Set NameForgotten Arts (CODENAME: SAM) Block Set 1 of 3 of the Forgotten Arts Arc Number of Cards: [90/288] Rarity distribution: [44/132] commons, [36/78] uncommons, [10/78] rares
Set NameForsaken Arts (CODENAME: LEX) Block Set 2 of 3 in the Forgotten Arts Arc Number of Cards: [???] Rarity distribution: [???] commons, [??] uncommons, [??] rares
Set NameForbidden Arts (CODENAME: HOGIE) Block Set 3 of 3 in the Forgotten Arts Arc Number of Cards: [1/???] Rarity distribution: [???] commons, [??] uncommons, [1/??] rares
Special Thanks:
Feyd Ruin: For teaching me how to post renders.
Spanglegluppet For teaching me how to URL link.
Woapallane: For his patience in helping me word my mechanics.
Zyrakris: For commenting on cards in general and helping me fix links and typos.
ZasZ234: For providing excellent suggestions and a fix on the Chaos mechanic.
Note: These precons contain links to images of the cards. If you'd prefer not to click on them and see the text-only part design on these cards, click on the 'Text-Only' spoiler. (It's currently under construction.)
Greetings, watcher and welcome to my world. This, my humble friend, is a world where the forgotten arts are still in full use. Join me, weekly as I preview one of four Decks that focuses on the use of these lost magics. And without further ADO, I shall begin my preview with this week’s work: The Art of Runes.
Reading the Runes Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
So you want to learn how to read the runes? Hah! It takes more than just willingness to master this art, child. Rune tampering takes ages to learn, let alone master. Believe me when I say this; I’ve lived through a dozen of these ages. But if you insist, I shall instruct you in the basics of rune crafting. Open your mind and close your mouth or you’ll never get flow information that I’m about to engrave into that little brain of yours.
- Heigar, Runemaster
The "Rule of Runes" deck focuses on a steady buildup pace. A first turn Crystalline Wizard or a Rune-Fused Golem ensure an early defense. But once you get your hands on an Essence Channeler or a Null land, things start to pick up. By using colorless mana, Runic spells power up and come out much better than first anticipated. Weathered Veteran gains Rune tokens through combat and, with a few tricks like Transglyphery, you can move them onto creatures capable of utilizing the Runes. The Tristicore transforms into a 3/3 First Striking Flyer with Vigilance, and the Mindless Researcher can help thin your deck to get more powerful cards out.
The Forgotten Monolith can give out a rune counter every turn onto a permanent you control. Combine this with the Dwarven Strategist and your army will be pumped up in no time. But that’s not all. Runic Riddling and and Seeking Guidance can also be used for a bit of control, allowing you to get card advantage or slow your opponent down till you get advantage on the field. And when you’re ready to chisel that Defeat into the skull of your opponent, play a Runecrafting spell on one of your more powerful rune users to get a massive boost in battle.
The Forgotten Arts Block is filled with other Runic users that could fit into this deck. Since the main focus of the deck is to form runes, you won’t ever have a shortage of it. The 9th Edition Urza’s Plant, Mine and Tower all produce colorless mana in bulk so you might want to consider those. Choosing the cards you get is good too. Maybe cards like Telling Time or Sleight of Hand can help with that. If you’re having trouble with Artifacts or a massive creature that slipped through, there’s always Faith’s Fetters. And if you’re feeling a need to spice up the flavor, you can always stick an opponent on the wall with a Rune Snag.
Analysis: The Colors WU are the colors that usually deal with control in magic. They also have the least mana flexibility in the game and have spells that search for Artifacts. Using this information, I created a mechanic that deals with them using colorless mana not only as a mana source, but as something that can power them up too. Looking at the creatures, they lean towards a control and combo play style which is exactly how most WU decks run. Runic users are patient and don't feel the need to rush into things because in the long run, they will have the advantage.
Races: The races that fall under Runic users are creatures that usually tamper with artifacts. I've found that Dwarves, Humans and Wizards (aside from Artificers) have the strongest grasp with this so I included them as the main types to entwine with Runic.
Welcome back, adventurer. Welcome back to the world of forgotten arts. This week, another magic has wandered along our path. After losing what they had after countless disasters, they continue to strive. After all, their prime rule was survival of the fittest. Please allow me to introduce you to Elros and the art of Chaincasting.
Channeled Fury Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
So a bunch of wusses want to learn the ways of the streets, eh? Heh, join the crew. It’s about time someone showed a bit of backbone in this place. It’s getting pretty depressing around here. All those high and mighties talking about how great their magic is and how we weren’t able to save our homes. Pfft. These things happen. And some things are unavoidable. That’s how it is sometimes. We’ll just watch by the sidelines and see when they’re civilization breaks down. We’re survivors. They, might not be so resilient. Anyway... let’s get on with this training thing. Don’t lose your focus now. You’ve got to give it your all, or else you’ll just fall short of ‘barely surviving’.
- Elros, Chaincast Wanderer
"Channeled Fury" plays using an aggro type matchup. In this deck, trust that you’ll never have mana unused after a turn. A first turn Barbarian Rager or Elvish Charger allow you to make an early assault. These cards are powered up even more when you don’t control any untapped mana. But it doesn’t stop there. On the next turn, you should be dropping another threat onto the table, preferably a Goblin Bomber to clear the way of any blockers or a Life Tree which will speed your tempo up during the next turn. By tapping out each turn, you’ll be able to fully utilize the field and take an early game advantage which can turn the tides in your favour early. On turns 3 to 5, you’ll be able to drop one of the Trolls into the fray. They can swing every turn, regenerate and get bonuses when they’re targeted by an effect which adds to the aggro play style.
Sometimes, games don’t exactly go with your plans and the game turns into a mid-game battle. Enter the Chaincast cards. These cards allow you to play them every turn during your upkeep. These spells not only have effects when used but can also help fully utilize your landbase so that land-draws don’t become totally useless during your later turns. But you’ve got to keep chaining that spell, because once you lose focus and stop casting them for a turn, the spell is broken and is sent to your graveyard.
The Forgotten Arts Block gives access to other Chaincasting spells as well as creatures that abuse the effect of not having lands untapped. Since the main focus is to run a sleigh game, you’ll never have an untapped mana again which allows you for an even more brutal beatdown. The 9th Edition card Kird Ape can find itself at home in this deck, as well as cards with Firebreathing effects like Pardic Dragon from the Time Spiral block and Ravnica’s Ursapine. If you’re lacking card advantage, there’s always Harmonize, Browbeat or an Ohran Viper to back you up. In this deck, as long as you never stop searching, you’ll always find an answer.
Analysis: The Colors RG are the colors that are most likely to play sligh style. To those who aren't familiar with it, the style involves playing a threat every turn until your opponent can't deal with the growing numbers. Although at first glance, leaving yourself tapped out is a disadvantage, RG decks are also decks that run a speed game and play risk. So generally, you'd be outracing an opponent before they can lock you down. Using this information, I created a mechanic that gives sligh decks a little bit more oomph late game, where they usually run out of steam. When fighting against more advanced players, they have ways of dealing with early drops so it makes it hard to rebound if your startup is bad. Chaincasting is a continuous powerup to your creatures as well as a way to continue utilizing all of your mana. Looking at the creatures, they heavily lean towards an aggro play style which is exactly how most RG decks run. Chaincast users are focused and feel the need to keep in mind a single goal: to reduce an opponents life total to 0; and with spells that trigger every turn, it's pretty easy to do that.
Races: The most common creatures that run sleigh are Elves (to a degree), Goblins and Warriors. Shamen were added to the mix because they lacked a significant caster unit to represent them in magical terms.
Return, the unfortunate souls. Welcome to preview deck Number three of the Forgotten Arts Arc. Today, I introduce you to a thing that we all possess to a degree in our lives: Chaos.
Chaos Theory Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
Ooh, maggot wants to play mind games, huh? This’ll be heaps fun. Ahaha! Have you got any precious memories in ya, princess? Anyone ya hold dear that ya simply can’t let go of? That’s a tender spot right there. An if ya don’t get rid of it, I’ll never be able to help ya. Trick of the trade, kiddo: everything’s expendable... for the right price. Heck, I’ll even lose my right hand if the price is right. But then again, I’ve already sold it off. Message got across to ya? Burn that into your head an then we’ll have some fun. So what do ya say?
- Zuuga, Psychomancer
“Chaos Theory” involves things to get dropped into play then into the graveyard. Early creatures in play means early damage dealt. It’s best not to worry about your creatures dying because most of them have built in death abilities. But once you have Blood Channeler down, that’s when the fun really starts. With Chaos Theory, you’ll want to start a madness loop which allows you do discard a massive amount of cards for a big effect. A well-timed Enflame can wipe out a stalemate and a Vampiric Mark can switch around the life totals if used with enough cards and mana.
But the chaos doesn’t just stop there. Creatures with Chaos-Sacrifice can start a chain reaction between creatures. With enough mana, you can sacrifice your whole board for a certain other advantage. It may be to pump one creature or to kill off all of your opponents. Chaos Knight upgrades each Sacrifice creature effect into a Chaos-Sacrifice which allows you to use it (and creature’s lives) as expendable resources. Some creatures in “Chaos Theory” even WANT things to be sacrificed. Wrath Reaper and Famished Vampire both power up when creatures are put into the graveyard. With this deck, you’ll be able to live life on the edge.
The Forgotten Arts Block has other Chaos effects that can fit in this deck. In addition to Chaos-Madness, a good way to power up this deck is to use Rakdos cards from the Dissension expansion set. Hellbent cards work particularly well when you can lose your whole hand at will. Cards like Rakdos Pit Dragon and Demonfire can end up as great finishers. Another way to go would be to focus on sacrificing creatures. 9th Edition’s Nantuko Husk and Bloodfire Colossus can end games in a hurry. Chaos can be dangerous. Which is why you’re supposed to be the one wielding it.
Analysis: The Colors BR are the most likely to be reckless in Magic. They often hurt themselves (either by life or card advantage) casting their spells and they often have heaps of Sacrifice abilities. Using this,the sub-mechanic of Chaos was born. Since Madness and Sacrifice abilities were dominantly Black and Red, I chained Chaos with them in order for the spell to be a bit more powerful. They now have the ability to copy sacrifice or madness effects by sacrificing more resources in either hand or play. BR has two play styles. One of which runs a very aggro game but seeing as that they’ll be competing for the aggro slot in this set, I decided to make them the other play style: Combo-Control. Chaos allows you to control the game to a degree and in theory, you’ll be able to choose which spells you get to play. Psychomancers are all about the risk. They win fights by making their opponents lose all threats they have by killing them off. And when that doesn’t work, they attack cast a massive Chaos spell while discarding their whole hand in the process.
Races: The races of Psychomancers are diverse. They stem from both demons and Humans with a few others along the way. They have wizards and minions which are sacrificed for a greater cause. This builds up to the basic ideal of Psychomancy: The one who can deal with insanity most, wins.
After a trip to the void, I'm back and more one with myself. This is thanks to GW, Alaphia and the Formshifters. Long live unity!
Voice of Unity Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
Welcome to the fold, my child. I’ll gladly lead you through this path and teach you all we know about being united. Willingness is always the first step, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. In order to learn how to be one with everything, you’ll have to first begin with yourself. To be one with your body, with your soul and with yourself: that is what’s needed to attain the ability of formshifting.
- Alaphia, Formshifter
“Voice of Unity” aims to attain a permanent Equilibrium. A Wandering Hermit or a Harmonic Channeler would be a good start into attaining that state of equality. Reaching a state of tranquil balance is not easy though, my child, for you’ll need to have a balance and have to worry about your opponents destroying one of your own. A permanent equal balance can be reached by having both Spirit of the Souls and Harmony out. With this difficult task, you can use Sleeping with Butterflies to fetch out one of these needed cards to finally reach Unity. Those from the Sacred Orders are willing to lend a hand to your cause. The Rose calls forth armies when you deal combat damage, the Sun can send down divine light and call forth a spiritual endowment from your hand and the Cross can willingly enter the fray of combat and defend at the same time.
