Those rules don't seem valid. Why do they need to be met? Where are these rules coming from? They can be trends, maybe guidelines, but why rules? To be clear, I am not saying Prowess and/or Exalted should be used, just that your reasoning doesn't make complete sense to me.
Evergreen mechanics don't really need to care about reception. They are supposed to be a core filler mechanic, not something players are excited to see. Obviously they need to have decent reception, but it's not an issue if they don't look amazing.
It is quite white, and to be honest I am actually leaning toward just removing regenerate and not replacing it. Indestructible fills most of it and random effects can do the rest.
You have too many mechanics, it should be 5-6 for a large. Small should be 5-7 with only 1-2 mechanics introduced to the block.
Corrupt/Purify need to be either ability words, i.e. labelled in italics then full effect is written out with card name if necessary. Or keywords, with the bonus being a separate effect (it can't be included otherwise). If you choose keywords, I'd recommend not always having the extra. If you do with ability word, I'd recommend not always having the +1/+1 counter bonus.
Brace and Rewrite don't work. It's a rule in design not to have a mechanic that contains another mechanic. You can just have cards (likely less) with that effect but not named.
Hybridize has memory issues: how do you remember what creature types it gained? And it is also clunky (it does weird things to the meta) and linear (not ideal for most mechanics).
Fateseal is game-breaking, in that increase mana-screw/flood and denies key cards. Elements of the game that need to be worked against, not toward.
Nova is too powerful of an effect to develop, it's difficult to balance at common and is not very versatile either.
As a more general note, you seem to have cropped your sentences into narrow columns. Spread it out into normal lines, and add more spacing and highlighting through bold/italic/underline to make it easier to read through.
The current list of evergreen mechanics in real-life MTG is imperfect. R&D themselves are looking for potential replacements as am I.
The following mechanics are ones that could be replaced or just removed:
Landwalk (I want to remove this no matter what, it's already mostly removed anyway.)
Problem: Relies on things you don't control.
Regeneration (probably should be removed)
Problem: unintuitive, clunky
Intimidate (probably should be removed)
Problem: Same as Landwalk
Protection from (probably should be removed)
Problem: Unintuitive and complex
Hexproof (may be removed)
Problem: Somewhat oppressive/unfun
Some mechanics that could be added: (new names are place-holders)
Prowess (from KTK, upgraded to evergreen)
Problems: linear, powerful, archetype defining. Advantages: fills relevant slots very well otherwise.
Exalted (from ALA, upgraded to evergreen)
Problems: mostly linear, archetype defining. Advantages: fills some relevant slots.
'Diffusion'(Spells your opponents cast that target this creature cost more to cast)
Problems: not very versatile. Advantages: fills the same role as hexproof while being less obstructive.
NOTE: could be 'Diffusion' (n) (Spells your opponents control that target this creature cost (n) more to cast)
'Frostbite'(Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, tap that creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step.)
Problems: potentially somewhat unfun, not greatly versatile. Advantages: combat-relevant keyword for blue.
'Safeguard' (a creature) (Prevent all damage that would be dealt to that creature this turn.)
Problems: Potentially somewhat oppressive, not greatly versatile. Advantages: simpler regenerate version.
NOTE: could be 'all combat damage' instead.
@MOON-E.
Consider 'noncreature' vs instant/sorcery. It makes a big difference. In the colours it is and would be in, that's ridiculously easy to have at least some support for, not to say it doesn't need support. Besides, encouraging certain strategies isn't necessarily a bad thing. The spells archetype is very common in modern sets and I could easily see it being a staple with prowess. I wouldn't necessarily say it's definitely very likely, but it's definitely likely.
No-one said it had to be in Origins that it would become evergreen. It was raised that it could be in Origins, but not that it would be Origins.
This is a good mechanic. I don't like 'Deplete' as a name. It's too subtle and slow, sacrifice seems more it should be aggressive sounding, especially considering colour distribution. Something like 'powersurge' maybe.
@sirgog.
It's definitely a concern, but it might be fine. Players can adjust, the question is: how much work does it take to adjust? And how does the mechanic compare to that? There are very few problems that can't be overcome by a big enough benefit, and vice versa.
Eh. I don't like how temporary the counter is. It seems like it would be 'feel-bad' and looks pretty bad too. Besides that, it doesn't really do much. New aspects of mechanics should be the exciting ones. Taking a base concept and expanding it by adding things people won't really like won't make something very exciting. Mechanics need to be something that makes you want to use them, they need to fill some kind of purpose beyond mechanical merit of design and structure.
