some evasion and another ability that you can maybe make use of, maybe not. This feels like a common that would be printed, ignored for constructed, and taken maybe in like the 9 to 12 slot in draft then end up being useful. I do think it could’ve been an instant still at common and been a little better maybe. Internal flavor is cool. 7/10
Flavor: Sure. A little arrogant of you to just decide your character is great at harnessing crystals, but I do see how the card ties into the situation pretty well. I do wish it matched my description of it taking great pain and effort a bit, but hey, freedom of action is part of the game, so 6.5/10
Score: 13.5 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the blue crystal and your avatar becomes:
VatbornU
Creature - Faerie (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Dark Pulse
Design: Yeah, why not. Makes sense to me as a little win-more common. Obviously this isn’t getting played competitively but it feels printable as a sort of cute junk common. I do have some concern about it being a little too unexciting though. Internal flavor is fine though. 6.5/10
Flavor: I guess this is supposed to represent the energy emanating from the crystal which makes it harmful to people. We don’t really see a harnessing action here, but you’ve still stayed true to the lore of what’s going on around you in a believable way, and that’s good. 6/10
Score: 12.5+1 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the blue crystal and your avatar becomes:
VatbornB
Creature - Elf (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Unstable Knowledge
Design: This feels like a pretty reasonable card to me. You’re probably not going to play it without landfall, but with it, it’s fine, and if you manage to cast it with landfall and no cards in hand, then it’s very very good. (Too good?) I’m a fan of this card and its internal flavor, even if I do have some power-variance concerns. 8/10
Flavor: Yeah, I like this one a lot. It embodies the concept that you’re gaining fundamental knowledge and having to give something up/struggle in the process. It might go better off the crystal thing if it had artifactfall instead of landfall, but still, I’m a fan. 8/10
Score: 16+1 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the red crystal and your avatar becomes:
VatbornR
Creature - Satyr (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Necromantic Toxin
Design: I like this a lot, it’s simple and effective, my only concern is whether it should maybe cost 1 more or be uncommon. Flavor text seems like it conflicts a tiny bit with the mechanic of the card. (Having them come back stronger sounds more like undying than persist.) 8.5/10
Flavor: I like the subtle ways this works flavorfully, with deathtouch making it feel like you can safely touch death, and persist showing that there is endurance of suffering involved. 9/10
Score - 17.5 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the black crystal and your avatar becomes:
VatbornB
Creature - Naga (C)
1/1
***DONT FORGET TO UPDATE THIS IN YOUR POSTS**
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Your new lives begin:
“My Gods, it’s true,” the archer exclaims as you each manage to harness the energy from one of the crystals without dying. You each feel your forms take a stronger hold and then, suddenly, it feels like a small extra weight has been added to your body - not a real weight, but the weigh of permanence. Your form and your energies have been locked in.
“Perhaps now there is some time to explain. There was a time, not all that long ago, when your kind was created for - and then sacrificed upon - the battlefield. Soldiers, born from the vat, able to take on the forms of fearsome monsters and grow more and more powerful by harnessing the power of the mysterious crystals scattered through Krynsia. But this practice was seen as immoral by many, and it wasn’t long until natural-born civilians were caught up in the collateral damage of the changeling wars.”
“Those wars have come and gone, but now a new war has taken hold in the lands, as it always seems to. I have no allegiance in this war - my loyalty belongs to the world itself, and to its people, who I see suffer under the threat of steel. Please, come with me”
The archer leads you down another pathway out from this courtyard. Again, your view is mostly obstructed. You come to a point where the path widens greatly, and seems to stretch on forever. Although dawn is setting in, you can hardly tell. The sun is nearly blocked out entirely by the trees on either side of this path, which lean in to form an arch overhead, and whose branches have gnarled and intertwined to the point of resembling walls more than nature.
“This path is the only way to leave this place. At the end of it, you will find the town of Gunlunshire, mostly a ruin of what it once was - a casualty of the changeling wars. I have an associate there - his name is Davison Lanke. Seek him out, and perhaps we can stop this war from causing too much damage before it truly ramps up into chaos. But I cannot force you. I have learned from my ancestors’ mistakes - one cannot and should not try to control a changeling as though he were anything less than a natural-born.”
“Also, how rude of me not to introduce myself - my name is Alster. I will be staying behind to assist any more who emerge from the vats. Good luck. All of you.”
