Yet it would still be a major change of the rules for practically no gain at all as the delayed triggers are already a thing and take even less effort remembering.
It isn't no gain as there is some new design space, but likely not enough to be worth the complexity.
Regarding the "creature kills creature" point...
Supposing you have this scenario:
You are blocking a Erebos, god of the dead with 2 Manor Gargoyles, they deal 8 damage to the indestructible creature, then you make it lose indestructible by some means (like activating bonds of mortality).
The creature still has 8 damage on it and dies.
Who killed it?
Or any case in which I block a creature with multiple ceatures. Who gets the killing blow?
Do I have to stack the order in which creatures deal the damage even if it is actually dealt all at the same time?
What about sacrificing a creature to play an ability cost of another creature? In the game you are using a creature to kill another creature, so would it count as a "kill trigger"?
Or if one of the two creatures I'm blocking with has deathtouch and the other does not, but the damage is actually enough to be lethal anyway?
It is just a mess and much more complex than handling the odd and rare delayed trigger and in some cases even counterintuitive.
One could make it work by saying that the last creature to deal damage (or the creature that deals lethal damage in blocking order) gets the "kill" and nobody gets the kill if the creature is sacrificed. It is pretty complicated, but there are ways to make it work without changing rules.
Edit: Another possibility is giving all creatures that dealt damage equal credit for "killing" a single creature. But that would probably not be ideal.
Drain the Hourglass1BB
Sorcery
Target player loses 5 life. Your time is running out.
Wondering if this effect is too powerful to have on a cheap, one-time effect. Losing 5 life is usually coupled with other text to allow for a higher mana cost.
well we know kaladesh has an artificer/inventor theme and we know its filled with thopters and we just got a new template for making tokens, like artifact or thopter tokens, and we have strong evidence that theres a vehicle mechanic in the set that has something to do with creatures. Connecting those dots doesn't make it a stretch to say we'll see some form of contraptions-in-spirit if not in name. Like if wizards were trying to design around contraptions, but instead went on a tangent and fleshed out a mechanic on a similar vein but different enough to need to segregate it. Happens all the time in worldbuilding, like Arkhos and Mongseng becoming Theros and Tarkir
I think you may be connecting dots that aren't necessarily supposed to connect.
Maro has stated that Contraptions are for-sure not in Kaladesh. I doubt he would say such a thing if they were there "in spirit". He even went on to say that he found a way to make another mechanic of his work for the first time. He made it clear that it was a different mechanic, even if it does fill a similar role.
Also, I doubt the template change has very much to do with this new mechanic. All the template change suggests is that the block likely has a higher frequency of token-making effects, just like how colorless mana in Oath of the Gatewatch, modal spells in Fate Reforged, legends in Theros block, and death-effects in Innistrad block each led to their own minor template-changes.
And there is absolutely nothing to suggest that "vehicles" have anything to do with this mechanic. As someone said before, we know absolutely nothing about "vehicles" other than it somehow gets "turned off" by Choking Restraints.
Until we know more, we should assume that these puzzle pieces do not necessarily belong to the same puzzle.
Since, as you note, shard factions have already been done, I would recommend changing the color balance of these as well as the mechanical themes. e.g. being primary in the first color as written, being primary black rather than red etc.
While I didn't plan on having them really centered in any color per se, I was planning on allocating the two-color cards in a way that accommodates that idea. For example, Jund would have the only BR and BG cards. In a way, I guess that centers it around black, but I don't want it to influence mechanics. I want these archetypes to be fully tri-color, not monocolor with splashes into the adjacent colors. KTK kind of felt like that to me, which took away from the wedge theme a bit.
So I'm making a tricolor shard set and I have a pretty good idea of what each tricolor archetype should be. I just need help settling on keyword (or ability word) mechanics for each. Also, these shards have no relation to Alara's factions.
WUB: Slow, grindy, controlling. Uses small, evasive creatures to deal incremental damage over time while keeping the opponent at bay. My current mechanic idea is this:
"Espionage - Whenever one or more creatures you control attacks and isn't blocked, ..."
