It's just a random idea. Kamigawa is set in a Japanese mythos, and has tons of tradition to draw on. "Primeval" would be rather more challenging to design for, given our relative lack of knowledge about the actual practices and even the mythology of, say, Neolithic southern European culture. But, though MaRo may sing the praises of constraints in design, this freedom might be an opportunity.
Red and green could be almost too easy to design for in this set, and it would be tempting to fall into old stereotypes: "Krug, Cave Bear Clan Chieftain." Black is more interesting, but it is white and blue that are the real challenges, so let's start there.
But now that I think about it, white isn't really that challenging at all. It is, after all, the magic of the plains, and there were tons of Stone Agers who lived on the plains, right? They could be nomads - and, since we could hardly use Knight or Soldier very often, Nomad would be a good iconic creature type for the set.
Furthermore, the image of a bunch of spear-wielding hunters teaming up and cooperating to hunt and kill some huge animal fits with the white philosophy of weenies and teamwork. We might go so far as to resurrect banding, or make a mechanic similar in flavor but a little less unwieldy.
A few white cards:
Rosnec-Tribe Hunter :symw::symw:
Creature - Human Nomad (C)
First strike; Teamwork (Whenever ~ would be dealt damage, you may instead divide that damage as you choose between any number of creatures you control with teamwork.)
2/1
Matriarch Denya Rosnec :1mana::symw::symw::symw:
Legendary Creature - Human Nomad (R)
Teamwork (Whenever ~ would be dealt damage, you may instead divide that damage as you choose between any number of creatures you control with teamwork.)
If a source would deal damage to a Nomad you control, it deals that much damage minus 1 to that Nomad instead.
2/4
...and some critters. If I cared to take a page out of Kamigawa's book, I might set up a sort of man vs. nature theme:
Maneater Lion :3mana::symw:
Creature - Cat (U)
Protection from Humans "I have led three hunts to kill the beast, and still it lives. The lion is a curse, Matriarch: we must move on." - Grimla Rosnec, master hunter
3/3
Or not:
Ulli, Rosnec-Tribe Wolf :1mana::symw:
Legendary Creature - Hound Wolf (U)
Teamwork
As long as you control a Human, ~ gets +1/+1. Who can say why they first tossed it a scrap of meat? Who can say why it first crept into the firelight? Who can say where this partnership will lead?
1/2
Note how I'm trying to avoid monosyllabic grunting sounds for names. So far, they sound vaguely Slavic, which may or may not be the subconscious influence of the Ravnica set.
Blue, now, blue is very interesting to contemplate. In a pre-literate setting, it can't exactly be very bookish, but nothing says it can't still be subtle and cunning. Perhaps a tribe of tricksy fisher-folk? Rogues are the order of the day; Primeval may yet be the only Magic set without Wizards.
Erkling Net-Thief :1mana::symu:
Creature - Human Rogue (C)
:1mana:, Sacrifice ~: The next time target player would draw a card this turn, you draw a card instead. That the Erklings steal from each other just as readily as strangers gives the strangers little comfort.
1/1
Chief Sorgan Erkla :3mana::symu::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (C)
Whenever you draw a card, target opponent puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard. "I can say many rude things about Sorgan, but not that he does not set an example for his people." - Matriarch Denya Rosnec
2/2
Erkling Snare
Instant (C)
Return target attacking creature to its owner's hand.
At the end of each turn, if you were dealt combat damage by at least three creatures this turn, return ~ from your graveyard to your hand.
And lastly, because nothing Stone Age is complete without a sabertoothed tiger:
Grizzled Sabertooth :2mana::symg::symg:
Creature - Cat (U)
Whenever ~ blocks or becomes blocked by a creature with greater power, ~ gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Surprisingly, humans have little to fear from the sabertooth - it's too busy killing elephants to bother with them.
3/3
What do you think? Fascinating? Dull? Genius? Madness?
Hey Blinky! Long time no see!
I hope you'll jam with us in the card creation forum(s) again. I know what you mean about D&D though. It's a lot of fun coming up with roleplaying material (a lot harder, too!). I'm still moderating the NCSI forum at 'news, but I hang out at the one here as well. So... take your pick.
