Rezatta, the life-matters Renaissance plane — SET DESIGN PHASE

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  • @LordTachanka123 ;
    Nope, we haven't really talked about fencing much, is it something you associate with Renaissance? We could totally make a few cards about it ^^

    Brave Duelist is a bit much for a common, the combination of first strike and lifelink on a 2-powered creature is quite potent for just 2 mana, it's difficult to block while every swing that goes through creates a 4-life swing (especially potent with Renaisssance).

    I think the easiest way to implement some fencing is to look for cards already in the set that could fit the flavour.
  • Thanks, didn't know about the class!
  • And yeah, I do associate fencing with the Renaissance, but not too much.I was wondering about the rarity.Thanks alot!
  • Not going to comment about this too much, but knight of ribbons could easily be changed into a fencer just by changing the art.
  • And on the topic of flyers, are angels going to be in this set?
  • I'm guessing so, as you want Serra's church to be here.
  • edited April 2020
    @LordTachanka123
    Yeap, Angels are part of the plan, they should be a bit more prevalent than in other sets as there's a whole theme about the Church of Serra, but mechanically they shouldn't be anything major, similar to how they're handled on Innistrad or Dominaria for instance. Maybe we'll get an Angel lord at higher rarity if we have any idea for a cool design but that's about it.



    Since the theme of the Church of Serra is tied to the mechanic of serran life, I'd like to extend them to black in the same way Innistrad has red angels. They're a bit of a harder sell for Green as big flyiers though. I had one white and one black angel at common to seed the theme:

     


  • Would it be balanced if we gave the Hopebringer Phylsian Serran lifelink instead of improving a creature? Maybe make it a 2/3 with that?
  • Can I know what Serran Lifelink is?
    I'm an idiot.
  • And are they going to be similar to the old Serra cards?
    And is Serra herself going to be referenced?
    Or has she turned into a more abstract idea?
    Questions galore!
  • So, the set introduces Serran Life, a special life score that you can spend 2 of to add one mana of any colour. Serran Lifelink isn't keyworded, but is a concept.
  • Oh!
    I din't know we that we changed it from psylian.
  • Why do you think I made a crossed out reference?
  • Srry, im an idiot.
  • edited April 2020
    LordTachanka123

    Don't worry, it's just that "psylian life" was a code name I invented based on "phyrexian mana" (it's kind of the mirror mechanic) but I wanted something a bit more flavourful for the set. After talking about how the pillars of the Church of Serra was a really perfect fit for the Renaissance theme (its four virtues are art, freedom, discourse and peace), it hit me that the flavour of psylian life could be linked to the Church of Serra so I made a switch to "serran life" — I'm pretty satisfied with how it sounds, personally — but it's not mentioned anywhere in the introduction yet. 
    Hence, serran lifelink is a pet name (not actually keyworded) we give to the ability where a creature has lifelink except it gives you serran life instead.

    The story is still super fuzzy, but yes, Renaissance means rebirth so, in my head, I was thinking we could have the rebirth of Serra as a regular planeswalker be a major plot point. This means she would get her a card, similar to her card in Modern Horizons (though I was thinking something that mechanically cares about life instead of flyiers, maybe she has a static ability with "If you would gain life, you gain that much serran life instead" or something like that): 


    KorandAngels

    Serran lifelink is really potent because you leave the possibility of growing the creature and getting a lot of life and therefore a lot of mana. We need to be careful at common, especially in White which is not supposed to have too much ramp. That's why I think we should wait for uncommon before we use Serran lifelink.
  • I also wanted to ask, and I know this isn't super important, but from what I've heard the church is lead by a collective.
    Are they each getting individual cards?
  • edited April 2020

    Just something I made while we were discussing Serra. I realize now that 3 mana is a little much.Probably should have gone with 2.
  • @LordTachanka123
    For the collective, I believe the Church of Serra has multiple branches and not all of them have the same organisation, so we're free to create a new version of the Church of Serra with its own hierarchy. But yes, having one white, one green and one black card to represent high-ranked priests might be a cool way to convey the difference in how each colour applies the principles of Serra, for instance.

    The land is cool, definitely a bit pushed on the numbers, but it's also a bit too niche I think. We probably won't have that many Angels and Clerics, though we can get back to it once we have a better understanding of the supported themes at higher rarities. I really like the idea of caring about both Angels and Clerics though, we can definitely use that on a less niche design.
  • Oh, and by the way, how are we going to represent the rebirth on any Serra card we make?

  • Just an idea for a green angel.
  • LordTachanka123
    To represent the Rebirth of Serra, we need to get a good idea for how it actually happens in the plot, but it would definitely get a card depicting it, similar to "The Elder Spell" in War of the Spark for instance: 


    I'm not super keen on going with actual green flying angels, that's a pretty big break of the colour pie, but one they've already made a few times when it was part of a cycle (namely, Dragons of Tarkir and its green dragons are he biggest offenders here.) I'd still be interested in exploring either only clerics or non-flying angels in green before resolving to use actual big green flyiers.

       

  • Just another idea.
  • edited April 2020
    Random opinion needed, do you think this is too strong for common? (Haven't playtested it yet and having a hard time evaluating it a priori):



    EDIT: Here are some similar cards for reference:

  • Slightly.Maybe take away haste or make it +1 instead? 
  • And question, are humans the only humanoid race?
  • @ningyounk

    It definitely seems too powerful for common. I think it should cost 2RRR or 5R.
  • edited April 2020
    shadow123 @LordTachanka123
    Yeaaaah you're right it's a bit much xD I don't want to make it so expensive that it's unplayable, I'll just change the concept ^^

    @LordTachanka123 
    No, any humanoid race is fair game. Because we can't commission our own illustrations, we can be a bit looser on the diversity of races on the plane. We know we have gorgons (because they make statues), sirens (because they sing), humans, I've also been trying faeries, shamans (as Jesters, for the carnival theme), angels and clerics (for the Church of Serra theme).
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