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EvoSmith // FORGE AN ECOSYSTEM // (Closed for new entries - if you already applied, then HOLD TIGHT)
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CREATURES:
The Geothermal Crevice is a strange place. A cavern close to a thermal spring, making the whole system moist and warm, allowing strange life to flourish. The scene is set at the climactic Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria, where life forms from many planes leaked onto the world.
The exceedingly rare solitary mycoderm, pale from a substantial lack of sunlight, down in these deep tunnels. He is probably not the only one of his kind crawling here.
Nearer the surface prowl a dozen fire-breathing Cavern Crawlers, each controlling vast, clearly defined territories.
Occasionally, you will spot a spider, guarding a cavernous crossroad, waiting patiently for his next victim.
Frozen for centuries within permafrost, the residual heat from the springs has now awakened some guests from the ice age - a mole worm colony.
And guarding the entrance is a stranger in a strange land coming from a realm yet stranger, an Alaran Thoctar.
Yet the place seems... oddly shimmery.
Strange sights can be seen out of the corner of the eye. Deja Vu multiplies tenfold, and a strange mist floats through the tunnels. What is happening, and more importantly, how can this order survive?
CREATURES:
Lorwyn's Primal Beyond is a... unique place. An ecosystem composed entirely of elementals is not something you see every day, but even in that incredibly niche subset, this is still an outlier.
Through the skies, their gravity made unstable by wild magic, float intimidating Nevermakers.
Also running through the clouds are slightly more docile Wispmares, masters of the unraveling of magical enchantments.
Down on the ground skulk the terrifying Stingmoggies. They are incredibly territorial, and will attack most anything.
Yet there is cause to be aggressive - the population of Shriekmaws is surely no small threat to any animal or beast.
And through it all skirts the apex, the apogee, the elemental magister... the almighty SUPREME EXEMPLAR!
Yet the Elementals may have met their match...
From an unknown place is birthed a veritable writhing spawning pod of spirits. From madness, new souls are born, ready to give this realm suspended in space and calamitous in time a run for its money. So that begs the question, how can this order survive?
Yeah, sure!
@SpellPiper2213
Well, even manifestations of pure magic aren't exempt from the scientific method!
The Geothermal Cavern was morphed drastically by the shifting hazes. It morphed the creatures of the land, and fogged up the caves in such a way that a normal human couldn't see more than a few metres in front of them.
The once pale and solitude Mycoderms were touched, perhaps even enlightened by the morphing hazes that turned their skin to blue. They turned a solitude from others into a solitude from those who weren't themselves, leaning to slowly duplicate and use this constant reproduction-like cloning to turn into somewhat of a pest. They survive not only through solitude, but now from mass production.
The once-controlling Mist Crawlers were comparatively reluctant to adapt, instead sticking to their territories, staking within the fog. When a being they can kill shows itself, it leaps out and attacks. Even then, the lack of prey strolling into the caves results in the Crawler population naturally dwindling, oftentimes resorting to mass breeding or hibernation to survive.
Thoughts on Actual Design: The card itself is decently interesting. The turn you play it, it becomes a potent blocker that can trade into lots with its firebreathing ability. However, for every turn after it remains constantly tapped unless you can pay the echo cost. It also has a bit of hidden synergy with things like Norin the Wary and Impact Tremors.
The once proud spiders of the crevice adapted unusual abilities to continue living. They live and hunt between the spaces between eternity, fading in and out at a moments notice. Their ability to hunt these spaces between time result in having plentiful sustenance , and a very no-risk high-reward hunting style. However, this evolution resulted in the spider dropping the now-useless vigilance that they now possessed, and their less sturdy legs make them easier to kill than before if somehow caught.
Thoughts on Actual Design: I wanted to make an interesting tech card for this spot, which I think it did. It techs against Yorion and gets bigger off of Uro, and it disarms things like Light Up the Stage. It isn't impossible to kill of course, but it is just a nice sideboard card.
The recently released Mole Worms were majorly affected by the hazes. Their dated feeding style, composed of eating soil and dead plant matter, would no longer work long term; the Mycoderms that once scattered the soil with nutrients faded quickly after death, the flesh vastly less nutritious as their generations of cloning continued. The wet haze also made the ground too moist to continue living primarily underground, depriving the oxygen needed for them to break down foods. However, the haze allowed them to stay moist entirely above ground, leading them to use different hunting tactics. The worms mass cover the target, immobilizing it and sucking nutrients out of them slowly.
Thoughts on the Actual Design: Black has gotten things like Oubliette and even Kitesail Freebooter, so this is a form of "Time Shift" for those mechanics, with the added funny interaction that this can also flicker things. This was designed more as a good limited card than as a competitive design. The interaction with Eternity Snatcher was 100% intended.
Finally, the once proud Thoctar. Over years the slow dwindling of food that came from guarding the cavern led it underground, becoming a beast of legends. As tales of the foul beast from the cavern started circulating, hunting parties started dripping into the cavern at an alarming rate. The Haze influenced it to adapt a supernatural power, one to stifle magic and transform it into sustenance. While useless against most of the natural cave entities, it was a boon against the hunting parties. To this day, the tale of the supposedly "Time-Blessed" and unkillable Thoctar echoes from hunting party to hunting party.
