The only mechanic that managed to survive of my planned mechanics for my Earth block is Rage Mana, basically a version of the energy counters from kaladesh on steroids plus some interesting effects and passives from building up large amounts of Rage Mana
@joemamajoe Basically a mechanic for pilot creatures to pilot vehicles easier? Also the pilot cost should be a way for a pilot creature with lower power to crew a vehicle with a crew cost higher than its normal power, so something like a 1/3 creature could have a Pilot 3 which would allow it to crew vehicles with a crew 3. My opinion obviously
First, all Hail QUsaername for the Mercadian Masques card (brilliant)!
The sole problem being, shuffling cards in play is unpredicented.
As the start of what I think is Magic's most maligned block, I had never explored that plane and, in hindsight, something like morph would be perfect for it.
So I have tweaked his card and used the idea to create the Mask mechanic. This can be used in to ways, on a card as it comes into play or used to flip cards that come into play.
Played as an ability, it is almost morph
Mask (You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Each player may then rearrange their creatures as all other players look away. Turn it face up any time for its Mask cost.)
As an action:
Mask a card; (To Mask a card, turn it face down, it becomes a 2/2 colorless creature. You may pay a masked card's mana cost to turn it face up. Each player may then rearrange their creatures as all other players look away. )
Note: Overlay a card with transform or a token with a non-standard back must be overlaid with card from outside the game with a normal back.
Finally, my version of the card with Mask and an example:
I have one contribution to this thread, a brainstorm I am very proud of:
Leadership
A replacement for Banding
Leadership means the following:
When a creature with Leadership attacks or blocks, you may pay {3} for any number of creatures attacking or blocking with it that you choose [not target]: Those creatures and the creature whose Leadership ability is being activated attack or block and are assigned damage [by the defending or attacking player, respectively] as though they were a single attacker (or blocker); this association of attacking or blocking creatures is referred to as "the Leadership group of [CARDNAME with Leadership]." The player controlling the creature whose Leadership ability is activated distributes damage assigned to the permanents' Leadership group as they choose.
For each creature that shares a color or a creature type with the creature whose Leadership ability is being activated, the cost for that creature is reduced by {1} .
• A creature cannot be a member of more than one Leadership group in any combat.
• The cost of a creature's Leadership ability can only be paid once for each attacking creature that is not in that creature's Leadership group.
• Another creature's Leadership ability may be activated to move a creature from one creature's Leadership group to another creature's group: This may be done as many times as desired (permitted by mana availability) from the beginning of the attacking player's combat phase to the end of the Declare Attackers step. If a player stalls the game by repeatedly reassigning creatures to different Leadership groups especially in a repetitive manner, (i.e. has access to infinite mana through an infinite loop, or keeps reassigning creatures between Leadership groups for which there is no cost to do so) any player in the game may call for an adjudication and that player must declare their final decision to the judge and stop activating Leadership abilities until the end of that combat phase. A player who instigates repeated adjudications may be declared to have lost the game by the judge. A player who has a deck such that this occurs in more than one game during an event may be ejected from the event on decision of a panel of at least three judges.
• Leadership does not affect non-combat damage (damage not generated from combat & assigned to creatures as part of the the combat phase). I.E. damage from sources not attacking or blocking, such as creatures not in combat or spells on the stack, are unaffected by Leadership and resolve as the relevant game rules specify.
• Two creatures with Leadership cannot apply their abilities to each other to become part of partially overlapping Leadership groups. Any creatures affected by either creature's Leadership ability are part of the same single Leadership group: There can be no Leadership sub-groups. [ ] - Example: If there are two creatures with Leadership, and Card A is a Red Viashino Warrior and Card B is a Green Human Monk; if Card A can apply its Leadership ability to Card B and other creatures, Card B can apply -its- Leadership ability to different creatures, and they all are part of the same Leadership Group. This would be called "The Leadership Group of Card A" because Card A is applying its Leadership ability to other creatures, but no creatures are applying a Leadership ability to it. [ ] - Example: Permanent A with Leadership is a Blue Vedalken Wizard, and Permanent B is a Red Human Wizard. If Permanent B applies its Leadership ability to Permanent A and other permanents, then Permanent A applies its Leadership ability to other permanents, the permanents 'under the Leadership' of Permanent A are considered a part of Permanent B's Leadership Group. If Permanent A then applies its Leadership ability to Permanent B, there is no change of designation of the leadership group; it is still identified as "Permanent B's Leadership group" and Permanent A is still a member of that group; any creatures that Permanent A uses its Leadership ability on will be added to Permanent B's group, because Permanent A is already a member of that group.
