So, no one's heard of Nicol Bolas, Venser, Shaper Savant, or Karn, Silver Golem I guess? Each of these had "limiting" aspects (evil/mind controlling, teleporter/artificer, time-traveling artifact), but they took that and made it work as a planeswalker card (often wildly different than the legend).
Lamistra was a minor character in a block with a legendary theme. I added the whole part about her killing her mother, her seduction (not romantically, although feel free to connect the dots as you wish) by Ivar, and her attaining a planeswalking spark.
As I said in the last thread I "upgraded" Lamistra because, as I imagined her, she had a lot of room to grow as a character, I wanted to have SOMETHING that connected this generation of WMtS to the last (a nice bit of nostalgia for us that worked so hard on it and a way for this newer group to make her their own), and because she seemed like the most interesting enemy to a technologically advanced nation(s) of sailors (as the daughter of a supposed water goddess).
Feel free to dq it, but I still think she's cool enough for an upgrade.
Annyway, here's my idea:
Lamistra, Daughter of the Ocean 2(U/G)(U/G)
Planeswalker--Lamistra
+1: Reveal the top four cards of your library. You may put any land cards revealed this way into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library.
-3: Draw a card for each Island on the battlefield.
-8: Gain an emblem with "Creatures on the battlefield are Islands in addition to their other types."
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I wish I had realized this earlier, but since we already have Plix as our heroic pirate, it would have been much more interesting to have a Cowboy planeswalker. I'm voting for the planeswalkers that seem most likely to oppose the pirates so we can build conflict in our set.
Agreed. While not a cowboy, I submitted Lamistra 1) to tie this WMtS to the last one and 2) to unite the "native" tribe against the "pirate" tribe. I also thought it would be fun to see her grow as a character (get a hold of her powers + get over murdering her mother).
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Maritime Kairomancer2UU
Creature--Human Wizard Pirate
Flying t,U: Target creature has flying until end of turn. "Every good vessel has a Kairomancer to keep her sails full."
--Plix Majar, Captain of the Flitsail
3/3
Lamistra was born on the plane of Aegea. She was the product of the union between the supposed goddess of the rivers, oceans, and nature and a mortal. After giving birth to Lamistra, her mother abandoned her to the care of a copse of dryads who taught her the power of nature magic to augment her natural power of water.
When she became a young woman she was visited by a spirit of nature. It spoke to her in her dreams and called itself the muse of inner strength. Over several weeks it convinced her that her mother, who Lamistra had never actually met, hated her and was trying to kill her, and in fact all life. Lamistra was instructed to seek out a man named Ivar who knew the truth about the gods.
When she found him, he revealed that the gods, including her mother, were all devious creatures who were stealing the lifeforce from their worshippers. She joined Ivar's quickly-growing army of those who wanted to free the plane from the gods' rule.
Eventually he convinced Lamistra that she needed to kill her mother to show mortals that the gods could be slain and that she was on the mortals' side. Ivar's followers were able to weaken Tassenia, Lamistra's mother, and handed Lamistra a special sword that could kill even something that powerful.
Lamistra looked at her mother for the first time. She had grown up with the stories that Tessenia and the other gods were the font of life and the most powerful and special beings in the world. But Tessenia hadn't been a font of life at all. She had thrown her out like garbage and, more, she had implanted her with the dryads, probably just to get more followers to sap the life from.
The goddess was chained into a prone position on the ground and looked up with blood-soaked eyes. She squinted at Lamistra and asked who she was. It was too much for Lamistra to handle. She gripped the sword and cut her mother's head of in one swing. In that moment the goddess's body poured out water and roots grew out. Ivar and his followers retreated as the body transformed into a Mighty Oak and the blood tuned into a huge moat-like lake of crystal water.
Lamistra was no where to be found.
She woke up days later in an unrecognized land. She was in a barren desert, but she could just make out a road on the horizon. She walked there in the pounding sun and came across a traveller. He was leading a giant tamed lizard (Dinosaur, sorry flappy) and offered his waterskin to Lamistra. The dinosaur sensed something amiss about her though and panicked. It flung its master into the sand and ran toward Lamistra. She put just one hand on the beast and it suddenly stopped. Its eyes grew big and then wooden. In less than a minute, the dinosaur turned into a large tree. Lamistra had turned creatures into trees before, but never by accident. She helped the bewildered dinosaur tamer up, but when she grabbed his hand, he turned into a sturdy tree as well.
