Refining Collapse?

Heya everyone! It's Dragoon here!

So as some of you may know, I've been working on a mega-set for quite a while now (basically just two sets mashed together under the guise of one because story). It's currently at a total of 467 cards. I'm at the point where I'm mainly looking to refine it, and try to actually balance in color-wise, creature-wise, card-type wise, etc. 

I've got a spreadsheet of my own detailing all of the specifics of the set like color matched to rarity, creature types matched to color, etc. But I really am struggling especially in the realm of noncreatures and non-legendary creatures (as one of the focuses of the set is legendary creatures).

Anyways, I started this thread for a couple reasons.

1. To ask anyone who is interested to check out the set and see if you notice:
       a. blatant balancing problems
       b. lack of card variation
       c. lack of creative vision
       d. anything else
2. To ask anyone who is interested to check out the set and find some cards you really enjoy!
3. To ask anyone who is interested to check out the set and find some characters you'd like to see a little bit more of (so if I have to make more cards, I can work in who should be in them flavorfully).
4. To ask anyone who is interested to try and make viable deck lists from the set.

I realize this is a ton to ask since it's 467 cards atm, so like I said, it's only if you're genuinely interested in checking it out, and take it all at your own pace (I'm at college atm so I don't have much free time anyways). Also, if you do any of these, please don't try to do all of them cause that's a lot! Thanks so much for any help anyone gives! I really hope to wrap this project up entirely by the end of the year.

Here's the set (it's arranged by rarity, then color):
https://mtgcardsmith.com/user/RohanDragoon/sets/44933

Cheers!
Dragoon

Comments

  • Well, you know what they say.
    The skeleton of a set is in the commons! 
  • @LordTachanka123
    Haha welp I guess my set is a blob-fish then hahahahahaha
  • edited September 2020
    In general, you definitely need to cut down on the amount of tribal things and big clunky 3-color legends (5< mana is clunky). There's so many big clunky cards that I'd say you have to alter most of the cards to be less cmc and color intensive. I'll attempt to only mention the designs that are broken, but also changes that you could make to non-clunky designs.

    Thoughts on the first 10 pages of cards:

    • Kroen could safely be a 5 mana 5/5; exiling half your permanents and possibly also benefitting your opponent isn't worth that stat line.
    • Live on in Memory could safely be 3 mana and a rare.
    • Beholden to Wonder seems like a rare.
    • Kroen's Reanchoring is a strange and bad card, particularly with how expensive it is, and how rather unfun the Legendary Sorcery/Instant mechanic was. I'd suggest replacing it entirely.
    • Make Planar Collapse's alternate cost {2}{U}; it could be too powerful in both modern and particularly legacy.
    • Dishonored Ronin could safely be an uncommon or rare 4/2.
    • Sancrocsanctity should be 7 mana; it's REALLY powerful with rainbow lands.
    • Vornang could be a six mana 6/5 with flying.
    • Foreboding Fate could be {3}{B}{U}; Advisors would need some serious firepower.
    • Mehou could be a 3/2.
    • Zehon's mechanic, Inner Peace, doesn't need text for "Equipments you don't control", since there's only 1~ equipment in the game that can equip to an opponents creatures.
    • Myga should be replaced by a different, non 3-color card since it goes infinite with sac outlets.
    • Dahakaal is... suprisingly complicated and I'd cut it. A simple piece of text like "This card doesn't trigger the abilities of permanents" is immensely strange and a probable rules headache. It's also just a one-sided Rakdos.
    • Ghmun could be a {1}{B}{G}{U} 4/3 with a 3 mana ability.
    • Misform Dracolich, Reckoning Unknown, and almost all of the cards on page 3 are all big, clunky legendary creature cards.
    • Tajsek feels less like a planeswalker and more like a tech card; I'd recommend having the +1 target any land, and changing the -3.
    • Shini shouldn't be supporting tokens with a +1 like theirs.
    • Gayu is significantly underpowered, and could frankly be replaced.
    • Evara seems insanely broken; free 3/3's every turn, a -3 that cheats in an Omniscience, and a -10 that practically wins the game for 4 mana.
    • Gnikuni's -12 feels like an un-card and is a headache to work out.
    • Sacred Tree Khatimel is a rainbow land with indestructible, hexproof and upsides. Very, very broken.
    • Mi Ogi should definitely be 5 mana for how good it is in commander.
    • Lines like Gliffusang's "Whenever X becomes blocked by a creature with reach..." should not be printed on any card in a long time; it's like why abilities such as "Tap to remove abilities" don't get printed; they are too situational and read like flavor text.
    • New Moon of Amsu could cost 1 mana. 
    • Spark Synth is significantly underpowered, compare to Oath of Gideon.
    • Maelia could be a 3/3.
    • Spirit Tide could be printed without the Spirit restriction for making it non-legendary, and as an Instant.
    • Advantageous Alliance could be 4 mana.
    • Mistcloaked Silencer is BROKEN. It puts Flametounge Kavu and Chupacabra to shame, not only in being a 4/2 / destroying something, but also destroying Planeswalkers, having flash and in preventing death triggers. 5 mana 3/3 maybe?
    • Rot seems awfully efficent; I'd suggest removing the second ability and replacing it with a minor ability.
    • Prophecy of Kaimdo could be 2 mana.
    • Shianu is situational, and bad even if you achieve it's very rare situation.
    • General Mok is worded in such a way where the second ability cancels out the first ability.
    • Soul Snatcher seems bad and hard to set up.
    • Grim Heretic could be a 4/3. 
    • Ezom is a headache to keep track of. 
    • Fu Meili is a bad Dragonlord Silumgar. 
  • Hey @Potato13
    Thank you so much for taking the time to look over the cards! There's a ton of great stuff you noted in there that I'm gonna be working through to fix!