You may choose a sensible name for yourself (shouldn't reference specific lore outside of this plane) and proceed as you wish
There is, for now, only one direction to go, though: Through the Haunted Wood-Arch Path toward Gunlunshire. But you can divert yourself within that path to explore or try to do things if you want, or you can just proceed efficiently to town.
This form was...nothing special. It was a base to create from, to make into something grand. There was no inherent strength or weakness, just the ability to create them.
For this one, it was enough. The five crystals shone brightly in front of its body, but one stood out. The pure white light of the first gem - as soon as eyes were set upon it, there was a kinship, a familiarity. One that tied this form with the gem, filling it with its purity and order.
Nyx-Blessed TouchW
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Search your library for an aura card with enchant creature and reveal it. Shuffle your library and put the card on top of it. Any worthy of a god's blessing must first be given strength to carry it
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
I'm gonna assume we have just a second to interrogate Alster, then.
I'm also assuming that the consolidation of our form means our personality is solidified, and that the Vatborn have at least some form of knowledge instilled into them. We know they can think, but if my post seems overboard for a newborn Vatborn, then I'll dial it back.
The Satyr, no longer unsure of his identity, saw new ideas and thoughts form within his mind as his body and soul locked themselves into place. He was a Satyr, now, through and through - and in his mind, the power of the red crystal had instilled new ideas. Those ideas were chaotic in nature, some outright destructive; some were more curious and strange. Some of the concepts that had been shoved in his head suddenly were still new, but when "Alster" talked, the Satyr listened. And it listened carefully.
When the man was done with his speech, the Satyr smiled a toothy grin. His personality was still new, but he knew how to abide by it. Taking quick, lithe steps around the man, he observed their "savior" carefully.
"Aaaah," he began - and his voice was raspy from using his vocal chords for the first time.
He cleared his throat, and when he next spoke, his voice was clear and playful; almost mischeviously so.
"Ah, although I am just a baby if what you say is true, my brain is now fully formed! Did you think you could get away from me while leaving so many questions open?"
The creature danced around the archer, speaking in a sing-song voice, clearly more evocative of a child than anything else.
"How did you find this place if it hasn't been used in a while~? Why ressurect the old enemies of your ancestors~? You may have no allegiance, but what of your associate~?"
Then, the Satyr stopped dancing, and it put a finger on its chin.
"But is it rude not to introduce yourself, then?" he pondered out loud. "In that case, then I'll claim a name, too! My name is..."
He had only seen one name of someone his type before...so, then, he did what he knew how to do best so far: imitate.
"...Ky...ri...llos! Yes - my name is Kyrillos!" He bowed before Alster. "Ah, you ask for our help so early, Alster... but I suppose I have nothing better to do!"
The ooze pondered the many statues. So many forms, each with their own distinct traits, their strengths, their weaknesses. Each species here had something it loved and something it feared to death. Some had tender forms, and others insatiable hunger. The ooze's mind (if it could be called that in its gelatinous state) whirled. So many to choose from, and none seemed to be better or worse than any other. Finally, it settled on a statue.
Ainok Altar2
Artifact [R]
Creatures you control must be blocked each turn if able. 2R: Target creature gains first strike until end of turn. 1GG: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
One form stood out among the rest. It contained savagery, yet love for those it trusted. It had a ruthless bite, and an acute sense of smell. It could defeat a foe in its fangs or miles away by tracking the telltale scent. The ooze became... Ainok.
Many choices stood before him. The crystals each radiating with their own power. However as the Vatborn debated which one to adhere to his attention was drawn to the blue crystal as from it's misty depths he saw his own reflection emerge and beckon him forward. The Vatborn walked closer and closer to it and saw that it was like him and yet not like him. This reflection seemed more confident and sure of it's purpose. As the vatborn reached out to the crystal he saw it ripple outward as his reflection also reached their hand met on the reflective surface of the blue crystal and then.....
The power flowed through suddenly and all at once as his hand sunk into the crystal as if it was no more solid than water as it felt like something was pulling him under. The power from the crystal rushed through him as he felt as if he was sinking further in as his reflection seemed to be pulling up, the world around him blurred as he felt as if he was being torn apart, and then suddenly knowledge hidden within him flooded to the forefront like a wave.
Inverted KnowledgeU
Instant (U)
Switch target creature's power and toughness. Scry 1. Sometimes the greatest knowledge comes, quite literally, from within.
