Feedback for new set: Innovations!

Comments

• Megalomalice

  March 2017

  I may have picked the category wrong, sorry if I did.
• Arceus8523

  March 2017 edited March 2017

  So I heard there was steampunk? =D
  (And I believe this is the right category to put this, but don't take my word for it. >.<)
• Megalomalice

  March 2017

  Yes the set includes steampunk. (I figured it would be an interesting concept.) and thanks for the reassurance!
• Arceus8523

  March 2017

  Overall I really like where this set is going. I do have a few critiques that others can weigh in on.
  -Syl'vren, City of innovation seems a bit on the powerful side to me. I can basically call it a strict upgrade to Ancient Ziggurat, which is already a pretty good card. Also, depending on the energy sinks this set has, 1 mana for 1 energy at instant speed might end up being too powerful in limited.
  -Steampunk Brawler also seems pretty scary. Basically forcing any opponent not running white to buff this guy (who has trample, mind you) and lose one one of their creatures whenever they want to cast an instant or sorcery seems like a really harsh treatment. This card basically wins against storm decks and would be a must in Yidris in EDH.
  -While I do like the design of Ethilir, Dualities Mystic, she feels kind of underwhelming to me. She has no true protection because when she taps creatures down right away, she sets herself to 1 loyalty and then those permanents just untap during their controller's untap step, which means the tapdown ability is pretty bad outside of combat heavy decks, which azorius doesn't tend to do that often. Her +1 also feels rather inconsequential. While the life gain is nice, it feels rather inconsequential. Though, at the same time, you couldn't really bring how much life you gain up or else the effect might be too powerful. The scry, on the other hand, if nice but I think it should be greater. Right now, I feel I get more value out of playing Sigiled Starfish, who can block 2 damage each turn and let me scry 1 on top of that. The ultimate, while a nice effect, gets beaten out by the ult of Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, a 3 mana walker who can potentially gain me more life and draw me more cards in the right deck (limited or constructed). I'd say if you want to use this card for anything, it would make an excellent planeswalker precon deck feature card for the set, being at just about what I'd consider the right power level.
  -Lastly, you have a few common formatting issues that a lot of people (including myself) make:
  *Whenever you have reminder text for an effect (e.g. (an energy counter) or Overheat's effect explanation), that needs to be italicized.
  *Effects that require you to pay energy as a cost of the effect don't just say "{e}", they say "pay {e}". This effect also comes after the tap symbol. So on Transportation Bay, the energy paying effect would ready "{t}, Pay {e}:"
  *Whenever an attack cost as separate pay requirements, each of those pay requirements is separated by a comma.
  *If the text of a card runs of the border of the card, add 4 spaces before the first word that runs off the border and that should put that word onto the next line below it.
  
  I know that's a lot, so I really hope I don't come off as mean or a hater, because that is not my intent in the slightest. I put this up as constructive criticism for a great set idea and not as anything mean-spirited. Also, just one last question, do you have any lore planned for the set, yet? If not, do so! Lore is an important part of shaping set design. If you do, please share it!
  
  Keep up the great work! I look forward to seeing where your set goes!
• Megalomalice

  March 2017

  Thanks for the feedback! I personally thought Steampunk Brawler was more of a sideboard card to beat storm, I can definitely see it needs some balancing. I'll probably make Ethilir cost 3 and give a slight boost to the abilities. The formatting might take a little while to fix but I'll probably get around to that. Lore wise there isn't much yet but I'll definitely add more. Once again, Thanks for the feedback and constructive criticism.
• Arceus8523

  March 2017

  Okay, now Ethilir feels too powerful. The tapdown effect, even if it kills her off immediately, will often just end up being Sleep for a lower cost and less color restriction if used on turn 3 or 4. It was fine tapping 2 creatures, they just didn't need to untap during their controller's untap step. I'd drop the scry down to 2, as 1 is too little and 3 is too much in my opinion. The -X seems fine except, I'd take shroud off the kit of abilities because this can also be used as a better Lingering Souls on the intitial cast (I know the flashback is what gives lingering its value, but still, 3 1/1 flying, shroud creatures on turn 3 can be pretty scary.)
  
  Balancing planeswalkers is hard. I had a planeswalker go through 5 revisions before she was actually balanced, so don't worry about getting everything right the first time! I also did a steampunk set that I wrapped up late 2016 and it's nowhere near perfect, so I know how tedious set design can be.
• Megalomalice

  March 2017

  Thanks again!