    I will note that that tribal is definitely part of the set. It tries to give a little bit of a sense of unity to some of the creature classes that are used that aren't really given unity like creature types. 

    And I will definitely look over some of the clunky creatures again and try to make them less clunky. Part of the goal of the set was also to give more options to 3-4 color commander players in choosing commanders (I started the set before Ikoria was around so there were a ton less 3 color options). So in total, I'm definitely going to try to keep most of the creatures, but I definitely will try to see if I can lower some of them down.

    I will say I'm a little...distraught with the seeming shift towards faster and faster gameplay with mtg sets (one of the reasons I think Ikoria was nice, some of its nicest creatures were on the bigger side as like 4-5 drops), so I'm probably definitely guilty of trying too hard to slow down the pace a little bit with some high value high cmc cards so I'll look through all of them again.

    I'm also not a modern/legacy player so I have 0 knowledge in making sure stuff is balanced there so I definitely appreciate your help in pointing out where those cards may be unbalanced!
  • edited September 2020
    @Potato13
    Okay so I've looked over your specific comments and I've got my general plan down for it:
    • Kroen will drop to a 5 mana 5/6. She's a very weird card that hard counters planeswalkers, but certainly is probably unplayable where she's at rn
    • I'm going to drop live on in memory to 1ww. I'm reluctant to make it rare just because the number of board-wipe like effects in the set (there's probably around ten or something), which allow live on in memory to be an incredibly powerful card
    • Beholden to Wonder I'm going to keep at a mythic for a couple of reasons. There's a couple of cards that are kind of like it (crawlspace, Mirri, dueling grounds, silent arbiter), however, beholden to wonder is objectively better than these because it 1. doesn't restrict defenders and 2. is an enchantment so it's much more difficult to remove than mirri or silent arbiter
    • Kroen's Reanchoring is just going to be deleted completely
    • I'll probably change Planar Collapse's alternate cost
    • I'm going to drop Dishonorable Ronin's cost to bb and make it 4/2. It's powerful because you either get killed or you kill it and let your opponent draw a card
    • Sacrosanctity I'm going to keep where it is because it's a world enchantment. So it doesn't just hit your lands, it hits everyone's lands. So yeah, it's super powerful for you, but it is also equally beneficial for your opponents, especially in a set that focuses on multicolor
    • I think Vornang is fine. I personally don't have a problem with having some larger creatures that also have higher p/t
    • You are right that Foreboding Fate is terrible. I will be either reworking it or deleting it depending on how I feel about the set in total
    • I'm a little averse to giving Mehou power (flavorfully her and Mahasi are sisters which is why they have the same statlines). I think I will instead have her create 2 spirits and keep her as a 2/2
    • I've been searching for better art for a few equipment in the set that can equip opponents creatures which is why that text is there for Inner Peace
    • I'm going to make Myga's ability trigger "for the first time each turn" to prevent infinite combos and boost her stats to 4/4 to make up for the decrease in her ability's power
    • I don't think unavowed is a total rules headache, basically just any ability that has "whenever a..." that would be triggered by that card simply doesn't trigger, but since this isn't a real set I'm okay with a little complication in the abilities
    • Again, I'm totally cool with big creatures with big payoffs, so I'm going to keep Ghmun with his mana cost and statline. I might drop his ability cost, but I'm still thinking about it