You have no persistent mana pool or hand size for the purposes of your adventuring. Your only limitations for what you can design are those laid forth in the specific challenge. Also, as has always been a general rule for my MMOCCCRPGS, you can't take permanent cards with you. There may be exceptions for this, but they will have to be earned. The basic rule, though, is you can't design a creature/artifact/enchantment/land and then have access to it for the rest of the game.
You will be represented by a card, and as you progress through the story and world, your avatar will improve. You will also have abilities distinct from your card, which can be earned through progressing, and an inventory. It is up to you to keep track of your avatar, abilities, and inventory, and I beg of you to please post all three in every post you make in this thread, whether they've changed since your last post or not.
The final rule of the game is more lore-based: Please do not build the world too much. What I enjoy most in this is building the world and telling these stories, and I often have some long term plans in mind - please don't disrupt these plans by inventing your own locations or major characters - and please try to avoid speaking on NPCs' behalf in your posts.
I think, hopefully, that is all the rules I need to lay out. You can do whatever you want, and explore as you see fit. I will do my best to keep the lore consistent, from NPCs to geography to story and history and all that jazz. Your job is to have fun, explore, design interesting magic cards, and possibly decide the fate of our home plane:
I will not say much about this plane, partially because I want to give myself freedom to make stuff up, and partially because what I do know for sure about the plane is part of the story that I want you to unfold for yourselves. Hopefully that's more intriguing than it is frustrating.
SIGNUPS ARE BACK OPEN:
You can sign up one of two ways: 1) just say you want to play, or 2) if you want to skip the "character creation" part of the game, read what has happened up through post #27 and post a character who could exist at that point. I'd say what that means, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't been reading along and is looking to be surprised.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
I'm In.
Check out my Newborder Peasant Cube here! http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/37467
True Name Mafia (Win),Clan Contest IX Mafia (Win), Bravely Default Mafia (Loss), BOTAS (loss), BfV (Loss), Ace Attourney (loss)
Rules Advisor before they were eradicated
The Story Begins...
You awaken - for lack of a better word - in the middle of muck. Your vision is blurry and all you can see is a sort of translucent dark blueness all around. Your sense of touch comes more quickly, and you feel... “oozy.” The word struggles to come to your mind. All language, in fact, seems belabored, as does any self-reflexive thought. “Where am I?” leads to other questions: Who am I, What am I, etc. These precious seconds spent lost in philosophy have given your senses time to acclimate to your consciousness. You feel gravity - your first indication that one direction is “down” while another is “up.” You turn to look up and the color around you changes slightly for the browner. You move your body up through the ooze and emerge, suddenly flooded by a world of new images.
Looking around, you see several large black vats. One by one, you see forms emerge from them, each as confused-looking as you, and each seemingly made of the same ooze in which you were swimming, but in a vaguely humanoid form. You see one of the others climb out from their vat and step onto the ground. You look around and find that you are in a quite large room. There are no windows and the light is dim. You get the feeling you’re underground.
“We haven’t much time. Please, come with me.”
You and your oozy brethren look to an arched doorway, where you see a man - an apparent archer or ranger of sorts - standing and looking at you. “Please hurry, there’s no time to explain.”
The lot of you emerge from your vats and follow the man. You go up a spiral staircase that seems almost endless, finally emerging into a small circular courtyard, walled off by tall stones. Around the circumference stand a set of statues.
“The magic of this place has waned long ago. It took all of its power to create you in the first place, but you aren’t like the others who came before. Soon your form will be set for life.”
This remark from the mysterious archer triggers a realization in you. You look down to your own arm and watch as you shift it from a human arm to a long bat’s wing to a giant hammer and back to an arm again.
“I know you don’t have much to go on, but you must choose a form now before it’s too late. Look to the statues for guidance. It is important that you be able to blend in, or else I fear you’ll be the subject of unwanted attention.”
GAME DETAILS:
Here, everyone, is your avatar and info for the time-being. Please start including it all in your posts, just to get in the habit of it, since it will be more crucial later.
Vatborn 1
Creature - Shapeshifter (C)
Changeling
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
CHALLENGE:
Design a non-creature artifact card to represent the statue in the courtyard that you’re choosing to take the form of. It should be clear from the card what creature type (race, not class) the statue is, and this will become your creature type for the rest of the game - so choose wisely. It should be something that can travel on land, hold objects, and talk. I have given this challenge a pretty low difficulty, but if you fail this challenge, you may not end up being the creature type you were hoping for.
