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Rezatta Set Design - Uncommons Part 2
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Oh right, I'm sorry I missed that! It does make more sense now x) Yeah it is a cool idea that could definitely work because the value is "capped" by the toughness of the biggest creature you can kill then ^^ I do like the idea this way, if we can find a home for it it would definitely be an option.
@TheDukeOfPork
I don't have a specific quota for reprints, they're cool when they interact with the set in a different way from what they used to do the first time they were printed, but especially in a custom set I think the focus should be on new cards. In the case of Sure Strike for instance, it ended up being one of the least useful cards to red decks in general so I don't mind if red doesn't have a reprint at common. Same goes with Leap of Faith in White, I don't think it's pulling its weight. On the other hand, Macabre Waltz in black works well with the graveyard synergies I'm trying to implement in UB Art and has a super flavourful name that gets a completely new meaning on this plane so I'm pretty happy with it.
1)
I think this design is the most balanced, however there isn't a good instant removal spell in the set currently and this doesn't really work at instant speed since you can get advantage of the opponent attacking you, which defeats the point. In addition, it might play a bit too close to New Insults, the red damage spell with renewal.
2)
This one has the advantage of kind of working at instant speed since at least there's an actual choice involved: you might need to kill a creature before it can deal damage to you, hence giving up on the extra card is at least on the table. Still, I'm afraid this might be too strong.
3)
This one is more original and proposes something that really fits Rezatta more than any set, but it's also much more parasitic and it can neither be played at instant speed nor take care of larger creatures. I feel this would require an additional removal spell to fill the void this is leaving, and I already have two removal spells at uncommon in black including this slot so there really isn't the space.
1) The uncommon Black slot could go to this one:
This way it is hard removal at instant speed (which the set needs, I think) that is tied to the RB theme, but it doesn't have this play pattern I didn't want where a creature unlocked the possibility of becoming a target of this spell by attacking you.
2) I also really liked how synergistic the Intoxicated Cage design was with a lot of other cards in the file, including the "Pay serran life" theme I'm planning to bring to WB. At one mana it's probably too strong for common but I'm thinking it might be fine for 2-mana?
We have a slot for a cheap soft removal in black at common, I was originally planning to have a "WB Angel/Cleric" pay-off in there but since the removal theme didn't really pan out in WB, it could just be moved on another card:
Admittedly, I don't like losing the simplicity of Angelic Kiss, but it's a really good fit mechanically as well. It's also possible that Intoxicated Cage is too complex and causes memory issues at common, but I'd really like to put it to the test because it looks like it has potential to be quite synergistic.
The idea being that this archetype would be more inclined to play the card advantage effects to chain removal and burn together.
However I am struggling quite a lot with the gold signpost if anyone has an idea. I would like to change it for something that can be useful to both the creature turbo aggro side and the controlling side of the archetype. As a reminder, this is the current design in that slot (it plays well, but it's probably a bit strong, could be worth a rare slot):
I'm thinking maybe some kind of agressive four-drop that would act both as a reasonably early end-topper for the turbo aggro part and a late finisher for the controlling part?
Distraction Artist 1rb
Creature-Devil Artist
Haste, deathtouch
As Distraction Artist enters the battlefield, pay 6 life. Then, target creature you control gains "This creature must be blocked by all creatures able to do so." until end of turn.
6/1
Probably would include an activated ability (maybe something like "{2}{r}, Pay 2 life: Create a 1/1 red Devil creature token with haste."?), but I think it works as both a very quick aggro card and a damage-dealing option for control.
I like the idea of using deathtouch to help the controlling side of the archetype. The stats are a little weird, 6 power and deathtouch are a bit redundant, 3-mana for 6 power is a lot, and being forced to pay the 6 life makes the card a bit too hard to play I think. Overall, that concept looks really swingy, I think it's a concept more fitted for higher rarities.
feralitator
I really like this design! I agree it could maybe use an additional rider, for instance a body could have the advantage of making it less frustrating to play against. I also toyed with the idea of having it gain some life as well since the RB archetype could use a way to refill. However it gets really wordy really fast so maybe it's better if it stays in this simple elegant form. Here are some variations of the enchantment form:
And here is me playing with a creature form, mostly experimenting on some original ward abilities in the process:
I think I like the deathtouch/lifelink creature version the most, but I'm afraid people would forget that the lifelink ability works with the triggered ability. My second favourite is probably the enchantment version that also gains serran life. I feel like the best version might be a variation of the enchantment with an activated ability but with a different effect attached to it and I'm not sure what. I'm afraid the token generation you mentioned would be too much as the card would produce its own blockers, attackers, as well as a way to end the game through noncombat damage. It needs a blind spot somewhere.
