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Renaissance Set — Design Phase
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I made some stuff of u/r. It could maybe be expanded to a cycle. Tell me if I got the numbers right on these. Also if we have actual locations in the lore I can remake to use those instead.
By the way, how's the business with the monocolored legendary cycles?
On Ajani Enlightened: It's lacking a couple of things I think:
- Some sort of protection (the Art tokens won't stay to protect it.)
- More diversity in its main abilities.
- A little twist (what makes this Ajani different? For instance, why is he monoWhite?)
- A main signature ability. Ajani is about lifegain and +1/+1 counters, we can't have that show only on his ultimate.
- Overall, I'm not sure Compose is the right fit for him. He's a lifegain planeswalker on a life-matters plane, he should probably have life manipulation instead.
@atrus159
On Inglestreet Vixen: Wonderful card, we'll definitely need a similar red Art lord in the set a priori ^^ So far, most cards with Compose make tokens with 3 or less power though, and trampling 2/2s are a little weird. Maybe trample is not the best ability for them? Firebreathing? Or Trample and +2/+0?
On Library Hustler: Curiosity sounds like the perfect fit for the blue Compose Art lord! I couldn't think of a better one so far ^^ Flying maybe could work as well I guess? For the UR uncommon maybe? The illusration is a bit anachronical, the character's outfit is, I believe, too modern for Renaissance. I have to say you did an impressive job on the flavour text on both cards though, it really opens a small window on this world for you to look at =D
I like the idea of psylian life tapped lands. It's probably too strong though to give two psylian life (you would have 3 mana on turn 2 on the play.) I don't know if giving 1 psylian life is worth a Rare slot though
On Ethama, Liquid Sculptor: That could work, though this character definitely feels monoblue (and a little too aggro I believe) ^^ Gold rares don't have to be tied to the archetype grid but rather can open new deck possibilities with subthemes, which works here, but it's a bit weird because it actually supports a main archetype that has been specifically given to another colour pair in the set.
Link to illustration: http://www.cruzine.com/2013/04/22/inspiring-digital-illustrations-ericdeschamps/
On Dack: Maybe with a bit of editing, you could turn Liliana into some random lady who fancies him. And in the story, how about this - Dack meets Kedrah?
For Ajani, protection could either be preventing creatures from attacking (removal is considered protection) or creating a token that can block for instance. There are more original protection abilities though, Kaya for instance literally disappear from the board for a turn. An original protection ability for Ajani could be to give it a ridiculous amount of loyalty? Like +5 ? (Then, we should probably skip the Ultimate if we ever do something like this. A planeswalker with only + abilities, a bit like Gideon, could be fun.)
@sanjaya666 Oh wait I believe you're right, she doesn't have the white stuff in her hair, and I don't see the marks on her skin, it's probably a random woman (which makes me want to use this art even more now xD)
Flicker is ability two. Is that protecting enough?
On Ajani: I suppose that counts yes, as long as the creature doesn't have haste ^^ For the first ability, you don't need to use "may", the situations where you'd want to activate the ability but not get the life are just too rares to be worth the complexification.
Overall, this card still have two issues:
- What story are you telling me with it? What is the link between the abilities? What do they represent. Creating a planeswalker card is not just putting random effects in the three slots, the final card has to make sense as a single character
- The card is very weak right now. I certainly wouldn't want to pay 4 mana to gain 3 psylian life or blink a creature. Also the second ability is on the very weak end of the spectrum of protective abilities since the creature comes back the next turn and even get to re-trigger its ETB abilities
- The monocoloured planeswalkers cycle.
- The monocoloured Muse cycle.
- The monocoloured legendary creature cycles.
We can't have TWO monocoloured cycles at mythic rares in the same set I'm affraid, we just don't have the room for that, it would leave only one mythic per colour left.
One of the solutions may be to destroy the planeswalker cycle. We just make three planeswalkers like a regular noncore set. This also resolves the problem of having some legendary characters that were supposed to spark and show as planeswalkers. We're not supposed to show the same character as a creature and planeswalker in the same set.
I know the legendary creature and Muse cycle are supposed to match because of the story, but they do compete with each other as the flashy monocoloured creatures ^^"
Here's an option: We break both the legendary creatures and planeswalker cycles.
- Not all Muses die in the story, only one character has to sacrifice him/herself to replace the corrupted Muse they killed.
- Some of the characters are multicoloured and some are monocoloured.
- One of the character shows on a planeswalker card instead of a creature card because of the muse-touching thingy.
