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Rezatta, the life-matters Renaissance plane — SET DESIGN PHASE
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Sorry I just have one more thing: What site have you been using to create Rezatta? I know you are not using mtg.design, and my worry is that mtg.design is not compatible for playtesting.
I believe that @Ral1000 was talking about when I proposed Enlighten for Elated.
Also, I have three questions:
- Are you done with the uncommon skelebones?
- Do we have any need for a uncommon equipment with an aggro theme?
- Could I do a drawing for one of the cards?
I'm not exactly an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not just going to scribble. I've mainly done people, but I also did a good dinosaur drawing, and would love to draw something.The medium I use to create the cards vary depending on the phase. I sometimes host the cards on a dedicated account in MTGCardsmith but to go fast I usually use the software Magic Set Editor ^^ Also, to playtest by myself, I print the cards on paper and I slide them in a sleeve with a real card or, when I playtest only mechanics and themes instead of the full set of commons, I simply wrote the effects on blank pieces of paper.
If you want to playtest online, the easiest way I know is probably to put the cards in Untap.in (it just takes a lot of time to add them to the data bank but then it's easy to use). Otherwise, there's an option in Magic Set Editor to export the cards for Cockatrice but I never managed to make the illustrations work.
@LordTachanka123
1) Nope, I'm just starting with the uncommon set skeleton. I'm currently dissecting the skeleton of existing sets and trying to understand what makes them tick. I can already tell it's going to be an even harder challenge than the commons, there's just so little space for so many things you have to stuff in xD Because of this, WOTC often seems to make very weird cuts in their cycles which makes it very hard for me to track back how they constructed the skeleton in the first place. It's easier to follow their logic when there are very defined archetypes. The uncommon set skeleton of M20 for instance almost melted my brain because they threw in completely random stuff to help archetypes from past and future sets xD
Right now, I'm trying to figure out how many paths to victory should each colour have at uncommon. I'm vaguely remembering an article from Dominaria saying that each colour pair combination should have at least three different strategies available to win.
2) I don't think we'll do an equipment theme in this set because it collides with the masterwork mechanic since they're both pushing you to grow creatures and granting them ability. Since we didn't have any artifact theme at common, it seems difficult to introduce at this stage. However, we could do a random equipment if it particularly fits the need of the archetype. BR is definitely going to be turbo aggro, and RW is very likely to be agressive as well.
3) I'd like to keep the illustration of the set consistent in quality because that's important to approach the feel of a real set (an amateur drawing thrown in randomly might make it feel like an unset). But maybe we can make a special set of Art tokens made by artists from the forum who'd like to feature their illustration in there? We'll likely have a bit of fun with unusual art styles with the Art tokens anyways so it seems like a good fit ^^
There goes my dreams of making a half-decent set.
Also, I personally believe that Eco should be monowhite. Maybe with an activation ability in black or red?
And maybe a thief of priceless artworks is the Villain?And he/she somehow stole Eco’s voice so she couldn’t save Serra, but then she overcomes her lack of voice with her music(or love if you want to go like the Renaissance’s theatrical style) to save Serra, and then she helps redeem the thief?
@ningyounk
Sorry, I know I am pestering you with questions that do not relate to Rezatta, but I have one more thing: I've started transferring my set to mtg set editor, but I can't seem to find a way to try out the custom set symbol inside it. Seeing your commons for Rezatta, I assume you have figure that out. How exactly can this be done?
The idea that Eco is a sister to Serra is interesting but difficult to implement logically as Serra is *very* old. It's not impossible though ^^
I like the idea of Eco being connected to a Muse, at the beginning of this project we toyed with the idea of having a corrupted Muse as the main antagonist, and at the end Eco would sacrifice herself to become the new Muse. It has some poetic implications about the emotions that Eco goes through, and could show some interesting character development in the story. It's also reminiscent of one of the best story lines in the acclaimed Avatar: the Last Airbender anime where the love interest of one of the heroes sacrifices herself to become the moon and save everyone.
