It's time to vote in the CCL June final poll! Remember that a vote gets you 2 points in the July CCL. The poll will remain open until the end of critiques for July's Rounds 1 and 2. Raptorchan and IcariiFA designed for the following massive challenge: Challenge
Design a booster pack for your new format: Ten commons, three uncommons, and a rare or mythic; at least one of your commons or uncommons must be a vanilla creature, and exactly two of your commons or uncommons must be functional reprints.
(For the purpose of this challenge Icarii's two reprints count towards the functional reprints.)
Kingdom is a set designed for multiplayer draft. A game takes place in some vanilla fantasy kingdom with eight greats fighting for glory and power. Before drafting, each player gets a special "role" card (Role cards are King, Bishop, Hero, Warmaster, Mage, Revolutionary, Dark Overlord and Pretender) at random or as choice by agreement. A lot of cards in this set somehow tied to roles and can grant additional value or drawback due to any player's role.
Booster pack (functional reprints are Roughland Messenger and Sign Post):
Commons:
Lab Servant1(U/R)(U/R)
Creature - Homunculus (C)
When Lab Servant enters the battlefield, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card for each Mage player. "A wizard with pride shouldn't act like a conjurer, but definetely should be able to change plans like a gambler."
—Great Sage Manana
1/3
Sign Post1G
Sorcery (C)
Search your library for up to two basic land cards and reveal them. Put one into your hand and the other into your graveyard. Then shuffle your library. "Right: Prison. Left: Treason. Onward: Death. Backward: A peaceful life full or regrets."
Royal Intelligence3U
Sorcery (C)
Draw two cards. Each King player draws a card. Royal spies called "thorns" because they can make a road to the throne pretty rough.
Vengeful Spirit2(W/U)
Creature - Spirit (C)
Flying Commemoration - When Vengeful Spirit's controller loses the game, another player chosen at random creates a token that's a copy of Vengeful Spirit.
2/3
Roughland MessengerR
Creature - Human Scout (C)
Sacrifice Roughland Messenger: Roughland Mesenger deals 1 damage to target creature or player. A hasty messenger dies from overwork.
—Kingdom saying
1/1
Indomitable Ranks2WW
Creature - Dwarf Knight (C) "That's the first defence line of the capital. And more trustworty one than the Great Bastion."
—King Lysander IX
1/8
Disgrace(B/R)
Instant (C)
Disgrace deals 2 damage to target player. That player loses all roles until your next turn. "Did you remember what you are? Right, you are nothing!"
—Grigo, royal castigator
Find a Traitor2B
Sorcery (C)
Target player sacrifices a creature. If that player is a Mage, Revolutionary, Dark Overlord or Pretender, destroy target creature controlled by that player instead.
Promising Neonate2(R/W)
Creature - Human Warrior (C)
First strike
If your starting role is not a Hero, your additional role is a Hero as long as you control Promising Neonate. "They said I can be anything."
2/2
Head Hunt2(R/G)
Instant (C)
Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
Creatures controlled by Warmaster players get +1/+0 until end of turn. "This town has more game than any forest."
—Warmaster Brutus
Uncommons:
Dancing BearRG
Creature - Bear (U)
Prowess, trample Some kings like funny things, some kings prefer dangerous things. King Lysander IX chooses both.
2/2
Monument of the Gone3
Artifact Creature - Golem (U)
Defender
Monument of the Gone can attack as though it didn't have defender as long as it has a +1/+1 counter on it. Commemoration - Whenever a player loses the game, put a +1/+1 counter on Monument of the Gone. "Such a great sculpture group... But not enough figures."
—Varnabell Shake-Spear
3/4
Too Many FacesU
Enchantment (U)
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose a role. Until your next turn, you have that role in addition to your other roles.
If your starting role is a Pretender, you have all roles instead as long as you control Too Many Faces.
Mythic Rare:
Curtain Fall3UR
Sorcery (M)
Return all nonland permanents to their owners' hands, than each player may put a nonland permanent card chosen at random from his or her hand onto the battlefield. And then a new act of endless drama has begun.
Hyper Magic is a format that's all about speed. It plays like a normal game of magic except with two key rule changes:
During your draw step instead of drawing one card, draw cards until you have seven cards in hand.
You may play any number of lands during your turn.
Simple right? With that in mind here is Kylshin, a special set designed to take advantage and play fairly with the format. Like commander products or conspiracy, this set is designed to be Legacy/Vintage legal. Other than that, I'll let the cards speak for themselves:
Commons
Fongung Sentinals2WW
Creature — Human Monk (C)
Home (Pair this creature with a land you control when it enters the battlefield. That land is this creature’s home and it lives there.)
