Actually, threshold is now an ability word, like Hellbent. You can now set the threshold value (normally 7) to whatever you want. Actually, you have to, since Threshold has no meaning anymore.
Thank you for your very reasonable evaluation of the difference between Kamigawa, Onslaught, and Lorwyn. I agree that Onslaught was not very good in terms of being tribal. I'm going to take your advance and look more at Lorwyn and Kamigawa in terms of "good" tribal sets.
So, it seems that Onslaught didn't work as well because each tribe was stuck in pretty much one color. There was no variation in colors which gives less choices in general and most tribal effects were not quite strong enough to compete with Goblins and the few other good tribal effects. Lorwyn had mulit-colored tribes, changelings to have more creatures count for the tribes, and had cards that counted cards of both tribes.
Hey, I'm doing a set, but I'm not quite ready to show off the cards yet (as the set structure has no been quite worked out yet), but I do have a question with this card:
Craaline, Arachnid Arbiter 1RGW
Legendary Creature- Spider Scorpion Soldier
Each creature assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Each creature is assigned damage to its power rather than its toughness.
3/3
Does this make sense? What I'm trying to get is for the ability to work like this: creatures that have their power higher than their toughness are made so that their toughness is now the same as the power and vice versa so that the lower power will be raised to be the same as the toughness. But that's really complicated to work out, so I need help with that.
Plus: is the costing about right? How about an ability besides this?
Also, flavorwise: the spiders in this set are generally higher toughness and the scorpions are generally higher power. The two groups are allies (they are both arachnids) so this legend is a "leader" of both tribes. Spider Scorpion, so she's literally part of both tribes. I'm so clever...
What is the exact difference between these sets? Lorwyn and Onslaught are classified as "tribal" sets, but Kamigawa block is called the "spirit/Japanese" block. Why is this? Kamigawa had tribes: rats, Moonfolk, snakes, goblins (Akki), foxes, samurai, and ninjas. Yet it isn't called a tribal set.
I'm asking this for one reason: I'm making a set. And since I like tribal, I want to do a couple tribes. But, I hear complaints about Lorwyn and Onslaught: in those sets, they keep building our decks for us, and so on. So I wanted to make things different somehow. Should I just make tribes but then fill in the rest of the cards based on flavor (like Time Spiral)? Or should the tribes be minor in comparison to larger overall themes?
Oh, and by the way, these are the tribes I'm probably going to use: Spiders, Scorpions, Illusions for sure and possibly Elementals, Turtles or Drakes if needed.
Hey, I'm making a new set that I hope lasts long enough before Wizards steals all my ideas. Seriously, I was making a set where Elementals where a tribe in all colors and, lookie, they make Lorwyn. Anyway, this is still very preliminary, very early in set concepting and stuff. Any ideas are extremely welcome, so bring in those comments.
This idea spawned from complaints I've seen about Lorwyn. "Wizards is building our decks for us" was very prevalent, especially since Lorwyn is a tribal set. Then, I thought of something: why was Lorwyn considered a "tribal" set when Kamigawa was not? Kamigawa has tribes, and it had one tribe that extended over many colors. But yet, it wasn't really a tribal set in player's eyes; it was more like the "Japanese lore/Spirit" set. Odd, isn't it?
So I set out to make a set more like Kamigawa and Time Spiral than Lorwyn. None of this building your decks for your nonsense, but still having some tribal fun. But what makes it so that tribal doesn't build your own decks for you? Of course, spreading them across more colors, give people more choices.
And this is what I'm doing. I'm doing several tribes that all are spread across three colors. Each tribe will have small synergetic connections with other tribes, akin to those in Lorwyn that count both tribes instead of one and the Ogre/Demon thing in Kamigawa. But guess what? Behind that, I'm having many smaller themes as well that intertwine with the tribes. That's my ultimate goal, but any help from you commenters would be great.
