As a CCF native, I'm not actually sure where else to go with this thought. I figured I would come here as it is the most comfortable place for me to ask my question and possibly it is the correct place. If this is not the correct place, I apologize and hope it can be moved.
I'm currently working on a idea involving a set of 'preconstructed' decks. I would like to research the philosophy regarding the construction of decks like this but I'm uncertain where to start. Is there any information that I can be pointed to that would assist me?
SoulOfHonor and I decided to pit ourselves against each other with particular restrictions. We'd like you, the rest of the Custom Card Community to vote on which designs you like better. Each week we will make another VS thread. We will allow about one week for the cards to be judged, during which we'd love to see suggestions in replies here for what we should do next week! Feedback on existing cards is also encouraged.
Here were our rules for this round: Each of us chose a tribe and set of colors. Using those tribes and colors we had to design nine cards. Two mono-colored common creatures, one multi-colored uncommon creature, one multi-colored mythic legendary creature, one multi-colored mythic planeswalker, one uncommon tribal sorcery, one uncommon tribal instant, one artifact, and one land.
The Tribes and Colors: SoulOfHonor chose WB Samurai and I chose GW Cats.
Cackling CourtierB
Creature — Human Samurai {C} B, T: Tap target creature.
Sacrifice a creature named Yojimbo Retainer: Regenerate Cackling Courtier. (The next time this creature would be
destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead tap it, remove all damage from it, and remove it from combat.)
0/1
Yojimbo Retainer1W
Creature — Human Samurai {C}
Bushido 2
1/2
Tenzen's Champion3BW
Creature — Human Samurai {U}
Bushido 3 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn.)
At the end of combat, destroy any creatures blocking or blocked by Tenzen’s Champion that have less bushido than it.
3/3
Soul of Honor2WB
Legendary Creature — Human Samurai {MR}
Sacrifice a Samurai: Place an honor counter on this permanent.
Remove an honor counter from Soul of Honor: Destroy all other creatures without bushido.
4/4
Shosuro Tenzen2WB
Planeswalker - Tenzen {MR}
+1 - For each Samurai you control, put a loyalty counter on Shosuro Tenzen.-
-2 Destroy target non-Samurai permanent.
-10 - Target opponent discards their hand. Creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn where X is the number
of cards discarded this way.
[3] loyalty
Failure of Honor1BB
Tribal Sorcery - Samurai {U}
Choose a Samurai you control. Creatures target opponent controls get -1/-1 until end of turn for each point of bushido the chosen creature has.
Honorable Sacrifice2W
Tribal Instant - Samurai {U}
Sacrifice a Samurai you control. Other Samurai creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn for each point of bushido the sacrificed creature had.
Ancestral Daisho3
Tribal Artifact - Samurai {C}
Equipped creature gets +2/+2. If equipped creature is a Samurai, it gets +3/+3 instead.
Equip 2
Training Dojo
Land {R} T: Add 1 to your mana pool. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Samurai spells.
Jarti Kirah2GW
Planeswalker - Jarti {M}
+1 - Search your library for a Forest or Plains card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
0 - Jarti Kirah's loyalty becomes 3. Creatures you control get +1/+1 until the end of turn for each loyalty gained or lost this way.
-6 - Put a 1/1 white and green Cat Soldier creature token onto the battlefield for each land you control.
[3] loyalty
Ratasha, Leonin Quickblade1GW
Legendary Creature - Cat Warrior {M}
Pounce (You may have this creature deal its combat damage as though it were not blocked.)
Whenever Ratasha, Leonin Quickblade dies, if it was dealt damage by another creature this turn, it deals 3 damage to that creature.
3/1
Savannah Training Grounds
Land {R} t: Add G or W to your mana pool. 2GW,t: Cat creatures you control gain Pounce until the end of turn.
Young Pridehunter1W
Creature - Cat Warrior {C}
Whenever Young Pridehunter blocks or becomes blocked, it deals damage equal to its power to each of those creatures.
1/1
Concealed Pridehunter2G
Creature - Cat Archer
Pounce (You may have this creature deal its combat damage as though it were not blocked.)
2/2
Kirah-Family Guard2GW
Creature - Cat Soldier {U}
Whenever a Cat creature you control is dealt damage, you may have that damage be dealt to Kirah-Family Guard instead.
2/4
Roar of the Pride3GG
Tribal Sorcery - Cat {U}
Creatures you control get +X/+X until the end of turn where X is the number of Cat creatures you control.
Savannah DefenceWW
Tribal Instant - Cat {U}
Cast Savvanah Defence only during combat after blockers are declared.