Fongung Sentinals gets +2/+2 as long as its home is untapped.
2/3
Valshon Grove Elemental1GW
Creature — Elemental (C)
Whenever Valshon Grove Elemental enters the battlefield, exhaust two lands you control. (Tap two lands you control. They don’t untap during your next untap step.) “Nissa, everything there has a glow and life to it like I’ve never seen. You must come see it for yourself!”
—Gideon
4/4
Blinding Gargantua5U
Creature — Mutant (C)
Blinding Gargantua can't be blocked. 9: Creatures target player controls get -4/-0 until end of turn. It's difficult to fight what you can't see. It's tougher to fight when you can't see.
4/3
Pillar of Awe6R
Creature — Elemental (C) It stirred awake after an eon in the rock. There was something new it sensed. No, not new. Forgotten. Something that must be forgotten again.
8/6
Sholtien’s Rebuff1U
Instant (C) Amass — Counter target spell with a converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of spells cast this turn. “That is no way to use magic. You lack what I have mastered... timing.”
—Sholtien, Teller of Awe
Wrecking Ball2BR
Instant (C)
Destroy target creature or land. Natives look above not for sun and stars, but for crashing rocks.
Gideons Formation2W
Instant (C)
Multikicker 1W(You may pay an additional 1W any number of times as you cast this spell.)
Choose target creature, then choose another target creature for each time Gideons Formation was kicked. Put 2 +1/+1 counters on each of them.
Blazing Surespear1R
Creature — Lizard Warrior (C)
Prowess Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Blazing Surespear gets +1/+1 until end of turn. “Easy prey. You move like a dimming elder!”
1/1
Naive Conclusion1UR
Sorcery (C)
Exile your hand. Then draw three cards. “These strangers speak of sky and an orb of light that bathes it. What a lesser world where there is but one glow.”
— Kazaku
Roofside Settlement
Land (C)
Roofside Settlement enters the battlefield tapped. T: Add C to your mana pool.
Whenever a creature that lives here attacks or blocks, you gain 2 life.
Uncommons
Tunneling Geopede2R
Creature — Insect (U) Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Tunneling Geopede deals 1 damage to each opponent. Hide your glow
— Fongung saying meaning
“watch your step”
3/2
Bakook Drainer1BB
Creature — Leech Wizard (U)
Menace
Each opponent’s maximum hand size is equal to the number of cards in your hand. Where only shade walks, a Bakook is sure to linger.
2/3
Phosphorescent Wind3UU
Enchantment (U) U, Exhaust a land you control: Tap target nonland permanent. (Tap a land you control. It doesn’t untap during your next untap step.) “I feel it, Gideon. There is something on the air. It knows we are here and it wants us gone.”
—Nissa
Rare/Mythic
Verdant Colossus6GGG
Creature — Elemental (M)
Trample Amass — At the beginning of each end step, create X 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens, where X is the number of spells cast that turn. In a world where forests trace its grounds and its ceiling, a colossus touches both.
8/8
Negative points:
- Too many roles: It will be very hard to make roles matter, when there's so many different ones. You need at least 8 players to have all roles covered at least once and that's already a lot for a multiplayer round. I think 5 player multiplayer is the recommended number for events like draft. Especially since some of the cards ask for multiple players with the same roles. Sure, there are cards that add additional roles, but that seems like a lot of effort for little gain. I'd cut the number of classes down to 3 or at least 5.
- Commemoration has issues: Triggering off players losing is something that won't happen very often. As said before, 5 player multiplayer is realistic. So this is going to happen 4 times tops. And then the reward is so little. One +1/+1 counter for such a mayor event? Just a 2/3 flyer? And it has to be YOU who lost? Nah, this just isn't going to play interestingly. As I'm not very familiar with Game of Thrones I can't be certain, but this is what this world is inspired by a bit, right? So I heard character deaths are frequent and, most of all, mayor events there. Why not play that up? Have BIG THINGS happen when a player dies. Things with lasting effects on the game. A second concern is that the mechanic works differently for the two cards you put it on. One cares about a specific player, while the other one cares about any player. Not what a mechanic should do.
Neutral points:
· Curtain Fall: The card as is needs to reveal the hands, otherwise you can't determine at random between the non-lands.