The Tribes:
Spiders :symb::symg::symw:
So, sentient spiders are prevalent on this world. Green is traditionally the color of predatory giant spiders, but as they grow in intelligence, their color would obviously change a bit more. Though they are spread across three colors, the connections tend to be between green and white, and green and black, usually not black and white (yet). So I'm making a guild-like organization for this. No, it won't be as rigid as Lorwyn or Ravnica, it just makes sense to organize it like this flavorwise because a few of the cards will be multicolor, but not much.
The Aruna Empire :symg::symw:
The idea for this spider empire stemmed from a simple Future Sight card and its flavortext: Lumithread Field. The center of the empire is the Bastion of Suns. To spread their vision of light throughout the world, the spiders constantly weave paths of Lumithread throughout the world (represented by enchantments in game, which have a connection with the spiders). But not all is peaceful, as the Aruna Empire is constantly under siege by mysterious illusions (I'll discuss them in a later section). Remember that when I'm talking about this that it is just flavor. You don't need to play Lumithread enchantments with spiders and you can play other enchantments with the spiders.
?????? :symb::symg:
I don't have any flavor for this group yet. All I know is that they are more primitive than their white counterparts. Perhaps deathtouch will be important or the theme of capturing things in their webs to eat will be important, but I'm not so sure yet.
Here are the cards that I have currently for the spiders:
Lumithread Lattice 3WW
Enchantment (R)
Creatures you control get +1/+2.
Morph 2WW (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)Light is drained into the Maze, nullifying and inhibiting the vitality of its foes. Having forged the Bastion of Suns, the Aruna were granted its light in return for eternal service.
Note that it has morph. Lumithread Field has morph so I though it was natural to give this morph too. It's represented flavorwise by the spiders weaving artificial constructs (shaped like spiders, lol) in which to hide their Lumithread magic. When needed, the construct will release its magic but sacrifice itself.
The Bastion of Suns
Land (R)
T: Add to your mana pool.
:symw:, T: Creatures you control get +0/+1 until end of turn. Light emanates from the Bastion, enveloping and amplifying the natural luminescence of its servants.
Luminescent Matriarch 2W
Creature- Spider Wizard (R)
Other Spiders you control get +1/+1.
Whenever you play a Spider spell, you may pay :2mana:. If you do, search your library for an enchantment card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
2/2
Light-Weaver Apprentice :1mana::symw:
Creature- Spider Wizard (C)
When Light-Weaver Apprentice comes into play, search your library for an enchantment card, reveal it, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it.
1/1
Lumithread Lockdown :1mana::symw:
Enchantment- Aura (U)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you play this. This card comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
:symw:: If you control a spider, enchanted creature’s activated abilities can’t be played until end of turn.
Webstrider Guardian :1mana::symg::symw:
Creature- Spider Warrior Archer (U)
Reach
Vigilance
2/3 Forever do they watch the skies, searching for their eternal enemies.
Illusions :symu::symb::symr:
So, illusions. Yay. Anyway, this is gonna be split into red and blue, and black and blue.
The Ota :symu::symb:
These are essentially the aliens of this world, manipulating the other tribes into war. Their ultimate goal is to conquer through infiltration and manipulation the Bastion of Suns. To do this, they have built their own opposite of the Bastion, the Maze of Moons. Their more chaotic counterparts are the ones directly engaged in the war with the Aruna Empire. They don't really have a mechanical theme, besides the traditional dodging removal and damage bounce technique that many Illusions traditionally have.
????? :symu::symr:
I have no names for these guys, but I do have their flavor themes. Chaos. They want to instill chaos upon the world. They're at war with the Aruna Empire, manipulated by their counterparts the Ota. Their single mechanical theme is probably redirection or maybe coinflipping somehow.
Here are my Illusion cards:
Ota Prowler :symu::symb:
Creature- Illusion Scout (C)
Flying
Discard a card: Ota Prowler gains shadow until end of turn.
1/1
Nebuleum Shifter :1mana::symu:
Creature- Illusion Rogue (R)
Nebuleum Shifter is unblockable.
:1mana::symu:: Remove Nebuleum Shifter from the game.
As long as Nebuleum Shifter is removed from the game, you may play it by paying its mana cost.
1/1
The Maze of Moons
Land (R)
:symtap:: Add to your mana pool.
