The Espree - Espree is indeed close to Esper but is actually inspired by esprit. I haven't quite completely worked out the Espree's <Creature - Race Elemental> flavor yet, but hopefully it will piece together as I design the other colors. And the name may change.
Gate Guard - There will be ways to pump Gate Gaurd.
Herodin's Entourage - Increased from 1/1/ for W to 2/2 for 1W.
Royal Ambassador - Dropped it's power from 2 to 1.
Skyland Cavalry - Not all SkyLANDers fly.
Skyland Patrol - Changed from 1/3 to 2/2.
Swooping Crane - Has been poorly recieved by everyone for pretty much the same reason. It'll probably get bumped up to uncommon once I find a suitable replacement for it.
As for offensive potential vs defensive potential... You were right, it was exceptionally low on offense. Thanks for pointing that out. That was a very subtle detail that I wasn't aware of. After the adjustments, this batch of creatures is approximately two (power)-"points" shy of "average" but slightly higher than that of Zen's white creature's powers, which coincidentally includes two creatures with zero power and one creature with variable power, just like mine. So I'm cool with it after the adjustments. Thanks again.
First time making my own thread for cards here, so hello y'all. I'll save the formalities, other than I'm very new to the world of M:tG and that I've had limited playing experience (only playing through Cockatrice with a loose group of friends with whom it's difficult to coordinate).
Snake Oil Salesman Creature — Human Rogue (Uncommon)
: Target player gains 2 life. Snake Oil Salesman deals 4 damage to that player during the beginning of their next upkeep. “Just one bottle, and all your ailments will be gone...”
1/1
The effect is a bit extreme and out of color as well. Damage would be red, life loss would be black. I suggest "Target player gains 2 life. That player loses 3 life a the beginning of his or her next upkeep."
After five years of trial and error designing, I almost have a set. I expect that this will be the year I complete it. And that's after learning from if not gleaning from other people's ideas - a practice that I highly recommend. (But only for set building mind you). After all, every WotC set had many, many designers. My standards are fairly high too though. To expedite a set, just lower your expectations and go for it. Or take your time and realize that it could be years before you complete a set. Either way is fine as long as it's fun for you.
It also helps to research design principles through cross-sectional examinations of Magic. For example, I recently designed 12 common creatures for my set. To do so, I looked at every white common creature. Then I observed the types and frequencies of mechanics on white creatures in no less than 4 sets. I also looked at white races, classes, mana cost frequencies, block context, etc, etc. I even looked at pre-modern white uncommon and rare creatures to see if power creep would allow me to copy and paste something onto a common. It didn't work, but it did inspire creativity. Even after all that, I estimate I'm only 90% done refining those 12 cards because they'll probably change slightly as I design creatures for the other colors and rarities.
I studied the M# core sets and compared them to a few select expansions to develop a set skeleton. Each color gets 20 commons, 9 Uncommons, 8 Rares, and 3 mythics for a total of 40 cards of each color. Generally artifact and nonbasic lands get about 15 slots. (Though mine allows for more.) That gives you the more-or-less standard 215 card set.
To stay organized, I use Microsoft Word. I have a file for each color of a set and a document for each card type of that color. In each document, I have designs separated into rarity from lowest to highest. I also have cross-sectional documents for keeping track of cycles, ability density, brainstorming, overflow, and so-forth. Take blue for example:
SETNAME Blue Artifact
COMMON
UNCOMMON
RARE
MYTHIC
(Repeated in all documents below and in the other colors.)
SETNAME Blue Creature
SETNAME Blue Enchantment
SETNAME Blue Instant
SETNAME Blue Planeswalker
SETNAME Blue Sorcery
And you say that though it's actually one of the cards with a perfectly exploration-themed flavor text.
You're right, Steppe Lynx is certainly exploring, but not in the sense that I'm referring to, which is questing. Steppe Lynx isn't questing anymore than Swooping Crane is conquesting. They're just doing what animals do.
EDIT: Made some slight power/toughness changes to improve kill potential of this batch. Previously it was too light on offense, too heavy on defense.
I like your commons, they're cool. Alliance seems very interesting, easy to grasp, and encourages multicolor decks without twisting peoples arms about it.
Here's an idea, perhaps the Tribes should bleed into their ally colors a bit so players can make Tribal decks that still trigger their Alliance cards. It will also make your characters more Nationalist and less Racist (though I do love some Fantasy Racism).
