Play-tested some of my ideas today, the following deck-list has shown to be a vast improvement over the initial design and plays out very well against the various decks I tested it against.
Because of the natural stalling mechanic the deck has with Winter Orb on the field, this deck was capable of milling over half of my opponent's library then just waited out til they decked themselves. Over the course of the play-test though, Tezzeret the Seeker proved to be a very good win condition during the few cases my opponent was able to get around the milling win condition.
Now all I have to do is try and think of a sideboard that would help the deck against other match-ups.
Given the suggestions made thus far I decided to make a few edits to the deck.
I added back in one Tezzeret the Seeker since he's more than castable now that the deck is running Azorius Signets. The one mana I untap can easily turn into 2-4 depending on how many are on the field.
I decided to replace Fireball with Demonfire because Demonfire has a chance of being casted as an uncounterable spell.
I'm gonna run Thirst for Knowledge in place of Thoughtcast to see how it runs as a drawing engine, the only thing I don't like about it is having to discard cards but in the late game the artifact lands could easily be pitched. Right now though I'm still deciding between Thirst for Knowledge or Rhystic Study. From my perspective Rhystic Study would be more reliable since the opponent mostly won't have the mana to not let me draw a card.
Rune Snags and Mana Leaks have been on my mind for this deck for awhile now seeing as how they'd pretty much be hard counters given the land lockdown this deck can do. By adding in Cloud Key, I can call instants and suddenly I'm running hard counters off of one land.
The two Wrath of Gods are in there because it's a good creature field wipe but is costly in this deck so I don't want to draw multiples of it if their creature base is kept in check by Propaganda.
On a separate thought, I'm considering boarding out the Demonfires and Iron Works in favor of four Glimpse the Unthinkable and 1 more Tezzeret. With the way the deck stalls out, a few Glimpses to the face could easily win me the game as well as eliminate any answers they might draw into.
While thinking of ways to improve the deck, I started remembering some alternate cards that could be thrown in the deck.
For instance, instead of Krark-Clan Ironworks I could run Blinkmoth Urns. The upside to this is that I don't have to sac my entire board only to get Force of Willed and lose. The obvious downside is that I can't churn out the urn until the fireball is actually in my hand.
Some other cards I was thinking of was Blinkmoth Infusion. With so many artifacts in the deck I can cast it for a mere two blue and untap my entire land base while still keeping my opponent locked, assuming they aren't running any artifact lands.
Rhystic Study seems like a good idea in general since it would function as a reliable draw engine.
I'm still thinking of the sideboard, but the sideboard would mostly consist of cards that would be boarded in for the particular group I play with.
This deck came about when I tried to make a deck revolved around Tezzeret the Seeker. Eventually I threw in Winter Orbs and the deck slowly got modded to work around it. It's won more than a few games against my friends so far, but somehow I feel like it can be made better I'm just not sure how to do it though.
The idea for the deck is that you control their land base using the Winter Orb, then control their field and spells til you drop Krark-Clan Ironworks and hit them with a 20+ damage Fireball.
This is a deck I'm currently tweaking. It started off from being a merger of two Thallid Theme decks from Time Spiral and now it's starting to gradually turn into a field control deck.
One card I'm considering for the deck is Kamahl, Fist of Krosa because I can turn their lands into creatures then nuke them with Deathspore Thallid/Grave Pact.
Any suggestions on how to make this deck better would be appreciated though cause I'm pretty stumped at the moment.
I'm having issues with MSE and Magic Workstation interactions.
When I try to use the exported file in MWS, the text and such become corrupted somehow. I have red cards showing up with gold borders, any instances of an apostrophe is replaced by jumped letters (like c#mt, or somesuch) and when I try to use full images, the images appear in the image portion of the rendered card, rather than the image replacing the MWS render
I'm not sure what the problem is, it could be that I have an unregistered copy or it could be the template style I use.
Any help in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Finished the revision. Changes to the keywords have been added to the front page along with the a link to the complete card list at the bottom of the front page.
Surprise, Surprise, another change. I just can't seem to pull myself away from this set.
For the time being further development of Final Wars has been put on hold.
After looking over Planetside, it came to my attention that the set lacked coherence and focus. I have many themes and many keywords all doing different things for different reasons.
