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Renaissance Set — Design Phase
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This is my personal opinion, but, as it is already, we have a bunch of mechanics to juggle as well as that every set inherently has its “Look at me I’m cool” or “BUILD AROUND ME YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO” cards, as well as the cards that are for other formats released there because they can get away with that, like Harsh Mentor.
I guess it would work out for the Gruul colors. Since you would get access to green in the Golgari Pump Spells subtheme and red in the Boros Rebirth Strategy!
You could have cards that could say "Exile target land you control. Return that land to the battlefield as a 0/0 reborn creature with two (or any number really) +1/+1 counters on it." then you could use the +N/-N and -N/+N mechanics from the Golgari colors with a new P/T!
It may not be what the initial intention of flavor and use of the clay mechanic, but it is an interesting thought! I know that this is very far from clay tokens, but we can have Gruul represent botany and architecture? I don't know what flavorful themes you had planned initially for the Gruul XD It's just a thought, but it does intrigue me!
@ManaChrome Right now, Gruul has no specific theme, it's just meant to be the Go Wild colour combination (it's one of those archetypes that are less directional, it's quite low profile thematically as well.)
So far, I am not super sold on the necessity of Clay as a mechanical theme though. Flavourfully we already have Compose to represent art coming to life, as a simple creature type I am more excited about Golems, and making them more unique (like the land awakening) would probably pull the focus away from what we are trying to do and make them too complex for a low-profile subtheme.
--- Inspired Artist 2R ---
Creature - Human
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, compose 1 X times. Where X is equal to CARDNAME's power.
Rebirth 2RR
2/2
---
(^^^ the same concept could be used for white and psylian life.)
--- Nature Elemental 1GG ---
Creature - Elemental
Whenever a player gains 1 or more psylian life, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME.
1/1
---
--- Jealousy Incarnate 2BB ---
Creature - Horror
Whenever you compose, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 psylian life.
3/3
---
--- Turn to Stone 3BG ---
Sorcery
Destroy target creature. Create a token that's a copy of that creature except it's a Statue and is an artifact in addition to it's other types with base power 0.
---
--- Essence of Life XWG ---
Sorcery
You may only spend mana produced by psylian life to pay for X.
Compose X twice. Those tokens gain lifelink until end of turn.
---
You're not the first person I see that uses the "can only be paid with mana produced by psylian life" thing so I want to mention this again: They would probably use "As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay N psylian life" as keeping track of where the mana comes from is quite troublesome (in the real world, they have to implement those things digitally as well) ^^
Also, my vote is and has been from the beginning for psylian life to pay for any color
Another, more roundabout way might be the following:
Essence of Life
WG
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Essence of Life, pay any amount of psylian life.
Compose X twice, where X is half the amount of psylian life paid, rounded down. Tokens created this way gain lifelink until end of turn.
It's clumsier, but might work.
[CARDNAME]
[mana cost]
Enchantment
Pay X life: Compose X
maybe I should add "use this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery"
That's definitely an interesting card, but it brings a lot of balance issues:
- The ability to pay 1 life to create a 1/1 blocker at instant speed is definitely too strong, so the Sorcery restriction is probably necessary yes.
- The ability to make ten 1/1 instead of a 10/10 to avoid blockers is probably also too strong, and that's not even mentioning combos with sacrifice decks, death triggers, and enter the battlefield triggers. So yes, I think the "Use this ability once each turn" would also be necessary.
- The ability to make a giant Art like 15/15 is what make the card exciting but it's also a bit risky from a balance point of view as a number of things could make crazy combos with this card (just things like Fling for instance.) So it's possible and exciting, but it would have to be a 6 or seven mana probably
Actually, the card reminds me a bit of Bitterblossom! Maybe there's a way to push it in this direction? Otherwise, I think it needs a way to put a treshold on how big X can be, which probably just requires a mana cost actually.
We could make a reference to Bitterblossom like this:
Musebloom
[mana cost]
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay {1}. If you do, create a 0/1 white and blue Faerie creature token with flying and, "When this creature dies, you gain 2 psylian life."
The flavor text could be about flowers that bloom with our Optimistic Faeries ™ at dawn
XD
What I like about this idea is that you're "recycling" mana. You pay one mana to get a little Faerie to use as a chump blocker, then you get the mana back or basically prevent 2 damage from being dealt to you.
(For the commons I hope I can post a first text-only draft before the end of the week, as a starting point to discuss and a basis to playtest.)
I'm thinking of a new trope where our Optimistic Goblins™ are tinkerers that harness the power of the mini-Muses (AKA Faeries). The only problem is that we might be getting too tribal with Goblins, Art, and Faeries. If we're careful, though, I think we can pull it off.
I'm not super convinced about mixing faeries and muses together though, from a flavour point of view. I feel like any creature depicted as a light being (except the Elder Muses) should be a muse and more corporeal little beings with wings should be fearies, unless we can't find enough ilustration to make the WU Faerie theme work.