Difficulty Score: 12
Restrictions/Clarifications:
Must be a colorless non-creature artifact
Tribal is allowed
The Minotaur's Image 4
Tribal Artifact - Minotaur (U)
Minotaur creatures you control have trample.
Whenever a Minotaur enters the battlefield, Minotaur creatures you control get +2/+0.
"The embodiment of fear and power in one." ~Etched on the Statue
Vatborn 1
Creature - Shapeshifter (C)
Changeling
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
Check out my Newborder Peasant Cube here! http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/37467
True Name Mafia (Win),Clan Contest IX Mafia (Win), Bravely Default Mafia (Loss), BOTAS (loss), BfV (Loss), Ace Attourney (loss)
Rules Advisor before they were eradicated
It did not know, for it could not fathom what it was. The only thing it could do was to move towards the "statues", like he had been ordered by the two-legged thing. It roamed from statue to statue, looking at them with...what, exactly? It did not know, but it could see. Its legs did not stay in their original form, and although it walked it was on shaky ground; its slimy body did not stay in its original form for more than a second. In its confusion, it changed and changed, leaving a small trail of...something behind it as it moved.
Then, it settled before a peculiar statue. It was large, and it saw many things on it. Many small creatures, yes; the upper part of their body were like that of the thing that had led them there, but they had two horns sticking out from the top. Their lower body was very different; it was fuzzy and...what were those things, the things that they walked on? They looked strange; a uniform mass that it could not understand fully.
The small creatures were..."celebrating", it understood. With expressions of joy the smaller people "danced" - the words came to it like a flash as it thought -, celebrating...something, but what? As they danced, they knocked the "temple" around them to the ground, shattering its "stone". Dominating the other, smaller people was a large being of the same race. Its eyes were shining with "mischief" and "destruction". It pointed fiercely as it "laughed", visibly "commanding" the rest. Some of them, however, were not dancing. They were..."searching" for something? But what?
Its gaze drifted to a plaque under the statue. It could not read, but still it could see...
----
Image of Revelry and Wandering 4
Artifact {R}
T: Add R or G to your mana pool.
2R, T: Destroy target artifact.
2G, T: Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
"Drink! Feast! Tonight, we are kings!" - Xenagos
What do satyrs do? Well, they destroy stuff, and if they aren't destroying stuff they're out wandering. Thus...
Vatborn 1
Creature - Shapeshifter (C)
Changeling
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
Creature - Shapeshifter (C)
Changeling
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
Formlessness. It's a particularly eerie sensation, having no other frames of reference. One has to be chosen, a form that will serve as a template for the coming times. There are several to choose from, but one resonates strongly with...it. Still no good frame of reference. Ideally, however, that would change. The form of the statue was human, but possessed several angelic qualities as well - perhaps part of some higher blessing.
Soul of Alabaster 4
Artifact (Uncommon)
Aura spells you cast cost WU less to cast. This effect reduces only the amount of colored mana you pay.
Creatures you control that are enchanted have flying.
Bruna's sacred light reaches across even the deepest crevices of Innistrad's depths
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Sultai Relic 7
Artifact [R]
Delve
1B:Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard.
4G:Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
A clan of necromancers is never truly dead.
Creature - Shapeshifter (C)
Changeling
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
Until...
The Vatborn stopped at a statue. It was a humanoid creature whose gills,fins, and webbed fingers signified that it would thrive underwater and yet it stood on two legs and seemed equally comfortable on land. The creature was kneeling beside a pool of water. its finger dipping into the water. The Vatborn moved closer and saw that the pool of water was spinning around and around by it's own accord. Around and around it spun, and the Vatborn couldn't help but be mesmerized by it.
Around and around...
Around and around...
The Vatborn suddenly grew alarmed and pulled away from the pool as he realized what was happening. However after the surprise faded a new emotion set in.
Happiness.
Yes, this creature here seemed to posses the versatility and the cunning this Vatborn required. Stepping back up to the pool the Vatborn slid an oozy limb into the pool as his form began to shift and change into a duplicate of the kneeling creature.
Whirlpool Idol 3
Tribal Artifact-Merfolk (R)
Merfolk creatures you control get +1/+1 and have islandwalk.
