I updated the original post with all the latest changes. The set is now more or less completed and is now in playtesting. You can view the full set here. While I was working on finishing the set, the mechanic roster got quite a few changes. You can read about them here:
Although every slot in the set is filled, there's still a few things to do beside playtesting:
To do list:
Change duplicate flavor texts.
More diverse location/character names.
Make tribal wordings consistent (Elf vs. Elf creature etc.).
Consider how to incorporate the new evergreen keywords.
Eventually: Add more rare/mythic slots to make a full 250 card set out of it.
Consider changing Ships to Constructs and execute Ship synergies differently.
Fix no enchantment removal in Green.
Cards on the watchlist for bad design: Imperial Enlistment, Abyssal Grasp, Demolition Squid, Tel Atar Marine, Child of the Jungle, Shard of the Twin Gods, Tidecaller's Trident
The set looks good overall. Looking forward to playtest results.
There’s two different reminder texts for Quest Hub.
The term “Quest Hub” is rather esoteric and tasteless frankly. “Quest” would feel better and do the job nicely imo. The ability itself is very cool though. The built-in cantrip is somewhat appealing but looks kind of boring really. Have you considered giving players an incentive to complete both quests by giving them a reward (such as drawing a card) after the quests are completed? So, for example, Iyori Port might look like:
Iyori Port (Common) 1W
Enchantment Quest – You may complete each quest once. When you’ve completed both, sacrifice this and gain 6 life. Recruitment – 1W: Put two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield. Overdue Shipments – 5W: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Just a thought.
Also, do you predict tracking issues with Quest hub?
There’s two different reminder texts for Quest Hub.
Oh, I forgot to update some of them. Thanks!
The Quest hubs are designed specifically so that they play well both in mana screw and mana flood situations and that they reduce variance that way. In a good percentage of games, you'll be low on mana and the game ends before you complete any of the quests. The built-in cantrip is there so that quest hubs aren't dead cards in these situations. Having a quest hub in hand never feels bad; worst comes to worst you can just replace it with a different card and not care about the quests. Your suggestion works too (one of the abilities is very cheap), but it cuts down the design space by a lot, because you'll have much less room to vary the costs of the quests.
Shortening the mechanic name to "Quest" is possible and certainly appealing. It may lead to some confusion about what is a "quest" - the enchantment or the abilities. Another possibility is "Adventure", although that would requre a reflavoring of the individual cards.
Also, do you predict tracking issues with Quest hub?
The recommendation is that you put one counter on the card if you completed the first quest, two counters if you completed the second quest, and no counter if you've completed none. That you completed both doesn't have to be represented, because you'll sacrifice the enchantment at that point. If you have a lot of dice, you can also put a dice on 1 and one on 2 to represent which abilities are still available to use. This might be more intuitive for the opponent.
The recommendation is that you put one counter on the card if you completed the first quest, two counters if you completed the second quest, and no counter if you've completed none. That you completed both doesn't have to be represented, because you'll sacrifice the enchantment at that point. If you have a lot of dice, you can also put a dice on 1 and one on 2 to represent which abilities are still available to use. This might be more intuitive for the opponent.
If this is the case, I'd probably just make adding counters an explicit mechanic of the card, like Level Up.
If this is the case, I'd probably just make adding counters an explicit mechanic of the card, like Level Up.
The space for the reminder text is quite scarce, so it would have to be written only in the Comp. rules. But I see the necessity to either change the functionality or to clearly set a guideline for the representation of the quest status.
Since the overwhelming majority of players uses dice to represent +1/+1 counters, can you expect players to have dice available to represent something?
You can expect a lot of dice to be present, but it always depends on the store and type of event, I've found (i.e. young players tend to not have a pack of d6). R&D has been clear that no matter how much players seem to use them, dice should not be an expected available element (hence why they've only used them in unsets).
A bunch of updates based on the discussions I had with some people from my playgroup:
Crustacean KingW
Creature - Crab (C)
Growth 2W(2W: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.) "Why should we sail out fishing? Food just walks up to our beach these days."
-Jan, the "sea bass"
0/3
//Reduced the growth cost by 1. The card should not be worse than Yoked Ox.
Octoshape3UU
Instant (U)
Riposte 1UU(You may cast this spell for its riposte cost if a creature is attacking you.)
Target creature becomes a blue Octopus with base power and toughness 8/8 until end of turn. "Sufficient space during consumption advised."
-Lexicon of alchemy, page 127
//Changed from 2GU without riposte. We felt that it's important that the multicolor cards point you into the direction of the archetype, and Octoshape didn't do that.
Torta's Warleader4GU
Creature - Turtle (U)
Other Turtle creatures you control get +2/+2. "I am not feeling too well lately," said Torta to her friend. "I have humans."
-Myrian fairytale
3/6
//Consequently, this turtle here was changed from 4UU.
Kraken of Bitter Reef3UU
Creature - Kraken (R)
Growth U(U: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.) U: Kraken of Bitter Reef gains hexproof until end of turn. Activate this ability only if Kraken of Bitter Reef is the creature with the greatest power. By the time you see it approaching, you're already halfway in its mouth.
5/5
//Given the -1 -1/-1 treatment to make it more appealing for Constructed.
Victim of Voodoo3B
Creature - Zombie Shaman (C)
Victim of Voodoo enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard. Shamans obsessed with voodoo quickly become as mindless as their undead slaves.
2/2
//There is supposed to be a small self-mill archetype in black/green, but it's not a main archetype. I'm trying to find a design for this card that it's a high pick in that deck, and a medium pick in all others. Not sure if this is the case here.
Maelstrom Serpent7B
Creature - Serpent (U)
Growth B(B: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
Whenever Maelstrom Serpent attacks, target creature defending player controls gets -3/-3 until end of turn if Maelstrom Serpent is the creature with the greatest power.
5/6
//Previously gained intimidate, but that's no longer a thing.
Pawn's Slaughter1B
Instant (R)
Destroy target nonlegendary creature. Nolgul released all his hate built up over thousands of years upon the land-dwellers.
//Previously tried to design variants of Hero's Downfall, but they weren't very interesting.
Demolition Squid3RR
Creature - Octopus (C)
Growth 1R(1R: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
Whenever Demolition Squid attacks, it deals 3 damage to defending player if it's the creature with the greatest power. Though the squid found the timbers to be inedible, they made for good toothpicks.
3/3
//Previously destroyed artifacts. That's not a design for a common, though.
Marooned MutineerR
Creature - Human Pirate (U)
Marooned Mutineer can't attack unless a Ship is attacking. "I don't think t' Tel Atarian fleet will come rescue me, so it's time t' get busy."
2/2
//Down from a 4/3 for 2R because a pirate sitting on an island drinking rum doesn't look like a 4/3 to me.
Tel Atar Marine1RR
Creature - Human Soldier (U)
First strike, haste
When Tel Atar Marine enters the battlefield, you may attach an Equipment you control to it. "I could best these amateurs with one hand tied behind my back. Cheap tricks are all they rely on."
2/2
Quest hubs: Currently no changes. None of the proposed changes resonated well.
Crushing Vines: Currently, there's no enchantment removal in green because Crushing Vines is in the place of Naturalize and co. Could be replaced by Return to the Earth (which is a boring card because it answers everything) or with an enchantment version of Crushing Vines and forfeit artifact removal in green (there are many artifact creatures that I don't want to just die to it so I like this).
Exciting news (kinda). After investing a lot of time and dedication, I finally got Overworld printed out and hope to do physical playtests soon. For Overworld, I didn't want to use the usual, mediocre glue-paper-over-Magic-cards method, but print them in a higher quality. To that end, I had to first make my own MSE templates that were fit to print at the higher resolutions. Thanks to .Rai from MTGSalvation and ancestral from the custommagic irc channel for providing me with the needed hi-res scans.
