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Rezatta Set Design - Uncommons Part 2
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Pretty sure these won't help but still! It's fun anyway!
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/heart-of-ice-3?list=set&set=58943
Love Rezatta!!
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As Chic Mannequin enters the battlefield choose a color. Your masterwork has protection from that color.
Straightforward Masterwork protection and a vain 'target' for it.
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1
Masterwork
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Potentially hate against an opponent's masterwork by reducing its effective toughness, or a way to give yours pseudo-vigilance/ a way to untap it to do something rude with tap abilities.
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4
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Versatile hate against an opponent's serran lifegain, renewal, and 'paying life matters', as well as potentially protection for yourself.
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I had two concepts for the Comedy/Drama masks along the lines that they both counter different facets of the other, but are nasty when on the same creature;
Concept 1:
Concept 1 is probably Too Goofy, especially for uncommon, but I liked the idea of Drama having 'everyone' die in combat, but couldn't really figure out a way for Comedy to work against that (outside of it getting permanently tapped by 'falling over', but that felt a bit out of step with Drama's effects).
Concept 2 is a more straightforward version of the concept where each mask gets two abilities, one of which stops what the other mask wants to do.
Hope this wasn't too many raw ideas all at once, happy to see the set coming together so well
Now, my card concepts:
Mask of Laughs - {2}
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+0.
When equipped creature dies, each opponent loses 3 life, then transform Mask of Laughs.
Equip {3}
//
Mask of Regrets
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+0.
When equipped creature attacks, you gain 3 life, then transform Mask of Regrets.
Equip {3}
Card Notes: The concept behind the card is that you get a really offensive attacker, and if it dies, it's a tragedy, a showing of the regrets after death, and each opponent loses 3 life. Then, if equipped creature attacks, it's a show of confidence triumphing over regrets, which gains you 3 life. Then, if the creature dies immediately following this, regrets again! I find it to be an elegant design since it triggers renewal and works well with the amount of low-cost and/or evasive creatures in the set.
As far as hate cards go -
TBA - {1}
Artifact
If a player would gain life, put that many (INSERT COUNTER NAME) counters on ~ instead.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put an (INSERT COUNTER NAME) counter on ~. Then, if it has five or more (INSERT COUNTER NAME) counters on it, draw a card, then put ~ into its owner's library third from the top.
Card Notes: This is lifegain hate that fills the quota of "You won't be locked out of the game if it hits the battlefield, but it still hurts the archetypes that it's designed to hurt", with minor discover synergy.
Void Vignette - {4}
Creature - Art Construct
All spells gain "As an additional to cast this spell, pay {1} or discard a card."
4/2
Card Notes: Not sure how to word this type of effect, but it would be a nice hoser to most of the aggro-based or discover-based decks in the format. In addition, you can make it a 4/3 with few issues, make it a 3 mana 3/2, give it a relevant keyword, or give it a non-art clause.
The uncommons are pretty tight so these cards would be hard to fit but I see some concepts that might fit at Rare or Mythic actually ^^ The idea of having "If CARDNAME is your masterwork, another object gets a bonus" has notably not been a focus due to the nature of the archetype but is an interesting proposition for higher rarity maybe. In general though, we must try to be wary of three effects in particular: can't be blocked, hexproof, and indestructible. That's because they make every other masterwork cards redundant so I'm not saying we can't do them but we would need to be careful when tackling them.
@The-DM
Haha, Heart of Ice is precisely what we can't do
ChoyBoi
I really like the idea of transforming regular life gain into serran life gain so I was thinking of keeping that ability for an exciting rare or Mythic rare actually!
GameQnQ
Thanks for all the concepts!
Chic Mannequin: I like the protection from that color idea, though it's a bit on the strong side so I would be interested in trying something softer in the same vein maybe.
Printing Pressurer: It's fun and I like the idea of enabling tap/untap shenanigans, but it's a bit fiddly and the 1 damage probably won't accomplish much so I feel like we'd need a specific combo in mind to justify saving a slot for it.
Bureaucratic Slurry: There's definitely a strong idea in there that would fit the set really well as a renewal and serran life hoser. I'm adding this to the potential as-is slots for now, though I have a couple concerns about the actual rarity of the first effect (the nonrestricted version of this effect varies from 4 to 6 mana depending on sets and if it's on a White or artifact card, but it's usually a rare effect with Protection of the Hekma being the exception).
Hysterical/Melancholic Visage Concept 1: It's flavourful but it's a bit fiddly. Still, I really like the base concept that the two masks together have additional synergies when on the same creature.
Hysterical/Melancholic Visage Concept 2: Also very flavourful but the first mask definitely looks more like a Rare or Mythic rare (having the two cards at different rarities could be an option though) and the second mask is a bit much as a hate card in a life-matters set. I do like the deathtouch/lifelink combination a lot for these masks, I'll definitely try to think of something based on this.
