Some twists on scars block mechanics, the first a living weapon for auras and the other a proliferate for creature tokens.
This first one I'm not too sure on the rulings, but my intentions are to have the Aura be able to be cast without choosing and/or having a target. Then, when the game checks for legal targets, the spell is countered and then ETBs attached to the Dream token. It also has a built in 'can't be countered' which might make it too good :\.
Manifest (When this is countered, put a 0/0 blue Dream creature token onto the battlefield and attach this to it. You may cast this without a legal target.)
Sphinx's Wings2UU
Enchantment - Aura (M)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +4/+4, has flying and shroud, and is a Sphinx in addition to its other types.
Manifest (When this is countered, put a 0/0 blue Dream creature token onto the battlefield and attach this to it. You may cast this without a legal target.)
Propagate (Choose a token creature you control, then put a token thats a copy of that creature onto the battlefield.)
Fungal Burst1G
Instant (C)
Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield, then propogate. (Choose a token creature you control, then put a token thats a copy of that creature onto the battlefield.)
Sporoloth Mystic2BGW
Legendary Creature - Fungus (M)
If an effect would put one or more creature tokens onto the battlefield under your control, it puts that many of those tokens plus 1 onto the battlefield instead.
:4mana:: Propagate. (Choose a token creature you control, then put a token thats a copy of that creature onto the battlefield.)
[3/3]
I like the idea of a white or green antagonist since the block is Enchantments matter and they have an affinity with handling them. Some other idea's I've been tossing around for the other sets are:
Set 2: The inhabitants 'wake up' to the fact that they are themselves figments of someone's imagination. They begin to experience an existential crisis.
Set 3: A Vedalken's spark ignites under the stress caused by set 2 and he "steals" the dream itself from the original Planeswalker and puts the entire plane into his own mind and escapes out into the multiverse to try and bring his people to the real world. Sets up a plot line where the original Planeswalker then leaves his plane to scour the multiverse for his dream.
Another idea I had was that
Set 2: The inhabitant's dreams begin to intermingle with increasing intensity. White's dream clashes with the reality that is being created by Black's dream and so on. Every other day the world shifts into a different dream. This would be represented by World Enchantments with the subtype Dream. They would typically just have a powerful ETB and LTB effects.
Set 3: The Dream Fractures under the stress of the five different dreams that were beginning to coalesce in the Mindscape and five new planes are spewed out into the multiverse. Kind of anti-alara. Each of these 5 worlds would be monocolored and the fulfillment of each color's "dream".
I really like the set concept so far. Will you balance the Fungus type with existing mechanics for Fungus, or will you scrap the spore counter mechanic and focus on making this set of Fungi unique? I hope the latter, but it would be nice to give the Saproling enthusiasts a couple nice EDH cards. =)
The red tribe reminds me of the Skeksis from Dark Crystal, in a good way.
How will you incorporate tribal mechanics into this set? Assuredly it will be creature heavy, with an emphasis on actually playing Auras. But will there be ways to win without relying on creatures? Will there be incentive to play an all-Enchantment deck?
Just some thoughts I had after reading your introduction. Looking forward to seeing more.
Thanks for the comments! ^.^ And yep, the black tribe was exactly inspired to be Kathari by the Skeksis from Dark Crystal. That genre of 80's fantasy movie such as Neverending Story and Legend are going to be big contributors to the flavor of this world.
In response to the tribal mechanics, I don't know if there will be that heavy of an emphasis on that. A very minor sub thing if anything, sort of how in Zendikar the Kor had Equipment, Vampires had <10 life but nothing more than that. As far as all enchantment decks, I would like to try and realize that within the set since playing an all Artifact deck is something people like to try and do during artifact heavy blocks, thought I'll have to see what kind of cycles and ideas get thrown around first.
That said, I think that Lucid, Manifest, Aura swap and Enigmatic should all appear in the first set, with Vanishing and Enchantment shift coming in the second set and finally highlighting the mystery new card type for the third block. Although, all that is subject to change based on what the set wants given the story mode. Any ideas for set progression?
Here's what I've thought of so far:
Set 1 Introduce the Plane and its inhabitants. Shows the inner sanctum of the Planeswalker's mind and how the people there interact with their interactive world.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I would love some card ideas once the world setting and mechanics are established and the skeleton is up. So, here are some revisions on the first four block mechanics based on where the flavor wants to go and to encompass enchantments as whole rather than just Auras.
Lucid works as is and will be a fun mechanic to design around!
