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Planeswalker's Journey
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Or actually, now that I think about it, a pro player. Not only can his decks be made of the Best Cards, but if he needs an awesome topdeck he can summon one from his deck. Need removal? Summon a removal spell! Need a way to kill the weak opponent? Summon a big creature!
Nah, it’s just the heart of the cards. (Which was canon confirmed cheating.)
I am working on Chapter XIV (Ha! You thought it was over!) of my story. I am omitting Chapter XIII: Star Rise because it's a retelling of @Jonteman93's Journey's End segment. However, I will share my story card.
@BorosPaladin I can also advise you to follow Tournament of Champions 2 until ToC3 starts. However, this will take 15 months if the current average of battles per month remains constant.
These are only my thoughts and ideas combined with some feedback. If you don't like them or don't agree then you can completely neglect and skip them.
Card slots, points -> card -> score. Card worth
So some of you have wanted to make all cards equal value. A common equal to a mythic. Personally I think there is benefits in keeping different scores for each rarity.
This is because the design quality needs to be different. An average common is rarely complicated while an average mythic is. Mythics thus require more by the designer and should be where the designer puts his/her focus. You could see them as acts. Common cards are common acts with little significance while mythic are legendary acts with high significance. It's after all a preference. I wanted to see what you could do with high focus on the mythics card while the common cards were lied back.
Another point that was commented was that a good common should be worth more than a bland mythic. The thing here is that the mythic should be given focus since it costs way more than a common. The quality of the card = value/card worth. A good card will be closer to 75-100%. A bland card will get 60-80% and a bad card 30-60% as example.
Even though I believe different value is good. The old card values were in my opinion a little too different. A mythic was worth too many commons and such.
I would shrink these total values to something like this:
Common: 5 points
Uncommon: 7 points
Rare: 10 points
Mythic: 15 points
Legendary: +5 points
Planeswalker: 25 points
Or something similar.
The card slots were not bad in open daylight but they were bad behind the curtains. We all know that too many slots were given which is a problem related to the slots. I could not give you a "correct amount" of points without adding a bunch of random commons and uncommons which were almost obsolet and only a shore to work with. It would not matter how many commons you had. If you had no rares you could not make a rare card etc.
Also it was terrible to keep an eye how many slots each person had. I had to check commons, uncommons, rares, mythics and legendaries separately for each person. This would have been much easier if these five were transferred to one single quantity (Points or credits or gold or money or resources etc.)
The good thing about a point/money system is that people could save up "commons" and make them into uncommons or rares and so.
Each slot would cost equally to what they are worth in points.
This would make it easier as well to distribute "slots" since the player can break it down from a supposed rare to two commons if needed for the challenge or improve the cover factor. Most of the time I gave you cards worth 40 points or so per challenge (with the old values) With this system I would probably never go above 15 and only go for 15 at the latest two or so challenges. However this is up to the host. Also if there would bee too many points given then they could be made into mythics and thus reduce the amount of cards significantly.
Many commons can do more widely effects while few rares and mythics can do more highly impact. I would let the player choose which one to prefer.
Challenges
I would include a scale how well the challenge was solved and the player would be rewarded accordingly. Not the stupid double points crap for everything.
Otherwise I'm out of ideas.
Colors and CMC
Color and cmc does not make the cards better but they do give the player more options for how they can design their cards. Colors and cmc should not be a choice against points but against each other. The player can either go wide with colors or high with cmc is my idea. However I know too little to have any more to say about it.
Cover and Curve factors
Easy said but difficult in practice. Curve is somewhat easier since it is based only on quantity and cmc. Cover factor can be explored until infinity theoretically. I personally had 30 or so different areas and it all became a huge mess since many of these were so interconnected. For example. Removal, high removal and wide removal are all considered different areas but very much interconnected.
The same with creatures, high creatures, wide creatures etc.
My recommendation regarding cover would be to make it far more generalized and lessen the impact on the total points. My knowledge about this is very limited though so there are probably some genius idea just beside the corner somewhere.
Also, try to make it easy for yourselves as hosts. Don't put yourself in the seat that I was so you also begin to dislike or even hate the whole contest.
Just ask me if there is something more you would want to have me comment on or if I have any other ideas about something. Otherwise thanks for this time and good luck!
Can i join PJ2?
Anyway here is my last segment to close Kyoniq's story arc. However, I would love to hear the same from others, especially @Fallen_Lord_Vulganos and @Arceus8523 (formerly for Vulganos's plan to escape being silenced using the Heart of the Wild and latterly for Kyoniq's battle with Archie and Estus).