Even with unity instated, it’s hard to keep it in a constant peace with opponent’s holding a destructive nature. Watching the Waterlilies and Scope of protection end up as saving graces to ensure that your key cards do not leave play. When you’re short of one land, an enchantment or a creature, Utopias Harp enables you to sacrifice itself to produce something to create a proper balance. And when you’re ready for a final strike, there’s Pride of the Four Claws, a powerful soldier that swings for 6 and sticks around to defend as well. And with a Persistent Phantom in play, all your creatures can swing and stay to block as well.
The Forgotten Arts Block contains other cards that take use of Unity and others that enable it. With this deck dwelling on the advantage of Enchantments, 9th EditionsYavimaya Enchantress can find a home in this deck, as well as Time Spiral’s Auratog. You could also make use of Glare of Subdual to take out threats and Loxodon Heirarch to defend your creatures. There are cards that make use of countermagic such as Mana Tithe or Rebuff the Wicked that protects permanents you control. Alternately, there is Restore Balance: a card that can also help if you have too much creatures or just if you’re being outnumbered. When aiming for an equal world, sacrifices must be made. You just have to make sure that it isn’t you doing the sacrificing.
Analysis: The Colors GW are the colors that usually deal being united. They win games by swarming and they also tend to have an affinity for enchantments in play as well as lands. Aside from having the most creature-effective spells, they also have the stronger enchantments in the game. Using this, I made the mechanic Unity that makes use of this united stand that they have. Green and White are also perfectionist colors which try to protect everything, without actually having to lose anything... And if they do, the sacrifice is usually for the good of the rest, which is supposedly a defensive stand but can also be turned into an offensive front. Looking at the creatures, they lean aggro and swarm play style which is exactly how most GW decks like to play. Alternately, they can also go combo and control depending on the meta which makes GW one of the most balanced color combinations that can run multiple play styles. Being backed up by both Pump and protection also helps this color achieve wins.
Races: The races that fall under Formshifters those that have a natural affinity to both surroundings and the spiritual world. In this color combination, you can see both elves and clerics working hand in hand as well as a great amount of spirits.
Well what is this? A booster pack. I wonder if I should open it?
These things shouldn't even be thought about. Shame on you for thinking about not opening a pack.
Skim through the commons... glance through the uncommons and rush for the rare!
Well that was unexpected.
Issue 1 (If Unblocked)
Turn 1: Lose 4, swing for 8. Turn 2: Lose 3, swing for 6. Turn 3: Lose 2, swing for 4. Turn 4: Lose 1, swing for 2. OMG, turn 4 clock! Hacks! [Total Life lost:11] As soon as it kills an opponent, it becomes a 1/1 which promptly dies during your next upkeep. Flavor matches. Issue 2 (Eat Pacifism)
Turn 1: Lose 4. Turn 2: Lose 4. Turn 3: Lose 3. Turn 4: Lose 3. Turn 5: lose 2. Turn 6: Lose 2. Turn 7: Lose 1. Turn 8: Lose 1. [Total Life lost:20] OMG, the flavor text matches the card! And it would rather kill you. Hacks!
With Future Sight around the corner, weird things have been happening in the rifts. As soon as the Site in Wizards emerged, so did an entity from the future of the Forgotten Arts Arc...
Aethersplash? Now what's the story behind this? Weird little tidbit about magic playstyles is that the colors U/R specialize in game stalling and one-shots. So ideally, they'd have to have ways to stall the game (counterspells and burn) until they can unleash one giant spell that wins the game for them. (A counterspell lock with Spell Burst or a Demonfire for 20.) So I took this basic principle of how U/R wins games and I tweaked it so that U/R gets benefits by playing high costing spells. This way, they can get a double benefit when playing high CC spells and wins can be achieved possibly a turn or so faster because of the extra benefit the card with Aethersplash has.
It's like the mana from the spell surges and powers up the other creatures. Imagine Electricity. It's heaps fun.
Here's a little section for you guys. You may have seen these but for the sake of emphasizing flavor, I'm posting them together. This is what the Masters have to say about the other's art.
And so it begins. I declare this weekend Harmony weekend. I'll post a couple of cards relating to the mechanic and some GW cards. First off, I'll begin with Alaphia, Formshifter.
I still believe that many of the Ravnica Legends were unplayable and that Legends must do crazy things which makes them special. Alaphia does just that. She's a 2/2 creature for 2 mana, she's an Elf Cleric which helps tribal. But what really makes a difference is her ability. It gives a sort of protection that can also evade mass spells. With her ability, you can dodge a *** or Pyroclasm. The ability, however, doesn't make her leave play. She turns into either an Enchantment or a Land which can then be used to achieve Harmony.
Mar 24, 2007: Upped the thread. (Posted Deck # 1)
Mar 25, 2007: Fixed some bugs and edited some cards
Mar 26, 2007: Fixed the broken links. Added A booster pack (Unopened)
Mar 27, 2007: Edited the phrasing on the booster. Added the Rare preview card.
Mar 28, 2007: Added an analysis why WU got Runic.
Mar 29, 2007: Posted Deck # 2.
Mar 30, 2007: Fixed various balancing issues. Thanks to all that commented. Added the number of cards in the first set.
Mar 31, 2007: Added Races, Added a little something Future Sight-ish. Fixed Tristicore wording. Added a bonus that shows what the casters have to say about each other.
April 1, 2007: Posted Deck #3. Edited the "Masters speak" text. Added special thanks section.
April 2, 2007: Temporarily down until I either find a new host space or Testing Grounds allows me to URL link again. Back up
April 4, 2007: Hiatus due to wording issues. Requested mods to lock this thread until I feel the need to continue it
May 14, 2007: Hiatus over. Wording issues possibly Fixed. Added a request for Image search help.
May 18, 2007: Wording issues definitely fixed. Thanks goes out to Woapallane, the demon Judge.
May 19, 2007: Fixed Links and updated some cards. Thanks goes out to Zyrakris.
May 27, 2007: Posted Deck #4 . Some minor tweaks all around. Fixed formatting. Begins construction of Text-only part where you can see all the cards. but not the decks.
June 08, 2007: Added an Explanation to Aethersplash. Searching for art for 2 cards before a preview.
June 15, 2007: Posted Alaphia, Formshifter.
June 25, 2007: Hiatus.
I guess thats true. I AM lacking Runic description text. I'll change the Coldsteel Dwarf. I can't see the others losing it. I did that all in around an hour. Do you have A messanger or something? It might make it easier than just the forums. Also, do you have any previous photoshop knowledge?
Alright, I guess. It just takes a bit of time. It was fun making this for me. But if ever you'd like me to share a bit of what I know, don't hesitate to ask, kay? As for now, would you like to help out in this thread? I think I need ideas for mechanics and other magic arts that have gone forgotten over the course of magic. What say you, Pita?
This is different from Charge counters in the fact that it doesn't add +1/+1 counters on creatures. Because runes can be moved about between artifacts and creatures. It seems more logical that way, methinks. I didn't want an entire block of cards for the mechanic just adding +1/+1 so i thought of the main abilities creatures would have in that color and put it onto them. I'd say it worked pretty fine.
And yes, I've thought of the Add colorless. Check out the Essence Channeler. I put him in blue because it's the least mana-flexible color in magic... I based it on Orochi Leafcaller. Thanks for the comments, though. I think I got an idea from reading what you posted.
Crystalline Wizard - Technically the wording should be "Protection from permanents with rune counters". "Protection from Runes" would mean that the card has protection from any card with the type, supertype or subtype 'Rune'. It doesn't feel like common (more like uncommon, actually), and it looks quite powerful for a precon to have three of them, if runes are a major mechanic in your set.
SunTouched Plane / Gushing River - 'Plane' doesn't really make sense here because it usually refers to a whole planet/universe. Gushing River might be too close to Rushing River. Anyway, pardon me for not looking at the rest of the set before commenting on this... but aren't they worse than basic lands?
Unfortunately I have to go now (It's almost 5am here), I'll come back to comment on more
I'll actually be focusing on four mechanics. Runes is just one of them. And it it's common because the ability is on a creature whose color uses runes. I'll make the correction on the permanents.
I'll be changing the name of the Sun-Touched Plane sometime, thanks for that too. In a sense, they're worse than basic lands but they can produce colorless mana. Which brings me to explaining runic. It refers to runes engraved on artifacts or... on the armor/weapon, staff, etc of a creature. Runes are basically colorless which is why a number of cards set out here produce colorless mana.
Runic is kind of like a piece of an artifact on a creature, or charges on an artifact. Except they can be moved around between creatures and artifacts (unlike the charge counters and +1/+1 counters on the mirrodin block.) I placed the 'Runic' mechanic in White and Blue because they are the colors that are weakest and least flexible in producing mana. (Black has pay life to make any color, red has accel and green has BoP and Landsearch.)
Yeah, so thats basically it.
EDIT: Thanks for your help guys... (J-walk and Pita). I've done several corrections to it. I'll preview the next deck box by thurs/friday. For now, I've got an FCC to finish.
Each precon will hold One new Mechanic. Think of this as Ravnica... but instead of Beliefs.. I focus on how they play... Like WU would be the color to most likely use colorless mana... GU would be the most likely to thin their decks and RB would be the most likely to lose hand advantage. Don't worry about the mechanics, they'll only be out in this set. I'll be too busy introducing more in the next set to redo some on this one. Thanks for the concern though.
P.S. Booster spoiler up! EDIT!!! Again, Rare opened in the preview.
Well... Il'll take that lashing, I guess. It's actually mana burn and the card created isn't that good. Although, you've got to remember that it's a keyword. Which means there will be a number of cards in the set based on this keyword also triggering during your upkeep. With that said, having a colorless mana turned into any kind of mana color can be good. It can also be used in a pinch of mana screw as a Wild Cantor.
You only need to reveal the card once. It doesn't say 'end of turn' so it stays revealed in your hand. So it only actually costs 1. It costs 2 to start up but 1 to maintain.
Although, I am a bit skeptical on the wording myself. I wonder if anyone else can help me on this issue. Thanks for the comments, pita. I might be downing this to an uncommon. If I do, I'm releasing another card just to make up for the mistake.
EDIT: Changed it to uncommon. The question concerning the phrasing still stands. It says:
-Green Ritual- Instant
Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. G: Reveal -Green Ritual- from your hand.
-Insert Keyword- 1(During your upkeep, if this card is revealed, you may pay it's -Insert Keyword- cost and put a copy of it on the stack. If you don't, discard this card. Play this ability only once each turn.)
@ WhisperedThunder: Thanks for the compliments, it's always good to get them. In the initial stages, the Strategist pumped himself and was a 0/0 to start with. I'm thinking I should go back to there, no? But as for the Researcher, I've played blue long enough to know that draw/discard is too strong a mechanic to put on a 2-drop creature. Merfolk Looter saw a lot of play. If I dropped this guys cost to that low, once he's runecrafted, he'd be drawing cards like crazy and that'd be a bit too strong for my tastes. I'm chainging Strategist in my next update though. Thanks for that.
@Pita: It's actually a RG Precon and I was supposed to release it today... and I did release it today. Go check it out on the front page. XP
@ZasZ234: That is actually a Brilliant Idea. I will take note of that and update it during my next one. Thanks for your help!
P.S.
In case you didn't read the forum name or my reply to pita, the 2nd deck is up on the front page. It's played as a backup for sligh decks. Hope you guys like it. It mimics forecast to a degree, I guess. Please help me balance it.
