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Rezatta, the life-matters Renaissance plane — SET DESIGN PHASE
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Oh, right, like Abstract Iguanart.
My brain actually exploded when I saw Abstract Iguanart xD It's literally an art-come-to-life which is one of the core concept for Rezatta x)
And yeap, it's the current thread, I just haven't posted in roughly half a billion years, unfortunately >.<
Short disclaimer to at least explain what's happening here:
1) I've started to write my doctor thesis so I have even less free time than usual.
2) I've dedicated some of the free time I have left to finishing a playtest version of another game (if you've heard of it, it's called "Not Alone", I made a Cluedo-flavoured version of it.) The good news is that the playtest I was preparing for happened last Saturday so this is mostly dealt with ^^
3) I'm stuck on some details on Rezatta. Let me get you through it:
The main missing piece of the puzzle was finding the theme of the midrange archetype that was going to arc over Red, Green and Blue. I tried +1/+1 counters but it was too difficult to make the synergies work, the set had too little synergies with them. I realised you need a dedicated mechanic to produce them if you want to care about them.
So I started again by laying out what the set needed, and see if I could find a mechanic that would suit it:
- The set needed another original way of caring about life so it really felt like a life-matters set. Serran life was great, but the the other big life-matters archetype was about paying life and, because it's something every set of MTG does, even if I increased the quantity it was still not visible enough.
- The last theme needed to fit a midrange deck.
- Ideally, the last theme would allow increased damage to synergise with both the Renaissance mechanic and the Masterwork mechanic. The latter needing more synergy support in the set than the former.
- Because the archetype was sharing GU with the Art combo deck (more grindy) and RU with the Storm archetype (more agressive), it needed to work both on offense and defense.
I ended up making cards that had an agressive ability if your life total was even, but a defensive ability if your life total was odd. This was way too complicated and wordy. But once I simplified it and the cards cared only about having an even life total, I was pretty happy with the result as it solved most of the problems I wanted to solve. I just tried to make sure the abilities were growing the creature so it had more synergy with Masterwork and Renaissance:
So I actually have the next batch of playtest cards ready... or at least the text version. My plan was to refine each theme a bit, playtest the cards, and then post them again here. But this is where I'm stuck: I wanted to find the right flavour for the RGU archetype that cared about even life. I figured the set also needed to have some kind conflict so I settled on making some random generic villains for now. I've tried to work a seasons theme (even represents winter/ odd represents summer), I've tried ice zombies à la Game of Thrones, etc. but I'm still not sure how to fill this slot.
So that's why I haven't posted in forever. I actually can't find the right flavour for the themes ^^"
If someone has an idea, here are the main themes so far:
WUR: Science and progress
UBG: Art and artists
BRW: Carnival? Could easily be the villains otherwise.
RGU: Seasons? Elementals? Animals? I'm stuck here.
GWB: Church of Serra (angels, religion, etc.)
I. MAKE THE SET SKELETON FOR THE SET COMMONS
II. FIX THE MECHANICAL PROBLEMS WITH THE PREVIOUS BATCH OF CARDS
III. FIND FLAVOUR THEMES FOR EACH COLOURS
WHITE —
BLUE —
BLACK —
RED —
GREEN —
COLORLESS —
Other than that, I've been pretty pleased with the new "Even life matters" theme. It plays well, as it's neither too easy or difficult to interact with, and it feels very different from the Renaissance mechanic which was my main concern.
Everlasting Jester: Indeed, good catch!
Posing Acrobat: Yes, I want to try it first as able to target itself, but I'm keeping an eye on it.
Truce Accord: I changed the CMC a lot on this one, it's between Pacifism and Arrest, a bit like Trapped in a Tower power wise. After playtesting, I think it's useful but less strong than you'd think so I settled on 2-mana.
New Journey: Definitely a top-tier card. Might need to be tone down but Renaissance is surprisingly difficult to trigger so I increased the rewards. I really like how Renaissance plays on removal spell though, I think it really adds a lot of tension to see that you have the answer but you need to enable it.
Reborn Siren: Yes, this one might be too much, I need to playtest more with it. I hate to break the symmetry of the cycle but for space purpose it might end up getting an activated ability to grant unblockable.
New Findings: Yeah, looting tends to use "then", and it also tends to be used more often to signal that an ability word is continuating the ability above.
Dismiss the Cold: No, the reminder token will make it clear that your stuff makes you lose regular life first. This is also the kind of card that teaches the player this rules, since the card wouldn't really do anything otherwise.
