Do my mechanics look like they work together???

Hello, I'm currently trying to create a set based on a mixture of the age of exploration and steampunk. So fare, everything I've done is in my notebook. I was just wondering if my mechanics made any sense and seemed fun. I used a lot, but things like charge counters and coin flipping are very simple.

Themes:
1. Artifacts
2. Counters

Mechanic One: Discover
In the story, a new land has been discovered. The residents of the old world are locked in a battle of wits to create a skyship that can survive the jouney (continents are floating islands above the abyss). I made this mechanic to represent the discoveries of new technology that the factions are taking as they try to build there ships.

Discover X (Look at the top X cards of your library. Choose one. If it is a land, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it on top of your library. Put the rest on the bottom of your library).


Mechanic Two: Vechiles
This is necessary for obvious reasons.


Mechanic Three: Fabricate
One of the major factions is the assembly line and toy makers. They build all sorts of servos and junk, so the servo part makes sense. The people of the scrapyard use all sorts of parts, hence the +1/+1 counters. If you have a better idea for a mechanic, please tell me.

Mechanic Four: Level Up
I'm taking a new approach on this mechanic. It is used to create mutants, as they change and mutate. Used by the scientific faction. Level up will also appear on artifacts. This way you can assemble them as the game goes.

Mechanic Five: Charge Counters
I thought is made sense in a steampunk world.

Mechanic Six: Coin Flipping
Made inventors are building their ships by smashing parts together, and sending them on their maiden voyage without any testing. Their goal is the accidentally make something amazing. Hence, coin flipping.

Comments

  • edited December 2017
    If you're doing an exploration/steampunk world, my first advice is to try to aim as far away as you can from Kaladesh ^^ What differenciates your world from Kaladesh?

    Notably, using Vehicles and Fabricate in the same set is probably a no-go, I don't think they would even do that for a Return to Kaladesh because it would be too close to Kaladesh even for a Kaladesh II set x) Same warning for the Charge counters, Energy was first designed as Charge counters, so they have a very similar feel gameplaywise.

    From a more general point of view, five returning mechanics out of six seems a little high — and the only new mechanic "Discover" is really close to "Explore" — especially for a custom set which you often expect to be more daring.

    Discover is really wordy at 39 words (a mechanic is considered wordier than usual after 22 words). Revealing the cards instead of looking at them before choosing one could save you some words ^^

    About randomness (coin flipping), take into consideration that it really antagonizes some players (they don't want the winner of the Pro Tour to be decided on a coin flip.) Unstable gave us a lot of lessons on how to do randomness correctly, notably that it feels better when you know what you're going to get and the only thing that changes is the range of the effect.

    Otherwise, I don't see any hole in your mechanics ^^ They feel diversified, you seem to have a good mix of keyword abilities, keyword actions, just themes, etc. Discover smoothes card drawing which is always good to have, Level Up is an excellent mana sink, fabricate, vehicles, charge counters and coin flipping can be used by different types of strategy from Aggro to Control though they push the set towards a slower midrang-y environment.

    I am having trouble identifying the "heart" of your set. What's new and exciting mechanically? The new Level Up treatment? What's the core of the set?
  • Yeah, I removed coin flipping.
    I'm still trying to think of what to replace fabricate with (as I do have a token and +1/+1 counter theme).
    I added an assembly-worker theme that functions similar to rebels.
    I still don't know what the face mechanic should be, though I think it should be about racing. As the set is one big race to the New Land.
  • @Tigersol The Level Up frame could represent the racing aspect through a new mechanic that uses the same frame? It is flashy enough to be the heart of a set ^^

    Here are two basic examples, but the possibilities are endless:

    image


    image
  • @ningyounk
    Oh my gosh!! Thank you!! That is a great idea!!!
This discussion has been closed.