Manifest (When this enters the battlefield, you may put a 0/0 colorless Dream creature token onto the battlefield. Attach this to a creature you control.)
This wording of manifest was perfected and put forth by Viridiancircle.
Enchantment shift (When this is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may search your library for an Enchantment card that costs less and put it onto the battlefield. If you do, shuffle your library.)
Shift is a mechanic that is supposed to flavorfully represent the fluid nature of the dream realm and the ever shifting collective realm that the inhabitants of "Bibbidi" are creating.
And to further press the shifting and fluid dream realm, a riff off of a creature from Alara block, Enigma Sphinx.
Enigmatic (When this is put into a graveyard from any zone other than a player’s library, its owner may put it into his or her library third from the top.)
An improvement on the Remind mechanic from earlier. Allows you to resolve any kind of card and get it back later so long as it wasn't milled or dredged from your library.
Also I was considering too to bring back Aura swap <cost> and Vanishing <number> as the entire six mechanics that would span across the block with a special new type of card that will be the main attraction for the third set!
The world of Aurora is a plane of a never ending expanse of forest.. and ENCHANTED FOREST. The inhabitants of Aurora live peacefully in the serene groves and canopies of the enchanted forest that is their home. Aurora is unique in that the seasons here change much more rapidly than normal and are even able to be directly manipulated by some of the planes greater Auramancers. This phenomenon attracts the attention of various Planeswalkers who wish to harness the raw essence of the seasons. A Planeswalker adept in the art of Snow magic, Himesh has recently caught wind of Aurora and is on his way to the plane now. What his intentions are are unknown.
When we first enter Aurora, we find a land covered in tall trees that rival the size of mountains, where the Elves build intricate cities into the trunks and treetops. Dwarfs inhabit the forest floors and the underground, mining precious deposits of mana. In the very high canopies, the nocturnal Awl (Owl Aven) hide themselves in secrecy, carefully studying the nature of the seasons. The humble Kitsune tend and care for the forests lesser creatures and the dark Trolls live in the darkest parts of the forest performing voodoo and curse magic.
The opening set, AURORA takes place in the season of summer, introducing the "Seasonal" mechanic, which will buff a player's cards if those cards are aligned with that season.
Here are the mechanics for AURORA:
Seasonal -- As long as you're aligned with [season] then [effect].
Bloom (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to add that much that doesn't empty as steps and phases end this turn to your mana pool.)
Manifest :2mana::symgr: (:2mana::symgr:: Put this Aura card from your hand onto the battlefield. You may put a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token onto the battlefield and attach this to it.)
Cycling (:2mana:: Discard this card: Draw a card.)
how about something like, "Aura spells (you control) that target [this] have split second?"
That would be the most ideal mechanic for what kind of effect I was trying to get across, though impractical outside of a set using Split Second, since it isn't evergreen.
That said, I updated the OP with two new mechanics and a topic of discussion for the community as well: see Remind.
"This has hexproof as long as its being targeted by an enchantment."
is the same length as
"This can't be the target of Auras or Aura spells your opponent control."
you might also consider saying "Hexproof against Auras."
Lol, well that wasn't originally the intent. It was so that while you were casting an aura on your creature, an opponent couldn't respond with a Doom Blade ect.
^.^ It was just a innocent thought that I figured may help Aura's. But as pointed out above, the creature may as well just have hexproof itself =\ I suppose this would have been more compelling before Hexproof was keyworded. That said I wanted to brainstorm with the community to create a new "non-flavor" mechanic. By this I mean those mechanics that can easily be reused in future sets such as: KICKER, CYCLING, REBOUND, CLASH ect.
Remind (If this would be put into a graveyard from any zone other than a player’s library, instead reveal it and put it on the bottom of its owner’s library.)
Excluded the "from anywhere" so that way it wouldn't make mill completely useless. It would refresh some of the cards in your deck effectively allowing you to play more than 4 of in the deck. Perhaps its too powerful, but its all I could think of at the moment. Thoughts/Other ideas?
EDIT: Here's an actual Aura love mechanic, a bit clunky, but an admirable rough draft:
Endow :2mana::symgw: (:2mana::symgw:, Tap enchanted creature if its untapped: Attach this Aura to another target creature that it could enchant.)
In a way, kind of like Equip for Aura's, however, it allows for transfer and instant speed. So if the aura grants shroud, you could use it to counter a removal spell. Also, this would be able to help prevent some 2 for 1 action by swapping the aura over to a different creature, though its limited in that the enchanted creature need to tap to send its blessing to another creature. Nifty too in that if a card has an Auratouched Mage ability, you could tutor up a Pacifism with Endow, then put it on an opponent's creature as well.
