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[RESULTS] Pack and Play: The HALF-Great Designer Search 3 — Challenge 6
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Nymphs are directly inspired by greek/roman mythology so they would work for any set of the Theros block yes ^^
Before I forget, I'm going to claim Aether Revolt.
You don't have to, it's your choice based on the plane you've chosen. I don't think you can skip creatures, instant and/or sorceries but for the rest use your best judgement for what would make the best entry. It will be considered a bit better if you vary your card types, but in an 8-card pack it's totally believable if you didn't get any artifact, or land, or planeswalker for instance.
(It being multicolored while the original archetypes being mono isn't a problem, right?)
No it isn't a problem, you can take your own spin on things. If I see a card like this, I'm going to assume there's a whole cycle in the set, which might have replaced the original one.
So, I'm jusst gonna put them here before I'm getting more headaches, boss.
The commons:
And for the constraint number 1:
The uncommons:
- | | -
For the restriction number 2.
- | | -
For the constraint number 3, a flying zombie dragon with madness that is also a boardwipe. The rest you can think about it by yourself.
The rare :
Can also valid for the constraint number 2.
EDIT: Changed some of my entries.
I'm afraid Liliana is not from Innistrad though, for the purpose of constraint number one, she's born on Dominaria. I realise the constraint may not have been clear enough, sorry about that
Would that be more clear:
DISCLAIMER: CLARIFICATION OF CONSTRAINT #1
• I want a card with the name of a character born on the chosen plane in its title.
EDIT: OK I changed some of my cards.
Your card should make sense in the set it's supposed to be, so if you make a Xenagos card it should fit within the lore of your set. In the case of Xenagos, in Born of the Gods he just became the God of Revels, so he's an available character but remember he's part of a cycle so that comes with a number of restrictions. Basically, ask yourself the question: "If I were in the development team of Born of the Gods and I just presented this card for the set, would it make sense?" If you have a good idea but it doesn't fit exactly the lore, I'm sure there are alternative ways of doing something close.
I like this challenge.
Well nothing that would go against the lore of the set, your goal is to design as if the cards were going directly into that set ^^
Common 1: White Enchantment
Common 2: Black Creature
Common 3: Blue Sorcery
Common 4: White Instant
Common 5:
Uncommon 1: Green Instant
Uncommon 2: Colorless Artifact Equipment
Rare:
Hi! Unfortunately, Magic Origins is not a valid choice
If you're unsure, you can find a list of all valid expansion sets here: LINK. Remember the Modern-legal rule as well (the first expansion set to be Modern-legal is Mirrodin).
The Commons:
The Uncommoms
The Rare
I thought it would be cool to cast manifested instants and sorceries. I feel it fits the Jeskai pretty well.
Heads up, you used a lot of existing card art.
Note that it's not 100% forbidden to use existing illustrations (especially if you need to show something very specific to MTG lore like a character), but it's usually better to avoid it if you can ^^
Here are the two illustrations that I recognised myself, I think the other ones are fine:
Clerics are the default spellcasters. There are 15 clerics on Amonkhet and only 7 wizards. On most planes, when there's a generic spellcaster-type character, they tend to be a wizard. In fact, outside of their main two colours (red and blue) there are 173 wizards. Meanwhile, outside of their main two colours (white and black) there are only 40 clerics (and many of these are Amonkhet clerics). The reason clerics are default on Amonkhet is probably because it's a plane with a heavy religious element.
This card fits into two Amonkhet draft archetypes. It works with the tribal zombies in white black and it works with black green -1/-1 counter matters, especially the cards that can remove them. Flavour-wise, this is an initiate who's dipped into a number of taboo disciplines to supplement his powers and improve his chance in the trials (the curse of wandering is a handy tool for the lazy necromancer).
This card references a subtype unique to Amonkhet: the Cartouche! I fell in love with the art when I saw it, but realised that the character depicted (Thoth, who looks like some of the amonkhet aven) has no wings. Quickly, I made that part of the card's story (and yes, I know, the ibis headed aven are usually blue. This card was originally blue, but saw a last minute change to white).
There's already a four mana draw two in Amonkhet- Hieroglyphic Illumination. However, Amonkhet is a notoriously slow and controlling limited format thanks to embalm and cycling, so a second control card like this won't go amiss. The value of Hieroglyphic Illumination its versatility- it can be cycled away if needed. This card sacrifices that for some useful card-filtering and some potential 'virtual' card advantage by dropping embalm creatures into the yard.
Half expensive tormenting voice, half dangerous wager. Plays into red black's minor 'heckbent' theme in Amonkhet, which is based around emptying your hand to one or fewer cards. That was a very cool theme, but felt under-represented among the cards. The card goes well with embalm, though it's not in the right colours.
This one was hard to balance, as deathtouch is quite strong in limited, but those snake tokens really were the most appropriate. It ended up being a bit of a pushed common, but that's alright- green's commons in the set are noted for not being overly exciting, so this is a little spice to push it back into the game.
This attempts to solve a general problem with the set. This is the challenge I found the hardest, since the problems Mark Rosewater identified in his state of design article are tied to the mechanics included in the set, and I couldn't create any new mechanics. This card aims to solve the problem of a lack of synergy by bridging the gap between cycling and embalm- using one as an enabler for the other. Obviously, a single uncommon can't solve the problem, but it tries. This also has the Embalmer's Tools ability. I played around with that card and thought it was cool, so thought I'd add more utility by making it coloured and adding a new bit of functionality.
Not really much to say about this one.
This is for the first challenge - referencing Neheb. Amonkhet has a tiny amount of minotaur tribal, but I thought I'd add a little more. This card has a little bit of self-dissonance, which creates interesting choices for the player to make. There is some precedent for red getting must be blocked if able in hinterland scourge and inescapable brute, so I thought it was an appropriate bend for a rare.