:symu:, T: Creatures you don’t control get -1/-0 until end of turn. Light is drained into the Maze, nullifying and inhibiting the vitality of its foes.
Ethereal Spawn
Creature- Illusion Spy
Flash (C)
Ethereal Spawn can’t block or be blocked by creatures with power 3 or greater. Unbeknowst to the Aruna, their empire has been infiltrated many times over by the smallest of spies.
1/1
AEther Shred :1mana::symu::symb:
Instant (U)
Counter target spell. Its controller reveals his or her hand. If any cards revealed shares its converted mana cost with the countered spell, that player discards those cards. The Ota command the threads of reality behind any existence. Any spell may be unraveled at any time.
Phantasmic Sovereign :2mana::symu:
Creature- Illusion Warrior
Other Illusions you control get +1/+1.
:2mana::symu:, T: Return target Illusion you control to its owner’s hand.
2/2
Now we're getting into unknown territory. I have little to no ideas for these tribes and no cards yet. This is where help may be needed, especially for flavor and mechanics.
Scorpions?? :symw::symb::symr:
Scorpions have very little former representation in Magic. To this end, I'm placing them where they live pretty much. White and red for deserts, and red and black for swamps. Red is just my fantasy depiction of them. In my mind, I've imagined sentient scorpions for a long time. Combat damage triggers will be major with them, representing poisons. Deathtouch, probably. Maybe tapping and not untapping in next upkeep.
Turtles?? :symg::symw::symu:
This is very distant lands. I don't know which colors to divide the multicolor cards into (green and blue, white and blue possibly). High toughness, low power defensive creatures for white and blue, green maybe stronger tortoises(slow but steady). Besides that, I got nothing.
Elementals?? :symu::symr::symg:
Hmm, this will probably be more focused than Lorwyn. Um, I'm thinking maybe Earthkin, Airkin, and Flamekin. Green and blue, red and green probably. Besides that, no ideas.
That's it for tribes. I'm thinking that humans should be here, but not as a tribe. Other types might fill in, but again not as tribes. Also, I'm thinking that Scorpions and Spiders would have a mechanical connection on a few of the cards somehow, as they are both arachnids, so they're probably friends. For the others, possibly Illusions and Elementals. I'm also on the fence for including Drakes as well as the counterpart for Turtles.
I need mechanic ideas. Probably a morph theme, due to Lumithread Field. Maybe I could reuse old mechanics that fit. White has an enchantment theme that ties into the Aruna Empire, and also a combat and tapping theme from the white scorpions. Blue, I have no idea for overall themes. Black, poison in the form of deathtouch. Red, redirection, coinflipping, chaos. Green, no idea. So mechanics would tie into the colors and overlap into the tribes. But I don't want the tribal themes to devolve into solely focusing on the tribes themselves.
Wow, that's a mouthful. Or rather, a stomachful. Anyway, please toss out ideas and/or comments about anything you wish. Oh, and I do need a name for this, so throw out names too. I'll be constantly making new cards and ideas. Thanks!
First off, I think there should be OTHER creature types besides those. I feel that you probably are not trying to do a tribal, so maybe try few more types of creatures.
Secondly, I don't know if "Mistform" or "Spiritform" are good names. Maybe you should try "Phantom" or something that sounds a bit more reminiscent of the old Phantoms from Judgment.
Next, I want to say that this is a really neat idea that could really work. I reminds me a little bit of Kamigawa (spirit) but not that much. It also seems a bit foreign; alien, like Mirrodin. I like that slightly disorienting feel that some might get from worlds like that.
Hmm, I love decks with synergy too. Lorwyn is the latest example of good synergy, IMO. For cards that work well together, I'd go for boggarts or merrow in Lorwyn. The crazy tapping and untapping in the merrow tribe is insane. You can mill them for 6 cards per turn, draw 6 cards per turn, gain 12 life, and so on. The boggarts might be a bit faster and a little more competitive, with their insane recursion and sacrificing themes.