I decided that I'm not gonna work on Final Wars until I have fully revised Planetside into a focused set.
Some of the changes I decided to make was the elimination of Clone and Gene Splice. While I like these two keywords, they never really expanded on the set's theme in any way. As such, they've been replaced by a single keyword: Displace.
As it stands, I'm gonna focus Planetside into having one main theme: That theme being the manipulation of subspace/The Removed From Game Zone. Sub-themes for the set will be the relation between Technology and Arcane spell subtypes as well as the Corruption theme of the Cult of Zyra.
If people are still interested in this set (which I'm starting to think not since nobody comments on this set anymore) I'll try to finish this revision in a timely manner.
Oi, being a set developer is a right pain in the arse:-/
Your suggestion is welcomed, however, I'd like to politely ask that you read (or re-read) the story outline for this set. It contains some hints to theme this set will be introducing in addition to expanding upon the themes introduced in Planetside.
If it's too long to read, then sit tight cause I'll get around to posting the theme of Final Wars once I finish posting up the card list to Planetside.
So here I am, about to start work on the second set in Planetside Block. As of this writing, I still need to put up the full card list for Planetside but I should have that done sometime tomorrow. For now, I wanted to start the official thread for Final Wars, Set 2 of 3 in Planetside Block.
Before I introduce the storyline to this expansion, I want to give a little background info on how it came to be and what to expect. For starters, Aftershock was slated as the title for the second set with the third set being unnamed. The name Final Wars came about after I started thinking of the storyline for the second set, the name itself came from the movie Godzilla: Final Wars. I felt the name Final Wars was a fitting term for the story outline I set down for this set.
In addition, for those of you who actually took to time to look at the card list for Planetside, I noticed that Planetside has a few weak points in regards to balance. This came about due to my own personal battle with focus, I had a lot of ideas and didn't take into account about not using all of them. As such, Final Wars and Aftershock will address some of the weak points in Planetside as well as expanding upon the themes introduced in that set.
So without further notice, I present the story outline for Final Wars:
The time has finally come. After a year of minor skirmishes, diplomacy and uneasy alliances, the empires have gained access to Xion. Hidden away in an ancient temple on Planet Shalara, Xion holds the key to absolute power. However, while each empire sought to attain Xion's power for their own use Xion had a different plan. Through careful manipulation of the strands of fate, a high ranking member from each empire has made contact with Xion. Instead of one being gaining all the power and knowledge Xion possesses, instead Xion's power has been divided between the five members.
Each individual has been given a significant portion of Xion's power and has brought this power and knowledge back to their leaders. Now, each empire has attained abilities and knowledge that has never been available to them.
The Cybrin Illuminate have unlocked a burning fury that has been dormant within their cold souls since the dawn of their creation. Their vast knowledge and powerful technology will now be boosted by the fiery vengeance that Xion's power has bestowed upon them.
The Templar Sovereignty have always been at one with nature, as such their knowledge of science and technology has suffered because of their intent of communing with their surroundings. But the knowledge Geoffrey Gratiz has brought back from Shalara will unlock a deep knowledge pool that the Cylar is all too quick to use for the better of the Sovereignty.
The Cult of Zyra, a vile organization hell bent on corrupting or destroying everything around them has now been given a new found power thanks to Xion. To go with their command over the forces of death, the Cult now has the knowledge to bring life and understand to those around them. While at first glance it may not seem useful to an empire hellbent on bring death, the ability to bring life and energy to its subordinates is a power not to be overlooked.
The Federation has always pride itself on being the sole bringer of justice to the Terra Galaxy. While the other empires strive for knowledge or destruction, the Federation has sought to bring peace to those around them. However, the power that Jacob Sunstorm has brought back with him will give the Federation a much darker advantage in their crusade for peace.
The Covenant has been an empire of loosely tied races all vying for the same goal: Chaos. How fitting, it seems, that the Xion power Colton Yeldir has brought back with him will give the Covenant the power of pacification and protection. Combined with their ruthless determination and unmatched firepower, the Covenant might be an unstoppable force within the Terra Galaxy.
Each Empire now has a fraction of Xion's power at its disposal. With immense power and knowledge now at their fingertips, the Empires have officially thrown away the ties of peace in favor of an all out war with which only one can claim victory.