    • Though the other creatures on page 3 are "clunky", at the end of the day, they are big game finishing creatures. Kuyi is a 7/7 hexproof flyer that can multi-copy spells, mistform dracolich is a 7/7 flyer with evasion and deathtouch, Reckoning is a 6/6 indestructible that makes your spells easier to cast and taxes your opponents, and Emyehem and Khumsyum are 7/7 combo creatures really. These creatures are meant to end games that have longer games, especially things like commander. 
    I'll get to the rest soon!
  • Okay @Potato13 here's the others:
    • I'm going to rework Shini's +1 so she doesn't destroy creatures
    • I'm going to drop Gayu's cost to 2uurw to make him more playable
    • I'm going to bump Evara's cmc to 6 somehow to push off when she hits the board. overall, I think her design is what I want, but definitely she's overpowered where she's at. As a four color planeswalker, she wouldn't see play much simply because she needs so many colors, which is why I think four color cards can be afforded a little more power (also, I tend to not worry about the omniscience problem simply because I find most people don't have a problem with Evara, but more so with Omniscience, which you can already cheat out on turn 3-4 if you really wanted to anyways. My favorite example of this is Selvala's stampede which allows you to cheat out omniscience plus other things based on how many opponents you have.)
    • Gnikuni is going to be reworked with a new ult
    • Khatimel I'm still unsure what to do with. It still needs to be reworked. But there's not much to go on since wizards has rarely ever printed mythic lands and almost all of those mythic lands that were printed (not including the zendikar mythic reprints of the fetchlands) really didn't deal with colors, so I'm going to have to think about what I want to do with it, but it very well might just lose the indestructible and hexproof
    • I'm probably going to change Mi Ogi's trigger to trigger based on legendary spells instead of historic spells and keep her cost
    • The reason Gliffusang has that line is only cause he's a flier and it deals with reach; so it really is basically dealing with half of the creatures that can block him
    • New Moon of Amsu will probably drop to 1 mana
    • I agree that Spark Synth is a pretty bad card. I will probably think about it, but I have made the set with the mentality that not every card is going to be a revolutionary card for the game, but instead should give cohesiveness to the set, which is why it's there
    • With Maelia's trigger being based on dealing combat damage to a player and her having an evasive ability like flying, I'm reluctant to give her more power
    • Spirit Tide was balanced against Quasiduplicate, which is why it's a sorcery. And in place of jump-start it has spirit tribal. It's not the best creature duplication spell around of course, but it makes up for it's lack of versatility by allowing for more powerful plays in its niche
    • Advantageous Alliance will be dropped to 2uu or 1uuu. Still deciding
    • Mistcloaked silencer will either become a 1/1 or will be deleted entirely
    • Rot is efficient, but the second ability is meant to punish mono color decks; the set provides the options to run many multicolor options, so I think rot's efficiency is fine because the second mode could very well just be useless against multicolored decks
    • I will definitely probably drop Prophecy of the Kaimdo's cost
    • Shianu is situational, but that's also why he's a 2 cmc rare legendary. In a game like commander, however, he is incredibly powerful
    • I will fix Mok so he doesn't insta die hahahaha
    • Soul snatcher is a little hard to set up, but I think it's okay if not all of the rares are god-tier cards
    • Ezom definitely is a little complex, especially if he were to be played in person. Again, I think it's okay that he's a little complex and difficult to keep track of (especially with the shift to online mtg in many spaces), and since he rewards the tribal features of this set
    • Fu Meili's first ability is definitely just a more niche Silumgar, but then again that's why he's a rare legendary and Silumgar is a mythic. But also, the second ability makes him different enough from Silumgar that he's not just a bad copy of Silumgar
  • Fwig                                                                                                        
    You've got 

