MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Enter the Fray: Round 2 - Well Isn't That Just (Arche)Typical!
As the first round of Enter the Fray wraps up, and I get all the winning submissions, it's time to start out with round 2! As you might be able to tell from the (horrible) pun in the title, this round will focus on the archetypes that'll be present in Sunya, Planar Battlefield. The set is going to have 5 enemy-color pairs and archetypes, similar to how DOT had 5 allied-color pairs. Each color pair will get 1 mechanic, submitted by the winners of Round 1. For reference, here are the color pairs and their relative mechanics:
Whew! Well, now that you know that, it's time to give out your challenge! This round, create an uncommon multicolored card that reinforces the archetypes above.
What does this mean? If you look at Kaladesh's set file, you'd see that there were 10 multicolored cards reinforcing each of the 10 limited archetypes for the set. When you'd pull one of these, they would guide you in the direction the color pair was going. These "arcuns" (archetype uncommons) are key to solidifying a set's archetypical identity. Now, for the more specific rules!
1. This challenge has a limit of 10 cards and 2 cards per color pair. These two limits are cumulative; you can't create 10 cards in one color pair, and you can't create 20 cards total. 10 max, and only two per color pair.
2. While this challenge is focused on the story-based color-pair factions, you may create cards for the other 5 color pairs, but you must explain why the color pair you are creating for is doing your archetype.
3. Remember, while UR is the energy-matters faction, energy is a set-wide theme. Be careful to not warp your uncommons!
4. As you might guess, all entries in this round must be uncommon. Anything of a higher or lower rarity will not be judged!
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This is probably what you came for, so here's the prizes!
Prizes
1st Place: Your entry will be made a card in Sunya, and you can create an extra card for the set! You also get a major fate point, representing the ability to change the course of the Set's story, benefiting or slighting any character or side.
2nd Place: Your entry will be made a card in Sunya! You also get a minor fate point, representing the ability to influence the story of the set. (Does a character's plan go wrong, or does a sudden discovery send an adventurer on the right path?)
3rd Place: Your entry will be made a card in Sunya!
Round Specials:
Sub-Archetypes: If you create an arcun for one of the allied color pair, and give a good enough reasoning and design commentary, your arcun and archetype can be put into Sunya! (Limited to 1 winner per allied color pair, for a total of 5 potential slots.)
Best of Three: Places 1-3 will be entered into a community poll which will open after Round 3. The winner of this poll will be able to join me as co-lead of Sunya: Planar Battlefield.
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(Below this is just the rehashing of the previous post, for entrants new to the competition. If you've entered before, there's nothing important here!)
The rules are simple.
1. Anyone can enter, no matter when or what round the Competition is on.
2. Each round competitors will be given a prompt of some sort, asking for certain types, costs and/or functions of cards.
3. Cards should be made as creatively as possible, as long as they fit the flavor of the set, and are balanced within the concept of an actual MTG set.
4. Entries must be clean, thought out, and well designed.
5. Entries must follow existing, official formatting, unless an explicit exception has been given. (An exception occurs on a case by case basis.)
6. Entries must function within current Comprehensive Rules. If your entry works in a space not defined by the rules, create a few rules for reference.
7. No spamming card entries. Most prompts will have an maximum number of entries, but for those that don't, this rule applies.
7.5.Spamming card entries is creating multiple posts with cards. If you make more cards after your initial post, use the gear on your original post to add them. Don't create an entirely new post. This will also greatly reduce the chance that an entry is lost or accidentally skipped over.
8. Entries will be judged on their flavor, their functionality, and their use as a whole. Since this is a set competition, a card that is amazing in a vacuum may lose if it's only good in a vacuum.
9. Winning cards will be chosen by me and/or a community poll, should the amount of cards rise up high enough, and prizes will be handed out to the top 3 cards, along with any Round Specials.
10. Breaking rules may result in disqualification. If you have a question concerning the competition, PM me. I'll be glad to help!
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Story
Sunya is a null plane, void of all life. It is the plane of harshness and unforgiveness, from the cold stone to the violent mountains. Due to its hostile nature, planeswalkers avoided the plane at all costs, especially since it held no useful resources for them. That all changed when a visiting planeswalker found a Starovek: one of many strange artifacts that hold incredible amount of mana, and more knowledge than most find in their extended lifetime. This discovery did not bring peace. Planeswalkers flocked to Sunya, each eager to get their hands on one of the unique relics. It soon became apparent, however, that there were not an infinite amount of Staroveks. Soon after, those who came to the plane began to fight among each other, and those fights escalated into a war. Now conflict spreads across the plane, adding new dangers to the land, as well as new possibilities. Whoever gains control of the Staroveks will gain access to an almost near-pre-Mending amount of power. But what is the origin of the Staroveks? In a plane without life, who created them? And what will happen when the plane of their creation becomes the battlefield for a planar war?
