Baralia: Exploring the Possibilities of a Pirate World

IrishbugIrishbug
in Custom Card Sets
To start things off, I would just like to thank you for taking the time to check this out. This plane has been a bit of a pet project of mine for the last several months and it's actually the reason I came to Cardsmith. This is purely conceptual at the moment and I would love your feedback and even contributions to help make this set. I'm still rather new to the forum side of the site so I haven't been to involved in other people's sets, but I did notice @KJMartin 's "Incella Set" as I was setting up this discussion and I'm sure it will come to be a great inspiration.

but that's enough of that, so without further ado...

Hello, and Welcome to the New World of Baralia!

Here you'll find Pirates and Smugglers, Soldiers and Businessmen, and Natives of a slew of races, fighting to defend themselves from the expansive Baralian Empire.

LORE
The Plane of Baralia is a world of Pirates. Largely Oceanic, the plane's islands are its defining characteristic. The set which I have begun to design and make conceptual cards for focus primarily on the regions of Atlav, Vira, and Astina, which are yet to be fully explored by the Empire of the Plane's namesake (and largest) island, Baralia. While the Empire has trade routes spanning most of the known world, it has been the Pirates who have pushed the edges of the maps and discovered whole worlds within their own.

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FACTIONS
Baralia was originally envisioned as a 2 color set, but wedges seemed to fit some of the factions better. While I have begun most of my designs on the basis of 3 color combinations, if thigns become complicated a 2 color option is still viable.
  • The Stormborn
    • The Stormborn are the proud followers of Alaina and Ormund Stormborn. After their Father's death, both Siblings came forth to lead the largest non-imperial fleet in Baralia. As a result, it was split between the two, with Ormund's followers out for Imperial Blood, whereas Alaina would rather continue living free on ocean, letting the winds decide her adventures.
    • The Stormborn Pirates are typically Human, although there are some Elves among them.
    • The Stormborn use the colors of Blue, Red, and White.
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  • The Baralian Empire
    • The Baralian Empire has heard of the new Southern Provnices and has now come to try to collect them as a piece of the mighty kingdom. The Empire had continued to send soldiers and diplomats to the Provinces in hopes of enforcing Imperial Rule. Met with resistance from both the settled sailors and the Natives who claimed the land as their own, tensions rise and war seems inevitable.
    • The Baralian Empire consists of Humans as their race. Other creature types include, Soldier and Advisor.
    • The Baralian Empire uses the colors of Red, White, and Black.
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  • Smugglers
    • The smuggling network of Astina is well established and knows easily how to evade Imperial interference. Kaylee Rackham is at the forefront of the network of thieves and pirates who move goods and contraband through the Province of Astina.
    • The races of the Smugglers are Human, Elf, and even some Merfolk. Extended creature types include Pirate, Mercenary, and Rogue.
    • This faction uses the colors of Black, Blue, and Green.
    • Faction still needs a title.
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  • Business/Bank
    • This faction needs work. This is a faction is made up of merchants and bankers. While the markets of Astina flourish, many businesses use Imperial tax spikes as a means to cover their own shady business tactics. The Iron Bank of Game of Thrones is a bit of a visual reference. See the set for cards that I've designed so far.
    • This faction is mostly made up of Humans, and Advisors, with Mercenaries.
    • This faction uses the colors of White, Black, and Green.
    • Faction still needs a title.
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  • Natives
    • The Natives of Astina, Vira, and Atlav were generous to the first folk that Landed there: the pirates. The sailors who landed there were in need of supplies and shelter upon their landing, and came to coexist with the Natives and settled the area. As the Empire extended its reach, the Natives realized the danger that they were in and began calling upon the Ancient Beasts of the land to aid them. The Natives remain sympathetic to the Pirates, and give them safe passage through otherwise treacherous areas.
    • The races of the Natives include Elves, and Merfolk, with some Humans having joined them, but not many. Other creature types include Shaman, Warrior, Scout with various monster types such as Dragons, Leviathans, etc.
    • This faction uses the colors of Green, Blue, and Red.
    • Faction still needs a title.
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MECHANICS