Ivkost: Thanks for your opinions. On the chaincasting, revealing the card doesn't end at end of turn. You play with the card revealed from then on until it's discarded.
It's kind of hard to think of a proper wording for this ability, if anyone would give me insight on this, it'll be much appreciated. As for the counters, I designed it that you're supposed to include transfer spells in your deck to make some cards playable. Although, I will now consider changing the wizard because Whispered mentioned it too. Thanks for the cents!
I think Ancestral Ritual and other chaincast cards would work within the rules better if it was removed from the game. And does it need to be during your upkeep? That's just going to confuse the less rule savvy as they won't realize they cant play creatures or sorceries with the mana from it.
@ Grasseater: Thanks for the comments. As for ritual, it was meant to just be used to pay for other Chaincast costs. The deal with the spells being cast on upkeep is a standard thing for most trigger-cards. I considered them to be removed from game but this isn't a major mechanic. If i removed them from the game, they'd be immune to all forms of disruption (except for counterspelling each turn.) I put them in hand so that they'd be susceptible to discard (a part of the game which messes with your mind) and this flavorly links it to the fact that Chaincasters can't break their focus or the spell stops.
Maybe instead of reveal remove it from the game, you may play it as though it was in your hand, and then chaincast will only cast it if it's removed from the game.
I think that would solve the irk I have, although it won't help hand size matters and keeping your lands tapped.
EDIT- Didn't see your above post. Well, I think you should keep them in the hand, but add reminder text to the revealing (This doesn't end at end of turn.) and for brustling mage make his third ability "Whenever Brustling Battlemage would be dealt damage by a spell or ability, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn" and his second ability ":symg:: Regenerate Brustling Battlemage. If regenerating would cause it to tap this turn, it does not" or something.
I'll playtest them against each other once my printer has ink for the spoiler.
I wants the black precon, yes I does.
Make that next.
Or the one in your avatar.
EDIT 2-The black guy, in the booster, here's issue number 3.
I think it should be a 0/0 with nine +1/+1 counters on it. Less rules problems, less abusability with cards that remove counters.
EDIT 3- Don't remember what card it was, but your deck has a card that makes Stuffy Doll very powerful. The ability to deal all of your creatures 2 damage for free is overpowered.
Changed the Trolls texts. Thanks for that. But as for the reminder text, I'm afraid it'll have to do without it for lack of space. (The card is too wordy. )
The black guy, isn't going anywhere. He's supposed to be abusable to a degree. Putting +1/+1 counters has risks. And this way, he can die even if he's enchanted. As for the revealing of failing skies... you're completely right. I'm editing that right now. thanks for the update!
EDIT: The next deck I'm making isn't black. The RW deck in my signature isn't a deck from my set. It was a gift for the Underdepths thread in this forum. They seem to be the most active one so I decided to make something for them. Go check it out. The deck is posted in their thread. It's pretty good, I guess. (I'm still learning, after all.)
EDIT 2: The next deck I'm making isn't black. Check the sig for proof. Ahehe.
EDIT 3: If you squint enough, you can actually read the deck name. Well not really, it's pretty easy to make out from here. Ahehe.
Homage to Future Sight is up. The Page just got released today so I guess it would be good to put it out on the same day. Things are on the front page, as per rules in the forum. Enjoy.
EDIT 2: Masters speech cards emphasized.
EDIT 3: Deck 3 is up. It lacks heaps of flavor text though, I'll get to that in the morning.
Hi there Weirdling! Your set looks awsome.
Your new deck, Chaos Theory, seems very well-constructed. I just don't get one thing, Chaos-Madness. Basically, you just pay the Chaos-Madness cost and then you discard a card that becomes a copy of the chaos-madness card? If that's not what was supposed to do, well, it's how I understand it from reading the reminder text.
Well, the [url = ]Vampiric Mark[/ url] is very powerfull if the mechanic is as I understood it. But, hey! It's awsome set nonethless!
By the way, the preCon art is, once again, amazing.
Greetings, Madster_SC
Thanks for the comments, Madter_SC. That's exactly what the mechanic is supposed to do. It's like a chain of madness... emptying your hand and such. It's quite fun, actually. Hahah. But as for Vampiric Mark, I'm afraid you didn't understand it too well. It's a 3-cast to drain 2 life from an opponent (you can't target creatures). And you can turn other cards in your hand into it. So it would be 1BR for 2 life, 2BBRR for 4 life, 3BBBRRR for 6 life and so on. It's actually quite weak, hence... common.
First: I just have to say it. I really do like the idea behind Chaos. It's pure genius! The execution is a little bit unconventional though. You should turn it into an ability word:
e.g. on creatures:
"Chaos - :symb:, Sacrifice ~: Target player loses his mind. You may have a creature of your choice gain this ability." (It doesn't target, so you can use it without other creature. It's optional so it mirrors the effect on spells)
e.g. on spells:
"Madness
Chaos - When you play ~ for its madness cost, you may discard a card and replace its card text with ~'s. This effect ends after it resolves or is put into your graveyard."
Seperate abilities make it cleaner. I changed the functionality as a suggestion, because it seems to cause severe rules problems, when the card stays a copy even after you discarded it.
Well, that's for criticism so far.
Also for the Master speech cards! Great idea. Great presentation. I'll have to take a closer look on the cards after I'm finished with may day's duty - yeah, I'll have.
greetings
Z
Edit: Just saw the expansion symbol of the entity - it's really from the future, isn't it?
Thanks heaps for the wording, Master Z. It's much appreciated. And you're up in the front page as thanks for it, if that means anything. Chaos rocks hardcore. I'm excited for the next precon already. It might be up Wednesday. Ahehe. But no need to rush. I've got more stuff to design.
As for the Entity, yep. It's from from the future. Forbidden Arts, to be exact. See in the front page, it says 1/?? on the rares? So don't expect UR anytime soon.
You're right. That was my bad. But 9 overall mana and 3 cards for draining 6 life is horrible. You'd might as well get Consume Spirit or Soul Burn. But the mechanic allows you to turn late-game lands into spells so it makes up for it a bit. The spoiler will be released... I have no Idea, to be honest. It takes awhile, this designing thing. And I'm really picky when it comes to art (multimedia student). If I don't like something, I either throw it away or edit it in photoshop. It'll be awhile. But a deck will be up by Wednesday at the latest.
And Mr. Rogers... It'll take awhile. You don't think my set's gimmick is ONLY precons, do you?
I admire your own work in terms of size and scope, but I think you've got serious (and I mean serious) rules problems with some of your cards.
First of all, let's go over a golden rule: Always, always have the full rules text of your mechanic on commons and uncommons. Always. Can't fit it? Make it fit. The commons and uncommons are those most often seen in a booster, and will be read the most. Rares are the fun exceptions. Go nuts on the rares, but even then if you can include the rules text, you should (Dwarven Strategist).
Secondly, you're missing a lot of minor rules stuff that makes your work look unprofessional. Glyph-Glimpsed Healer should say "until end of turn." These little rules things will eat alive at your very soul (I know, I find them to this day after dozens of revisions...dozens!), but if you're going to showcase your work, particularly in this dozen-or-so card precon method you have going, you need to run this by a Level 1 or 2 DCI judge at the least to make sure you have the wording and phrasing right.
Speaking of phrasing, I don't think Chaos on creatures works the way you think it does. You'll need to rename it to "Sacrifice this creature:" instead of the creature's name. From what I understand, abilities with precise names are copied with those names intact. The new creature's name is not inferred to replace the Chaos-equipped creature's one.
Chaos is probably the most confusing mechanic I've read in awhile. Now, let me get this straight: I can discard -another- card and make it be playable via the original's Madness cost because I'm copying the spell's text?
The problem is this: You've got a new zone (Madness) interacting with another card in your hand, all while using a discard ability 99% of the time to get said card out of your hand. This is a lot going on and replacing the spell's effects has a really wordy and unnecessary explanation of when its effect ends. It also doesn't include the "If you do" clause which goes with the May questions.
Finally, and I just learned this as I tried to rewrite this mechanic to fit current rules vernacular, I don't think Chaos works with the Madness zone at all. The problem is you're copying the spell text after the card is discarded.
It's in the graveyard. There is no Madness zone it can be replace with instead. Sigh.
See what I mean?
In other words, I think Chaos is a mess.
So let's turn to better things: I really like Runic. Firstly, always capitalize it. It's a new keyword, and it's a keyword that relies on a number of X somethings. Always capitalize it.
I would suggest putting Runic on a new line each time. And for God's sake, reminder text, reminder text, reminder text. Nothing will frustrate readers more than no reminder text because you never know which card(s) they're going to look at first. If I randomly click on Dwarven Strategist, who has a new keyword, plenty of space to explain said keyword, but doesn't include that explanation, what am I to think, ya know?
Anyway, I love the idea and after a short disorientation period I really think I'd like something like that. The 1:Add 1 guy is just aces man. Loved it.
The problem is that it can be grossly underpowered or overpowered. Balancing a mechanic like that feels dangerous or boring. :\
You know what's really disappointing about the R/G stuff? It's got a lot (and I mean bunches) of downside. There is no upside here.
Did you realize you were treading on ground from Prophecy here? And this really isn't a mechanic that was begging to be revisited. Essence Channeler is the only thing that holds this together.
At the very least, don't make them 0/X's. Otherwise they're completely useless when you don't want to mana burn yourself to death just to hit the other player.
Elvish Naturalizer is awful Underpowered for a green creature, doesn't hit artifacts, and where is the flavor man?
"Regenerating does not cause ~ to tap." - The most useless rules text I've ever seen. C'mon now. Just get rid of that, the card will look better for it.
Chaincast should be "Chaincast — Sacrifice two lands." No colon.
Search of Spring is both awful and confusing The X in colorless mana next to text X looks bad, and "minus one?" Let's lose that bit. Give it a set cost of some sort. Sometimes we can be too clever :\
Failing Skies has an inconsistent representation of the Chaincast payment. This should be Chaincast — 2R.
Man Chaincast is confusing as hell. Why? Because it has two costs. The reveal PLUS the cost to Chain it. Why not just make the reveal more expensive? This seems to be needlessly confusing!
Hrm. The more I read it, the more it feels unnecessary. Chaincast should be more expensive and lose that "or discard it" clause. If you can't make the payment, then you can't announce the ability, you know? Meh.
Getting rid of that double cost silliness would let you get rid of that "use this only once each turn" stuff. You can simply have it say, for example:
Ancestral Ritual
G
Instant
Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Chaincast -1G (At the beginning of your upkeep you may pay 1G and reveal this card. If you do, copy it.)
If we really wanted to be hardcore we could say "put a copy on the stack" but we never EVER want to mention the stack on a common if we can help it.
Panic Wave does not work. At all. What the hell? You mention you can Chaincast only during your upkeep in the reminder text, yet here you can only reveal during the combat step? Sigh.
When you designed Flameflow did you not feel like the reveal for 0 bit was just a wee bit unnecessary?
And lastly, the mistake which made me reply in the first place: You have 4 non-mana producing lands in your B/R deck. That's very bad. Make these tap for colorless at the least.
Lobby of Lunacy seems like it could be much more subtle and effective.
Lobby of Lunacy
Land
T: Add R to your mana pool.
1, Discard a card: Add RR to your mana pool.
Wouldn't that work better? Is the sac ability on this land absolutely crucial? I would suggest picking one: Make it saccable or a madness enabler. Stuffing both on here seems kinda crowded
or, perhaps:
Lobby of Lunacy
Land
T, Discard a card, Sacrifice ~: Add RR to your mana pool. ?