    D E V O T I O N
  • @LordTachanka123
    Literally and Figuratively!!
    image

    But Yeah! I've been making this set for well over a yeah now and it takes up well over half my cards!! I have a story that I tried to write but when I posted it on the forums it didn't get a ton of interest so I pushed that off to the side a little bit, but it's been really cool and I'd love to add to the finished sets made by our cardsmiths here!
  • I knew someone was going to make a devotion joke. At least it was good.
  • I apologize for beating a dead horse, but once again, there are way too many 4< mana creatures and large bombs, especially for draft. Average good draft decks have 4~ cards above 4 mana. I could keep pointing towards certain examples of unnecessarily high cmc cards, like Hetzica being a much worse Adaptive Automaton with a cost like his, but it wouldn't do either of us good.


    Thoughts on pages 11-29 of cards:
    • Dhansii could easily be a 6 mana 5/7 or something with a similar statline.
    • Velikar is interesting, but much too costly.
    • Visionary Blade seems much too good in any Izzet deck. A 2 mana 2/2 that's unblockable and deals and draws X would be playable even without the drawback. I'd compare and contrast to the card "Hydroid Krasis".
    • Adaptive Takedown is outside of the colors for Assassins.
    • A Thousand Eyes' Watch is too narrow at 2 mana and compares unfavorably to most other cards. I'd suggest making it 1 Black mana.
    • Flight of the Rebels is a word soup; I'd cut down some of the text.
    • Indiscriminate Shock should be 4 mana; compare to Ritual of Soot.
    • I'd remove Spell Perfection; it combos too easily with Changelings like Mothdust Changeling, Amoeboid Changeling and Mirror Entity.
    • Rising Insurrection should definitely have the "40 life" option replaced with something, and possibly reduced to 6 mana.
    • Into Revolution also isn't in rebel colors and compares unfavourably to Genesis Wave.
    • Mahasme could be a 2 mana 2/2 in mono-black.
    • Ultrkish seems like an all too potent curve topper for Rebel decks.
    • Venyegon could be 5 mana.
    • Because of how rules work, Hekmors downside is nearly nonexistant. An opponent can announce an intent to cast a spell, then thusly all of their lands will be tapped simultaneously to cast it. This sounds strange, and it is, but it was a common thing with "Krark Clan Ironworks".
    • Elya and Dixon seems rather opressive in a draft format with the high average cmcs. 
    • Sa Chor's -2 is comparable to the -3 on "Ashiok, Nightmare Muse", a 5-mana card. I'd suggest a bit of retuning.
    • Sathion's -2 is comparable to the -3 on "Vivien Reid", a 5-mana card. The difference is that Vivien doesn't gain life, costs 1 more, and doesn't come with a 3/3. I'd also suggest retuning for this card.
    • Karsuin's Astral Diviner could be 6 mana.
    • I'd remove the basic land types from the "planeswalker check lands". The fact that they can be fetched by fetch lands is ripe for exploitation. 
    • Fragrant Springs should lose you three life or have some other downside; the ability to have an adaptive, untapped dual land is way too powerful. 
    • Sinronce should be cut; lands that don't tap for mana are no-go. Same for Edzijoczka; it practically doesn't tap for mana and is a draw engine more than anything.
    • Just in case you don't know, for New Fortune Kirin, planeswalkers having indestructible doesn't stop them from losing loyalty counters and dying that way.
    • Cleanser of the impure should definitely be a 3/4 for 4, to make its ability less swingy and unfun in certain circumstances.
    • Pacify is awfully weak, even at 3 mana. Compare to "Emerge Unscathed" or "Distortion Strike".
    • Purveyor of the Mines is just absurd. It's a 3 mana 2/2 that has a spell attached to it that is arguably better than Murder, in a color which has access to flicker effects. Broken in Legacy, Modern and Standard.
    • I'll be honest, getting Piercing Precision and Kaon Isles Sharpshooter is a large set of hoops to jump through for uncounterability that still costs 1.
    • Bringer of New Tides is absurdly overcosted.
    • First Lessons could be a 1/1 creature with flying.
    • Poetic Rescue isn't in the blue color pie.
    • Whirlwind Reversal should be 4 mana, otherwise it would be an OP staple in all non-legacy formats.
    • Secret Sower feels narrow and could be a 2 mana 3/2.
    • Mistress of the Black Tower could be a 3/3.
    • Persistent Hostility and Rush of the Kill could both be 2 mana.
    • I'd be concerned about Bloodstone Evoker and Sacrifice to the Dragon's Will - it's a cheap toolbox.
    • Bloodsoaked Inciter dealing 2 damage to any target is too good, it's a free tutorable shock on an average 4/2 body.
    • Pureflame Teacher seems way too swingy in limited; 6/4 with double strike.
    • Fervent Dance dealing 3 damage split among any number of targets is concerning, but probably fine.
    • Interplanar Feud could be a 1 mana instant.
    • Unstable Summoning seems broken; put it in a tribal deck with a single Emrakul and you win on the spot.
    • Scampering Manatail is an awkward design that I'd suggest reworking.
    • Demon Compatriot has no reason to be green.
    • I'd call Among the Shaein Blooms broken, but Field of the Dead is banned in every format.
    • Oracle of the Deep Seas doesn't feel Dimir.
    • Madness of the Blood Moon could be monocolored. 
    • Sacrifice to the Dragon's Will shouldn't need to specify only sacrificing non-dragons.
    • Tear from Tethers could be 2 mana.
    • Emerge from Adversity could cost 3 and be an Instant, due to how unfavorably it compares to Eldritch Evolution.
    • Lightspear's Boon could be 2 mana.
    • Monsoon Witch shouldn't exile lands.
  • @Potato13
    This is awesome! Again I'd like to thank you a lot for taking your time to look over my set! 