Also, I may have underestimated how long it would take me to transcript the 251 commons from my paper notes to the forum, I definitely won't be done today, I'm hoping tomorrow maybe, this week for sure xD
Alright, after many iterations I've finally produced a complete set of commons. It's not anywhere functional though, there are monstruosities a bit everywhere among those cards, but it gives us some kind of basis to playtest and have an idea of how the different mechanics and themes interact. I think I got some sort of methods to make the commons in such a way that we can think of them as several blocks we can tweak individually rather than a giant cryptic 251 cards monster where each piece interact with each other at any time xD
Here's the idea. I have two different grids that I intersect:
1) A colour grid. For each colour, I make a list of eveything I need (how many creatures, the mana curve of the creatures, the keywords I need, the cycles in this colour, the staple effects, the number and types of removal, and the level of evasiveness)
2) An archetype grid. For each bicolour archetype, I design 4 common cards in each colour of the two colours that are specifically aimed at that archetype. Which effects do I really need at common for this to work? This way, I get an idea for each archetype of how the general power level of the commons, how the mana curve looks, etc... There's a subgame of trying to design commons that will appear in two different archetypes so it leaves more room in the file for other utility cards.
Then I put the cards from the archetype grid inside the colour grid and adjust the mana costs and effects so everything is smooth. Then I fill in the blanks with whatever is missing.
So here are the grids:
I - COLOUR GRID
This is just a number of things I need in each colour, with no specific details. Just a few additional notes:
Evasion types: 1 is "basically unblockable" like flying, 2 is "can be blocked with downsides" like menace, trample, prowess, or deathtouch, 3 is "too big to ignore" which are creature big enough to be an issue regardless of abilities. We need about 5% of creatures in the set to have each type of evasiveness.
Removal: Soft removal means "not permanent" like pacifism effects but also tapping or boucing
1) WHITE:
- Composition:12 creatures (mana cost: 1-1-2-2-2-3-3-3-4-4-5-6), 2 enchantments, 5 instants/sorceries
- Evasion type: 1-1-1-2
- Removal type: 5 total including 2 spells, 3 soft removal, 1 enchantment, 1 enchantment and/or artifact removal
- Cycles: Vanilla, French Vanilla, Rebirth (just Rebirth + 1 evergreen keyword), Psylian life (ETB or attacks=gain 1PSY w/ evegreen keyword), combat trick, life-matters (if you gained life this turn), mana sink, defender
- Staple: small tapper, pacifism, small and big flyer, fog, teamp pump, token maker
- Keywords: vigilance, lifelink, first strike, defender, flying
- Other: At least 4 psylian life producer
2) BLUE:
- Composition:10 creatures (mana cost: 1-2-2-3-3-3-4-4-5-6), 2 enchantments, 7 instants/sorceries
- Evasion type: 1-1-2-3
- Removal type: 5 total including 3 soft removal and 2 counterspells
- Cycles: Vanilla, French Vanilla, mana sink, combat trick, life-matters (if you didn't lose life since your last turn), Compose (ETB: Compose), Discover (ETB: Discover), defender
- Staple: draw, freeze, bounce, unconditional counterspell, conditional counterspell, looting, -N/-0
- Keywords: flying, prowess, (flash), (hexproof), (menace)
3) BLACK:
- Composition:11 creatures (mana cost: 1-1-2-2-2-3-3-3-4-4-5), 2 enchantments, 6 instants/sorceries
- Evasion type: 1-2-2-2
- Removal type: 5 total including 2 spells, 2 creatures, 1 enchantment
- Cycles: Vanilla, French Vanilla, mana sink, combat trick, life-matters (if you lost life this turn), Compose (ETB: Compose), Psylian life (ETB or attacks=gain 1PSY w/ evegreen keyword)
- Staple: regeneration, recuperatin, sacrifice, unconditional removal, conditional removal, discard, draw for life
- Keywords: flying, haste, deathtouch, menace, lifelink
- Other: At least 3 psylian life producer and at least 3 life payment
4) RED:
- Composition:10 creatures (mana cost: 1-2-2-2-3-3-4-4-5-6), 1 enchantments, 8 instants/sorceries (including 1 noncompose creature token making)
- Evasion type: 2-2-2-3
- Removal type: 5 total including at least 1 creature and an artifact and/or land removal
- Cycles: Vanilla, French Vanilla, mana sink, combat trick, life-matters (if an opponent lost life this turn), Compose (ETB: Compose), Rebirth (just Rebirth + 1 evergreen keyword)
- Staple: creature blast, player blast, haste enabler, rummaging, (impulse draw), (prevent blocking)
- Keywords: haste, prowess, reach, menace, first strike, (trample)
5) GREEN:
- Composition:11 creatures (mana cost: 1-2-2-2-3-3-3-4-4-5-7), 2 enchantments, 6 instants/sorceries (including 1 noncompose creature token making)
- Evasion type: 2-2-2-3
- Removal type: 2 total including a fight spell and an artifact/enchantment/land removal
- Cycles: Vanilla, French Vanilla, mana sink, combat trick, life-matters (if an opponent lost life this turn), Psylian life (ETB or attacks=gain 1PSY w/ evegreen keyword), Discover (ETB: Discover)
- Staple: +1/+1 counters, ramp enchantment, mana dork
- Keywords: trample, deathtouch, reach, (flash), (hexproof)
When I do that, I actually don't put numbers like stats and converted mana costs, but here I'm skipping one step so you can have a feel of how each archetype works in this first draft.
