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Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at this. I saw this contest a few days ago and decided to give it a go. I’m not the best in narrative storytelling so I am going to arrange the plot with bullet points to make it as cohesive as possible.
Planeswalker by the name of Ohmaya takes the Worldsoul from their dying plane (Eldrazi maybe? Idk yet). Ohmaya gathered all of the residual mana from the plane to form the Worldsoul into a seed. But there was only black and white mana left.
Ohmaya found an unstable plane that consisted only of blue, green and red mana. A primordial landscape filled with potential but lacked stability to form sentient life.
Ohmaya used the Worldsoul during a solar eclipse to activate a spell to quell the plane until it can stabilize.
Ohmaya was put into stasis, hoping one day they would be awakened and fuse the two world souls together and mend the plane.
The seed acted as a mana IV to the plane slowly feeding the plane with black and white mana.
However, over thousands of years, Ohmaya’s memories and emotions were leaking into the newly formed lay lines. This caused the worldsouls to react(like allergies), creating avatars that commune with sentient life forms and influencing their cultures. Some taking the sides of the primordials and some taking the side of the avatars made from Ohmaya’s memories reaching out to someone who could break the seal. No one knowing the whole truth.
Eclipse(d)
As I said I'm pretty new to storytelling so I would love some feedback on any continuity issues that I may have missed. Thank you all so much!
but a few questions
is primordial supposed to be a supertype (like legendary and snow) as shown in restless slag?
and same goes for eclipse, is it ment to be a supertype or subtype?
supertype would make the most sence as they're ment to go on all kind of cards
as for the storytelling
if the soulseed is supposed to be the white/black worldsoul, why is the card green/white?
it'd make more sence for it to be white/black, specially since it cares bout the white/black mechanic
I'm gessing the reason is that the planeswalker that created it had green in her identity (hence her monument and escape cards have green/black/white), but even then it feels more apropiate for it to be white/black both mechanically and flavor wise as it's supposed to be entirely white and black mana
and why does Ohmaya go to sleep in the first place?
like, she could just wait in the plane, or travel somewhere while waiting
even if she wanted to solely focus on the plane and thus just slept till she had more to do she'd surely put some sort of trigger to the end of her hyvernation, rather than make it so she has to be broken out of it by outside force
if her hivernation was ment to end at some point but didnt for some reason and she is somehow subconciously aware of it, hence her thoughts influencing the plane, what was that caused it in the first place? even if not said it should be an aknowledged thing (like "no one knows why but she never woke up when supposed to") or something (and same for why she went to sleep)
I like how you noted that no one knows of her existence in the plane since no one was alive in it when she was messing with it and all that's left is some random monument that she made
as for the creatures being split on what to do, it makes sence that the products of her thoughts that know just a bit bout their origin would want to break her out, while the already existing primordials who may be the few that know something would want to keep her trapped to stay in power
The Eldrazi aren't the only beings that can stand to live in the Blind Eternities, for there once was another. No one knew of it's existence until later, so so one knows if it ever had a name - instead, those who came after call it the Dreamer.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/the-dreamer
The Dreamer never fully awoke, instead it lived in it's own mind, creating fantastic things, that melted away becoming new things, before vanishing to give way to yet more wonders. One dream, however, did not vanish; this dream was of a great and magnificent seed, bursting with mana of every color, with endless potential locked within. Instead, that dream became reality, and over eons the seed awoke and grew into a massive and fantastic tree, among whose branches a fledgling plane was born.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/the-dreaming-tree
While a part of reality, the tree was still linked to the Dreamer's mind, and out of it's vivid imagination poured endless plants and creatures and artifacts and places, willing the plane with wonders of every kind, each filled with every color of mana. The Dreamer's life was not limitless, however, and it had no source of sustenance to keep it going, and so, at long last, among it's creations, it began to fall into an endless slumber.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/the-dreamers-demise
But that was not the end of the Dreamer. Some aching need was left in it's heart, some desire to protect the realm from any harm, and in its last moments, the Dreamer dreamed that it was an eternal, stalwart defender of the plane, and so it was. And for a time, the Dreamer's Doom did protect the plane - it's abundant mana drew in Eldrazi from time to time, and the Doom would expel them, but like all dreams, the Doom was subject to change, and and the eons past, it fell into madness. Now it haunts the plane, hunting down the heart of the tree....