UBR: Invasive, destructive, disruptive. Uses spells and abilities to keep bothering the opponent in various ways. Uses lots of effects that target the opponent, like burn, mill, discard, etc. Spell-based strategy with creature support. Current idea:
"Antagonize (Whenever an opponent becomes the target of a spell or ability you control, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn."
Yes, it's basically a more narrow version of prowess, but I think it nicely sculpts the play-style I want this shard to have. This is currently my favorite idea.
BRG: Aggressive. Thrives on playing hard-hitting creatures and doesn't shy away from putting them in harm's way. I don't yet have a clear idea for a mechanic to use here, but I do think it should have something to do with creatures you control dying.
RGW: Uses cheap, efficient creatures and lots of combat tricks to power them up and make them as durable and hard-hitting as possible. Thinking of using Heroic here.
GWU: Tempo-based strategy. Uses a wide curve of creatures for a toolbox strategy. Usually plays to the mid-late game. Uses control tactics to keep up its tempo and slow down the opponent. Current idea:
"Diverse - As long as you control at least three creatures with different converted mana costs, ..."
One of the issues I keep running into is that I keep leaning towards using ability words. I like that I have one (Diverse) that activates when you reach a certain board state, and another (Espionage) that triggers whenever you perform a specific action. That seems like different enough game play to me. But Heroic, as well as it fits in my Naya shard, is the same kind of thing as Espionage. Given a choice between the two, I would probably pick Espionage. Also, I don't yet have a spell-based mechanic (Antagonize is close, but it's still a creature mechanic). I think some kind of spell recursion mechanic or card flow mechanic would work well for Naya. I'm not sure about Jund though.
Everyone's bringing up her possible white/green from the latest story. Guess what? They wrote that story after determining that Tamiyo would be Bant. It's complete tail wagging the dog. Wizards has decided to focus on the Origin 5 and all other single-color planeswalkers are suffering because of it.
So they expanded upon the complexity of a previously unexplored character's personality. Is that a bad thing?
While Tamiyo could have been printed as a Mono-U walker that does not mean her being W/U/G is incorrect.
This. Most characters (and people) have every color in them. What matters is what colors they act on and why. Tamiyo is definitely mainly blue in her goal (learning) but can also be considered green and/or white in the way she does things (story magic based on wisdom, not wanting to interfere with the worlds she observes, recognizing that Avacyn was likely the lesser evil for Innistrad, etc.)
What if you combined Clone with Living Wish? You get to pull a creature card from outside the game into your library and this creature becomes a copy of it, except maybe keep its name as is like Sakashima the Impostor and Lazav, Dimir Mastermind.
I was actually just thinking something like that. Although, I would probably just have it enter as a copy instead of actually shuffling a card in.
Basically:
Legend Name GWU
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter
You may have ~ enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature card with converted mana cost 3 you own from outside the game except its name is still Legend Name.
0/0
'enter the battlefield as a copy of any format-legal creature with converted mana cost 3.' -- Any creature at all in whatever format you're playing? Even one that's not on the battlefield? Or even in the game at all? This would make it a Living Wish.
Why do you need the term legal? What would make it illegal? It doesn't target.
Here, legal means "legal in whatever format this game is being played in." So if you're playing standard, it can only be a standard-legal creature. If you're playing draft, it can only be a creature in the sets you are drafting. If you are playing commander, it can be any creature not on the banned list.
I'm Bad At NamesGWU
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter
You may have ~ enter the battlefield as a copy of any format-legal creature with converted mana cost 3.
0/0
This was designed for a set in which GWU is a tempo archetype. The keyword is "Diverse - As long as you control at least three creatures with different converted mana costs..."
I know the ability is way out there, but I'm wondering if it can work. Thoughts?
Then it would still be an immoral course of action considering that she's jeopardising thousands for a relatively petty reason.
As petty as it may seem, one could see it as "Well, if you are unwilling to come to MY house to deal with the issue, I'll just bring the issue to YOUR house so that you CAN'T ignore it." It's basically spite mixed with doing what has to be done so that the issue can get dealt with. It's also "Look man, you promised, and I'm not gonna let this promise go."
Edit: Another possibility is giving all creatures that dealt damage equal credit for "killing" a single creature. But that would probably not be ideal.
Drain the Hourglass 1BB
Sorcery
Target player loses 5 life.
Your time is running out.