Anyway, I gotta say big thumbs up on the U/W stuff. G/R needs something else (mainly something that will tap lands/permanents without making you burn yourself to pieces) and B/R is a mess because of Chaos (heh).
Chaos needs complete reworking. Make it two separate mechanics (one for creatures, one for spells) or get the wording correctly and put the card directly in the madness zone, don't specify creature name on the creatures.
Considering that we are talking about two completely different things here, I would suggest you make them two different keywords. Granting abilities is fine, but copying spells is something else.
Ahh, this is what I’ve always wanted to get: Straight hard up constructive criticism. I applaud you, Mr. Evan Erwin. And since I applaud you so, I shall take into consideration the entirety of what you have written. This may take awhile but I’m sure it took you awhile as well to do what you did for me. The favour will be repaid, I swear it.
Quote from misterorange »
I admire your own work in terms of size and scope, but I think you've got serious (and I mean serious) rules problems with some of your cards.
Thanks for your find words concerning the set. I understand I may have wording issues which is exactly why I posted it here in the forums for balancing and mechanic issues. Thank you for pointing out a whole lot of them that slipped past me.
Quote from misterorange »
First of all, let's go over a golden rule: Always, always have the full rules text of your mechanic on commons and uncommons. Always. Can't fit it? Make it fit. The commons and uncommons are those most often seen in a booster, and will be read the most. Rares are the fun exceptions. Go nuts on the rares, but even then if you can include the rules text, you should (Dwarven Strategist).
I must have missed this rule. And it is unfortunate that I did. I feel like I lacked professionalism. Thanks for that. I shall be updating shortly. And due to this, the due date of deck #4 will be pushed back in favour of balance. I’ve updated the commons and uncommon with Runic. I also tweaked some cards for the balance.
Quote from misterorange »
Secondly, you're missing a lot of minor rules stuff that makes your work look unprofessional. Glyph-Glimpsed Healer should say "until end of turn." These little rules things will eat alive at your very soul (I know, I find them to this day after dozens of revisions...dozens!), but if you're going to showcase your work, particularly in this dozen-or-so card precon method you have going, you need to run this by a Level 1 or 2 DCI judge at the least to make sure you have the wording and phrasing right.
I must have missed that rulings thing. I’ve changed it now. Some things are just harder to notice when you edit currently existing cards with the mentality that players already know what they do. I guess that’s not exactly an excuse but it happens to all of us. I’d love to run through these things with a DCI judge but currently, I do not know anyone with such a position. Is there anyone in this forums that I can get in touch to that has that qualification? And if so, is he/she/it friendly? J
Quote from misterorange »
Speaking of phrasing, I don't think Chaos on creatures works the way you think it does. You'll need to rename it to "Sacrifice this creature:" instead of the creature's name. From what I understand, abilities with precise names are copied with those names intact. The new creature's name is not inferred to replace the Chaos-equipped creature's one.
Indeed. I was thinking about that when I went to school today and I was like... wait, this is so totally wrong. How can I sacrifice a creature if it isn’t named properly? If that is the case, then is it possible to change the Chaos Knight’s rulings from
‘Creatures you control that have "Sacrifice" have "Chaos-Sacrifice" instead.’
To this:
‘Creatures you control that have "Sacrifice this creature" have "Chaos-Sacrifice this creature" instead.’
Would that still work?
Quote from misterorange »
Chaos is probably the most confusing mechanic I've read in awhile. Now, let me get this straight: I can discard -another- card and make it be playable via the original's Madness cost because I'm copying the spell's text?
It’s supposed to be chaotic. Not confusing. It says what you understand. If you cast it with madness, you may discard another card from your hand. It gets cast as the same spell. So example, I discard Enflame and pay the madness cost of 1R. The effect triggers and I discard another card, namely a Mountain. The mountain becomes a copy of Enflame until It reaches the graveyard. I may pay an additional 1R to have the effect pop over for madness and so on.
Quote from misterorange »
The problem is this: You've got a new zone (Madness) interacting with another card in your hand, all while using a discard ability 99% of the time to get said card out of your hand. This is a lot going on and replacing the spell's effects has a really wordy and unnecessary explanation of when its effect ends. It also doesn't include the "If you do" clause which goes with the May questions.
It just turns the spell back into the normal card at the end of turn. Do you have a suggestion on how to phrase this mechanic properly? I’ve asked Ivkost to drop by to help me on the mechanic phrasings. It’d be sweet if I get to finish this all in two days or so. Wording magic style can be complicated when making up mechanics. I blame suspend.
Quote from misterorange »
Finally, and I just learned this as I tried to rewrite this mechanic to fit current rules vernacular, I don't think Chaos works with the Madness zone at all. The problem is you're copying the spell text after the card is discarded.
I think it can deal with the madness zone. The ability activates when you play the madness spell meaning the spell is still on the stack. It’s kind of like-response time. It’s been discarded but it’s not in the graveyard. It goes to the madness zone, goes on stack and you play the ability. The copy goes on stack and you can pay for that as well and so on.
Quote from misterorange »
It's in the graveyard. There is no Madness zone it can be replace with instead. Sigh.
See what I mean?
In other words, I think Chaos is a mess.
How is it in the graveyard, I hope I can get a judge here soon so I can learn a thing or two about madness. I’m sorry, I think either you misunderstood the card or my lack of madness knowledge has caused me to get lost in your great analysis.
Quote from misterorange »
So let's turn to better things: I really like Runic. Firstly, always capitalize it. It's a new keyword, and it's a keyword that relies on a number of X somethings. Always capitalize it.
Thanks for that. Runic was the first one that came into my mind when I started my own speculation about white Dwarves in Lorwyn. That plus I love weird magic styles. Rocks seemed the way to go. I’ve capitalized them all already. What isn’t capitalized is rune counters. I used the reference of ‘charge counters’ and decided to work from there. There weren’t in capitals.
Quote from misterorange »
I would suggest putting Runic on a new line each time. And for God's sake, reminder text, reminder text, reminder text. Nothing will frustrate readers more than no reminder text because you never know which card(s) they're going to look at first. If I randomly click on Dwarven Strategist, who has a new keyword, plenty of space to explain said keyword, but doesn't include that explanation, what am I to think, ya know?
Putting runic in a new line each time? Do you mean in the precons? Because I arranged them in the fashion that WOTC arranges theirs. Although on the plus side, I’ve updated Dwarven Strategist with the reminder text. I know it’s annoying to see a card and not know what it does. Till this day, I have to point out to people that suspended creatures come into play with haste. I have a Keldon Halberdier beside me at all times just to prove it to them.
Quote from misterorange »
Anyway, I love the idea and after a short disorientation period I really think I'd like something like that. The 1:Add 1 guy is just aces man. Loved it.
It seemed the right thing to do for Cloudpost and Ursa users everywhere. It’s sort of a tribute to them before they’re taken out in Standard by Xth edition. And as for 1:1 guy, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due: Pita helped design that card. It was originally U for1 in opposition to Oorochi Leafcaller.
Quote from misterorange »
The problem is that it can be grossly underpowered or overpowered. Balancing a mechanic like that feels dangerous or boring. :\
You can’t expect a benefit without a little bit or risk. It’s a job that someone’s got to do. It may not see too much play out of this set though, but it has to be kept fairly balanced in order for the cards to still be playable. I’m comparing a couple to charge and affinity. I’m not letting this set get to that.
Quote from misterorange »
You know what's really disappointing about the R/G stuff? It's got a lot (and I mean bunches) of downside. There is no upside here.
Red and Green decks usually try to run sleigh so much that being tapped out isn’t really a downside. It’s a good thing that you can recur spells every turn to gain card advantage and do an effect at the same time.
Quote from misterorange »
Did you realize you were treading on ground from Prophecy here? And this really isn't a mechanic that was begging to be revisited. Essence Channeler is the only thing that holds this together.
I realize that I’ve stepped on prophecy grounds. But let’s face it: the tapped cards in the Prophecy were weak. Look at Scoria Cat a 6/6 for 3RR that’s a 3/3 most of the time. I made the creatures with the tapped out ability low-cost which means they’ll be run in sleigh. The highest, being Wandering Warrior is a Jank uncommon. Sets have them, unfortunately. And time and time again, they pop up in precons. Each Channeler is supposed to be a card that allows the mechanic it’s linked to to run. That’s why I designed Essence Channeler that way.
Quote from misterorange »
At the very least, don't make them 0/X's. Otherwise they're completely useless when you don't want to mana burn yourself to death just to hit the other player.
You’re right. I’m upping the stats of Wandering Warrior to a 1/2 which will allow him to swing as a 5/2. That’s fairly decent now, right? As for Barbarian Ragers, a 0/1 for R is balanced if it can possibly turn into a Savannah Lions if I made him a 1/1, he would be heaps too strong for an (red) uncommon.
Quote from misterorange »
lvish Naturalizer is awful Underpowered for a green creature, doesn't hit artifacts, and where is the flavor man?
He’s common. I’ve upped the power to 4 though, if that means anything. Heimcrusher gets the artifact duty in this deck.
Quote from misterorange »
"Regenerating does not cause ~ to tap." - The most useless rules text I've ever seen. C'mon now. Just get rid of that, the card will look better for it.
I know it looks crap. I slapped myself for thinking about it at first. But logically, it can work. He buffs up whenever he’s hit by a spell. If the spell kills him, you regenerate which ends up with him tapped. The nuke self to buff self then becomes useless. If I added that phrase, he’d be able to nuke himself to death, regenerate and still stick around to swing. A bit more logical now, no?
Quote from misterorange »
Chaincast should be "Chaincast — Sacrifice two lands." No colon.
Thanks for that. This issue has been edited.
Quote from misterorange »
Search of Spring is both awful and confusing The X in colorless mana next to text X looks bad, and "minus one?" Let's lose that bit. Give it a set cost of some sort. Sometimes we can be too clever :\
This might take awhile to think about. This gives you the ability to tap out even late game. But then again, it is kind of awful compared to the lovely art I’ve used for it. I’m currently working on it now and I’m thinking of changing the reveal cost to ‘Tap all untapped lands you control. Play this ability only after your untap phase.’ That might work. And as for the cost, a flat out 4-5 mana would do it good, don’t you think?
Quote from misterorange »
Failing Skies has an inconsistent representation of the Chaincast payment. This should be Chaincast — 2R.
I’ve changed the reveal cost of Failing Skies to this. ‘RG: Reveal Failing Skies from your hand. Failing Skies deals 2 damage to each creature you control.’ That should work now.
Quote from misterorange »
Man Chaincast is confusing as hell. Why? Because it has two costs. The reveal PLUS the cost to Chain it. Why not just make the reveal more expensive? This seems to be needlessly confusing!
It does have two costs. I guess I should put the reminder text in there as well. ‘This effect does not end at end of turn’. That happens with the reveal cost. You reveal it only once during the game and you just need to play the chaincast cost every upkeep after that.
Quote from misterorange »
Hrm. The more I read it, the more it feels unnecessary. Chaincast should be more expensive and lose that "or discard it" clause. If you can't make the payment, then you can't announce the ability, you know? Meh.
It is necessary. Because the card is permanently revealed, you have to pay or you’ll end up losing concentration and the spell stops casting. The ability triggers during your upkeep and from there, you choose whether you want it cast or you want the mana to play something else.
Quote from misterorange »
Getting rid of that double cost silliness would let you get rid of that "use this only once each turn" stuff. You can simply have it say, for example:
I think this time around, you have misunderstood my mechanic due to me not mentioning that the reveal doesn’t end at end of turn. It needs to be once per turn for flavour issues. Channeling spells don’t intensify: they’re consistent.
Quote from misterorange »
Ancestral Ritual
G
Instant
Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Chaincast -1G (At the beginning of your upkeep you may pay 1G and reveal this card. If you do, copy it.)
