Renaissance Set — Design Phase

Lujikul

I found a possible art for our Vinci walker.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oKLKw

I also came up with an aggro card, but I couldn't come up with satisfactory artwork.

Rapid Inspiration {1}{r}

(Artwork of multiple different projects, whether they be painting, writing, sculptures, etc, with a vague impression of being shoddy, such as broken statues, crumpled up paper, and the like.)

Sorcery
Compose 1 three times. (Create a colorless 1/1 Art creature token with haste, then do this two more times. Sacrifice them at the beginning of your next end step.)

FT: Like a questionable idea can become perfection, so can brilliant ideas be failures.

ningyounk

@Lujikul
Howling Masterpiece: Love the art and Golem sounds like a super fitting creature type for an artistic set (because of clay shaping) we should probably consider adding it to the creature grid ^^ Otherwise it's very clean, I like it!

Deprive or originality: Haha I love the name and overall flavour! I think 3 mana is probably undercosted for an Aethersnatch, even if it doesn't work on creatures. http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=406146 But otherwise it sounds super exciting to have such a card in the set, it fits super well in the rogue theme. I'm not sure it needs to be multicoloured actually, I think monoblue is fine ^^ (We should try to save as many multicoloured slots as possible, we don't have that many.)

Rapid Inspiration: I really like this one as well, you are on a roll I feel xD It looks like a twist on Hordeling Outburst http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386560 . It definitely looks like something that would fit right in this set.

The art for Da Vinci could work yes! We're considering having him one of the local planeswalkers in the story so we'll have to try if this fits the portrait orientation.

@syntheticreign
Road to Mastery: It's beautiful but it sends the wrong message about what the set is about, I think. I don't think this card fits in without a dedicated "multicolour-matters" archetype, for the same reason the Art tokens are colorless in the end.

@TezzeretofCarmot21
Salendi Kortha: This art is very important and Salendi is also a very important character, I feel his card should be a little more splashy and original. This version seems not exciting enough, it could probably be an uncommon with the right numbers.

syntheticreign

@ningyounk Oh I totally didn't notice that the Art tokens were colorless now. My bad haha! Yeah in that case that card doesn't really fit lol, whoops.

TezzeretofCarmot21

Ok. So what should Salendi have instead, then, @MagicChess? And @ningyounk, how can I improve it?

ningyounk

@TezzeretofCarmot21 This is, like the Muses, one of the most important cards of the set so we can foresee they will have a loooot of different versions before being right ^^ But, as that card picture an important character, my best guess would be to try to capture something unique that defines this character on the card. The legendary monkey token of Kari Zev, or the unique way Rishkar cares about +1/+1 counters in Aether Revolt are good examples of how such legendary creatures should be handled: they have to be surprising designs ^^ (Which is also why it's hard to give more directional feedback, sorry )

modnation675

Here comes the majestic beauty to conquer the psylian users! XD (Didn't notice it affected the mechanic until afterwards!)

TezzeretofCarmot21

@modnation675 Chimera is actually a creature type
@ningyounk Maybe, to get the "inspiration" vibe a cross, it should be "all creatures you control get... compose 4."

TezzeretofCarmot21

I hope this is good. Is the ability impactful enough, @ningyounk? It's not exactly creating a legendary monkey cohort, but maybe we can do that later in the set...?

syntheticreign

@TezzertofCarmot21 @ningyounk

The idea of giving all creatures this inspiration was something I had considered with the mechanic "Overflow". I didn't know a way to make it work because I wanted it to be something that was very unique. My final iteration was the idea that we had a cycle of Muses with different respective boosts (for example, the blue Muse would "overflow blue" which would give all blue permanents you control a boost of some kind). The mechanic was supposed to portray the idea of the waves of inspiration that the Muses bring flowing over everyone and everything.

The problem was/is: flavorful impact. We didn't want it to just be "all creatures get +x/+x, or some keyword ability", we wanted it to be more unique. The idea of giving all creatures (or permanents, artifacts, spells, etc.) compose is actually very fitting thematically, but at the same time, it could simply be a card that does this.

I'm not giving up entirely on Overflow. Whether we find a way to make it a mechanic or we just end up making a card with the spirit of the mechanic behind it, I don't care. It's an idea that I believe fits very well with the theme and flavor of the set, and shouldn't be forgotten. I'll make examples of both Overflow on a Muse as a mechanic and Overflow as a card in its own mechanical succession, that way we can see what it's like.

@TezzertofCarmot21 Specifically relating to Salendi, I like the most recent iteration better, though "compose 4" on all creatures you control as both an etb and an attack trigger is fairly strong. This means that each time a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you create a 4/4 Art CREATURE token, which technically also enters the battlefield, creating an infinite creation loop. Even aside from that, were you to attack with any creature, since you don't technically have to do damage, you'd be producing a 4/4 that could attack right away. I'm not 100% on how the resolution would happen, but I believe if you attack with a creature, the "declare attacks" step would end before you resolve the compose 4, thus creating a 4/4 that can't attack. However, again, since it entered the battlefield and you control it, you'd create another. And another. And another. Infinitely.

