A realms-based set (IDEA DRAFTING STAGE)

edited July 2019 in Custom Card Sets
So, what if we make a set based around the different "heights" of existence on a plane, combined with the colour exclusion of the likes of Alara?

Let me explain. We base cards around the Yore-coloured Skies, Ink-coloured Mountains, Dune-coloured Jungles, Witch-coloured Oceans and the Glint-coloured Ocean Floor. Each realm excluding a colour. Each realm in own. Of course, we could have cards that transcend or cross these realms, which would make for conflict in gameplay and story. Let's figure out some flavour!


SKIES

image

Non-green soarment! Birds should be featured very prominantely, probably making up most of the creatures, but options such as bats or sphinxes also exist. Flying and unblockability are the themes, with diverse undercurrents. Iconic 2-drop:

image


MOUNTAINTOPS

image

The mountaintops exclude the material black in favour of soul delving. This should include the most sentient creatures out of any of the realms, but still have a lot of elementals, beasts e.t.c. They should always be at odds with the skies above, them both being white highlighting how not everyone's ideas of what's right and what's wrong are aligned. Iconic 2-drop:

image


JUNGLE

image

LORE: The monks originated in these non-blue jungles before being driven out of there by giants, who subsequently went extinct allowing nature to reclaim all. Ruins of both monk and giant civilisation should be literred everywhere, reminding everyone about this past. Gameplay-wise, I would like to epitomise +1/+1 counters and combat tricks. Iconic 2-drop:

image


COAST AND SEA SURFACE

image

Without the aggresive red element, we can focuse on the long and combo-y defensive elements of Magic. Mill from afar and protecting yourself with bug defender creatures is the main theme, but we can have anything we want really that isn't obliged by red to be fast-paced. Iconic 2-drop:

image


THE ABYSSOPELAGIC (SEA FLOOR)

image

Under the sea, it would be logical to embrace the true chaos that is sorely lacking in magic. We will make this all about surprises, just as the abbysal creatures always surprise those that live in the other realms in ways they find to corrupt the above. The Hunt mechanic should unify it all. Iconic 2-drop:

image


Dang, Hiro, that sounds marvy! How can I lend a hand?

First of all, don't talk like that. Second of all,

1. Submit card ideas, and perhaps models. It's pretty early on in development, so I will probably accept anything that is at least somewhat balanced and formatted correctly.

2. Help me write the lore! As of the posting of this discussion, I have nothing planned except what I said in the post, so anything that doesn't contradict that is fair game.

3. Criticise! I am always open to criticism, as long as it is constructive.

Happy smithing!

Comments

  • This honestly sounds amazing. I’ll try to help.
  • edited July 2019
    I'd say sky and mountaintop should be swapped in color, simply because green on its own never flies, which seems likely to be a recurring theme for skies. In addition, I'd argue green would be more likely to participate in soul searching than black, if that's any level of support to my suggestion.
  • Okay, let me switcharooney that around real quick
  • @kandra127 @Lujikul

    Now that I think about it, this enables much more bats and insects to be had...

    You two are great help already! :D
  • That's a cool concept! But it's a bit hard to convey, I'm not sure I would get the concept just by looking at the cards as they would just look like a regular variety of creatures. Ideally you would need something to highlight the five vertical layers mechanically.

    If you're thinking of tribes, you should probably make them at least two-coloured. Otherwise, you get very little flexibility gameplay-wise as each colour is going to feel very segregated from the others.

    I'm not super convinced a priori about Black being about sea floor, I don't think you'll get that many illustrations and every creature is going to feel very redundant. Maybe caves have a bit more material to play with?

    White being i the Skies might create some issues, what's your plan to avoid literally all creatures in White having flying (if you don't want White to be completely unbeatable, you can't really have more than 4 common creatures with flying).
  • @ningyounk

    Thanks for taking interest!

    As for tribes, aside from Bird and Fish, I guess, I don't really plan on making that a theme. What do you think, team? (@Lujikul @kandra127)

    I actually sorta agree with you for the Abyssopelagic... We could diversify it with jellyfish? Then again, it is supposed to be a writhing homogenous void, so I don't think redundancy would be a problem. It's just multiplication.
    BUT, if all else fails, I'll go with your cave idea. Thanks for the submisiion! :)

    Remember, white is only 1/4 of the skies. And if we give roughly 40 cards for every realm, that's still only 4 or 5 common white fliers. And I mean, flying islands are always an option :/ .

    If anything like that pops up again, would you be interested in becoming part of the team™?
  • edited July 2019
    Oh my bad, I didn't realize they were four-couloured realms, it really looked like they were monocoloured x)
    I always like to take a look at other people's sets ;) But I can't really involve myself too heavily because of time constraints ^^
  • I have an idea to get us off the ground! How about we break each 4-colour combo into 2 ally pairs, then make a {1}{a}{b} creature for each?
  • @kandra127 @Lujikul

    image

    How about this one to begin? It's hard to enable, but I'm sure we could build a combo around this?
This discussion has been closed.