    I feel like you are right that we are coming to an impasse about the big creatures but that's totally fine! I'll try to do justice to some of my reasonings behind the set here before I get to the individual concerns!

    One of the biggest things that I wanted to do with this set was provide a space to experiment with multicolor; more importantly, to try and shift players away from monocolor decks. My thought process has always been any multicolored card with multiple colors in its cost can do anything one of those colors can do but further, a multicolored card with multiple colors in its cost need not individually address all of its color aspects i.e. a card can be multicolor while not having a multicolor effect

    Another guiding principle I have is multicolor cards need not follow the established wizards formulation of those combined colors so long as the card adheres to the individual colors' capabilities i.e. a ub card may be dimir, but it doesn't need to be. There are many ways of playing ub that aren't inherently dimir, as we'll see with Oracle of Deep Seas

    Another one: A slower game with higher cmc spells and creatures is just as valuable as a fast paced game with lower cmc spells and creatures. Recently, wizards has shifted towards lower cmc spells, but that doesn't mean all sets are equally created with this lower cmc thought in mind. Specifically, sets with tribal features that necessitate larger cmc will have an overall higher cmc and that's fine (take for example, Tarkir, specifically Dragons, which had a plethora of 5+ cmc creatures because of the dragons)

    Another one: Multicolor mana costs are more intensive than monocolor mana costs of the same converted mana cost. Pretty self-explanatory, but in terms of set-building, a 2ur spell is less versatile and more intensive than 2uu, 2rr, 3r, or 3u, even if only barely. But, this extra intensivity and decreased versatility is what affords multicolored cards to push more powerful effects; they must be played in multicolored decks and cannot be placed in simply any deck that runs the color.