· Role markers: Are they going to be tokens in the set? Are there a bunch coming with the display? I think you really need them.
· Too Many Faces reads funky: It's weird how it still triggers, but has no effect when you are a Pretender.
· Usuability in other formats: Cards that care about roles have very little use in formats without roles. I put that as a neutral point, as it's not too much of a problem, as un-set cards also sell.
Positive points:
+ Roles are an amazing concept: I love the idea of adding roles to the game. Make players start out the game differently. It's a unique take on drafting as well, as all the players have different goals and the cards have different values for everyone, before they even start picking. It certainly will have interesting impact on multiplayer politics as well, if there's more cards like Royal Intelligence and Lab Servant.
+ Sign Post: A great new name for Fork in the Road!
+ Indomitable Ranks: 4 mana 1/8 hasn't been done before and not been done as vanilla as well. Cool.
+ Promising Neonate: Is what I'd expect role cards to look like. Lasting effect with reasonable payoff without the role mattering.
IcariiFA
Negative points:
- How does the set work?: Is this supposed to be a draft format? If so, it's problematic, as I imagine 40 card decks run out of a library very fast in this format. If not, there's no point to the commons. So I suppose it IS a draft format. And as I said, I don't see that working out. But I never played this format, so I can't be sure.
- Amass track issue: While Amass sounds like a really cool mechanic on paper, it's probably really tedious to keep track of the spells cast each turn. Guess you'll have to have a die next to the game, ticking it up every turn. Forget about it and the backtracking begins.
- Roofside Settlement power level: For a land that gains an occasional 2 life and you have to find the help of other cards for that, only producing colorless mana is already enough of a drawback. Making it enter tapped is a deal breaker in a format this fast.
- One big dorm: The way Home is worded right now, all creatures can just be at home in a single land. So you put one land aside and from then on Home is just all upside. I don't think that's how you wanted this to work, right?
Neutral points:
· Home: "That land is this creature's home and it lives there." made me laugh. What a silly sounding wording. It's cute. I like it.
· The powerlevel of the cards: Very hard to judge without ever having played this format.
· Naive Conclusion: Should probably be an uncommon?
· Functional?: You did reprints instead of functional reprints as was asked. I don't think that should matter, as finding reprints that are a good match is actually worth a lot.
Positive points:
+ Lands matter: I think having lands matter with two mechanics is a great call for the format and your own Home mechanic is very creative and actually goes for different space than Landfall.
+ Sholtien's Rebuff: Really solid designed card. A fair thematical counterspell for not too much mana.
+ Exciting format: I think people would really enjoy this "change of pace" for a more wacky draft format. It also opens up interesting new developmental space.
+ Battlecruiser Magic: Yay! This might be the place for that.
That being said, I am very unsure as to who to give my point. I'll have to think it over a bit more and maybe take a look at any response I get here.
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Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Thanks for the detailed response, doomfish. Lots of good thoughts. I'll be happy to address your points after the voting is done, but I've always felt its important for designs to stand on their own without explanations as that is how the majority of players would come across cards IRL. So I'll wait until then.
I won't be able to manage my usual detailed critique of the Finals entries this time. Just suffice it to say that iy vote was not given lightly. I'm friggin impressed at the creativity and quantity of these designs. It would have been quite a stretch for me to compete in this round at all, much less at this level. My hat's off to both of you.
I made my choice but the decision has been sooooo hard. Both submissions have high and low points, but they both were really amazing overall. Terrific job from both of you, congratulations to both! Between me and Flatline's final last month and yours now I think we've seen some wonderful designs, and isn't this what we all are really here for?
I might give more detailed feedback later or in the next few days if I have time to make it properly like these submissions deserve.
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MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
And the poll is closed! Congratulations to IcariiFA, our June CCL winner, as well as to Raptorchan for having a great run last month and being a worthy finalist!
And the poll is closed! Congratulations to IcariiFA, our June CCL winner, as well as to Raptorchan for having a great run last month and being a worthy finalist!
Thanks everyone for the slammin' victory! I'm glad people saw the strength of my designs. Now as promised:
Negative points:
- How does the set work?: Is this supposed to be a draft format? If so, it's problematic, as I imagine 40 card decks run out of a library very fast in this format. If not, there's no point to the commons. So I suppose it IS a draft format. And as I said, I don't see that working out. But I never played this format, so I can't be sure.
Yeah, I should of been more clear. I think there might of some confusion since you could choose any format/supplement to base your set off of, but that set ultimate had to be a booster anyway. This makes it weird to design a set for say commander where most commons wouldn't jive very well with what would actually be usuable in commander.