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/the-dreamers-doom
Draumdrasil is an ever-shifting dreamlike plane, with elements similar to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, Theros, and Eldraine. It is very focused on noncreature spells, and introduces a new few new mechanics, including its signature mechanic, Dream. To Dream, you reveal the top card of your library, and if it is a noncreature spell, you can cast it for free until end of turn. Otherwise, you return it to the top of your library (Disperse, for the curious, returns a target to wherever it was before it entered the battlefield). Non-creature spells may be the focus of the plane, but that doesn't mean that there won't be creatures! In order to represent the dream like ever-shifting-ness of the plain, mechanics like fading, transform, meld, modal spells/entwine, evoke, flash and echo can/will be used to make creatures/permanents fade from reality, turn spells into creatures(as seen above), creatures into spells (What about a transforming creature that returns itself to your hand transformed into a sorcery?), multiple things turn into one, have varying spells, have creatures that can be used like spells, and similar ideas!
Common creature types may include aetherborn, horrors, faeries, dryads, merfolk, illusions, shapeshifters, and spirits, among others. My hope would be to make each color feel different (of course), but make them each still synergize with each other, making muticolor feel smooth, without necessarily being a multicolor focused set.
Here ya go! Hope ya like it
Thanks for the feedback @Xero0 ! like I said the ideas in my head are being hindered by my current lack of storytelling ability :P . But I hope this answers your questions.
I made the eclipse lands before I understood how to fully use the card maker so yes eclipse should be a supertype. I will change that tonight.
My original intent was for Ohmaya to be a green planeswalker so that was going to influence the Soulseed. I was committed, perhaps to my detriment, on the idea of the two incomplete worldsouls becoming one, but I was struggling with how to incorporate black. So “Ohmaya’s monument” ended up becoming the representation of that black and white flavor that was missing on Soulseed.
I originally had Ohmaya as part of the seal (or maybe even dead) then I changed it because I thought that was more confusing. Also, I’m not sure what the life expectancies of planeswalkers are pre-mending/ post-mending, so I was trying to work around the time skip. The reason Ohmaya didn’t stay awake is that the plane was effectively inhabitable when she got there so she was forced to seal herself away until she could finish her work and actually fuse the two worldsouls together, but I definitely agree that this part of the story needs some refinement.
The main theme of the story was effectively going to be two major groups conflicted on how sentient life should interact with the plane while only having incomplete information of the past to base their beliefs on. So the two main factions are supposed to be GUR vs WBG as represented by the two legendary lands. Green is the intended cornerstone color. I decided to wait to add GRB, WUG, and GBU until later. I was trying to hold back on some details to not get too heavy into the mechanics since this is a multi-phase challenge.
Thanks again for taking the time to read and respond.
since it's a plane entirely based on dreams and it's got at least one enchantment creature I imagine it could lead to an enchantment based set, that could be fun
also I wonder, since it's all arround the dreaming tree, is there any land the tree is rotted in?
or is the tree floating?
It is free floating, in its own place in the blind eternities, and the tree itself forms the plane. It has all the trappings of a planet, it is just a tree as well. Think like the ancient Norse ideas of Yggdrasil (and yes, that is absolutely where the name is derived from).
and I could tell haha
ENTERING FRENZY MODE!
if you got your idea finished but not your cards by the 1st you can ask me to extend it one or two days haha
if anyone needs more time I can extend it too
if any of you three dont finish em up for tomorow or if someone asks for it I'll extend the deadline
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/mimameidr-world-tree?list=user
He learned a lot during those days. Once freed he created the world underneath the tree.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/alfodor-lifebringer
Feeling the need to loved he created his own wife, when she was born she let forth life.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/frojia-feracious-defender?list=user
Finally, when life sprung forth creatures began to inhabit the plane.
Oof we made it lol.
The Plane of Elodam
A Premature birth
The plane of Rahdam was born premature, only consisting of 3 colors of mana: blue,red, and green. Because of this, its worldsoul to writhed in agony, causing constant chaos and instability in the form of shifting landscapes. Doomed to eventually self-destruct. No life could flourish there.
An untimely death
Ohmaya was a green Planeswalker who had a strong affinity to communicate with worldsouls. So much so, she can hear them on other planes.