And in the midst of the war to come, a presence lies just outside of the galaxy. One that movies steadily toward the Terra galaxy with only one goal in mind.
The ties of peace are done, no more alliances, no more betrayals, the Final Wars have begun.
Distribution
White — 25
Blue — 25
Black — 25
Red — 25
Green — 25
Artifacts — 10
Non-Basic Land — 5
Themes
The prominent theme for Final Wars explores the effect that Xion has on each empire. When the Fated Five made contact with Xion, they each received one-fifth of its power. They then brought this power back to their respective leaders which granted the empires abilities they never had before.
In a gameplay sense, this means each empire (or color) now has access to the tools of an opposing color. The breakdown for how this has been distributed is as follows:
Blue gains Red abilities
Green gains Blue abilities
Black gains Green abilities
White gains Black abilities
Red gains White abilities
However, Xion is still an evil entity and its power comes at a cost. While each color will gain abilities it never had before, these cards will have drawbacks to offset their strength. In addition, the color shift won't just be represented in card functions like a Black card that destroys an artifact or a Red card that gains X life. This shift will also be represented in abilities, so you might see a Red card with Plainswalk or a White card with Deathtouch.
New - Visible Color Shift: Right now I'm working the idea of showing the color shift in a more visible form. For instance, Green cards with Blue abilities will cost G to play, but the actually color of the card will be blue. I'm still on the fence about the idea so this might change back at some point during development.
Until it does though, for Final Wars the color of a card will not be decided by what mana is used to play it but instead by the actual color of the card.
A good example is this:
In this example Hydrostalker still costs G to play, but the card color is blue. In the context of the set, this would mean the card color is still blue, despite it costing G to play. While I'll probably end up saying, "CARDNAME is [this color]" I'll leave that absent on the more wordier cards. But just because it isn't there, it doesn't mean the card color isn't any different from what you see. In any case, this decision is subject to change at any time as I'm still unsure if I should stick with it or not.
FYI, I probably won't base the change on feedback as I know some people are resistant to such changes and some might not even like it at all. However, anyone who puts forth an unbiased input will have their objections or support taken into consideration.
Keywords
As is the custom with expansions, Final Wars brings back all the keywords introduced in Planetside. Of course, these keywords will have a new spin put on them that weren't seen in the previous set. In addition, a new keyword will be introduced that will expand upon the theme of using the RFG zone as a resource.
"The progression of technology brought new things into our reach. While the standard cures for various diseases came naturally over time, as technology continued to advance we started to find ways to make things better. In the case of reconstitution, we actually found a way to make something into something else that is complete different but made from the same mass. This new technology was accidentally discovered by the Federation scientist Alfred Higura while he was working on a new kind of energy source. While at first this new technology only allowed us to break things down into raw energy, Alfred eventually found a way to take this raw energy and formulate it into an entirely new creation. The Federation was keen on keeping this as secret as possible, they knew it would have a public backlash if it ever got out. I mean, who could blame them, the idea that we could take an assault rifle and reconstitute it into a living organism was disturbing. It was even more disturbing when I realized we could reverse the process.
However, it wasn't long before the Federation saw fit to make this technology useful for military purposes. They tried to get it functioning during the Planetside War, but were unable to bring it full usefulness before the war ended. With a bit of Xion's power in our possession and the other empires moving into strike against one another, the Federation is more determined than ever to militarize the Recon Energy Project into something we can use out on the battlefield." --exert from Jacob Sunstorms log
Reconstitute comes in two forms: One for spells and one for permanents.
Reconstitute <cost> (<cost>, Remove this permanent from the game: Choose a permanent you own that is outside the game with the same converted mana cost as this permanent and put it into play tapped.
Reconstitute <cost> (<cost>, Remove this card from the game: Chose an instant or sorcery card you own that is outside the game with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand.)
So apparently these posts have a letter limit. It's an absurdly big limit, but I managed to cap it in my original post while adding the commons for Black.
In any case, I'll have to move the complete card list. I'll be making a post following this one that will contain the complete card list.
For now I'll leave what I have on the front page and delete it when the card list is posted up.