In horror she rand away from the desert road. The two abandoned trees worked their roots into the sand in the coming days and grass started to spring up between them. Then the green patch spread and in a few weeks a teeming oasis stood in their spot.
Lamistra, Child of Tessania, a legend from the last WmtS gained her spark when she killed her mother and went to ... whatever this plane is. She's quite young and, although she has a lot of power, doesn't really know how to control her magic. At the moment she is cursed (but is it a curse from her "goddess" mother as final act of revenge or is it a self-infliced curse fueled by her own guilt?) with a Midas touch of sorts which converts any living thing she touches into a land (or forest specifically maybe).
Her legend from the last set was green blue, but we wouldn't have to follow that if we didn't want to.
What happens when the daughter of a water goddess shows up on a plane besieged by pirates?
No, I meant this round. It doesn't extend, explain, enhance or establish the theme of the set at all. It just adds more ambiguity as to what the set is about and creates another aspect that needs to be linked in somehow.
Agreed. Maybe there can be an option in the next pole to not include the assemble mechanic?
Anyway, here's one that interacts with the Steamflogger Boss ...
Ornery Dockhand2R
Creature--Human Rigger [u] R,t: Destroy target Assembled Contraption. "I've had it with the boss. He doesn't make any sense and he's never going to make sense!"
2/2
Crime Spree2BB
Sorcery [r]
Sacrifice all noncreature, nonland permanents you control. If you do, gain control of all noncreature, nonland permanents. "I will take everything Captain Majar has ever cared for, even if I have to give up everything to do it."
--Gamlann Frisilas, Captain of the Torn Sail
Voracious Ichthyosaur5UUU
Creature--Leviathan Dinosaur [r]
~ can't attack unless defending player controls 5 or more Islands.
At the end of combat, exile all creatures that blocked or were blocked by ~.
10/10
Juju Skinboiler4B
Creature--Viashino(?) Shaman [c]
Sacrifice a creature: ~ gets flying until end of turn. "You northerners want to know secret of flight? Give me your fattest, most yummy baby."
4/4
flappy- I'm imagining a pack where I open a faerie, a dino-riding cowboy, and a ninja all next to each other. Pirates and natives are the combination that makes most sense to me as part of a unified world. Alara got away with it because the factions were very well-defined (the shards). Will our factions have that kind of definition?
This is pretty much where I am too.
Also, Lorwyn was awesome because it was unified by folklore of the British Isles. Which is awesome, but more importantly, unified.
If you do not believe in that concept, I recommend you check out the first WMtS set: Aegis in my signature. Some of us here have experience with the concept. The point is that eventually we all look in the same direction.
If you can't see beyond Pirates vs Natives, don't trust the WMtS voting system, want to create a set only in discussion or have full control of what direction the set is going, you are at the wrong place.
This is inaccurate--and silly. Aegis was very, very top-down. We even voted on character backgrounds that we would later make cards for. The first set (Aegis) was made with careful attention to setting and mechanical identity. Voting on random cards and putting a set together afterward hoping that it will look like anything but a collection of random cards is not (at least in my opinion) work out for us.
--
Luckily this world starts to take shape slowly, rather than being dictated.
As you can see from one of the first polls, the Pax Reproba icon almost became the Aegis icon.
If you say "take shape" enough times, I might believe that it's actually happening ...
--
And the setting was fleshed out in round 8 (with waaay more than 3 paragraphs it seems, that must have been wishful remembering).
We don't have to follow suit by any means (although I've been arguing that we should, and will continue to do so), but it might be helpful to see how the last people did it.
--
What I want to stress is that the way this WMtS is conceived, ideas only grow round by round. We can take into account whatever is being discussed here, of course, but at the end of the day, only stuff that's voted into a winner card counts.