Study Hard: Agreed, but the non-conditional version (Frost Breath) is worth just one more mana and Origins did a similar 2-mana thing with Spell Mastery. I figured casting two spells during the opponent's turn in Limited was hard enough that it wouldn't be problematic, and really cool if you discover it.
Bureaucratic Stare: It can counter any spell that is not cast during the controller's main phase when nothing is on the stack. It's like a weird Dispel that can also catch flash spells and discovered cards on top of instants, but it can't counter instants if they're played as sorceries.
Spirit of the Ballet: Oh, you're right!
Sorrowful Lessons: Absolutely!
Crafty Adventurer: Oh no, it was meant to be a Scout, I mixed up the types ^^
Violent Pulsion: Yeah, I needed a mana sink and went for a new combination. Now that you mention it, I should either increase the cost or modify it a bit. Menace is a bit random, I might try to find something more synergistic.
New Insults: Definitely one of the best for Red. But again, Renaissance is hard to trigger so I've been happy with it so far.
Take the Wind: Good catch!
Honedclaw Smuggler: Yes, it definitely should be able to target itself. I'm still uncertain about the attack trigger here though. I need to test it more.
Springborn Ent: Yeah, it's a bit too much of a brick wall and Green is already feeling a bit strong, I might give it -0/-1. Are Ents a Tolkien-specific thing? If so, I'll change it to just "treefolk" or something similar. Actually, what I'd really need would be a stronger thematic connection to Serra here.
Scour the Wilds: Really? I didn't expect it to be a problem. You discover, then you fight. The idea is that the reflexive trigger allows you to choose the creature that fights after you discover, so the top card of your library might change your plans. You could even play it as a 2-mana discover card if you're feeling lucky/very spiky.
Serran Gift: Ah yeah, I went a bit overboard xD I want to keep the 2 (or 3) serran life as that's colour fixing. I want to keep both mode as the purpose of this card is also educational, it explains how serran life works. For the second mode, I think the best number is 4 life (see Life Goes On), but I need it to be odd, to make sure you can always decide if your life total is odd or even as other cards care about that. Chaplain's Blessing is really not a good card, maybe a bit of power creep is acceptable here, considering life is the main theme of the set. I don't really like the other number combinations, so I'm tempted to keep it this way right now.
Coming of Spring: Yeaaaah, I tried but it's a bit much XD The fact that in 90% of cases your life total on turn 2 is even doesn't help. Let me explain: I have three draw spells that really want to be 3-mana sorceries, but they compete with each other too much. There's this one in green, Sorrowful Lessons in Black, and New Findings in Blue that really wants to be a Divination variant. To space them out, I had to make the Blue one a better Sift at common (first red flag) and force this one at 2-mana (second red flag). Honestly, this one needs to go I think, it's not even following the same mechanical theme of growth as the other cards that care about having an even life total. Also, I could really use an instant instead of a third sorcery.
Restore Beauty: Absolutely!
Again, thanks a lot, it's easy to get lost in all the details so a fresh pair of eyes always help ^^
___
Now that you've had an unbiased look at the cards, I'm especially unsure about those ones, and would love your opinion if you have time:
WHITE —
• Is Inquisitive Disciple too much of a break? I'm experimenting with the new white draw effects, and wanted to reinforce White as a Scry colour, but it might be a bit much.
• Is Angelic Harbringer too much for common?
• Would you play Safe Practices and Fortuitous Invitation outside the storm archetype?
BLUE —
• Is Aria Embodiment too complicated?
• Is Breathing Waltz too strong for common?
• Is Migrating Snowtusk too complicated?
• Would you play Dive Deeper?
BLACK —
• Is New Decadence too complicated ?
• Is Heresy too much for common?
RED —
• Are Cheeky Performer and Fiendish Sparkmage too weak?
• Is Pyretic Recipe too strong?
• Would you play Sparks?
• Is Racket too complicated?
GREEN —
• Is Marble Maiden too complicated?
• Is Endangered Winterhowl too much for common?
• Does Self-Confidence make your brain melt?
• Would you play Restore Beauty outside a tribal Art deck?
• Is Become Divine too strong?
WHITE —
- Inquisitive Disciple - This seems fine to me. WotC has used communal draw as well.
- Angelic Harbinger - I'd say this is powerful, but not egregiously so.
- Safe Practices/Fortuitous Invitation - For the first, yes. It could be a great way to set up multiple blocks and remove a troublesome creature, or save you from dying at a crucial point. The latter is a cantrip, so I could see it being added when low on playables.
BLUE —- Aria Embodiment - I had considered commenting on complication here, but I think I'm ok with this particular design as is.