Awesome idea. I'm still working out the races. I've already made some changes in the op.
Nice cards. However, it seems too strong for limited. Around half would be high picks in limited. A 3/3 flier for 5 is good, but the instant speed +3/+3 for just tap (condition not too hard) is something that Wizards is not giving anymore. Makes combat impossible for the opponent.
[...]
Too good. The perfect land blocker, almost impossible to remove. Invisible Stalker 1 mana cheaper, out of color (well, it can't be enchanted, but equip it no problem).
I am considering limited. I made a few changes to lower the power level a bit.
Flavorful scenario, but doesn't feel like 'conquest and the spoils of war'. (Or did you mean, conquest, spoils, AND flavorful stuff?)
Not anymore than Steppe Lynx felt like "exploring". I meant anything suitably flavorful for landfall, but the overarching flavor of landfall in the set will be conquest, even if it isn't apparent in this particular batch of cards.
Team Parasitic - You guys will be designing a parasitic mechanic for your set. What is a parasitic mechanic? A parasitic mechanic is a mechanic that requires a lot of building around and work well with more parasitic mechanics, and generally don't work well when tossed into a random deck.
Design a parasitic mechanic for your set and make a splashy card that showcases this mechanic.
For a parasitic mechanic I'm going with "depends on legendary". It's exactly the kind of thing that doesn't work well when tossed into a random deck and that requires build around to work well. Not to say that it doesn't or shouldn't work on its own at all - even in the infamous land of Splice onto Arcane, only Evermind and Sideswipe are useless in the absence of Arcane.
Momentous Occasion (Mythic) 6UU
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever you cast Momentous Occasion or another legendary spell, take an extra turn after this one. The king has arrived!
For centuries, the five Kindoms of Galdra have waged war against each other. Peace treaties are slowly made and quickly broken. Mortal enemies forge tenuous alliances to combat a mutual enemy only to have the alliance melt down due to mutual enmity.
The Espree may be Galdra's only hope of peace.
W - Bird/Human/Elemental - The hovering elitist empire known as Skyland due to the numerous floating castles, keeps, towers, and citadels that mark its sprawling civilization.
U - Merfolk/Human/Elemental - The expansive oceanic kingdom known as Netherdeep due to its unfathomable network of subterranean waterways.
B - Orc/Human/Elemental - The vast subterranean kingdom known as Everdark due to the lightless depths of its underground caverns.
R - Dwarf/Human/Elemental - The reclusive volcanic kingdom known as Stormforge due to the endless storms that rage at its peaks.
G - Elf/Human/Elemental - The woodland tribal kingdom known as Wanderwood due to the nomadic nature of its natives.
The major mechanical goal of the set is to encourage a multicolor strategy without forcing it in limited or creating too much tension in draft decisions and deck building. The cards and colors should piece together nicely even for a new player to create a variety of uncomplicated yet intriguing, engaging, and ultimately entertaining game states even for the experienced player.
Alliance is the primary mechanic of the set. It will be in every color and can conceivably be on every card type. It's intended to tease out the flavor of the set of forging alliances during war. It's an ability word in the vein of Metalcraft except instead of checking to see if you control three or more artifacts, it checks to see if you control a permanent of a color that is an ally to the card that has Alliance.
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control...
In its premier set, Landfall represented exploration via quests and other flavorful things. In Kingdoms of Galdra, it represents conquest and the spoils of war overall and other flavorful things.
In Kingdoms of Galdra, there are twenty commons of each color. What follows are twelve common white creatures. The other eight common white cards will be noncreature cards. I've found that designing twelve quality cards isn't easy. And that designing twelve commons isn't easy - nevermind twelve (hopefully) resonant commons of the same type and color. On top of that, I have a really hard time making creatures. So designing these twelve cards has proven to be an exceptionally difficult task for me. I look forward to any crits you have time for.
Espree Warden (Common) 2W
Creature – Human Elemental
0/1
Defender W: Espree Warden gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
Falcon Familiar (Common) 4W
Creature – Bird Scout
2/2
Flying Alliance – As long as you control a green or blue permanent, damage dealt by Falcon Familiar also causes you to draw that many cards.
Gate Guard (Common) W
Creature – Human Soldier
0/3
Vigilance
Herodin's Entourage (Common) 1W
Creature – Elemental Cleric
2/2
When Herodin's Entourage enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life for each creature you control.