• If there is no cost to activate a creature's leadership ability for certain creatures, the ability's activation and chosen creatures must still be declared before the end of the Declare Attackers step if attacking, or Assign Blockers step if blocking: Zero cost does not relieve a player of the requirement to declare the ability's activation and creature choices; association of zero-cost choices into a leadership is not automatic, it is a choice & declaration of the player controlling the creature with the ability.
• Leadership groups dissolve at the end of combat; so if a rule or ability grants a player(s) additional combat phases or turns, new Leadership groups must have costs paid and creatures assigned for each subsequent combat or turn. This includes blockers in additional combats.
• If the leader of a group leaves the battlefield after attackers are declared but before combat damage is assigned; the Leadership Group stays in place, but damage is assigned by controllers of permanents as normal for combat; creatures in a leadership group that is blocked remain blocked, but their controller no longer distributes damage dealt to the group as they choose - it is distributed as the damage source's controller(s) choose.
• Creatures controlled by one player may not become part of another player's Leadership Group, UNLESS they are attacking or blocking together by sharing a combat phase, such as a Two-Headed Giant game.
• A player not in control of a creature with Leadership may not pay or transfer mana from their mana pool to be used to activate that creature's Leadership ability; it is just like any other activated ability. [If players are using a common mana pool, this ruling does not restrict one player from paying mana out of the pool contributed by another player.]
• A leadership group meets the restrictions of menace • All creatures in a Leadership group must qualify individually to block an attacker with Fear or Intimidate in order for the group to legally block that attacker.
■ Reminder: All combat damage is applied simultaneously. This means that triggered abilities of creatures that affect other creatures or damage cannot be used on other creatures that die in combat, or on creature cards that leave the battlefield, if the creature who possesses them dies in combat (unless the ability explicitly states otherwise).
Genesis — You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, (ability determined by creator). Exile (card name). (Note: I made this ability with singleton formats in mind, so probably broken in other formats.)
Delay N — {cost} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may pay {cost} and put it face up into its owner's library Nth from the top. At the beginning of your upkeep, if this face up card is on top of your library, cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Wretched N (This creature enters the battlefield tapped. At the beginning of your upkeep, put a despair counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it if it has N or more despair counters on it.)
Charge N—{cost} ({cost}: Put N charge counters on this permanent. Spend only mana of this permanent's color identity on {cost}. Activate only if none of this permanent's Discharge abilities have been activated this turn.)
Discharge N—{effect} (Remove N charge counters from this permanent: {effect}. Activate only if none of this permanent's Charge abilities have been activated this turn.)
Delay is practically suspend, but I feel like it would have tracking issues, since shuffling a deck with a handful of face up cards might give easy opportunities to cheat. If you want it to be a library version of suspend, I would word it something like this:
"Delay 3 {line} {u}{b} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, pay {u}{b} and put it on the top of your library third from the top. The next time you draw a card with the same name as this card, you may reveal it, and cast it without paying its mana cost.)"
@feralitator I think that your rewording of Delay potentially causes even more cheating opportunity. This is because since the Delayed spell becomes hidden information if you put it into your library face-down, your opponent has no guarantee that it's 'the next time you draw a card with the same name' when you reveal it. This is especially true if your library gets shuffled, or if you use hand-to-topdeck manipulation like Brainstorm / Scroll Rack.
I can think of two easy ways to deal with shuffle problems:
Remove each Delayed card from your library, then replace it in its relative position after you shuffle. (This is likely just as bad as before with respect to potential cheating.)