The final result turned out really awesome and was definitely worth the effort. Most people probably don't really care that much about the quality of their prints, but it's one of my quirks that I do. At some point, I want to print out my TCG, and this is good practice at least.
If you'd like me to share the hi-res templates I made, write me a PM.
So, that's what's been going on with the set in the last couple of weeks. Now, hopefully more card updates will follow (or maybe hopefully none, because that means everything is perfect?)
I suggested a couple of changes to the quest hubs and none resonated well with my playgroup. While it would be more flavorful if you'd draw the card on sacrifice, the quest hubs would play much worse. Getting the card right away makes you feel less bad about not completing the quests and just having the quest hub sit around for awhile. And that's how I intend them to be played - you can play them early and you do the quests once you've run out of other stuff to do (or when the effect is somehow really great in the current board). You could also argue that the cantrip represents that it doesn't cost anything (except time) to acquire quests from quest givers .
Only did a few physical drafts the last months, but I still got a lot of changes based on them:
I increased the set size from 225 to 250. The new cards include: 5 monocolored uncommons, 5 monocolored rares, 5 rare lands, 5 mythics, and 5 basic lands. The uncommons are supposed to support the underdrafted strategies, while most of the rares and mythics are deliberately unthemed, so that the set is a bit more diverse.
Riposte was a bit underwhelming and often not very relevant. A few of the riposte cards have had their riposte cost reduced even further.
The Ship tribal theme has been replaced with an artifact creature tribal theme. In the set, all artifact creatures are either Ships or Walls, so the gameplay won't change at all, but that way, the cards are less parasitic.
Some of the rares were a bit too high on the Pack Rat-scale, so they got nerfed accordingly.
Festival LanternW
Artifact - Equipment (U)
As long as equipped creature is an Elf, it has lifelink.
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on equipped creature.
Equip 2(2: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
Learn from the Past3U
Instant (U)
Target player shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library.
Draw a card. "In the era before the Great Divide, we watched over men, and protected them from the dangers of the sea."
-Torta, the ancient
Blackeye's Marauder3B
Creature - Human Pirate Shaman (U)
Whenever Blackeye's Marauder attacks, put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard.
Whenever another creature card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, put a colorless artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
3/3
Barrage of Lead5R
Instant (U)
Riposte 3R(You may cast this spell for its riposte cost if a creature is attacking you.)
Choose one or both -
Target attacking or blocking creature gets +4/+0 and gains trample until end of turn.
Barrage of Lead deals 4 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Nolgul's Lieutenant4GG
Creature - Kraken (U)
Growth G(G: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
Whenever Nolgul's Lieutenant grows, put a +1/+1 counter on each other Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent creature you control.
5/5
Eyes of Havenrod1WW
Artifact Creature - Wall (R)
Defender, indestructible
Attacking artifact creatures you control have indestructible. "The empires of men will not succumb to the monstrosities of the deep."
-Captain Decard
0/5
Torta, the Ancient3UUU
Legendary Creature - Turtle (R)
Tap an untapped Turtle you control: Put a 1/1 white Human creature token onto the battlefield.
Tap three untapped Humans you control: Target Turtle creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn. Separated by the Great Divide, she returned from imprisonment beneath the sea.
3/7
Deadwater Sirens1BBB
Creature - Siren (R)
Deathtouch
When Deadwater Sirens enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature for as long as you control Deadwater Sirens.
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature. No thought but lust. No strategy but deception.
3/3
Khamora Stomper3GG
Creature - Ape (R)
Trample
Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, you may have Khamora Stomper fight target creature that player controls. Although he is rumored to hide immeasurable treasures, pirates prefer to give Khamora a wide berth.
5/5
Twilight Cave
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.) T: Add U or B to your mana pool. UB, : You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if three or more creatures died this turn.
Mouldering Den
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.) T: Add B or R to your mana pool. BR, T: You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if two or more creatures you control dealt combat damage to a player this turn.
Crystal Cavern
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.) T: Add R or G to your mana pool. RG, T: You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if you control ten or more lands.
Mermaid Hoard
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.) T: Add G or W to your mana pool. GW, T: You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if you have at least 10 life more than your starting life total.
Angel of the Tidewatch5WW
Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
When Angel of the Tidewatch enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
Whenever a Bird you control deals combat damage to a player, you may exile target creature that player controls until Angel of the Tidewatch leaves the battlefield.
5/5
Eternal IceUU//Moved up from Rare and changed slightly.
Enchantment (M)
Quest hub (When this enters the battlefield, draw a card. You may complete each quest once. When you've completed both, sacrifice this.))
[QUEST] "Ancient Whispers" - X2UU: Draw X cards.
[QUEST] "Awaken a God" - 7UUU: Put a legendary 11/11 blue Kraken creature token with trample and hexproof named Yasheral onto the battlefield.
Pull into the Abyss3BBB
Instant (M)
Put all creature cards from all graveyards that were put there from the battlefield this turn onto the battlefield under your control. "We lived in fear for countless generations while you land-dwellers hid behind your ephemeral wall. Now it's your turn."
-Kajri, merfolk scholar
Clash of Armadas6RR
Sorcery (M)
Each creature deals damage equal to its power to each opponent of that creature's controller and each creature that opponent controls. "You are in my way!"
-Admiral Toranos
Infinite Horizons5GG
Sorcery (M)
Search your library for any number of land cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library. You have no maximum hand size until your next turn. "Should the last spot of the world ever be discovered, I will turn to the realms beneath."
-Tianna, the explorer
Shifting SkinU//Replaces Eternal Ice in the Rare slot.
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature you control 1: Enchanted creature gets +1/-1 or -1/+1 until end of turn. 1U, Return enchanted creature to its owner's hand: You may put a creature card with converted mana cost equal to 1 plus enchanted creature's converted mana cost from your hand onto the battlefield. If you do, return Shifting Skin to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Tianna, Daring Explorer1WU//Replaces Feathered Seraph in the Rare slot.
Legendary Creature — Human Scout (R)
Wanderlust (Whenever this creature attacks, look at the top card of your library. You may put it on the bottom of your library. If it’s a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped.)
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
You may cast the top card of your library if it’s an enchantment card.
2/4
The Endless Sea//Replaces Atqu's Rest.
Legendary Land (R)
The Endless Sea enters the battlefield tapped.
While searching your library, you may play The Endless Sea from your library. T: Add 1 to your mana pool. "How many more wonders are yet out there for me to explore?"
-Kayisha
The full list of changes can be found in this neat .pdf file.
Oh, you're right, it's supposed to be 5R to hardcast and 3R to riposte. Thanks!
I made the PDF with Word. I copied all the images into a word document and then used the built-in pdf exporter. For the future, I'd like to set up something that automates my card lists, like a script that goes through all files in a directory and then writes a LateX code with all the images in it.
The growth creatures have a lot of text, but it's always the same template, so I feel that it's ok.
I'm still unsure whether the increasing cost to grow is the best solution. It can be very mathy if you want to activate it multiple times a turn.
I guess I'm wondering why all your common growth creatures need the "greatest power" riders at common. Have you found the mechanic not satisfying enough by itself?
The mechanic started out as the "greatest power" thing. Growth was added later to make it workable, as it didn't play well that only external effects could influence which creature gets to have the greatest power.
Here is the complete updated card list. I made this document with small script that lists all .jpg files in a directory and creates a LateX code from the list. I can share it if anyone is interested.
Again, I love this set. You’ve done an excellent job of bringing it together. It’s really nice to see it in PDF, I wish more people would do that. Quests hubs are beautiful. This bit of praise covers everything. What follows is a bunch of constructive criticism. If you find it discouraging, just scroll back up and read this again.
The Vessel mechanic is solid, but the word “Vessel” is extremely uninspiring though. How about “Armada”?
Call of the Armada – Surprisingly mathy. Is it worth it? Seems like an additional +1/+1 would work “better”. Or perhaps “Creatures you control get +0/+2. Artifact creatures you control get an additional +0/+2.”