Whenever a Merfolk enters the battlefield, target creature an opponent controls gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
As mysterious and mesmerizing as the sea itself.
Vatborn 1
Creature - Shapeshifter (C)
Changeling
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
The Minotaur’s Image
Design: Starting off nitpicky, I feel like the player-friendly wording would have it say “Whenever ~ or another Minotaur” but I almost never take off for small wording things like that and I don’t plan to here. This is a fun tribal lordly artifact. It can be a little dangerous that it does indeed trigger off itself, especially if you have a decent minotaur deck and get this out in multiples. That said, minotaur support isn’t exactly brilliant right now so that’s not a huge worry. This is to say: It’s a fun card but bears the risk of being too bad in an environment without good minotaurs and too good in an environment with them, especially in limited at uncommon. I like all the internal flavor though. 7.5/10
Flavor: Yes, perfect, not much to say here. Couldn’t be truer to the challenge. 10/10
Score: 17.5 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn 1
Creature - Minotaur (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Image of Revelry and Wandering
Design: That’s a long name! I’m on an MSE-less mac so I can’t test if it’s too long, but maybe... ANYWAY, I worry a bit about the power level of this, though at rare these days, I guess it’s really just a drop in the bucket. I would be more comfortable seeing it as a spellshaper artifact, which cheaper mana costs for the abilities but with “discard a card” costs added - and the main cost dropped. That said, it’s a four mana artifact that takes three more mana to make any immediate impact, so it’s probably absolutely fine and I’m just paranoid. I do like how the abilities each correspond to the words in the name. 7/10
Flavor: My barometer for this challenge is “can I look at the card first without reading the text and know what the creature type is” and with yours, I actually could, even though you don’t name it outright. That seems like a good thing to me. 9.5/10
Score: 16.5 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn 1
Creature - Satyr (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Soul of Alabaster
Design: Very interesting. I’m sure there’s a way to break that cost reduction but since you have to play an artifact that’s not immediately threatening AND use Auras, maybe you deserve it if you manage to get a big win with this card. I worry a little about this at uncommon but it’s probably too weak for rare. It’s a nice niche card. 7.5/10
Flavor: My barometer for this challenge is “can I look at the card first without reading the text and know what the creature type is” and with yours, I couldn’t quite manage it. Then I read your game text and I still couldn’t quite tell if we’re going for human or angel or human angel. You have good statue-flavor here and I’m a sucker for the word alabaster, but you might not end up with the creature type you want just because I am not sure what it is. 4.5/10
Score: 12 - SUCCESS (barely)
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn 1
Creature - Human (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Cloudwalker Idol
Design: This seems right. I think you had a lower-costed-ability version up earlier and that one seemed too pushed, but now it’s much more balanced. Flavor makes sense internally, yada yada yada... 9/10
Flavor: Yup. Clearly a statue of a clearly specified creature type. 10/10
Score: 19 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn 1
Creature - Faerie (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Sultai Relic
Design: Even with delve, I can’t help but feel like most aspects of this card are overcosted. If the grave-to-hand cost 1 less and the the casting cost were 1 or 2 less, I think we’d be looking at something a little more competitive, especially at rare these days. That said, even as-is, I can see this having a lot of combo potential, so maybe your playing it safer on costs is wise. It feels Sultai. I’m gonna go with 7/10
Flavor: My barometer for this challenge is “can I look at the card first without reading the text and know what the creature type is” and with yours, I wasn’t sure. Clearly it’s something of Sultai relevance, so probably Naga, but they also have zombies and stuff - though that sort of wouldn’t make sense for this game. A minor thing also - It’s a little odd that this courtyard in a plane that doesn’t have Sultai in it would have a statue called “Sultai Relic.” Just something to keep in mind moving forward. Reading your game text it almost looks like “snake” is what you want, but snakes don’t have hands so... 5/10
Score: 12 - SUCCESS (barely, and mostly because I like the idea of a Naga player)
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn 1
Creature - Naga (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Whirlpool Idol
Design: Yup, feels like a good accessory to what blue merfolk can do. Like that it has a reason to be tribal because it triggers off of itself. I think I might like it better without the islandwalk just because I do agree with phasing out mechanics that are so situational, but other than that, cool fun card. 7.5/10
Flavor: Yeah, makes sense to me. Clear and what I asked for. 10/10
Score: 17.5 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn 1
Creature - Merfolk (C)
1/1
You flop around for a bit and ensure that your final form is a sort of variant of merfolk that can actually travel on land and breathe oxygen. You finally end up with something mostly stable.
