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These Planes were made for walking!
Since I've seen some Planeswalker boards become revived (one by yours truly) and have seen a request for one to be started up again or have another one made, I figured I'd start one!
This contest will end on April 20th
The rules are as follows:
1) Make it realistic toward Magic
2) Balance is key, nothing that is too OP
3) 4 entries per person
Prizes will be as follows:
1st: Follow and 4 likes of your choice
2nd: Follow and 3 likes of your choice
3rd: 2 likes of your choice
4th (Honorable mention): 1 like of your choice
Judging will be based on art, uniqueness/flavor, and how well it would fit in with the world(s) of Magic! for starters here is a Planeswalker of my own creation
Good luck everyone!
Minor addition to it, if you can come up with a short intro to the Walker that'll boost your chances of placing but isn't required
This contest will end on April 20th
The rules are as follows:
1) Make it realistic toward Magic
2) Balance is key, nothing that is too OP
3) 4 entries per person
Prizes will be as follows:
1st: Follow and 4 likes of your choice
2nd: Follow and 3 likes of your choice
3rd: 2 likes of your choice
4th (Honorable mention): 1 like of your choice
Judging will be based on art, uniqueness/flavor, and how well it would fit in with the world(s) of Magic! for starters here is a Planeswalker of my own creation
Good luck everyone!
Minor addition to it, if you can come up with a short intro to the Walker that'll boost your chances of placing but isn't required
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
First thing that happened was that I went looking for something that'd work as art for a walker. Eventually I found this, which reminded me of an art from yugioh (depicted below), from a set of cards that depicted knights becoming evil.
Now with inspiration in hand, I went about making the card. I knew I wanted to make it have something to do with the monarch mechanic, so I imitated the Queen Marchesa etb effect for the second ability. Other than that, it drew a large amount of inspiration from Westvale Abbey and History of Benalia. The +2 was fairly simple, since most planeswalkers need a method of protecting themselves when they +1. (See most planeswalkers in existence except for maybe seven or eight of them.) The ultimate on walkers, if not game winning, should do a pretty good job of playing catch up. It even supports knights tribal.
Westvale Abbey was referred to for how to best represent the corrupt flavor while History of Benalia helped to identify timing. Our friend Xyarin is currently in hiding on Fiora, biding his time for when he'll make his move and slowly assembling his own legion. He'll strike when he is sure he'll win. Until then...
That can be either how their spark ignited, what they are currently up to, or even a description of how you designed them
Cache is a mechanic by @fabiocbinbutter:
[To cache a card] (Exile it face down. You may look at it at any time. You may draw from your cache instead of from your library.)
Related rules text: To cache a card means to exile it face-down as cached. Players may look at any cached cards they own at any time. If a player would draw a card and they own any cached cards in the exile zone, they may instead choose one of those cards and draw that card instead of drawing from the top of their library. (The word "from" in the first sentence of her +1 should be "of" instead.)
A little about the Archivist:
Orinthene blinked, trying to clear her vision; it didn't help. The blurriness had nothing to do with her eyesight, rather, it was due to the heavy rain on the window pane through which she now squinted. "Torches?" she thought, "Could those little faint red glows out there be torches?" As she lived on the border of Avabruck, strange sounds and sights weren't really foreign, more intriguing then anything else. As the bright spots vanished from view, either because they were too far away or because the rain had swelled to a downpour, Orinthene decided she better turn in for the night.
Orinthene was fourteen years old and lived alone in a small run down cottage, what many would call a hut. Not much to look at from outside or in. Her parents were loving wonderful teachers and guardians that had been... misplaced, somehow. Orinthene had carried on alone with a touch of grief and a longing to know just what had befallen her beloved father and mother.
She awoke with a start only a few hours later to the sound of howls. "Mondronen" she surmised. Living this close to Avabruck meant that Orinthene knew enough that she wasn't easily startled or surprised. She drifted off to sleep.
-YEARS PASS-
Orinthene's discovered that she can planeswalk. During the werewolf attack after the wards around Avabruck's central cathedral, the Temple of Saint Raban, failed. She returned to Innistrad shortly after. She doesn't wish to be anywhere else, she'd begun to archive. Her hut had become a storehouse of documents and research. Mostly in an effort to determine the fate of her parents, she'd now delved into the mysteries of every race on the plane and documented her findings. She's recently learned of Arlinn Kord, she'd witnessed Avacyn cursemuting or killing hundreds of werewolves, and knows of the angel's church launching a new inquisition more terrifying than anything they've done before against the lycanthropes. Not much of it matters as long as she's left to continue her vigil and learn the full extent of what there is to be learned on Innistrad.
Orinthene's sole goal is to be left alone and undisturbed. She has no desire to assist the coming Gatewatch or engage in the struggle of the native races. Her inherent powers are few, but empower her to keep her archive safe an obscured while simultaneously allowing her to go places others cannot as she collects little known facts.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/tampori-planetary-mind
These are some planeswalkers i made a while ago so i hope that's allowed.
And you said that I'm bad at cardsmithing.