Thoughts on Actual Design: This was a made-for-commander card, that I find interesting. It works well with +1/+1 counters of course, but it also works well with Storm, and allows you to "save" spells for later and flash them in at any time. For example, you can exile a board clear on the stack, swing at someone, and then flash it in when needed. It also works with flashing in combo pieces, saving spells from counterspells, or simply beating down a player with a giant commander.
CREATURES:
The Sliver Hive is a fascinating place. The many, many ways these lifeforms can adapt make it a wonderful place to observe. Especially in... uh... times of trouble.
The Batterers are constantly burrowing through the hard rock, feeding both on the minerals within and on the animals that get caught on the without.
Within, constructing the internal structure, are the Crystalline slivers, depositing a hard shell of filigree everywhere they slid.
Darkheart Sivers are not ones to be forgotten, on the outside, emulating dead trees growing in the crags, catching all unaware.
Then, the Fungus Slivers! They deposit their spores all over - for their mushrooms are adaptable and will survive most anywhere moist, dark and reasonably warm.
Then, there is an Avian Oddity, because reasons! It floats down the ravine, doing... Idunno! Why is it here? Idunno! What are you going to do with this? Idunno, but I'd really like to see!
Just as well, since there is something foul in the air. When these Slivers convulse - it is not for a new step in evolution, these are seizures of sickness. How will all these creatures weather the plague? Perhaps they will not? And most importantly, how can this order survive?
CREATURES:
The Dark Depth. A watery abyss few ever visit - both because of its inhospitable conditions for surface dwellers to visit, and because of its cutthroat inhabitants.
Closest to the surface, peeking from places where the ice cracks slightly, is the Yawning Depths Serpent, guarding the entrance to the ecosystem.
Already much, much deeper you begin to find schools of Rays - not excluding the Deepglow Skates, hunting in their peculiar choreography.
Slinking below, preying on those who get too close is the much feared, and much despised predatory Void Maw.
Deeper yet hides the crooked-toothed Wormfang Behemoth - bringing madness and panic with his very presence.
And then, the much feared Denizen of the Deep slumbers the deepest, a titan worthy of Marit Lage herself.
Yet recently, tremors have been shaking this locale, and it's not the titan herself slumbering, oh no.
Somehow, the eldrazi pass above. With the ruination comes disruption of even these depths - the tides shift, the stars become misaligned. What shall happen to the established structure? How can this order survive?
CREATURES:
This nesting grounds is a land of nests indeed. Its winding, hollow earth-like local biosphere makes it a perfect place for all to roost, dig their burrows and settle down.
Many of the tunnels that noodle all through the complex are made by wurms - this flock of nesting wurms, for instance, is working to expand the lower levels.
In these lower levels have eagerly moved in a swarm of scarabs, eager to catch all who wander just slightly to deep.
Much higher then, on the outskirts of the complex proper are @Corwinnn's cousins, plotting and preparing to take over the entire plane, wherever this may be.
Perhaps some of the most feared creatures around these parts are the fleet-footed nest robbers - with everything here liable for a robbin' and all.
And just to add a bit of a nope factor, nests of stinging insects show up here, in places you least expect, or want.
Yet the cutthroat nature here may soon be smothered. Smothered by an unending, unrelenting tide of... bedding? Flower power!
A new, highly infections symbiotic pair of fungus and flower is washing over all ecosystems in the area, and this strange nest of nests is no exception. What happens when these confusing forces collide, and how can this rather chaotic order survive?
Lands:
Calamities:
A crisp selection ebbing with elemental force!
Good luck!
We do have you on record, and will be getting to you as soon as possible
I had Dryad Arbor and Weird Harvest
**Bangs head against wall in disbelief at own incompetence**
Lands:
Calamities:
Well, if that ain't an episode of animal planet!
Good luck!
CREATURES:
These exotic orchards can be found in many a place, and the fauna of this particular orchard comes from many a place just as well.
The solemn Elementals that were summoned long before this orchard was left to fend for themselves, set up by the previous authority to guard the pristine flora.
This small flock of Striges (yes, the plural form of Strix is Striges, look it up) has flown from afar to snack on the delicious metallic nutriments of the vegetation.
The orchard is also then guarded by unseen eyes. Spirits watch it closely, trying to guard it against harm (I will emphasise trying, because you know what is coming next)
Tranquility is the status quo here, except when disturbed by the bellowing cries of the pack of mighty plowbeasts.
And all this, managed by the Warden - a stalwart treefolk allowing life to flourish where it may, and where he allows.
Yet just as he lets life flourish, soon the flourish will pass onto death.
The Golgari are here for some reason! And soon they will come spreading their rot, to shape this landscape in their image. How will these two modes of life coexist, and can this old order survive?
Well, I'm pretty sure I just gave MtgCardsmith its own Cloud Factory.
I think that if I were to even try to catch up to my promises at this point, this has lost all momentum, and will prove even more of a disappointment.
I apologise for overestimating the time and effort I would be willing to put into this in addition to the projects I have going on elsewhere. I definitely really like this concept, and it seems people liked it as well, so I think I will eventually try to do something similar again, but with much more prepwork, better planning, and a bigger team.
As recompense, I have given everyone who tried to enter a follow (assuming I wasn't following you already), and favourited three of your recent cards I happened to think were best of them all.
@Corwinnn, may you please summon a choir of squirrels to sing a mournful tune, and then close this thread with dignity?
Most appreciated.
I wish you all luck and hope to see each and every one soon.