1) WU Control Long-Game
- 5W Creature 4/4 Flying
- 3W Instant Prevent all damage that would be dealt by creatures that turn.
- 1W Creature 2/2 Defender. CARDNAME can block an additional creature each combat.
- You gain 2 psylian life. Up to one target creature gets +0/+X until end of turn, where X is your psylian life.
- 2U Creature 1/5 Defender 3U: Target creature attacks this turn if able.
- 1U Creature 0/4 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, draw a card unless you were dealt damage since your last turn.
- 2U You gain 2 psylian life. Attacking creatures get -X/-0 until end of turn, where X is your psylian life.
- 4U Creature 3/3 Flash Flying
2) UB Combo Graveyard Rogues
- U Creature 1/1 (Rogue) 2U: Target Rogue can't be blocked until end of turn.
- 1U Instant Target creature gets +1/+3 and gains hexproof. If it's a Rogue, it can't be blocked until end of turn.
- 2U Creature 2/3 (Rogue) Whenever a Rogue you control deals damage to an opponent, that player puts the three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
- 1U Exile target spell with converted mana cost 2 or less. As long as it's exiled, you may cast it.
- B Sorcery Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from an opponent's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
- 1B Creature 2/1 (Rogue) Whenever CARDNAME or another Rogue enters the battlefield under your control, you may have target player put the top two card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
- 1B Creature 3/1 (Rogue) When CARDNAME dies, exile target card from an opponent's graveyard. As long as it's exiled, you may cast it.
- 2B Creature 3/2 (Rogue) When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target creature an opponent controls gets -0/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Rogues you control.
3) BR Disruptive Aggro Suicide
- 1B Creature 1/1 Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDAME.
- 1B Enchantment B, Sacrifice a creature: Target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 psylian life.
- B Creature 1/1 1B, Pay 1 nonpsylian life: CARDNAME gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
- 4B Creature 4/4 CARDNAME has menace as long as you lost life this turn.
- 1R Creature 1/1 When CARDNAME dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
- 1R Instant As an additional cost to cast CADNAME, discard a card. Draw two cards. If an opponent lost life this turn, draw three cards instead.
- 2R Creature 2/3 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to each player.
- R Creature 1/1 Menace. Sacrifice CARDNAME: Target creature can't block this turn.
4) RG Aggro Go Wide
- R Sorcery Compose 1. CARDNAME deals damage equal to the number of creatures you control to target creature.
- 4R Creature 4/4 Whenever a Reborn creature enters the battlefield under your control, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn. Rebirth 4RR.
- 2R Sorcery Compose 1 three times.
- 1R Creature 1/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, compose 1.
- 2G Creature 3/3 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player create a 1/1 green NAME creature token.
- 3G Creature 3/3 If at least two players gained and/or lost life this turn, create a 2/2 green NAME creature token.
- 1G Instant Choose one — Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn OR Target creature gets +1/+3 until end of turn.
- 3G Sorcery Compose 3. Choose a target creature you control. It fights target creature you don't control.
5) GW Midrange Group Hug
- 1W Creature 2/1 Flying When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player gains 2 psylian life. Rebirth 3WW
- 3W Creature 3/5 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target opponent puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature he or she controls.
- 2W Creature 1/3 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if an opponent has more life than you, you gain 3 psylian life.
- 1W Sorcery Each player may choose a target artifact or enchantment. Destroy them.
- 2G Creature 3/3 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player create a 1/1 green NAME creature token.
- 1G Creature 2/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player gains 2 psylian life. T: Add G to your mana pool.
- 1G Sorcery Each player discovers a land, then each player may put a land card from his or her hand onto the battlefield.
- 3G Creature 3/3 If at least two players gained and/or lost life this turn, create a 2/2 green NAME creature token.
6) WB Control Psylian Life matters
- 1W Creature 1/3 Vigilance Whenever CARDNAME enters the battlefield or attacks, you gain 1 psylian life.
- W Creature 1/2 T: You gain 1 psylian life.
- 2W Creature 3/1 As long as you have psylian life, CARDNAME has first strike.
- 3W Instant Destroy target attacking or blocking creature. If you gained life this turn, draw a card.
- 2B Creature 2/3 Haste. Whenever CARDNAME enters the battlefield or attacks, you gain 1 psylian life.
- 3B Creature 1/3 Flying As long as you have psylian life, CARDNAME has +1/+1.