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
Groove Watch
Design: The mana accel is a little aggressive by current standards but at rare with that condition MAYBE you can get away with it. That second ability is very cool though. Temporarily cloning based on creature type is interesting and new at least to me, and I feel like that ability is costed correctly. Not sure why it’s called what it’s called - thinking you meant grove. Let’s say 7/10
Flavor: The name doesn’t feel very statue-y and there’s no flavor text to help on that front, but I guess seeing as it’s an artifact with those abilities, what else could it be. And the creature type is clear and specific. 7/10
Score: 14 - SUCCESS
Your form shifts, eventually becoming
Vatborn 1
Creature - Elf (C)
1/1
See the spoiler below for the large group to continue your adventure
The group’s adventure continues...
“Interesting choices,” the mysterious archer remarks to the crowd. “I suppose they’ll have to do. Now come with me. Let’s see if you can do what you were made for.”
You follow the archer through one of the courtyard exits and are surrounded by tall, thick brush which obscures your view. You can only see behind you, ahead, and above, where you see a gloomy night sky. It seems as though dawn may be approaching as a glimmer of yellow is peeking from the eastern horizon.
You come into another courtyard, much like the one you just left in terms of shape and size. But rather than have statues around the edge, there is a smaller ring of pedestals in the center of the courtyard.
“As I had mentioned, the magic of this place has all but wasted away. Hopefully, though, there was enough left when you were created to give you the power we need. To any natural-born son or daughter of Krynsia, these crystals would bring only pain. But to you, they can bring strength and powerful magicks. I fear in your weaker forms, though, it may still bring great strain upon you to accomplish this. You will likely only have the strength to harness power from a single crystal, and even then, not without great effort.”
You look at the five crystals before you: One white, one blue, one black, one red, and one green.
CHALLENGE:
Design a card that represents you harnessing the energy of a crystal.
Restrictions/Clarifications:
It must be an instant or sorcery.
It must cost exactly one mana and exactly match the color of the crystal you’re trying to harness. (This is, if you hadn’t guessed, the color your avatar will become.)
Bonuses/Penalties:
Doesn’t use “target”: +1
Is rare: -1
Difficulty Score: 13
He grasped for the red crystal, and with it, he screamed in pain. His mouth started to look as if it were burning coals. His eyes stated to burn with flame. As his pain climaxed, lightning formed out of his mouth before he shot back, his hair now a brilliant red.
Energy of Rage R
Sorcery (C)
Energy of Rage deals 1 damage to each creature and each player.
Spell Mastery - If there are two or more instants and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, Energy of Rage instead deals 1 damage to each creature you don't control and 1 damage to each player.
The power is unwieldy at first, but the skilled use it masterfully.
Vatborn 1
Creature - Minotaur (C)
1/1
No Abilities
No Inventory
Check out my Newborder Peasant Cube here! http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/37467
True Name Mafia (Win),Clan Contest IX Mafia (Win), Bravely Default Mafia (Loss), BOTAS (loss), BfV (Loss), Ace Attourney (loss)
Rules Advisor before they were eradicated
For now, however, the newly-formed Satyr decided to obey. There was no sense in rebelling while its own identity wasn't fully formed, it knew. It observed the crystals quietly for a moment, tapping its hooves on the ground as it watched. As the Minotaur put on quite the light show for them all, the Satyr raised its eyebrows with a quick chuckle. Now, that seemed interesting - although he was also drawn to the green crystal, the red one had proved that it could hold something more immediately interesting.
The Satyr hopped towards the red crystal once the Minotaur had been done with it. With a nimble step forward, he instead decided to put a single hand on it. Immediately, its hair and fur rose a sparkled with electricity as a thousand ideas ran through his head - the final step towards forming its...no...HIS final identity.
---
Unstable Knowledge R
Sorcery {U}
Discard a card, then draw a card.
Landfall - If you had a land enter the battlefield under your control this turn, instead discard a card, then draw two cards.
A thousand images passed through him in an instant - and his own mind recoiled from the rush.
"Discard, then draw" is definitely in red's piece of the pie. But then, boom! Here comes the Landfall for a more conditional, but cheaper, Tormenting Voice. And Landfall is still evocative of Satyr themes.