Royal Ambassador (Common) 3W
Creature – Human Advisor
1/4
Flash
When Royal Ambassador enters the battlefield, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.
Skyland Cavalry (Common) 1W
Creature – Human Knight
2/1
First Strike Alliance – As long as you control a green or blue permanent, Skyland Cavalry gets +1/+1.
Skyland Patrol (Common) 2W
Creature – Griffon
2/2
Flying Alliance – As long as you control a green or blue permanent, Skyland Patrol has hexproof.
Skyland Reliant (Common Cycle) 3W
Creature – Human Wizard
2/2 G,T: Untap target creature. U,T: Tap target creature.
Skyland Sympathizer (Common) 4W
Creature – Bird Advisor
3/3 T: Target creature with flying gets +0/+3 until end of turn.
Swooping Crane (Common) 3W
Creature – Bird
2/3
Flying Landfall – Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Swooping Crane loses flying and gains islandwalk until end of turn.
Veteran Squire (Common) W
Creature – Human Soldier
1/2
Flash
Berserker Prowess needs polish but it's an awesome card nonetheless and certainly the best of the lot. I was that 1 vote btw. (It got a 2nd after your post.)
"People didn't like my card as much as I did! This contest is rigged!"
With all due respect, I didn't even imply that the DCC is rigged. I don't think it's rigged. I said that I'm disgusted by counter-voting, which is the sub-game of point denial, meaning some people will not vote for someone they see as a rival or for whom they simply don't want to see win.
It's all over the place; where would you play it? Some combat-oriented 4 colour deck? Except I don't think they would because it'd be card disadvantage, and the only reason you'd play such a weird colour combination is for value.
You're being a bit closed minded here. It could be played in any deck that wants mana. It doesn't have to be a four color deck. It could be any combination of the colors. And it's a Johnny/Timmy/Spike/Vorthos ritual. Look carefully. It's so gorgeous.
Wait, what, stop the presses, no. No, no, no, there is hardly a card ever... ever, ever, ever, ever, that has ever been designed that has as much flavor as Blood, Sweat, and Tears. It melts in your mind, not in your hands. MDenham's Shrapnel Blast riff has been done repeatedly in various ways.
If I remember right, all of the designs were clean that day. Swishh's was clean but not cleaner than any of the rest. Just different. Our cards aren't even mechanically comparable. And the power level of his was highly questionable. It should have cost 2WW imo.
Don't forget that my gripe wasn't about the card quality of that day and still isn't. The other cards were fine. Mine was just the best by far.
My gripe is about those who play the counter-vote game. Those who do so are aware that I see them for what they are.
Man, I'm in such sharp decline since my return! When I first returned, I got a first place but ever since my ranking has been dropping steadily to the point I struggled mightily just to get into the top 8 this month and only managed it in the very last day!
Arithmatrix (Rare) X
Artifact
Arithmatrix enters the battlefield with X charge counters on it.
Whenever a player plays a spell or ability, if that spell or ability has X in its mana cost, X is equal to the number of charge counters on Arithmatrix instead of any other amount.
Megaweapon (Mythic) 3BB
Legendary Artifact Creature - Juggernaut
10/10
Vigilance
Megaweapon attacks each turn if able and is indestructible R: Megaweapon gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Sacrifice an artifact: Tap Megaweapon. It loses indestructible. Destroy it at end of turn. Any player may activate this ability if he or she controls an attacking creature.
Gate Guard - There will be ways to pump Gate Gaurd.
Herodin's Entourage - Increased from 1/1/ for W to 2/2 for 1W.
Royal Ambassador - Dropped it's power from 2 to 1.
Skyland Cavalry - Not all SkyLANDers fly.
Skyland Patrol - Changed from 1/3 to 2/2.
Swooping Crane - Has been poorly recieved by everyone for pretty much the same reason. It'll probably get bumped up to uncommon once I find a suitable replacement for it.
As for offensive potential vs defensive potential... You were right, it was exceptionally low on offense. Thanks for pointing that out. That was a very subtle detail that I wasn't aware of. After the adjustments, this batch of creatures is approximately two (power)-"points" shy of "average" but slightly higher than that of Zen's white creature's powers, which coincidentally includes two creatures with zero power and one creature with variable power, just like mine. So I'm cool with it after the adjustments. Thanks again.
The effect is a bit extreme and out of color as well. Damage would be red, life loss would be black. I suggest "Target player gains 2 life. That player loses 3 life a the beginning of his or her next upkeep."