Coralblade Trooper – Does this actually work? It seems like it’s going to be a vanilla 2/2 pretty much all of the time.
Commodore Kavira – This whole design seems to have emerged from flavor rather than mechanical thoughtfulness, yet the primary ability is completely generic. Meanwhile, the second ability is so unique that it that it steals the show.
Crackling Tidestone – Mechanically perfect, but the flavor is a total wiff imo.
Deft Skydancers – Again, mechanically perfect, but I don’t get the flavor. Personally, I’d prefer this just be a Pegasus or something as I’m not a fan of flying white elves in Magic. It seems like something that should be in a different game. But that’s just me.
Elvish Captain – Maybe I should just resign myself to the likelihood that elves, like humans and goblins, will be in three colors. (But I still don’t like flying elves.)
Eyes of Havenrod – Seems to be doing the same thing as The Oceans Cry, except in an even more awkward way.
Havenrod Interceptor – This is EXTREMELY pushed and powerful. Is that supposed to be “each other artifact creature”?
Mute – Love it. Might I suggest “Rules of Engagement” for a name? It seems as though it would fit the naval combat theme.
Palladium Rapier – My OCD is kicking in here.
Parley – This seems a little pushed. There is a veryshortlist of weak, rare cards with “prevent all damage that would be dealt to creatures you control”.
Rider of the Fourth Wind – Wanderlust seems very powerful, but I guess not because it doesn’t stack. What is it like when played?
Warden of Eternity – This is an extremely odd design choice imo. An Armada hoser in white? I don’t get it.
Consider all Options – The card name sounds more like a sentence. How about “Think Fast”?
Elder Loremaster – The quest title “Learn from the Past” doesn’t match the effect. Learning from the past makes me think of Relearn. “Insects at my Feet” is even worse – A giant turtle in water somehow stepping on people like bugs. The quest title has no place here. The effect is fine, but seems more like wind or wave washing someone back to the shore. Sorry for not giving suggestions on this one.
Ghostly Voyager – Has a typo.
Interlock – The effect and flavor text are great, but the name doesn’t fit them.
Kraken of Bitter Reef – Personally, I’d rather the first ability give trample rather than hexproof. After all, Godveiler, Dance of Tides, and Abyssal Crew can protect it nicely.
Lord of the Seven Winds – This sounds very legendary.
Polar Plesodon – Suddenly dinosaurs? Except it’s actually a serpent. A dinosaur sounding name is very odd in the context of this set. Mechanically, I could see this as just tapping a creature with less power rather than it having to have the highest power. The same goes for all “highest power” growers.
Pull Under – An inelegant effect for such an elegant name. If you have room for another redflagged card, I suggest Spell Crumple for creatures for UU. “Counter target creature spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard. Put Pull Under on the bottom of its owner's library.”
Saltshore Marauder – Shouldn’t this say “if you control a pirate”?
Shifting Skin – This is a weird but cool card. The name doesn’t fit. How about “Cloak of Tides”?
Tidal Passage – Blue had never granted +2/+0 before Taigam's Strike, which is only justified because it is one of the colors of Ferocious. Use of it here just isn’t justified imo.
Torta, the Ancient – This would, imo, be more satisfying and flavorful if it produced blue merfolk.
Wavebinder Staff – Again, I don’t think Taigam's Strike sets a new precedent in blue power buffs. Blue is the color of debuffing. Introducing WBR’s +2/+0 to U is not a good idea imo. I suggest “Whenever equipped creature becomes blocked by a creature, that creature gets -2/-0 until end of turn.”
Blackeye’s Marauder – This seems so busted. How has it playtested?
Blackport Cutthroat – The flavor isn’t lining up – a defensive cutthroat that avoids traps.
Inescapable Dreadship – I dunno. Deadly Allure aside (part of a cycle), this is so very very green and even RGW as seen in provoke. It would probably be more palatable if it were legendary. And if it were legendary, you could give it a better name. Or if it only checked for attacking pirates. btw, why isn’t this an Artifact Creature – Pirate Ship!?
Liquid Courage – Where’s the hangover? “Target attacking or blocking creature you control gets +3/+3 and gains lifelink. At the end of combat, it gets -6/-6 until end of turn.”
Queen of the Depths – Sounds legendary. I mean, how many queens of the depths are there?
Raiders of Skullcliff Bay – This just seems crazy. But I could be wrong.
Thirst for Treasure – I realize the set has plenty of use for Gold to sink into Growth, but it seems abusable. How does this playtest?
Twisted Helmsman – Is there a precedent for this that I’m not aware of? This seems like it should cost at least 3B.
Dang, ran out of time so I won’t be able to get to red and gold just yet.
Crown of Winter – The north pole doesn’t belong here. “Winter”, coldness, the four seasons, etc., don’t seem to even be a subtheme of the set, so it’s really odd for such an iconic land to be winter themed.
The Endless Sea – The name kinda doesn’t fit. How about “Uncharted Waters” and remove legendary?
Elvish Captain – Maybe I should just resign myself to the likelihood that elves, like humans and goblins, will be in three colors. (But I still don’t like flying elves.)
Personally I don't see a problem here. If you're going to switch an existing green tribe into white, elves are a sensible options. Besides, GW elves were in Shadowmoor. I wouldn't consider the GB as the final word on their natural multicolorness anyway since it was, at least to me, a flavor peculiarity specific to Lorwyn to begin with. To me it's not so much making elves three-colored as assigning an existing tribe a secondary color for the purpose of a block design (as they did with innistrad red vampires and blue zombies). The problem has more to do with the very out-of-place single black elf card!
I'm still eager to see if there will be more nontheran white centaurs, though. In general, R&D and creative seem to be thinking that tribes, especially new ones should not be restricted strictly to one color, which would explain why Nagas (g/u), Satyrs (g/r) and sirens (u/b) were specifically introduced in multiple colors.
Havenrod Interceptor – This is EXTREMELY pushed and powerful. Is that supposed to be “each other artifact creature”?
I'm split, really. Compare Kor Bladewhirl, Archetype of Courage, Rhox Pikemaster and you see that constant first-stiking is not a common thing. However, because it's only a bear and doesn't grant the ability to itself (plus it's only active a turn later) this is seemingly closer to the one-shot effects like Sanctified Charge and Rally the Forces, which CAN appear at common. The cost still feels pretty pushed, though, but I wouldn't be sure without playtesting.
Pull Under – An inelegant effect for such an elegant name. If you have room for another redflagged card, I suggest Spell Crumple for creatures for UU. “Counter target creature spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard. Put Pull Under on the bottom of its owner's library.”
I completely fail to see the problem. If you don't like the filtering effect, you have four other cards to fix, since this is part of a cycle. The draw effect in those cards should be on a separate line, though.
Tidal Passage – Blue had never granted +2/+0 before Taigam's Strike, which is only justified because it is one of the colors of Ferocious. Use of it here just isn’t justified imo.
Wavebinder Staff – Again, I don’t think Taigam's Strike sets a new precedent in blue power buffs. Blue is the color of debuffing. Introducing WBR’s +2/+0 to U is not a good idea imo. I suggest “Whenever equipped creature becomes blocked by a creature, that creature gets -2/-0 until end of turn.”
I wouldn't characterise +2/+0 as white by any stretch, but I agree putting that buff on two difference blue cards is stretching is quite hard.
Bottomless Treasure – This has to be busted. How does it play?
I can't say I'm a huge fan of gold counters as a major theme. Since when do red and black get to have better ramping and fixing abilities than green?
Inescapable Dreadship – I dunno. Deadly Allure aside (part of a cycle), this is so very very green and even RGW as seen in provoke. It would probably be more palatable if it were legendary. And if it were legendary, you could give it a better name. Or if it only checked for attacking pirates. btw, why isn’t this an Artifact Creature – Pirate Ship!?
I agree with this. Intimidate/menace (which you can use without actually keywording it) are both usual for such an effect.
