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[RESULTS] Trial of the Missing Mechanic - Hour of Devastation
Hello everyone! =D
Today I would like to propose you a quite difficult challenge, it's almost a riddle actually. As custom card designers we are often used to design cards in a vaccum, but for this Trial of the Missing Mechanic I would like to see how you manage to design with the same restrictions as real Magic design.
Luckily, we are at this time of the year where we already have half a set that is waiting to be finished. That's right, your challenge is to take the mechanical design of Amonkhet where it was left and bring it to Hour of Devastation, just like the real Magic designers had to do two years ago.
Here are the extensive rules:
- Create A MECHANIC for the upcoming set "Hour of Devastation", just like Revolt was introduced in "Aether Revolt".
- Explain how your mechanic fits in the already existing environment (e.g: specify if your mechanic replace any mechanic(s) from the "Amonkhet" set.)
- I will judge how well your mechanic fits the mechanics that were introduced in the first set.
- I will judge how well your mechanic fits what we already know of Hour of Devastation (Nicol Bolas is going to play a huge role, check out the third article below to see how he is defined mechanically by Wizards.)
- Up to five cards per participant are allowed.
- Old cards are allowed.
- Deadline: Wed 17/05/2017 (in three weeks) — I'll be on holidays from the 13th of May so I'll be especially active with feedback on your cards in the last days of the challenge.
To help you, I recommand reading the Making Magic articles about Amonkhet that will hint at what Hour of Devasation will look like thematically:
- http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/amonkhet-down-business-part-1-2017-04-03
- http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/amonkhet-down-business-part-2-2017-04-10
- http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/amonkhet-down-business-part-3-2017-04-17
I think this line from the first article is very important, keep it in mind:
"In the end, we decided that Amonkhet was going to be mostly top-down Egypt with some top-down Bolas and Hour of Devastation was going to be mostly top-down Bolas with some top-down Egypt."
— Mark Rosewater
Prices:
- THIRD PLACE: ONE favourite on the card of your choice
- SECOND PLACE: THREE favourites on the cards of your choice
- FIRST PLACE: FIVE favourites on the cards of your choice
Of course, I will favourite any card I like in the contest as well
I hope you come out victorious of this trial! Now show me your skills as a true custom card designer!
Today I would like to propose you a quite difficult challenge, it's almost a riddle actually. As custom card designers we are often used to design cards in a vaccum, but for this Trial of the Missing Mechanic I would like to see how you manage to design with the same restrictions as real Magic design.
Luckily, we are at this time of the year where we already have half a set that is waiting to be finished. That's right, your challenge is to take the mechanical design of Amonkhet where it was left and bring it to Hour of Devastation, just like the real Magic designers had to do two years ago.
Here are the extensive rules:
- Create A MECHANIC for the upcoming set "Hour of Devastation", just like Revolt was introduced in "Aether Revolt".
- Explain how your mechanic fits in the already existing environment (e.g: specify if your mechanic replace any mechanic(s) from the "Amonkhet" set.)
- I will judge how well your mechanic fits the mechanics that were introduced in the first set.
- I will judge how well your mechanic fits what we already know of Hour of Devastation (Nicol Bolas is going to play a huge role, check out the third article below to see how he is defined mechanically by Wizards.)
- Up to five cards per participant are allowed.
- Old cards are allowed.
- Deadline: Wed 17/05/2017 (in three weeks) — I'll be on holidays from the 13th of May so I'll be especially active with feedback on your cards in the last days of the challenge.
To help you, I recommand reading the Making Magic articles about Amonkhet that will hint at what Hour of Devasation will look like thematically:
- http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/amonkhet-down-business-part-1-2017-04-03
- http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/amonkhet-down-business-part-2-2017-04-10
- http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/amonkhet-down-business-part-3-2017-04-17
I think this line from the first article is very important, keep it in mind:
"In the end, we decided that Amonkhet was going to be mostly top-down Egypt with some top-down Bolas and Hour of Devastation was going to be mostly top-down Bolas with some top-down Egypt."
— Mark Rosewater
Prices:
- THIRD PLACE: ONE favourite on the card of your choice
- SECOND PLACE: THREE favourites on the cards of your choice
- FIRST PLACE: FIVE favourites on the cards of your choice
Of course, I will favourite any card I like in the contest as well
I hope you come out victorious of this trial! Now show me your skills as a true custom card designer!
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
1) The way you use your five alloted cards is up to you: you can make one mechanic displayed on five cards, or five mechanics on one card each, or one mechanic on two cards and another mechanic on three other cards, etc. Of course you don't even have to make five cards, one mechanic on one card is a perfectly acceptable entry.
2) It has to be a mechanic, think of it as the Revolt of Aether Revolt. So "not actually proliferate" would not qualify in this challenge. Though I have an open mind on things like -1/-1 counters that are technically not mechanics but are still recognizable enough that I would be ok with it. (Deserts is debatable, because it has not enough support in Amonkhet to be called an actual mechanic, just as "not actually proliferate" only appear on a few cards, but I would accept a subtype with a strong support in the contest.)