- 1BB Sorcery As an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, you may pay 2 psylian life. Target player discard two cards. If you paid CARDNAME's additional cost, he or she discards two cards at random instead.
- 1B Sorcery Draw two cards. You lose 3 nonpsylian life unless you lost life this turn.
7) UR Disruptive Aggro Compose
- 1U Creature 1/2 Whenever an Art enters the battlefield under your control, CARDNAME gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
- 4U Sorcery Return up to two target creatures to their owner's hand. Compose 2.
- 1U Sorcery Compose 2. Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
- 3U Creature 2/4 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, Compose 3.
- R Sorcery Compose 1. CARDNAME deals damage equal to the number of creatures you control to target creature.
- 1R Creature 1/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, compose 1.
- 4R Sorcery Compose 2. Creatures without flying can't block this turn.
- 3R Instant Compose 2. Create a 2/2 red NAME creature token.
8) BG Aggro Power/Toughness matter
- 1B Instant Choose one — Target creature gets -2/-1 until end of turn OR Target creature gets -1/-2 until end of turn.
- B Enchantment Aura Enchanted creature's base toughness is equal to 1.
- B Creature 1/2 Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a creature whose power and toughness aren't equal, destroy it.
- 2B Creature 2/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, Compose 2. 1B: Target creature whose power and toughness are equal gains menace until end of turn.
- 2G Creature 3/2 Flash. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
- 1G Instant Choose one — Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn OR Target creature gets +1/+3 until end of turn.
- G Creature 1/3 CARDNAME has defender as long as its power is 1 or less.
- 4G Creature 5/4 CARDNAME can't be blocked by creature with power 2 or less.
- 4W Creature 4/3 First Strike Rebirth 6W
- 2W Creature 2/2 Vigilance As long as CARDNAME is reborn, it has flying. Rebirth 3WW.
- 3W Creature W: Target reborn creature gains lifelink until end of turn. Rebirth 4WW.
- 1W Creature 2/1 Flying When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player gains 2 psylian life. Rebirth 3WW
- 2R Creature 3/1 Haste Rebirth 3RR
- 3R Creature 4/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target creature you don't control can't block this turn. Rebirth 4RR
- 4R Creature 4/4 Whenever a Reborn creature enters the battlefield under your control, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn. Rebirth 4RR.
- 1R Instant Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn. If it's reborn, it gains trample until end of turn.
10) GU Combo Ramp Discover
- U Instant Discover an instant or sorcery. You gain 2 psylian life.
- 3U Instant Discover anything two times.
- 3U Creature 2/2 (Rogue) Menace 2U,T: Discover Blue or a Rogue
- 5U Creature 5/5 CARDNAME can't be blocked if you made a successful discovery this turn.
- 1G Sorcery Each player discovers a land, then each player may put a land card from his or her hand onto the battlefield.
- G Instant Discover a land. You gain 2 psylian life.
- 1G Creature 1/1 Whenever you make a succesful discovery, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME.
- 2G Creature 2/2 Reach. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, discover a creature.
This is what I get when put the cards from the archetype grid and put it in the colour grid. Then, I adjust the numbers, make sure there's not too much of one thing, and fill in the blanks with what is missing. If you don't know what the codes like CW01 means, you can read this article: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/nuts-bolts-card-codes-2009-01-12-0 but it just means "Common - White - number 01" ^^
1) WHITE:
CW01: W Creature 1/2 T: You gain 1 psylian life.
CW02: W Creature 0/3
CW03: 1W Creature 2/1 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player gains 2 psylian life.
CW04: 1W Creature 1/3 Vigilance. When CARDNAMe enters the battlefield or attacks, you gain 1 psylian life.
CW05: 1W Creature 2/2 Defender. CARDNAME can block an additional creature each combat.
CW06: 2W Creature 2/2 Vigilance. As long as CARDNAME is reborn, it has flying. Rebirth 3WW
CW07: 2W Creature 1/4 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if an apponent has more life than you, you gain 3 psylian life.
CW08: 2W Creature 3/1 As long as you have psylian life, CARDNAMe has first strike.
CW09: 3W Creature 2/4 Rebirth 4WW. 1W: Target reborn creature gains lifelink until end of turn.
CW10: 3W Creature 3/5 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target opponent puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature he or she controls.
CW11: 4W Creature 4/3 First strike. Rebirth 6W
CW12: 5W Creature 4/4 Flying
CW13: 1W Enchantment - Aura Enchanted creature has +1/+1 and "Pay 1 psylian life, T: Tap target creature."
CW14: 2W Enchantment - Aura Enchanted creature can't attack, block, or use rebirth abilities
CW15: W Instant You gain 2 psylian life. Until end of turn, up to one target creature gets +0/+X where X is your psylian life.
CW16: 1W Sorcery Each player chooses a target artifact or enchantment. Destroy them.
CW17: 2W Instant Prevent all damage that would be dealt by creatures this turn.