Also guys I would definitely like feedback on Janial, Spark of Mechanics because it's really hard to balance the abilities.
Thank you all for this contest!
Summary: Kyoniq returns to his home plane of Legama, undoes the spell that mutated Janial, and makes amends with her.
XIV. Home, part 1/2
Even before Kyoniq reached his home plane, just after he left Clancularius, he felt regret. I should have stayed on Clancularius a little longer, gathering knowledge and creatures, he lamented. He turned back and, with considerable effort, drew some mana from the Blind Eternities and found Clancularius, shrouded and hidden by an impenetrable enchantment. It’s too late now, thought Kyoniq. My emotions got the better of me – just like they did when my spark ignited…Well, nothing I can do about it now. Perhaps in many years, if I become powerful, I can try to breach the enchantment and return to Clancularius. Kyoniq paused in his travel between worlds, looking at the aether trails leaving Clancularius. He could see the faint trails of the silenced ones returning to their home planes. These trails clearly did not mark the passing of a planeswalker’s spark, instead showing lines of runetext, the Game Master’s signature magic.
However, three were different. One – the trail reeked of strange antimagic, so Kyoniq knew it was AxNoodle’s – was directed at a sort of planar nebula, the remnants of the shattered plane of Raxin. AxNoodle’s trail deflected away from the destruction, disappearing into the nighted voids of interplanar space. Another trail had a residue of elemental magic and headed off to a plane called Degare – it must be Aggrol’s. Finally, the last trail tasted like the red-green-white cat planeswalker. It was going toward a plane called Eagliroth.
The last thing Kyoniq did before starting off toward his home – Legama – was locate the plane of Alara. Now that Kyoniq was not in a crisis, his morals could take control – and they dictated the return of Hialnor to Waktet.
Kyoniq, moving at impossible speeds yet not moving at all, aimed for his tower. As Legama materialized around him, Kyoniq activated his aethereal wings, which caught the air as he swooped around his tower. It was a sleek construction made of polished stone and steel, suspended above a grassland by magically reinforced struts. On one side, the grassland extended into the distance. A huge freshwater lake lay in immediate view, fed by a river snaking around Kyoniq’s tower and drained by another that meandered through the plain. On the horizon, Kyoniq could see the river delta and the ocean, and could faintly hear the crashing waves. On the other side of the tower, the grassland became a forest, the altitude steadily rising. Far in the distance, there was a line of mountains. The source of the river was among them. Janial’s tower rose from the forest among the foothills. It was a hulking construction made of stone and bronze, with crazily cantilevered extensions and pipes pouring forth white steam and black smoke. However, there were no arcs of electricity, tongues of flame, or flying sparks that usually marked Janial’s crazy experiments.
Kyoniq flew lower to the ground, and he knew something was wrong. The grass seemed bent and twisted in an unnatural way, and some was blue instead of green. An antelope he passed had five legs and three eyes. Kyoniq summoned his squid-network and sensed around. In the lake horribly mutated horrors skulked the depths. The gnarled and knobby trees of the forest hid strange amalgamations beneath their misshapen leaves. The spell I cast on Janial…it had far more effects than I imagined, realized Kyoniq. My magic went haywire – it mutated everything within miles of the spell’s epicenter.. Kyoniq finally flew down to his tower’s balcony. He opened the door with the key he had somehow managed to hold onto and stepped inside.
Kyoniq flipped on his electric lights, courtesy of Janial. A layer of dust covered everything, but there were signs that someone had entered recently. It was probably his family, concerned about his months-long disappearance. However, they clearly did not find anything and tidied up as best they could. Kyoniq started to organize his notes from Clancularius and put away his things.
You’re stalling, thought Kyoniq. You must go to Janial’s tower. He finally flew, taking only Beirani and Hialnor. When he got to the tower, he tried to land on the balcony. However, he flew right into an invisible mesh of threads. He managed to spread his wings and avoid falling to the ground. Kyoniq was confused. Why did his squid-network not detect the barrier? Where was his squid-network, anyway? Kyoniq tried to activate it, but was unable. He realized the barrier was not just a physical one – it dampened spells, making them harder to cast. Scanning the area, Kyoniq saw an addition to the top of the tower – he recognized it as an aether collector. The barrier must be made of strands of aether, he realized. There was no way Kyoniq could get through. However, that didn’t mean one of his creatures couldn’t.