It's good to be remembered.
Now, the important question is, should I keep my new sig or return to the old:
Gullible? Click HERE!
The above link can be cantankerous; if it doesn't work, just PM me and I'll see what I can do.
Way back in the halcyon days of a DG-administrated mtgnews.com, I used to frequent the Card Creation forum. I just love creating my own stuff for the games I play, you see; as I'm a strategy game nut, this usually amounted to an extra race or two for Warcraft, Starcraft, Deadlock, etc. This, however, requires a fair bit of dedication and concentrated effort, and if there's one thing I like doing more than creating, it's slacking off. But Magic... Magic let me dash off ideas a card at a time, where they accumulated in a huge text file on my old laptop. Suffice it to say that that file held easily a thousand cards before I stopped using it (not that all of them were any good), and I did finally scrape up the effort to put together a halfway decent (if I do say so myself) set.
Then I met Dungeons and Dragons. That game is crack cocaine to someone with my interests and aforementioned creative desire, and for a long time I largely withdrew from Magic to concentrate on it, still buying the occasional booster, tinkering with my trusty old white weenie deck, or playing for a few hours with my friends when we were feeling a bit nostalgic. (If you care, I'm Ancient Wyrm over on the WotC D&D boards.) My primary claim to still being a "Magic player" was (and still is) reading mtg.com columns avidly... and, thrice a year, heading over to mtgnews.com to lurk on the Rumor Mill for a month or so. Brought a new meaning to my screen name.
So what do I see when I roll into the Rumor Mill this time around? Dissention! Chaos! My favorite mod ever gone! So I came here, and... well, I guess we'll see.
In other news, I've recently dusted off twanvl's set editor program and started to do again what I used to all those years ago: jot down random cards I think up. So maybe this is a new beginning for Blinking Spirit, a full-circle sort of affair. (Do they have a Card Creation forum here? I didn't even notice on my way in.) Or maybe my routine will stay pretty much as it has been; as I type this, I am surrounded by D&D books, and the pile of commons that for the longest time dominated the table behind me is gone, packed into a box somewhere.
Summary (for those who don't want to read the whole thing [and I don't blame you {nest those parentheticals!}]): I'm a longtime lurker on the old boards, and I like to make up cards.
PS: To any mods - Is my avatar blinking too fast? If so, is there any way I can slow it down?
Red and green could be almost too easy to design for in this set, and it would be tempting to fall into old stereotypes: "Krug, Cave Bear Clan Chieftain." Black is more interesting, but it is white and blue that are the real challenges, so let's start there.
But now that I think about it, white isn't really that challenging at all. It is, after all, the magic of the plains, and there were tons of Stone Agers who lived on the plains, right? They could be nomads - and, since we could hardly use Knight or Soldier very often, Nomad would be a good iconic creature type for the set.
Furthermore, the image of a bunch of spear-wielding hunters teaming up and cooperating to hunt and kill some huge animal fits with the white philosophy of weenies and teamwork. We might go so far as to resurrect banding, or make a mechanic similar in flavor but a little less unwieldy.
A few white cards:
Rosnec-Tribe Hunter :symw::symw:
Creature - Human Nomad (C)
First strike; Teamwork (Whenever ~ would be dealt damage, you may instead divide that damage as you choose between any number of creatures you control with teamwork.)
2/1
Matriarch Denya Rosnec :1mana::symw::symw::symw:
Legendary Creature - Human Nomad (R)
Teamwork (Whenever ~ would be dealt damage, you may instead divide that damage as you choose between any number of creatures you control with teamwork.)
If a source would deal damage to a Nomad you control, it deals that much damage minus 1 to that Nomad instead.
2/4
...and some critters. If I cared to take a page out of Kamigawa's book, I might set up a sort of man vs. nature theme:
Maneater Lion :3mana::symw:
Creature - Cat (U)
Protection from Humans
"I have led three hunts to kill the beast, and still it lives. The lion is a curse, Matriarch: we must move on."