I've heard many complaints about how so many of the Lorwyn tribes are sucky/boring. Elves, overused. Goblins, overpowered and dominating in Standard. Giants, weak. Kithkin, even. The only races that are not criticized as much are treefolk, faeries, flamekin and merrow (or merfolk, but merrow is cooler).
What would you have preferred instead of these? I've seen a very good suggestion of using Dwarves for R/W instead of giants. That would've been an excellent idea.
Now, let me expand to a larger field. What creature types that have not ever been an official tribe do you want to see in magic? Spiders? Bears? Turtles? This is what I'm wondering; if something's wrong with these Lorwyn tribes, then what do you think should be done?
No way. Lorwyn is a great set, at least in my eyes. And the Pre-Release turn-out was the same as usual; maybe even more. They ran out of promo cards again, so I think it was a good pre-release (much better than Kamigawa, anyways).
Now, I don't have a source, but I'm pretty sure I heard they won't be linked in an obvious way but in a more subtle way. And tribal is in no way "subtle".
I was under the impression that they all had the creature type "elemental" ?
Is that incorrect?:Psyduck:
If you go technical flavor-wise through the novel and story, no, they are not quite elementals. The other elementals that are not flamekin are physical manifestations of Lorwyn's magic. A flamekin is kinda made of stone and shares a symbiotic relationship with a fire elemental. I think. I'm not quite sure what the flavor difference is.
But in regards to gameplay, yes, they are elementals. I think whoever wanted a Flamekin precon meant one without other colors in it.
And yes, a Faerie precon would be very cool. A treefolk one... not so much, IMO.
Well, perhaps a more aggro-control mix is in order? I don't follow much of the metagame/standard environment, but merrow control looks workable. Just a thought.
1) For Nath, Rhys was probably too independent and too dangerous, thanks to his yew magic abilities. Nath used the ambush went wrong to punish and disgrace Rhys in front of his men. Rhys still objected to raiding the boggarts' feast, and was proven right when the boggarts went into frenzy and started killing elves.
When the raid went terribly wrong and Rhys used the yew magic to kill everything but Gryffid and Nath, Nath achieved what he wanted - Rhys was now a kinslayer (killed a lot of elves) and an eyeblight. For Nath, it was very convenient to have an official reason for hunting and killing Rhys. Only two people aside for Nath survived - Rhys and Gryffid, and Nath secured Gryffid's silence by healing him and promoting him. So, only Rhys knew that the raid was Nath's capital mess-up and mistake in judgment.
2) That I do not know. Colfenor's reasons are very strange.
3) and 4) As far as I understand, Teeg ordered Brigid to kill Rhys and bring him back into Kinsbaile, thus winning Nath's favor. Colfenor manipulated the message and Brigid attempted to kill and bring Ashling to Kinsbaile, where the elemental power surge rekindled Ashling. Colfenor knew what he is doing, but aside from the fact that he entrusted his seedling, his future in the hands of Rhys, to be in fact reborn younger and maybe stronger, we do not know why he has done it.
1) Oh.. Nath used Rhys's accidental killing of elves as a reason to label him as a traitor. That made sense.
2) Hm. I kind of liked that part actually. Ashling tells her elemental, "Wait, stay back!" but the flaming horse dude keeps going and Ashling says, "Oh no," right as she goes back on fire and Colfenor gets owned. Then, it cuts to Rhys and he says, "Oh no." I just thought that was kind of funny. (And you do know that you kind of offered a reason in your answer for 3 and 4, right?)
3/4) That makes sense. But the weird thing is that it didn't make any difference. Rhys went back to Kinsbaile anyway, so he could save Ashling. That's so weird.
Oh, I have another question. Was it part of Brigid's plan (if she had one) to not actually kill Sygg? Because she said he was dead, right, but he wasn't, revealing her deceit. Why did she leave him alive? Was it because she actually wanted Rhys to come back to Kinsbaille and he would need Sygg (even though he actually used faeries in the end)?
So, it seems that Onslaught didn't work as well because each tribe was stuck in pretty much one color. There was no variation in colors which gives less choices in general and most tribal effects were not quite strong enough to compete with Goblins and the few other good tribal effects. Lorwyn had mulit-colored tribes, changelings to have more creatures count for the tribes, and had cards that counted cards of both tribes.
