Political Set - Brainstorming

Hello all!

For the last month or so, I have been independently assembling ideas for a personal set me and my friends can draft. It wil be in the likes of Conspiracy, except with a couple of differences -


* The set does not care as much about complexity. Me and my friends have been playing Magic for a while, and we know our stuff. Complexity isn't an issue here so much as it is in other sets

*There will be no conspiracies. Me and my friends personally don't like them.


My plea to the community is how the mechanics should work. Here are the general ideas of the set:

- WHITE HELPS. It is the 'group hug' color, and likes helping everyone. But it still wants to be competitive!
- BLUE CONTROLS. Does a bunch of fiddly stuff on the battlefield. Duh!
- BLACK PUNISHES. It really likes to harm, even if you may go down with everyone else.
- RED DESTROYS. Red is like the wild card among the other colors. Makes the games more chaotic
- GREEN GROWS. Most direct of the colors. Nothing quite like beating people up with vanilla 8/8s!

The set will be primarily focused on Allied pairs, so here are the mechanics of the factions!

WU: Ostracize - Each player other than target player (gets a benefit) Made by me!
UB: Infiltrate (You may have this creature enter the battlefield under target opponent's control), then normally provides a detrimental effect. Made by our veteran cardsmith @Teacup!
BR: Dethrone. Made by WotC!
RG: Bloodbath (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, it deals that much damage to each other opponent.) Made by me!
GW: Arbitration - {cost}: Target player {gets a bonus} and another target player creates a 1/1 green and white Ally creature token.)

Thoughts?

Comments

  • Are you looking for cards or feedback? or both?
  • Ah, I had an idea for a mechanic named Bloodbath! That one's better tho.
  • @atrus159, @TezzeretofCarmot21, I am looking just for feedback on the mechanics. Thanks!
  • I like bloodbath and infiltrate.
  • Assist and bloodbath don't feel very political.
  • @Lujikul So does deathtouch.
  • so basically in terms of white combat abilities should also represent their "thoughts" Banding would be fun in that case.
  • Bloodbath seems a bit too similar to myriad imo
  • I really like Ostracize in the context of this set. It perfectly marries the styles you're going for of assisting players (W) and still being controlling via politics (U).

    Infiltrate is perfect for UB. Plenty of interesting, unique design space.

    Dethrone is an established mechanic in B/R already, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Bloodbath doesn't really fit your parameters. It might benefit off of large creatures, but there's nothing chaotic about it. Maybe changing it to (Whenever this creature attacks and isn't blocked, you may have it get +2/+0 until end of turn. If you do, it deals no combat damage this turn, and deals damage equal to its power to an opponent chosen at random.) It's pretty verbose, but you get the idea. Randomly make friends/enemies!

    Assist doesn't feel very GW to me. It feels like a mixture of encouraging pillowfort (WU) and Edric's ability (GU), which is strongly slanted towards more U. Maybe make an ability that grants creature tokens (a la Forbidden Orchard) in exchange for more powerful effects? That way, you help out opponents (W) while also ramping in power level (G).

    Hope my two cents helps. Can't wait to see some of this set!
  • edited September 2017
    Thanks @AustinSmith, @KJMartin, and @Lujikul! I like AustinSmith's idea of trading tokens for effects. Maybe create Ally tokens???

    Arbitration - {cost}: Target player {gets a bonus} and another target player creates a 1/1 green and white Ally creature token.)

    For Red and Green, however, I am still looking for a direct ability. Out of the five colors, their identities do not involve others, unlike white, blue, and black. For the color combination, I would like a direct blunt mechanic.

    And @AustinSmith, remember that Red is not about chaos, but destruction. The mechanic involved does not have to be random. And besides, many people other than myself don't like too much randomness in their games. Besides, 4-player free for all is chaotic enough!
  • @Gelectrode, thanks for liking my G/W idea! Making the tokens Allies would be interesting. Will there be an Ally subtheme then?

    I get what you meant with Gruul now. I just saw "Makes the games more chaotic" in the description and thought that meant randomness.
  • @AustinSmith, @KJMartin, and @Lujikul, I have begun work on the set, starting with the mythics! Initial thoughts?

    https://mtgcardsmith.com/account/sets/24354
  • Quoth the link, 404
  • edited September 2017
    Ostracize is my personal fave (with the possible exception of Dethrone).
    XD

    Perhaps Arbitration should always force you to choose yourself once? Just for mechanic simplicity.
  • @Faiths_Guide, how would it become more mechanically complex? Just asking!
  • @Gelectrode

    I'm just thinking:

    Arbitration - {cost}: (You {get a bonus} and another target player creates a 1/1 green and white Ally creature token.)

    Less targeting and fewer decisions. I realize it lowers versatility, but...
  • Bloodbath doesn't seem very political. Do you have politicians disemboweling each other?
  • bloodbath actually is very much political, especially pre-modern age politics xD
This discussion has been closed.