MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Varu is my new plane idea! I have made a couple of concept cards so far, but would like feedback and ideas to use for the set. Also, anyones ideas that I end up using will win something!
LINK TO THE SET:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/user/SNAPcreator7/sets/53629
Varu, Land of Dinosaurs
Mechanics:
Varu has a few mechanics so far. These are:
Hatch:
This mechanic is for creatures.
The text looks like this:
"Hatch (Mana) - Sacrifice a creature: Return
(Card name) from your graveyard to
the battlefield tapped with a -1/-1 counter on it."
Sometimes this ability can be used many times, or only once.
Credit to @The-DM for improving the Hatch Mechanic.
Amok:
Creatures.
"Amok - Whenever (Card name) becomes blocked by two or more creatures, [effect]."
Credit to @The-DM again for balancing Amok and @Scaccogaming for renaming it.
Survival:
This mechanic can be used for a few different cards:
The text for creatures looks like this:
"Survival - (Whenever a creature you control dies, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)"
Hatch:
This mechanic is for creatures.
The text looks like this:
"Hatch (Mana) - Sacrifice a creature: Return
(Card name) from your graveyard to
the battlefield tapped with a -1/-1 counter on it."
Sometimes this ability can be used many times, or only once.
Credit to @The-DM for improving the Hatch Mechanic.
Amok:
Creatures.
"Amok - Whenever (Card name) becomes blocked by two or more creatures, [effect]."
Credit to @The-DM again for balancing Amok and @Scaccogaming for renaming it.
Survival:
This mechanic can be used for a few different cards:
The text for creatures looks like this:
"Survival - (Whenever a creature you control dies, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)"
Or also for creatures,
"Survival - (Whenever a creature you control dies, effect.)"
The instants and sorcery's:
"Survival - (If a creature you control died this turn, effect.)"
Stampede:
Creatures:
"Stampede {Mana} - Create an attacking copy of this card, except it doesn't have Stampede, then sacrifice it after the end of combat step. You can use this ability only when (card name) attacks."
Credit To @Scaccogaming for Stampede.
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Themes:
The themes of Varu are:
DINOSAURS: This is probably the most important part of this set.
DINOSAURS'S HOMELAND: Again, very important...
HUMANS TAKING THE LAND OF THE DINOSAURS:
PLANESWALKERS CAUGHT IN BETWEEN, OR PICKING SIDES
WAR BETWEEN DINOSAURS AND HUMANS
So the main theme is...
HUMANS VS DINOSAURS WITH PLANESWALKERS ON THE SIDE
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Prizes:
I'll favorite all card concepts for the set. (Please don't make SO many.)
And some of the really neat to me concept cards might make it into the set!
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Set Name: Varu, Land of Dinosaurs
Plane: Varu
Plane Properties: Jungle/Tropical/Unclaimed
Factions: Dinosaurs, Human Tribes
Name: Dinosaurs Colors: Black, Green, Blue, Red, White (All colors)
Name: Human Tribe of Kolomoth Colors: Black, Blue, White, Colorless (Artifacts and Such) (Wild and Civilized)
Name: Planeswalkers Colors: (Haven't decided)
Name: Human Tribe of Yarulroot Colors: Red, Green, Black (Wild)
Name: Human Tribe of Tarumon Colors: White, Black, Red, Artifacts (Civilized)
Credit to @Scaccogaming for the Human Tribes Idea.
I will post more later about this set, but I have already spent some time on this. It will be updated soon.
Here's the link to the Card Designing Form.
https://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/5253/varu-land-of-dinosaurs/p1?new=1
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Honestly, I think they can be somewhat under-powered. For hatch, it's basically sacrificing a number of creatures for one with a -1/-1 counter on it. I doesn't seem like anyone would play it, unless the creature has an ETB effect, or you're playing a sacrifice deck. (I think I can assume this set is sacrifice-heavy?)
The Dual-Burst for creatures also seems under-powered. If it's blocked by two or more creatures, it still has a chance of dying, even with the +1/+1 counter. I suggest you make it so it can also be more diverse among the colors, and make it fun to play.
Survival seems fun to play, actually, and it's very flavorable for the set.
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To start, I suggest you plot out the color schemes of each creature types. (I honestly like starting with flavor, but the colors and 'factions', if any, are important, and might actually help form the flavor of the set.)
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Your themes look pretty solid. I like the idea a war between them. Overall, I think the theme could be summed up to Humans vs. Dinosaurs with Planeswalkers on the side.
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On Prizes ^
I personally like that you enjoy giving out favorites to use for your ideas, but I don't think you have to be so restrictive that if we come up with a good idea, we get to make a card. I believe that smiths should be able to freely post their ideas for their cards, be it R&D or an actual card. When you make it restrictive like that, it sort of takes away the fun from the diversity of people who help make sets.
Cheers,
The-DM
Hatch (Mana) - Sacrifice a creature: Return this creature from the graveyard to the battlefield tapped with a -1/-1 counter on it.
Dual-Burst - (Whenever this creature is blocked by two or more creatures, it gets +4/+4 until end of turn. If it is still alive at the end of the turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Prizes were just a thing I came up with. From now on, on my sagas I will still favorite for ideas, just not categorized by value.
Hatch and Dual-Burst seem very nice now! I think we should work on setting. According to Noobplayzgames, we need to answer these, if there are factions:
Plane:
Plane Properties:
Factions:
Name: Colors:
Name: Colors:
Name: Colors:
Name: Colors:
Name: Colors:
After, we will focus on creating the important characters, and then we will begin on lore, then card skelebones, then cards, starting with the commons. Flavor will be after everything.
Plane: Varu
Plane Properties: Jungle/Tropical/Unclaimed
Factions: Dinosaurs, Humans
Name: Dinosaurs Colors: Black, Green, Blue, Red, White (All colors)
Name: Humans Colors: White, Black, Colorless (Artifacts and Such) Maybe other colors, undecided
Name: Planeswalkers Colors: (Haven't decided)
Name: ??? Colors: ???
Name: ???Colors: ???
https://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/5253/varu-land-of-dinosaurs/p1?new=1
Humans aren't as smart as they think they are. And a troodon could easily get into a house and silently kill a whole family.
Yea, we like our hyperbole.
Hence I suggest making different human factions, much like Khans of Tarkir. I'll put some examples here.
BRG: a tribe of shamans and barbarians who bolster their ranks with reanimated dinosaur skeletons.
WBG: a tribe that lives in the snowy mountains, they think that they can overcome the dinosaurs (or, well...mammoths or smilodons?) by adaptation.
About dinosaurs, I think they can have any color, Ixalan is a great example of that.
Should I have a mechanic called Stampede?
It would be like this:
Stampede {Mana} - Each dinosaur you control deals 1 damage to any target.
I say that because we're doing this all together, so it'd be nice to share ideas and see genuinely good cards in the set.