7x Island
4x Seat of the Synod
4x Great Furnace
3x Vault of Whispers
3x Glimmervoid
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
Artifacts
3x Cloud Key
4x Izzet Signet
4x Winter Orb
Enchantments
4x Propaganda
3x Rhystic Study
4x Rune Snag
4x Mana Leak
4x Remand
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
3x Pyroclasm
Now all I have to do is try and think of a sideboard that would help the deck against other match-ups.
7x Island
4x Seat of the Synod
4x Great Furnace
3x Ancient Den
3x Glimmervoid
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
Artifacts
4x Cloud Key
4x Azorius Signet
3x Krark-Clan Ironworks
4x Winter Orb
4x Propaganda
Spells
4x Rune Snag
4x Mana Leak
3x Remand
2x Demonfire
4x Thirst for Knowledge
2x Wrath of God
I added back in one Tezzeret the Seeker since he's more than castable now that the deck is running Azorius Signets. The one mana I untap can easily turn into 2-4 depending on how many are on the field.
I decided to replace Fireball with Demonfire because Demonfire has a chance of being casted as an uncounterable spell.
I'm gonna run Thirst for Knowledge in place of Thoughtcast to see how it runs as a drawing engine, the only thing I don't like about it is having to discard cards but in the late game the artifact lands could easily be pitched. Right now though I'm still deciding between Thirst for Knowledge or Rhystic Study. From my perspective Rhystic Study would be more reliable since the opponent mostly won't have the mana to not let me draw a card.
Rune Snags and Mana Leaks have been on my mind for this deck for awhile now seeing as how they'd pretty much be hard counters given the land lockdown this deck can do. By adding in Cloud Key, I can call instants and suddenly I'm running hard counters off of one land.
The two Wrath of Gods are in there because it's a good creature field wipe but is costly in this deck so I don't want to draw multiples of it if their creature base is kept in check by Propaganda.
On a separate thought, I'm considering boarding out the Demonfires and Iron Works in favor of four Glimpse the Unthinkable and 1 more Tezzeret. With the way the deck stalls out, a few Glimpses to the face could easily win me the game as well as eliminate any answers they might draw into.
For instance, instead of Krark-Clan Ironworks I could run Blinkmoth Urns. The upside to this is that I don't have to sac my entire board only to get Force of Willed and lose. The obvious downside is that I can't churn out the urn until the fireball is actually in my hand.
Some other cards I was thinking of was Blinkmoth Infusion. With so many artifacts in the deck I can cast it for a mere two blue and untap my entire land base while still keeping my opponent locked, assuming they aren't running any artifact lands.
Rhystic Study seems like a good idea in general since it would function as a reliable draw engine.
I'm still thinking of the sideboard, but the sideboard would mostly consist of cards that would be boarded in for the particular group I play with.
The idea for the deck is that you control their land base using the Winter Orb, then control their field and spells til you drop Krark-Clan Ironworks and hit them with a 20+ damage Fireball.
7x Island
4x Seat of the Synod
4x Great Furnace
3x Ancient Den
3x Glimmervoid
4x Etherium Sculptor
Artifacts
4x Winter Orb
3x Aether Spellbomb
3x Krark-Clan Ironworks
Enchantments
3x Propaganda
2x Ghostly Prison
4x Counterspell
4x Assert Authority
3x Remand
2x Fireball
4x Thoughtcast
4x Echoing Truth
3 Essence Warden
4 Utopia Mycon
4 Deathspore Thallid
4 Thallid Germinator
2 Psychotrope Thallid
2 Sporoloth Ancient
3 Sprout Swarm
3 Krosan Grip
4 Sudden Spoiling
3 Putrefy
Artifacts
3 Skullclamp
3 Grave Pact
2 Doubling Season
Lands
12 Forest
9 Swamp
One card I'm considering for the deck is Kamahl, Fist of Krosa because I can turn their lands into creatures then nuke them with Deathspore Thallid/Grave Pact.
Any suggestions on how to make this deck better would be appreciated though cause I'm pretty stumped at the moment.
When I try to use the exported file in MWS, the text and such become corrupted somehow. I have red cards showing up with gold borders, any instances of an apostrophe is replaced by jumped letters (like c#mt, or somesuch) and when I try to use full images, the images appear in the image portion of the rendered card, rather than the image replacing the MWS render
I'm not sure what the problem is, it could be that I have an unregistered copy or it could be the template style I use.