Ohmaya’s home plane of Eloma was dying from a foreign and malevolent power, consuming all the mana and leaving nothing but dust. Ohmaya took the worldsoul and infused the plane’s remaining mana into it, forming a soulseed then planeswalked away.
Ohmaya heard the cry of Rahdam and went there instinctively knowing to take the soulseed there.
Because the mana in the soulseed was comprised of black and white mana it made a perfect fit for this plane to help balance the leylines. Giving the plane all 5 colors.
The Quelling
When Ohmaya arrived, the plane was so unstable that she had to use the soulseed’s mana to pacify the entire plane just to plant the soulseed. This act exhausted both her and the worldseed’s mana. Knowing the soulseed needed a power source to repair the leylines, there were only two options; Planeswalk away to safety knowing the seed would likely die, or give up her planeswalker spark to ensure the survival of the soulseed and the plane.
The Eclipse
Ohmaya devised a plan to use a solar eclipse to gather enough black and white mana to seal her soul and her spark inside the soulseed to keep it alive. While inside the seed gathering enough mana to allow her physical body to be reborn when the leylines were repaired. Ohmaya stayed in a meditative state for years, preserving her remaining life force until finally, the eclipse came. She activated the spell sealing her essence into the soulseed where she would wait for millennia to be reborn. She called her new home Elodam, as the two souls would someday become one.
During that time the soulseed became a tree and the roots acted as a conduit to repair the leylines and make the plane suitable for life. Even now there is a residual afterimage of that eclipse that can be seen in most parts of the plane.
Two worldsouls???
Even though Ohmaya’s plan was working as intended, there were some complicated side effects. Two worldsouls on one plane created two polarizing forces: One based on the Primordial powers of elemental magic represented by elementals and avatars. The other is Ethereal powers of life life and death. Creating spiritual entities and infusing the world with life energy (hevel) that permeates all living things.
As sentient life emerged, cultures began to form based around these two Ideals not knowing the actual truth. Will the inhabitants in their ignorance undo the healing due to Ohmaya’s sacrifice, or will she return in time to finish her work and establish peace. Many say the voices of these forces can be heard and communed with, some even grant power who those who are worthy. Some even say that Ohmaya’s thoughts and memories course through the leylines reaching out to those who listen.
*cough* *cough*
*sputter* *transdimensional sneeze*
THE STRANGE, DIVERSE AND A LITTLE SPARKLY
WORLD OF MRREI!
Mrrei is a world without a Gods, Deities, Demigods, Saints or even Strange ladies laying in ponds distributing swords while serving as a system of government. There were, however, at a point, a certain coven of hags. Now, usually, covens remain pretty small. The standard size is three, sometimes a gaggle of five hags will knock around, whizzing all over the place on broomsticks and inside cauldrons and whatnot. A historic record even states that a dozen-hag coven was formed once on Shadowmoor, but Wizards won''t going to take us back to Shadowmoor, or Lorwyn for that matter, because they are a bunch of cowards. Hags aren't supposed to form anything larger than that, however, hags aren't supposed to be beautiful ladies either, so just prepare for your expectations to get subverted, and don't be that surprised of the fact that this coven grew to the modest size of a million hags. Of course, if the coven ONLY had hags things would be simple, but of course, it didn't. Hags were but the upper class. Elves and Humans and Demons and Brushwaggs were all drawn to the unholy flame that the Jade Collective (for that was their name) burned on the pire of the multiverse's nightmares. And eventually, as the Collective conquered a bunch of nearby planes (because powerful hags can planeswalk, you see), a nice gal by the name of Weoruda decided that home-grown is always the best, so she planted a world seed in a cup, filled it up with astral earth, watered it with pure magic (and also her soul), then put it in a warm, humid place. A couple of millenia later, Mrrei was born. Now, if one of you tries the same recipe to create your own little plane, you will find yourself cynical, disappointed, and with a small eldrazi infestation on your hands. Why? Because you aren't in the possession of a magical artifact in the form of the eyes from an interplanar horror that you have slain in your youth, duh! Weoruda, however, was in the possession of such an artifact. With the help of her best friends the other hags, she went and made the world as she pleased. She planted on it witching crops, that the hags could use for their devilish brews, she sprinkled it with elementals of untold power to unleash on some poor city (the first Ravnica citizens were so traumatised by the first Ravnica's destruction, that they decided to build a completely identical city in its place and never tell their children what happened, except they flipped all of the guild names, so instead of good old Guild Sorob who were the stars of my favorite set, tcapdliuG, we ended up with Boros).
