MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
The three factions...
Since I don't currently have premium available (yet) and I'm trying to make a dramatic return to the community, I figured I should host my first challenge! The challenge is for you to help me develop a new plane Ghettash. The entire plane itself is a large city ruled by 3 criminal factions.
The Alterra, founded by a group of mages with the intent of creating a city to observe and experiment on in order to obtain as much knowledge as possible. Primarily mages and artificers, though enforcers exist within their ranks.
The Glatorians, known for there utter ruthlessness, are a group of thugs with no other intent but to rule the city and obliterate the opposing factions. They almost exclusively think short term and don't have a definite end goal.
The Hultaria, a faction operating similarly to the mafia, are intelligent, organized criminals. They also happen to be the biggest of all the factions. Not one person on the plane truly doesn't fear them.
There are, of course, those who would rather not choose a side. Just simple shopkeepers, tailors, and smiths who would just like to live normal lives. These deserve praise too. Here we'll be discussing what the three factions are and what mechanics each will use. Questions and comments, as usual, are always welcome. I advise you to remain active on all discussions. This allows for you to stay informed and for me to not repeat myself
Card discussion here: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/2758/let-s-develop-cards-for-my-set
Lore discussion here: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/2759/anyone-have-a-plane-name-how-about-lore
Voting poll here: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/2765/voting-poll-set-name#latest
The Alterra, founded by a group of mages with the intent of creating a city to observe and experiment on in order to obtain as much knowledge as possible. Primarily mages and artificers, though enforcers exist within their ranks.
The Glatorians, known for there utter ruthlessness, are a group of thugs with no other intent but to rule the city and obliterate the opposing factions. They almost exclusively think short term and don't have a definite end goal.
The Hultaria, a faction operating similarly to the mafia, are intelligent, organized criminals. They also happen to be the biggest of all the factions. Not one person on the plane truly doesn't fear them.
There are, of course, those who would rather not choose a side. Just simple shopkeepers, tailors, and smiths who would just like to live normal lives. These deserve praise too. Here we'll be discussing what the three factions are and what mechanics each will use. Questions and comments, as usual, are always welcome. I advise you to remain active on all discussions. This allows for you to stay informed and for me to not repeat myself
Card discussion here: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/2758/let-s-develop-cards-for-my-set
Lore discussion here: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/2759/anyone-have-a-plane-name-how-about-lore
Voting poll here: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/2765/voting-poll-set-name#latest
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Mechanic. Besides that I want them to operate around "tax counters" which go on creatures. Cards that reference them would say something along the lines of "whenever a creature with a tax counter on it dies, you gain 1 life" though of course this isn't a keyword, so another mechanic is still viable
Glatorians should have menace and intimidate. But also a disregard for the mechanics of the other factions. Glatorian creatures cannot be taxed, or others can pay the Glatorian player in order to remove tax counters.
Alterra experiments, so possibly a mechanic that lets you add a dice roll or coin flip to augment spells. I might also just revive the Clash mechanic, its a more fun way to vary outcomes.
Criminal guilds will need control and territory to operate, it comes down to domination. I think this is where the nonaligned people come in. There should be non basic lands representing the merchant shops, trade halls, smithies, tenements, etc. Also townsfolk creatures that could maybe generate mana but have no power? The townsfolk creatures and turf lands can be stolen, shifted, and traded about. Spells and mechanics around a version of devotion for these neutral resources. There should be reasons to favor these resources over basic lands. Basic lands could be destroyed more easily in this set, or the neutral resources are more aggressively more beneficial.
Maybe damaging an opponent is what lets you take one of their townsfolk/territory? When the turf deck empties, whoever has the most turf is the monarch- the pimpboss?
But that aside it actually brings up the mechanic: conspire. It's already has a fitting criminal type thing and is about controlling more creatures for more effects. A modified conspire mechanic or cards that synergize/alter conspire could be just the thing. (A single townsfolk can be tapped in place of two creatures, etc. If you conspired this turn, draw another card.)
Hultaria has a bank, so maybe they do something with borrowing/lending/investing with tax counters for some benefit? Do you risk bankrupting your suspended investment cards to prevent some damage?
We should definitely incorporate the Serf subtype. It's a legitimate (but scarce) subtype that makes perfect sense alongside the Monarch mechanic etc.
I'm making a huge change. The Hultaria are going to be aligned with blue rather than red. This is to avoid color imbalance a little more, as well as add a more intelligence based statute on the Hultaria.
I also suggest that white mana is scarce in your plane due to the obvious constant struggle for power and dominance there seems to be. Or white exclusive for Alterra or non-faction cards
However, there should still be a relatively equal number of white cards in the set to every other color. Otherwise you're literally pushing people out of a color, or making them feel as though they can't play a set.