I don't think we need to push the card of Eco to have a multicolour identity, let's just get a feel of what she would be mechanically and as a character first. A priori, she gives me a strong Esper vibe, I could see her easily in White, Blue or Black. Green and especially Red are a bit more of a hard sell I think, but it could be possible with some original flavouring.
The idea of art thieves have been thrown in the air quite a lot, we even considered them as the possible main antagonists as a group for some time. At this point, it seems to be an expectation of people when they hear about the set so even if they don't end up being a major antagonist, art thieves are probably going to appear at some point in the story, yeah ^^
I'd be totally on board with a happy ending for this set where the antagonist is redeemed at the end \o/
Ral1000
No problem! Here's the protocol for changing the symbol of your set on Magic Set Editor (if you're using Windows, but it should be roughly the same idea for other OS):
1) Open your set, go to the "Set Info" tab, then double-click on the line "Symbol":
2) A new "Symbol Editor" window should open. Go to File > Open... or use the shortcut Ctrl+O.
3) A new window open again, go to the location of the image file of your common set symbol. Of note, you don't need the three other ones, just the black and white common one. You'll notice that your image won't be visible as an option in the file. You first need to change the file type at the bottom of your window from "Symbol files" to "Images/MSE1 symbol files". You should now be able to select your set icon.
4) The Symbol Editor window now has your set icon in it. However, it can struggle a little depending on the image. It might fill all the blank space with black shapes, especially if the set icon is on a transparent background. You need to manually select all the unwanted shapes inside the icon by clicking on them, then remove them by hitting delete.
5) Now that your set icon is clean, just validate by clicking on the "Store" icon. You're done! All the cards in the file now have the appropriate set icon. Magic Set Editor will automatically apply the right gradient of colours when you change rarity.
That being said, Serra travelled to a lot of planes, and spread her message. It seems very understandable for a church of Serra to exist on a plane.
Here's a bad idea: You could create some tension between the populous and the church by saying that Serra said she would one day return; however, because she is dead, she has not yet returned. Perhaps her church could be built on the notion "if you were good, when Serra returns you'll get to go to her realm," yet people might be frustrated by the fact she has never returned, or might believe that the existence of Serra is a lie entirely.
I'd really like to help out with the uncommons. Would you mind sharing the current file of commons plus a brief description of the archetypes?
I'm still struggling a bit with the Art tribal archetype in UBG. I'd like to make sure they feel unique, not too close to other similar tribes like elementals in M20 for instance. I'm also not sure of the pay-off card in blue. I said I'd like to return to a mill card, but it might be a bit too effective for common.
As for the archetypes, I'm following a technique used in recent sets where there are broader tricoloured archetypes at common that then will branch out at uncommon. This helps increase the synergy of the overall set and reduce the number of things that players have to care about at common:
WUR: Cares about you casting two spells in one turn. It's a disruptive aggro archetype that is trying to snowball.
UBG: Cares about Art creatures entering the battlefield under your control. It's a combo archetype based on recursion effects like blinking and returning from the graveyard.
BRW: Cares about you losing life. It's an aggro archetype that uses your life total as a fuel.
RGU: Cares about your life total being even. It's a midrange archetype that rewards you for keeping your life total even by making your creatures bigger and better.
GWB: Cares about you having serran life. It's a control archetype based around protecting your life total while slowly hitting your opponent.
The ten draft archetypes are still not defined yet, though mathematically the ally-coloured ones will need to be just what's above without the enemy-colour.
The enemy-coloured ones will introduce five other directional themes for draft that synergise with the two three-colours common archetypes they're intersecting. For instance RW which is at the intersection of WUR Two-spells-a-turn and BRW Suicide Aggro will likely become something like RW Aggro Weenies.
She could be ^^ However, we need to ask ourselves what does it bring to the story? What do we do with the idea that she's Serra's sister? What would be the pay-off?