What other color would deathtouch be good in for spells? (None.)
As for the first ability, I felt it made sense given the transmogrification of her into a human expressing her abilities.
And the answer to your rhetorical question on which color should have access deathtouch on spells is black. Black is the color most strongly associated with killing in general and with deathtouch in particular, and it's okay with dealing damage via instants and sorceries. I could easily see a card like Last Kiss with deathtouch in a 'damage matters' set that wants more than just regular removal.
Also @LittleDemon if you want to try and post those cards so they can be viewed from this contest without having to click the link, here is the tutorial link for the code for making them available to view:
http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/809/tutorial-forum-post-coding#latest
and to be fair here is my entry of background for my walker that I shared in the intro.
After the release of Angrath it really got me thinking about how there were a pretty limited number of special species Planeswalkers, or at least walkers that weren't essentially humans with pointy ears or fangs. So I decided to look through the long list of creature types for MTG and find a creature type that I thought would be unique as well as feasible for a Walker. Then I came across the idea of a Shapeshifter walker and thought how awesome it would be for a walker that could essentially be any species.
As far as developing abilities, at first I tried to make him where he was essentially "more playable" for a wider variety of decks, in the first iteration his first ability was to give a creature unblockable until end of turn and if it was a high power creature you'd have to sacrifice it. A fairly black and blue type of ability. But to me it just didn't fit the whole Shapeshifter mechanics. So I changed him to focus on the Shapeshifter vibe and what you see is what the product was (after a few tweaks of course)
Lore:
Not all monsters wish to do harm. Some simply want to be left alone. Avoid the hunters. Live a normal life. But for anything that would be considered "supernatural" on Innistrad, there is no such thing as a normal life. Hiding in plane sight, a young Ronan takes on the form of the most uninteresting being he can. Simply trying to make it under the ever watchful eye of the Cathars. There have been many close calls, but so far he has been able to remain out of sight. Causing no trouble. That is... Until an envoy of Angels came to the village one day. Everyone was ecstatic at their arrival. But nothing good could come of this for the young Shapeshifter. Fearing discovery he begins to make his way to the edge of town, to hopefully slip away, maybe to a new town, maybe to hide amongst the other monsters in the forest. But as he makes his way through the back ally-ways he does not escape the eyes of a vigilant angel from the rooftops. The next thing he feels is a whoosh of air, an impact against his back. He's now on the ground, watching as the angel brings closer a searing hot spear of white holy light. The spearhead burns and it pierces his chest, and is unbearable. The next thing Ronan sees is a vast blackness, filled with the lights of what looks like worlds. There is a tugging, a pain of almost disembodiment that he feels as he moves through this void and he thinks to himself "This must be the afterlife for monsters like me. A dark void of pain" until he arrives in a vast city.
A city unlike anything he's ever seen. With creatures he's never discovered before. With a burning gap in his upper chest he collapses to the street, later awakening having been picked up and brought to a healer. Afraid of what these strange a foreign people will do to him once discovering what he truly is he vanishes into the night. Adapting new forms of these exotic creatures from the city. As he travels from one hiding hole to another he learns a variety of information. Discovering he is no longer on Innistrad, but somewhere named Ravnica, he learns that Guilds run the world, and many find belonging and purpose in these miniature societies built into a larger world. After wandering trying to find his place he learns of the guild that doesn't exist, and yet does. The Dimir, and secretive group, under no structure, no guidance. In essence, non-existent. Perfect for a creature that can be anyone, and no one.
After years of developing his abilities as a Shapeshifter from adolescence into adulthood, Ronan has now become an expert on taking on many forms. Travelling the multiverse to collect more and more exotic forms, he enjoys stealing the appearance of others, and has even begun to develop the skill of mimicry of some of these other being's magic. By no means a master of their craft, mimicry is the highest form of flattery and mimicry is his passion. Living as everything and nothing. Being feared as Dragons or Demons, or being trusted as a noble warrior, or mage. The possibilities of his guile become only as limited as his attainment of more forms to mimic.
No one really ever knows who they are associating with when associating with Ronan and he always treats that to his advantage..
I can understand wanting write lore about them however. As far as characters go they have the most to do in terms of magic and where you take them. I have zero issues with them storywise, it's the gameplay I feel funky about it.
my first planeswalker i ever made.
My first entry.
She comes from a plane based heavily off of the witch-burning times. Only "witches" are real in a sense. They are infected by a demon at birth as to allow the host (human) body to adjust to having two beings inside it.
The demon brings lots of baggage, including the ability to control fire. The demon has no physical control over the body, and can't control the host body unless near a large amount of fire or near fire for an extended period of time.
Now that I've given some insight into the actual being a witch, I'll go into Selene herself. Selene was infected at birth by a powerful demon (as can happen). She grew up never being near fire, as the town she lived in never got very cold. She grew to be 23 years of age when her town was the site of a witch burning, and all the townspeople came to watch. This was not good for Selene, for the fire used in the witch burning activated the demon inside and gave it full, 100% control over her body. Long story short, she burned down the village, the forest surrounding it and all life in a 100 foot radius.
