What would you guys think about this as a future plane?

edited June 2017 in MTG Gameplay Chat
I had this idea stirring in my head for some time and I need some outside opinions.

The idea was inspired by a multi-part episode src in Star Trek: Voyager. For a setting on the inspiration, the Voyager crew encounter the wreck of a destroyed Borg Armada and as they travel through Borg space they encounter species 8472. A temporary alliance is made with the Borg in exchange for safe passage by developing weapons to help fight species 8472.

Essentially I think of the Phyrexians to be sharing some traits of the Borg. And the Eldrazi are a powerful race from another dimension similar to 8472.

The plot, the Planeswalkers enter a plane where the Phyrexians and the Eldrazi are in a heated war against each other. The war is devastating the plane and the native races of the plane are fearful it will destroy their home and make it uninhabitable. The Planeswalkers need to choose which of the two Evils do they side with to remove the other from the plane for a quick end of the war. Phyrexia or the Eldrazi?

Likely depending on which Planeswalkers enter the scene there might be some heated disputes on which side to take and it might pin some of the Planeswalkers who disagree with each other against one another. Which side will win the war and what will be the fate of the native races of that plane?

Returning Mechanics: Annihilator, Devoid, Infect, Ingest

New Mechanics: ?

Native Races: ?

Races on the Plane: Eldrazi, (insert Phyrexian races here), (native races here)

Visiting Planeswalkers: ?


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So first off what are your thoughts on this plot idea and how can we make this plane idea work enough to maybe be a suggestion worth considering? I want to someday pass this idea along to Wizards of the Coast.

Comments

  • This would be extremely difficult to design. Eldrazi are already tricky mechanic to add, because you expect them to be big, and it's not easy to add extra slots for big creatures as it slows down the environment of the set. (Side note: Annihilator is awful and unfun mechanic that looks good on paper but is terribly changing the game for both sides of the table.)

    Phyrexians are a different problem. Infect already bred one viable archetype for constructed, that tells you something about the power level of the mechanic. Phyrexians are heavily twisting the color pie, which, along the colorless Eldrazi would suffer greatly.

    This brings me to the next problem – what mechanics do you want for white? White is the least Phyrexian and the least Eldrazi colour and it still has to have the same amount of cards with mechanics as the other colours.

    Flavourfully speaking, it would be interesting to see a fight between Eldrazi and the Phyrexians, but it would also be incredibly hard to transform this idea into a full functional set.
  • In a fight between Eldrazi and Phyrexians, Phyrexians will win every time. Because they can phyrexianize eldrazi.
  • Any set bringing back annihilator will be a mechanical failure.
  • ...And what if the plane was Alara and Progenitus and Ugin and Nicol Bolas succumbed to the phyresis before being eaten by Emrakul! Of course!

    Prugin-Bolrakul, Compleated
    Legendary artifact creature - Hydra Avatar Dragon Eldrazi Horror
    {20}
    20/20

    Infect, protection from everything, annihilator 6

    Prugin-Bolrakul, Compleated enters the battlefield with 13 loyalty counters.

    Put 3 loyalty counters on Prugin-Bolrakul, Compleated: Destroy target noncreature permanent and deal 3 damage to target creature or player.

    Remove 2 loyalty counters from Prugin-Bolrakul, Compleated: Gain control of target creature and exile all colored permanents with cmc 2 or less.

    Remove 10 loyalty counters from Prugin-Bolrakul, Compleated: Target opponent loses 7 life, discards 7 cards, and sacrifices 7 permanents. You gain 7 life, draw 7 cards, and may put up to 7 permanent cards from your hand onto the battlefield.

    If Prugin-Bolrakul, Compleated would leave the battlefield, shuffle it into your library instead.

    "The Soul of the World returned, died fighting two Elder dragons, got fused with an extraplanar god, and turned into an evil robot"
  • @Gelectrode That reminds me of a joke my friends and I made, where the Gatewatch died to Bolas, where revived by Liliana, then eldrazi-fied by Emrakul and compleated, resulting in a Zombie-Eldrazi-Phyrexia-Jace card, who looke even edgier than Jace, Memory Adept
  • @Brainifier
    Jace Beleren, Unraveler of Living Telepath Memory Mind Architect of Thought Sculpting Adept Unbound Guildpact Secrets!
  • I do like the idea, but I think it would be prudent to leave out both Infect and Annihilator, because they are both the opposite of fun.
  • @modnation675 No, its just whiny people who can't handle annihilators that say that.
  • edited June 2017
    @sanjaya666
    As someone who made an Annihilator deck, I'll put it bluntly. Annihilator is one of the most OP mechanics. After three or four triggers, your opponent's battlefield is GONE. If you need further proof, play a few rounds of modern against decks where the goal is to slam Emrakul as fast as possible.
  • edited June 2017
    @Lujikul

    Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, etc.

    For the new Emrakul, or the old too: Suspension Field, Mangara of Corondor, Oblivion Ring, Imprisoned in the Moon, etc.
  • @sanjaya666
    First off, almost all of that is white. Secondly, I'm sure that most of that doesn't even touch the old Emrakul.
  • edited June 2017
    @Lujikul Yes they would.
  • @Lujikul So, white is banned or what?
  • @sanjaya666 The point is that when the only answer to any annihilator is to remove it immediately, the mechanic can't be healthy.
  • @Brainifyer Or use Ensnaring Bridge.
  • We second that, brainifyer!
  • @sanjaya666
    Have fun keeping it for longer than three or four turns.
  • edited June 2017
    @Lujikul To get another removals. And to win the game.
  • @sanjaya666 Annihilator is bonkers especially in limited, where there isn't much removal for creature as big as Eldrazi. It destroys the whole game in few turns, and "dies to removal" has never been a valid argument – everything dies to removal.

    More on Annihilator here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/storm-scale-zendikar-and-battle-zendikar-2016-11-21
  • It's kinda weird that this turned into an argument about annihilator. (Regardless of its power, I argue against it because it's too anti-fun.)

    @Mellenius , I see a couple problems, some of which some others have already pointed out.

    1. The first is that your color pie will be totally screwy, almost ridiculously. Colorlessness plus the weird color bends of Phyrexian will not synergize well. And as Flatfish said, white will be an issue.
    2. Another problem is art. Phyrexians and Eldrazi both have very specific art styles that you're not going to find many examples of, and next to none of them fighting each other.
    3. Also, much like the original Voyager episode, the story here isn't really a choice. The Eldrazi aren't sentient/interested enough to form alliances with Planeswalkers. They'd have to go with the Phyrexians, which they probably wouldn't since the Phyrexians are hands-down more evil than the Borg and both choices still mean death for the natives. In reality, anyone who came to this horrible plane would just leave again rather than get involved.
    4. This also just a concept that sounds neat conceptually but couldn't work mechanically. Infect decks want to be fast, while Eldrazi decks are naturally slow. They won't play well together. Unless you push for the faster "colorless-matters" Eldrazi of BFZ, in which case you'll have a rough time balancing the limited format.
  • The art is the biggest problem. Obviously you would switch the mechanics but that's not that hard at this stage :p
This discussion has been closed.