I can see the benefit of having Eco be a part of Serra for instance, it has a lot of dramatic value as we realise that the inescapable fate of a character we learned to like is to disappear, it functions as a tragedy trope. I find it more challenging to make something out of the idea that Eco is the reincarnation of Serra's sister, especially since I don't think Serra's sister was a character in previous stories so there's no emotional baggage attached to her.
We can also explore some more light-hearted plots, definitely! ^^ The better stories are the ones that can make you laugh and cry at the same time, so ideally we'd have a bit of both in there. Because I like the idea of being able to use WLOP's illustrations though, I think the character of the silver-haired girl tends to suit a tragic story better. She just looks sad to me, I struggle to imagine her as a comical character:
___
Unrelated to the plot, I mentioned earlier that the lack of blue creatures with a "Whenever an Art enters the battlefield under your control" trigger was making UBG Art tribal feel like it was lacking a pay-off and was struggling to close the game unless it had access to green. I figured the best way to fix the issue was to rollback to the previous pay-off that mills whenever an Art enters the battlefield under your control. Because it's a bit difficult to find a spot in Blue to put the mana sink, this card also gets a self-bounce protective ability that synergises with its ETB ability.
While I sifted through the uncommons skeletons of different sets to figure out how to organise the uncommons of Rezatta, I got more and more uncomfortable finding a lot of cards that were similar to the common I just added.
I checked to make sure that this ability was fitting common and indeed the ability is borderline between commons and uncommons depending on the set.
It seems that the CMC of the card plays a huge role in determining if that effect is common or uncommon. Because the Art card in Rezatta also has an additional ability and is efficient as a 2/1 for 2, I figured it was probably a bit close to uncommon rate. So, I figured I would push it to 3-mana. This way it's closer to Sage's Row Denizen from M20. Compared to it, Oil Koi has the advantage of:
1) Being in a set that has a lot of support for recurring Arts.
2) Having an additional ability to replay itself.
3) Triggering itself.
However, it has the downsides of:
1) Having slightly worst stats.
2) Being harder to trigger as blue creatures is a lighter restriction than Art creatures in Limited.
I figure that should balance things a little bit. Interestingly, this also indirectly nerfs the bounce ability as it now takes 7 mana instead of 6 to mill the opponent two cards by bouncing itself.
Now, to replace the empty slots the card left at two-mana, I dwindled the Reborn Siren. The Reborn cycle had two 3-mana cards and one 2-mana one, now it's the opposite so it's doesn't unbalance this cycle. I also felt that Reborn Siren was a little too strong with hexproof in conjunction with the Masterwork mechanic (it's the intent, but it might be a bit too synergistic). So I used the "Costs N more to target" ability. I did want that creature to be difficult to interact with, not just costing a slight loss of tempo, so it costs 4 mana more to target it instead of the usual 2. But it doesn't prevent abilities from targeting it, making the black enchantment removal more desirable. It kept the same stat line because Blue struggles to trigger Renaissance more than any other colour anyways, so I'm fine with it having a more consequential bonus.
Could this possibly work?
Also, yeah, WL OP does do more tragedy than comedy(if any) so Eco will probably be a sadder story. We have to make the audience really love her.
Also, as she is a musician, one book series I've been reading, the Kingkiller chronicles, in my opinion would be really good for making her character. The main character, Kvothe, is a musician who's orphaned at a young-ish age, and has to fend on his own for some time. He then finally gets to go to a school for magic, and there his adventures tie into Eco more.
Anyways, @ningyounk, if anyone were to read it, I suggest being over the age of 16, unless your parents are okay with some of the stuff in there. It's a little sexual, and not everyone might like that. Speaking of sexual, just want to point out we will have to be careful with Eco's art, as WL OP does do some graphic stuff, so if we do use her art, we will have to
A-Not use the graphic art
or
B-Make Eco somewhat of a flirtatious character.
That's just my thoughts, though.
I can't really add to the themes for the draft archetypes, though I agree that the BG one seems the most tricky to think about, since the current one isn't directly related to serran life.
Some other ideas for draft signposts (cmc and stats up to adjustment):
Second Spell Prep
WU
Instant
You gain 2 serran life. Draw a card.