Adding the text "If you shuffle your library while this card is face-up, turn it face-down." (Effectively hosing Delay if your opponent can consistently forcefully shuffle your library. I found a relative handful of cards to this effect, with Maralen of the Mornsong being the biggest hose to Delay with this additional text.) I think this would be the simplest and fairest way to update Delay.
I like instigate, although I do think it needs a wording update. Currently it reads like a pseudo keyword when it meets the requirements to be a true keyword. This can be fixed by writing the keyword like this:
Instigate <cost> (At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may pay <cost>. If you do, this creature must be blocked this turn if able.)
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I put all mechanics I have created or plan to use for future sets into this document.
Example of wording:
https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Adapt
The sole problem being, shuffling cards in play is unpredicented.
As the start of what I think is Magic's most maligned block, I had never explored that plane and, in hindsight, something like morph would be perfect for it.
So I have tweaked his card and used the idea to create the Mask mechanic. This can be used in to ways, on a card as it comes into play or used to flip cards that come into play.
Played as an ability, it is almost morph Mask (You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Each player may then rearrange their creatures as all other players look away. Turn it face up any time for its Mask cost.)
As an action: Mask a card; (To Mask a card, turn it face down, it becomes a 2/2 colorless creature. You may pay a masked card's mana cost to turn it face up. Each player may then rearrange their creatures as all other players look away. )
Note: Overlay a card with transform or a token with a non-standard back must be overlaid with card from outside the game with a normal back.
Finally, my version of the card with Mask and an example:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/godzilla-the-magnificent
Ravaging (This creature can deal excess combat damage to other target creatures under the control of the player it's attacking.)
Leadership
A replacement for Banding
Leadership means the following:
When a creature with Leadership attacks or blocks, you may pay {3} for any number of creatures attacking or blocking with it that you choose [not target]: Those creatures and the creature whose Leadership ability is being activated attack or block and are assigned damage [by the defending or attacking player, respectively] as though they were a single attacker (or blocker); this association of attacking or blocking creatures is referred to as "the Leadership group of [CARDNAME with Leadership]." The player controlling the creature whose Leadership ability is activated distributes damage assigned to the permanents' Leadership group as they choose.For each creature that shares a color or a creature type with the creature whose Leadership ability is being activated, the cost for that creature is reduced by {1} .
• A creature cannot be a member of more than one Leadership group in any combat.
• The cost of a creature's Leadership ability can only be paid once for each attacking creature that is not in that creature's Leadership group.
• Another creature's Leadership ability may be activated to move a creature from one creature's Leadership group to another creature's group: This may be done as many times as desired (permitted by mana availability) from the beginning of the attacking player's combat phase to the end of the Declare Attackers step. If a player stalls the game by repeatedly reassigning creatures to different Leadership groups especially in a repetitive manner, (i.e. has access to infinite mana through an infinite loop, or keeps reassigning creatures between Leadership groups for which there is no cost to do so) any player in the game may call for an adjudication and that player must declare their final decision to the judge and stop activating Leadership abilities until the end of that combat phase. A player who instigates repeated adjudications may be declared to have lost the game by the judge. A player who has a deck such that this occurs in more than one game during an event may be ejected from the event on decision of a panel of at least three judges.
• Leadership does not affect non-combat damage (damage not generated from combat & assigned to creatures as part of the the combat phase). I.E. damage from sources not attacking or blocking, such as creatures not in combat or spells on the stack, are unaffected by Leadership and resolve as the relevant game rules specify.
• Two creatures with Leadership cannot apply their abilities to each other to become part of partially overlapping Leadership groups. Any creatures affected by either creature's Leadership ability are part of the same single Leadership group: There can be no Leadership sub-groups.
[ ] - Example: If there are two creatures with Leadership, and Card A is a Red Viashino Warrior and Card B is a Green Human Monk; if Card A can apply its Leadership ability to Card B and other creatures, Card B can apply -its- Leadership ability to different creatures, and they all are part of the same Leadership Group. This would be called "The Leadership Group of Card A" because Card A is applying its Leadership ability to other creatures, but no creatures are applying a Leadership ability to it.