We've had lots of ideas (cowboys, ninjas, ships, mounts, natives, conquerors) that are all valid and, to some extent, popular. They still are just that, ideas. Once they win a round, they'll be part of the set
This is incorrect, historically. Way, way back in the first incarnation of WMtS one of the first contests was to submit a one sentence idea for a setting (such as, Greek myth or crazy plane that is being dreamed by an insane and powerful planewalker). Then when we had a winner the next round had us write up a 1-3 paragraph (IIRC) setting concept where we detailed whichever concept won (complete with tribal/color breakdowns, a few possible legends, and the central conflict). (I remember that round clearly because my write up lost by a single vote, damn democracy!) After we had a good idea of the setting we either voted on the mechanical push or specific mechanics (I sort of forget which came first) based around our setting idea.
WMtS1 certainly had some problems/limitations, but I think this is a way better model as I'm STILL scratching my head trying to make sense of this patchwork world.
--
We haven't actually voted many into the set (2 rares and 1 mythic have control changing effects), and very few of us actually support having lots of permanent stealing.
That's fair. I just think it's better than something like the version of plunder that was floating around (something along the lines of "if you control X perms that you don't OWN, something).
--
Lamistra was a minor character in a block with a legendary theme. I added the whole part about her killing her mother, her seduction (not romantically, although feel free to connect the dots as you wish) by Ivar, and her attaining a planeswalking spark.
As I said in the last thread I "upgraded" Lamistra because, as I imagined her, she had a lot of room to grow as a character, I wanted to have SOMETHING that connected this generation of WMtS to the last (a nice bit of nostalgia for us that worked so hard on it and a way for this newer group to make her their own), and because she seemed like the most interesting enemy to a technologically advanced nation(s) of sailors (as the daughter of a supposed water goddess).
Feel free to dq it, but I still think she's cool enough for an upgrade.
Annyway, here's my idea:
Lamistra, Daughter of the Ocean 2(U/G)(U/G)
Planeswalker--Lamistra
+1: Reveal the top four cards of your library. You may put any land cards revealed this way into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library.
-3: Draw a card for each Island on the battlefield.
-8: Gain an emblem with "Creatures on the battlefield are Islands in addition to their other types."
--
Agreed. While not a cowboy, I submitted Lamistra 1) to tie this WMtS to the last one and 2) to unite the "native" tribe against the "pirate" tribe. I also thought it would be fun to see her grow as a character (get a hold of her powers + get over murdering her mother).
--
I just voted for that right now :). Good luck!
--
Maritime Kairomancer 2UU
Creature--Human Wizard Pirate
Flying
t,U: Target creature has flying until end of turn.
"Every good vessel has a Kairomancer to keep her sails full."
--Plix Majar, Captain of the Flitsail
3/3
Lamistra was born on the plane of Aegea. She was the product of the union between the supposed goddess of the rivers, oceans, and nature and a mortal. After giving birth to Lamistra, her mother abandoned her to the care of a copse of dryads who taught her the power of nature magic to augment her natural power of water.
When she became a young woman she was visited by a spirit of nature. It spoke to her in her dreams and called itself the muse of inner strength. Over several weeks it convinced her that her mother, who Lamistra had never actually met, hated her and was trying to kill her, and in fact all life. Lamistra was instructed to seek out a man named Ivar who knew the truth about the gods.
When she found him, he revealed that the gods, including her mother, were all devious creatures who were stealing the lifeforce from their worshippers. She joined Ivar's quickly-growing army of those who wanted to free the plane from the gods' rule.
Eventually he convinced Lamistra that she needed to kill her mother to show mortals that the gods could be slain and that she was on the mortals' side. Ivar's followers were able to weaken Tassenia, Lamistra's mother, and handed Lamistra a special sword that could kill even something that powerful.
Lamistra looked at her mother for the first time. She had grown up with the stories that Tessenia and the other gods were the font of life and the most powerful and special beings in the world. But Tessenia hadn't been a font of life at all. She had thrown her out like garbage and, more, she had implanted her with the dryads, probably just to get more followers to sap the life from.
