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Renaissance Set — Creative Design
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How easy it is to gain psy life will depend entirely on the design and development phases, it's not known yet. Here, in creative phase, we just try to build a mechanical and flavourful skeleton for the set so we can design each card with a goal in mind in the upcoming phases, instead of doing random designs in a vaccum ^^
That artwork for Blood Tyrant Novial looks very Vampir-y to me, I like the atmosphere though it may be more suited for a plane like Innistrad? ^^ The card itself feels very random though, the abilities don't really connect and there are some huge balancing and templating issues. I get it's just a concept card though
It reminds me a bit of a working mechanic WOTC had on Innistrad II though. It was the opposite of indestructible in that the creature could be dealt damage or destroyed but was protected against exile and bounce and also maybe even sleep (eternal tapping). But they removed it because those effects where not dominant enough in the set.
Character suggestion: the gypsy planeswalker Altra is a born and raised Psylian planeswalker, perhaps the name "Other" being an odd sort of destiny to the matter. Depending on what the story needs, her motivation could be shifted, but she has a deep love for her home plane and is an enchantress that explores the multiverse for its beauty, especially being inspired by Psylia.
The bug just seemed a little fitting. I decided to separate the reminder text and the effect since it was so clunky looking and it most mtg effects are easy enough to remember just with the reminder on a few commons. Also typoed and left out that you only lose one Pyslian life per turn. Also Also Altra's alt forgets to tell you to shuffle.
Those are really cool. 10 enchantments seems pretty strong though :P Also, just btw, the bug says "Construst" instead of "Construct". I like the ideas behind these, and the bug is a great step towards groundwork for commons. We will definitely, at some point, need to make sure we make idea cards that give you Psylian life that AREN'T white, just to make sure that the mechanic works well with all colors.
For the planeswalker, I like the idea of a Gypsy character, it reminds me of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame which is set during a grey zone between Middle-age and Renaissance ^^
For the insect, multiple things to note here:
- Clearly we can't put that much text on every card giving psylian life. Which brings the question: What to we do? We could completely remove the reminder text like it was done with the Monarch and have the rules only appear on a reminder card. Or we could have a light version to put on the card (for instance "Pay 2 psylian life: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.") and a complete version on the reminder card. What do you think?
- I found it was hard enough to keep psylian life during playtests, so I don't think the last rule about automatically losing psylian life is necessary or worth complicating the rules and lengthening the reminder text.
- I also found that gaining 1 psylian life when entering the battlefield felt extremely poor. I personally replaced my "1/1 for 1 with ETB: You gain 1 PSY." with a "1/1 for 1 with T: You gain 1 PSY." and it was just the right spot in my opinion. Gaining *TWO* psylian life when entering the battlefield could definitely be a possibility though on a 1-drop.
2--The reminder would be on enough commons that most drafts would have one or two with it. Don't think recursive life gain would go on this artifact. Also, a one drop that mana fixes for one actually sounds pretty dece considering how fun Bruning-Tree Emissary can be.
Rework for the plansewalker
Altra, Estranged gypsy
+2 You gain four psylian life
0 until your next turn, prevent all damage done to Altra, Estranged gypsy
-9 search you library for up to two enchantments and a creature card and put them onto the battlefield
(Or -9 search your library for up to three enchantment cards and put them onto the battlefield)
Of course that's how I would go about it it is your idea so you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to
1) Story plot
We already have a good idea of the general implications of the plot, I think we would have enough details to support actual cards out of it once we have a 5-moments little storyline.
2) Emotions
I think it could be profitable to put the creation of the emotion mechanic aside for now because of two things. First, it's a theme we can easily convey without an associated mechanic, just through art choices and card names. Second, we don't know what we need yet mechanically, there are only so many mechanics we can fit in a set and we're likely to need one or two more once we start designing the archetypes. We could decide to assign the emotion mechanic at that moment if needed.
3) Renaissance
Renaissance is a very difficult theme because there are no obvious tropes. Try and play this game around you: You say a theme and you ask a person to say the first thing that this theme makes them think of. When I say "Egypt", people immediatly reply "pyramids". When I say Renaissance, people just look at me baffled and finally mutter things like "Revival?" which is just a synonym for Renaissance. Neither exploration, art, religion or humanism would make you say "Renaissance!" as the first word it makes you think of without context. So let's be the loudest we can be about it. Since we didn't find a trope strong enough to convey the Renaissance theme by itself, I think it's time to follow the advice of I-Can't-Remember-Who-I'm-Sorry and actually decide we NEED a mechanic that's called Renaissance. Maybe not literally "Renaissance" because it refers to a real world period, but something like Renewal, Revival, or Rebirth.
4) Archetype grid
Let's start defining what the colours can do! How many colour combinations are literally about life changes? What are the colour combinations associated with things we probably should do like Ramp Exploration, Religion, Art tribal, etc... We need 10 bicolour archetypes linked by what each colour should do in the set. Those 10 archetypes must be more or less equally distributed in five rough categories: Control, Midrange, Disruptive Aggro, Turbo/Beatdown Aggro, Combo (includes Ramp and Graveyard).