(Reference: Manamorphose, but only 1 mana. Is this still too efficient?)
---
Art ETB Payoff
3UB
Creature - Art
When CARDNAME etbs, each opponent loses 2 life and you draw a card.
2/2
(Reference: Psychic Symbiont from M19. Just a simple good Art payoff. The effects can be adjusted accordingly.)
---
Pay Payoff (sorry for the bad pun)
Enchantment
1BR
Whenever you pay life, target creature you control gets +2/0 and gains haste until eot.
(Reference: Fame from Claim // Fame. Can restrict it to once per turn to be safe.)
---
Oddly Powerful
Sorcery
1RG
Target creature you control gets +5/+3 and gains trample until end of turn. You gain 1 serran life.
(Reference: Colossus from Collision // Colossus. Bumped the stats but removed instant speed to keep the odd flavor and for balance. Main point is the gain an odd amount of life.)
---
Serran Protector
1GW
Creature
CARDNAME's power is equal to the serran life you have.
2GW: You gain 1 serran life.
*/5
(Reference: Ironroot Warlord from M19. An alternative is to change the activated ability to an eot trigger for the life gain.)
---
The WB and UR ones seem pretty good, I'm not touching them.
---
Sac Shaman
2BG
Creature
2BG, T, sacrifice another creature: You gain serran life equal to its toughness. If it was an Art, return it to your hand.
4/5
(Reference: Bushmeat Poacher from Ikoria. The activation cost is significantly bumped up because a) life gain is a main theme in this set, and b) it's serran life, so it can be converted into mana later.
Also, maybe you can draw a card if it's not an Art?)
---
The WR and UG ones look great so I'm gonna stop here for now.
About the usual, so that's roughly about 5% of creatures I believe ^^
Why the question? Are you thinking flying tribal?
One part I would love to help with is the story of the set, however. A couple pages back I saw you guys were starting to brainstorm ideas, but it didn't really go anywhere. Anyways, I have some ideas:
CHARACTERS.
Eco. Here we have a pretty clear opportunity for a fantastic main character. We have plenty of art, but there are also several directions in which we can go with the character. She's mysterious, the art is interesting--not to mention excellent--and I don't see any issues surrounding the character. So far the theory I like most is that Eco is an aspect of Serra that was lost when Serra "died." (We'll have to get into how Serra isn't dead, too.) The whole storyline with Eco sacrificing herself to reanimate Serra is beautiful and poetic. I also have some other ideas on the character -- for example, what aspect of Serra is she? I see purity as a good example, but there's something more melancholic about it that could relate to her sacrifice at the end. Maybe she's the embodiment of selflessness, and she's constantly in this melancholy state because she is unable to care about herself, and only for others. It's a pretty poetic story when you pair it with her climactic sacrifice.
Avinzi. Okay. I don't see a leading man in Avinzi, honestly. Using Ikoria as an example, if Eco is Lukka, I don't think Avinzi is Vivien. I see him more as a character to bind different aspects of the story together -- a supporting character, essentially. I see a lot of potential for Lizza to be the primary villain, and I think Avinzi should clearly have close ties with her. He could be the character that lets the story happen, though Eco should be drawn in rather quickly because I think she should be the protagonist. Avinzi should be good at heart, but his dedication to his art (and, subsequently, to Lizza) should lead to some sort of disaster that becomes the catalyst for the story's conflict. Maybe Lizza is manipulating him to spread her influence? I'm not too sure right now.