The following mechanics are the currently used/designed mechanics for the set. Currently the set is still conceptual so If you want to help or offer suggestions, feel free to help.
  • Smuggle
    - The Smuggle mechanic allows you to prevent the combat damage a creature would to to gain an effect.
    - "Smuggle - If [cardname] would deal combat damage to a player, you may prevent that damage. If you do, [effect].
  • Solidarity
    - The Solidarity mechanic buffs creatures that attack with the creature that has Solidarity, similar to Battle Cry, but with more variety.
    - Solidarity - Creatures you control that attack with [cardname] get [effect].
  • Beastcalling
    - Beastcalling is a 4 cost mechanic that occurs on 3 cost creatures. By sacrificing the creature and paying the cost, you may putt a creature with a cost of 7 that shares a color with the sacrificed creature, from your hand onto the battlefield.
    - Beastcalling - {3}{color}, Sacrifice [cardname]: Put a creature with a converted mana cost of 7 that shares a color with this creature onto the battlefield.
  • Battalion
    - Battalion from GTC returns as the Stormborn Mechanic to show the teamwork and familial bond the pirates.
  • Extort
    - Extort from GTC returns as the banks mechanic to show the enforced taxation.
  • I personally believe that Smuggle and Solidarity work well as mechanics but believe that I could do better choosing, design mechanics for the other factions. I would love your input!
You can see the full set here. I can't wait to hear what you guys think.

Comments

  • LujikulLujikul
    No undead crew? I'm pleasantly surprised.
  • IrishbugIrishbug
    Haha @Lujikul , I made 1 card like that but didn't want it to be a focus cuz I thought it'd be kinda clichéd
  • KJMartinKJMartin
    @IrishBug
    Thanks for tagging me in this. It was an interesting read.
    I think the biggest problem would be the mechanics (particularly the returning two). Look at this article on the storm scale: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/storm-scale-ravnica-and-return-ravnica-2016-05-02

    As you can see, extort is way down on a 6 ("We need to find the right place to bring it back, but I'm a little less optimistic") and I;m not entirely sure this is the right place, although it could be. Battalion too is a 4 ("Will most likely do again, but they have issues that make them less of a guarantee") and I don't think it fits best here. I'd definitely remove one, but which one that is up to you (particularly because two returning mechanics seems like a bad idea).
    On the rest of the mechanics:

    Smuggle
    This is probably one of my favorites. It's a cool enough idea the choice, but you've managed to make this ability flavorful and cooler.
    Solidarity
    I'm not such a fan of this one, I'm afraid. It seems too similar to battle cry, and encourages a similar play style to battalion which, since they both belong to different factions, seems like a bad idea.
    Beastcalling
    This is my least favorite mechanic. It seems too weird, too unrelated, far too buildable and overall just, (sorry), bad.
    "- Beastcalling is a 4 cost mechanic that occurs on 3 cost creatures. By sacrificing the creature and paying the cost, you may putt a creature with a cost of 7 that shares a color with the sacrificed creature, from your hand onto the battlefield."
    That right away seems too complicated. ^^ The numbers are weird as well (Always four with three colorless, always on three cost creatures, and always gets 7 cost creatures into play?) I also think it's mcuh too narrow for, tbh, any cards to be made with it.
    If you like the concept I would make it:
    Beastcalling N - {COST} ({COST}, Sacrifice this creature: put a creature card that shares a color with this creature with converted mana cost N or less onto the battlefield.) You could even get rid of the "...or less" part.
  • IrishbugIrishbug
    @KJMartin , thanks so much reading and giving your feedback on what I've got so far. I totally agree on Battalion and Extort. Each was chosen as a potential inclusion back when I was making 2 color pairings and before I even and the idea for Solidarity (which definitely plays to similarly to its boros counterpart.) Battalion was actually originally the Mardu mechanic and I had pirates using an Akroan Hoplite effect I called "Boarding Party" but deemed it too powerful in groups and especially on commons.

    I take no offense on the judgement of Beastcalling. I didn't have much faith in it, but wanted to have something in place for the faction. Its too rigid and I think the version you put forth is interesting and definitely easier to build around. I'd sort of shoved the mechanic under the rug after making 1 in each color.

    As for Solidarity, I've felt sort of boxed in because of Battle Cry's existence. I see it as sort of an expansion of Battle Cry as a mechanic, but because of the way Battle Cry was written, I can't use that keyword.

    I think Im going to scrap extort entirely and focus on the faction a bit more to really get a mechanic that fits them (and works in 3 colors)
This discussion has been closed.