Kyoniq played Beirani, summoning a small raptor that could pass through the grid unharmed. The aether field didn’t interrupt the use of Beirani as it wasn’t a spell. Kyoniq commanded the hawk to fly though the grid to the top of the tower and attack the aether collector. After a minute, the aether field weakened enough for Kyoniq to pass through as its source of power was lessened. Kyoniq sent a wave of magic which blasted open the doors. He stepped into Janial’s tower.
He was in a grand foyer lit by powerful electric lights. The clank of machinery and buzz of electricity sounded from all around. However, before he could take it all in, a pair of automatons appeared from a recess, armed with what seemed to be electric prods. Not wanting a fight, Kyoniq put his hands up and allowed the automatons to escort him deeper into the tower.
He passed giant furnaces burning coal, oil, and gas, and saw the heat boiling water, and the steam turning turbines, and the turbines powering generators that produced electrical energy. Nothing magical about this. Janial had certainly started a big undertaking. Kyoniq’s heart beat faster. Kyoniq and the automatons entered a closet that lowered them down the tower. Finally, he saw Janial – and he almost cried out from shock. She was sitting in a wheelchair flanked by two more automatons, clearly unable to walk. Her beak was twisted in an unnatural way, rendering her unable to speak. Her wings were bent and shrunk, rendering her unable to fly. Her hands were deformed and enlarged, rendering her unable to hold. Her body and every appendage was grotesquely mutated, covered with mottled blue and red feathers and bare patches. Yet all this had not stopped Janial.
She had rendered two metal arms onto her wheelchair, and a strange contraption attached to neurosensors that would speak for her. And speak she did – in robotic words that lacked inflection, yet burned a hole through Kyoniq’s mind nevertheless.
“You worthless excuse of an aven,” began Janial. “You pretend to be my friend, yet as soon as one spell goes wrong, you abandon me for months. And now you crawl back to my feet, begging for an apology? I should just kick you out right now, Kyoniq.” Janial’s one remaining amber eye glowed with fury.
“Janial, I ignited,” said Kyoniq. “I’m a planeswalker now.” Janial, an expert on aether, knew about this subject. “So you hid on another plane, refusing to accept your guilt? Pathetic.” Janial was unrelenting.
“No! I wanted to come back every minute,” explained Kyoniq. “There was an enchantment on the plane – Clancularius – that prevented me from leaving. I had to play in a strange game with other planeswalkers until one was left. The losers would have their planeswalker’s spark consumed by the Spark Eater. And I won, Janial. I won for you.”
Janial’s eyes softened a little. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?” she said. “I was spurned by the aven community, isolated in my tower. I’ve had to build these constructs to replace my body. And I was alone, Kyoniq. I was apart from you.” Kyoniq could see that she hadn’t meant to say that last part.
Kyoniq was happy that Janial had missed him too, but his grief and regret overwhelmed him. “I don’t know what happened that day,” he tried to explain. “It was a simple spell; I must have hit some pulse in the leyline or a chaotic well of mana that messed up my magic–”
Janial cut him off. “No, you fool,” she said. “A well of mana didn’t mess up your spell. It was your emotions. You’ve never been able to control or understand them. That’s your weakness, Kyoniq. You don’t respect your emotions. And when you keep your emotions pent up, they explode.”
Kyoniq sighed. “I’ve made a big mistake,” he admitted. Then he grew determined. “Now it’s time for me to undo the damage I’ve done.” He reached for the mana flowing through the land. Since Janial’s aether collector was damaged, the defense grid was down and didn’t interfere with Kyoniq’s spell – and a good thing, too, since Kyoniq needed all the mana he could get. The spell’s center was Janial, but he extended it to the whole surrounding area. Every creature, every plant that Kyoniq had mutated when his spark ignited shifted form. Most became different creatures then they started, but the effect was the same. A mutant frog became a normal cricket. A mutant mouse became a normal lion. When the spell was over, every creature was restored. Nature was natural again.
Of course, Janial changed too. Bones bent and muscles stretched. Feathers bloomed and organs slithered. When it was done, Janial was perfect, or at least perfectly normal, except for one change – a tuft of red feathers on top of her head. Kyoniq’s touch. She stood up from her wheelchair for the first time in months and spread her wings, smiling.
“Alright, Kyoniq,” said Janial wryly. “You’ve fixed your mistake, but you still owe me for the last months. I expect four hours a day of aid and I volunteer you for any and all experiments.” Janial grabbed his hand and pulled him down a hallway. “The aether grid was a necessary defense against the malicious young aven that were harassing me, but it left me unable to cast spells effectively. So, I was forced to rely on pure technology. Let me show you what I have discovered…”
Kyoniq smiled. There were many things in wait for him in the future; countless planes for him to explore. But for now he was content to stay right here.
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