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Science-themed Set!!!!!!!!!!! --- Concepts
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I think Khan Academy's brief description of what physics is about summarizes it fairly well:
'Physics is the study of matter, motion, energy, and force.'
I'm not a master of chemistry or physics by any means, so maybe my personal descriptions are a little off. I think that if you use physics, it could definitely deal with at least a little sound, electricity, magnetism, and that type of stuff, but I think that the motion aspect would be a very good anchor for its playstyle. (Tapping, untapping, haste, ect.)
- Radical. Some kind of 'attack-trigger' thingy in R/U.
- Test Subject. A U/G target-based mechanic.
- Cognition. Psychoogy theme U/B with exile.
That's all I've got, feel free to introduce more ideas for mechanics and feedback for these ones.-------------------
@Everyone, is everyone absolutely sure about designing mechanics before we flesh out at least the base of the lore?
@feralitator @LordTachanka123
If we do include motion, then haste would be a favorable archetype.
I like the idea of Test Subject being a target-based mechanic (And it can definitely be used in all colors). I think that there is potential there, but remember that heroic is already a mechanic, so you'll need to make it different from that.
Maybe Test Subject can be a spell-based mechanic a little like spell mastery; maybe "Test Subject - If targeted creature has the lowest power/toughness, [effect]."
(Spells you cast must target this permanent.)
This almost definitely will have some development, or even be deleted as an idea. But it's just an idea!
I this will allow effects like Heroic (we're not using the mechanic, though) to come in handy in this set. I think it might be cool.
I was reflecting above that if you indicated certain things in the ability than the color could change. Say, above, the card says 'target creature' which makes it worthy to be R/G. Or you could have 'protection from test subjects', making it W.
I didn't have any ideas for the other mechanics, apart from vague scraps.
About creature types, I was thinking artificer would be prime option since using scientist (especially since the two cards in Magic using the Subtype are UN cards) doesn't seem proffesional.
A final note is that I think the enemy of the scientists could have abilities like:
'Artificers get -1/-1.'
or
'Protection from test subjects'
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@feralitator Thanks for commenting! I believe that test subject would work in at least the colors we'll be using for the scientists.
@SpellPiper2213 Good to know! I'll do just that!
About Test Subject, your suggestion seems more like it would be called 'Meak' or Feeble.
Test Subject (Spells that can target this must target this or another [card of the same card type] with test subject.)
I don't think this is the correct wording, but this basically turns cards with Test Subject into lightning rods for spells. I feel like this is a little bit better since it forces both you and your opponents into targeting specific creatures.
Cognition
I tossed around a few ideas for 'psychology' and emerged with this:
Cognition-Exile a card from your hand: {effect}.
I like this because not only is it very B/U, and not only because it provides an activated ability for permanents, but because it's a balancing factor for instants or sorceries.
Test Subject
I was stuck in a bog with this one. I was thinking about @feralitator's feedback...What could I do that wasn't too simple, worthy for all five rarities? I'm a bit spectical about it, but this is it:
Test Subject (Spells you control that target this {card type} cost {2} less to cast.)
I thought about adding some more to it, but I doubt I will:
Test Subject (Spells you control that target this {card type} cost {2} less to cast. Spells your opponents cast cost {2} more to cast.)
Again, it's probably better just to keep it simple.
Radical Concepts
Now, I barely have anything...
Really, this is my concept so far:
Radical N (Attacking creatures ____unless you____)
Don't feedback on this one, please give me ideas.
I like the idea of interacting with your hand, but I feel like cognition is just an "as an additional cost to cast this spell" effect. You may have seen this, but in my set, there was one version of the mechanic "dive", which was an "additional cost" mechanic. I think you might run into the same problem that I ran into, which was that there wasn't too much design space, apart from a few instants, sorceries, and 1-2 creatures.
Test Subject:
This seems balanced? You might decide to change the cost reduction based on playtesting, but I think it's fine to keep it at 2 for the time being.
(Also, the token in your example should be spelt Specimen, not specimin)
Radical:
There is a bunch of ways that you could go with this, and remember that it doesn't need to be an attacking ability. The dictionary definition of radical is "relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something (especially of change or action)". Maybe radical is some form of triggered ability relating to some change of the board state? Just a thought.
I'm glad that you agree on Test Subject! Unfortunately, I don't know how to playtest?
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On Cognition, I agree that it's a bit iffy. I saw dive, I agree but when I designed the mechanic I forgot about Dive.
I was thinking, then I thought about alternate costs?