When the fires burned out, Selene regained control of her body. She left, moving far away. With the knowledge that something like that could happen again, she went into hiding in a mountain range.
She sat in a cave for five years, until another witch like her found the same cave, seeking the same shelter from themselves. After a few months, the second witch, who had mastered the demon within and made a bargain with it, nearly killed Selene.
But it was the activation of her spark that saved her, and she thus became a Planeswalker. The ordeal also activated her fire-control abilities and made her a dangerous adversary.
Backstory:
Xarion is the last of the fire mages of Kaldheim, a remote and frozen plane. In antiquity, his kin flourished, but an unknown calamity that occurred centuries ago suppressed all mages' connections to red mana on Kaldheim. As the head researcher of the Mystical Institute, Xarion pored over tomes and ancient spells in hopes of restoring red mana to the plane. After years of intense study, multiple times starting from scratch in his research, a moment of fiery epiphany showed Xarion the way. Only true passion, an inner flame unique to each person, could restore their connection to red mana. Just as he cast the first fire spell the world had seen in centuries, his spark ignited, catapaulting him across the multiverse.
Design:
I wanted to design a blue/red planeswalker that focused on instants/sorceries which shockingly hasn't been done by Wizards in a real set yet. The first ability is a variant on compulsive research for instants or sorceries that felt on theme. Because this ability is powerful as a plus ability, I wanted to make sure that the minus ability did not synergize with it so I made the -X ability non-complementary. The ultimate felt like a natural reward for the instant/sorcery theme and is costed so that it is attainable as a win condition but takes several turns of plussing to acheive. I also tied the flavor described above to each ability:
+1: Researching spells/tomes
-X: Starting over in research
-7: Spark igniting
Backstory:
Karyia has lived in the desert between two warring nations all her life and knows how to channel its primal power. When invading armies cross her path, she directs minor sandstorms to fend them off. Her only companions are ancient golems who respond to her fiery touch with a spark of life. Karyia is an adept and hardy survivor, but meets her match when an she accidentally activates a golem control rod, turning all the golems against her. In the fight for her life, she whips up a sandstorm so furious that it scours the golems away and heats the surrounding desert into glass. She feels her body absorb the latent heat around her, and in that moment of extreme power and release, her spark ignites.
Design:
This card was designed around the art which depicted a planeswalker who can control sandstorms. The abilities align with her flavor as follows:
0: Top-down design of a minor sandstorm.
-4: Summon one of her golem friends.
-8: Unleash the huge sandstorm that ignite her spark.
Both the character and a sandstorm itself feel white/red, thus the card's color identity. Because she is constantly fighting for survival in the desert, it fits that she has no way to advance her loyalty upward, only to persist. Her CMC of 7 is mainly due to the raw power/lifegain of her ultimate and the ability to use it immediately.
Sunka is a cat from the plane of Spelonia, a world with no humanoid creatures. When the Marshar tribe of cats began to attack the Firesun (her tribe), she discovered her innate ability to bolster the power and spirits of her fellow warriors through magic! With this ability, she quickly rose in power to the leader of the Firesun. In what she felt would be one of the most major battles in the war, she powered up her troops, and went into the fray. Suddenly, Aarklin, the leader of the Marshar, jumped on her and pinned her to the ground. Just as he was about to strike the killing blow, her spark ignites, throwing her to Amonkhet. (This story takes place around the end of Shadows block, so Amonkhet has not yet been destroyed)
You already know Arlinn's story if you read Shadows block lore, so I'll explain past that.
Arlinn was just about to be killed by a horrible eldrazi werewolf when she managed to planeswalk away at the last moment. She didn't care where she was going, only that it was far away from Innistrad and the eldrazi horrors. When she opened her eyes, she was in a forest. But this was not the Uvenwald. This was the Vast Forest on Spelonia. She knew that she had to get back, that she had to help against the eldrazi! But when she tried to get up, she only managed to feel pain. When she finally got up, she looked around, and saw wolves all around, just looking at her, seeming to be waiting for her to make a move.
Noremi was a warrior, training for a larger army. He was not very skilled but seemed to get better after battle, especially when his comrades died, seeing as he learned from their mistakes. Eventually, in battle one time, he was attacked with a killing blow. This ignited his spark. He traveled to a plane, unkown to most planewalkers. He was still injured from the blow, and lay dying in a mountian side swamp. He found this unfair. Why did his spark have to activate? Why couldnt he die along side his comrades and not this awful place? Hate filled him. The gods then found him. They felt sorry for what was happening. They blessed him, unaware of his new thirst for revenge. He rose to the ranks of the gods. He took out his anger on the surrounding world. He razed the plane. All that is left is hundereds of miles of wasteland, rotting corpses, and small pockets of survivors. They fight against Noremi's undead army, made from the corpses of the fallen.
This is where an new planeswalker will arrive to help these survivors. I am hoping to make this a set. It is not very far though. Hope you enjoy, though this is very morbid.