    Finally: Check brokenness based on the card alone first, then the set alone, and then in potential other formats. Don't be afraid of a niche-broken interaction with a random other card from another set. Let's be honest. Players will find powerful combos no matter what cards are available. In my view, it is far better to create a cohesive set with a card that was meant to be there, then remove it because of its interaction with a single card (I know this will probably get me a lot of hate, but I have seen plenty of people go infinite with legal combos that certain combos are simply not that worrisome to me).

    In terms of the big creatures, I definitely take the point. Many of the ones that are 3-color, 4-color, or 5-color are meant to provide options for commander. For example, yes, Hetzica is a worse Adaptive Automaton. However, in this set, all of the tribal classes (monk, advisor, assassin, scout, rebel, and spellshaper) are found in ALL colors. Hetzica is a commander that can be used as a tribal commander for all of them if you want to play WUBRG advisors, for example. As I've said before too, I started this set before Ikoria introduced a lot more commanders. Many of the creatures are meant to provide viable commander options for colors that simply don't have options
  • @Potato13
    Alright, onto the individual concerns:
    • Dhansii's statline will increase to a 5/6 but remain 7 cmc
    • For Velikar: Spellshapers are much more potent than they seem, especially when they have Substantiate. Velikar essentially can turn any card in your hand into Anguished Unmaking, one of the most powerful cards in commander (and i think a couple of other formats, it was also pretty good when it was in standard). Not to mention, when he does so, his substantiate activates. So it's basically Anguished Unmaking except you only lose 1 life and each opponent loses 2 life at the same time. All attached to a 4/4 lifelink which means if you give him vigilance he can swing and still anguished unmaking. In terms of balancing, I think I'm probably going to keep him there because I'd rather keep him a little underpowered than overpowered
    • Visionary Blade was balanced against Hydroid Krasis! That's why 1. It can only deal damage to creatures 2. You can only draw if the creature dies and 3. It's a 2/2 as opposed to Krasis which is based on X
    • All classes that are focused on in the set (Monks, Advisor, Assassins, Scouts, Rebels and Assassins) are expanded to WUBRG colors as part of the set to make them more versatile, so hopefully this addresses the concern with Adaptive Takedown and Into Revolution
    • A thousand's eyes watch may not be good in every format, but I'd maintain that it has value in commander
    • Mahasme's second ability is purely red because it's a spell copy ability like mirrorwing dragon that's mainly red, but I wanted to make it a mardu-color commander
    • Ultkrish may increase by 1 cmc. The biggest think with the Rebels is that the benefit of playing them from your deck is often counteracted by the fact that they are much harder to play from hand due to higher costs. Ultkrish is much harder to play from hand if you get him. But yes, he is meant to be one of the Rebel powerhouses
    • Venyegon is 6 mana specifically so that he is more likely to hit with more creature types and abilities. At five mana, he will get one extra creature type and ability. But at six mana, more often than not, he will come down with two extra creature types and two extra abilties (a 6/6 flying vigilance dragon angel or a 6/6 deathtouch reach zombie spider is, at least to me, very much worthy of 6 cmc).
    • Hekmor is being deleted from the set because I am unable to figure out his ability hahaha
    • Elya and Duaxitrun are very powerful. However, I will also note that there are two class types in the set which specifically revolve around not casting spells: Spellshapers use abilities to imitate spells and Rebels use abilities to pull creatures out of the deck. So, even though they are powerful, there are avenues of counterplay, and it's also a late game play where you hopefully have some boardstate hahaha
    • Sa Chor's ability is a common instant spell called Recoil which costs 3 mana. Casting Sa Chor for 4 to play a 3 mana instant isn't really a problem. The reason that Ashiok is higher cmc and mythic is because Ashiok exiles the card as opposed to discarding it, which they can then pull with their ult later in a way Sa Chor can't