This version of Ancestral Ritual defeats the purpose of having the spell at all. It’s use just as a mana fixer in order to be able to pay for the other chaincast spells. If it costs more mana, it wouldn’t really help the deck at all.
Quote from misterorange »
If we really wanted to be hardcore we could say "put a copy on the stack" but we never EVER want to mention the stack on a common if we can help it.
Ahh, here you are right. I should lose the copy part in favour of more space. Although I don’t know how to properly phrase that. Opinions?
Quote from misterorange »
Panic Wave does not work. At all. What the hell? You mention you can Chaincast only during your upkeep in the reminder text, yet here you can only reveal during the combat step? Sigh.
Yep. This is proof that you’ve misunderstood what the mechanic does. Or at least the reveal part. You reveal it on turn 1, sacking an attacking creature you control. On turn 2, you use the chaincast ability to make a creature not block.
Quote from misterorange »
When you designed Flameflow did you not feel like the reveal for 0 bit was just a wee bit unnecessary?
And here it comes. Yes, it was required because you can’t reveal spells from your hand without an ability there to reveal it.
Quote from misterorange »
And lastly, the mistake which made me reply in the first place: You have 4 non-mana producing lands in your B/R deck. That's very bad. Make these tap for colorless at the least.
Right. I knew something was off. The other lands had 3 abilities. These ones only had two. colorless mana and 1 damage to self it is. Anything more and it would be strictly better the Runic lands and way better than basic lands.
Quote from misterorange »
Lobby of Lunacy seems like it could be much more subtle and effective.
Lobby of Lunacy
Land
T: Add R to your mana pool.
1, Discard a card: Add RR to your mana pool.
Wouldn't that work better? Is the sac ability on this land absolutely crucial? I would suggest picking one: Make it saccable or a madness enabler. Stuffing both on here seems kinda crowded
or, perhaps:
Lobby of Lunacy
Land
T, Discard a card, Sacrifice ~: Add RR to your mana pool. ?
In all fairness, the lands each have a sacrifice ability, an ability which ties with the mechanic and a mana producer. I think i’ll stick with my old one to make the two land cards more balanced. Looks like a good land though, but not for these crazies.
Quote from misterorange »
Anyway, I gotta say big thumbs up on the U/W stuff. G/R needs something else (mainly something that will tap lands/permanents without making you burn yourself to pieces) and B/R is a mess because of Chaos (heh). Chaos needs complete reworking. Make it two separate mechanics (one for creatures, one for spells) or get the wording correctly and put the card directly in the madness zone, don't specify creature name on the creatures. Considering that we are talking about two completely different things here, I would suggest you make them two different keywords. Granting abilities is fine, but copying spells is something else.
Thanks for the ups on the Runic mechanic, G/R will be getting some things to tap your mana for free... or at least have mana drainer cards and Chaos is being reworded thanks to your advice on the things. Hopefully I get a DCI judge (Preferrably Ivkost) to help me on these things soon.
And that is all, thanks Mr. Evan Erwin for all your comments and critique. It was much appreciated. Adding you to special thanks now. I’ll be updating the thread in 1-2 days with the updates. I hope to get comments from you sooner or later. Till then, ciaoz.
Well... after over a month of Hiatus, I'm back. I've edited some cards for balance and changed the wordings of the keywords a bit so that they'd work better. Hopefully everything runs out fine now. These are the new wordings:
Chaincast: At the beginning of your upkeep, if this card is revealed, you may pay it's chaincast cost. If you do, copy it and play that copy without paying its mana cost.
Chaos: When you discard this card, you may reveal a card in your hand. Replace that card's text with the text of this card until end of turn. Discard a card.
Chaos - Sacrifice: When you sacrifice this creature, you may have target creature gain it's 'Chaos—Sacrifice' abilities until end of turn.
Runic: This permanent comes into play with a rune counter on it for each colorless mana used to play it.
If there are still issues, I hope that they're minor and fixable. I'd love comments on this because I love this set and I'm doing my best to actually keep it alive.
The fourth deck is in the works but I'll be honest, I've hit a roadblock. That roadblock is art. I'm lacking the art for three cards.
1) A saproling (or plant)/land that produces mana.
2) A pacifism that gets stronger with harmony.
3) A bottle with a world inside it.
If it would be possible, could I get help in this area so I can put the deck box out? Thanks heaps.
For Creatures: Chaos - [cost], Sacrifice [Cardname]: [Effect]. Target creature gains this ability until end of turn.
For Spells: Chaos [cost], Discard a card (When you discard this card, you may pay its chaos cost any number of times. Copy this card that many times and play the copies without paying their mana cost.)
Special thanks goes out to a certain demon judge for helping me fix things. Deck #4 will be up within the day. Thanks to everyone who visits this thread every now and then.
To the editors of this set, I'm highly impressed with what you guys are doing. After looking over what you guys have done so far, I want to jump on the team. Please send me a response to [EMAIL="jperrin@dlbgp.tzo.com"]jperrin@dlbgp.tzo.com[/EMAIL] if I can work with you. In the meantime, here's a little idea for you:
Rune-Eater
Creature - Demon
3BB
3/3
Flying
Whenever Rune-Eater deals combat damage to a creature with rune counters on it, destroy that creature. You gain life equal to the number of rune counters on the destroyed creature.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Set Name Forgotten Arts (CODENAME: SAM)
Block Set 1 of 3 of the Forgotten Arts Arc
Number of Cards: [90/288]
Rarity distribution: [44/132] commons, [36/78] uncommons, [10/78] rares
Set Name Forsaken Arts (CODENAME: LEX)
Block Set 2 of 3 in the Forgotten Arts Arc
Number of Cards: [???]
Rarity distribution: [???] commons, [??] uncommons, [??] rares
Set Name Forbidden Arts (CODENAME: HOGIE)
Block Set 3 of 3 in the Forgotten Arts Arc
Number of Cards: [1/???]
Rarity distribution: [???] commons, [??] uncommons, [1/??] rares
Special Thanks:
Feyd Ruin: For teaching me how to post renders.
Spanglegluppet For teaching me how to URL link.
Woapallane: For his patience in helping me word my mechanics.
Zyrakris: For commenting on cards in general and helping me fix links and typos.
ZasZ234: For providing excellent suggestions and a fix on the Chaos mechanic.
Note: These precons contain links to images of the cards. If you'd prefer not to click on them and see the text-only part design on these cards, click on the 'Text-Only' spoiler. (It's currently under construction.)
Greetings, watcher and welcome to my world. This, my humble friend, is a world where the forgotten arts are still in full use. Join me, weekly as I preview one of four Decks that focuses on the use of these lost magics. And without further ADO, I shall begin my preview with this week’s work: The Art of Runes.
Reading the Runes
Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
So you want to learn how to read the runes? Hah! It takes more than just willingness to master this art, child. Rune tampering takes ages to learn, let alone master. Believe me when I say this; I’ve lived through a dozen of these ages. But if you insist, I shall instruct you in the basics of rune crafting. Open your mind and close your mouth or you’ll never get flow information that I’m about to engrave into that little brain of yours.
- Heigar, Runemaster
The "Rule of Runes" deck focuses on a steady buildup pace. A first turn Crystalline Wizard or a Rune-Fused Golem ensure an early defense. But once you get your hands on an Essence Channeler or a Null land, things start to pick up. By using colorless mana, Runic spells power up and come out much better than first anticipated. Weathered Veteran gains Rune tokens through combat and, with a few tricks like Transglyphery, you can move them onto creatures capable of utilizing the Runes. The Tristicore transforms into a 3/3 First Striking Flyer with Vigilance, and the Mindless Researcher can help thin your deck to get more powerful cards out.
The Forgotten Monolith can give out a rune counter every turn onto a permanent you control. Combine this with the Dwarven Strategist and your army will be pumped up in no time. But that’s not all. Runic Riddling and and Seeking Guidance can also be used for a bit of control, allowing you to get card advantage or slow your opponent down till you get advantage on the field. And when you’re ready to chisel that Defeat into the skull of your opponent, play a Runecrafting spell on one of your more powerful rune users to get a massive boost in battle.
The Forgotten Arts Block is filled with other Runic users that could fit into this deck. Since the main focus of the deck is to form runes, you won’t ever have a shortage of it. The 9th Edition Urza’s Plant, Mine and Tower all produce colorless mana in bulk so you might want to consider those. Choosing the cards you get is good too. Maybe cards like Telling Time or Sleight of Hand can help with that. If you’re having trouble with Artifacts or a massive creature that slipped through, there’s always Faith’s Fetters. And if you’re feeling a need to spice up the flavor, you can always stick an opponent on the wall with a Rune Snag.
Creatures:
3 Crystalline Wizard
1 Weathered Veteran
2 Glyph-Glimpsed Healer
1 Coldsteel Dwarf
1 Dwarven Strategist
4 Syllabic Channeler
1 Mindless Researcher
2 Tristicore
1 Rune-Fused Golem
2 Stone Bound Sentry
Spells:
2 Delusion
3 Inscripted Charm
2 Runecrafting
3 Runic Riddling
2 Seeking Guidance
2 Reading of Runes
1 Transglyphery
1 Spiritual Shackles
1 Uncast
1 Forgotten Monolith
Lands:
8 Plains
12 Island
2 Sun-Touched Land
2 Gushing River
Analysis: The Colors WU are the colors that usually deal with control in magic. They also have the least mana flexibility in the game and have spells that search for Artifacts. Using this information, I created a mechanic that deals with them using colorless mana not only as a mana source, but as something that can power them up too. Looking at the creatures, they lean towards a control and combo play style which is exactly how most WU decks run. Runic users are patient and don't feel the need to rush into things because in the long run, they will have the advantage.
Races: The races that fall under Runic users are creatures that usually tamper with artifacts. I've found that Dwarves, Humans and Wizards (aside from Artificers) have the strongest grasp with this so I included them as the main types to entwine with Runic.
Welcome back, adventurer. Welcome back to the world of forgotten arts. This week, another magic has wandered along our path. After losing what they had after countless disasters, they continue to strive. After all, their prime rule was survival of the fittest. Please allow me to introduce you to Elros and the art of Chaincasting.
Channeled Fury
Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
So a bunch of wusses want to learn the ways of the streets, eh? Heh, join the crew. It’s about time someone showed a bit of backbone in this place. It’s getting pretty depressing around here. All those high and mighties talking about how great their magic is and how we weren’t able to save our homes. Pfft. These things happen. And some things are unavoidable. That’s how it is sometimes. We’ll just watch by the sidelines and see when they’re civilization breaks down. We’re survivors. They, might not be so resilient. Anyway... let’s get on with this training thing. Don’t lose your focus now. You’ve got to give it your all, or else you’ll just fall short of ‘barely surviving’.
- Elros, Chaincast Wanderer
"Channeled Fury" plays using an aggro type matchup. In this deck, trust that you’ll never have mana unused after a turn. A first turn Barbarian Rager or Elvish Charger allow you to make an early assault. These cards are powered up even more when you don’t control any untapped mana. But it doesn’t stop there. On the next turn, you should be dropping another threat onto the table, preferably a Goblin Bomber to clear the way of any blockers or a Life Tree which will speed your tempo up during the next turn. By tapping out each turn, you’ll be able to fully utilize the field and take an early game advantage which can turn the tides in your favour early. On turns 3 to 5, you’ll be able to drop one of the Trolls into the fray. They can swing every turn, regenerate and get bonuses when they’re targeted by an effect which adds to the aggro play style.
Sometimes, games don’t exactly go with your plans and the game turns into a mid-game battle. Enter the Chaincast cards. These cards allow you to play them every turn during your upkeep. These spells not only have effects when used but can also help fully utilize your landbase so that land-draws don’t become totally useless during your later turns. But you’ve got to keep chaining that spell, because once you lose focus and stop casting them for a turn, the spell is broken and is sent to your graveyard.