CW18: 3W Instant Destroy target attacking or blocking creature. If you gained life this turn, draw a card.
CW19: 3W Instant Tap up to two creatures. Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
2) BLUE:
CU01: U Creature 1/1 (Rogue) 2U: Target Rogue can't be blocked this turn.
CU02: 1U Creature 1/2 Whenever an Art enters the battlfield under your control, CARDNAME gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
CU03: 1U Creature 0/4 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if you didn't lose life since your last turn, draw a card.
CU04: 2U Creature 2/3 (Rogue) Whenever a Rogue deals combat damage to an opponent, he or she puts the top three cards of his or her library in his or her graveyard.
CU05: 2U Creature 1/5 Defender. 3U: Target creature attacks this turn if able.
CU06: 2U Creature 3/2
CU07: 3U Creature 2/2 (Rogue) Menace. 2U,T: Discover a Rogue.
CU08: 3U Creature 2/4 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, compose 3.
CU09: 4U Creature 3/3 Flash flying
CU10: 5U Creature 5/5 CARDNAME can't be blocked if you made a succesful discovery this turn.
CU11: U Enchantment - Aura Enchanted creature has +1/+1 and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, you may draw a card."
CU12: 2U Enchantment - Aura When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, tap enchanted creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
CU13: 1U Instant Exile target spell with converted mana cost 2 or less. As long as it's exiled, you may cast it.
CU14: 1U Instant Target creature gets +1/+3 and gains hexproof until end of turn. If it's a Rogue, it can't be blocked this turn.
CU15: 1U Sorcery Compose 2. Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
CU16: 2U Instant You gain 2 psylian life. Until end of turn, attacking creatures get -X/-0 where X is your psylian life.
CU17: 3U Instant Discover anything two times.
CU18: 3U Instant Counter target spell. If you didn't lose life since your last turn, scry 2.
CU19: 4U Sorcery Return up to two target creatures to their owner's hand. Compose 2.
CB01: B Creature 1/1 1B, Pay 1 nonpsylian life: CN gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
CB02: B Creature 1/2 Whenever CARDNAME deals damage to a creature whose power and touhness aren't equal, destroy it.
CB03: 1B Creature 3/1 (Rogue) Whenever CARDNAME dies, exile a nonland card from an opponent's graveyard. As long as it's exiled, you may cast it.
CB04: 1B Creature 1/1 Whenever you sacrifice a creature, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME.
CB05: 1B Creature 2/1 Whenever a Rogue enters the battlefield under your control, target opponent puts the top two cards of his or her library in his or her graveyard.
CB06: 2B Creature 2/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, compose 2. 1B: Target creature whows power and toughness are equal gains menace until end of turn.
CB07: 2B Creature 2/3 Haste. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield or attacks, you gain 1 psylian life.
CB08: 2B Creature 3/2 (Rogue) When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target creature an opponent controls gets -0/-X where X is the number of Rogues you control.
CB09: 3B Creature 1/3 Flying. As long as you have psylian life, CARDNAME has +1/+1.
CB10: 3B Creature 4/2
CB11: 4B Creature 4/4 CARDNAME has menace as long as you lost life this turn.
CB12: B Enchantment - Aura Enchanted creature's base toughness is equal to 1.
CB13: 1B Enchantment B, Sacrifice a creature: Target opponent loses 1 life. You gain 1 psylian life.
CB14: B Sorcery Return target creature card with converted mana cost 2 or less from an opponent's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
CB15: 1B Instant Choose one — *Target creature gets -1/-2 until end of turn. *Target creature gets -2/-1 until end of turn.
CB16: 1B Sorcery Draw 2 cards. You lose 3 nonpsylian life unless you lost life this turn.
CB17: 2B Sorcery You may pay 2 psylian life as an additional cost to cast CARDNAME. Target player discards two cards. If you paid CARDNAME's additional cost, that player dicards two cards at random instead.
CB18: 2B Instant Target creature gets +3/+0 and gains indestructible until end of turn.
CB19: 3B Instant As an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, sacrifice a creature or pay 3 nonpsylian life. Destroy target creature.
4) RED:
CR01: R Creature 1/1 Menace. Sacrifice CARDNAME: Target creature can't block this turn.
CR02: 1R Creature 2/1 Prowess
CR03: 1R Creature 1/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, compose 1.
CR04: 1R Creature 1/1 When CARDNAME dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
CR05: 2R Creature 2/2 Haste. Rebirth 3RR
CR06: 2R Creature 3/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to each player.
CR07: 3R Creature 3/4 Reach. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may destroy target artifact.
CR08: 3R Creature 4/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target creature can't block this turn. Rebirth 4RR
CR09: 4R Creature 4/4 Rebirth 5RR. Whenever a Reborn creature enters the battlefield under your control, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn.
CR10: 5R Creature 6/4
CR11: R Enchantment - Aura Enchanted creature has +1/+1 and haste.
CR12: R Sorcery Compose 1. CARDNAME deals damage to target creature equal to the number of creatures you control.