E.g.:
- Planeswalkers: Da Vinci UR / Corrupted Ajani WB / Mren G
- Muses: Stay 5 monocoloured
- Legendary creatures: Jennel UW, Ekoma U, Kedra B, Salendi GR
This way we put the emphasis on the Muses as an exciting cycle, and the legendary and planeswalker cards are just cool cards on their own. We then complete the rare legendary cycles in both monocoloured and ally colours with random characters that don't pull the focus as much (a legendary mermaid for tribal commander, this kind of things).
P.S: Ajani would be pretty easy to find a WB art for, he just seems super mean on most of his illustrations XD
@ningyounk, @TezeretofCarmot21, a couple things. Before we go around making planeswalkers, we need to figure out how they fit into the story. What significance do Ajani and Dack have? Neither are artists; though Dack can support Rogue tribal, and Ajani is a life-gain 'walker. What do they do in the set?
@ningyounk, yes, our cycles are becoming quite problematic XD But before we can make big decisions like that (shocker!) we have to flesh out the story. (Yes. I get it. I'm a lore nerd and the story comes first for me. But hey... we're all nerds here. This is Nerdtopia. XD).
- Why is Ajani/Dack/both here? What do they do?
- Who is the leader of the society that wants to harness the Muses? Is it the Da Vinci character? Is it someone else?
- What does this society want to use to capture the Muses? Hedrons from Zendikar? Some of Innistrad's silver moon?
- Which is the corrupted Muse? Is it one of the main 5? Is it a different one altogether? Is it new, or is it an ancient problem that happens every few Returns?
- Do all the main characters spark? Just one? Another number?
- How many of the characters become new Muses?
- What happens to the corrupted Muse?
- Is the society defeated? Or are they stopped, but not eradicated, opening the way for another set?
- Is this set a stand-alone, or are we making a block? (This one isn't really a story question, but we still need to answer it XD)
- Why is Ajani now WB (if we choose to use him)?
And a random question: Anyone ever notice that Dack Fayden and Ral Zarek look almost exactly the same? They could be siblings! XD
EDIT: Crap! I just realized that Ekoma has the same last name as Saheeli! Whoops! That's a major slip-up on my part XD
The story can be changed and adapted easily to gameplay, the most important part is that we get the gameplay right even if the story has to be re-written ^^ That said:
- I'm guessing Dack is here to help the bad guys? I'm less sure about Ajani, maybe he's just investigating on Gatewatch's orders?
- I would find it sad to have Da Vinci be a bad guy, so I'd rather have a new unrelated character as the bad guy personally ^^
- I think it has more impact if the corrupted Muse is originally one of the five Grand Muses.
- As I mentioned above, we can't actually do the same character as creature and planeswalker on the same set, so I'd say only one sparks and we make him/her a planeswalker card but no legendary creature card?
- So, for the new Muses, we don't necessary have to make everything go 5 by 5. If you make something happen once it emphasizes its importance. I would actually be for choosing only one character that will sacrifice him/herself for the cause. This creates diversity in the story, makes it less predictable, and avoids stacking too many monocoloured cycles at rare and above.
- I guess the bad guys are defeated but we aren't 100% sure if it's for good?
- Well, we haven't taken any decision during creative to support a block. Making a block is not just putting two sets together, we would have had to design all keywords for the block at the same time, defining which themes each set in the block gets to refrain from using them in the other and create a sense of progression etc. Basically I think we passed the point where we could have made this set part of a block a long time ago.
- WB Ajani is certainly very random XD If we were to use it, I guess he could die and come back for instance? This kind of things?
I had no clue who Ral Zarek was until you mentioned it XD
Wait, that would be super fun if Ekoma was Saheeli's daughter or something! x)
Also I remade vixen and hustler with new hustler art and vixen giving menace. The old versions still exist if we prefer them.
Just noted you've been using phylian instead of psylian but don't change your cards for that, it's a concept name and is very likely to change at the end of all this ^^
1) Where did you find that art? And should Ajani be fluctuations in life? And should I keep the ult? All these questions... xD
2) How about Dack being the leader of the society? He's a thief, I mean. It just makes sense to me.
1) Sorry I forgot to link the art for Ajani (artist: Zhao Yan): https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6OmwW
Mechanically, don't hesitate to try new things ^^ If we get a limited number of planeswalkers, each of them will have to be very special and exciting in its own way! =D
2) It feels a little weird to have Dack be the leader of the secret society because he's not from this plane and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy would would make complicated multiplanar schemes (looking at you Nicol Bolas), but I don't know the character super well. He just stroke me as too opportunist, is he officially?
https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Dack_Fayden
On Equivalent Exchange: The concept of reversing the life changes is interesting but the card is in an awkward spot in my opinion, it's probably too strong but making it more balanced would likely make a card not exciting enough for Mythic Rare. Maybe this could make a fine gold uncommon? Giving you "only" one card or one psylian life per turn?