Hope this help! If you have any other questions don't hesitate
I'm going to follow three simple steps to create a new mechanic for Hour of Devastation:
1) Define what's the difference between Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation you want to emphasis.
Since Kaladesh was about inventing and building things, it had the mechanic Fabricate in Abzan colours. Once it switched to Aether Revolt which was about destroying stuff, Abzan colours replaced Fabricate with Revolt to depict this change.
There are many ways to do the same in Amonkhet. Personally, I've decided that Amonkhet was about preparing for the return of the God-Pharaoh since so many mechanics are about gathering advantage. Therefore, my Hour of Devastation will be about confronting, so you will be rewarded for coming prepared.
2) Decide what mechanic(s) from Amonkhet have to go.
Amonkhet had the following four mechanics:
- Embalm featured mostly in White and Blue
- Exert featured only in Red, Green, and White
- Aftermath featured equally in all colours
- Cycling featured in all colours though more heavily in Black and Blue
As I'm only giving an example to my own contest, I don't want to eat up too much design space so I will remove one mechanic and add one mechanic. Following what I've decided on my first point, it makes more sense to remove Exert (the mechanic showing people preparing for the Trials), and replace it with my custom mechanic about confronting.
3) Make a list of your restrictions and design a mechanic out of it.
Based on the theme of Hour of Devastation (the return of the God-Pharaoh, Nicol Bolas), I considered I had to meet those restrictions:
- The mechanic has to be Bolas-flavoured (Cruel / Manipulative / Intelligent / Ancient / Powerful), or at least it can't be "Little Ray of Sunshine".
- The main theme of the set is still using the graveyard as a ressource, I can't use graveyard in the way Innistrad does with my mechanic, and I can't suddendly decide it's gonna be about artifacts.
Based on the theme I want to emphasis, I have those restrictions:
- The mechanic is about confronting.
- The mechanic rewards you for being better than your opponent.
Based on the fact that I removed Exert to make room for my mechanic, I have those restrictions:
- It needs to be mostly in Red, Green and White to fill the hole Exert left.
- It needs to encourage attacking as finding a way to avoid board stall is a very important role of mechanics in any set and Exert was the main mechanic doing that.
When I mix everything together, I get this:
Arrogance — Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent with less [THING] than you, [EFFECT].
With such a mechanic, there is one big trap to avoid: it must not become a win-more mechanic. Therefore I will have to make sure that you are always rewarded in one domain for being better in another domain. For instance, you must not gain life for having the most life but rather because you have the most cards in hand.
Here are three commons with the mechanic:
This mechanic actually has a lot of flaws, but I'll let you figure them out, and avoid them when you design your own mechanic
You need some help? I'd love to provide input!
As I said in the intro, take your time! This one is more complicated than average, the more you let your idea grow the more refine your mechanic will come out
Bump!
Thanks for this, @ningyounk!
I'm still tweaking it, with a ton of help from the inimitable @Beeswax.
I am trying to design a mechanic that could replace cycling as a primarily U/B mechanic in Amonkhet. Inscribe is that mechanic. It allows you to exile a card, then return that card to your hand rather than drawing a card.
So, something like: "When [creature name] enters the battlefield, inscribe the top card of your library. (Exile it.You may skip your draw step, If you do, return an inscribed card to your hand.)
I chose the word "Inscribe" because it usually means something like 'write or carve (words or symbols) on something, especially as a formal or permanent record' and the Egyptians (that inspired Amonkhet) believed strongly in the importance of recording past knowledge for future use. Moreover, the way it allows you to filter your deck and increase the odds of getting exactly what you want seems like something Bolas would appreciate. In this set, maybe a Bolas planeswalker would let you inscribe half your library!? Mwuahahahahaha!
With help from @modnation675 , who helped me refine the mechanic's wording among other things, I bring to you... Enforce!
https://mtgcardsmith.com/user/Lujikul/sets/20664
A mechanic largely located in the UW slice of the pie, you tap down a permanent unless an opponent is willing to pay the price. In order to maintain total control over Ahmonkhet, Nicol Bolas has enlisted the very law of society to carry out his will, ensuring his dominance over all.
I really wanted to tackle UW, as it seemed like a section of the pie Bolas wouldn't normally touch, and decided that, as control, tapping, and taxing colors, they were perfect to showcase his absolute domination.
And @modnation675, this contest doesn't require you to re-use card names/images at all.....
You've misread something...
Well now I see why I hadn't entered! XD
I have to apologize, I think the lack of entries came from a miscalculation of mine, I simply shouldn't have proposed a challenge that time-consuming on a low-activity period of the site.
To compensate, I will propose to you a very unique way of judging to spice things up and get in depths with your mechanics
Stay tuned...
Missing Mechanic: Scheming
"…, if you drew two or more cards this turn, … "
I wanted to create a top down bolas (no graveyard) mechanic centered in blue and black, that creates a negative effect for an opponent once you gain more knowledge. I also wanted it to create a feeling of supremacy, that "intimidates" your opponent. The name for the mechanic was the best I could think of to unite both the "knowledge" and the malicious hidden agenda.
Feedback appreciated
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/whistle-of-death