    • Definitely noted for Sathion; if anything, at the moment Sathion and Vivien are about the same power level honestly. Sathion's downsides, however, is that she is far less versatile than Vivien. I will probably increase her to 3gw
    • Will drop Karsuin's astral diviner to 6 mana
    • I will look over the planeswalker check lands again. Honestly, I think planeswalkers aren't played enough to make them breakable by being fetchable
    • So fragrant springs is probably still too powerful. As I have it worded now, you lose one life when it enters, but whenever you exile it and return it you lose another 4. Probably still not enough, so I'll look back at it
    • Edzijoczka can be powerfully played with things like Urban Burgeoning or anything that can untap lands. Sinronce I will probably turn into an enchantment
    • For New Fortune Kirin, that was taken into account. New Fortune Kirin is meant to help stave off boardwipes and things like "destroy target planeswalker"
    • I made Cleanser of the Impure 6 cmc specifically so it hits late game where you can hopefully have some way to play around it. But I will look at it again as well
    • Pacify is a strange card. It doesn't seem powerful, but it has it's niche. Whereas Emerge Unscathed and Distortion Strike can get one creature through, if your opponent has a single blocker, Pacify can get everyone through. 
    • I will increase Purveyor of Mines' mana cost
    • Piercing Precision/Kaon Isles Sharpshooter isn't really meant to be a repeatable combo. It's more so a set up for a free uncounterability when you make your big play. Think like, you're about to drop Omniscience and your opponent counters. You have no mana. Sucks. But, with a Kaon Isles Sharp Shooter and Piercing Precision, you don't need mana to make your spells uncounterable
    • Bringer of Tides is overcosted like all serpents hahahahahaha I might change it, I might not I'll check. Serpents are just notoriously bad because of the attack restricitons
    • First lessons is meant to be an enchantment. A creature would make it easier to remove
    • You are correct, Poetic Rescue should be white. I will change it hahaha
    • I have been thinking the same about Whirlwind reversal. I will be increasing it to 2uu
    • Secret Sower will be upgraded to 2/2
    • Mistress of the Black Tower will become a 3/2
    • Persistent hostility is 2 mana; Rush of the kill will be reduced to 2 mana
    • Understandable. They were made because I felt like dragon decks have very few options for early game
    • Bloodsoaked inciter will deal damage to creature instead
    • Pureflame Teacher's buff will be reduced to +2/+0
    • That's a good point with unstable summoning, I'll look at it again
    • Scampering manatail was meant to be weird. It's half meant to be a sac creature
    • Honestly, Demon Compatriot doesn't really need to be associated with any color, so I just chose one, namely green because it is buffing itself to be big based on the surroundings
    • Yeah, since Field of the Dead is gone, I'm not that worried about Among the Shaein Blooms
    • Oracle of the Deep Seas isn't Dimir, but it is ub, it deals with sacrificing life (black) to give your creatures hexproof (blue) and gives menace (black) to creatures with combined p/t 10+ (this could be green, but honestly all colors have creatures that fulfill this part. This was written for things like, Octopi, Leviathans, Serpents, etc.)
    • Madness of the Blood Moon could be monocolored, but isn't, namely because Angrath's Rampage isn't
    • Sacrifice to the Dragon's Will's sacrifice clause deals with flavor; basically you can't sacrifice a dragon as an offering to a dragon (that might be like "hey, I killed your cousin, aren't you happy?")
    • Emerge from Advserity will be changed to 1ug
    • Tear from Tethers is already very powerful. But I may drop it to 2 mana because rn I don't see why you wouldn't just run murder haha
    • Lightspear's boon is gonna stay higher cmc, but I will probably drop it to 4 cmc
    • I'm fine with Monsoon Witch exiling lands because it's 1. temporary, if you kill her you get it back 2. She's tri-color, so her versatility lower than most cards so there are fewer decks she can be played in
    Again thanks for all the insight and advice!
  • My primary concern regarding Monsoon is the fact that it's a human, and Humans is an immensely powerful subtype in Modern who can, among other things, get the Witch in at instant speed, cast it on turn 2, and play it in a 5-color deck. Not only is it flexible in being either a Stone Rain or a Disenchant, but it's on that tribal 2/3 body with flying.