Any additional comments on power level, costing, abilities?
Switching power and toughness results in something else entirely: 2/1 creatures become 1/2 creatures, which is NOT what I want.
Craaline, Arachnid Arbiter 1RGW
Legendary Creature- Spider Scorpion Soldier
Each creature assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Each creature is assigned damage to its power rather than its toughness.
3/3
Does this make sense? What I'm trying to get is for the ability to work like this: creatures that have their power higher than their toughness are made so that their toughness is now the same as the power and vice versa so that the lower power will be raised to be the same as the toughness. But that's really complicated to work out, so I need help with that.
Plus: is the costing about right? How about an ability besides this?
Also, flavorwise: the spiders in this set are generally higher toughness and the scorpions are generally higher power. The two groups are allies (they are both arachnids) so this legend is a "leader" of both tribes. Spider Scorpion, so she's literally part of both tribes.
I'm asking this for one reason: I'm making a set. And since I like tribal, I want to do a couple tribes. But, I hear complaints about Lorwyn and Onslaught: in those sets, they keep building our decks for us, and so on. So I wanted to make things different somehow. Should I just make tribes but then fill in the rest of the cards based on flavor (like Time Spiral)? Or should the tribes be minor in comparison to larger overall themes?
Oh, and by the way, these are the tribes I'm probably going to use: Spiders, Scorpions, Illusions for sure and possibly Elementals, Turtles or Drakes if needed.
This idea spawned from complaints I've seen about Lorwyn. "Wizards is building our decks for us" was very prevalent, especially since Lorwyn is a tribal set. Then, I thought of something: why was Lorwyn considered a "tribal" set when Kamigawa was not? Kamigawa has tribes, and it had one tribe that extended over many colors. But yet, it wasn't really a tribal set in player's eyes; it was more like the "Japanese lore/Spirit" set. Odd, isn't it?
So I set out to make a set more like Kamigawa and Time Spiral than Lorwyn. None of this building your decks for your nonsense, but still having some tribal fun. But what makes it so that tribal doesn't build your own decks for you? Of course, spreading them across more colors, give people more choices.
And this is what I'm doing. I'm doing several tribes that all are spread across three colors. Each tribe will have small synergetic connections with other tribes, akin to those in Lorwyn that count both tribes instead of one and the Ogre/Demon thing in Kamigawa. But guess what? Behind that, I'm having many smaller themes as well that intertwine with the tribes. That's my ultimate goal, but any help from you commenters would be great.
The Tribes:
Spiders :symb::symg::symw:
So, sentient spiders are prevalent on this world. Green is traditionally the color of predatory giant spiders, but as they grow in intelligence, their color would obviously change a bit more. Though they are spread across three colors, the connections tend to be between green and white, and green and black, usually not black and white (yet). So I'm making a guild-like organization for this. No, it won't be as rigid as Lorwyn or Ravnica, it just makes sense to organize it like this flavorwise because a few of the cards will be multicolor, but not much.
The Aruna Empire :symg::symw:
The idea for this spider empire stemmed from a simple Future Sight card and its flavortext: Lumithread Field. The center of the empire is the Bastion of Suns. To spread their vision of light throughout the world, the spiders constantly weave paths of Lumithread throughout the world (represented by enchantments in game, which have a connection with the spiders). But not all is peaceful, as the Aruna Empire is constantly under siege by mysterious illusions (I'll discuss them in a later section). Remember that when I'm talking about this that it is just flavor. You don't need to play Lumithread enchantments with spiders and you can play other enchantments with the spiders.
?????? :symb::symg:
I don't have any flavor for this group yet. All I know is that they are more primitive than their white counterparts. Perhaps deathtouch will be important or the theme of capturing things in their webs to eat will be important, but I'm not so sure yet.
Here are the cards that I have currently for the spiders:
Lumithread Lattice 3WW
Enchantment (R)
Creatures you control get +1/+2.