- Breathing Waltz - If it had flying, it'd be absurd. As is I like it though.
- Migrating Snowtusk - The fact that it can keep going back and forth, and can even be switched "on/off" at instant speed makes it risky at common.
- Dive Deeper - I think it'd be better if it were +0/+3, but that isn't really in blue's slice of the color pie. I might play it? Hard to tell. It'd be based on the amount of removal.
BLACK —- New Decadence - This one could go either way. It is complicated.
- Heresy - Built in two-for-one in quite a few situations. Might be too much here.
RED —- Cheeky Performer/Fiendish Sparkmage - I'd say no to both. They aren't too weak.
- Pyretic Recipe - I like this one. I don't think it's too strong, but it isn't weak.
- Sparks - This is a reprint of Dual Shot; playable sometimes.
- Racket - Borderline. I think the second ability would need to specify what the "it" is (if you gained control of an artifact this way...) and then it feels too wordy/complicated. So, probably yes.
GREEN —- Radiant Champion seems great in this set with all the life triggers, so maybe make it 2WW instead of 3W?
- Angelic Harbinger seems a bit too strong for white... getting 5 power with vigilance for 6 mana is too much at common, and white doesn't get more expensive than that.
Also the picture and the name made me think the creature was going to be the knight rather than the angel, so maybe it can be:
[CARDNAME]
4WW
Creature - Human Soldier
Vigilance
When ~ etbs, create a 3/3 Angel with flying.
1/2
(p/t & cmc up to adjustment)
- Inquisitive Disciple seems too much on one card... Maybe just the scry ability?
- Fortuitous Invitation seems like a fine defensive combat trick. It may possibly work well w/ WBR aggro.
- Safe Practices seems quite weird but I can't quite put my finger on it...
Blue:
- Aria Embodiment seems fine to me.
- Breathing Waltz seems a bit strong. Maybe make it a 4 mana 2/2?
- Migrating Snowtusk has an advantage when your life total is even and has an advantage when you life total is odd. Getting the advantages onto one scenario may help reinforce the theme of "even life" better. So maybe:
[CARDNAME]
4UU
Creature - ~
Defender
~ has hexproof and loses defender as long as your life total is even.
4/6
(reduced power by 1 since it can be a hexproof attacker)
- Dive Deeper is a strictly worse Dive Down... Can you explain the -3/+3 instead of +0/+3? Is it for Renaissance?
Black:
- Inkborn Hunter seems a bit too white (aside from the name)... Maybe something like this?
[CARDNAME]
1B
Creature - ~
Flash
{1}{b}: ~ gets +1/+1 until eot. Activate only if an Art etb under your control this turn.
2/2
(activation cost and p/t up to adjustment)
- New Decadence seems a bit complicated. Maybe make it {1} cheaper and have it only discard only one card in either case.
- Heresy seems fine, as there are plenty of common removal at 4 or more w/ benefits. But why the enchantment removal? I don't see much enchantments yet...
Red:
- Cheeky Performer is a strictly worse Viashino Pyromancer, but it makes sense since the set cares a lot about life. Maybe it can trigger as long as your life total changed this turn?
- I can't quite put my finger on how decent Pyretic Recipe is...
- Sparks seems a bit too weak. Maybe have it divide 2 damage among any two targets? Or just reprint Shock...
- Racket seems unnecessarily complicated: why the artifact hate? (Also, the haste is usually until eot.)
Green:
- Reborn Giant may be a bit strong with 3 counters. Maybe just two?
- For Scour the Wilds, you might want to emphasise it with "When you cast the discovered spell,...", but I'm not sure what the right wording is.
- Marble Maiden seems fine.
- Endangered Winterhowl seems fine.
- Self-Confidence doesn't melt my brain, but the wording might be a bit too complex for common. Sounds like a fine uncommon though.
- I might not even play Restore Beauty in an Art tribal deck. Also, it seems better (and less wordy) to draw the card right away if it's an Art.
- Become Divine is fine, although you might want to change the damaging dealing bit to up to one so you can cast it if there isn't a creature with flying.
Actually, I'm not sure about the wording on that last one...
...JUDGE?
Colorless:
- Iffy Doctor's Kit alone triggers Renaissance... Maybe make it cost 1 instead of 0?
Radiant Champion: It's quite instrumental in triggering Renaissance so I'm ok if it's easier to cast for now.
Angelic Harbringer: Yeah, maybe it is a bit much. I don't want the token to be better than the creature itself though because there is a recursion archetype in the set that blinks etc. Voice of the Provinces is basically the same card but creates a 1/1, I might play around that idea and maybe create an Art if I can find the right illustration.
