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Music-Themed Enlightenment Based Set- EXPLORATORY DESIGN PHASE
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-About the symbol: sorry if I made it seem like there was a fixed set symbol! I'm happy to branch out and see what you have to offer!
-About the edits: I'll make those shortly and post them on here.
-About the cards: Thanks so much for saying that! It's what I needed to hear!
-About Volcanic Shards: I kind of wanted to make the lightning bolt-spell a common, so maybe we can make it a sorcery? Like what they did for skewer the critics. This seems fairly balanced I think...
Overall, this feels like it's really coming along!
This seems like a point where some sets might dwindle out, maybe return after a month with some new concepts, but I would personally like to keep on pushing ahead if we can. As a next step, I think it would be good to fix how many cards of each mechanic are going into each color, based on the general feel of the plane and the story line.
Here is the current plan for the entire set (Note: I am currently using the Rezatta design skeleton, and one that has been used many times throughout history, but this can be changed if there is a good reason.)
-101 commons (19 of each color, 5 artifacts, and 1 nonbasic land. )
-80 uncommons (11 of each color, 15 multicolored, 9 artifacts, and 1 nonbasic land.)
-53 rares (7 of each color, 10 multicolored, 3 artifacts, and 5 nonbasic lands.)
-15 mythic rares (3 of each color)
The entire set will include 249 cards, not including the two copies of each basic land type.
Thoughs?
@LordTachanka123 I have also been thinking about this, and I think we can just work that out when we get to the mythics, based on the general "feel" of the cards in the set at that point.
Common - 1 cycle
Uncommon - 1 cycle, 4 standalone (I'd probably make one or two of those equipments)
Rare - 3 standalone (probably one equipment)
Your multicolors (could potentially) equate to:
Uncommon - 1 cycle of dual colors (10 cards), 2 (additional) GW (with the cycle, it's 3 total), and 3 Grixis
Rare - 4 GW, 2 Grixis, 1 hybrid GW, 3 hybrid Grixis (1 in each combination, UR, UB, BR)
Mythic - ???
For mythic maybe do 16 cards, have 250 cards in total, and do it like this:
- 10 Monocolored
- 6 dual crossovers ([UW, UG,] [RW, RG,] [BW, BG])
(the crossovers blend each Grixis color with both Selesnya colors)
What do you think about this?
I like just about everything I see here. About the mythics, that certainly seems like a good possibility, and we'll assume that's what we're doing for now, but we might end up changing it up a little based on the overall design of the cards at that point.
The single cycle of duel colored multicolored uncommons is probably going to be the most important cycle in the entire set, as it will clearly define the archetypes. I like the way you had this cycle alongside the other ones reflecting our factions.
What if you called this a "Soothe Counter"? Music soothes the savage beast, after all.
My idea of a "harmony counter" (or Soothe Counter?) is that it functions like a +1/+1 counter, and you can buff your own creatures, but if you cause three or more Soothe Counters to be put on an opponent's creature (like with Proliferate or with this Cantor's activated ability, etc), you gain control of that opponent's creature. Flavor-wise, the creature appreciates that you're singing to it (and buffing it up) instead of trying to kill it, so after a while, it decides to switch to your team!
Sorry for stepping on your toes, if this goes against what you're looking for. I'm a total newb, and my heart's in the right place
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/charismatic-cantor
Additionally, you could have an entire tribe of Singers (Human, Elf, whatever) who can synergize with each other by putting Soothe counters on each other, or maybe some "choir" cards could give a 0/+1 to all Singers you control, or something
Unfortunately, we are pretty packed full of mechanics at the moment, so I'm not sure we would have much room for something like this. While I like the concept, I want to have a balance of new things vs old things so that no one is confused. To many mechanics would result in less fun game play, because people could get confused.
Again, I want to stress that it's not because I don't like your mechanic. I honestly think it's pretty cool, the utility, ect. We're just a little crammed with mechanics at the moment, and I want to provide a balanced experience for the players. Thanks again anyway!
If you're ever looking for help with music theory and other music flavor-related stuff, I'm happy to assist.
Encore [Cost] (If you cast this spell for its encore cost, exile it and you can’t cast any other spells this turn. When you do, at the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
While the original Encore is pretty straightforward, this seems like it would take a lot of rulings and stuff, whereas we wanted to balance it with the other mechanics as much as possible. That said, it does seem to fit the name "Encore" better, so it is not completely thrown out of the bus, just unlikely. Thanks anyway!
Encore [Cost] (If you cast this spell for its encore cost from your hand, exile it as it resolves, and you can’t cast any other spells this turn. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
A couple changes to the mechanic for completeness:
- It only works when you cast it from your hand. This is like trying to overload Cyclonic Rift from your graveyard (with flashback gained via some means): you can't.
- You only can't cast any other spells only after the spell resolves. This still allows you to react to your opponents when needed, and removes the "feels-bad" if you opponent counters it.
The complexity of the mechanic is a bit high, but given that Mutate is quite complex but still appears at common, that wouldn't be my biggest concern.
What I would be worried about is the variety of effects you can have on this card. Looking at the storm scale of Rebound, it's quite high (at 3) and is rather popular, but it only had a medium design space and created memory issues. With the current Encore, it seems like it will perform more poorly in these aspects, so it will require some extra care.
We use the examples from before to illustrate the difference:
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Volcanic Shards
Sorcery
2R
CARDNAME deals 3 damage to any target.
Encore 3R
---
The Encore cost got bumped significantly, since you get to deal 3 + 3 damage. Note this is different from 6 damage since it is over 2 turns so the creature gets to heal.
---
Sickening Knowledge
Sorcery
1U
Return up to one target creature to its owner's hand.
Encore 4UU
---
When cast for its Encore cost, it bounces two creatures. The last time we saw blue bouncing two creatures was Floodwaters from Amonkhet, and it already cost 6 mana. Notice I removed the "draw a card" clause, since that is probably too powerful for common.
---
Flight in the Night
Instant
1B
Sacrifice target creature you control. Put that card onto the battlefield under you control at the beginning of the next end step. If you cast this spell for its Encore cost, it enters with two additional +1/+1 counters on it.
Encore 3BB
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I changed the wording a bit using Teferi's Time Twist for reference. I also changed "exile" to "sacrifice". This fits black more nicely and shouldn't affect the discussion on Encore.
When you cast the spell for its Encore cost, you get the "if cast for Encore" bonus. This means the first creature returns with the +1/+1 counters. However, when you cast it for the second time, you are casting it from exile and are not paying the Encore cost, so a) the creature disappears for the whole turn, and b) it returns with no counters.
All in all, the mechanic is quite interesting, but should be handled rather carefully.
I'll remake the cards and post them on here later to see how this kind of thing turns out on cards. I do understand why we have to be careful, because this is effectively doubles the spells' effects. Anyway, like I said, I really love this version after some thought, and I think it should be fun to experiment with throughout the process. Thanks!
One small issue is the fact that this puts a ton of text on commons. Maybe the reminder text just isn't necessary?
a) People know rebound, so you wouldn't need the reminder text most of the time.
b) It's less reminder text anyway, and it's simpler overall.
c) It's an old mechanic, giving you two old ones and two new ones, which I think is a better balance, and less crammed.
d) It's thematically sound, since rebound kinda fits in pretty well with musical stuff like harmonize and compose.
A spell that says "Harmonize. Draw a card." and then has rebound.