Wondering if this effect is too powerful to have on a cheap, one-time effect. Losing 5 life is usually coupled with other text to allow for a higher mana cost.
In any case, how should this be costed?
Maro has stated that Contraptions are for-sure not in Kaladesh. I doubt he would say such a thing if they were there "in spirit". He even went on to say that he found a way to make another mechanic of his work for the first time. He made it clear that it was a different mechanic, even if it does fill a similar role.
Also, I doubt the template change has very much to do with this new mechanic. All the template change suggests is that the block likely has a higher frequency of token-making effects, just like how colorless mana in Oath of the Gatewatch, modal spells in Fate Reforged, legends in Theros block, and death-effects in Innistrad block each led to their own minor template-changes.
And there is absolutely nothing to suggest that "vehicles" have anything to do with this mechanic. As someone said before, we know absolutely nothing about "vehicles" other than it somehow gets "turned off" by Choking Restraints.
Until we know more, we should assume that these puzzle pieces do not necessarily belong to the same puzzle.
Edit - or similar techniques for picking out value packs without opening them.
While I didn't plan on having them really centered in any color per se, I was planning on allocating the two-color cards in a way that accommodates that idea. For example, Jund would have the only BR and BG cards. In a way, I guess that centers it around black, but I don't want it to influence mechanics. I want these archetypes to be fully tri-color, not monocolor with splashes into the adjacent colors. KTK kind of felt like that to me, which took away from the wedge theme a bit.
WUB: Slow, grindy, controlling. Uses small, evasive creatures to deal incremental damage over time while keeping the opponent at bay. My current mechanic idea is this:
"Espionage - Whenever one or more creatures you control attacks and isn't blocked, ..."
UBR: Invasive, destructive, disruptive. Uses spells and abilities to keep bothering the opponent in various ways. Uses lots of effects that target the opponent, like burn, mill, discard, etc. Spell-based strategy with creature support. Current idea:
"Antagonize (Whenever an opponent becomes the target of a spell or ability you control, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn."
Yes, it's basically a more narrow version of prowess, but I think it nicely sculpts the play-style I want this shard to have. This is currently my favorite idea.
BRG: Aggressive. Thrives on playing hard-hitting creatures and doesn't shy away from putting them in harm's way. I don't yet have a clear idea for a mechanic to use here, but I do think it should have something to do with creatures you control dying.
RGW: Uses cheap, efficient creatures and lots of combat tricks to power them up and make them as durable and hard-hitting as possible. Thinking of using Heroic here.
GWU: Tempo-based strategy. Uses a wide curve of creatures for a toolbox strategy. Usually plays to the mid-late game. Uses control tactics to keep up its tempo and slow down the opponent. Current idea:
"Diverse - As long as you control at least three creatures with different converted mana costs, ..."
One of the issues I keep running into is that I keep leaning towards using ability words. I like that I have one (Diverse) that activates when you reach a certain board state, and another (Espionage) that triggers whenever you perform a specific action. That seems like different enough game play to me. But Heroic, as well as it fits in my Naya shard, is the same kind of thing as Espionage. Given a choice between the two, I would probably pick Espionage. Also, I don't yet have a spell-based mechanic (Antagonize is close, but it's still a creature mechanic). I think some kind of spell recursion mechanic or card flow mechanic would work well for Naya. I'm not sure about Jund though.
This. Most characters (and people) have every color in them. What matters is what colors they act on and why. Tamiyo is definitely mainly blue in her goal (learning) but can also be considered green and/or white in the way she does things (story magic based on wisdom, not wanting to interfere with the worlds she observes, recognizing that Avacyn was likely the lesser evil for Innistrad, etc.)
Basically:
Legend Name GWU
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter
You may have ~ enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature card with converted mana cost 3 you own from outside the game except its name is still Legend Name.
0/0
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter
You may have ~ enter the battlefield as a copy of any format-legal creature with converted mana cost 3.
0/0
This was designed for a set in which GWU is a tempo archetype. The keyword is "Diverse - As long as you control at least three creatures with different converted mana costs..."
I know the ability is way out there, but I'm wondering if it can work. Thoughts?
Edit: Clarified "legal" a bit.
That said, yes, it's still pretty petty.