    But now, onto the other cards.


    • Toacaxu Dawn Priestess gives itself flying, but also taps to do so. 
    • United Resistance could be 1 mana.
    • Cleanser of Impure Air could be a 0/4 at least.
    • Interesting artist choice for Persevering Merchant
    • The second part of Freedom of Flight should be worded as "If it's a Monk, it gains flying and lifelink until end of turn.
    • Daring Leap could be 1.
    • Commune with New Spirits could draw a card.
    • Dustification could be an instant.
    • Distant Diviner seems busted in limited, and should be a rare. It filters lands and, if  played early, turns into a personal Phyrexian Arena.
    • Blizzard Mesmerant could be a 3/3, as 1/4's are a bit clunky, especially in regards to a death trigger.
    • Mask Intentions could be changed to only require an Advisor.
    • Wistful Thinking is scary as a powercreep on Negate, which sees wide usage in modern, pioneer, eta. Scrying 1 is a lot in regards to an increased power level - compare the Standard Staple Dissolve to the terrible card Cancel.
    • Horoscopic Touch feels too narrow in limited - it doesn't prevent the Common issue of having auras be 2-for-1'd, and it requires a specific card type to take advantage of - most of which are expensive and already game winning in this set.
    • Cruel Informant could be a 1/1.
    • Vengeclaw Pack feels like a really bomby common in limited.
    • Steppe Lookout feels concerning for both Standard. Historic, Pioneer and limited - it's a 1 mana 1/1 haste that easily becomes a 1 mana 3/3 with haste. Flexible 1 mana 3/3's with haste are not good for the game.
    • Highflame Enchanter feels out of place in terms of synergy for limited.
    • Planar Collision could be 2 mana.
    • In general, many of the common cards feel vastly too good for commons, like Borderland Scourge, Hero of Worlds and Fens Elklord.
    • Tomb-Bound Sparksword and Elder Primscale are absolutely not commons; they feel like rares.

    Compared to other sets of the came caliber, I actually think this set is pretty good; nice designs for most of the cards and some cards that I'm really, really impressed with.
  • @Potato13
    Thanks for all the advice again, and especially the kind words at the end! I'll note that I am terrible at making commons, as you probably saw (hahahaha) just because I am afraid of them being too plain, so your advice here is helpful!
    • I take your point with Monsoon witch. I'll up her cost by one and drop her toughness by 1
    • I'll find a new spell for Toacaxu to spellshape, cause that is kinda weird
    • United Resistance will drop to 1 mana
    • Cleanser of impure air will be a 0/4
    • You're definitely right about Freedom of Flight, although since it still works, it will be one of the final changes
    • Daring Leap could be 1, but I think I'd like to keep it at 2 to keep a medium pace
    • Commune with new spirits will have an added effect (probably draw a card honestly)
    • Dustification will drop to 3 mana but stay a sorcery
    • I will increase Distant Diviner's ability cost significantly
    • Blizzard Mesmerant I want to keep a 1/4. The problem with Traverse is that it's not just a death trigger. It triggers upon entering and leaving, meaning flickering makes traverse incredibly powerful
    • Mask Intentions is meant to be used by anyone, just be easier to use with advisors
    • Wistful thinking will be reworked, either to have an increased cmc or a reworked ability
    • Horoscopic Touch is indeed niche, most likely would see play in standard/commander (moreso the latter)
    • Cruel informant will be a 1/1
    • Vengeclaw Pack I think just walks the edge, which I think should be fine
    • I will rework Steppe Lookout's design to hit later in the game
    • Makes sense, I have been having a tough time finding good artifact art, so hopefully that should be rectified soon!
    • Planar collision will be 2 mana
    • I will attempt to decrease those three cards' potency (Fens Elklord, Hero of Worlds, and Borderland Scourge) by decreasing p/t, and will look over the other commons more closely!
    • Will bump tomb-bound sparksword and prismascale to uncommon (their higher costs makes them really bad rares, and such high costs I was hoping would make them worthy of common level but I realize my mistake now)
This discussion has been closed.