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A different take on Zendikar
About three years ago I had an idea for a set of magic cards that picked up where Rise of the Eldrazi left off. I've worked on it over the years, but as we all know, the official version is coming in a few short months.
This set comes with a new twist: it's designed to be played without any basic lands (in limited). I've created three other types of lands to replace them. The idea is to represent a setting in which having any color at all is a challenge.
Here’s the story in a nutshell. The Eldrazi have won (for now anyways) and have sucked all the life out of the land. There are no colors left. As resources fade, Emrakul has figured out how to use the Eye of Ugin to escape Zendikar and look for new worlds to feed on. In its absence, Ulamog and Kozilek have begun to fight with each other over who is Lord of the Eldrazi. This power shift has created a system of pseudo-colors centered around the Eldrazi Lords, which in turn has led to the fragile re-emergence of color in this barren world. Color begins to return, manifesting itself in weird and wonderful ways. The two Eldrazi Lords fight their war with each other, while the colored creatures emerge like pseudo-mammals scurrying beneath their feet. Who wins? That will be answered in the second set of the block.
I've created a nearly full large set of cards in this setting, only the rares and mythics are not complete (right now there are 49 rares and 7 mythics. Also 100 commons, and 60 uncommons). Not all of the cards have names yet, I'm using the card coding system detailed in Mark Rosewater's Nuts and Bolts columns. Having a nice picture to go with each one isn't really a prioroty of mine at the moment, either. I view this as still a work in progress. What could be helpful is more playtesting. I've only been able to do about half a dozen sealed playtests with it so far.
If this is something that people in this community would find interesting to try out, I could add more info, such as the mechanics and a bit more detail on the backstory. It looks like there is currently a crowdsourcing project here that could make sharing the full project here more manageable: it currently exists as an EXCEL spreadsheet.
I suppose my hope would be that people from this community might enjoy playtesting this, provide feedback from those playtests and then we can change the set accordingly, maybe moving on to the second set in the block if there is time.
This set comes with a new twist: it's designed to be played without any basic lands (in limited). I've created three other types of lands to replace them. The idea is to represent a setting in which having any color at all is a challenge.
Here’s the story in a nutshell. The Eldrazi have won (for now anyways) and have sucked all the life out of the land. There are no colors left. As resources fade, Emrakul has figured out how to use the Eye of Ugin to escape Zendikar and look for new worlds to feed on. In its absence, Ulamog and Kozilek have begun to fight with each other over who is Lord of the Eldrazi. This power shift has created a system of pseudo-colors centered around the Eldrazi Lords, which in turn has led to the fragile re-emergence of color in this barren world. Color begins to return, manifesting itself in weird and wonderful ways. The two Eldrazi Lords fight their war with each other, while the colored creatures emerge like pseudo-mammals scurrying beneath their feet. Who wins? That will be answered in the second set of the block.
I've created a nearly full large set of cards in this setting, only the rares and mythics are not complete (right now there are 49 rares and 7 mythics. Also 100 commons, and 60 uncommons). Not all of the cards have names yet, I'm using the card coding system detailed in Mark Rosewater's Nuts and Bolts columns. Having a nice picture to go with each one isn't really a prioroty of mine at the moment, either. I view this as still a work in progress. What could be helpful is more playtesting. I've only been able to do about half a dozen sealed playtests with it so far.
If this is something that people in this community would find interesting to try out, I could add more info, such as the mechanics and a bit more detail on the backstory. It looks like there is currently a crowdsourcing project here that could make sharing the full project here more manageable: it currently exists as an EXCEL spreadsheet.
I suppose my hope would be that people from this community might enjoy playtesting this, provide feedback from those playtests and then we can change the set accordingly, maybe moving on to the second set in the block if there is time.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
crumbling lands: tap: add 1 to your mana pool. Tap, sac: add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool. If there are at least three crumbling lands in your graveyard, you may pay 2 life to return a crumbling land from your graveyard to your hand.
Ulamog territories: tap: add 1 to your mana pool.
Kozilek territories: tap: add 1 to your mana pool.
distinctions between Kozilek and Ulamog territories will be based on how other cards refer to them. Specifically, see the mechanics Kozilekmana and Ulamogmana below. Also, the more powerful colorless spells will often dictate something about the presence or absence of one of these.
Mechanics:
Annihilator, Cycling, Convoke (nothing new here, you've all seen these before)
Kozilekmana: As long as you control no Ulamog territories, you may tap a Kozilek territory to pay for any of the colored mana symbols in the casting cost of this card.
Ulamogmana: As long as you control no Kozilek territories, you may tap a Ulamog territory to pay for any of the colored mana symbols in the casting cost of this card.