1) A big burn spell à la Rolling Thunder would be a good finisher for the controlling version of the archetype. Now, the main reason I want such a spell is to support the RG even life archetype where I want to open a more ramp-oriented option of play style. So this one cares about the RG theme but is meant to offer a finisher to the BR more controlling decks as well:
I'm not set on the details. I know it has to be an X damage spell that you can pump mana into that can target an opponent. It also needs to care about having an even life total. The rate, speed, division of the damage, and additional effects are all knobs that we can play with if you have a cool concept for that slot. I thought it would be nice to let the player divide damage specifically for the BR synergies of losing life.
2) I would like to experiment with a kind of Syr Konrad effect in order to synergise with the light mill theme attached to the UB Art archetype. But this is also meant to synergise with any controlling black deck as this will create incidental life loss associated with your removal, the BR deck being first in line in this category:
I wonder about the rate though, should this be 4-mana, especially with the discard rider?
Yeah, that's an excellent point, 4-mana it is ^^
CURRENT: Discover (Look at the top card of your library. You may cast it. If you don't, you may put it into your graveyard.)
ALTERNATIVE: Discover (Look at the top card of your library. Cast it, mill it, or leave it.)
That's why I think it's interesting: "mill" wasn't a keyworded action yet when Surveil or Explore were around. But now that we can use this word, it might be ok to use it in a reminder text even though the correct templating wouldn't actually tel you to mill.
1) The first path should be about agressive over-the-curve creatures.
2) The second branch should be about ramp.
Both paths are already kind of in place though there are a few improvements that could be made:
- The enablers that allow you to keep your life total even in red and green at common are heavily geared towards either the GW serran life archetype or the BR suicide aggro archetype. In Limited, this pushes you to ignore cards that are important for the RG archetype to function because they look like they are meant for another deck. At least one of the pay-offs at common should also have a way to control your life parity.
- At common, both creature pay-offs are relatively expensive cards that don't synergise super well with the agressive path. This also makes them a bit redundant.
- The ramp path could use some bigger finishers, especially at uncommon.
- The pump card isn't really doing much for the archetype, on the other side it can really run out of steam so I was thinking of switching the one noncreatue pay-off for a card advantage spell at common.
So, here is what I think would be good to change:1) As I just said, Melting Frostfang and Endangered Winterhowl are a bit redundant, it would be better if one of them was more agressive. In addition, at least one of them should give you some control over your life parity. Out of the two, Endangered Winterhowl is the most satisfying to use. I did try a version that had "T: If you life total is even, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME. Otherwise, you gain 1 serran life" instead, but the simplicity is part of the elegance of the card. Hence, I kept Endangered Winterhowl — just adjusting its stats a bit — and removed Melting Frosfang.
I then moved the "If your life total is even" rider to a more agressive creature. Crafty Ranger was a bit disappointing in playtest because you almost never want to pay the 4 mana to activate it. So I made it cheaper and gave it the RG rider:
I still don't know what the Melting Frostfang slot is going to become though xD
2) Since we're on the subject of commons, I said the pump spell was a bit disappointing since there wasn't that much synergy with it and it was clearly more designed as a splash for the UB deck. Since the lack of card advantage was pretty tangible in the archetype, I figured I should bring back the previous design for the green card draw slot. I hope that, in conjunction with the new Crafty Ranger, the archetype now has the tools it needs to refill in the mid-to-late game.
I still haven't decided what the slot left by Winter Veil should be.
3) At uncommon, it was mostly about making sure the ramp actually led to something. I already addressed this earlier while talking of other archetypes, my main answer to this would be to make the green avatar more massive, and adding a blaze spell in red:
For the rest, I think the archetype has what it needs already in the set thanks to synergies with other archetypes. The gold signpost is leaning pretty heavily towards the agressive path but it plays so well I'm reluctant to change it like I did the others.
1) In red at common, I didn't want Cheeky Performer and the new Crafty Ranger to look too similar so I changed Cheeky Performer slightly:
2) To make Serran Druid a better option at controlling your life parity in the ramping version of the RG archetype, I reduced its activation cost a little:
GW needs more ideas than RG right now I'd say ^^ In particular:
1) The main play style is supposed to be more controlling but right now it's kind of secondary in term of availability. I'm trying to steer it more towards effects such as tax, indestructibility, fog, surprise blockers, blocking additional creatures each combat, etc.
2) The second path of the archetype (which is currently the main one) is meant to be a midrange build where amassing serran life make your creatures bigger. I would like to make it more synergistic with +1/+1 counters in particular.
3) I'm planning on having the WB archetype be a lot more about paying serran life specifically. Because of this, I want to steer away the GW archetype as far away from paying serran life as possible and really play on threshold effects.
4) Now that Green has an Avatar that has life equal to your life total, I think having both an "Ajani's Pridemate" kind of creatures that grows when you gain life and a creature whose power is equal to your serran life in green on top of the avatar is a bit much. I'm currently trying to design a bunch of concepts around those two ideas until I find something that really takes the cake.