Inquisitive Disciple: Yeah, I don't dislike the idea, the mana sink is important but I don't care as much for the ETB ability.
Breathing Waltz: I already have a 4-mana 2/2 with Thunder Drake so I'd like to avoid those stats specifically. Actually I just realised that Reborn Siren is a 2/1 for 3 too, maybe the Waltz could just be a 1/3 to tone it down a bit?
Migrating Snowtusk: Yeah, it's the only one from this cycle that gets less agressive when your life total is even which is awkward. I think I need to move the protection ability onto another creature, and keep it as a 6/6 "CARDNAME has defender unless your life total is even".
Dive Deeper: It wasn't for Renaissance, I just liked the idea of being able to have a shrink spell in disguise to protect your serran life for instance. It seems to confuse people though and it's difficult to use. I need a hexproof-granting instant to protect Masterworks but this one might need to be reworked.
Inkborn Hunter: The idea is that it's a 2-mana Hired Blade on the turn you cast it, so it counts as a removal. I'm not super fond of this last ability since once you've cast an Art you might not have the mana to activate the ability. It's meant as a reward for playing the recursion plan with Arts.
New Decadence: So, this cycle of cards need to be really good to steer the set in the right direction, since triggering Renaissance is quite hard. The thing that worries me is that people probably wouldn't play a 2-mana discard one spell. Even at one-mana it's pretty unplayable. I need a way to make this spell worth playing without Renaissance as well.
Heresy: Enchantment sacrifice has been added to the new staple effects of black recently, and I didn't know where to put it so I tried it here but it does feel out of place and could be a two-for-one which I'm not fond of. I'm just not sure where to put that effect.
Cheeky Performer: I'd like to find a way to make it on par with Viashino Pyromancer since aggro currently needs help in the set and is going to face life gain strategies. It's also supposed to be a pay-off for the BRW Suicide Aggro archetype so I need it to specifically care about you losing life to make the archetype recognisable and signal to players that they should try to do that. I was thinking of an attack trigger with a life payment, but I already have Soft-Paw Burglar in that spot and I like him. Otherwise, if she dealt 3 damage instead of two, would that be too much?
Sparks: Yeah, this one is a real puzzle. I would need it to fill many conditions:
- It must be able to target anything, otherwise another card needs to take that role.
- It must be one-mana, to help the Storm archetype (and because the 2-mana burn slot is already taken).
- Ideally it would trigger Renaissance by itself if you're willing to target yourself.
- It must be able to target yourself to trigger the BRW pay-offs cards.
- It must be instant speed, or another card needs to take that role.
Racket: Literally because I was lacking space and needed to have an artifact hate card somewhere in red as part of the staple effects. I'm trying to put those sideboard effects on other more playable cards in this set. But this may be a bit too cute
Reborn Giant: I need those cards to be pretty strong, but yeah this one especially has been a bit difficult to remove for most colours. Maybe two counters is enough, yes.
Scour the Wilds: Ooooh now I see what problem Faiths_Guide is having as well. You two both understood the card as "you must cast a card you discover to fight". Actually, you can totally whiff on the discover part of the spell and still fight. This one might just be too confusing, I'll change it.
Self-Confidence: Yeah, I like the idea of making it an uncommon, especially because I plan to use the +1/+1 counters theme as a secondary theme that only appears at uncommon and rarer.
Restore Beauty: I like the idea of being able to cycle this as long as you have an Art, I need this recusion effect in Green but I was looking for a way to boost it up and that might be it.
Become Divine: Ah yeah, good call.
Iffy Doctor's Kit: I haven't playtested it enough, right now Renaissance is quite hard to trigger so I might leave it this way for now, but I have my eyes on it.
In case you missed it, I did respond to everything as well ^
Bureaucratic stare: Ooooh I understand what you mean now, you're 100% right on this, that's what it's supposed to do.
Spingborn Ent: So I checked and Ent indeed aren't a thing in MTG so the name will change to something more connected to Serra. The illustration might as well actually.
Scour the Wilds: I didn't expect the card to cause interpretation issue, having two people in a row misunderstanding a common is a huge red flag, I'll just kill it.
Migrating Snowtusk: Yeah, I'll try something a bit different. The plan is to move the hexproof to another creature (maybe the Reborn Siren) and make the Snowtusk a 6/6 that has defender unless your life total is even.
Dive Deeper: It seems a bit too divisive to be a common, I'll iron it out so it's clearer when and how to use it.