Potato13
Deserted Abbey: It's true it might be a bit much on the first couple turns. Maybe it could be interesting to scale it with the number of lands you control, so it doesn't do anything too scary when your opponent isn't ready to answer it yet?
Angel's Tomb is definitely an option, but I'd be interested in exploring a Masterwork version of the same design first.
Mask of Laughs/Regrets: We won't be able to afford double-sided cards in the set complexity wise I'm afraid, though the concept is really interesting. I like the underlying concept though, the gain/lose life symmetry is nice as well as the attacks/dies triggers symmetry.
Life gain hate: The tucking is quite elegant with discover in mind! I think that people are expecting an actual serran life hoser in this slot though, it feels like people have an expectation of a card that makes you lose serran life specifically or something. But the idea of caring about everyone's life gain at the same time has interesting potential, I'll keep it in mind.
Void Vignette: I like it as a softer Damping Sphere-type of hate card! Let's put it on the potential as-is concepts. I'm not sure either what's the proper templating, here's a try (I've tried the Protection from Art version but I don't think I'd actually go with that unless we get a really flavourful idea to go with the rider):
If a player were to gain Serran Life, they gain half that amount instead, rounded up.
Sorry about wording, haven't been on in a while
Equipped creature has has double strike as long as you have serran life.
Mask of Tragedy-(Idk)
Equipped creature has "Creatures your opponent control get -X/-0, where X is the amount of serran life you have."
The Tragedy mask feels pretty strong, but I like the concept
Gaining half the amount of serran life would be better for the slot yeah! There are many options on the table though from reducing serran life gain, converting serran life into regular life, serran life loss, etc.
For the masks (and uncommons in general, barring a couple exceptions mainly targeted at masterwork), I'd like them to be less parasitic designs if possible, this feels a bit too directional.
We actually got three pretty close designs in the set already! ^^ But as I said earlier we won't have much space for coloured uncommons for now anyways.
What are the races present on Rezatta?
We haven't completed the creature grid yet, once we're happy with all the cards mechanically at the end we'll do an overhaul of the flavour aspects, redistribute the illustrations, choose the final names, creature types, and flavour texts. So far, we discusses Clerics, Angels in Abzan, Faeries in WU (but they tend to disappear from the file as they get pushed away by mechanicallly more important tribes), sirens in UBR, Art in all colours, and anthropomorphised animals in all colours but primary in RG.
For Heart of Ice, note that this doesn't have enough value to take a whole slot in the skeleton, we would need to combine that ability with something else that is less parasitic.
1) Most recents sets outside of Eldraine (which had an artifact theme) actually had only 5 colourless uncommons. This means adding one additional monocoloured card to each colour and making only 5 colourless cards is on the table.
2) The creature ratio at uncommon is less stringent than at common with sets like Kaldheim and Eldraine having a 48/32 ratio, while most recent sets have a 44/36 ratio. In either way, Rezatta is currently at 41/29. This means that the 10 remaining cards would need to be all noncreatures to get the closest to a 50/50 ratio, 3 creatures / 7 noncreatures to reach the average ratio of recent sets, and can't go over a 7 creatures / 3 noncreatures ratio to stay in the limit.
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I've looked at the most common colourless slots from recent sets to decide what we would need the most in the 5 colourless cards scenario. Here are the most common slots:
1) A colourless utility land. The Deserted Abbey would fit the bill for this slot unless we get a better idea. Here are examples from recent sets for this slot:
2) A mana rock is a staple of uncommon artefacts. In this case, this would be the perfect slot to push the 5-colours masterwork agenda at the same time. Here are representative examples of designs for this slot:
3) Repeatable soft removal is a pretty common slot. We definitely could go for something like this. Here are examples of what I mean from recent sets:
4) A hate card against graveyard strategies. In some versions this also hates on playing cards from libraries or exile. In other versions, this slot also doubles as protection against mill (and more specifically self-mill). Here are some recent examples:
5) The last slot is usually taken by set specific themes. Equipments are a popular way to fill this slot, but anything is fair game. For Rezatta, this slot is probably either a card that helps you enable Renewal more easily or that hates on life strategies. Here are a couple examples for good measures:
Of course. It is just the first part that I figured out. I'm trying to think of another ability to tack onto it that won't push uncommon.
I also have an idea for a mana rock...
Yah or nah?
“Whenever you gain life for the first time each turn, add one mana of any color of your choice”
(Yet again, sorry for wording, I’ve forgotten a good bit)
“Renewal-Tap target creature. It doesn’t untap during its owners next untap phase.
(2), (t):You gain 1 serran life.
My idea for an uncommon:
TBA - 2R
Creature - TBA
~ can't attack or block unless you pay 3 life.
