Operation: First Card Drawn

edited September 2019 in Custom Card Sets
Hello,
I have a weird set idea that I want to see real quick if this has any merit. It is a set where the importance is in the first card you draw.

I have set up the colors to have a mechanic that allows them to set the top card of they're library:

White: Forecast
Blue: Scry
Black: Surveil, black's version of scry and a mechanic that fits well, especially if we put in stuff like clear the mind.
Red: Ripple
Green: Fatechange: look at the top N cards of your library, put one on top and the rest on the bottom.

I also have two mechanics that would go well in this:
Miracle: first card matters? Miracle.
Some sort of revealing mechanic on permanaets, where you can reveal the first card you draw a turn to get a boost.

Please tell me that this has merit before I go writing up set skeletons and all that.

Comments

  • Right, here's some feedback:

    White - Card draw is something that has to be trod around carefully in white. One of the color's biggest weaknesses is that it can't draw lots of cards. Consistent card draw on lots of different cards isn't really part of white's color pie, so I'd personally recommend that you find something else for this to be or find a clever way to execute it.

    Blue - Fateseal is a trainwreck of a mechanic. Use it if you really want to, but be acutely aware of how easily it breaks as you do so. Also, the suggestion that seems to be here of not giving blue card draw and counterspells might be a bad idea.

    Black - Surveil seems like a good choice for the theme and idea. Try not to go overboard with the graveyard effects that surveil feeds and it should be ok.

    Red - Fatechange doesn't seem very red. That sort of card selection is primarily blue with a niche in green. This certainly needs rethinking.

    Green - Scry really doesn't appear much in green, but it can probably be made to work. Be careful with it.

    Other Mechanics - Miracle seems like a good mechanic to use in terms of the theme. It has its issues, but that doesn't matter too much. Just don't go overboard and put it on too many cards.

    The mechanic of revealing the first card you draw each turn reminds me of Keranos and how he gives you a bonus for revealing your first draw each turn. Depending on how you intend to execute it (do you look at the card yourself and then choose if you want to reveal or do you reveal it before you draw it and know what it is? It should probably be the second) then you should remember that that really isn't too much of a cost and should only grant very minor effects.
  • Hi @MemoryHead!

    I know that fateseal was a bad mechanic, but I thought it was from it being to powerful, and that's why I took away blue's draw and counter capabilities. I've retooled the ability coverage:

    White: Forecast
    Blue: Scry, and anything else it usually does
    Black: Surveil
    Red: Ripple
    Green: Fatechange

    Hopefully this looks better, thanks for the feedback!
  • Fatechange in green will have to be carefully limited and might have to be changed slightly (the only card selection akin to it are cards where you look at the top N cards of your library, put one card of a specific type (typically a creature or a land) into your hand and the rest on the bottom).

    Ripple is far more fitting to red, though it's a mechanic that has to be treated with caution as it can easily either get out of hand or become boring and generic.

    Forecast in white seems like a good one, actually. I like it.
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