Lizza. The art ningyounk found for Lizza is nothing short of malice incarnate. It's some of the best art I've every seen it terms of opportunity for a character. It just speaks volumes, and I don't want it to go to waste in a side character. Thus, I think Lizza should be the primary antagonist of the story. I see her sitting in the shadows, guarding secrets as she extends her influence throughout Rezatta. My current conception of her character is a combination of the black trademarks of secrecy and ambition. She hoards secrets, growing in potential power, but yearns for something more, to finally be released from her canvas and to eventually rule Rezatta. Perhaps there's something generic about that -- how about she sees the worship Serra gets, a dead planeswalker being lauded by essentially the entire plane, and yearns for more than just dominance -- she thinks she is the most beautiful piece of art on all of Rezatta, and she wants to be freed from her current state and to be worshipped by all. On another thought, maybe the more secrets she collects, the more beautiful she becomes as an art piece. Then, as she extends her reach and collects secrets, she finds one about some sort of ritual to bring Serra back, or maybe the location of Serra's resting place (which is on Rezatta, possibly explaining how widespread her religion is there). Essentially, Lizza wants to corrupt the attempt to reanimate Serra by combining herself with her. The conflict starts to form itself. Obviously, there are still a lot of blank spots, but this is just the early stages of the storyline.
Serra. Serra isn't really a character, at least not until the end of the story, but she should remain vitally important to the storyline. Hell, our main character is an aspect of her soul or whatever. I think that Rezatta should have had a long and bloody history, and that the themes of rebirth throughout the set were ushered in by the church of Serra, which started when Serra died and entombed herself on this plane. Now that the plane has recovered, they plan to set a planewide festival of rebirth, which will celebrate the attempted rebirth of Serra. Now all we have to do is figure out how Eco, Avinzi, and Lizza fit into this festival, and what other characters we want to include in the plot.
Thoughts? This is pretty early-on stuff and honestly it wasn't too planned out, but I think I have something here.
As for the Borgias, I just get some real Fiora/conspiracy vibes from them, and because Rezatta and Fiora share some aspects already, I want to distance the two as far as possible. "Political family" just doesn't scream Rezatta to me, as intriguing as the characters are.
I definitely wouldn't mind brainstorming the white Michelangelo gorgon as a potential villain, or at least as a character. I see some opportunities forming already: Gorgons are traditionally ugly characters, so Mikey strives to be beautiful, surrounding himself with beauty in the form of marble statues of those he has slain with his gaze. When he hears of the Rebirth Celebration, he uses it as an opportunity to finally achieve perfection by melding himself with Serra.
Obviously I'm kind of just adapting him to fit my previous idea for Lizza. I have another idea which could have him slowly overtake parts of the city, transforming the endless celebration, bursts of creativity, and unbridled joy into cold, silent, statues of gleaming marble. How this ties into the story I'm unsure of, but it's certainly striking imagery, as well as a better fit for white's themes of order and conformity, which are a good enemy to the idea of the plane. Honestly, this villain is growing on me. Ningyounk mentioned the soul of the plane is probably, logically red -- black is an ally color of red, while white is an enemy.
Thanks @LordTachanka123, you've given me a lot to think about!
EDIT: Upon revisiting past threads, it looks like the gorgon's name is MICHELLA, and she definitely doesn't seem like a villain. (ex: Ideal: Everyone and everything is beautiful in a myriad of ways). However, she as a character doesn't seem set in stone (lol no pun intended seriously) and I think we have something to work with here.
What if Lizza was kind of a “Twist villain”. Maybe for most of the plot the villains are a group of cultists and others who worship her. Since they see Lizza as the pinnacle of art and discovery they attempt to halt all other creation so nothing ever surpasses her. That’s also how we could involve the muses, this cult could be trying to destroy the muses so nothing will ever compare to Lizza. In the end she attempts to resurrect Serra and steal her power but Eco and the other protagonists interrupt this attempt and Eco sacrifices herself. When Serra returns she traps Lizza in a painting.
The cult may not be very “Renaissance themed” but I like the idea of the antagonists destroying famous works and eventually hunting the muses.
On the Gorgon artist, I really like the concept of a gorgon based on Michelangelo. A few notes on this: Michelangelo was a very big perfectionist, he would spend all his time on the project he was working on. When making David Michelangelo lived and ate in his studio rarely leaving. What if Michella is obsessed with creating “The perfect piece” she has a “Liar” which she rarely leaves and whenever she does it’s to show her new piece to the world (she always manages to find something wrong with it though). This could make her a target of the cult or whatever antagonist we use.