Twisted Helmsman – Is there a precedent for this that I’m not aware of? This seems like it should cost at least 3B.
Agree. Creatures that leave a token behind at common rarely leave anything bigger than a 1/1 at common.
Hey just finished looking through your set. Nice work I really like it.
Especially the flavor. Quest Hubs, and wanderlust really resonated with me. And it's cool to see expansion on gold and you made some really interesting cards in that regard. I took some notes with my thoughts
Power level issues
Split the Seas
Because you get to pick the pile, this is easily the best bounce spell ever printed. I'd compare this with withdraw or whiplash trap or Echoing Truth for a sense of the target power level. This bounces on average, half of your opponents nonland permanents. Should either have your opponent choose the pile and you separate or cost around five mana.
Final Foray
Just a bit to cheap. This is actually a danger ability on the wizards design list. It's almost always paired with another effect (like Cauldron Dance) to justify making it very costly because of how easy it is to abuse. See footsteps of the goryo which doesn't grant haste for a power level reference. This also grants a bonus ability. Everything else around this mana cost (e.g. Goryo's Vengeance) are highly restrictive. Suggest around five
Crown of the Hermit
The effect has since been printed (assault formation) cheaper and applying to all your creatures. And I feel that sort of costing is much closer to appropriate. Not that it has to be competitive but I felt it a little outside the tolerance range. I recommend decreased costs and maybe a bigger buff.
Pool of Eternal Youth
It's fine if you don't visualize your sets in the context of the greater game, in which case this is fine. But in a world with fetches this is absurd and required for every competitive deck in the game. It essentially increases all hand sizes by one land, because fetches allow you to play it if you don't crack them until your next turn. Suggest adding an additional cost (while searching your library, you may play ~ if you pay and additional 2 to play ~)
Clash of Armadas
I found reading this to be very confusing and wordy. I came up with an alternative wording that reads better in my opinion
For each creature, that creature deals damage equal to its power to each creature its controller doesn't control and each of its controller's opponents
It's also quite silly for a board clear. In commander it's too strong.
Gold
considering you healthy usage of Gold, I see no problem with making the gold ability reminder text, e.g.
When blah blah attacks, put a artifact Gold token into play (Gold tokens have "Sacrifice this: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool")
This would allow you to dramatically shorten the text on rares, as you can just not show the reminder text. Wizards does this sort of thing all the time. Hell, if you wanna be really liberal you can add the typing to the reminder text as well and just call them Gold tokens.
Flavor comments
Domesticated Squid
When I hear domesticated, I don't think manically attacking each turn.
Tradewind Angel
Holy Tradewinds? Curious thing for an Angel to embody.
Goldbound Revenants
Some kind of a versioning issue here. Revenant is a type of undead. The art agrees with this, but it's an elemental.
Nolgul's Lieutenant
Feels like another versioning issue. Lieutenant? A military title for a kraken?
Also, several Squid in the set have the creature type Octopus. Squid is a legitimate creature type.
Design
Prowess caught me off guard. I counted two, and they both felt token. Almost all mechanics in the set (except reposte) cherish creature heavy investments, so these two really just clashed with me.
Format
Quest Hub
I loved Quest Hub; one of my favorite implementations of this sort of thing so far. I especially like that you included quest titles. I would change the formatting though as it can currently create confusion pretty easily if for example, you add text to the quest with say Balduvian Shaman or shenanigans involving opalescence. You need a way to specify that those two are the only quests and not other abilities added later. I recommend something like this (subtle moving of card draw to end included)
Black Pearl 1B
Enchantment Quest for the Pieces of Eight -- 2B, Pay 3 Life: Put two Gold tokens onto the battlefield. You may activate this ability only once Quest for the Cursed Island -- BBBB, Pay 10 Life: For the next five turns, you don't lose the game for having 0 or less life. You may activate this ability only once
When you've activated each of ~'s Quest abilities, sacrifice ~ and draw a card
It solves it by clearing delineating the quests as quests. I think it's also more concise on the whole.
Random
I totally expected seafarer's compass to grant wanderlust. It did not.
I thought reposte would be too defensive but literally all the other mechanics want you to all out beat face, so I think it's fine.
One of your legends, I forget which, has vessel, but did not have that spelled out. Probably a mistake.
Did you actually check before making that statement?
Yes, I think I just forgot to reset previous search parameters which filtered out the cards you mention.
Picking up where I left off earlier. I forgot to mention before that you’ve managed to find tons of great artwork for your cards. And again, love the set.
Clash of Armadas – Haha, this is crazy. It’s just so confusing. How about “All creatures gain “T: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature and that creature’s controller.”
Conquistador’s Charge – Colossal Might doesn’t make this okay. The cmc should be at least 3.
Demolition Squid – Is an Octopus? This seems more like an uncommon.
Domesticated Squid – Is an Octopus? This actually made me “lol” (which means “laugh out loud”)
Fervent Gunslinger – A beautiful card, but is without a doubt uncommon material.
Fire Broadside – The flavor is backwards here. This would be a nice "R, deal 1 damage, get a gold token. Call it “Warning Shot”?
Goldbound Revenants – Is an Elemental?
Bloodsail Sorcerer – Should be a sorceress. This is one disappointing rare. The effect is nice, but not rare material.
Wreck – imo this kind of boring obligatory stock set filler card is the perfect candidate for a set mechanic such as the filter mechanic seen on Tamed Lightning.
Crown of the Hermit – Not feeling this at all. How about the very simple “Bark Shield” or “Spiked Shield”?
Iyori Deepspeaker – The flavor text kinda works but needs polish.
Bloodlord Szavos – Love the first two abilities. The “finisher” is flavorful but extremely weak.
All these ships but still no card named Abandon Ship…
Abandon Ship (Rare) 1U
Instant
Remove all counters from target permanent and return it to its owner’s hand. For each counter removed this way, put a 1/1 blue Pirate creature token onto the battlefield.
All this gold and pirates but still no card named Blood Money…
Blood Money (Uncommon) BR
Sorcery
Destroy target creature. Put an artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
or Buried Treasure…
Buried Treasure (Rare) XUBR
Sorcery
Draw X cards and put X artifact tokens named Gold onto the battlefield. They have "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
or...
Treasure Map (Rare) 3
Artifact T, Sacrifice a land: Draw a card and put an artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
Cannon Fire (Uncommon) R
Instant
Cannon Fire deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Until end of turn, Ships you control have "R, T: This Ship deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Walk the Plank (Uncommon) 1B
Sorcery
Destroy target nonblue creature.
Crimson Tide (Common) R
Sorcery
Until end of turn, whenever you tap an Island for mana, that add R to your mana pool (in addition to the mana the land produces).
Again, I love this set. You’ve done an excellent job of bringing it together. It’s really nice to see it in PDF, I wish more people would do that. Quests hubs are beautiful. This bit of praise covers everything. What follows is a bunch of constructive criticism. If you find it discouraging, just scroll back up and read this again.
It's great feedback, thanks for taking so much time to comment!
Vessel: Armada works only really for white, but not for Pirate ships etc. What I'm considering though, is removing the ability word altogether as all Ships do the same thing anyway.
Call the Armada: The idea here is that when you attack, your opponent will prioritize blocking the Ships, so they should get a toughness bonus. But the card itself should also be playable without Ships, so I like the +1/+1. It could also grant indestructible, but that would be very pushed.
Commodore Kavira: I'm open to redesigning him, given how similar, yet inferior he is to the new Gideon.
Crackling Tidestone: The tidestones play a major part in the story. They're what imprisoned the sea creatures in the underwater realm until Kiora broke them. That's where the flavor is from.
Deft Skydancers: We have Rune-Cervin Rider as precedence. I like that it gives elves decks a bit of reach, and isn't just about swarming on the ground.
Havenrod Interceptor: It's actually not as powerful as it looks. You need to attack with multiple creatures to get an effect and your opponent can always block just block this creature.