Morph 2WW (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)Light is drained into the Maze, nullifying and inhibiting the vitality of its foes.
Having forged the Bastion of Suns, the Aruna were granted its light in return for eternal service.
Note that it has morph. Lumithread Field has morph so I though it was natural to give this morph too. It's represented flavorwise by the spiders weaving artificial constructs (shaped like spiders, lol) in which to hide their Lumithread magic. When needed, the construct will release its magic but sacrifice itself.
The Bastion of Suns
Land (R)
T: Add
:symw:, T: Creatures you control get +0/+1 until end of turn.
Light emanates from the Bastion, enveloping and amplifying the natural luminescence of its servants.
Luminescent Matriarch 2W
Creature- Spider Wizard (R)
Other Spiders you control get +1/+1.
Whenever you play a Spider spell, you may pay :2mana:. If you do, search your library for an enchantment card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
2/2
Light-Weaver Apprentice :1mana::symw:
Creature- Spider Wizard (C)
When Light-Weaver Apprentice comes into play, search your library for an enchantment card, reveal it, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it.
1/1
Lumithread Lockdown :1mana::symw:
Enchantment- Aura (U)
Enchant creature (Target a creature as you play this. This card comes into play attached to that creature.)
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
:symw:: If you control a spider, enchanted creature’s activated abilities can’t be played until end of turn.
Webstrider Guardian :1mana::symg::symw:
Creature- Spider Warrior Archer (U)
Reach
Vigilance
2/3
Forever do they watch the skies, searching for their eternal enemies.
Illusions :symu::symb::symr:
So, illusions. Yay. Anyway, this is gonna be split into red and blue, and black and blue.
The Ota :symu::symb:
These are essentially the aliens of this world, manipulating the other tribes into war. Their ultimate goal is to conquer through infiltration and manipulation the Bastion of Suns. To do this, they have built their own opposite of the Bastion, the Maze of Moons. Their more chaotic counterparts are the ones directly engaged in the war with the Aruna Empire. They don't really have a mechanical theme, besides the traditional dodging removal and damage bounce technique that many Illusions traditionally have.
????? :symu::symr:
I have no names for these guys, but I do have their flavor themes. Chaos. They want to instill chaos upon the world. They're at war with the Aruna Empire, manipulated by their counterparts the Ota. Their single mechanical theme is probably redirection or maybe coinflipping somehow.
Here are my Illusion cards:
Ota Prowler :symu::symb:
Creature- Illusion Scout (C)
Flying
Discard a card: Ota Prowler gains shadow until end of turn.
1/1
Nebuleum Shifter :1mana::symu:
Creature- Illusion Rogue (R)
Nebuleum Shifter is unblockable.
:1mana::symu:: Remove Nebuleum Shifter from the game.
As long as Nebuleum Shifter is removed from the game, you may play it by paying its mana cost.
1/1
The Maze of Moons
Land (R)
:symtap:: Add
:symu:, T: Creatures you don’t control get -1/-0 until end of turn.
Light is drained into the Maze, nullifying and inhibiting the vitality of its foes.
Ethereal Spawn
Creature- Illusion Spy
Flash (C)
Ethereal Spawn can’t block or be blocked by creatures with power 3 or greater.
Unbeknowst to the Aruna, their empire has been infiltrated many times over by the smallest of spies.
1/1
AEther Shred :1mana::symu::symb:
Instant (U)
Counter target spell. Its controller reveals his or her hand. If any cards revealed shares its converted mana cost with the countered spell, that player discards those cards.
The Ota command the threads of reality behind any existence. Any spell may be unraveled at any time.
Phantasmic Sovereign :2mana::symu:
Creature- Illusion Warrior
Other Illusions you control get +1/+1.
:2mana::symu:, T: Return target Illusion you control to its owner’s hand.
2/2
Now we're getting into unknown territory. I have little to no ideas for these tribes and no cards yet. This is where help may be needed, especially for flavor and mechanics.
