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Fall of Ravnica
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All in all, my advice on the colour identity would be to follow Ravnica's original philosophy: the guilds are not just two colours brought together, they are a third entity that only the combination of those colours gives you. Sometimes it's not always well-done, but if you can manage to have Dimir feels neither primary-Blue or primary-Black but primary-Dimir as some sort of new colour, then you have succeeded in giving the guild the right feel ^^
Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.
Disallow {Creature Type}: Your opponents can not control more than two creatures of the given type.
This encourages a more control-based game, but it could lead games to become stale. With zero design space, this is probably the last mechanic that I would implement.
Imprison X: Put X trial counters on target creature. That creature has an upkeep cost of {1} for each trial counter on it. If that cost is not paid, destroy that creature.
This is a complicated mechanic, but it could lead to interesting choices. If someone wants to cast a spell but won't have enough to pay the Imprison cost and cast the spell, will they choose to save the creature or lose it for something else? However, this mechanic also has very limited design space. Chances are, people will just Imprison the biggest creature until they can't pay off the tax.
Convict: Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you or a planeswalker you control, resolve an effect (i.e. draw a card, target creature doesn't untap during their controller's next untap step, etc.)
This seems like it would encourage the more reactive gameplay that W/U is known for, but I'm not sure how much it would be used. It encourages you to take damage, but I could compensate by making better effects. This seems like the one with most design space, but the nature of the mechanic could be discouraging to players.
Foresight X: Look at the top X cards of your library. You may out up to two of them into your hand and shuffle the rest into your library.
This mechanic is similar to scry, but I think it is the most versatile mechanic out of these four. It can be used differently by different types of people, and it doesn't have any direct risk. I feel like it could be a good card advantage mechanic if it doesn't work as an Azorius one.
Imprison: It sounds complicated, and would definitely need to be reworded. Also, this looks quite powerful, maybe too much for white and blue as removal. There may be some interesting design behind this though and I like the grindy aspect flavourfully.
Convict: This sounds more reckless than Azorius wants to be. Why not do the opposite and reward you for NOT being dealt damage instead?
Foresight: That's *WAY* too strong, on my opinion.
Maybe something like
{Name}--Whenever this creature blocks, you may draw a card. If you don't, gain 2 life.
A few other examples on the same theme of "reward for not being dealt damage":
ABILITY WORD — At the beginning of your upkeep, if you were not dealt damage since your last turn, EFFECT.
ABILITY WORD — CARDNAME has [ABILITY] until you're dealt damage.
I've made a total of five cards in the Fall of Ravnica set. Each one makes use of a different mechanic that I might implement, but I've only got two guilds represented right now--the Azorius and the Izzet. The cards are Corrupt Lawmage, Lyev Arbiter, Volatile Torch, Harness the Winds, and Izzet Bomber. These are all just examples of how each represented mechanic would be used at uncommon. Do you have any specific thoughts on them?
Links?
I'll post links after I get home from exams. ~3.75 hours...
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/corrupt-lawmage
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/izzet-bomber
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/volatile-torch
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/harness-the-winds
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/azorius-exile
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/azorius-hunter
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/new-prahv-court-in-shadows
Ummm... I'm just a little confused with the walker representations. For example, Gideon was allied with the Boros in the Gatecrash storyline, not the Azorius. And Ajani is Selesnya colored, well, a least recently. It just seems a little strange.
Yes, but Gideon left the Boros after realizing what Aurelia was planning for Ravnica. Overall, I feel like hieromancy align more with white/blue than white/red. While I do agree that Ajani has been represented as Selesnya recently, I feel that Elspeth works better in the guild itself. Ajani is primarily white and secondarily green, but has occasionally been represented as white and red. I understand that some of those alignments are stretches, but I hope that I cleared some of those confusions up.
Hi, do you mind if I right the story for the set (in brief)?
I've already got a plan for the story but I'm open to any suggestions.
No worries!
I did that for the original idea of this post, but I may as well just delete them. Tezzeret is in there for story reasons, but this was supposed to be a contest to make one planeswalker from the list along with two creatures from their corresponding guild, and I wanted more variety than Dimir.
So, I'm assuming Mazirek and the kraul takeover the Golgari Swarm with the new zombie hoard of theirs. Now, Mazirek, the new and established leader of the Golgari turns his head towards the problem of creating the Golgari empire. He knows that trying to take the entire plane by himself would be tactical suicide and instead goes toward alliances. Promising the Cult of Rakdos more bloodshed and death then they have seen in centuries, they side with him. He then goes to House Dimir and the Orzhov Syndicate. Utilizing the Dimir to destabilize other guilds and the Orzhov as funding. He promises to rule together but all the guilds of this alliance know to betray each other in the end. Then it all starts. A troop of Dimir spies assassinate key leaders in the Azorius Senate and Boros Garrison while the Rakdos and Golgari lead a bloody rampage through Simic and Izzet territory. Both significantly weakened, the Simic Combine and Izzet League join forces and retreat to a few small laboratories to cook up... something. Meanwhile, the Gruul Clans decide war is the best time to destroy all of civilization, the Boros and Azorius now reform to defend against the upcoming assault, and the Selesnya Conclave give up their peaceful nature after being hit be a devastating attack from the Rakdos. Ravnica is on the brink of collapse, without the Living Guildpact, (currently getting wrecked by Bolas on Amonkhet) the fall of Ravnica is dangerously close. With whom do you stand?