Vatborn 1
Creature - Satyr (C)
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
Necromantic Toxin B
Instant {C}
Target creature gains deathtouch and persist until end of turn.
"The advantage of using zombies is that you can coat them with the deadliest of toxins and only make them stronger"-Archlich Mordicant
Creature - Shapeshifter (C)
Changeling
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: None
Energy of Rage
Design: I like this, but can’t help but wonder if that spell mastery change might make it a pushed common.But I guess by the time you’ve mastered spells, a 1 damage sweep isn’t so devastating, and I do think it’s a cool use of spell mastery as a sort of overload-esque thing. 7.5/10
Flavor: I don’t get a huge energy-harnessing vibe from this. I kind of get it with the word energy in the name - which makes me think this is the energy itself that you’re harnessing, and it’s damaging you in the process like I said it would. I’m gonna call this not a total flavor win, but something that I can understand making some sense in the scenario. 6.5/10
Score: 14+1 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the red crystal and your avatar becomes:
Vatborn R
Creature - Minotaur (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Show of Talent
Design: Sure. A sort of underwhelming “trick” to get some evasion and another ability that you can maybe make use of, maybe not. This feels like a common that would be printed, ignored for constructed, and taken maybe in like the 9 to 12 slot in draft then end up being useful. I do think it could’ve been an instant still at common and been a little better maybe. Internal flavor is cool. 7/10
Flavor: Sure. A little arrogant of you to just decide your character is great at harnessing crystals, but I do see how the card ties into the situation pretty well. I do wish it matched my description of it taking great pain and effort a bit, but hey, freedom of action is part of the game, so 6.5/10
Score: 13.5 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the blue crystal and your avatar becomes:
Vatborn U
Creature - Faerie (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Dark Pulse
Design: Yeah, why not. Makes sense to me as a little win-more common. Obviously this isn’t getting played competitively but it feels printable as a sort of cute junk common. I do have some concern about it being a little too unexciting though. Internal flavor is fine though. 6.5/10
Flavor: I guess this is supposed to represent the energy emanating from the crystal which makes it harmful to people. We don’t really see a harnessing action here, but you’ve still stayed true to the lore of what’s going on around you in a believable way, and that’s good. 6/10
Score: 12.5+1 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the blue crystal and your avatar becomes:
Vatborn B
Creature - Elf (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Unstable Knowledge
Design: This feels like a pretty reasonable card to me. You’re probably not going to play it without landfall, but with it, it’s fine, and if you manage to cast it with landfall and no cards in hand, then it’s very very good. (Too good?) I’m a fan of this card and its internal flavor, even if I do have some power-variance concerns. 8/10
Flavor: Yeah, I like this one a lot. It embodies the concept that you’re gaining fundamental knowledge and having to give something up/struggle in the process. It might go better off the crystal thing if it had artifactfall instead of landfall, but still, I’m a fan. 8/10
Score: 16+1 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the red crystal and your avatar becomes:
Vatborn R
Creature - Satyr (C)
1/1
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Necromantic Toxin
Design: I like this a lot, it’s simple and effective, my only concern is whether it should maybe cost 1 more or be uncommon. Flavor text seems like it conflicts a tiny bit with the mechanic of the card. (Having them come back stronger sounds more like undying than persist.) 8.5/10
Flavor: I like the subtle ways this works flavorfully, with deathtouch making it feel like you can safely touch death, and persist showing that there is endurance of suffering involved. 9/10
Score - 17.5 - SUCCESS
You harness the energy of the black crystal and your avatar becomes:
Vatborn B
Creature - Naga (C)
1/1
***DONT FORGET TO UPDATE THIS IN YOUR POSTS**
See appropriate spoiler below for your continued adventure
Your new lives begin:
“My Gods, it’s true,” the archer exclaims as you each manage to harness the energy from one of the crystals without dying. You each feel your forms take a stronger hold and then, suddenly, it feels like a small extra weight has been added to your body - not a real weight, but the weigh of permanence. Your form and your energies have been locked in.
“Perhaps now there is some time to explain. There was a time, not all that long ago, when your kind was created for - and then sacrificed upon - the battlefield. Soldiers, born from the vat, able to take on the forms of fearsome monsters and grow more and more powerful by harnessing the power of the mysterious crystals scattered through Krynsia. But this practice was seen as immoral by many, and it wasn’t long until natural-born civilians were caught up in the collateral damage of the changeling wars.”