Put a 2/2 white Cat Soldier creature token onto the battlefield blocking target creature attacking you.
Cat's Paw2
Tribal Artifact - Cat Equipment {C}
Equipped creature gets +2/+0. If equipped creature is a Cat, it gains Pounce.
Equip 2
Updated with changes made since my last update! I've been playing less and less Magic with my normal playgroup, but have found another playgroup recently that might be interested in playing Commander.
The deck is listing back towards Doran synergies now, which I've found make the deck a lot more fun to pilot, sorta bringing me back to the original nature of the deck in the first place.
I cut one of my favorite cards (Fertilid) in favor of some other, more powerful effects, especially for the late game. Fertilid ends up being a 2/2 for 3 that can shrink to shuffle my library in the late game, which isn't that appealing.
Everyone's advice has been taken into account, and I had actually acquired a few of the cards mentioned (Maelstrom Pulse, specifically) but ended up trading most of them away almost as soon as they were gathered in favor of helping out one of my newer decks.
Hey guys. Been on hiatus, again. It happens frequently. Sorry! I had a few ideas while I was away and thought I'd throw them this way to see what anyone thought.
Miracle Worker2WW
Creature - Human Wizard Cleric
Whenever you would draw a card, if it's the first card you drew this turn, you may reveal it. If you do, you may cast it for the cost of all colored symbols in its mana cost.
1/4
This one probably needs some wording help, but the idea is to allow one to miracle non-miracle spells. If a card cost 3RR you could cast it for RR instead. I'm not sure how this would interact with all-colorless costs, but I believe it would make them free, provided that they can be cast during your draw step, and that might be a bit too good.
Gaze of the Gorgon1G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant non-artifact creature
Enchanted creature becomes a non-creature artifact and loses all abilities. Gaze of the Gorgon loses "Enchant non-artifact creature" and gains "Enchant non-creature artifact".
I'm not sure about the timing of this one. I think that it might fall off before all of the ability can resolve? I was talking this one through the other day and I thought to myself "Paste text of 'Animate Dead'." and then thought "Wait, that's not what I should be aiming for." so I tried to simplify it. I was trying to capture the flavor of a gorgon's stone gaze, but I believe there might be a more elegant way to accomplish this.
Icy Vortex1(U/R)(U/R)
Snow Instant
Icy Vortex deals 1 damage to each creature with flying. Creatures with flying can't attack or block this turn.
Forecast - S(U/R), Reveal Icy Vortex from your hand: Target creature with flying can't attack or block this turn.
What kind of thread would this be if I didn't post crazy snow-mechanic shenanigans?!
Firemelted Scree
Land (R) T, Sacrifice Firemelted Scree: Add R or W to your mana pool.
Gather (W/R)(Put a token that is a copy of Firemelted Scree onto the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery.)
Opposed to and synergic with the GW Populate.
IIW: An artifact to rule them all
ohgodinfinitelandfall
Assault - Whenever ~ attacks, {Efect}.
Sunfury Commander1(W/R)(W/R)
Creature - Human Soldier [Rare]
Watermark - Boros Assault - Whenever Sunfury Commander attacks, creatures you control gain First Strike until the end of turn.
2/2
ClockworkUURRGG
Instant
Until the end of turn, whenever you play a nonland permanent, put a token onto the battlefield that is a copy of that permanent and whenever you cast a spell, copy it. It's like time travel except not as cool.
The requirement of a vote does not need to be binary as you seem to assume incorrectly. It is very easy to have an abstain option, however forced to vote would be true democracy. Everyone is presented the option and made abundantly aware of the poll, rather than having it secluded in a subforum or not announced. What you're describing is intended to limit the exposure of the vote, please do not perpetrate intellectual dishonesty any further.
I'm not saying that the vote should be hidden or sequestered away to a suboforum and I never suggested that. I suggested that users not be required to vote in order to use the site. Quit putting words in my mouth.
The binary of "Kick or keep" was never refuted in any of the posts agreeing with the vote until after I made my point about forcing users to vote. Pardon me for taking the information available and representing it in a realistic scenario.
So what you're saying is that a democratic process needs to be limited to a certain group, eliminating certain groups of users from voting because you feel they are uneducated? You do realize nearly every democratic process in existence does not assume or require a fully educated user base? Even amongst professors who are voting for the new head/chair of our department aren't fully aware of the political side nor do we care to be.
This seems like more of a reason to deny democracy rather than encourage it. Additionally, this is a slippery slope towards a vote that is tainted with prejudice.