Cognition (You may exile a card from your hand instead of paying this spell's mana cost.)
But then again, that would only work on cards that aren't especially good. So maybe vary it to something like this?
Cognition N (You may exile N cards from your hand as you cast this spell. If you do, draw a card.)
I don't really like it, but it's all I have in my locker.
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Radical is a tricky one...
I might just bin it....
There's probably another way to playtest, but I think that's a fairly simple way to do it if you don't want to download something on your computer.
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I want to confirm, are you planning on making this a faction set? If yes, then let's see what we can do with Cognition. If not, then I'd suggest trying to make mechanics that can fit into at least three colors.
Yes, I've asked a few of my friends and they agree on factions.
I don't have a printer.
I know that you don't really need to download anything for Tappedout (Unless you want card images). The one problem with Tappedout is that you can't directly play against another person, (At least to my knowledge) so you'd have to playtest two decks side by side, and play against yourself.
I don't think that you need to download anything with Untap, but I'm not sure, and it's pretty unfamiliar to me, so I'm not sure exactly how it works.
I know that Cockatrice does require a download, but I don't know anything else about it. I know that Arceus8523 is using Cockatrice for their EM standard, so if you want to use that, I'd suggest asking them about it.
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Since you want to take the factions route, I think there are two options for what type of mechanics you want.
- The Ravnica approach, where each faction has their own signature mechanic. I think that the one thing to consider with this approach is that there probably won't be a mechanic with a lot of "wow factor" (A high "wow factor" mechanic would be something like Adventure or Mutate).
- The non-Ravnica approach, where there are a few general mechanics that work in all colors, and each faction just has their own playstyle. Think of the Strixhaven colleges, as they don't rely on the mechanics of the set, but rather incorporate them into their cards.
That's why I'm a bit shaky on the radical and cognition mechanics.
Can you play with decks on tappedout?
two-colored probably.
Sorry for the lack of posting, I haven't got round to playtesting, I've had a lot on my mind and a lot to do! Hope you don't mind, and I'll playtest as soon as possible!
Note: There's still a bunch of different ways to do this, so my ideas aren't some "optimal choice" or anything like that, I just think that this might be a neat way to represent these sciences.
Geology + (Biology?) - RG
- Green can care about land generation
Physics - UR
- Blue can care about slowing your opponent's creatures down (Tapping, bouncing creatures, etc.)
Psychology + Forensics - WB
- Black can care about justice using any means necessary (Destroying creatures, hand attack)
(Could be like a good cop, bad cop style faction)
Chemistry/Alchemy - BG
- Green can care about potions that buff creatures you control (+1/+1 effects/counters, I'd avoid using both +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters in the same set)
Astronomy - WU
Results: It won games against red particularly. It was underplaying in black. Overall, generally balanced but we'll probably need a lot of colorless mana in this set for it to work.
New mechanic ideas:
Edit (Edit is just my preffernce of name) a {cardtype} (Search your graveyard, library and hand for a {cardtype} and exile it. You may cast it from exile later. It can't target a creature you control.)
This mechanic can easily be simplified, it is just my variable at this moment.
Looking at the Theros Heroic cards can give you a good indication of what colors target creatures the most. I'd say that the colors targeting your creatures the most are WRG (Which all usually have pump spells of some kind). By that logic, I think it would probably make sense to have more cards that have or care about targeting in WRG than in UB.
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In regards to edit, I feel like it's very strong, but it also goes against Test Subject at the same time. Being able to essentially foretell a card from anywhere seems very strong, and there's so many cards that won't care about the targeting part at all. I could see control decks using edit as a way to get boardwipes or their finisher card from anywhere, and that seems a little too problematic.
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How about something like:
Hypothesize - Name a card, then reveal the top card of your library. If the revealed card has the same name as the named card, [Effect].
You could compare it to Kinship or Clash, but is used in a different way. Kinship was considered to be a design failure, but I think that a major difference between Kinship and Hypothesize is that Kinship only cared about creatures, and Hypothesize can work with any type of card. Another major factor that should be considered is that scry wasn't used much at the time. There is a good amount of deck manipulation nowadays that could allow you to know the top card of your deck, but even if you don't know the top card of your deck, there's still a chance to get lucky with your guesses.
I'm thinking a mechanic for each colour right know.
Here are some general ideas for each mechanic for each color.
Blue---Library reveal
White---Attacking and blocking
Red---Exile
Black---Sacrifice
Green---Token creation
Over the next few weeks, I will attempt to adapt these ideas into mechanic ideas.
Please feedback