CR13: R Instant CARDNAME deals 2 damage to target creature. It must attack this turn if able.
CR14: 1R Instant Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn. If it's Reborn, it gains trample until end of turn.
CR15: 1R Instant as an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, discard a card. Draw two cards. If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, draw three cards instead.
CR16: 2R Sorcery Compose 1 three times.
CR17: 2R Instant CARDNAME deals 1 damage to each creature and player.
CR18: 3R Sorcery Compose 2. Create a 2/2 red NAME creature token.
CR19: 4R Sorcery Compose 3. Creatures without flying can't block this turn.
5) GREEN:
CG01: G Creature 1/3 CARDNAME has defender as long as its power is 1 or less.
CG02: 1G Creature 2/2 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player gains 2 psylian life. T: Add G to your mana pool.
CG03: 1G Creature 1/2 Deathtouch
CG04: 1G Creature 1/1 Whenever you make a succesful discovery, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME.
CG05: 2G Creature 3/3 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player creates a 1/1 green NAME creature token.
CG06: 2G Creature 2/2 Reach. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, discover a creature.
CG07: 2G Creature 3/2 Flash. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
CG08: 3G Creature 3/3 When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if at least two players gained and/or lost life this turn, create a 2/2 green NAME creature token.
CG09: 3G Creature 4/3 Trample. Whenever CARDNAME enters the battlefield or attacks, you gain 1 psylian life.
CG10: 4G Creature 5/4 CARDNAME can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.
CG11: 6G Creature 8/8
CG12: 2G Enchantment - Aura When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you gain 2 psylian life. Whenever enchanted land would produce mana, it produces one more mana of the color of your choice.
CG13: 3G Enchantment - Aura Enchanted creature gets +0/+2. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, enchanted creature's power becomes equal to its toughness.
CG14: G Sorcery Discover a land. You gain 2 psylian life.
CG15: 1G Sorcery Discover a land. Each player may put a land card from his or her hand onto the battlefield tapped.
CG16: 1G Instant Choose one — *Target creature gets +1/+3 until end of turn. *Target creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn.
CG17: 2G Instant Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You gain 2 psylian life.
CG18: 2G Instant Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature you control. Put a +1/+1 counter on a creature target opponent controls.
CG19: 3G Sorcery Compose 3. Choose a creature you control. It fights target creature you don't control.
6) ARTIFACT:
CA01: 3 Artifact-Creature (Art) 1/5
CA02: 2 Artifact - Equipment Equip 1. Equipped creature has +1/+1 and "4,T: Compose X, where X is this creature's power."
CA03: 3 Artifact CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped. T: Add one mana a source an opponent controls could produce.
7) LAND:
CL01: Land Evolving Wilds
CL02: Land T: Add C to your mana pool. Tap an untapped creature your control, T: Add a mana of any colour to your mana pool.
CL03: Land CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped. When it enters the battlefield, target player gains 2 psylian life. T: Add C to your mana pool.
This is a really rough draft but it's difficult to get a sense of the cards before you can try them, which this will allow us to do ^^ I still need to run some basic filters like number of words (I'm pretty sure I have too many wordy cards at common), and average power/toughness, as well as number of psylian life enabler etc... I'll try to add everything to the Google Drive so we can comment card-by-card without flooding this thread completely. I also want to add them to Planesculptor so we can access the draft and sealed option for those interested in playtesting ^^
A couple things:
- I think we need to be careful about not slipping too far into tribal. We already have Art, Rogue, and possibly Faerie tribes, so we're treading a fine line. Cards like CU01, CU04, and CB08 might be going a little too far into the Rogue tribal stuff. Cards like CU07, however, I think are more okay. CU07 is a thief who calls for his partner, but CU04 might be pushing it a little.
EDIT: Scratch my complaint with CU01.
- CB03 should be unco. Look at Dire Fleet Hoarder from Ixalan: (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=435256)
It has the same mana cost as CB03, but lower power and a worse effect. When it dies, you get a Treasure token, which is slightly more valuable than one mana of any color because of artifact synergy and combos. CB03 can be used to get rid of a troublesome card in the graveyard, and also possibly get it for you. Though it doesn't grant the ability to use mana as if it were any color to cast it, interactions like this are generally confined to rare. Considering it has no other abilities and is relatively useless in the early game despite its low mana cost ("You attack? Okay, I block it, and it dies. Congratulations! You got an Evolving Wilds that you can't use), I think it should be uncommon.
- Cards like CB01 made me think. It requires for you to have lost nonpsylian life, to prevent triggering the buff by paying psy life for mana. However, cards from other sets don't have that insurance. It changes the suicide archetype. What I like about including suicide in this set is that it takes an optimistic spin: instead of, well, committing suicide, you're drawing on your store of inspiration. But with psylian life, the Rakdos will be after our blood for messing with their territory. I don't know if it's a problem we need to do something about, but if we do want to address it, perhaps "life" only refers to regular life unless otherwise specified? But that makes things wordier. "If you've lost life this turn" is a lot simpler than "if you've lost psylian or nonpsylian life this turn."