The +2 you might be right, would need testing
I prefer my other two abilities. The 0 offers more protection than yours but messes with loyalty counters in volatile ways.
Maybe 10 enchantments is a bit much(Starfield of Nyx, Worship, Greater Auramancy, or just 4 Curse of the Pierced Hearts and 4 curse of thirsts) but think her only fetching enchantments makes push enchantment subtheme more and fleshes out her character a bit. So maybe 3 enchantments with different names could be right?
Planeswalker design is the trickiest thing ever, it requires A LOT of tweaking, so I can only give you some very general advice:
- The biggest flaw I see is that the three abilities feel disconnected. What is this planeswalker representing? Is is a blinking ghost planeswalker? A healing planeswalker? An enchantment-matters planeswalker?
- The blinking ability feels quite weird since it's on a planeswalker with a +2 ability and it doesn't do anything else than reseting the loyalty while protecting itself for a turn. Since the +2 also is quite weak, and the 0 both doesn't do anything AND restart your loyalty, I read this planeswalker like "Try to use my semi-useless +2 until you can ultimate ; you may blink me for protection but you have to restart from 4 loyalty every time you do that." It's not super exciting but I think it may be a plan on a very weird 2-mana planeswalker with a not-so-broken ultimate.
- "Search your library for up to ten enchantments" basically reads like "Search your library for any number of enchantments." Limiting this to a more reasonable number may be funnier to play, and could be an argument in favour of reducing the mana cost once again.
- The abilities feel a little vanilla. Since the blinking has already been done by Kaya, Ghost Assassin, I'm looking for that little thing that brings something new and gives the character its mechanical uniqueness (Gideon materializing, or having two 0 abilities, or an ultimate he can use right away, Nissa having an X cost, or just any planeswalker with a very strong flavour.)
On crotchets: (When I began reading your comment, for a second I though it said, "Maybe we could use crocheting as a design tool...." XD) I like the concept, but I think there's a better alternative that "ignore everything in crochets." Perhaps (for example) "Draw a card, then discard a card if you don't pay CARDNAME's Overflow cost"? This only really works on instants/sorceries, because on permanents I see you wanted the player to have to pay the overflow cost every turn. Maybe better would be "Draw a card, then discard a card if you haven't paid CARDNAME's Overflow cost this turn"? On a permanent, that would be "{trigger}: Effect, then effect if you haven't paid CARDNAME's Overflow cost this turn." This might not work well on instants/sorceries, because one could argue that you're not paying the Overflow cost first. Maybe something along similar lines.
Now, the other Overflows: The best, in my opinion, is the "+X/-X" one, though it needs a lot of work. We need to figure out how it would work. Here are some proposals:
- Overflow {x} (Creatures you control get +X/-X until end of turn.)
- Overflow {x} (Creatures you control get +X/-X until end of turn and lose all other abilities.)
- (on instants/sorceries): Overflow N (Creatures you control get +N/-N until end of turn [and lose all other abilities]).
Could we use an "Overflow {x}" and an "Overflow N" in the same set?
On the 'walker: I agree with @ningyounk in that it needs a more cohesive flavor and effect. Choose: does it focus on psylian life, enchantments, or blinking (for no reason?? XD).
On archetypes:
This is probably one of the hardest parts of design. To begin with, let's take a look at each individual color so that we can better examine color combinations.
- WHITE: White wants peace and cooperation. It wants to alleviate suffering and believes that together, people can do great things. White feels that only when people are united, peace can be reached. White also supports structure, law, and rigidity because it believes that that is the surest way to keep people united and focused on the same goal. It believes that some people need to take the lead. Religion is a very white concept, another way to ensure that people remain cohesive in their actions and goals. So is honor. White takes the "my honor is my life" view on things. In terms of art, white feels that great creations can unite people, and that great masters of art have the innate talent and responsibility to lead.
- BLUE: Blue seeks perfection and knowledge. It believes that each individual person has potential, and that one should spend one's life fulfilling that potential. Blue is also very precise and exact, because there is no room for mistakes when one is on the road to self-perfection and enlightenment. This color feels that the most important tool of all is knowledge and information. Armed with this, one can unlock their potential and face whatever life can throw at them. Blue is also very patient. Seeking enlightenment takes an entire lifetime. Because of this patience, blue is very adept in manipulation, trickery, and subtlety. Science and artifice are very blue ideas, because innovation is paramount to bettering oneself and one's society. Blue believes that with the right education and tools, anyone can become a great artist.
- BLACK: Black strives for power. Black is destructive and cruel and ambitious, and it will stop at nothing to gain power. Greed is the driving factor of black. It wants what it wants, and will stop at nothing to get it. Black puts itself above all others, and has no qualms about sacrificing others (both literally and metaphorically) to achieve its ends. Its ambition has no bounds, and it has no concept of morality. Having a conscience is a flaw, according to this color. Ethical restrictions are restrictions all the same, and are getting in the way of black's goal. Black personifies "The ends justify the means." If black gains power, who cares how it happened? It has reached its goal. Black believes that talent is subjective. It sees the irony of "modern art" and jokes about the pineapple incident at LACMA (did you hear about that one? It was hilarious; some teenagers brought a pineapple into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and put it by a pedestal. People were taking pictures of it and saying how it was great art XD) with its friends..... well, black doesn't have friends unless it gains an advantage in some way. Black feels that if you can't create a great work of art, plagiarism is a great tool! The ends justify the means.