On the contrary. In a true democratic process, no one is /forced/ to vote. What was proposed is a method to force all users to vote without any way to bypass it.
There's likely already a module that allows this. However, if there is one that does not exist I would be more than willing to code a module to generate a static popup window requiring users to vote before being able to access the forums while logged in. Obviously, you would not want to force users not logged in to vote. I am willing and able to code this at zero cost with zero expectation of any form of repayment. I also have no issue having other programmers review my code for possible exploits and/or backdoors.
This is a bad idea. There are too many uninformed users who will just make a rash judgement based on which option is closer to their mouse so they can just get to browsing MTGS already. There are plenty of users who probably don't care and have no idea about the workings of the site besides "This is a neat forum I use for Magic stuff" and that will cause issues with the vote.
Like if I asked you to choose between a Granny Smith apple and a Red Delicious apple when you haven't even tasted either and didn't give you the option to try it before you had to choose.
I'm currently working on a idea involving a set of 'preconstructed' decks. I would like to research the philosophy regarding the construction of decks like this but I'm uncertain where to start. Is there any information that I can be pointed to that would assist me?
Well, that's what I get for not copy-pasting my card and deciding to type it up instead. The original card has ETBT on it. That's a pretty big 'Oops'.
Here were our rules for this round: Each of us chose a tribe and set of colors. Using those tribes and colors we had to design nine cards. Two mono-colored common creatures, one multi-colored uncommon creature, one multi-colored mythic legendary creature, one multi-colored mythic planeswalker, one uncommon tribal sorcery, one uncommon tribal instant, one artifact, and one land.
The Tribes and Colors: SoulOfHonor chose WB Samurai and I chose GW Cats.
Cackling Courtier B
Creature — Human Samurai {C}
B, T: Tap target creature.
Sacrifice a creature named Yojimbo Retainer: Regenerate Cackling Courtier. (The next time this creature would be
destroyed this turn, it isn’t. Instead tap it, remove all damage from it, and remove it from combat.)
0/1
Yojimbo Retainer 1W
Creature — Human Samurai {C}
Bushido 2
1/2
Tenzen's Champion 3BW
Creature — Human Samurai {U}
Bushido 3 (When this blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn.)
At the end of combat, destroy any creatures blocking or blocked by Tenzen’s Champion that have less bushido than it.
3/3
Soul of Honor 2WB
Legendary Creature — Human Samurai {MR}
Sacrifice a Samurai: Place an honor counter on this permanent.
Remove an honor counter from Soul of Honor: Destroy all other creatures without bushido.
4/4
Shosuro Tenzen 2WB
Planeswalker - Tenzen {MR}
+1 - For each Samurai you control, put a loyalty counter on Shosuro Tenzen.-
-2 Destroy target non-Samurai permanent.
-10 - Target opponent discards their hand. Creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn where X is the number
of cards discarded this way.
[3] loyalty
Failure of Honor 1BB
Tribal Sorcery - Samurai {U}
Choose a Samurai you control. Creatures target opponent controls get -1/-1 until end of turn for each point of bushido the chosen creature has.
Honorable Sacrifice 2W
Tribal Instant - Samurai {U}
Sacrifice a Samurai you control. Other Samurai creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn for each point of bushido the sacrificed creature had.
Ancestral Daisho 3
Tribal Artifact - Samurai {C}
Equipped creature gets +2/+2. If equipped creature is a Samurai, it gets +3/+3 instead.
Equip 2
Training Dojo
Land {R}
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Samurai spells.
Jarti Kirah 2GW
Planeswalker - Jarti {M}
+1 - Search your library for a Forest or Plains card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
0 - Jarti Kirah's loyalty becomes 3. Creatures you control get +1/+1 until the end of turn for each loyalty gained or lost this way.
-6 - Put a 1/1 white and green Cat Soldier creature token onto the battlefield for each land you control.
[3] loyalty
Ratasha, Leonin Quickblade 1GW
Legendary Creature - Cat Warrior {M}
Pounce (You may have this creature deal its combat damage as though it were not blocked.)
Whenever Ratasha, Leonin Quickblade dies, if it was dealt damage by another creature this turn, it deals 3 damage to that creature.
3/1
Savannah Training Grounds
Land {R}
t: Add G or W to your mana pool.
2GW,t: Cat creatures you control gain Pounce until the end of turn.
Young Pridehunter 1W
Creature - Cat Warrior {C}
Whenever Young Pridehunter blocks or becomes blocked, it deals damage equal to its power to each of those creatures.
