Starting work on a new set, would love some suggestions

strongbelievesstrongbelieves
in Custom Card Sets
Hey all,

I decided to start a set themed around angels/humans/demons (essentially fallen angels) on a plane where most everyone and everything is either lawful good or lawful evil. Knighthood is the first step any creature must take to live a life that has value and the greatest knights are given names and titles unique to them that represent their strengths (legendary creatures).

The things I am having trouble with so far are:
1) Most angels and demons will have flying. Without handing out reach like candy to humans, what are some ideas to balance them out?
2) What are some adequate justifications for blue and green angels? There are some bant-color examples but there is literally one mono-blue/green angel in all of MTG right now.
3) What are some player-made mechanics that might suit the set? So far I only have Solitary:
Spells and abilities that would affect all or each permanent of any of this permanent's types do not affect this permanent.
4) How should monstrous (non-knight) demons and non-knight humans handle the plethora of first/double strikers?

I am open to any ideas and possibly to people contributing to the set, which is so far unnamed.

Here is what I have so far: http://mtgcardsmith.com/user/strongbelieves/sets/1580

Comments

  • CorwinnnCorwinnn
    We did a recent set called Hellfall, that has some of those characteristics
    http://mtgcardsmith.com/user/Hellfall/cards
    Maybe something in there can help you!
  • MrRansomMrRansom
    edited September 2015
    1) Make the humans very aggro, and give them the mechanical design options to go either wide and/or big, maybe? Meaning they are designed to either play in a manner that will be conducive to many of them being on the battlefield at once (such as tokens), or they could be designed to get bigger p/t by buffs, auras, synergistic abilities etc.

    2) Why do you need any justification for green and blue angels? Just make them. The justification is that you need them for your set. Flavor rules are, I think, the most flexible "rules" of Magic: The Gathering. There are few U or G angels in WOTC's game. So what? Make some of your own. As long as your cards look and feel close enough to WOTC conventions, then it should be great!

    3) For mechanics, you should check out the following forum threads:
    -a) http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/181/make-and-vote-on-mechanics/p1
    -b) http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/225/mechanic-encyclopedia-for-all/p1
    -c) http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/comment/9047/#Comment_9047
    -d) http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/comment/9019/#Comment_9019

    4) Aren't you creating your own problem by making a plethora of first/double strikers? Couldn't you just not do that?
  • strongbelievesstrongbelieves
    Thanks to both of you, I'll look into these.
  • TheCopyrightContinuumTheCopyrightContinuum
    1) You could attempt to come up with mechanics specifically built to hose flying. Anything from forcing creatures to block humans, to something innovative meant to take down flyers. (E.g the Innistrad equipment that benefited humans/hosed wolves.) Maybe a ballista mechanic?

    2) Can't think of any green angels off the top if my head, but Illusory Angel has always had a place close to my heart. If you went with blue illusion angels/demons, that would also enable you to support blue humans as lords, giving them some defense against flyers.

    3) Ransom got most of the things, but specifically I think that tomigon had some mechanics that could be relevant to your set. http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/comment/9916/#Comment_9916

    4) Higher defense is all I can really think to mention, or lower p/t for the strikers. If I remember correctly, there was a mechanic that said something like "whenever this creature is damaged, it deals equal tmg to target player/creature." Forget the mechanic name, but it was akin to Boros Reckoner: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366385

    Hope I helped in some way.
  • strongbelievesstrongbelieves
    edited September 2015
    I decided on the three mechanics and two of the three play styles.
    * Angels get Solitary which makes them immune to spell/ability that would hit them but doesn't target them (like WoG or Anger of the Gods). They use a lot of mass-nuke and control spells that they are built to avoid.
    * Demons get Reckless which buffs them when they take damage. This can let them heavily counter uncoordinated first strikers or double strikers since they could actually make them more dangerous. It also allows a lot of self-damage and mass-damage synergy.
    * Humans are all multi-colored and most get Ascend, the ability to take their casting cost away from the cost of casting another creature that shares a color with it by sacrificing themselves. They are all multi-colored because they are free to choose among multiple paths what course they want to take.
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