I made this one a while ago. I like the feel of it; like pushing someone out of the way of a falling stone and getting hit yourself.
Sorry, I know it's really really long, my plan is to break it into smaller problems to deal with, but I couldn't do that without delaying the post even more and it was already much later than I promised ^^
So about the problems you started to talk about:
1) Too much tribal: Originally, when I started thinking about the archetypes, I knew I wanted exactly one tribal archetype, because people like tribals and I think the way the GB Elf tribal was done in Magic Origins was a huge success (I consider Magic Origins to be an amazing design all-in-all.) So I proposed that UB Rogue thing ^^ Now, I didn't expect the Compose archetype to rely that much on tribal design tropes, but it's where the design really pushes it
(a) We drop the idea of tribal for the UB archetype and make stealing cards that happen to be Rogues, a bit like faeries and/or muse should end up being. To counterbalance, the UR archetype become a true Art tribal archetype.
(b) We try to make the UR Compose archetype work without using specific Art tribal. I really think it needs cards that say "Art you control have flying" etc. to really work though.
(c) We try to do both Rogue and Art tribal but treat them the most differently we can. It's tricky though because they both want to be as evasive as possible.
2) CB03 being too strong: Sure, I probably overshoot wildly with half the cards XD The hard part is obtaining creatures with different stats, I already had a two-mana 2/1 so I tried 3/1 x) Yes, the effect may need to go at uncommon, a lot of those cards will definitely go up in rarity once we have a chance at playtesting them I think ^^
3) About nonpsylian life costs: I'm not 100% sure I understood correctly, so I'm going to try answering what I think you're saying. The "If you lost life this turn" triggers are supposed to be triggered by paying psylian life yes, it's part of the synergy. I just tried a "nonpsylian life" on black cards that make you pay life so it doesn't feel like a horrible nonbo, but it could be removed if the tension it brings is actually interesting (I'm especially in for making you pay "just" life if it means people don't stock up on psylian life.)
I'll also add two points I want to discuss:
4) GW Group Hug and UB Rogue Tribal archetypes: Giving things to your opponent and playing your opponent's deck is effects Magic do not do at common. But we need to do new things to make the set interesting, and I think both are pretty exciting things that we can try to make at common for the first time. It just means we need to find a way to find the right conditions. Especially stealing opponents' cards, I tried the mana restriction at 2 or less for common, but other things we need to consider are: card type you can steal, impulse casting only (you have to play them immediatly) and source of the card (graveyard is the strongest thing possible, hand can be interesting depending on who decides which card you're allowed to cast, deck is probably the safest.)
5) What do you think of using an ability word in an unorthodox way by putting it in front of all the life-matters conditions even though they have different patterns? (If you gained life, if you didn't lose life, if you lost life, if an oppponent lost life, if at least two players gained and/or lost life.) In one hand, that's not how ability words are supposed to work and it could be really confusing. On the other hand, it brings cohesion to the set, increases the life-matters awareness considerably since suddendly two mechanics are tied to life, and it gives a flavour to psylian life. If we use an emotion-related keyword, psylian life becomes flavoured as emotion more than inspiration which settles an old interrogation we had.
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On Side by Side: I like the concept, I feel it can go even further. For instance: "Until end if turn, if a source would deal damage to a creature you control, divide that damage among any number of creatures you control."?
1) I definitely think that A is the best option.
3) What I meant was that since now we have Psylian life, the term "life" is too vague. If we're trying to refer to just normal life, like every card that referred to life before this set, we need to specify. My point is that we should do something to eliminate this confusion. Perhaps the term "life" only refers to regular life, but then we would need to say "psylian or nonpsylian life," which is much wordier. Maybe "inclusive life" or something like that?
4) I agree. Complex interactions like that just don't happen at common. It might be best to limit commons to supplemental roles, like:
CARDNAME 2B
Creature-Rogue 2/4
Whenever you cast a spell that you don't own, you gain 1 psylian life.
Also, there is a different thing we can do with Rogues that don't steal cards: steal inspiration (Psylian life). There has been discussion several times about a sort of "Psylian lifelink." I think that we could implement that in the Rogue archetype without having to actually keyword it.
CARDNAME 2BB
Creature-Rogue 2/1
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a player, you gain 2 psylian life.
CARDNAME 1B
Creature-Rogue 1/1
Whenever Cardname deals combat damage to a player, you gain psylian life equal to its power.
(Black doesn't really feel like the right color for this card, on second thought).
CARDNAME 3UB
Creature-Rogue 3/4
Whenever an opponent loses Psylian life, you gain 1 Psylian life.
And, of course, we can use the classic Rogue maneuver of "Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a player, draw a card." Another couple examples:
CARDNAME 2U
Creature-Rogue 1/3
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a player, you may look at that player's hand.