We have vastly varying ideas on how this will all play out. My idea focused more on Tezzeret and the Dimir. First, Tezzeret manipulates the Guildpact, using Bolas' influence to make small exceptions to its rules. With those exceptions, Tezzeret takes control of the Dimir and helps them infiltrate the Azorius Senate. Corrupting Isperia under the guise of an advisor, the Dimir begin oppressing the Izzet and Simic, deeming their experiments as "Too dangerous for the good of Ravnica." Tezzeret then shifts his focus to the Rakdos, promising them the overthrow of the Azorius if they help him. They agree, and the Dimir use the threat of an attack from the Rakdos to further oppress the other guilds. The Golgari are being sought out by the Azorius, Boros, Dimir, and Rakdos, all for their different purposes, but they remain mostly uninvolved. Meanwhile, Tezzeret begins supplying the guildless with weapons, planning to use their numbers to kill the guilds' leaders. Domri Rade leads the Gruul in an attack on the Azorius, seeing that their oppression has gone too far. The Orzhov see the chaos as an opportunity to gain influence, and they begin taxing the Azorius to the point of being subservient to both the Dimir and the Orzhov. Caught between two evils, Isperia is killed by her 'advisor' for following the Orzhov. Despite being supplied by Tezzeret, many of the guildless are turning to the Selesnya for promises of peace and security. Because of this, Tezzeret leads an attack on the Selesnya and tries to destroy the Dimir from the inside.
Yeah, your plot is ten times better.
Thank you. Do you think you'd be able to help me figure out an Izzet mechanic? I've got three ideas I'm considering right now.
What ideas do you have so far? I'd love to help also.
I love working with others on mechanics.
Thought I might throw in my two cents. I cooked up this mechanic and a few cards to go along with it for the Orzhov's side of this whole fiasco.
+Mechanic: Invest X (Whenever this creature enters the battlefield, you may pay X life. If you do, when this creature dies, you gain X life.)
Flavor-wise, Invest represents the Orzhov and its associates scrambling to create profit in the chaos of The Fall of Ravnica. Somewhat like shoving their hand in a snake hole hoping to pull something good out, you know? Thus, Invest provides sometimes steep loss for steep gain.
Playability-wise, Invest encourages an environment of life gain and life gain combos. It works in its peak form when exposed to cards that create tokens, double your life gain, and just purely create profit when you gain and/or lose life. In its most base form, however, Invest is just a good way to reserve your life-total for later.
Example Card: Soul Banker https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/soul-banker-2?list=user
Combo Card: Tax Thrull https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/tax-thrull?list=user
Combo Card: Failing Angel https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/failing-angel-2?list=user
Sorin Planeswalker: Sorin, Broken Exemplar https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/sorin-broken-exemplar?list=user
+On Sorin's involvement in Ravnica: When I was designing Sorin, Broken Exemplar, I was thinking about why he would come to Ravnica. Ultimately, I decided he would come in order to get away from and cope with all that had currently happened on Innistrad. With a lot to take in at once, he has gone to Ravnica in order to sort of take a vacation from his terrible situation and responsibilities. Thus, he has joined the Orzhov syndicate in order to sort of let himself go. He's slowly coming back to his roots, becoming cunning and ruthless in order to take out his anger as a situational antagonist on Ravnica. Thus, his inclusion as a mono-black planeswalker. Perhaps someone can talk some sense into him farther down along the line, but for now he's suiting his own, sometime malicious needs. This is, of course, just my take on Sorin on Ravnica, and you can morph him to whatever plot needs you require.
But yeah, I would love to discuss on how to develop the Orzhov further in this set, so if there's any critiques on my entry I am more than happy to hear them. What do you think, @NokiSkaur?
+The Whole Set: https://mtgcardsmith.com/user/Doug/sets/21839
Sweet! My current ideas are Malfunction, Volatility, and Spellcraft.
Malfunction: If you have already cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, you may pay [alternate price] (life, mana, tap creatures, etc.) when you cast this card. If you do, [effect].
Volatility: If you have less than [measurable quantity] (cards in hand, life, instants/sorceries in graveyard, etc.), resolve an effect.
Spellcraft: When you cast this card, you may reveal an instant or sorcery from your hand. If you do, this card costs {2} less to cast.
I think that if you invest life it should give you at least an additional life or two depending on how much card space there is for lower rarity reminder text.
Study (When you cast this spell, you may exile the top two cards of your library. If you do, put this card on the bottom of your library as it resolves, then any player may have you shuffle your library.)