1/1
Concealed Pridehunter 2G
Creature - Cat Archer
Pounce (You may have this creature deal its combat damage as though it were not blocked.)
2/2
Kirah-Family Guard 2GW
Creature - Cat Soldier {U}
Whenever a Cat creature you control is dealt damage, you may have that damage be dealt to Kirah-Family Guard instead.
2/4
Roar of the Pride 3GG
Tribal Sorcery - Cat {U}
Creatures you control get +X/+X until the end of turn where X is the number of Cat creatures you control.
Savannah Defence WW
Tribal Instant - Cat {U}
Cast Savvanah Defence only during combat after blockers are declared.
Put a 2/2 white Cat Soldier creature token onto the battlefield blocking target creature attacking you.
Cat's Paw 2
Tribal Artifact - Cat Equipment {C}
Equipped creature gets +2/+0. If equipped creature is a Cat, it gains Pounce.
Equip 2
The deck is listing back towards Doran synergies now, which I've found make the deck a lot more fun to pilot, sorta bringing me back to the original nature of the deck in the first place.
I cut one of my favorite cards (Fertilid) in favor of some other, more powerful effects, especially for the late game. Fertilid ends up being a 2/2 for 3 that can shrink to shuffle my library in the late game, which isn't that appealing.
Everyone's advice has been taken into account, and I had actually acquired a few of the cards mentioned (Maelstrom Pulse, specifically) but ended up trading most of them away almost as soon as they were gathered in favor of helping out one of my newer decks.
Miracle Worker 2WW
Creature - Human Wizard Cleric
Whenever you would draw a card, if it's the first card you drew this turn, you may reveal it. If you do, you may cast it for the cost of all colored symbols in its mana cost.
1/4
This one probably needs some wording help, but the idea is to allow one to miracle non-miracle spells. If a card cost 3RR you could cast it for RR instead. I'm not sure how this would interact with all-colorless costs, but I believe it would make them free, provided that they can be cast during your draw step, and that might be a bit too good.
Gaze of the Gorgon 1G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant non-artifact creature
Enchanted creature becomes a non-creature artifact and loses all abilities. Gaze of the Gorgon loses "Enchant non-artifact creature" and gains "Enchant non-creature artifact".
I'm not sure about the timing of this one. I think that it might fall off before all of the ability can resolve? I was talking this one through the other day and I thought to myself "Paste text of 'Animate Dead'." and then thought "Wait, that's not what I should be aiming for." so I tried to simplify it. I was trying to capture the flavor of a gorgon's stone gaze, but I believe there might be a more elegant way to accomplish this.
Icy Vortex 1(U/R)(U/R)
Snow Instant
Icy Vortex deals 1 damage to each creature with flying. Creatures with flying can't attack or block this turn.
Forecast - S(U/R), Reveal Icy Vortex from your hand: Target creature with flying can't attack or block this turn.
What kind of thread would this be if I didn't post crazy snow-mechanic shenanigans?!
ohgodinfinitelandfall
Assault - Whenever ~ attacks, {Efect}.
Sunfury Commander 1(W/R)(W/R)
Creature - Human Soldier [Rare]
Watermark - Boros
Assault - Whenever Sunfury Commander attacks, creatures you control gain First Strike until the end of turn.
2/2
IIW: Everybody's lookin' for somethin'.
You can't print this type line. That type line alone says this card would be horrendously overpowered.
Sorry. I thought that was the point of this one.
Instant
Until the end of turn, whenever you play a nonland permanent, put a token onto the battlefield that is a copy of that permanent and whenever you cast a spell, copy it.
It's like time travel except not as cool.
IIW: Very Bad Fanfiction.
I'm not saying that the vote should be hidden or sequestered away to a suboforum and I never suggested that. I suggested that users not be required to vote in order to use the site. Quit putting words in my mouth.
In the post that started the voting idea:
The binary of "Kick or keep" was never refuted in any of the posts agreeing with the vote until after I made my point about forcing users to vote. Pardon me for taking the information available and representing it in a realistic scenario.
On the contrary. In a true democratic process, no one is /forced/ to vote. What was proposed is a method to force all users to vote without any way to bypass it.
This is a bad idea. There are too many uninformed users who will just make a rash judgement based on which option is closer to their mouse so they can just get to browsing MTGS already. There are plenty of users who probably don't care and have no idea about the workings of the site besides "This is a neat forum I use for Magic stuff" and that will cause issues with the vote.
Like if I asked you to choose between a Granny Smith apple and a Red Delicious apple when you haven't even tasted either and didn't give you the option to try it before you had to choose.