- Grimla Rosnec, master hunter
3/3
Or not:
Ulli, Rosnec-Tribe Wolf :1mana::symw:
Legendary Creature - Hound Wolf (U)
Teamwork
As long as you control a Human, ~ gets +1/+1.
Who can say why they first tossed it a scrap of meat? Who can say why it first crept into the firelight? Who can say where this partnership will lead?
1/2
Note how I'm trying to avoid monosyllabic grunting sounds for names. So far, they sound vaguely Slavic, which may or may not be the subconscious influence of the Ravnica set.
Blue, now, blue is very interesting to contemplate. In a pre-literate setting, it can't exactly be very bookish, but nothing says it can't still be subtle and cunning. Perhaps a tribe of tricksy fisher-folk? Rogues are the order of the day; Primeval may yet be the only Magic set without Wizards.
Erkling Net-Thief :1mana::symu:
Creature - Human Rogue (C)
:1mana:, Sacrifice ~: The next time target player would draw a card this turn, you draw a card instead.
That the Erklings steal from each other just as readily as strangers gives the strangers little comfort.
1/1
Chief Sorgan Erkla :3mana::symu::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (C)
Whenever you draw a card, target opponent puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
"I can say many rude things about Sorgan, but not that he does not set an example for his people."
- Matriarch Denya Rosnec
2/2
Erkling Snare
Instant (C)
Return target attacking creature to its owner's hand.
At the end of each turn, if you were dealt combat damage by at least three creatures this turn, return ~ from your graveyard to your hand.
And lastly, because nothing Stone Age is complete without a sabertoothed tiger:
Grizzled Sabertooth :2mana::symg::symg:
Creature - Cat (U)
Whenever ~ blocks or becomes blocked by a creature with greater power, ~ gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Surprisingly, humans have little to fear from the sabertooth - it's too busy killing elephants to bother with them.
3/3
What do you think? Fascinating? Dull? Genius? Madness?
Now, the important question is, should I keep my new sig or return to the old:
Gullible? Click HERE!
The above link can be cantankerous; if it doesn't work, just PM me and I'll see what I can do.
?
Way back in the halcyon days of a DG-administrated mtgnews.com, I used to frequent the Card Creation forum. I just love creating my own stuff for the games I play, you see; as I'm a strategy game nut, this usually amounted to an extra race or two for Warcraft, Starcraft, Deadlock, etc. This, however, requires a fair bit of dedication and concentrated effort, and if there's one thing I like doing more than creating, it's slacking off. But Magic... Magic let me dash off ideas a card at a time, where they accumulated in a huge text file on my old laptop. Suffice it to say that that file held easily a thousand cards before I stopped using it (not that all of them were any good), and I did finally scrape up the effort to put together a halfway decent (if I do say so myself) set.
Then I met Dungeons and Dragons. That game is crack cocaine to someone with my interests and aforementioned creative desire, and for a long time I largely withdrew from Magic to concentrate on it, still buying the occasional booster, tinkering with my trusty old white weenie deck, or playing for a few hours with my friends when we were feeling a bit nostalgic. (If you care, I'm Ancient Wyrm over on the WotC D&D boards.) My primary claim to still being a "Magic player" was (and still is) reading mtg.com columns avidly... and, thrice a year, heading over to mtgnews.com to lurk on the Rumor Mill for a month or so. Brought a new meaning to my screen name.
So what do I see when I roll into the Rumor Mill this time around? Dissention! Chaos! My favorite mod ever gone! So I came here, and... well, I guess we'll see.
In other news, I've recently dusted off twanvl's set editor program and started to do again what I used to all those years ago: jot down random cards I think up. So maybe this is a new beginning for Blinking Spirit, a full-circle sort of affair. (Do they have a Card Creation forum here? I didn't even notice on my way in.) Or maybe my routine will stay pretty much as it has been; as I type this, I am surrounded by D&D books, and the pile of commons that for the longest time dominated the table behind me is gone, packed into a box somewhere.
Summary (for those who don't want to read the whole thing [and I don't blame you {nest those parentheticals!}]): I'm a longtime lurker on the old boards, and I like to make up cards.
PS: To any mods - Is my avatar blinking too fast? If so, is there any way I can slow it down?