Any help in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Time to begin official work on Final Wars.
For the time being further development of Final Wars has been put on hold.
After looking over Planetside, it came to my attention that the set lacked coherence and focus. I have many themes and many keywords all doing different things for different reasons.
I decided that I'm not gonna work on Final Wars until I have fully revised Planetside into a focused set.
Some of the changes I decided to make was the elimination of Clone and Gene Splice. While I like these two keywords, they never really expanded on the set's theme in any way. As such, they've been replaced by a single keyword: Displace.
As it stands, I'm gonna focus Planetside into having one main theme: That theme being the manipulation of subspace/The Removed From Game Zone. Sub-themes for the set will be the relation between Technology and Arcane spell subtypes as well as the Corruption theme of the Cult of Zyra.
If people are still interested in this set (which I'm starting to think not since nobody comments on this set anymore) I'll try to finish this revision in a timely manner.
Oi, being a set developer is a right pain in the arse:-/
Next card: Autumn Willow
Bradley Moreau
Gateway to the Void
Lifelance
Acolyte of Corruption
Life Tap
Auroran Saboteur
Teaser Card
If it's too long to read, then sit tight cause I'll get around to posting the theme of Final Wars once I finish posting up the card list to Planetside.
Before I introduce the storyline to this expansion, I want to give a little background info on how it came to be and what to expect. For starters, Aftershock was slated as the title for the second set with the third set being unnamed. The name Final Wars came about after I started thinking of the storyline for the second set, the name itself came from the movie Godzilla: Final Wars. I felt the name Final Wars was a fitting term for the story outline I set down for this set.
In addition, for those of you who actually took to time to look at the card list for Planetside, I noticed that Planetside has a few weak points in regards to balance. This came about due to my own personal battle with focus, I had a lot of ideas and didn't take into account about not using all of them. As such, Final Wars and Aftershock will address some of the weak points in Planetside as well as expanding upon the themes introduced in that set.
So without further notice, I present the story outline for Final Wars:
The time has finally come. After a year of minor skirmishes, diplomacy and uneasy alliances, the empires have gained access to Xion. Hidden away in an ancient temple on Planet Shalara, Xion holds the key to absolute power. However, while each empire sought to attain Xion's power for their own use Xion had a different plan. Through careful manipulation of the strands of fate, a high ranking member from each empire has made contact with Xion. Instead of one being gaining all the power and knowledge Xion possesses, instead Xion's power has been divided between the five members.
Each individual has been given a significant portion of Xion's power and has brought this power and knowledge back to their leaders. Now, each empire has attained abilities and knowledge that has never been available to them.
The Cybrin Illuminate have unlocked a burning fury that has been dormant within their cold souls since the dawn of their creation. Their vast knowledge and powerful technology will now be boosted by the fiery vengeance that Xion's power has bestowed upon them.
The Templar Sovereignty have always been at one with nature, as such their knowledge of science and technology has suffered because of their intent of communing with their surroundings. But the knowledge Geoffrey Gratiz has brought back from Shalara will unlock a deep knowledge pool that the Cylar is all too quick to use for the better of the Sovereignty.
The Cult of Zyra, a vile organization hell bent on corrupting or destroying everything around them has now been given a new found power thanks to Xion. To go with their command over the forces of death, the Cult now has the knowledge to bring life and understand to those around them. While at first glance it may not seem useful to an empire hellbent on bring death, the ability to bring life and energy to its subordinates is a power not to be overlooked.
The Federation has always pride itself on being the sole bringer of justice to the Terra Galaxy. While the other empires strive for knowledge or destruction, the Federation has sought to bring peace to those around them. However, the power that Jacob Sunstorm has brought back with him will give the Federation a much darker advantage in their crusade for peace.
The Covenant has been an empire of loosely tied races all vying for the same goal: Chaos. How fitting, it seems, that the Xion power Colton Yeldir has brought back with him will give the Covenant the power of pacification and protection. Combined with their ruthless determination and unmatched firepower, the Covenant might be an unstoppable force within the Terra Galaxy.