TL;DR: It's The Planeswalker War 2.
Major Fate Points (If you see your name here, you have an unspent major fate point!)
Alright. Everyone ready? Now it's time to Enter the Fray, and submit your entries!
- WB: Indestructible (temp and permanent) and Planeswalkers matter (Mechanic: Subordinate - ..., If you control a planeswalker, [effect]. (Thanks AustinSmith!))
- UR: Thunds (energy-based beings) and energy matters (Mechanic: Pulse (Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you get {E}.) (Thanks Rednaxela!))
- BG: Akagin (fungus) tribal and +1/+1 counters (Mechanic: Salvage N (When this dies, distribute N +1/+1 counter among creatures you control.) (Thanks, Tomble123!))
- RW: Soldiers and combat (Mechanic: Tempered (Whenever a creature you control blocks alone, it gets +1/+1 and can block an additional creature each turn.) (Thanks cwwolfpack76!))
- GU: Issirh (thought-based beings) and playing on opponents' turns (Mechanic: Intervention N (This costs N less to cast if it's not your turn.) (Thanks ShadowKnight1224!))
Whew! Well, now that you know that, it's time to give out your challenge! This round, create an uncommon multicolored card that reinforces the archetypes above.
What does this mean? If you look at Kaladesh's set file, you'd see that there were 10 multicolored cards reinforcing each of the 10 limited archetypes for the set. When you'd pull one of these, they would guide you in the direction the color pair was going. These "arcuns" (archetype uncommons) are key to solidifying a set's archetypical identity. Now, for the more specific rules!
1. This challenge has a limit of 10 cards and 2 cards per color pair. These two limits are cumulative; you can't create 10 cards in one color pair, and you can't create 20 cards total. 10 max, and only two per color pair.
2. While this challenge is focused on the story-based color-pair factions, you may create cards for the other 5 color pairs, but you must explain why the color pair you are creating for is doing your archetype.
3. Remember, while UR is the energy-matters faction, energy is a set-wide theme. Be careful to not warp your uncommons!
4. As you might guess, all entries in this round must be uncommon. Anything of a higher or lower rarity will not be judged!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is probably what you came for, so here's the prizes!
Prizes
1st Place: Your entry will be made a card in Sunya, and you can create an extra card for the set! You also get a major fate point, representing the ability to change the course of the Set's story, benefiting or slighting any character or side.
2nd Place: Your entry will be made a card in Sunya! You also get a minor fate point, representing the ability to influence the story of the set. (Does a character's plan go wrong, or does a sudden discovery send an adventurer on the right path?)
3rd Place: Your entry will be made a card in Sunya!
Round Specials:
Sub-Archetypes: If you create an arcun for one of the allied color pair, and give a good enough reasoning and design commentary, your arcun and archetype can be put into Sunya! (Limited to 1 winner per allied color pair, for a total of 5 potential slots.)
Best of Three: Places 1-3 will be entered into a community poll which will open after Round 3. The winner of this poll will be able to join me as co-lead of Sunya: Planar Battlefield.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Below this is just the rehashing of the previous post, for entrants new to the competition. If you've entered before, there's nothing important here!)
The rules are simple.
1. Anyone can enter, no matter when or what round the Competition is on.
2. Each round competitors will be given a prompt of some sort, asking for certain types, costs and/or functions of cards.
3. Cards should be made as creatively as possible, as long as they fit the flavor of the set, and are balanced within the concept of an actual MTG set.
4. Entries must be clean, thought out, and well designed.
5. Entries must follow existing, official formatting, unless an explicit exception has been given. (An exception occurs on a case by case basis.)
6. Entries must function within current Comprehensive Rules. If your entry works in a space not defined by the rules, create a few rules for reference.
7. No spamming card entries. Most prompts will have an maximum number of entries, but for those that don't, this rule applies.
7.5.Spamming card entries is creating multiple posts with cards. If you make more cards after your initial post, use the gear on your original post to add them. Don't create an entirely new post. This will also greatly reduce the chance that an entry is lost or accidentally skipped over.
8. Entries will be judged on their flavor, their functionality, and their use as a whole. Since this is a set competition, a card that is amazing in a vacuum may lose if it's only good in a vacuum.