MagicChess

@TezzeretofCarmot, uh... what he said XD
Also, why first strike? I don't get it. Why is it relevant?
And @modnation675 wasn't using 'chimera' in the literal sense; rather, they meant a creature that is a hybrid of sorts ("bird fish").

I'm working on a cool, pertinent effect for Salendi. Get back soon.

modnation675

@MagicChess, @TezzeretofCarmot21
Yeah, I was using the scientific term rather than mythological.

I also found a really cool video the other day, chimer-ism is so beautiful and unique!
Link: video or article

I'll also be offline tomorrow as I'm being brought to the family beach.

TheFriendlyGeek

i don't know how good this is as a hate card or how important and high psylian life totals can get, but here's an idea:

https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/psychic-drain

sanjaya666

Deleted.

ningyounk

@TezzeretofCarmot21
On Salendi: Ah that's already spicier! I like how flavourfully it can represent Salendi being a a teacher for instance, or anyone that's very inspiring himself. The concept is there but there are a number of small details to be adressed:
- It's too strong (I know it's a concept card and numbers can be adjusted but it's easier to represent the concept if the numbers are more realistic.)
- First Strike is a nonbo with creatures that sacrifice themselves at the end of turn which is weird.
- The templating would probably not give the creatures an additional ability but rather just trigger whenever a creature you control attacks.
- If the trigger is creature attacking, it means the Art tokens are creating after you have the chance to declare them as attackers

@syntheticreign
That actually makes a lot of sense, Muses should have an ability that pump the other creatures since flavourfully they affect the inhabitants of Rezatta by their presence! I don't understand what Overflow does completely in your explanation though?

@TheFriendlyGeek
On Psychic Drain: I love the art but psylian life hate is probably not a good idea. It's a mechanic that can easily be interacted with combat for instance, if your opponent has too much psylian life just attack them, it's just life after all. Besides, the card on itself doesnt do much, Solemnity http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=solemnity is a hate cards that make enough waves to be Rare, but I don't think this has any real combo potential (I could be wrong though.)

@sanjaya666
On Kedrah Selme: I really like how you captured the plagiarist feel, the concept is clever but intuitive and immediatly gives a strong flavour to the card. This version probably can be enhanced though, as there are a few details that seem off:
- Protection from creatures sounds a little strong. Just a crazy idea but maybe there's a way to give him protection from creatures with the same name that creatures you control, and twitch the plagiarist ability so it can be used as a protective combo?
- The plagiarist ability can probaly be shortened by copying it no? "Create a copy of target creature except it's an Art in addition to its other types. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step." A sort of pocket Saheeli Rai x) http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=418815

sanjaya666

@ningyounk Alright boss, let's see about it... hmm...

sanjaya666

Deleted.

TezzeretofCarmot21

@sanjaya666 Dang, I like that Kedrah!
@syntheticreign @MagicChess *gets out paintbrush* Stand back, I'm about to rebalance this card

TezzeretofCarmot21

*rips off smock* Is this card better?

sanjaya666

@TezzeretofCarmot21 So, you have to bounce your creatures out from the battlefield first to trigger the compose thing?

syntheticreign

@sanjay666 I believe that technically when you cast a creature spell and it is on the stack before it enters the battlefield, you control it. Therefor, as you cast it, it would be granted the etb effect, and thus resolve without a blink.

@ningyounk I played around with it in many ways. I still don't have a 100% plan for what it should do, but I like the format of "When (this spell) enters the battlefield, overflow THING: all THINGs of this type (effect)". This way, you can overflow practically anything. I was playing around with the idea of "overflow THING: double all non-mana values on each THING (you control?) this turn."

syntheticreign

Deleted and edited below

Faiths_Guide

syntheticreign

Here's an example with a support card

syntheticreign

@Faiths_Guide Is Rogue a type we're doing? Or did we replace it with "Thief"? I don't remember lol

Faiths_Guide

@syntheticreign
I think the thief vibe should definitely be included, but I don't think we should hazard another new creature type.

syntheticreign

@Faiths_Guide That's fair, just checking!

Faiths_Guide

Thoughts?

syntheticreign

I definitely like the idea that not all of the citizens on the plane are enthralled by the artists and their devotion to the Muses. The mechanic works well flavorfully and, well, mechanically lol. I definitely like the card.

Faiths_Guide

@syntheticreign
*ThumbsUp*

syntheticreign

@Faiths_Guide
What do you think on the Muse and support I made for it? Just feeling out overflow to see how I can make it work.