Regrowth: When a spell with regrowth is cast, there is an option to put a land from your graveyard on top of your library. If this choice is taken there is an additional effect, typically beneficial.
Insanity: When a spell with insanity is cast, you have the option of discarding a card of one of the colored mana symbols in the cost or discarding another card with insanity instead of paying that colored mana symbol. If you do, draw a card and lose 2 life. You must still pay for the rest of the mana cost.
Kozilekmana is primarily in green, but will show up in all colors except white.
Ulamogmana is primarily in white, but will show up in all colors except green.
Cycling is in all colors, but blue a bit more than the others.
Convoke is mainly in white, but also a little bit in black and green.
Regrowth is primarily in red and green, but a little bit in white and black.
Insanity is in black, red, and blue.
45% of the commons are effectively colorless, 20% are hybrid, and of the remaining 35%, one of the above mechanics will be helpful in casting it on all but 4 cards.
Anyways, maybe it would be good to include some of the flavor stuff as well in case anyone wants to make any additional name suggestions it will fit with what the set is trying to do:
Kozilek: Kozilek is trying to win by controlling the most lands. Kozilek spells often find lands, take lands, or even create lands (land tokens). Of course, Annihilator is still a thing.
Ulamog: Ulamog is trying to win by controlling the most creatures. Ulamog spells often create creature tokens such as eldrazi spawn and slaves. Ulamog gets Annihilator, too.
Mutates: The Eldrazi have poisoned the land, and most of the native creatures are now twisted replicas of what they were before the Eldrazi came. As the colors have begun to reemerge, some of these creatures are now beginning to have somewhat of a color identity, though it is often muted. Of course, the Eldrazi often have their own uses for these poor creatures. Unfortunately, the colored creatures are mostly distrustful of the mutates and have not thought to seek them out as partners in their quest for freedom. Mutates are often going to have Kozilekmana or Ulamogmana or else have a color identity even though they don't have any colored mana symbols in their casting costs.
Slaves: Many white spells are representing the slaves of either Eldrazi faction, dutifully doing as they are told often because they have no other option. Most of the slaves are kor, but there are many elves, goblins, merfolk, and even vampires. The Eldrazi drones have even tried interbreeding some of these species with limited success. The convoke mechanic often represents slaves working together to find their freedom. Some powerful spells are able to make these tokens into more than chump blockers. Some of the most powerful of these are in other colors, representing the need for the various colors to unite in order to overthrow the Eldrazi.
Vesper: Before the Eldrazi conquered the land, several of the smartest among the various races realized the inevitable and retreated to the hostile polar regions, hoping to find an escape. Through all the suffering, many of them came to believe that this world is merely an illusion and that they are free to escape it at any time. Many of the great thinkers have since passed on, but some of them went into the world as evangelists, even allowing themselves to be enslaved by the Eldrazi to spread this message. It is a belief that many across all the land have embraced, particularly those who are slaves. There are not many powerful left among the Vesper, but their beliefs have spread across the plane and many have chosen to escape the plane instead of facing its suffering. The beliefs of the Vesper are represented by cycling.
Duume: Some of the most powerful of the Vesper refused to embrace this belief, and sought ways of using the suffering to increase their own power in order to one day overthrow the Eldrazi Lords. These mages soon found themselves colluding with a group of vampires who had also found escape from the rule of the Eldrazi. Together, they formed a death cult that gained power by feeding on the nightmares of the slaves. They were not above self-sacrifice, but only if it increased the cause. Recently, they have come across a new source of power. A planeswalker who promises victory, but at a price none of them thought they would ever have to pay: the complete irradication of their cult to be replaced by something new and more powerful.
Gork: Many others were able to escape to the wildlands beyond the interest of the Eldrazi, and if a slave does escape this is usually where they end up. Many of these were elves, goblins, and ogres: using their knowledge of the land to escape capture. They have formed roaming bands that spar with each other and are largely ignored by the Eldrazi, for they have no order. There are dozens of such bands, but those on the outside refer to the whole group as the Gork. Both Gideon and the powerful leader of the Duume have tried to recruit these tribes in order to take on the Eldrazi, but with limited success. Partly it is because the Gork do not want to bend to the restrictions and sacrifices they know would be asked of them. But partly it is because they have sensed the presence of something as powerful as either of these leaders moving through the plane, and that it is more aligned with their own primal nature. They will unite behind the right alpha, but it's not Gideon and it's not anyone in the Duume. They are waiting for the source of this power to present itself.
I don't particularly think these are the greatest names for the last three groups, either, so if there are any recommendations on them, I'd be happy to hear them.
Land token is:
disintegrating wasteland: land token with "tap: add 1 to your mana pool, sacrifice this land unless it is used to cast a spell with converted mana cost 7 or greater."