The goddess was chained into a prone position on the ground and looked up with blood-soaked eyes. She squinted at Lamistra and asked who she was. It was too much for Lamistra to handle. She gripped the sword and cut her mother's head of in one swing. In that moment the goddess's body poured out water and roots grew out. Ivar and his followers retreated as the body transformed into a Mighty Oak and the blood tuned into a huge moat-like lake of crystal water.
Lamistra was no where to be found.
She woke up days later in an unrecognized land. She was in a barren desert, but she could just make out a road on the horizon. She walked there in the pounding sun and came across a traveller. He was leading a giant tamed lizard (Dinosaur, sorry flappy) and offered his waterskin to Lamistra. The dinosaur sensed something amiss about her though and panicked. It flung its master into the sand and ran toward Lamistra. She put just one hand on the beast and it suddenly stopped. Its eyes grew big and then wooden. In less than a minute, the dinosaur turned into a large tree. Lamistra had turned creatures into trees before, but never by accident. She helped the bewildered dinosaur tamer up, but when she grabbed his hand, he turned into a sturdy tree as well.
In horror she rand away from the desert road. The two abandoned trees worked their roots into the sand in the coming days and grass started to spring up between them. Then the green patch spread and in a few weeks a teeming oasis stood in their spot.
Her legend from the last set was green blue, but we wouldn't have to follow that if we didn't want to.
What happens when the daughter of a water goddess shows up on a plane besieged by pirates?
Agreed. Maybe there can be an option in the next pole to not include the assemble mechanic?
Anyway, here's one that interacts with the Steamflogger Boss ...
Ornery Dockhand 2R
Creature--Human Rigger [u]
R,t: Destroy target Assembled Contraption.
"I've had it with the boss. He doesn't make any sense and he's never going to make sense!"
2/2
Crime Spree 2BB
Sorcery [r]
Sacrifice all noncreature, nonland permanents you control. If you do, gain control of all noncreature, nonland permanents.
"I will take everything Captain Majar has ever cared for, even if I have to give up everything to do it."
--Gamlann Frisilas, Captain of the Torn Sail
Creature--Leviathan Dinosaur [r]
~ can't attack unless defending player controls 5 or more Islands.
At the end of combat, exile all creatures that blocked or were blocked by ~.
10/10
Creature--Viashino(?) Shaman [c]
Sacrifice a creature: ~ gets flying until end of turn.
"You northerners want to know secret of flight? Give me your fattest, most yummy baby."
4/4
I would say that, yes. If anything more chaotic since before we at least had a Pirate theme. That's just one man's opinion though.
--
This is pretty much where I am too.
Also, Lorwyn was awesome because it was unified by folklore of the British Isles. Which is awesome, but more importantly, unified.
This is inaccurate--and silly. Aegis was very, very top-down. We even voted on character backgrounds that we would later make cards for. The first set (Aegis) was made with careful attention to setting and mechanical identity. Voting on random cards and putting a set together afterward hoping that it will look like anything but a collection of random cards is not (at least in my opinion) work out for us.
--
If you say "take shape" enough times, I might believe that it's actually happening ...
--
The first mechanic was selected in round 4.
And the setting was fleshed out in round 8 (with waaay more than 3 paragraphs it seems, that must have been wishful remembering).
We don't have to follow suit by any means (although I've been arguing that we should, and will continue to do so), but it might be helpful to see how the last people did it.
--
This is incorrect, historically. Way, way back in the first incarnation of WMtS one of the first contests was to submit a one sentence idea for a setting (such as, Greek myth or crazy plane that is being dreamed by an insane and powerful planewalker). Then when we had a winner the next round had us write up a 1-3 paragraph (IIRC) setting concept where we detailed whichever concept won (complete with tribal/color breakdowns, a few possible legends, and the central conflict). (I remember that round clearly because my write up lost by a single vote, damn democracy!) After we had a good idea of the setting we either voted on the mechanical push or specific mechanics (I sort of forget which came first) based around our setting idea.
WMtS1 certainly had some problems/limitations, but I think this is a way better model as I'm STILL scratching my head trying to make sense of this patchwork world.
--
That's fair. I just think it's better than something like the version of plunder that was floating around (something along the lines of "if you control X perms that you don't OWN, something).
--