Mute: Rules of Engagement is a much better name.
Elder Loremaster: Changed the quest names to "Torta's Insight" and "Crashing Wave."
Ghostly Voyager: Fixed.
Interlock: Mhm, I seemed to have gotten the translation of this word wrong.
Kraken of Bitter Reef: It's fine that there is a bit of overlap. The Kraken is aimed at constructed, the others not (which reminds me, I wanted to make the Kraken a 5 mana 5/5).
Polar Plesodon: Plesiosaurs are serpent-like aquatic dinosaurs, so they would fit the theme very well I think. And Plesodon is a made-up word, so it can mean whatever I want it to
Saltshore Marauder: Continuous effects always with "as long as."
Shifting Skin: I like Cloak of Tides. I will use it. I might be overusing the tides a bit in card names, but whatever .
Tidebinder Staff / Tidal Passage: In this set, all colors have a power matters theme, and as Circeus pointed out, there are a lot more precedences than just Taigam's Strike, so I don't really see the problem.
Torta, the Ancient: Creative-me handed Design-me the restriction that this Turtle legend should interact with humans (they were once the protectors of humans). I had blue Humans initially, but a friend said that they could just be white.
Blackeye's Marauder: This is one of the new cards. I haven't playtested it yet.
Bottomless Treasure: You'll only play it if you got artifact synergies. The ramp is nice, but you need double black, so you can't really see it as fixing.
Crown of Winter: Several cards reference the polar sea. The carribean flavor should be dominant in the set, but it shouldn't be all that it's about. But if you feel that way, it rather means that this maybe isn't conveyed too well.
Clash of Armadas: Everybody dies!!
Conquistador's Charge: You have to be able to accept pushed cards sometimes. This card doesn't break anything, it's just a good red pump spell.
Fervent Gunslinger: Then maybe let's add double strike? More gunslinging?
Goldbound Revenants: That doesn't make sense, on second thought.
Bloodsail Sorcerer: I could see this getting replaced, given that Fervent Gunslinger is a somewhat similar card.
Iyori Deepspeaker: How so?
Again, thanks for taking all the time! I agree with some of your comments, and disagree with others. For me, the most useful aspect of feedback is not being made aware of glaring mistakes (at least not at this stage anymore), but seeing other people's view on things. I'd like to discuss these topics more, especially the elves and Vessel things.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Thanks! It was also very popular among the playtesters.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
To do list:
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
There’s two different reminder texts for Quest Hub.
The term “Quest Hub” is rather esoteric and tasteless frankly. “Quest” would feel better and do the job nicely imo. The ability itself is very cool though. The built-in cantrip is somewhat appealing but looks kind of boring really. Have you considered giving players an incentive to complete both quests by giving them a reward (such as drawing a card) after the quests are completed? So, for example, Iyori Port might look like:
Iyori Port (Common)
1W
Enchantment
Quest – You may complete each quest once. When you’ve completed both, sacrifice this and gain 6 life.
Recruitment – 1W: Put two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Overdue Shipments – 5W: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Just a thought.
Also, do you predict tracking issues with Quest hub?
Oh, I forgot to update some of them. Thanks!
The Quest hubs are designed specifically so that they play well both in mana screw and mana flood situations and that they reduce variance that way. In a good percentage of games, you'll be low on mana and the game ends before you complete any of the quests. The built-in cantrip is there so that quest hubs aren't dead cards in these situations. Having a quest hub in hand never feels bad; worst comes to worst you can just replace it with a different card and not care about the quests. Your suggestion works too (one of the abilities is very cheap), but it cuts down the design space by a lot, because you'll have much less room to vary the costs of the quests.
Shortening the mechanic name to "Quest" is possible and certainly appealing. It may lead to some confusion about what is a "quest" - the enchantment or the abilities. Another possibility is "Adventure", although that would requre a reflavoring of the individual cards.
The recommendation is that you put one counter on the card if you completed the first quest, two counters if you completed the second quest, and no counter if you've completed none. That you completed both doesn't have to be represented, because you'll sacrifice the enchantment at that point. If you have a lot of dice, you can also put a dice on 1 and one on 2 to represent which abilities are still available to use. This might be more intuitive for the opponent.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
If this is the case, I'd probably just make adding counters an explicit mechanic of the card, like Level Up.
The space for the reminder text is quite scarce, so it would have to be written only in the Comp. rules. But I see the necessity to either change the functionality or to clearly set a guideline for the representation of the quest status.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Crustacean King W
Creature - Crab (C)
Growth 2W (2W: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
"Why should we sail out fishing? Food just walks up to our beach these days."
-Jan, the "sea bass"
0/3
//Reduced the growth cost by 1. The card should not be worse than Yoked Ox.
Octoshape 3UU
Instant (U)
Riposte 1UU (You may cast this spell for its riposte cost if a creature is attacking you.)
Target creature becomes a blue Octopus with base power and toughness 8/8 until end of turn.
"Sufficient space during consumption advised."
-Lexicon of alchemy, page 127
//Changed from 2GU without riposte. We felt that it's important that the multicolor cards point you into the direction of the archetype, and Octoshape didn't do that.
Torta's Warleader 4GU
Creature - Turtle (U)
Other Turtle creatures you control get +2/+2.
"I am not feeling too well lately," said Torta to her friend. "I have humans."
-Myrian fairytale
3/6
//Consequently, this turtle here was changed from 4UU.
Kraken of Bitter Reef 3UU
Creature - Kraken (R)
Growth U (U: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
U: Kraken of Bitter Reef gains hexproof until end of turn. Activate this ability only if Kraken of Bitter Reef is the creature with the greatest power.
By the time you see it approaching, you're already halfway in its mouth.
5/5
//Given the -1 -1/-1 treatment to make it more appealing for Constructed.
Victim of Voodoo 3B
Creature - Zombie Shaman (C)
Victim of Voodoo enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.
Shamans obsessed with voodoo quickly become as mindless as their undead slaves.
2/2
//There is supposed to be a small self-mill archetype in black/green, but it's not a main archetype. I'm trying to find a design for this card that it's a high pick in that deck, and a medium pick in all others. Not sure if this is the case here.
Maelstrom Serpent 7B
Creature - Serpent (U)
Growth B (B: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
Whenever Maelstrom Serpent attacks, target creature defending player controls gets -3/-3 until end of turn if Maelstrom Serpent is the creature with the greatest power.
5/6
//Previously gained intimidate, but that's no longer a thing.
Pawn's Slaughter 1B
Instant (R)
Destroy target nonlegendary creature.
Nolgul released all his hate built up over thousands of years upon the land-dwellers.
//Previously tried to design variants of Hero's Downfall, but they weren't very interesting.
Demolition Squid 3RR
Creature - Octopus (C)
Growth 1R (1R: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
Whenever Demolition Squid attacks, it deals 3 damage to defending player if it's the creature with the greatest power.
Though the squid found the timbers to be inedible, they made for good toothpicks.
3/3
//Previously destroyed artifacts. That's not a design for a common, though.
Marooned Mutineer R
Creature - Human Pirate (U)
Marooned Mutineer can't attack unless a Ship is attacking.
"I don't think t' Tel Atarian fleet will come rescue me, so it's time t' get busy."
2/2
//Down from a 4/3 for 2R because a pirate sitting on an island drinking rum doesn't look like a 4/3 to me.
Tel Atar Marine 1RR
Creature - Human Soldier (U)
First strike, haste
When Tel Atar Marine enters the battlefield, you may attach an Equipment you control to it.
"I could best these amateurs with one hand tied behind my back. Cheap tricks are all they rely on."
2/2
//Changed from a color-shifted Kor Duelist.
Wreck 1R
Instant (C)
Destroy target artifact.
"Easy, me mateys. Don't sink t' whole island. Thar gunna be nothin' left to take."
-Captain Thoras
//Changed from Demolish.
Quest hubs: Currently no changes. None of the proposed changes resonated well.