5/4 or 5/5
This also might just be me, but Violent Pulsion and Set Ablaze could be swapped in rarities, and I feel it would be good if we found some way to move Serran Soulwarden to the common slot - maybe cutting the Jester? It just works so well in most archetypes, and provides a second angel for white.
TBA - {1}
Artifact
{T}, Pay 1 Life: Exile target card from a graveyard.
{T}, Sacrifice ~: Exile all cards from target player's graveyard. You gain 3 life.
Card Notes: A design for graveyard hate in the set. I don't believe that the set actually needs any graveyard hate - There are so few pieces of graveyard stuff, unlike most recent sets which at the very least have one graveyard archetype / mechanic or another.
TBA - {1}
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +0/+2 and has "{T}, Discard a Card: Discover."
Equip {2}
Card Notes: This is a card for the weenie archetype and the discover archetype, which also works with art, second spell matters and suicide aggro. Both Suicide Aggro and Weenie enjoy an equipment that can help with swinging through and looting away lands, Discover obviously enjoys Discovering, Second Spell Matters likes a 1 mana artifact that can dig for more spells to cast, and Art has plenty of small creatures to equip onto and ones that need protection in the form of a toughness boost.
Wayfarer's Sketchbook - {3}
Artifact -
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. Each of those lands is an Art in addition to its other types.
Card Notes: An alternative to putting a mana rock into the set, I find it flavorful to sketch out landscapes and tap them for mana, and making them art has obvious synergy. Of course, I'm only just realizing now that there is obvious issues with the fact that Art is a creature type... so maybe cutting the part about art and just making it search would be fine?
Hmm, I don't hate the concept but several things might become a problem:
OhWyrm
Map of the Unknown would be super flavourful but broken. Sending a creature on top of its owner's library is an effect that would cost 4 or 5 mana on an instant or sorcery card already without the repeatable aspect. It's just not something that is fun when repeated because it prevents the game from progressing AND makes you draw half the cards you'd normally see.
@LordTachanka123
Ooh, "Whenever you gain life for the first time each turn, add one mana of any color" is interesting. I don't know if an uncommon artefact is the right place for this, but it might lead to a cool rare land or something with a few tweaks.
I see what you're trying to do with the soft removal but that's not how Renewal works, there isn't a trigger in the turn that says "from now on, Renewal is active", you need to design your own trigger and that would be a massive headache. But I think you still might be on to something, it could have two abilities: either two that taps a creature but one is expensive and the other is cheap, or an ability that taps and an ability that freezes. Either way, the second ability could only be activated if Renewal is enabled.
@Potato13
Yeah, it's funny because when I first mapped the set skeleton artifacts were a huge thing in Standard (it was around Kaladesh) so it mislead me a bit on the "normal" number of colorless cards because *every set in standard* had like 10 of them xD Adding an additional five monocoloured cards sounds great.
Can't attack or block unless you pay 3 life sounds interesting and synergistic, it also looks quite strong. I like the 5/4 version for uncommon.
I think what you propose is possible if Set Ablaze only target players (Violent Pulsion being the common damage player spell). The main issue being that common already has a 1- and 2-mana burn spell so it would need to stay at 3-mana, which might be awkward. If we did that, I wouldn't be opposed to make Violent Pulsion an uncommon, the original version actually dealt damage equal to the creature's power which has a cute synergy with a firebreathing ability; That could work at uncommon. I'm a little concerned by the lack of aura/equipment at common in red but it's not unheard of and there is both masterwork to support the boosting aspect and Take the Wind to remember the card type.
Serran Soulwarden is too strong for common I think. At common, I feel we'd 100% cut flying anyways because otherwise this produces 1 mana a turn too easily. The other issue is for the as-fan, each colour has only one repeatable serran life producer and it's mostly 1 serran life a turn. Serran Soulwarden can trigger Renewal by itself every turn, which is something I try to keep away from commons.
For the graveyard hate, I agree it doesn't need to be a dedicated card. I feel like a card aimed at stopping potential Discover infinite combos would make the most sense, with an additional rider that incidentally gives you a bit of graveyard interaction and maybe self-mill protection because of Discover.
For the discover equipment, I like the design but I feel that might create too much friction with the red and blue artifact uncommons that also discover every turn. I'm also a bit afraid of the feel bad moment when you discard a card and discover into nothing, even if you ditched a useless land.
Wayfarer's Sketchbook is pretty flavourful, and I actually don't hate having lands enter the battlefield as Art, that's actually a really cool idea for a power rare since it fuels all the ETB synergies. But we already have Solstice Voyage that does that in green so it creates a lot more friction than a mana rock, and I'd also be interested in trying one of the "as long as CARDNAME is your masterwork" synergies in that slot.
Haha I don't know, I feel that it goes a bit too far from the Renaissance feel. Freddy gives me an Innistrad vibe more than a Rezatta vibe ^^