One thing to remember is that it is very likely that Prowess will become an evergreen mechanic. This is a potential reason why it is worded differently than landfall.
My thoughts exactly. (It's why I use it as evergreen in my sets)
Ral Zarek doesn't have a starting loyalty indicator.
Foretold Mox may be OP based on Ancestral Vision vs Ancestral Recall, it's definitely very powerful as-is.
So this a top-down design? Seems like a solid base, and the tribal theme is very reliable. As a suggestion, think about what associations the world, 'Verdanon', will have for people. What things could you play up? Think duels, knights, castles, sieges, dragons, chivalry, etc. Griffins and demons are both good choices for this reason.
Those rules don't seem valid. Why do they need to be met? Where are these rules coming from? They can be trends, maybe guidelines, but why rules? To be clear, I am not saying Prowess and/or Exalted should be used, just that your reasoning doesn't make complete sense to me.
Evergreen mechanics don't really need to care about reception. They are supposed to be a core filler mechanic, not something players are excited to see. Obviously they need to have decent reception, but it's not an issue if they don't look amazing.
It is quite white, and to be honest I am actually leaning toward just removing regenerate and not replacing it. Indestructible fills most of it and random effects can do the rest.
- Corrupt/Purify need to be either ability words, i.e. labelled in italics then full effect is written out with card name if necessary. Or keywords, with the bonus being a separate effect (it can't be included otherwise). If you choose keywords, I'd recommend not always having the extra. If you do with ability word, I'd recommend not always having the +1/+1 counter bonus.
- Brace and Rewrite don't work. It's a rule in design not to have a mechanic that contains another mechanic. You can just have cards (likely less) with that effect but not named.
- Hybridize has memory issues: how do you remember what creature types it gained? And it is also clunky (it does weird things to the meta) and linear (not ideal for most mechanics).
- Fateseal is game-breaking, in that increase mana-screw/flood and denies key cards. Elements of the game that need to be worked against, not toward.
- Nova is too powerful of an effect to develop, it's difficult to balance at common and is not very versatile either.
As a more general note, you seem to have cropped your sentences into narrow columns. Spread it out into normal lines, and add more spacing and highlighting through bold/italic/underline to make it easier to read through.The following mechanics are ones that could be replaced or just removed:
Landwalk (I want to remove this no matter what, it's already mostly removed anyway.)
Problem: Relies on things you don't control.
Regeneration (probably should be removed)
Problem: unintuitive, clunky
Intimidate (probably should be removed)
Problem: Same as Landwalk
Protection from (probably should be removed)
Problem: Unintuitive and complex
Hexproof (may be removed)
Problem: Somewhat oppressive/unfun
Some mechanics that could be added: (new names are place-holders)
Prowess (from KTK, upgraded to evergreen)
Problems: linear, powerful, archetype defining. Advantages: fills relevant slots very well otherwise.
Exalted (from ALA, upgraded to evergreen)
Problems: mostly linear, archetype defining. Advantages: fills some relevant slots.
'Diffusion' (Spells your opponents cast that target this creature cost
Problems: not very versatile. Advantages: fills the same role as hexproof while being less obstructive.
NOTE: could be 'Diffusion' (n) (Spells your opponents control that target this creature cost (n) more to cast)
'Frostbite' (Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, tap that creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step.)
Problems: potentially somewhat unfun, not greatly versatile. Advantages: combat-relevant keyword for blue.
'Safeguard' (a creature) (Prevent all damage that would be dealt to that creature this turn.)
Problems: Potentially somewhat oppressive, not greatly versatile. Advantages: simpler regenerate version.
NOTE: could be 'all combat damage' instead.
-
Thoughts? Thanks for reading.
You make a good point. There is definitely an argument for both sides. I guess we'll see what happens in the actual game.
Consider 'noncreature' vs instant/sorcery. It makes a big difference. In the colours it is and would be in, that's ridiculously easy to have at least some support for, not to say it doesn't need support. Besides, encouraging certain strategies isn't necessarily a bad thing. The
No-one said it had to be in Origins that it would become evergreen. It was raised that it could be in Origins, but not that it would be Origins.
It's definitely a concern, but it might be fine. Players can adjust, the question is: how much work does it take to adjust? And how does the mechanic compare to that? There are very few problems that can't be overcome by a big enough benefit, and vice versa.
My thoughts exactly. (It's why I use it as evergreen in my sets)
See 'Charge'
See here
EDIT: Well, everyone else was faster than me
Foretold Mox may be OP based on Ancestral Vision vs Ancestral Recall, it's definitely very powerful as-is.