CARDNAME 2UU
Creature-Rogue 1/3
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a player, you may look at that player's hand and exile a nonland card with converted mana cost 3 or less from it.
5) Do you mean doing something like "If you lost life this turn, Compose 1"?
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I think your idea for Side by Side would be an interesting card, it isn't what I was going for with the original design. Side by Side is meant to be a response to your opponent's Bolt or similar effect. With your concept, one would cast it during their pre-combat main phase to protect their creatures, but it would be virtually useless as a response because it would have to have cmc 5 or so.
1) Ok, let's try to drop the tribal aspect of Rogues then and see how it works ^^
3) Hmm the fact that this is causing understanding issues makes me worry for the viability of the mechanic itself
- The term "life" refers to your life total, it's basically what you're refering to as "inclusive life" ^^ Based on psylian life rules, if you have 20 nonpsylian life and 5 psylian life, you have 25 life. If you then lose 10 life, you lose 5 psylian life and 5 nonpsylian life.
- This means any card from regular Magic that says you lose N life doesn't specifically refer to your nonpsylian life. It makes you lose psylian life if you have some, then nonpsylian life.
4) Well, ideally we can find a way to make stealing cards at common. Regular Magic stays away from it for complexity and also to avoid players mixing their cards, but we don't have that last limitation. I believe, there are simple and nonmwordy effects that could work well on commons (gain control of target creature, return target creature onto the battlefield, you may cast this card) if we find the right power level ^^ It would certainly be impressive if we manage to pull it off.
I like those designs, I especially like "When CARDNAME deals combat damage, you gain 1 psylian life", though I think it competes a bit with the three-cards cycle (WBG) that says "When CARDNAME enters the battlefield or attacks, you gain 1 psylian life, which I think does a slightly better job at presenting the mechanic (creatures with an "opponent damage" trigger will be blocked first, and we actually want the card to give some psylian life somewhat consistently.) The psylian lifelink should definitely be in the file, but I'd like the commons to not give more than 1 psylian life at once if it's repeatable, because I'm really affraid that it could give too much ramp otherwise. So I was thinking a white unco for this?
5) I meant having cards like CW18, CU03, CB16, CR15 and CG08 share a same ability word even though there is no repetition of the same condition, the pattern is that they all look at life swings: (For instance, let's say the ability word is "Emotion")
CW18: Happy Rebuff
3W
Instant
Destroy target attacking or blocking creature.
Emotion — If you gained life this turn, draw a card.
CU03: Fearful Protector
1U
Creature
0/4
Emotion — When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if you didn't lose life since your last turn, draw a card.
CB16: Sad Pact
1B
Sorcery
Draw 2 cards.
Emotion — You lose 3 nonpsylian life unless you lost life this turn.
CR15: Angry Looting
1R
Instant
As an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, discard a card.
Draw two cards.
Emotion — If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, draw three cards instead.
CG08: Loving Cub
3G
Creature
3/3
Emotion — When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if at least two players gained and/or lost life this turn, create a 2/2 green NAME creature token.
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On Side by Side: The original wording makes it a very specific hate card against red burn and a specific type of white removal, so I don't know if it really has a use. White have access to effects like "Protection", "Prevent all damage" and "Gains indestructible until end of turn" which are strictly better version of damage redirection in 99,99% of cases (0,01% of cases being things like Enrage.) Those effects are accessible as one-mana commons, so I don't know if that version of Side by Side would even be useful as a sideboard card against burn. Most of the time, I think it would be more correct to just sideboard a "+N/+N until end of turn" effect than trying to split the burn, just because of the offensive option it gives you.
But I really like the idea of splitting the damage, it's a new effect, it's intuitive, I just think it needs to find its right place, it's not as strong as preventing damage which White already does very well, which is why I think it should be used offensively as well. Notably, it synergizes really well with Compose (you launch a big attack, and redirect the damage to the Art token that is going to die at the end of turn anyway, which makes your 1/1 actually useful as attackers for instance ^^) My version would certainly not cost 5 or more mana as it's strictly worse than this:
Also, I had an idea - maybe different people could focus on making different archetypes work. Like, for each archetype, 1 or 2 people think of some ideas at common and uncommon, and make them. (Later come the rares and mythics.)
But I honestly think, first, before all that, we should focus on making the uncommons that represent each archetype. (Whoever doesn't know what that is, it's like Shaman of the Pack for B/G Elves in Origins, or Deadeye Plunderers for U/B Treasure in Ixalan. It's basically the "representative" of that archetype.) So what do you think?
EDIT: Also, CU11 should a) have its mana cost bumped up, b) have its rarity bumped up, or c) both. It's an improvement on Curiosity, which itself is an uncommon.
3) Ahhhhh, you're right. I was only thinking about the "lose psylian life first" thing in relation to combat damage.
5) I see. Do we need another mechanic? We have psylian life, Compose, Discover, and Rebirth. If we agree that there's room for it, I'm all for it.