Great flavor btw.
It also helps to research design principles through cross-sectional examinations of Magic. For example, I recently designed 12 common creatures for my set. To do so, I looked at every white common creature. Then I observed the types and frequencies of mechanics on white creatures in no less than 4 sets. I also looked at white races, classes, mana cost frequencies, block context, etc, etc. I even looked at pre-modern white uncommon and rare creatures to see if power creep would allow me to copy and paste something onto a common. It didn't work, but it did inspire creativity. Even after all that, I estimate I'm only 90% done refining those 12 cards because they'll probably change slightly as I design creatures for the other colors and rarities.
I studied the M# core sets and compared them to a few select expansions to develop a set skeleton. Each color gets 20 commons, 9 Uncommons, 8 Rares, and 3 mythics for a total of 40 cards of each color. Generally artifact and nonbasic lands get about 15 slots. (Though mine allows for more.) That gives you the more-or-less standard 215 card set.
To stay organized, I use Microsoft Word. I have a file for each color of a set and a document for each card type of that color. In each document, I have designs separated into rarity from lowest to highest. I also have cross-sectional documents for keeping track of cycles, ability density, brainstorming, overflow, and so-forth. Take blue for example:
SETNAME Blue Artifact
COMMON
UNCOMMON
RARE
MYTHIC
(Repeated in all documents below and in the other colors.)
SETNAME Blue Enchantment
SETNAME Blue Instant
SETNAME Blue Planeswalker
SETNAME Blue Sorcery
You're right, Steppe Lynx is certainly exploring, but not in the sense that I'm referring to, which is questing. Steppe Lynx isn't questing anymore than Swooping Crane is conquesting. They're just doing what animals do.
EDIT: Made some slight power/toughness changes to improve kill potential of this batch. Previously it was too light on offense, too heavy on defense.
Cool because that's the idea.
Awesome idea. I'm still working out the races. I've already made some changes in the op.
I am considering limited. I made a few changes to lower the power level a bit.
Not anymore than Steppe Lynx felt like "exploring". I meant anything suitably flavorful for landfall, but the overarching flavor of landfall in the set will be conquest, even if it isn't apparent in this particular batch of cards.
For a parasitic mechanic I'm going with "depends on legendary". It's exactly the kind of thing that doesn't work well when tossed into a random deck and that requires build around to work well. Not to say that it doesn't or shouldn't work on its own at all - even in the infamous land of Splice onto Arcane, only Evermind and Sideswipe are useless in the absence of Arcane.
Momentous Occasion (Mythic)
6UU
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever you cast Momentous Occasion or another legendary spell, take an extra turn after this one.
The king has arrived!
For centuries, the five Kindoms of Galdra have waged war against each other. Peace treaties are slowly made and quickly broken. Mortal enemies forge tenuous alliances to combat a mutual enemy only to have the alliance melt down due to mutual enmity.
The Espree may be Galdra's only hope of peace.
W - Bird/Human/Elemental - The hovering elitist empire known as Skyland due to the numerous floating castles, keeps, towers, and citadels that mark its sprawling civilization.
U - Merfolk/Human/Elemental - The expansive oceanic kingdom known as Netherdeep due to its unfathomable network of subterranean waterways.
B - Orc/Human/Elemental - The vast subterranean kingdom known as Everdark due to the lightless depths of its underground caverns.
R - Dwarf/Human/Elemental - The reclusive volcanic kingdom known as Stormforge due to the endless storms that rage at its peaks.
G - Elf/Human/Elemental - The woodland tribal kingdom known as Wanderwood due to the nomadic nature of its natives.
The major mechanical goal of the set is to encourage a multicolor strategy without forcing it in limited or creating too much tension in draft decisions and deck building. The cards and colors should piece together nicely even for a new player to create a variety of uncomplicated yet intriguing, engaging, and ultimately entertaining game states even for the experienced player.
Alliance is the primary mechanic of the set. It will be in every color and can conceivably be on every card type. It's intended to tease out the flavor of the set of forging alliances during war. It's an ability word in the vein of Metalcraft except instead of checking to see if you control three or more artifacts, it checks to see if you control a permanent of a color that is an ally to the card that has Alliance.
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control...
In its premier set, Landfall represented exploration via quests and other flavorful things. In Kingdoms of Galdra, it represents conquest and the spoils of war overall and other flavorful things.