Crushing Vines: Currently, there's no enchantment removal in green because Crushing Vines is in the place of Naturalize and co. Could be replaced by Return to the Earth (which is a boring card because it answers everything) or with an enchantment version of Crushing Vines and forfeit artifact removal in green (there are many artifact creatures that I don't want to just die to it so I like this).
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
The final result turned out really awesome and was definitely worth the effort. Most people probably don't really care that much about the quality of their prints, but it's one of my quirks that I do. At some point, I want to print out my TCG, and this is good practice at least.
If you'd like me to share the hi-res templates I made, write me a PM.
So, that's what's been going on with the set in the last couple of weeks. Now, hopefully more card updates will follow (or maybe hopefully none, because that means everything is perfect?)
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Also why doesn't quest draw you the card on sacrifice rather than ETB? Makes it feel like a reward and be less wordy?
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Artifact - Equipment (U)
As long as equipped creature is an Elf, it has lifelink.
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on equipped creature.
Equip 2 (2: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
Learn from the Past 3U
Instant (U)
Target player shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library.
Draw a card.
"In the era before the Great Divide, we watched over men, and protected them from the dangers of the sea."
-Torta, the ancient
Blackeye's Marauder 3B
Creature - Human Pirate Shaman (U)
Whenever Blackeye's Marauder attacks, put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard.
Whenever another creature card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, put a colorless artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
3/3
Barrage of Lead 5R
Instant (U)
Riposte 3R (You may cast this spell for its riposte cost if a creature is attacking you.)
Choose one or both -
Creature - Kraken (U)
Growth G (G: Put a +1/+1 counter on this. This costs 1 more to activate for each +1/+1 counter on it. Grow only as a sorcery.)
Whenever Nolgul's Lieutenant grows, put a +1/+1 counter on each other Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent creature you control.
5/5
Artifact Creature - Wall (R)
Defender, indestructible
Attacking artifact creatures you control have indestructible.
"The empires of men will not succumb to the monstrosities of the deep."
-Captain Decard
0/5
Torta, the Ancient 3UUU
Legendary Creature - Turtle (R)
Tap an untapped Turtle you control: Put a 1/1 white Human creature token onto the battlefield.
Tap three untapped Humans you control: Target Turtle creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn.
Separated by the Great Divide, she returned from imprisonment beneath the sea.
3/7
Deadwater Sirens 1BBB
Creature - Siren (R)
Deathtouch
When Deadwater Sirens enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature for as long as you control Deadwater Sirens.
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature.
No thought but lust. No strategy but deception.
3/3
Khamora Stomper 3GG
Creature - Ape (R)
Trample
Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, you may have Khamora Stomper fight target creature that player controls.
Although he is rumored to hide immeasurable treasures, pirates prefer to give Khamora a wide berth.
5/5
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.)
T: Add U or B to your mana pool.
UB, : You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if three or more creatures died this turn.
Mouldering Den
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.)
T: Add B or R to your mana pool.
BR, T: You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if two or more creatures you control dealt combat damage to a player this turn.
Crystal Cavern
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.)
T: Add R or G to your mana pool.
RG, T: You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if you control ten or more lands.
Mermaid Hoard
Land (R)
Hideaway (This land enters the battlefield tapped. When it does, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library.)
T: Add G or W to your mana pool.
GW, T: You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if you have at least 10 life more than your starting life total.
Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
When Angel of the Tidewatch enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
Whenever a Bird you control deals combat damage to a player, you may exile target creature that player controls until Angel of the Tidewatch leaves the battlefield.
5/5
Eternal Ice UU //Moved up from Rare and changed slightly.
Enchantment (M)
Quest hub (When this enters the battlefield, draw a card. You may complete each quest once. When you've completed both, sacrifice this.))
[QUEST] "Ancient Whispers" - X2UU: Draw X cards.
[QUEST] "Awaken a God" - 7UUU: Put a legendary 11/11 blue Kraken creature token with trample and hexproof named Yasheral onto the battlefield.
Pull into the Abyss 3BBB
Instant (M)
Put all creature cards from all graveyards that were put there from the battlefield this turn onto the battlefield under your control.
"We lived in fear for countless generations while you land-dwellers hid behind your ephemeral wall. Now it's your turn."
-Kajri, merfolk scholar
Clash of Armadas 6RR
Sorcery (M)
Each creature deals damage equal to its power to each opponent of that creature's controller and each creature that opponent controls.
"You are in my way!"
-Admiral Toranos
Infinite Horizons 5GG
Sorcery (M)
Search your library for any number of land cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library. You have no maximum hand size until your next turn.
"Should the last spot of the world ever be discovered, I will turn to the realms beneath."
-Tianna, the explorer
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature you control
1: Enchanted creature gets +1/-1 or -1/+1 until end of turn.
1U, Return enchanted creature to its owner's hand: You may put a creature card with converted mana cost equal to 1 plus enchanted creature's converted mana cost from your hand onto the battlefield. If you do, return Shifting Skin to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Tianna, Daring Explorer 1WU //Replaces Feathered Seraph in the Rare slot.
Legendary Creature — Human Scout (R)
Wanderlust (Whenever this creature attacks, look at the top card of your library. You may put it on the bottom of your library. If it’s a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped.)
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
You may cast the top card of your library if it’s an enchantment card.
2/4
The Endless Sea //Replaces Atqu's Rest.
Legendary Land (R)
The Endless Sea enters the battlefield tapped.
While searching your library, you may play The Endless Sea from your library.
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
"How many more wonders are yet out there for me to explore?"
-Kayisha
The full list of changes can be found in this neat .pdf file.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Also that changes PDF is really cool. How do you make those?
I made the PDF with Word. I copied all the images into a word document and then used the built-in pdf exporter. For the future, I'd like to set up something that automates my card lists, like a script that goes through all files in a directory and then writes a LateX code with all the images in it.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
It feels like your common growth creatures are just overstuffed. Especially Horizon Serpent.
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
I'm still unsure whether the increasing cost to grow is the best solution. It can be very mathy if you want to activate it multiple times a turn.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
I guess I'm wondering why all your common growth creatures need the "greatest power" riders at common. Have you found the mechanic not satisfying enough by itself?
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
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Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Here is the complete updated card list. I made this document with small script that lists all .jpg files in a directory and creates a LateX code from the list. I can share it if anyone is interested.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
The Vessel mechanic is solid, but the word “Vessel” is extremely uninspiring though. How about “Armada”?
Call of the Armada – Surprisingly mathy. Is it worth it? Seems like an additional +1/+1 would work “better”. Or perhaps “Creatures you control get +0/+2. Artifact creatures you control get an additional +0/+2.”
Coralblade Trooper – Does this actually work? It seems like it’s going to be a vanilla 2/2 pretty much all of the time.
Commodore Kavira – This whole design seems to have emerged from flavor rather than mechanical thoughtfulness, yet the primary ability is completely generic. Meanwhile, the second ability is so unique that it that it steals the show.
Crackling Tidestone – Mechanically perfect, but the flavor is a total wiff imo.
Deft Skydancers – Again, mechanically perfect, but I don’t get the flavor. Personally, I’d prefer this just be a Pegasus or something as I’m not a fan of flying white elves in Magic. It seems like something that should be in a different game. But that’s just me.
Elvish Captain – Maybe I should just resign myself to the likelihood that elves, like humans and goblins, will be in three colors. (But I still don’t like flying elves.)
Eyes of Havenrod – Seems to be doing the same thing as The Oceans Cry, except in an even more awkward way.
Havenrod Interceptor – This is EXTREMELY pushed and powerful. Is that supposed to be “each other artifact creature”?
Mute – Love it. Might I suggest “Rules of Engagement” for a name? It seems as though it would fit the naval combat theme.
Palladium Rapier – My OCD is kicking in here.
Parley – This seems a little pushed. There is a very short list of weak, rare cards with “prevent all damage that would be dealt to creatures you control”.