New Decadence: This card is giving me such a headache xD It's gone through half a hundred versions already. I tried discard one --> two cards but they're unplayable without Renaissance, I tried discard two --> three cards but that's either too strong or useless, I tried two cards --> two cards at random or two cards --> two cards chosen by you but both are quite backbreaking and unfun, I tried to put the enchantment removal as the rider but it's too situational, etc. I feel like I need to try something other than discard maybe. I could have it replace Heresy as the black unconditional spell and change the white member of the cycle from unconditional removal to something else maybe.
Heresy: Yeah, the two-for one makes me nervous at common.
Sparks: I think I need something just a bit stronger as this is both the instant and the "any target" blast of the three mandatory red blast cards. My issue is that it would really be useful if this was one-mana because of the synergies with the BRW Aggro and WUR Storm archetypes.
Self-Confidence: Actually, this might be a good idea for an uncommon, this way I keep the +1/+1 counters-matter theme for uncommon and rarer while just seeding the enablers at common.
Become Divine: It's one of those cards where I tried to put a sideboard card on a reasonably useful card, but I might have overshot a bit. With Self-Confidence gone, I'm going to need an instant pump spell in Green though.
If you're interested in world building though, I could use some help with inventing some names right now, to make the card names feel more branded more easily during playtest. Off the top of my head, some stuff that I kind of wished I had when I made all those names for playtesting would be the following:
• An italian-sounding name for the capital.
• A name for a fantastical forest. It's very big and deep, some parts of it are still a bit wintery but spring is starting to take over in here.
• A name for the religious center of the capital, a hint to the Vatican.
• A name for the neighbouring nation, kind of hostile, doesn't need to sound italian it can be more exotic.
• A italian-sounding name for the shady district of the city where thieves and smugglers meet to trade art, etc.
• A name to describe the event of Serra's Rebirth that brought a Renaissance-like era to the plane. If the name is close enough to "Renaissance", this might be used as the name for the main keyword mechanic. Something along the lines of "The Elder Spell".
• A name for the big carnival-like celebration in honour of the new spring. Something along the line of "Mardi Gras", or "Christmas".
- Capital - "Muvera" as a spinoff of primavera (spring, springtime)?
- Forest - "Prando" or "Prondae" mixing up Italian words for big and deep?
- Religious Center - "Dottra" to relate to the Italian doctrine.
- Neighbor Nation - "Sovraz" an abbreviation of the Slovenian word for hostile.
- Shady District - "Lobro" melding losco and ombroso. Reminds me of lowbrow too!
- Event Name - "Reincence?" "Rebinance?"
- Celebration Name - "Venala" to combine carnevale and Venice?
The spellings could all be made to look more like English approximations. We could also further the extrapolation if we don't want anything to be too recognizable.- Muvera: I like the Vera root which refers to green, it also reminds me of the root for "moving" which would fit a changing city. I think it would also work well with the forest.
- Prando: It immediately makes me think of prandiale which refers to meals. It sounds a bit too much like a real name I think, there are people in Italy who are called Prando. I like the idea of mixing big and deep (don't take this one out of context) but losing the g of grande makes it hardly recognizable to me.
- Dottra: I really like this one, it's sharp and it sounds important.
- Sovraz: Hahaha you went for an actual neighbouring country, that was pretty clever xD I like it, you really feel the eastern influence in the consonant, and I feel it sounds a bit ominous.
- Lobro: I really like the assonance in o which makes it sound really dark with an italian accent. I think I'd put two Bs just so the first O is longer and lower (Lobbro). Trying it without the L could also be interesting (Obbro), this way it's even more reminiscent of the word Ombra (shadow) and start like the word Obbrobrio (disgrace) which is fitting for thieves.
- Reincence/Rebinance: Reincence would be quite hard to pronounce and Rebinance looks more French to me. This one is definitely the most difficult of the list, it's entirely possible we won't find a good option, but if we do it would be really cool.
- Venala: It sounds good, though I wish it was a bit more evocative of its roots. It's also really close to the word Venale (Venal in english) which means corrupted by money.
Your feedback is always so great! Maybe I'll take a stab at a few of them again at some point.
I do worry that names like "Muvera" might be troublesome for English speakers (especially Americans) to correctly pronounce. The words I based it on, and the Italian way to pronounce it, would be "Muh-Vair-uh" and it could be misread "Muh-Ver-uh." Things like these might be cause to cleverly change the spellings for clarity sake.
In English it is the difference between the words HER and AIR.
Here's an example = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeEvcwh2-Rk