Now...
I hate to break your heart, but the Jade Collective isn't really around anymore. They were destroyed by some interdimensional catastrophe or other. Some worlds they controlled are still suffering from the weirdness they brought in (Innistrad), and some have thrown this yoke off. However, their presence is still here. Though the hags of the Collective are extinct, not all of their apprentices are. A council of witches was brought to Mrrei to watch over its inhabitants and keep it in a pristine state while the hags go off to war. The catch is, the hags never returned. If you remember my tale correctly, you'll know that the world was created using two eyes of an interdimensional horror. One of these eyes was taken by the hags to war, the other was left on the plane, to let the two parties communicate with each other. However, at some point during the conflict, the hags' eye was broken. No one knows how it happened, but with no communication between the sides, the apprentices never found out their masters' fate. And so they waited, still hoping for the war to end in a victory, not knowing the war was long over. Centuries past. Slowly, but surely, the witches on the council started to die off, go insane, or lose hope and abandon their post. Now, there is only one left. The youngest. Shurwa. She is 700 years old, which by their standards is not very much, considering they can unnaturally stretch their lifespan out for millenia. She still controls part of the plane, keeping everything in a semi-static state, still waiting for her teachers to return.
She has also trained her own students, some now more powerful than her, but she remains the highest authority, as the last of the council.
The first breakaways from the witch's council have their own story to tell. They wandered for long, contemplating their existence and their imprisonment, and eventually, through the study of light magic, the darkness that was planted into their souls by the hags had disappeared. On the mountaintops, in solitude, they slowly attracted more and more members to their order, from the primitive races that the Weoruda peopled Mrrei with. Through the study of magic, they all unlocked secrets obscured from the witches, and eventually half-forgot their past, it all remaining in whispers and thoughts and dreams and memories. Sometimes, when the Wizards or Witches tip the scales of magic in their own favour, the others will come out of their domain to wage arcane war, to restore balance. Recently, though, things have changed. Kusato, one of the few who still remember their heritage, the son of an elf who sat on the Witches Council, knows how to defeat darkness once and for all. He is determined to slay Shurwa, and to gain her dark secrets, to repurpose them for his own uses.
Unlike the wizards, there is a faction which remembers the Jade Collective all too well. In their experiments, the hags employed a rather large lot of undead. I would say, a lot a lot. But when the first eye was shattered during the war, this control over the undead of Mrrei vanished. They were free. And once again, they had the slightest hint of a soul. The first to really awake was Hwertep. He was the one who gained a greater sanity, and he is the one who molded into one cohesive unit all of the others. With varying degrees of self-awareness and general awareness, they all serve one goal. To somehow regain their souls once more. To be truly alive. Hwertep tells to his followers that he has done this, and through hard work he restored his own soul, but this is an Animal Farm-esque lie. He still hungers, and he is still in pain, for he is undead, and knows so with painful clarity.
There is also another faction that despises the Collective's reign. Everyone makes mistakes, and when Weoruda was creating Mrrei, she made plenty. For example, humans, dwarves and angels. Sketching them, almost subconsciously, from images she had seen of worlds in the Jade Collective's dominion, she made something the hags could not control. When they could be present on the world directly, this was not a problem. Those races did not revolt. They dared not. But when they had to leave, well...
Just for the heck of it, apparently, they created a magical android which wielded holy magic and destroyed everything dark in its sight. Half from awe, and half from fear, these light beings began to worship the construct, thought it was nothing that special, and it is that belief that gives power to Karmader. However, Karmader himself cares about naught but the downfall of evil, and due to his temper is easily swayed. Thus, the government that formed behind him, advising him, is the one who actually holds all of the power. And, before anyone noticed, an empire rose, which keeps its citizens in a righteous rage constantly, while they scheme, and scheme, and scheme...