Rider of the Fourth Wind – Wanderlust seems very powerful, but I guess not because it doesn’t stack. What is it like when played?
Warden of Eternity – This is an extremely odd design choice imo. An Armada hoser in white? I don’t get it.
Consider all Options – The card name sounds more like a sentence. How about “Think Fast”?
Elder Loremaster – The quest title “Learn from the Past” doesn’t match the effect. Learning from the past makes me think of Relearn. “Insects at my Feet” is even worse – A giant turtle in water somehow stepping on people like bugs. The quest title has no place here. The effect is fine, but seems more like wind or wave washing someone back to the shore. Sorry for not giving suggestions on this one.
Ghostly Voyager – Has a typo.
Interlock – The effect and flavor text are great, but the name doesn’t fit them.
Kraken of Bitter Reef – Personally, I’d rather the first ability give trample rather than hexproof. After all, Godveiler, Dance of Tides, and Abyssal Crew can protect it nicely.
Lord of the Seven Winds – This sounds very legendary.
Polar Plesodon – Suddenly dinosaurs? Except it’s actually a serpent. A dinosaur sounding name is very odd in the context of this set. Mechanically, I could see this as just tapping a creature with less power rather than it having to have the highest power. The same goes for all “highest power” growers.
Pull Under – An inelegant effect for such an elegant name. If you have room for another redflagged card, I suggest Spell Crumple for creatures for UU. “Counter target creature spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard. Put Pull Under on the bottom of its owner's library.”
Saltshore Marauder – Shouldn’t this say “if you control a pirate”?
Shifting Skin – This is a weird but cool card. The name doesn’t fit. How about “Cloak of Tides”?
Tidal Passage – Blue had never granted +2/+0 before Taigam's Strike, which is only justified because it is one of the colors of Ferocious. Use of it here just isn’t justified imo.
Torta, the Ancient – This would, imo, be more satisfying and flavorful if it produced blue merfolk.
Wavebinder Staff – Again, I don’t think Taigam's Strike sets a new precedent in blue power buffs. Blue is the color of debuffing. Introducing WBR’s +2/+0 to U is not a good idea imo. I suggest “Whenever equipped creature becomes blocked by a creature, that creature gets -2/-0 until end of turn.”
Blackeye’s Marauder – This seems so busted. How has it playtested?
Blackport Cutthroat – The flavor isn’t lining up – a defensive cutthroat that avoids traps.
Bleak End – Fatal Fumes and Weight of the Underworld make this seem needlessly pushed.
Bloodforged Cleaver – This is likewise pushed but somehow tolerably so. Maybe make it “nonartifact, nonblack” ala Terror?
Bottomless Treasure – This has to be busted. How does it play?
Captain of the Damned – Nice. Perhaps “tapped and attacking”?
Drowned Revenants – They’ve drowned yet they fly – awkward ;/
Inescapable Dreadship – I dunno. Deadly Allure aside (part of a cycle), this is so very very green and even RGW as seen in provoke. It would probably be more palatable if it were legendary. And if it were legendary, you could give it a better name. Or if it only checked for attacking pirates. btw, why isn’t this an Artifact Creature – Pirate Ship!?
Liquid Courage – Where’s the hangover? “Target attacking or blocking creature you control gets +3/+3 and gains lifelink. At the end of combat, it gets -6/-6 until end of turn.”
Queen of the Depths – Sounds legendary. I mean, how many queens of the depths are there?
Raiders of Skullcliff Bay – This just seems crazy. But I could be wrong.
Thirst for Treasure – I realize the set has plenty of use for Gold to sink into Growth, but it seems abusable. How does this playtest?
Twisted Helmsman – Is there a precedent for this that I’m not aware of? This seems like it should cost at least 3B.
Dang, ran out of time so I won’t be able to get to red and gold just yet.
Crown of Winter – The north pole doesn’t belong here. “Winter”, coldness, the four seasons, etc., don’t seem to even be a subtheme of the set, so it’s really odd for such an iconic land to be winter themed.
The Endless Sea – The name kinda doesn’t fit. How about “Uncharted Waters” and remove legendary?
Personally I don't see a problem here. If you're going to switch an existing green tribe into white, elves are a sensible options. Besides, GW elves were in Shadowmoor. I wouldn't consider the GB as the final word on their natural multicolorness anyway since it was, at least to me, a flavor peculiarity specific to Lorwyn to begin with. To me it's not so much making elves three-colored as assigning an existing tribe a secondary color for the purpose of a block design (as they did with innistrad red vampires and blue zombies). The problem has more to do with the very out-of-place single black elf card!
I'm still eager to see if there will be more nontheran white centaurs, though. In general, R&D and creative seem to be thinking that tribes, especially new ones should not be restricted strictly to one color, which would explain why Nagas (g/u), Satyrs (g/r) and sirens (u/b) were specifically introduced in multiple colors.
I'm split, really. Compare Kor Bladewhirl, Archetype of Courage, Rhox Pikemaster and you see that constant first-stiking is not a common thing. However, because it's only a bear and doesn't grant the ability to itself (plus it's only active a turn later) this is seemingly closer to the one-shot effects like Sanctified Charge and Rally the Forces, which CAN appear at common. The cost still feels pretty pushed, though, but I wouldn't be sure without playtesting.
I completely fail to see the problem. If you don't like the filtering effect, you have four other cards to fix, since this is part of a cycle. The draw effect in those cards should be on a separate line, though.
Did you actually check before making that statement? Incursion Specialist, Tricks of the Trade and Gravitational Shift all did so. I agree it's usual for blue, but I don't think it's overly out of line.
I wouldn't characterise +2/+0 as white by any stretch, but I agree putting that buff on two difference blue cards is stretching is quite hard.
I can't say I'm a huge fan of gold counters as a major theme. Since when do red and black get to have better ramping and fixing abilities than green?
I agree with this. Intimidate/menace (which you can use without actually keywording it) are both usual for such an effect.
Agree. Creatures that leave a token behind at common rarely leave anything bigger than a 1/1 at common.
Especially the flavor. Quest Hubs, and wanderlust really resonated with me. And it's cool to see expansion on gold and you made some really interesting cards in that regard. I took some notes with my thoughts
Power level issues
Split the Seas
Because you get to pick the pile, this is easily the best bounce spell ever printed. I'd compare this with withdraw or whiplash trap or Echoing Truth for a sense of the target power level. This bounces on average, half of your opponents nonland permanents. Should either have your opponent choose the pile and you separate or cost around five mana.
Final Foray
Just a bit to cheap. This is actually a danger ability on the wizards design list. It's almost always paired with another effect (like Cauldron Dance) to justify making it very costly because of how easy it is to abuse. See footsteps of the goryo which doesn't grant haste for a power level reference. This also grants a bonus ability. Everything else around this mana cost (e.g. Goryo's Vengeance) are highly restrictive. Suggest around five
Crown of the Hermit
The effect has since been printed (assault formation) cheaper and applying to all your creatures. And I feel that sort of costing is much closer to appropriate. Not that it has to be competitive but I felt it a little outside the tolerance range. I recommend decreased costs and maybe a bigger buff.
Pool of Eternal Youth
It's fine if you don't visualize your sets in the context of the greater game, in which case this is fine. But in a world with fetches this is absurd and required for every competitive deck in the game. It essentially increases all hand sizes by one land, because fetches allow you to play it if you don't crack them until your next turn. Suggest adding an additional cost (while searching your library, you may play ~ if you pay and additional 2 to play ~)
Clash of Armadas
I found reading this to be very confusing and wordy. I came up with an alternative wording that reads better in my opinion
For each creature, that creature deals damage equal to its power to each creature its controller doesn't control and each of its controller's opponents
It's also quite silly for a board clear. In commander it's too strong.
Gold
considering you healthy usage of Gold, I see no problem with making the gold ability reminder text, e.g.