Scorpions?? :symw::symb::symr:
Scorpions have very little former representation in Magic. To this end, I'm placing them where they live pretty much. White and red for deserts, and red and black for swamps. Red is just my fantasy depiction of them. In my mind, I've imagined sentient scorpions for a long time. Combat damage triggers will be major with them, representing poisons. Deathtouch, probably. Maybe tapping and not untapping in next upkeep.
Turtles?? :symg::symw::symu:
This is very distant lands. I don't know which colors to divide the multicolor cards into (green and blue, white and blue possibly). High toughness, low power defensive creatures for white and blue, green maybe stronger tortoises(slow but steady). Besides that, I got nothing.
Elementals?? :symu::symr::symg:
Hmm, this will probably be more focused than Lorwyn. Um, I'm thinking maybe Earthkin, Airkin, and Flamekin. Green and blue, red and green probably. Besides that, no ideas.
That's it for tribes. I'm thinking that humans should be here, but not as a tribe. Other types might fill in, but again not as tribes. Also, I'm thinking that Scorpions and Spiders would have a mechanical connection on a few of the cards somehow, as they are both arachnids, so they're probably friends. For the others, possibly Illusions and Elementals. I'm also on the fence for including Drakes as well as the counterpart for Turtles.
I need mechanic ideas. Probably a morph theme, due to Lumithread Field. Maybe I could reuse old mechanics that fit. White has an enchantment theme that ties into the Aruna Empire, and also a combat and tapping theme from the white scorpions. Blue, I have no idea for overall themes. Black, poison in the form of deathtouch. Red, redirection, coinflipping, chaos. Green, no idea. So mechanics would tie into the colors and overlap into the tribes. But I don't want the tribal themes to devolve into solely focusing on the tribes themselves.
Wow, that's a mouthful. Or rather, a stomachful. Anyway, please toss out ideas and/or comments about anything you wish. Oh, and I do need a name for this, so throw out names too. I'll be constantly making new cards and ideas. Thanks!
Secondly, I don't know if "Mistform" or "Spiritform" are good names. Maybe you should try "Phantom" or something that sounds a bit more reminiscent of the old Phantoms from Judgment.
Next, I want to say that this is a really neat idea that could really work. I reminds me a little bit of Kamigawa (spirit) but not that much. It also seems a bit foreign; alien, like Mirrodin. I like that slightly disorienting feel that some might get from worlds like that.
What would you have preferred instead of these? I've seen a very good suggestion of using Dwarves for R/W instead of giants. That would've been an excellent idea.
Now, let me expand to a larger field. What creature types that have not ever been an official tribe do you want to see in magic? Spiders? Bears? Turtles? This is what I'm wondering; if something's wrong with these Lorwyn tribes, then what do you think should be done?
If you go technical flavor-wise through the novel and story, no, they are not quite elementals. The other elementals that are not flamekin are physical manifestations of Lorwyn's magic. A flamekin is kinda made of stone and shares a symbiotic relationship with a fire elemental. I think. I'm not quite sure what the flavor difference is.
But in regards to gameplay, yes, they are elementals. I think whoever wanted a Flamekin precon meant one without other colors in it.
And yes, a Faerie precon would be very cool. A treefolk one... not so much, IMO.
1) Oh.. Nath used Rhys's accidental killing of elves as a reason to label him as a traitor. That made sense.
2) Hm. I kind of liked that part actually. Ashling tells her elemental, "Wait, stay back!" but the flaming horse dude keeps going and Ashling says, "Oh no," right as she goes back on fire and Colfenor gets owned. Then, it cuts to Rhys and he says, "Oh no." I just thought that was kind of funny. (And you do know that you kind of offered a reason in your answer for 3 and 4, right?)
3/4) That makes sense. But the weird thing is that it didn't make any difference. Rhys went back to Kinsbaile anyway, so he could save Ashling. That's so weird.
Oh, I have another question. Was it part of Brigid's plan (if she had one) to not actually kill Sygg? Because she said he was dead, right, but he wasn't, revealing her deceit. Why did she leave him alive? Was it because she actually wanted Rhys to come back to Kinsbaille and he would need Sygg (even though he actually used faeries in the end)?