The last concept we have to talk about is the Queelyt. Queelyt is not a nation-state, it does not have a government. It has no capital city, and few cities at all, though some do pop up occasionally. The Queelyt is not a religion, though that is closer, it worships no god. Queelyt is a system of beliefs, popularised by another leaver from the Witches Council (who was probably slightly mad, but historic records say nothing about the subject). It is the faith of change. The philosophy that change, internal and external, is the ultimate point of existence. They are not allegiant with the Jade Collective, but are simply thankful to them for existing at a point, and then not existing at another, thus bringing about change. This, and their other beliefs (including suspicious magic rituals to alter and warp the shape of their bodies and minds), is considered heresy by most all, and both Karmader and Hwertep's followers have tried to wipe them out completely, but that proved impossible. A thought so present in pop culture that it has become a little cliché at this point, is that "You can't kill an idea", but just because it's mainstream doesn't mean it's wrong. And so Queelyt perseveres.
They do not have a single leader, no Buddha, no Messiah, but one of their most respected sages is Xwuluyryuo. He is an overgrown drake frog. That is all.
Judging Will begin!
So, I've had a lot to think about, there are a lot of good entries, many of wich have a lot of potencial.
As the first stage and the one that will set the basis for this world the winning entry will have a great impact on what cards are made for it after, and even what certain stages would ask people to build, after all a world with pre-established factions by nature will ask to develope those factions further, rather than make all factions from 0.
For future stages having a basis will mean that for many good entries I'll have to ask myself what fits the world best, but for the first stage I've had to ask "what will lead to more interesting designs and stories" and "should the current state of magic influence my desition for this".
As the first of these contests it might have been best to go for "safe" options that will allow for later stages to develope the world more mechanically and/or literally rather than set a big picture with the first stage, options that dont nessesarely set contest in motion from many multiple angles but let players do so themselves over the course of different stages.
However, I've decided that although that is a good idea, I wont be using it for this one, dont worry, I'll likelly choose more open ended ideas for one of the next ones ;P
Complex mechanically and/or flavor and/or narrative defining entries arent nessesarely going to be winners of the first stages of these contest.
This winning entry defines a lot tho, flavor wise and mechanically wise, but leaves a lot of open space for narrative.
The Winner is: Draumdrasil, the Dreaming Tree!
by @SkyeSeraph
A world made from the dreams of a very powerful interplanar being, as old and undefinable as the eldrazi. (Look at their entry for a longer explanation of it.)
This world as such centers arround dreams, primarely through noncreature cards, but it also could through mechanics such as fading, transform, meld, evoke, entwine, and flash.
It also sports two mechanics created by the one that made this entry:
Disperse - Return the card to the zone it was in before entering the battlefield. (A creature that was cast is returned to the zone it was casted from, not the stack.)
Dream - Reveal the top card of your library. If it is a noncreature nonland card, exile it. Until end of turn,you can cast it from exile without paying it's mana cost.
(personally speaking I think dream is a bit OP and I'd change how i works but oh well haha)
When making future cards for this plane feel free to use these mechanics, however it's not a nessesity, as long as you stay within the flavor of the plane and the general mechanical idea of it the cards will fit.
The cards may need a few fixes (like dreamer's demise coming back to the battlefield infinetly cause of how it's worded; and the dreamer and dreaming tree being quite OP, also same for the keyword Dream haha) but overall the idea is a very good one, and the potencial and flavor of it is also very good.
Noncreature spells in general is not something an official set has so far made it's theme, and with the release of Ikoria coming up, a creature centric set, I feel that such a theme for this contest will bring a lot of variety to the current card making field; plus thinking of creatures and noncreatures from two different angles might inspire some good ideas.
I believe this will lead to a very interesting path for this contest.
(Stage two will be posted later. I might also add noncannon honorable mentions later today)
@Xero0 This is becoming very interesting already! Count on me sticking around for Stage 2.
As for the balance changes, yeaaaaaaaah.... For some reason, I totally overlooked how OP The Dreaming Tree is when I made it. I meant for it to enter tapped, but I guess I forgot? And the auto Dream should probably be removed XD. The Dreamer's Demise/Doom can be fixed by adding "When this card would leave the battlefield, exile it instead" (missed that too, oopsies). I do like dream, because it can be super powerful or it can just give you nada, and that kind of represents the inconsistent nature of the plane, but changing it to be a reveal and a {2} discount or something might be safer for gameplay (especially with the non-creature focus), while retaining the flavor.