- RED: Red wants to be free. Red is all about being unconstrained, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Red lives in the moment, and lets its heart guide it. This color is determined to live a life without regrets, and while it may seem chaotic, it is merely forging its own path. Red takes action and moves quickly, spontaneously, and recklessly. Red is blunt, impulsive, and incredibly passionate and driven. If red sets its sights on something, you can stake your life on it that it will get there or die trying. Red believes that art and creativity should be free and unconstrained by the limits and judgements of society.
- GREEN: Green wants acceptance. Green believes that all the other colors have it wrong. Everybody else is trying to change the world to suit them; green feels that you should change yourself to fit the world. There's nothing in nature that needs fixing; nature's had infinite time to figure it out, and it sure as heck has got it right. Destiny is green in nature. Green feels that you are meant to do something and that you will do it. There's no need to go chasing after fate; you'll catch up to it eventually. And there's no use trying to resist. Green has the full backing and power of nature at its command. Green believes that each person expresses themselves creatively in their own way. Art shouldn't be judged or limited in any way.
*Whew!* I'm exhausted XD I'll leave color combinations for my next comment *wipes sweat from brow*
I'm gonna be blunt, that planeswalker doesn't have any meaningful purpose outside of sitting on the board. (Which isn't much at all!)
Removing the crotchets kind of remove the fun of the mechanic to me ^^ It's just a weird way of doing two cards in one. On this note, should we consider double-faced cards for the Renaissance mechanic? Without Transform or Meld, but a new mechanic using double-faced cards. I'd like to avoid it because this likely means removing psylian life from the set for complexity issues. Still, we should think about it for a second.
I don't think the +X/-X thing has enough interesting design space to be our solution though. Also, an effect that affects your whole team makes me wonder why would I want more than one permanent with overflow at any time since they're redundant between them? Finally, no, I don't think you can have Overflow (cost) and Overflow N coexisting in black borders, let alone in the same set.
WOW that is a lot of work you have done! =D Congrats on that ^^
@brcien @MagicChess @pkfdre @Lujikul
As Lujikul mentioned, it's a bit early to design actual planeswalkers unless we have a reason to believe they could be central to the story, or they have an awesome premise that could start a good planeswalker cycle for the set. That said, it's always interesting to do some concept cards just for fun and interesting things may come out of this
Well there are a lot of interesting ideas on this card, though I think the overall result needs a lot of refining to look more realistic (I notice you often forget to capitalize and put a dot at the end of abilities, it does play in the realistic aspect of your cards though ;p) Here's what I like:
- Hybrid planeswalkers have never been done. The design space is extremely narrow and difficult to use but it's a cool twist. I don't think the color restriction of the first ability would work because of memory issues though.
- I really like the idea of the second ability. In this current form it's too powerful, but it definitely would be very interesting with two little twists in my opnion:
1) Make sure you don't + or - more than once per round. It could be "0: Until your next turn, you may activate one of Ethera's loyalty abilities any time you could cast an instant."
2) This ability does't do anything, so a 4-abilities planeswalker would certainly be more appropriate.
- Controlling players is a very fine ultimate. But "Control target player's next turn" is already strong enough, in my opinion.
Absolute Daus: Vigor (green)
Absolute Daus: Insanity (red)
Absolute Daus: Control(blue)
Absolute Daus: Absolute End (Colorless:working title)
Absolute Daus: Fear(black)
Cycle of rare two sided spirit avatars, i has a idea for them just need a better name for the colorless Daus. /da/*/us/
@everyone
Looking at artworks for inspiration, I found that butterflies and flowers were a good fit for the Renaissance theme at a symbolic level ^^ I'm also looking to see if it's possible to depict some kind of malevolent force just with artworks of multiple arms grasping things (it's more commonly represented than I thought.)
Besides, here's an example of a story based on five key moments:
1) The influence of the muses has never been stronger in a hundred years, and inspiration keeps flowing to every artist of the plane. As a result, the word spread that an artist has produced the greatest piece of art that has ever been created.
2) A malevolent force starts to steal some very unusual items. Innumerable hands come from the shadows to steal toughts, then living art pieces, and finally the greatest piece of art itself. While everyone is horrified by these events, the worst is yet to come. One day, the hands emerge again and kidnap three muses, only leaving five.
3) The disparition of the three muses create an imbalance in people's emotions. The princess, in an outburst of passion, murders the King and proclams herself the new Queen.
4) While everyone is searching everywhere for the missing muses and explore every unknown corner of the map, the Queen receives a vision from them, revealing that they are captive in the Realm of Shadows, as well as the location of the entrance to this realm.
5) As the kingdom prepares for the exploration of the Realm of Shadows, the shadows retaliate and try to engulf the castle of the Queen, resulting in a final great battle.
This is just an example where I tried to emphasize how the story can go in different directions at once while having a linear form, to diversify the themes depicted on the cards.