“Those wars have come and gone, but now a new war has taken hold in the lands, as it always seems to. I have no allegiance in this war - my loyalty belongs to the world itself, and to its people, who I see suffer under the threat of steel. Please, come with me”
The archer leads you down another pathway out from this courtyard. Again, your view is mostly obstructed. You come to a point where the path widens greatly, and seems to stretch on forever. Although dawn is setting in, you can hardly tell. The sun is nearly blocked out entirely by the trees on either side of this path, which lean in to form an arch overhead, and whose branches have gnarled and intertwined to the point of resembling walls more than nature.
“This path is the only way to leave this place. At the end of it, you will find the town of Gunlunshire, mostly a ruin of what it once was - a casualty of the changeling wars. I have an associate there - his name is Davison Lanke. Seek him out, and perhaps we can stop this war from causing too much damage before it truly ramps up into chaos. But I cannot force you. I have learned from my ancestors’ mistakes - one cannot and should not try to control a changeling as though he were anything less than a natural-born.”
“Also, how rude of me not to introduce myself - my name is Alster. I will be staying behind to assist any more who emerge from the vats. Good luck. All of you.”
You may choose a sensible name for yourself (shouldn't reference specific lore outside of this plane) and proceed as you wish
There is, for now, only one direction to go, though: Through the Haunted Wood-Arch Path toward Gunlunshire. But you can divert yourself within that path to explore or try to do things if you want, or you can just proceed efficiently to town.
For this one, it was enough. The five crystals shone brightly in front of its body, but one stood out. The pure white light of the first gem - as soon as eyes were set upon it, there was a kinship, a familiarity. One that tied this form with the gem, filling it with its purity and order.
Nyx-Blessed Touch W
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Search your library for an aura card with enchant creature and reveal it. Shuffle your library and put the card on top of it.
Any worthy of a god's blessing must first be given strength to carry it
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
I'm also assuming that the consolidation of our form means our personality is solidified, and that the Vatborn have at least some form of knowledge instilled into them. We know they can think, but if my post seems overboard for a newborn Vatborn, then I'll dial it back.
When the man was done with his speech, the Satyr smiled a toothy grin. His personality was still new, but he knew how to abide by it. Taking quick, lithe steps around the man, he observed their "savior" carefully.
"Aaaah," he began - and his voice was raspy from using his vocal chords for the first time.
He cleared his throat, and when he next spoke, his voice was clear and playful; almost mischeviously so.
"Ah, although I am just a baby if what you say is true, my brain is now fully formed! Did you think you could get away from me while leaving so many questions open?"
The creature danced around the archer, speaking in a sing-song voice, clearly more evocative of a child than anything else.
"How did you find this place if it hasn't been used in a while~? Why ressurect the old enemies of your ancestors~? You may have no allegiance, but what of your associate~?"
Then, the Satyr stopped dancing, and it put a finger on its chin.
"But is it rude not to introduce yourself, then?" he pondered out loud. "In that case, then I'll claim a name, too! My name is..."
He had only seen one name of someone his type before...so, then, he did what he knew how to do best so far: imitate.
"...Ky...ri...llos! Yes - my name is Kyrillos!" He bowed before Alster. "Ah, you ask for our help so early, Alster... but I suppose I have nothing better to do!"
Vatborn R
Creature - Satyr (C)
1/1
Ainok Altar 2
Artifact [R]
Creatures you control must be blocked each turn if able.
2R: Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.
1GG: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
One form stood out among the rest. It contained savagery, yet love for those it trusted. It had a ruthless bite, and an acute sense of smell. It could defeat a foe in its fangs or miles away by tracking the telltale scent. The ooze became... Ainok.
The power flowed through suddenly and all at once as his hand sunk into the crystal as if it was no more solid than water as it felt like something was pulling him under. The power from the crystal rushed through him as he felt as if he was sinking further in as his reflection seemed to be pulling up, the world around him blurred as he felt as if he was being torn apart, and then suddenly knowledge hidden within him flooded to the forefront like a wave.
Inverted Knowledge U
Instant (U)
Switch target creature's power and toughness. Scry 1.
Sometimes the greatest knowledge comes, quite literally, from within.
Creature - Merfolk (C)
1/1
Abilities: None
Inventory: Empty