[ ] - Example: Permanent A with Leadership is a Blue Vedalken Wizard, and Permanent B is a Red Human Wizard. If Permanent B applies its Leadership ability to Permanent A and other permanents, then Permanent A applies its Leadership ability to other permanents, the permanents 'under the Leadership' of Permanent A are considered a part of Permanent B's Leadership Group. If Permanent A then applies its Leadership ability to Permanent B, there is no change of designation of the leadership group; it is still identified as "Permanent B's Leadership group" and Permanent A is still a member of that group; any creatures that Permanent A uses its Leadership ability on will be added to Permanent B's group, because Permanent A is already a member of that group.
• If there is no cost to activate a creature's leadership ability for certain creatures, the ability's activation and chosen creatures must still be declared before the end of the Declare Attackers step if attacking, or Assign Blockers step if blocking: Zero cost does not relieve a player of the requirement to declare the ability's activation and creature choices; association of zero-cost choices into a leadership is not automatic, it is a choice & declaration of the player controlling the creature with the ability.
• Leadership groups dissolve at the end of combat; so if a rule or ability grants a player(s) additional combat phases or turns, new Leadership groups must have costs paid and creatures assigned for each subsequent combat or turn. This includes blockers in additional combats.
• If the leader of a group leaves the battlefield after attackers are declared but before combat damage is assigned; the Leadership Group stays in place, but damage is assigned by controllers of permanents as normal for combat; creatures in a leadership group that is blocked remain blocked, but their controller no longer distributes damage dealt to the group as they choose - it is distributed as the damage source's controller(s) choose.
• Creatures controlled by one player may not become part of another player's Leadership Group, UNLESS they are attacking or blocking together by sharing a combat phase, such as a Two-Headed Giant game.
• A player not in control of a creature with Leadership may not pay or transfer mana from their mana pool to be used to activate that creature's Leadership ability; it is just like any other activated ability. [If players are using a common mana pool, this ruling does not restrict one player from paying mana out of the pool contributed by another player.]
• A leadership group meets the restrictions of menace
• All creatures in a Leadership group must qualify individually to block an attacker with Fear or Intimidate in order for the group to legally block that attacker.
■ Reminder: All combat damage is applied simultaneously. This means that triggered abilities of creatures that affect other creatures or damage cannot be used on other creatures that die in combat, or on creature cards that leave the battlefield, if the creature who possesses them dies in combat (unless the ability explicitly states otherwise).
Genesis — You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, (ability determined by creator). Exile (card name).
(Note: I made this ability with singleton formats in mind, so probably broken in other formats.)
Example:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/nomadic-wasteland-2?list=set&set=60895
Wretched N (This creature enters the battlefield tapped. At the beginning of your upkeep, put a despair counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it if it has N or more despair counters on it.)
Charge N—{cost} ({cost}: Put N charge counters on this permanent. Spend only mana of this permanent's color identity on {cost}. Activate only if none of this permanent's Discharge abilities have been activated this turn.)
Discharge N—{effect} (Remove N charge counters from this permanent: {effect}. Activate only if none of this permanent's Charge abilities have been activated this turn.)
Delay is practically suspend, but I feel like it would have tracking issues, since shuffling a deck with a handful of face up cards might give easy opportunities to cheat. If you want it to be a library version of suspend, I would word it something like this:
"Delay 3 {line} {u}{b} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, pay {u}{b} and put it on the top of your library third from the top. The next time you draw a card with the same name as this card, you may reveal it, and cast it without paying its mana cost.)"
I can think of two easy ways to deal with shuffle problems:
- Remove each Delayed card from your library, then replace it in its relative position after you shuffle. (This is likely just as bad as before with respect to potential cheating.)
- Adding the text "If you shuffle your library while this card is face-up, turn it face-down." (Effectively hosing Delay if your opponent can consistently forcefully shuffle your library. I found a relative handful of cards to this effect, with Maralen of the Mornsong being the biggest hose to Delay with this additional text.) I think this would be the simplest and fairest way to update Delay.
Thank you for the feedback!Instigate - At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may pay {cost}. If you do, this creature must be blocked this turn if able.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/marching-manasaur
Instigate <cost> (At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may pay <cost>. If you do, this creature must be blocked this turn if able.)