Not a keyword, but something that could appear on a select number of G , W and possibly U creatures in any given set:
This has hexproof as long as its being targeted by an enchantment.
Would help prevent some no upside 2-for-1's. Not a particularly exciting mechanic, but useful none the less. I could see it being applicable to Beasts, Trolls, some Aven, and Druids.
Quote from foo_intherain »
EDIT: Here's an actual Aura love mechanic, a bit clunky, but an admirable rough draft:
Endow :2mana::symgw: (:2mana::symgw:, Tap enchanted creature if its untapped: Attach this Aura to another target creature that it could enchant.)
In a way, kind of like Equip for Aura's, however, it allows for transfer and instant speed. So if the aura grants shroud, you could use it to counter a removal spell. Also, this would be able to help prevent some 2 for 1 action by swapping the aura over to a different creature, though its limited in that the enchanted creature need to tap to send its blessing to another creature. Nifty too in that if a card has an Auratouched Mage ability, you could tutor up a Pacifism with Endow, then put it on an opponent's creature as well.
I wanted to brainstorm with the community to create a new "non-flavor" mechanic. By this I mean those mechanics that can easily be reused in future sets such as: KICKER, CYCLING, REBOUND, CLASH ect.
Remind (If this would be put into a graveyard from any zone other than a player’s library, instead reveal it and put it on the bottom of its owner’s library.)
Excluded the "from anywhere" so that way it wouldn't make mill completely useless. It would refresh some of the cards in your deck effectively allowing you to play more than 4 of in the deck. Perhaps its too powerful, but its all I could think of at the moment. Thoughts/Other ideas?
After reading some more on card design and getting more versed with how "World Building" should take place, I came across a quote by Mark Rosewater:
A common problem of less-experienced designers is that they allow too many different things to pull their focus. They make something they really like and squeeze it in even if it doesn't really fit in with what the rest of the set is doing. Remember, the right thing in the wrong place is actually the wrong thing. Part of shaping a world is figuring out what fits in with your vision. Things that don't fit, no matter how good they are in a vacuum, have to go.
This made me realize that I think Enchantments and this West African theme don't necessarily mesh as well as Enchantments and say an Anthroposophical set based on the 1980's movie The Never Ending Story would.
However, Rudy, now that you mention that Merfolk and Trolls seemed somewhat out of place, I ran a quick racial check in those corresponding colors and came up with a few alternatives to Kashmir's planes:
Amphin Cutthroat -- Amphibianfolk, could resided on a plane with lack of large bodies of water, coalescing their mana sources from a shared swampland.
Sakura-Tribe Springcaller -- Kamigawa snake folk seem a really well placed choice here, much better than trolls.
For red Im still not sure. I though Viashino would be a good choiced, but with Snake and Amphibian folk already, I'm not sure if the number of reptilian species would seem overbearing. In terms of Dwarves however, the Duergar from Eventide could fit the bill still. Isolating themselves deep within diamond/managem mines.
However, with that said, I am confirming dropping Enchantments from the X matters slot. Any ideas of a mechanical basis for such a set given the current flavor and setting of Kashmir?
I'd really rather the mount and rider stay as independent creatures for the purposes of targeting, and so killing one leaves the other intact. How doe other people feel? Which do you like better, keeping them separate or having the mount die with the rider and vice versa?
I agree that both in flavor and mechanic that the mount should be a separate entity to the rider, so that It can be handled with by removal in its own right.
An idea would be something along the lines of a creature equip Totem Armor variant.
Mount (:symw:: Mount this creature to another unmounted creature you control. If mounted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this creature. Mount only as a sorcery.)
Reined Drake 4U
Mount Creature Drake
Flying
Mount 2U
Mounted creature gets +3/+3 and has flying
3/3
As you can see, the creature itself more or less reads as an enchantment in a way, but with the added totem armor buff.
EDIT: The Mount card type preceding the creature card type could be reflected in the rules that as long as the creature is mounting, it becomes an inactive participant in combat.
Hi, I am ambitiously pursuing trying to design a custom set. Right now I'm working on establishing my world and the block progression from Set1-Set3 and what kind of interaction the Planeswalkers and natives will have that will bring about the final outcome in Set3. Enchantments is the "X Matters" I'm attempting to incorporate and have decided I wanted to return the Totem Armor mechanic. From there I started to go on a tangent relating the vibe "totem" gave me and decided I would base the plane, Kasmir, in a west African savannah-esqe setting. Finally, I got to assigning races to the five colors. For U I went with Merfolk, G trolls and R dwarves with Humans spanning all five colors.
