Need help designing a mechanic

jboss1642jboss1642
in Custom Card Sets
I am currently building a set located on Alara and I'm having trouble with my Naya mechanic. The idea is to have a big creatures-matter mechanic similar to ferocious. Currently, the mechanic is "Pack Strength- As long as you control two or more creatures with power 3 or greater, [benefit]". As you can see there are two numbers that could use balancing (I can do the benefits myself, but I want to know how hard Pack Strength is to get first. (1) How many creatures should you need to have? and (2) What should the minimum power be to count towards this. Of note, the Bant mechanic creates 1/1 tokens with exalted, so I'm trying to make it difficult for the tokens to count towards Pack Strength to avoid too much cross-pollination.

Comments

  • Faiths_GuideFaiths_Guide
    @jboss1642
    You're sitting very close to Ferocious and Formidable. It doesn't seem like you'll want to design something new in this space necessarily. Perhaps a different spin is called for?
  • jboss1642jboss1642
    @Faiths_Guide
    Perhaps that's the best idea. I was trying to promote a little more go wide than ferocious (which is just one big creature) but the niche between that and formidable (go wide or tall) probably isn't big enough.
  • Faiths_GuideFaiths_Guide
    That was my feeling, I'll try and help you come up with a new angle when I get a chance.
  • bnew07bnew07
    I would suggest my custom ability word:

    Primal — If you control a creature with the greatest power among creatures on the battlefield...
  • Faiths_GuideFaiths_Guide
    @bnew07
    Nice! Perhaps the name could be tweaked, but the ability seems sweet.
  • jboss1642jboss1642
    @bnew07
    That actually seems like it would fit really well because it has interesting synergies with the other two shards it overlaps with. With Bant you could use the exalted to momentarily gain the largest creature, and one of the Jund mechanics is (probably) going to be devour so you might devour an extra creature to either gain Primal yourself or deny it to your opponents
  • ningyounkningyounk
    Hey! ^^
    Just wanted to mention that what you call cross-pollination is really synergy and it's something you should seek, not avoid, when developping your mechanics ;) Your Naya mechanic *SHOULD* synergise with your Bant mechanic and Jund mechanic, just like the the Dimir mechanic of Guilds of Ravnica was tailored specifically to synergise with the Izzet and Golgari mechanics for instance ^^
  • TomigonTomigon
    edited April 2019
    I like that mechanic, but I feel like you could just use ferocious or formidable for Naya..

    If you want to look for different kind of mechanics, here are some from Mechanic Encyclopedia: http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/225/mechanic-encyclopedia-for-all

    Apex by @SKiTCH
    Apex - Whenever this creature deals 3 or more damage to a player, (effect..)

    Hulk by @KJMartin
    Hulk N (As long as this creature has the greatest base power among creatures on the battlefield, it gets +N/+N.)

    Naturecall by @Ludos
    Naturecall - Whenever you cast your second creature spell each turn, (effect..)

    Equilibrium by Tomigon
    Equilibrium - ...., if an opponent has more cards in hand than you, (effect..)
  • ArmisJoeArmisJoe
    @joboss1642 I like the Primal concept, although someone already came up with the Hulk mechanic. But you said "Primal" and it reminded me of Ghalta, Primal Hunger which doesn't go by the biggest creature but, instead, it costs less to cast depending on the total power on creatures you control. Maybe that's another option you could explore.
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