9. Winning cards will be chosen by me and/or a community poll, should the amount of cards rise up high enough, and prizes will be handed out to the top 3 cards, along with any Round Specials.
10. Breaking rules may result in disqualification. If you have a question concerning the competition, PM me. I'll be glad to help!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Story
Sunya is a null plane, void of all life. It is the plane of harshness and unforgiveness, from the cold stone to the violent mountains. Due to its hostile nature, planeswalkers avoided the plane at all costs, especially since it held no useful resources for them. That all changed when a visiting planeswalker found a Starovek: one of many strange artifacts that hold incredible amount of mana, and more knowledge than most find in their extended lifetime. This discovery did not bring peace. Planeswalkers flocked to Sunya, each eager to get their hands on one of the unique relics. It soon became apparent, however, that there were not an infinite amount of Staroveks. Soon after, those who came to the plane began to fight among each other, and those fights escalated into a war. Now conflict spreads across the plane, adding new dangers to the land, as well as new possibilities. Whoever gains control of the Staroveks will gain access to an almost near-pre-Mending amount of power. But what is the origin of the Staroveks? In a plane without life, who created them? And what will happen when the plane of their creation becomes the battlefield for a planar war?
TL;DR: It's The Planeswalker War 2.
Major Fate Points (If you see your name here, you have an unspent major fate point!)
- Rednaxela
- AustinSmith
Alright. Everyone ready? Now it's time to Enter the Fray, and submit your entries!
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Black/Green Fungus Tribal (Agakin):
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/forest-angel
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/mycomancer
Green/Blue Cast-spells-during-your-opponent's-turn-cards (Issirh):
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/gvaala-eidolon-of-the-grove
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/illusory-kitsune
Blue/Red Energy (Thund Tribal):
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/thundercat
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/thundragon
Red/White Soldiers + Combat (Needs a group name):
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/charge-commander
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/charging-captain
And more to come!
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/burning-soul-hoplite
Here are my entries for rw soldiers.
As for the art, you can assume it's a planeswalker or mage that has allied himself with the Issirh. :P
Also, are we allowed to create hybrid cards?
(Just to point this out, I'm not sure Tempered works. For the creature to have blocked alone, blockers needed to have already been declared. Also, for a tribal ability, it should really be just on the one creature. Exalted was a bit of an exception, because it was very basic. Since Tempered gives it a second ability, as well as the ability name, may I suggest: Tempered - "This creature may block an additional creature each combat as long as it's blocking alone. If it is, it gets +1/+1. or something like that. I'm not even sure there is a proper wording for this ability, but I'm willing to crunch some options to make it work.)
Anyways, the set idea is fantastic, and I would love to help make it work even better.
Just let me know if I can help.
Yeah I know it's a really weird creature type
Zombie fungi. Dunno how that works, it just does.
You should make two uncommon planeswalkers in relevant colors (white and black) without any +N abilities, and then maybe overcost the cards slightly, treating them like amodal enchantments with a limited number of uses.
You could then make a decent number of rare planeswalkers, and a greater-than-average number of mythic walkers (something like 4 or 5).
@AustinSmith That's a good idea. I'll definitely make up a set skeleton using that (and maybe a small sub contest if it works out).
Balancing planeswalkers can and should be done individually, so that decks that run a lot of planeswalkers don't end up being more or less powerful than those that don't, and one single card doesn't end up warping the metagame (like Smuggler's Copter did for Kaladesh).
1. Unfortunately, complexity is almost invariably connected to power level. The more complex a card is, the more powerful it will be, 99% of the time. Even cards with "keyword soup" (like Akroma) are complex, just from the nature of the amount of effects to understand and keep in mind.
2. While I agree that rarity doesn't mean anything in things where the rarity of cards isn't important/can't be determined, this isn't that place. As I said in the opening post of Round 1, the set will mimic a real MTG set, which means rarity does matter.
3. Here's where I disagree with you. If you're running a lot of planeswalkers in a deck, the nature of planeswalkers puts you at a disadvantage already. There is no reason to balance a planeswalker so that they don't effect the power level of your deck. If that was the case, it would be more practical to put creatures into a deck - they aren't immediate targets of everything your opponent has, and they can actually attack as well.
4. I don't mind having this conversation, but I would rather not derail this forum any more than we have already. If you want to continue talking about this, PM me. Besides, nothing I've said is even close to final. After all, my exact words words were "I'm attacking the problem of planeswalkers." The final decision will probably wait until after a co-lead is chosen from the Best of Three reward, and extensive talking with them.
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/hole-of-possibilities