For W I went on a limb and decided to try and flesh out a new design. I came up with Teskins. An Antelope race with mechanical highlights in Plainswalk ability, and in B a tropical sentient Bat race called Roush that eat fruits and not blood!
I've attached some promotional cards below with some images I found on Deviantart. I thought maybe I could get some feedback on the overall concept of the two new races. Are the Roush too overlapping with Vampires? Is Plainswalk an ability that shouldn't be revisited? Also, I wanted to get a community feedback on the choices of races for I've chosen doe URG in a West African flavor enchantment matters set?
This first one I'm not too sure on the rulings, but my intentions are to have the Aura be able to be cast without choosing and/or having a target. Then, when the game checks for legal targets, the spell is countered and then ETBs attached to the Dream token. It also has a built in 'can't be countered' which might make it too good :\.
Manifest (When this is countered, put a 0/0 blue Dream creature token onto the battlefield and attach this to it. You may cast this without a legal target.)
Sphinx's Wings 2UU
Enchantment - Aura (M)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +4/+4, has flying and shroud, and is a Sphinx in addition to its other types.
Manifest (When this is countered, put a 0/0 blue Dream creature token onto the battlefield and attach this to it. You may cast this without a legal target.)
Propagate (Choose a token creature you control, then put a token thats a copy of that creature onto the battlefield.)
Fungal Burst 1G
Instant (C)
Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield, then propogate. (Choose a token creature you control, then put a token thats a copy of that creature onto the battlefield.)
Sporoloth Mystic 2BGW
Legendary Creature - Fungus (M)
If an effect would put one or more creature tokens onto the battlefield under your control, it puts that many of those tokens plus 1 onto the battlefield instead.
:4mana:: Propagate. (Choose a token creature you control, then put a token thats a copy of that creature onto the battlefield.)
[3/3]
Set 2: The inhabitants 'wake up' to the fact that they are themselves figments of someone's imagination. They begin to experience an existential crisis.
Set 3: A Vedalken's spark ignites under the stress caused by set 2 and he "steals" the dream itself from the original Planeswalker and puts the entire plane into his own mind and escapes out into the multiverse to try and bring his people to the real world. Sets up a plot line where the original Planeswalker then leaves his plane to scour the multiverse for his dream.
Another idea I had was that
Set 2: The inhabitant's dreams begin to intermingle with increasing intensity. White's dream clashes with the reality that is being created by Black's dream and so on. Every other day the world shifts into a different dream. This would be represented by World Enchantments with the subtype Dream. They would typically just have a powerful ETB and LTB effects.
Set 3: The Dream Fractures under the stress of the five different dreams that were beginning to coalesce in the Mindscape and five new planes are spewed out into the multiverse. Kind of anti-alara. Each of these 5 worlds would be monocolored and the fulfillment of each color's "dream".
Thanks for the comments! ^.^ And yep, the black tribe was exactly inspired to be Kathari by the Skeksis from Dark Crystal. That genre of 80's fantasy movie such as Neverending Story and Legend are going to be big contributors to the flavor of this world.
In response to the tribal mechanics, I don't know if there will be that heavy of an emphasis on that. A very minor sub thing if anything, sort of how in Zendikar the Kor had Equipment, Vampires had <10 life but nothing more than that. As far as all enchantment decks, I would like to try and realize that within the set since playing an all Artifact deck is something people like to try and do during artifact heavy blocks, thought I'll have to see what kind of cycles and ideas get thrown around first.
That said, I think that Lucid, Manifest, Aura swap and Enigmatic should all appear in the first set, with Vanishing and Enchantment shift coming in the second set and finally highlighting the mystery new card type for the third block. Although, all that is subject to change based on what the set wants given the story mode. Any ideas for set progression?
Here's what I've thought of so far:
Set 1 Introduce the Plane and its inhabitants. Shows the inner sanctum of the Planeswalker's mind and how the people there interact with their interactive world.
Set 2?
Set 3?
Lucid works as is and will be a fun mechanic to design around!
And to further press the shifting and fluid dream realm, a riff off of a creature from Alara block, Enigma Sphinx.
An improvement on the Remind mechanic from earlier. Allows you to resolve any kind of card and get it back later so long as it wasn't milled or dredged from your library.
Also I was considering too to bring back Aura swap <cost> and Vanishing <number> as the entire six mechanics that would span across the block with a special new type of card that will be the main attraction for the third set!