The Forgotten Arts Block gives access to other Chaincasting spells as well as creatures that abuse the effect of not having lands untapped. Since the main focus is to run a sleigh game, you’ll never have an untapped mana again which allows you for an even more brutal beatdown. The 9th Edition card Kird Ape can find itself at home in this deck, as well as cards with Firebreathing effects like Pardic Dragon from the Time Spiral block and Ravnica’s Ursapine. If you’re lacking card advantage, there’s always Harmonize, Browbeat or an Ohran Viper to back you up. In this deck, as long as you never stop searching, you’ll always find an answer.
Creatures:
1 Barbarian Ragers
2 Goblin Bomber
2 Heimcrusher
2 Scareless Spiritualist
1 Wandering Warrior
2 Elvish Charger
4 Essence Channeler
2 Life Tree
2 Growing Gargantuan
1 Elvish Naturalizer
1 Brustling Battlemage
Spells:
3 Flameflow
2 Panic Wave
1 Reckless Anthem
2 Ancestral Ritual
3 Greater Growth
2 Failing Skies
1 Search for Spring
1 Geographic Instability
1 Siphoning Stone
Lands:
9 Mountain
11 Forest
2 Milling Mountain
2 Fading Forest
Analysis: The Colors RG are the colors that are most likely to play sligh style. To those who aren't familiar with it, the style involves playing a threat every turn until your opponent can't deal with the growing numbers. Although at first glance, leaving yourself tapped out is a disadvantage, RG decks are also decks that run a speed game and play risk. So generally, you'd be outracing an opponent before they can lock you down. Using this information, I created a mechanic that gives sligh decks a little bit more oomph late game, where they usually run out of steam. When fighting against more advanced players, they have ways of dealing with early drops so it makes it hard to rebound if your startup is bad. Chaincasting is a continuous powerup to your creatures as well as a way to continue utilizing all of your mana. Looking at the creatures, they heavily lean towards an aggro play style which is exactly how most RG decks run. Chaincast users are focused and feel the need to keep in mind a single goal: to reduce an opponents life total to 0; and with spells that trigger every turn, it's pretty easy to do that.
Races: The most common creatures that run sleigh are Elves (to a degree), Goblins and Warriors. Shamen were added to the mix because they lacked a significant caster unit to represent them in magical terms.
Return, the unfortunate souls. Welcome to preview deck Number three of the Forgotten Arts Arc. Today, I introduce you to a thing that we all possess to a degree in our lives: Chaos.
Chaos Theory
Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
Ooh, maggot wants to play mind games, huh? This’ll be heaps fun. Ahaha! Have you got any precious memories in ya, princess? Anyone ya hold dear that ya simply can’t let go of? That’s a tender spot right there. An if ya don’t get rid of it, I’ll never be able to help ya. Trick of the trade, kiddo: everything’s expendable... for the right price. Heck, I’ll even lose my right hand if the price is right. But then again, I’ve already sold it off. Message got across to ya? Burn that into your head an then we’ll have some fun. So what do ya say?
- Zuuga, Psychomancer
“Chaos Theory” involves things to get dropped into play then into the graveyard. Early creatures in play means early damage dealt. It’s best not to worry about your creatures dying because most of them have built in death abilities. But once you have Blood Channeler down, that’s when the fun really starts. With Chaos Theory, you’ll want to start a madness loop which allows you do discard a massive amount of cards for a big effect. A well-timed Enflame can wipe out a stalemate and a Vampiric Mark can switch around the life totals if used with enough cards and mana.
But the chaos doesn’t just stop there. Creatures with Chaos-Sacrifice can start a chain reaction between creatures. With enough mana, you can sacrifice your whole board for a certain other advantage. It may be to pump one creature or to kill off all of your opponents. Chaos Knight upgrades each Sacrifice creature effect into a Chaos-Sacrifice which allows you to use it (and creature’s lives) as expendable resources. Some creatures in “Chaos Theory” even WANT things to be sacrificed. Wrath Reaper and Famished Vampire both power up when creatures are put into the graveyard. With this deck, you’ll be able to live life on the edge.
The Forgotten Arts Block has other Chaos effects that can fit in this deck. In addition to Chaos-Madness, a good way to power up this deck is to use Rakdos cards from the Dissension expansion set. Hellbent cards work particularly well when you can lose your whole hand at will. Cards like Rakdos Pit Dragon and Demonfire can end up as great finishers. Another way to go would be to focus on sacrificing creatures. 9th Edition’s Nantuko Husk and Bloodfire Colossus can end games in a hurry. Chaos can be dangerous. Which is why you’re supposed to be the one wielding it.
Creatures:
2 Fallen Prodigy
1 Stoic Psychomancer
3 Wrath Reaper
2 Meekcleaver
1 Famished Vampire
4 Blood Channeler
2 Goblin Storyteller
1 Sprightly Psychomancer
1 Copper Knight
1 Weakcleaver
1 Chaos Knight
1 Hell Spawn
3 Persistent Imp
3 Masochistic Doombringer
Spells:
2 Enflame
3 Mental Calling
3 Vampiric Mark
1 Infernal Pact
1 Death Bolt
1 Emblem of Psychosis
Lands:
13 Swamp
7 Mountain
2 Sacrificial Pit
2 Lobby of Lunacy
Analysis: The Colors BR are the most likely to be reckless in Magic. They often hurt themselves (either by life or card advantage) casting their spells and they often have heaps of Sacrifice abilities. Using this,the sub-mechanic of Chaos was born. Since Madness and Sacrifice abilities were dominantly Black and Red, I chained Chaos with them in order for the spell to be a bit more powerful. They now have the ability to copy sacrifice or madness effects by sacrificing more resources in either hand or play. BR has two play styles. One of which runs a very aggro game but seeing as that they’ll be competing for the aggro slot in this set, I decided to make them the other play style: Combo-Control. Chaos allows you to control the game to a degree and in theory, you’ll be able to choose which spells you get to play. Psychomancers are all about the risk. They win fights by making their opponents lose all threats they have by killing them off. And when that doesn’t work, they attack cast a massive Chaos spell while discarding their whole hand in the process.
Races: The races of Psychomancers are diverse. They stem from both demons and Humans with a few others along the way. They have wizards and minions which are sacrificed for a greater cause. This builds up to the basic ideal of Psychomancy: The one who can deal with insanity most, wins.
After a trip to the void, I'm back and more one with myself. This is thanks to GW, Alaphia and the Formshifters. Long live unity!
Voice of Unity
Forgotten Arts Theme Deck
Welcome to the fold, my child. I’ll gladly lead you through this path and teach you all we know about being united. Willingness is always the first step, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. In order to learn how to be one with everything, you’ll have to first begin with yourself. To be one with your body, with your soul and with yourself: that is what’s needed to attain the ability of formshifting.
- Alaphia, Formshifter
“Voice of Unity” aims to attain a permanent Equilibrium. A Wandering Hermit or a Harmonic Channeler would be a good start into attaining that state of equality. Reaching a state of tranquil balance is not easy though, my child, for you’ll need to have a balance and have to worry about your opponents destroying one of your own. A permanent equal balance can be reached by having both Spirit of the Souls and Harmony out. With this difficult task, you can use Sleeping with Butterflies to fetch out one of these needed cards to finally reach Unity. Those from the Sacred Orders are willing to lend a hand to your cause. The Rose calls forth armies when you deal combat damage, the Sun can send down divine light and call forth a spiritual endowment from your hand and the Cross can willingly enter the fray of combat and defend at the same time.
Even with unity instated, it’s hard to keep it in a constant peace with opponent’s holding a destructive nature. Watching the Waterlilies and Scope of protection end up as saving graces to ensure that your key cards do not leave play. When you’re short of one land, an enchantment or a creature, Utopias Harp enables you to sacrifice itself to produce something to create a proper balance. And when you’re ready for a final strike, there’s Pride of the Four Claws, a powerful soldier that swings for 6 and sticks around to defend as well. And with a Persistent Phantom in play, all your creatures can swing and stay to block as well.
The Forgotten Arts Block contains other cards that take use of Unity and others that enable it. With this deck dwelling on the advantage of Enchantments, 9th EditionsYavimaya Enchantress can find a home in this deck, as well as Time Spiral’s Auratog. You could also make use of Glare of Subdual to take out threats and Loxodon Heirarch to defend your creatures. There are cards that make use of countermagic such as Mana Tithe or Rebuff the Wicked that protects permanents you control. Alternately, there is Restore Balance: a card that can also help if you have too much creatures or just if you’re being outnumbered. When aiming for an equal world, sacrifices must be made. You just have to make sure that it isn’t you doing the sacrificing.
Creatures:
3 Wandering Hermit
2 Elvish Farseeker
4 Harmonic Channeler
3 Spiritual Healer
2 Order of the Rose
2 Order of the Cross
3 Order of the Sun
1 Persistent Phantom
1 Pride of the Four Claws
2 Spirit of the Hymns
1 Spirit of the Souls
Spells:
3 Seed Sowing
1 March of the Treefolk
1 Mystic Wood
1 Idleness
1 Sleeping with Butterflies
1 Scope of Protection
2 Watching the Waterlilies
1 Harmony
1 Utopias Harp
Lands:
8 Forest
12 Plains
2 Living Grove
2 Cloudcast Horizons
Analysis: The Colors GW are the colors that usually deal being united. They win games by swarming and they also tend to have an affinity for enchantments in play as well as lands. Aside from having the most creature-effective spells, they also have the stronger enchantments in the game. Using this, I made the mechanic Unity that makes use of this united stand that they have. Green and White are also perfectionist colors which try to protect everything, without actually having to lose anything... And if they do, the sacrifice is usually for the good of the rest, which is supposedly a defensive stand but can also be turned into an offensive front. Looking at the creatures, they lean aggro and swarm play style which is exactly how most GW decks like to play. Alternately, they can also go combo and control depending on the meta which makes GW one of the most balanced color combinations that can run multiple play styles. Being backed up by both Pump and protection also helps this color achieve wins.
Races: The races that fall under Formshifters those that have a natural affinity to both surroundings and the spiritual world. In this color combination, you can see both elves and clerics working hand in hand as well as a great amount of spirits.
Well what is this? A booster pack. I wonder if I should open it?
These things shouldn't even be thought about. Shame on you for thinking about not opening a pack.
Skim through the commons... glance through the uncommons and rush for the rare!
Well that was unexpected.
Issue 1 (If Unblocked)
Turn 1: Lose 4, swing for 8. Turn 2: Lose 3, swing for 6. Turn 3: Lose 2, swing for 4. Turn 4: Lose 1, swing for 2. OMG, turn 4 clock! Hacks! [Total Life lost:11] As soon as it kills an opponent, it becomes a 1/1 which promptly dies during your next upkeep. Flavor matches.
Issue 2 (Eat Pacifism)
Turn 1: Lose 4. Turn 2: Lose 4. Turn 3: Lose 3. Turn 4: Lose 3. Turn 5: lose 2. Turn 6: Lose 2. Turn 7: Lose 1. Turn 8: Lose 1. [Total Life lost:20] OMG, the flavor text matches the card! And it would rather kill you. Hacks!
With Future Sight around the corner, weird things have been happening in the rifts. As soon as the Site in Wizards emerged, so did an entity from the future of the Forgotten Arts Arc...
Aethersplash? Now what's the story behind this? Weird little tidbit about magic playstyles is that the colors U/R specialize in game stalling and one-shots. So ideally, they'd have to have ways to stall the game (counterspells and burn) until they can unleash one giant spell that wins the game for them. (A counterspell lock with Spell Burst or a Demonfire for 20.) So I took this basic principle of how U/R wins games and I tweaked it so that U/R gets benefits by playing high costing spells. This way, they can get a double benefit when playing high CC spells and wins can be achieved possibly a turn or so faster because of the extra benefit the card with Aethersplash has.