In Kingdoms of Galdra, there are twenty commons of each color. What follows are twelve common white creatures. The other eight common white cards will be noncreature cards. I've found that designing twelve quality cards isn't easy. And that designing twelve commons isn't easy - nevermind twelve (hopefully) resonant commons of the same type and color. On top of that, I have a really hard time making creatures. So designing these twelve cards has proven to be an exceptionally difficult task for me. I look forward to any crits you have time for.
Airborne Medic (Common)
1W
Creature – Human Cleric
1/1
Flying
Lifelink
Espree Warden (Common)
2W
Creature – Human Elemental
0/1
Defender
W: Espree Warden gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
Falcon Familiar (Common)
4W
Creature – Bird Scout
2/2
Flying
Alliance – As long as you control a green or blue permanent, damage dealt by Falcon Familiar also causes you to draw that many cards.
Gate Guard (Common)
W
Creature – Human Soldier
0/3
Vigilance
Herodin's Entourage (Common)
1W
Creature – Elemental Cleric
2/2
When Herodin's Entourage enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life for each creature you control.
Royal Ambassador (Common)
3W
Creature – Human Advisor
1/4
Flash
When Royal Ambassador enters the battlefield, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.
Skyland Cavalry (Common)
1W
Creature – Human Knight
2/1
First Strike
Alliance – As long as you control a green or blue permanent, Skyland Cavalry gets +1/+1.
Skyland Patrol (Common)
2W
Creature – Griffon
2/2
Flying
Alliance – As long as you control a green or blue permanent, Skyland Patrol has hexproof.
Skyland Reliant (Common Cycle)
3W
Creature – Human Wizard
2/2
G,T: Untap target creature.
U,T: Tap target creature.
Skyland Sympathizer (Common)
4W
Creature – Bird Advisor
3/3
T: Target creature with flying gets +0/+3 until end of turn.
Swooping Crane (Common)
3W
Creature – Bird
2/3
Flying
Landfall – Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Swooping Crane loses flying and gains islandwalk until end of turn.
Veteran Squire (Common)
W
Creature – Human Soldier
1/2
Flash
It would be cool if they gave Bushido X instead of +X/+X
Berserker Prowess needs polish but it's an awesome card nonetheless and certainly the best of the lot. I was that 1 vote btw. (It got a 2nd after your post.)
With all due respect, I didn't even imply that the DCC is rigged. I don't think it's rigged. I said that I'm disgusted by counter-voting, which is the sub-game of point denial, meaning some people will not vote for someone they see as a rival or for whom they simply don't want to see win.
In what way?
Compared to what?
The only green ritual I'm aware of is Channel the Suns.
You're being a bit closed minded here. It could be played in any deck that wants mana. It doesn't have to be a four color deck. It could be any combination of the colors. And it's a Johnny/Timmy/Spike/Vorthos ritual. Look carefully. It's so gorgeous.
"Add U for each card drawn this turn." But then I'd have to name it Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Rain.
Wait, what, stop the presses, no. No, no, no, there is hardly a card ever... ever, ever, ever, ever, that has ever been designed that has as much flavor as Blood, Sweat, and Tears. It melts in your mind, not in your hands. MDenham's Shrapnel Blast riff has been done repeatedly in various ways.
If I remember right, all of the designs were clean that day. Swishh's was clean but not cleaner than any of the rest. Just different. Our cards aren't even mechanically comparable. And the power level of his was highly questionable. It should have cost 2WW imo.
Don't forget that my gripe wasn't about the card quality of that day and still isn't. The other cards were fine. Mine was just the best by far.
My gripe is about those who play the counter-vote game. Those who do so are aware that I see them for what they are.
You're off to a good start with 8 votes today!
X
Artifact
Arithmatrix enters the battlefield with X charge counters on it.
Whenever a player plays a spell or ability, if that spell or ability has X in its mana cost, X is equal to the number of charge counters on Arithmatrix instead of any other amount.
Skeleton Key (Common)
3
Artifact
T: Untap target permanent. You lose 1 life.
Now that you can unlock death's door, do you dare to open it?
3BB
Legendary Artifact Creature - Juggernaut
10/10
Vigilance
Megaweapon attacks each turn if able and is indestructible
R: Megaweapon gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
Sacrifice an artifact: Tap Megaweapon. It loses indestructible. Destroy it at end of turn. Any player may activate this ability if he or she controls an attacking creature.