When we first enter Aurora, we find a land covered in tall trees that rival the size of mountains, where the Elves build intricate cities into the trunks and treetops. Dwarfs inhabit the forest floors and the underground, mining precious deposits of mana. In the very high canopies, the nocturnal Awl (Owl Aven) hide themselves in secrecy, carefully studying the nature of the seasons. The humble Kitsune tend and care for the forests lesser creatures and the dark Trolls live in the darkest parts of the forest performing voodoo and curse magic.
The opening set, AURORA takes place in the season of summer, introducing the "Seasonal" mechanic, which will buff a player's cards if those cards are aligned with that season.
Here are the mechanics for AURORA:
Racial Breakdown (Summer):
:symw:: Kitsune; Insect, Unicorn, Birds
:symu:: Aven; Fish, Turtles, Drake
:symb:: Trolls; Crocodile, Imps, Wraiths
:symg:: Elves; Beasts, Bears, Spiders
:symr:: Dwarfs; Boar, Lizards, Wolverines
That would be the most ideal mechanic for what kind of effect I was trying to get across, though impractical outside of a set using Split Second, since it isn't evergreen.
That said, I updated the OP with two new mechanics and a topic of discussion for the community as well: see Remind.
Lol, well that wasn't originally the intent. It was so that while you were casting an aura on your creature, an opponent couldn't respond with a Doom Blade ect.
One that I've considered was this one, riffing off of Wheel of Sun and Moon
Excluded the "from anywhere" so that way it wouldn't make mill completely useless. It would refresh some of the cards in your deck effectively allowing you to play more than 4 of in the deck. Perhaps its too powerful, but its all I could think of at the moment. Thoughts/Other ideas?
EDIT: Here's an actual Aura love mechanic, a bit clunky, but an admirable rough draft:
In a way, kind of like Equip for Aura's, however, it allows for transfer and instant speed. So if the aura grants shroud, you could use it to counter a removal spell. Also, this would be able to help prevent some 2 for 1 action by swapping the aura over to a different creature, though its limited in that the enchanted creature need to tap to send its blessing to another creature. Nifty too in that if a card has an Auratouched Mage ability, you could tutor up a Pacifism with Endow, then put it on an opponent's creature as well.
Would help prevent some no upside 2-for-1's. Not a particularly exciting mechanic, but useful none the less. I could see it being applicable to Beasts, Trolls, some Aven, and Druids.
This made me realize that I think Enchantments and this West African theme don't necessarily mesh as well as Enchantments and say an Anthroposophical set based on the 1980's movie The Never Ending Story would.
However, Rudy, now that you mention that Merfolk and Trolls seemed somewhat out of place, I ran a quick racial check in those corresponding colors and came up with a few alternatives to Kashmir's planes:
Amphin Cutthroat -- Amphibianfolk, could resided on a plane with lack of large bodies of water, coalescing their mana sources from a shared swampland.
Sakura-Tribe Springcaller -- Kamigawa snake folk seem a really well placed choice here, much better than trolls.
For red Im still not sure. I though Viashino would be a good choiced, but with Snake and Amphibian folk already, I'm not sure if the number of reptilian species would seem overbearing. In terms of Dwarves however, the Duergar from Eventide could fit the bill still. Isolating themselves deep within diamond/managem mines.
However, with that said, I am confirming dropping Enchantments from the X matters slot. Any ideas of a mechanical basis for such a set given the current flavor and setting of Kashmir?
I agree that both in flavor and mechanic that the mount should be a separate entity to the rider, so that It can be handled with by removal in its own right.
An idea would be something along the lines of a creature equip Totem Armor variant.
Mount
Reined Drake 4U
Mount Creature Drake
Flying
Mount 2U
Mounted creature gets +3/+3 and has flying
3/3
As you can see, the creature itself more or less reads as an enchantment in a way, but with the added totem armor buff.
EDIT: The Mount card type preceding the creature card type could be reflected in the rules that as long as the creature is mounting, it becomes an inactive participant in combat.
For W I went on a limb and decided to try and flesh out a new design. I came up with Teskins. An Antelope race with mechanical highlights in Plainswalk ability, and in B a tropical sentient Bat race called Roush that eat fruits and not blood!
I've attached some promotional cards below with some images I found on Deviantart. I thought maybe I could get some feedback on the overall concept of the two new races. Are the Roush too overlapping with Vampires? Is Plainswalk an ability that shouldn't be revisited? Also, I wanted to get a community feedback on the choices of races for I've chosen doe URG in a West African flavor enchantment matters set?