It's like the mana from the spell surges and powers up the other creatures. Imagine Electricity. It's heaps fun.
Here's a little section for you guys. You may have seen these but for the sake of emphasizing flavor, I'm posting them together. This is what the Masters have to say about the other's art.
And so it begins. I declare this weekend Harmony weekend. I'll post a couple of cards relating to the mechanic and some GW cards. First off, I'll begin with Alaphia, Formshifter.
I still believe that many of the Ravnica Legends were unplayable and that Legends must do crazy things which makes them special. Alaphia does just that. She's a 2/2 creature for 2 mana, she's an Elf Cleric which helps tribal. But what really makes a difference is her ability. It gives a sort of protection that can also evade mass spells. With her ability, you can dodge a *** or Pyroclasm. The ability, however, doesn't make her leave play. She turns into either an Enchantment or a Land which can then be used to achieve Harmony.
Mar 24, 2007: Upped the thread. (Posted Deck # 1)
Mar 25, 2007: Fixed some bugs and edited some cards
Mar 26, 2007: Fixed the broken links. Added A booster pack (Unopened)
Mar 27, 2007: Edited the phrasing on the booster. Added the Rare preview card.
Mar 28, 2007: Added an analysis why WU got Runic.
Mar 29, 2007: Posted Deck # 2.
Mar 30, 2007: Fixed various balancing issues. Thanks to all that commented. Added the number of cards in the first set.
Mar 31, 2007: Added Races, Added a little something Future Sight-ish. Fixed Tristicore wording. Added a bonus that shows what the casters have to say about each other.
April 1, 2007: Posted Deck #3. Edited the "Masters speak" text. Added special thanks section.
April 2, 2007: Temporarily down until I either find a new host space or Testing Grounds allows me to URL link again. Back up
April 4, 2007: Hiatus due to wording issues. Requested mods to lock this thread until I feel the need to continue it
May 14, 2007: Hiatus over. Wording issues possibly Fixed. Added a request for Image search help.
May 18, 2007: Wording issues definitely fixed. Thanks goes out to Woapallane, the demon Judge.
May 19, 2007: Fixed Links and updated some cards. Thanks goes out to Zyrakris.
May 27, 2007: Posted Deck #4 . Some minor tweaks all around. Fixed formatting. Begins construction of Text-only part where you can see all the cards. but not the decks.
June 08, 2007: Added an Explanation to Aethersplash. Searching for art for 2 cards before a preview.
June 15, 2007: Posted Alaphia, Formshifter.
June 25, 2007: Hiatus.
Forgotten Arts
I posted the images in the Testing grounds part of the forum... Then did this
[url = the link]Cardname[/ url]
It's pretty cool, no? Any comments on the produced deck though?
P.S. - If you're asking about the deck. it's an edited Ixidor's legacy. I used photoshop.
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And yes, I've thought of the Add colorless. Check out the Essence Channeler. I put him in blue because it's the least mana-flexible color in magic... I based it on Orochi Leafcaller.
Forgotten Arts
SunTouched Plane / Gushing River - 'Plane' doesn't really make sense here because it usually refers to a whole planet/universe. Gushing River might be too close to Rushing River. Anyway, pardon me for not looking at the rest of the set before commenting on this... but aren't they worse than basic lands?
Unfortunately I have to go now (It's almost 5am here), I'll come back to comment on more
Edit: BTW, what does 'runic' mean?
Level 2 Judge
Token and Playmat Store
Beyond the Guildpact
I'll be changing the name of the Sun-Touched Plane sometime, thanks for that too. In a sense, they're worse than basic lands but they can produce colorless mana. Which brings me to explaining runic. It refers to runes engraved on artifacts or... on the armor/weapon, staff, etc of a creature. Runes are basically colorless which is why a number of cards set out here produce colorless mana.
Runic is kind of like a piece of an artifact on a creature, or charges on an artifact. Except they can be moved around between creatures and artifacts (unlike the charge counters and +1/+1 counters on the mirrodin block.) I placed the 'Runic' mechanic in White and Blue because they are the colors that are weakest and least flexible in producing mana. (Black has pay life to make any color, red has accel and green has BoP and Landsearch.)
Yeah, so thats basically it.
EDIT: Thanks for your help guys... (J-walk and Pita). I've done several corrections to it. I'll preview the next deck box by thurs/friday.
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P.S. Booster spoiler up! EDIT!!! Again, Rare opened in the preview.
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You only need to reveal the card once. It doesn't say 'end of turn' so it stays revealed in your hand. So it only actually costs 1. It costs 2 to start up but 1 to maintain.
Although, I am a bit skeptical on the wording myself. I wonder if anyone else can help me on this issue. Thanks for the comments, pita. I might be downing this to an uncommon. If I do, I'm releasing another card just to make up for the mistake.
EDIT: Changed it to uncommon. The question concerning the phrasing still stands. It says:
-Green Ritual-
Instant
Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
G: Reveal -Green Ritual- from your hand.
-Insert Keyword- 1 (During your upkeep, if this card is revealed, you may pay it's -Insert Keyword- cost and put a copy of it on the stack. If you don't, discard this card. Play this ability only once each turn.)
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@Pita: It's actually a RG Precon and I was supposed to release it today... and I did release it today. Go check it out on the front page. XP
@ZasZ234: That is actually a Brilliant Idea. I will take note of that and update it during my next one. Thanks for your help!
P.S.
In case you didn't read the forum name or my reply to pita, the 2nd deck is up on the front page. It's played as a backup for sligh decks. Hope you guys like it. It mimics forecast to a degree, I guess. Please help me balance it.
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It's kind of hard to think of a proper wording for this ability, if anyone would give me insight on this, it'll be much appreciated. As for the counters, I designed it that you're supposed to include transfer spells in your deck to make some cards playable. Although, I will now consider changing the wizard because Whispered mentioned it too.
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Changed the Trolls texts. Thanks for that. But as for the reminder text, I'm afraid it'll have to do without it for lack of space. (The card is too wordy.
The black guy, isn't going anywhere. He's supposed to be abusable to a degree. Putting +1/+1 counters has risks.
EDIT: The next deck I'm making isn't black. The RW deck in my signature isn't a deck from my set. It was a gift for the Underdepths thread in this forum. They seem to be the most active one so I decided to make something for them. Go check it out. The deck is posted in their thread. It's pretty good, I guess. (I'm still learning, after all.)
EDIT 2: The next deck I'm making isn't black. Check the sig for proof. Ahehe.
EDIT 3: If you squint enough, you can actually read the deck name. Well not really, it's pretty easy to make out from here. Ahehe.
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EDIT 2: Masters speech cards emphasized.
EDIT 3: Deck 3 is up. It lacks heaps of flavor text though, I'll get to that in the morning.
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Thanks for the comments, Madter_SC. That's exactly what the mechanic is supposed to do. It's like a chain of madness... emptying your hand and such. It's quite fun, actually. Hahah. But as for Vampiric Mark, I'm afraid you didn't understand it too well. It's a 3-cast to drain 2 life from an opponent (you can't target creatures). And you can turn other cards in your hand into it. So it would be 1BR for 2 life, 2BBRR for 4 life, 3BBBRRR for 6 life and so on. It's actually quite weak, hence... common.
Thanks heaps for the wording, Master Z. It's much appreciated. And you're up in the front page as thanks for it, if that means anything. Chaos rocks hardcore. I'm excited for the next precon already. It might be up Wednesday. Ahehe. But no need to rush. I've got more stuff to design.
As for the Entity, yep. It's from from the future. Forbidden Arts, to be exact. See in the front page, it says 1/?? on the rares? So don't expect UR anytime soon.
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:symg::symu::symb:BUG Troll Aggro:symb::symu::symg:
:symg::symw::symb:Junk Aristocrats:symb::symw::symg:
Modern
:symu::symw::symr:American Illuminatus Control:symr::symw::symu:
:xmana::xmana::xmana:Robots:xmana::xmana::xmana:
Vintage
:symg::symu::symr:RUG Gush:symr::symu::symg:
EDH
:symw::symg::symr:Rith, the Token Maker:symr::symg::symw:
:symg::symb:Jarad, Golgari Aristocrat:symb::symg:
don't ever click here or here
And Mr. Rogers... It'll take awhile. You don't think my set's gimmick is ONLY precons, do you?
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:symg::symu::symb:BUG Troll Aggro:symb::symu::symg:
:symg::symw::symb:Junk Aristocrats:symb::symw::symg:
Modern
:symu::symw::symr:American Illuminatus Control:symr::symw::symu:
:xmana::xmana::xmana:Robots:xmana::xmana::xmana:
Vintage
:symg::symu::symr:RUG Gush:symr::symu::symg:
EDH
:symw::symg::symr:Rith, the Token Maker:symr::symg::symw:
:symg::symb:Jarad, Golgari Aristocrat:symb::symg:
don't ever click here or here
First of all, let's go over a golden rule: Always, always have the full rules text of your mechanic on commons and uncommons. Always. Can't fit it? Make it fit. The commons and uncommons are those most often seen in a booster, and will be read the most. Rares are the fun exceptions. Go nuts on the rares, but even then if you can include the rules text, you should (Dwarven Strategist).
Secondly, you're missing a lot of minor rules stuff that makes your work look unprofessional. Glyph-Glimpsed Healer should say "until end of turn." These little rules things will eat alive at your very soul (I know, I find them to this day after dozens of revisions...dozens!), but if you're going to showcase your work, particularly in this dozen-or-so card precon method you have going, you need to run this by a Level 1 or 2 DCI judge at the least to make sure you have the wording and phrasing right.
Speaking of phrasing, I don't think Chaos on creatures works the way you think it does. You'll need to rename it to "Sacrifice this creature:" instead of the creature's name. From what I understand, abilities with precise names are copied with those names intact. The new creature's name is not inferred to replace the Chaos-equipped creature's one.
Chaos is probably the most confusing mechanic I've read in awhile. Now, let me get this straight: I can discard -another- card and make it be playable via the original's Madness cost because I'm copying the spell's text?
The problem is this: You've got a new zone (Madness) interacting with another card in your hand, all while using a discard ability 99% of the time to get said card out of your hand. This is a lot going on and replacing the spell's effects has a really wordy and unnecessary explanation of when its effect ends. It also doesn't include the "If you do" clause which goes with the May questions.
Finally, and I just learned this as I tried to rewrite this mechanic to fit current rules vernacular, I don't think Chaos works with the Madness zone at all. The problem is you're copying the spell text after the card is discarded.
It's in the graveyard. There is no Madness zone it can be replace with instead. Sigh.
See what I mean?
In other words, I think Chaos is a mess.
So let's turn to better things: I really like Runic. Firstly, always capitalize it. It's a new keyword, and it's a keyword that relies on a number of X somethings. Always capitalize it.
I would suggest putting Runic on a new line each time. And for God's sake, reminder text, reminder text, reminder text. Nothing will frustrate readers more than no reminder text because you never know which card(s) they're going to look at first. If I randomly click on Dwarven Strategist, who has a new keyword, plenty of space to explain said keyword, but doesn't include that explanation, what am I to think, ya know?
Anyway, I love the idea and after a short disorientation period I really think I'd like something like that. The 1:Add 1 guy is just aces man. Loved it.
The problem is that it can be grossly underpowered or overpowered. Balancing a mechanic like that feels dangerous or boring. :\
You know what's really disappointing about the R/G stuff? It's got a lot (and I mean bunches) of downside. There is no upside here.