Each Empire now has a fraction of Xion's power at its disposal. With immense power and knowledge now at their fingertips, the Empires have officially thrown away the ties of peace in favor of an all out war with which only one can claim victory.
And in the midst of the war to come, a presence lies just outside of the galaxy. One that movies steadily toward the Terra galaxy with only one goal in mind.
The ties of peace are done, no more alliances, no more betrayals, the Final Wars have begun.
Distribution
White — 25
Blue — 25
Black — 25
Red — 25
Green — 25
Artifacts — 10
Non-Basic Land — 5
Themes
The prominent theme for Final Wars explores the effect that Xion has on each empire. When the Fated Five made contact with Xion, they each received one-fifth of its power. They then brought this power back to their respective leaders which granted the empires abilities they never had before.
In a gameplay sense, this means each empire (or color) now has access to the tools of an opposing color. The breakdown for how this has been distributed is as follows:
Blue gains Red abilities
Green gains Blue abilities
Black gains Green abilities
White gains Black abilities
Red gains White abilities
However, Xion is still an evil entity and its power comes at a cost. While each color will gain abilities it never had before, these cards will have drawbacks to offset their strength. In addition, the color shift won't just be represented in card functions like a Black card that destroys an artifact or a Red card that gains X life. This shift will also be represented in abilities, so you might see a Red card with Plainswalk or a White card with Deathtouch.
New - Visible Color Shift: Right now I'm working the idea of showing the color shift in a more visible form. For instance, Green cards with Blue abilities will cost G to play, but the actually color of the card will be blue. I'm still on the fence about the idea so this might change back at some point during development.
Until it does though, for Final Wars the color of a card will not be decided by what mana is used to play it but instead by the actual color of the card.
A good example is this:
In this example Hydrostalker still costs G to play, but the card color is blue. In the context of the set, this would mean the card color is still blue, despite it costing G to play. While I'll probably end up saying, "CARDNAME is [this color]" I'll leave that absent on the more wordier cards. But just because it isn't there, it doesn't mean the card color isn't any different from what you see. In any case, this decision is subject to change at any time as I'm still unsure if I should stick with it or not.
FYI, I probably won't base the change on feedback as I know some people are resistant to such changes and some might not even like it at all. However, anyone who puts forth an unbiased input will have their objections or support taken into consideration.
Keywords
As is the custom with expansions, Final Wars brings back all the keywords introduced in Planetside. Of course, these keywords will have a new spin put on them that weren't seen in the previous set. In addition, a new keyword will be introduced that will expand upon the theme of using the RFG zone as a resource.
"The progression of technology brought new things into our reach. While the standard cures for various diseases came naturally over time, as technology continued to advance we started to find ways to make things better. In the case of reconstitution, we actually found a way to make something into something else that is complete different but made from the same mass. This new technology was accidentally discovered by the Federation scientist Alfred Higura while he was working on a new kind of energy source. While at first this new technology only allowed us to break things down into raw energy, Alfred eventually found a way to take this raw energy and formulate it into an entirely new creation. The Federation was keen on keeping this as secret as possible, they knew it would have a public backlash if it ever got out. I mean, who could blame them, the idea that we could take an assault rifle and reconstitute it into a living organism was disturbing. It was even more disturbing when I realized we could reverse the process.
However, it wasn't long before the Federation saw fit to make this technology useful for military purposes. They tried to get it functioning during the Planetside War, but were unable to bring it full usefulness before the war ended. With a bit of Xion's power in our possession and the other empires moving into strike against one another, the Federation is more determined than ever to militarize the Recon Energy Project into something we can use out on the battlefield." --exert from Jacob Sunstorms log
Reconstitute comes in two forms: One for spells and one for permanents.
Reconstitute <cost> (<cost>, Remove this permanent from the game: Choose a permanent you own that is outside the game with the same converted mana cost as this permanent and put it into play tapped.
Reconstitute <cost> (<cost>, Remove this card from the game: Chose an instant or sorcery card you own that is outside the game with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand.)
Example
Preview Card
Teaser Card
In any case, I'll have to move the complete card list. I'll be making a post following this one that will contain the complete card list.
For now I'll leave what I have on the front page and delete it when the card list is posted up.