When blah blah attacks, put a artifact Gold token into play (Gold tokens have "Sacrifice this: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool")
This would allow you to dramatically shorten the text on rares, as you can just not show the reminder text. Wizards does this sort of thing all the time. Hell, if you wanna be really liberal you can add the typing to the reminder text as well and just call them Gold tokens.
Flavor comments
Domesticated Squid
When I hear domesticated, I don't think manically attacking each turn.
Tradewind Angel
Holy Tradewinds? Curious thing for an Angel to embody.
Goldbound Revenants
Some kind of a versioning issue here. Revenant is a type of undead. The art agrees with this, but it's an elemental.
Nolgul's Lieutenant
Feels like another versioning issue. Lieutenant? A military title for a kraken?
Also, several Squid in the set have the creature type Octopus. Squid is a legitimate creature type.
Design
Prowess caught me off guard. I counted two, and they both felt token. Almost all mechanics in the set (except reposte) cherish creature heavy investments, so these two really just clashed with me.
Format
Quest Hub
I loved Quest Hub; one of my favorite implementations of this sort of thing so far. I especially like that you included quest titles. I would change the formatting though as it can currently create confusion pretty easily if for example, you add text to the quest with say Balduvian Shaman or shenanigans involving opalescence. You need a way to specify that those two are the only quests and not other abilities added later. I recommend something like this (subtle moving of card draw to end included)
Black Pearl 1B
Enchantment
Quest for the Pieces of Eight -- 2B, Pay 3 Life: Put two Gold tokens onto the battlefield. You may activate this ability only once
Quest for the Cursed Island -- BBBB, Pay 10 Life: For the next five turns, you don't lose the game for having 0 or less life. You may activate this ability only once
When you've activated each of ~'s Quest abilities, sacrifice ~ and draw a card
It solves it by clearing delineating the quests as quests. I think it's also more concise on the whole.
Random
I totally expected seafarer's compass to grant wanderlust. It did not.
I thought reposte would be too defensive but literally all the other mechanics want you to all out beat face, so I think it's fine.
One of your legends, I forget which, has vessel, but did not have that spelled out. Probably a mistake.
Yes, I think I just forgot to reset previous search parameters which filtered out the cards you mention.
Picking up where I left off earlier. I forgot to mention before that you’ve managed to find tons of great artwork for your cards. And again, love the set.
Clash of Armadas – Haha, this is crazy. It’s just so confusing. How about “All creatures gain “T: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature and that creature’s controller.”
Conquistador’s Charge – Colossal Might doesn’t make this okay. The cmc should be at least 3.
Demolition Squid – Is an Octopus? This seems more like an uncommon.
Domesticated Squid – Is an Octopus? This actually made me “lol” (which means “laugh out loud”)
Fervent Gunslinger – A beautiful card, but is without a doubt uncommon material.
Fire Broadside – The flavor is backwards here. This would be a nice "R, deal 1 damage, get a gold token. Call it “Warning Shot”?
Goldbound Revenants – Is an Elemental?
Bloodsail Sorcerer – Should be a sorceress. This is one disappointing rare. The effect is nice, but not rare material.
Wreck – imo this kind of boring obligatory stock set filler card is the perfect candidate for a set mechanic such as the filter mechanic seen on Tamed Lightning.
Crown of the Hermit – Not feeling this at all. How about the very simple “Bark Shield” or “Spiked Shield”?
Iyori Deepspeaker – The flavor text kinda works but needs polish.
Bloodlord Szavos – Love the first two abilities. The “finisher” is flavorful but extremely weak.
All these ships but still no card named Abandon Ship…
Abandon Ship (Rare)
1U
Instant
Remove all counters from target permanent and return it to its owner’s hand. For each counter removed this way, put a 1/1 blue Pirate creature token onto the battlefield.
All this gold and pirates but still no card named Blood Money…
Blood Money (Uncommon)
BR
Sorcery
Destroy target creature. Put an artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
or Buried Treasure…
Buried Treasure (Rare)
XUBR
Sorcery
Draw X cards and put X artifact tokens named Gold onto the battlefield. They have "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
or...
Treasure Map (Rare)
3
Artifact
T, Sacrifice a land: Draw a card and put an artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
Cannon Fire (Uncommon)
R
Instant
Cannon Fire deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Until end of turn, Ships you control have "R, T: This Ship deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Walk the Plank (Uncommon)
1B
Sorcery
Destroy target nonblue creature.
Crimson Tide (Common)
R
Sorcery
Until end of turn, whenever you tap an Island for mana, that add R to your mana pool (in addition to the mana the land produces).
It's great feedback, thanks for taking so much time to comment!
Vessel: Armada works only really for white, but not for Pirate ships etc. What I'm considering though, is removing the ability word altogether as all Ships do the same thing anyway.
Call the Armada: The idea here is that when you attack, your opponent will prioritize blocking the Ships, so they should get a toughness bonus. But the card itself should also be playable without Ships, so I like the +1/+1. It could also grant indestructible, but that would be very pushed.
Commodore Kavira: I'm open to redesigning him, given how similar, yet inferior he is to the new Gideon.
Crackling Tidestone: The tidestones play a major part in the story. They're what imprisoned the sea creatures in the underwater realm until Kiora broke them. That's where the flavor is from.
Deft Skydancers: We have Rune-Cervin Rider as precedence. I like that it gives elves decks a bit of reach, and isn't just about swarming on the ground.
Havenrod Interceptor: It's actually not as powerful as it looks. You need to attack with multiple creatures to get an effect and your opponent can always block just block this creature.
Mute: Rules of Engagement is a much better name.
Elder Loremaster: Changed the quest names to "Torta's Insight" and "Crashing Wave."
Ghostly Voyager: Fixed.
Interlock: Mhm, I seemed to have gotten the translation of this word wrong.
Kraken of Bitter Reef: It's fine that there is a bit of overlap. The Kraken is aimed at constructed, the others not (which reminds me, I wanted to make the Kraken a 5 mana 5/5).
Polar Plesodon: Plesiosaurs are serpent-like aquatic dinosaurs, so they would fit the theme very well I think. And Plesodon is a made-up word, so it can mean whatever I want it to
Saltshore Marauder: Continuous effects always with "as long as."
Shifting Skin: I like Cloak of Tides. I will use it. I might be overusing the tides a bit in card names, but whatever .
Tidebinder Staff / Tidal Passage: In this set, all colors have a power matters theme, and as Circeus pointed out, there are a lot more precedences than just Taigam's Strike, so I don't really see the problem.
Torta, the Ancient: Creative-me handed Design-me the restriction that this Turtle legend should interact with humans (they were once the protectors of humans). I had blue Humans initially, but a friend said that they could just be white.
Blackeye's Marauder: This is one of the new cards. I haven't playtested it yet.
Bleak End: Fatal Fumes and Weight of the Underworld are both terrible Magic cards. I wouldn't set them as the base power level.
Bottomless Treasure: You'll only play it if you got artifact synergies. The ramp is nice, but you need double black, so you can't really see it as fixing.
Crown of Winter: Several cards reference the polar sea. The carribean flavor should be dominant in the set, but it shouldn't be all that it's about. But if you feel that way, it rather means that this maybe isn't conveyed too well.
Clash of Armadas: Everybody dies!!
Conquistador's Charge: You have to be able to accept pushed cards sometimes. This card doesn't break anything, it's just a good red pump spell.
Fervent Gunslinger: Then maybe let's add double strike? More gunslinging?
Goldbound Revenants: That doesn't make sense, on second thought.
Bloodsail Sorcerer: I could see this getting replaced, given that Fervent Gunslinger is a somewhat similar card.
Iyori Deepspeaker: How so?
Again, thanks for taking all the time! I agree with some of your comments, and disagree with others. For me, the most useful aspect of feedback is not being made aware of glaring mistakes (at least not at this stage anymore), but seeing other people's view on things. I'd like to discuss these topics more, especially the elves and Vessel things.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!