Did you realize you were treading on ground from Prophecy here? And this really isn't a mechanic that was begging to be revisited. Essence Channeler is the only thing that holds this together.
At the very least, don't make them 0/X's. Otherwise they're completely useless when you don't want to mana burn yourself to death just to hit the other player.
Elvish Naturalizer is awful
"Regenerating does not cause ~ to tap." - The most useless rules text I've ever seen. C'mon now. Just get rid of that, the card will look better for it.
Chaincast should be "Chaincast — Sacrifice two lands." No colon.
Search of Spring is both awful and confusing
Failing Skies has an inconsistent representation of the Chaincast payment. This should be Chaincast — 2R.
Man Chaincast is confusing as hell. Why? Because it has two costs. The reveal PLUS the cost to Chain it. Why not just make the reveal more expensive? This seems to be needlessly confusing!
Hrm. The more I read it, the more it feels unnecessary. Chaincast should be more expensive and lose that "or discard it" clause. If you can't make the payment, then you can't announce the ability, you know? Meh.
Getting rid of that double cost silliness would let you get rid of that "use this only once each turn" stuff. You can simply have it say, for example:
Ancestral Ritual
G
Instant
Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Chaincast -1G (At the beginning of your upkeep you may pay 1G and reveal this card. If you do, copy it.)
If we really wanted to be hardcore we could say "put a copy on the stack" but we never EVER want to mention the stack on a common if we can help it.
Panic Wave does not work. At all. What the hell? You mention you can Chaincast only during your upkeep in the reminder text, yet here you can only reveal during the combat step? Sigh.
When you designed Flameflow did you not feel like the reveal for 0 bit was just a wee bit unnecessary?
And lastly, the mistake which made me reply in the first place: You have 4 non-mana producing lands in your B/R deck. That's very bad. Make these tap for colorless at the least.
Lobby of Lunacy seems like it could be much more subtle and effective.
Lobby of Lunacy
Land
T: Add R to your mana pool.
1, Discard a card: Add RR to your mana pool.
Wouldn't that work better? Is the sac ability on this land absolutely crucial? I would suggest picking one: Make it saccable or a madness enabler. Stuffing both on here seems kinda crowded
or, perhaps:
Lobby of Lunacy
Land
T, Discard a card, Sacrifice ~: Add RR to your mana pool. ?
Anyway, I gotta say big thumbs up on the U/W stuff. G/R needs something else (mainly something that will tap lands/permanents without making you burn yourself to pieces) and B/R is a mess because of Chaos (heh).
Chaos needs complete reworking. Make it two separate mechanics (one for creatures, one for spells) or get the wording correctly and put the card directly in the madness zone, don't specify creature name on the creatures.
Considering that we are talking about two completely different things here, I would suggest you make them two different keywords. Granting abilities is fine, but copying spells is something else.
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Thanks for your find words concerning the set. I understand I may have wording issues which is exactly why I posted it here in the forums for balancing and mechanic issues. Thank you for pointing out a whole lot of them that slipped past me.
I must have missed this rule. And it is unfortunate that I did. I feel like I lacked professionalism.
I must have missed that rulings thing. I’ve changed it now. Some things are just harder to notice when you edit currently existing cards with the mentality that players already know what they do. I guess that’s not exactly an excuse but it happens to all of us. I’d love to run through these things with a DCI judge but currently, I do not know anyone with such a position. Is there anyone in this forums that I can get in touch to that has that qualification? And if so, is he/she/it friendly? J
Indeed. I was thinking about that when I went to school today and I was like... wait, this is so totally wrong. How can I sacrifice a creature if it isn’t named properly? If that is the case, then is it possible to change the Chaos Knight’s rulings from
‘Creatures you control that have "Sacrifice" have "Chaos-Sacrifice" instead.’
To this:
‘Creatures you control that have "Sacrifice this creature" have "Chaos-Sacrifice this creature" instead.’
Would that still work?
It’s supposed to be chaotic. Not confusing. It says what you understand. If you cast it with madness, you may discard another card from your hand. It gets cast as the same spell. So example, I discard Enflame and pay the madness cost of 1R. The effect triggers and I discard another card, namely a Mountain. The mountain becomes a copy of Enflame until It reaches the graveyard. I may pay an additional 1R to have the effect pop over for madness and so on.
It just turns the spell back into the normal card at the end of turn. Do you have a suggestion on how to phrase this mechanic properly? I’ve asked Ivkost to drop by to help me on the mechanic phrasings. It’d be sweet if I get to finish this all in two days or so. Wording magic style can be complicated when making up mechanics.
I think it can deal with the madness zone. The ability activates when you play the madness spell meaning the spell is still on the stack. It’s kind of like-response time. It’s been discarded but it’s not in the graveyard. It goes to the madness zone, goes on stack and you play the ability. The copy goes on stack and you can pay for that as well and so on.
How is it in the graveyard, I hope I can get a judge here soon so I can learn a thing or two about madness.
Thanks for that. Runic was the first one that came into my mind when I started my own speculation about white Dwarves in Lorwyn. That plus I love weird magic styles. Rocks seemed the way to go. I’ve capitalized them all already. What isn’t capitalized is rune counters. I used the reference of ‘charge counters’ and decided to work from there. There weren’t in capitals.
Putting runic in a new line each time? Do you mean in the precons? Because I arranged them in the fashion that WOTC arranges theirs. Although on the plus side, I’ve updated Dwarven Strategist with the reminder text. I know it’s annoying to see a card and not know what it does. Till this day, I have to point out to people that suspended creatures come into play with haste. I have a Keldon Halberdier beside me at all times just to prove it to them.
It seemed the right thing to do for Cloudpost and Ursa users everywhere. It’s sort of a tribute to them before they’re taken out in Standard by Xth edition. And as for 1:1 guy, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due: Pita helped design that card. It was originally U for1 in opposition to Oorochi Leafcaller.
You can’t expect a benefit without a little bit or risk. It’s a job that someone’s got to do. It may not see too much play out of this set though, but it has to be kept fairly balanced in order for the cards to still be playable. I’m comparing a couple to charge and affinity. I’m not letting this set get to that.
Red and Green decks usually try to run sleigh so much that being tapped out isn’t really a downside. It’s a good thing that you can recur spells every turn to gain card advantage and do an effect at the same time.
I realize that I’ve stepped on prophecy grounds. But let’s face it: the tapped cards in the Prophecy were weak. Look at Scoria Cat a 6/6 for 3RR that’s a 3/3 most of the time. I made the creatures with the tapped out ability low-cost which means they’ll be run in sleigh. The highest, being Wandering Warrior is a Jank uncommon. Sets have them, unfortunately. And time and time again, they pop up in precons. Each Channeler is supposed to be a card that allows the mechanic it’s linked to to run. That’s why I designed Essence Channeler that way.
You’re right. I’m upping the stats of Wandering Warrior to a 1/2 which will allow him to swing as a 5/2. That’s fairly decent now, right? As for Barbarian Ragers, a 0/1 for R is balanced if it can possibly turn into a Savannah Lions if I made him a 1/1, he would be heaps too strong for an (red) uncommon.
He’s common. I’ve upped the power to 4 though, if that means anything. Heimcrusher gets the artifact duty in this deck.
I know it looks crap. I slapped myself for thinking about it at first. But logically, it can work. He buffs up whenever he’s hit by a spell. If the spell kills him, you regenerate which ends up with him tapped. The nuke self to buff self then becomes useless. If I added that phrase, he’d be able to nuke himself to death, regenerate and still stick around to swing. A bit more logical now, no?
Thanks for that. This issue has been edited.
This might take awhile to think about. This gives you the ability to tap out even late game. But then again, it is kind of awful compared to the lovely art I’ve used for it. I’m currently working on it now and I’m thinking of changing the reveal cost to ‘Tap all untapped lands you control. Play this ability only after your untap phase.’ That might work. And as for the cost, a flat out 4-5 mana would do it good, don’t you think?
I’ve changed the reveal cost of Failing Skies to this. ‘RG: Reveal Failing Skies from your hand. Failing Skies deals 2 damage to each creature you control.’ That should work now.
It does have two costs. I guess I should put the reminder text in there as well. ‘This effect does not end at end of turn’. That happens with the reveal cost. You reveal it only once during the game and you just need to play the chaincast cost every upkeep after that.
It is necessary. Because the card is permanently revealed, you have to pay or you’ll end up losing concentration and the spell stops casting. The ability triggers during your upkeep and from there, you choose whether you want it cast or you want the mana to play something else.
I think this time around, you have misunderstood my mechanic due to me not mentioning that the reveal doesn’t end at end of turn. It needs to be once per turn for flavour issues. Channeling spells don’t intensify: they’re consistent.
This version of Ancestral Ritual defeats the purpose of having the spell at all. It’s use just as a mana fixer in order to be able to pay for the other chaincast spells. If it costs more mana, it wouldn’t really help the deck at all.
Ahh, here you are right. I should lose the copy part in favour of more space. Although I don’t know how to properly phrase that. Opinions?
Yep. This is proof that you’ve misunderstood what the mechanic does. Or at least the reveal part. You reveal it on turn 1, sacking an attacking creature you control. On turn 2, you use the chaincast ability to make a creature not block.
And here it comes. Yes, it was required because you can’t reveal spells from your hand without an ability there to reveal it.
Right. I knew something was off. The other lands had 3 abilities. These ones only had two.
In all fairness, the lands each have a sacrifice ability, an ability which ties with the mechanic and a mana producer. I think i’ll stick with my old one to make the two land cards more balanced. Looks like a good land though, but not for these crazies.
Thanks for the ups on the Runic mechanic, G/R will be getting some things to tap your mana for free... or at least have mana drainer cards and Chaos is being reworded thanks to your advice on the things. Hopefully I get a DCI judge (Preferrably Ivkost) to help me on these things soon.
And that is all, thanks Mr. Evan Erwin for all your comments and critique. It was much appreciated. Adding you to special thanks now. I’ll be updating the thread in 1-2 days with the updates. I hope to get comments from you sooner or later. Till then, ciaoz.
Weirdling/Banana
Forgotten Arts
Chaincast: At the beginning of your upkeep, if this card is revealed, you may pay it's chaincast cost. If you do, copy it and play that copy without paying its mana cost.
Chaos: When you discard this card, you may reveal a card in your hand. Replace that card's text with the text of this card until end of turn. Discard a card.
Chaos - Sacrifice: When you sacrifice this creature, you may have target creature gain it's 'Chaos—Sacrifice' abilities until end of turn.
Runic: This permanent comes into play with a rune counter on it for each colorless mana used to play it.
If there are still issues, I hope that they're minor and fixable. I'd love comments on this because I love this set and I'm doing my best to actually keep it alive.
The fourth deck is in the works but I'll be honest, I've hit a roadblock. That roadblock is art. I'm lacking the art for three cards.
1) A saproling (or plant)/land that produces mana.
2) A pacifism that gets stronger with harmony.
3) A bottle with a world inside it.
If it would be possible, could I get help in this area so I can put the deck box out? Thanks heaps.
~Weirdling
Forgotten Arts
For Creatures:
Chaos - [cost], Sacrifice [Cardname]: [Effect]. Target creature gains this ability until end of turn.
For Spells:
Chaos [cost], Discard a card (When you discard this card, you may pay its chaos cost any number of times. Copy this card that many times and play the copies without paying their mana cost.)
Special thanks goes out to a certain demon judge for helping me fix things. Deck #4 will be up within the day. Thanks to everyone who visits this thread every now and then.
Forgotten Arts
Rune-Eater
Creature - Demon
3BB
3/3
Flying
Whenever Rune-Eater deals combat damage to a creature with rune counters on it, destroy that creature. You gain life equal to the number of rune counters on the destroyed creature.