That's 100% the spirit!
For Nimble Reflexes, I'm a little short on free slots at uncommon in White and I have this empty slot for a protection spell so I think it would be best to merge the pump spell and protection spell idea together. After twiddling with it for a while, I came up with the following iteration, what do you think of this?
My main concern with the fog slot is I'm afraid too few decks would be interested in it, so I was thinking of merging it with another, more useful effect. I was thinking common actually. I have two candidates for this slot but I feel like none of them is fully there yet:
In addition, I was thinking of sprinkling some of the defensive effects on already existing creatures at common. I added blocking multiple creatures and untapping your team in white:
I also replaced the monotarget untap spell in white for something more universally interesting, looking at the newest Nuts & Bolts article from Maro I figured I still had room for an additional conditional removal in that slot:
And I sprinkled a few more +1/+1 counters here and there to seed the +1/+1 counters synergy:
The only other thing is that I think Miracle Intervention's first option can be "creatures you control".
1) About Seraphic Shield:
I don't think it would be playable at 3-mana. I really want to look at the base version of the spell to cost the spell because protection spells are useful enough they can be played in many other decks. "Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature, it gains indestructible until end of turn" is already kind of worst than the common Feat of resistance. In general, protecting a single creature at uncommon usually costs one-mana and has additional upsides attached to it.
Here, I'm counting on having 7 serran life being a pretty high bar to clear, hence granting a really big bonus to the card. I'm basing myself off of Unbreakable formation: Seraphic Shield becomes a 2-mana instant version of it. If it's too strong, I'll probably make it target just two creatures but I don't think making the base spell less powerful is viable.
For the last ability, "Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them gain indestructible until end of turn" is 100% an option as well, I purposefully decided to go with a static ability instead to avoid having to remember what creatures had a +1/+1 counter on them when you cast the spell. This way, until end of turn, if your creature has a +1/+1 counter it's indestructible, nothing else to remember.
2) About Miracle Intervention:
The spell started with "Creatures you control" in the first bility as well but I switched it because I wanted you to choose between an agressive option and a defensive option that felt really different. The point is that "Untap them" is the core of the card, it acts as pseudo-vigilance on attack or as a surprise blocker on defence. Unfortunately, the first ability was also the best defensive option in the original version, hence why I changed it to "attacking creatures".
The first idea would be a defensive creature that can act as a finisher in the late game, in the same spirit as Thoughtbound Phantasm or Serra Ascendant.
However I'm concerned this isn't synergistic enough with the GW deck that wants to play more aggressively by using +1/+1 counters synergies. In which case, I was thinking maybe it's best to have a creature that is less defensive, like an Ajani's Pridemate that gains some evasion in the late game.
I wouldn't mind something more original in that slot though, but I also don't want anything that would entice you to actually spend your serran life since I'm going to save that kind of synergy for WB specifically.
Looking at everything side by side, I think I'm leaning towards trying the very first concept (the one that loses defender) in the hope that "turbo life gain" is a fast enough strategy if you commit to it that it doesn't feel too slow. It just has that play pattern where it's really strong but the opponent can disable it by removing your serran life and that's precisely what I'm aiming for with the GW archetype. Also we never had a 1-mana Ajani's Pridemate before, it might end up being a rare xD
Right now, I like that it ties the serran life theme and +1/+1 counter theme in a mechanically flavourful way without being too redundant with either the Green Avatar or the Ajani's Pridemate clone.
I'm also not a fan that this ability becomes null once you reach 7 serran life naturally and the first ability that compensates that is playing in the "big creature with a pile of +1/+1 counters on it" section, which I'm concerned is going to feel redundant with other finishers in the set.
So far the group hug cards that have been introduced haven't reached the point where they're playable yet because you usually invest way more ressources than your opponent in the process in terms of cards, mana and tempo. So I'd like to try the one above where it's a one-for-one at every level and you don't invest mana to activate it either.
___
Which leads ut to fixing the enemy-coloured archetypes.
Unlike the ally-coloured ones, they don't have the problem of feeling too linear thanks to being at the junction between two three-coloured themes, which gives all of them a fair amount of versatility. However, they're not as well integrated to set yet, and some of them were outright broken and/or dysfuntional.
Here are the list of issues that need to be addressed:
It definitely has a more controlling vibe so far with the exception of the White Archpriest uncommon, which hints at a more go wide style of play. Based on this, there are three things I'd want to add to the archetype:
• At least one more agressive option in black that can synergise with the BR suicide aggro archetype. For White, the set has a Adanto Vanguard variation I think would make a good priest.
• More cards that care about controlling both a Cleric and an Angel at the same time, especially at uncommon. I have a concept of counting "pairs of one Angel and one Cleric among creatures you control" that might lead to original designs.
• At least a couple Angels with activated abilities that require you to pay serran life, as right now the theme is mostly supported by Clerics only.