I intended it to be a draft set. So yes, you might run through your library faster than normal. But consider first of all that you'll be playing much bigger, high powered threats so in theory you hsould be killing faster. Second, is it such a bad thing that perhaps this format would encourage you to go over 40 cards in your deck? I don't think so. It makes a meaningful choice in optimizing what's in your deck versus how quick you burn through it. I think it encourages some new angles in deckbuilding.
- Amass track issue: While Amass sounds like a really cool mechanic on paper, it's probably really tedious to keep track of the spells cast each turn. Guess you'll have to have a die next to the game, ticking it up every turn. Forget about it and the backtracking begins.
Most amass effects would be one time things. Only a few rares and maybe a mythic would have it be a repeatable thing to track every turn. So tracking for a single turn wouldn't be a huge amount of back tracking. That said, I agree it would need be very limited in an effect that would require counting turn to turn as opposed to a one time yes here and there.
- Roofside Settlement power level: For a land that gains an occasional 2 life and you have to find the help of other cards for that, only producing colorless mana is already enough of a drawback. Making it enter tapped is a deal breaker in a format this fast.
Yeah, I could of dropped the ETB tapped clause and it'd be fine.
- One big dorm: The way Home is worded right now, all creatures can just be at home in a single land. So you put one land aside and from then on Home is just all upside. I don't think that's how you wanted this to work, right?
It's totally the way I wanted it to work :). Some of my initial designs for home included cards that cared about other creatures that also lived there, but I quickly determined that those kind of effects wouldn't be what would show on a common and I had other design space to show. That's part of why it was important for me to have some kind of land destruction at common to counter home strats that stack all their creatures on one land.
Some other effects I was experimenting with wanted to track the home land in different ways that conflicted with each other too, but that was looking complicated. I was going to explore having more lands in the set than normal, and have them care about creatures living there as I showed with my common to further encourage spreading out your critters among them.
Neutral points:
· Home: "That land is this creature's home and it lives there." made me laugh. What a silly sounding wording. It's cute. I like it.
Yeah I'm not 100% on the naming, but given the time frame and not having something better, I went with it because I felt it was a solid mechanic that fit the format well.
· The powerlevel of the cards: Very hard to judge without ever having played this format.
Yes it is! Mostly mental playtesting here, so I would have to test A LOT.
· Naive Conclusion: Should probably be an uncommon?
Maybe. I planned on card draw being on a small subset of cards, but this design just stuck and felt better at common given how the set was shaping towards accelerating.
· Functional?: You did reprints instead of functional reprints as was asked. I don't think that should matter, as finding reprints that are a good match is actually worth a lot.
Yeah I miss read that. I'm glad it was deemed acceptable, because as you say it is more challenging.
Positive points:
+ Lands matter: I think having lands matter with two mechanics is a great call for the format and your own Home mechanic is very creative and actually goes for different space than Landfall.
Yes, that was a point I wanted to make with the land mechanics; that they cover quite different design space. You may also consider Multikicker playing into this as almsot a third "land" mechanic. So between the three you have a mechanic that cares about lands in play, cares about them coming into play, and cares about how much mana you can produce.
+ Sholtien's Rebuff: Really solid designed card. A fair thematical counterspell for not too much mana.
I'm glad you like the card. Before I came up with amass for the set, I was experimenting with converge since I made Kylshin a multicolor set. But I started experimenting with the idea that playing multiple spells a turn would be a common occurance and wanting to reward/encourage that. Further, coverge had already used a lot of design space I wanted.
I was happy that I created a 2 mana counter that had some flexibility but fair limits. In theory it will always be able to counter something costing 2 or less. I kinda wish we could have this power level of counter in standard.
+ Exciting format: I think people would really enjoy this "change of pace" for a more wacky draft format. It also opens up interesting new developmental space.
Thanks, I think it could have some great appeal too, especially to newer players, timmies, johnnies, and those who enjoy casual games that mix up the gameplay.
+ Battlecruiser Magic: Yay! This might be the place for that.
Very much so. That's why I made my vanilla common HUGE and the average CMC of the pack is way above average.
Thank you again for the thoughtful comments. I would love to hear further feedback as this is a set/project I'd consider expanding in full.
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Challenge
(For the purpose of this challenge Icarii's two reprints count towards the functional reprints.)
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Negative points:
- Too many roles: It will be very hard to make roles matter, when there's so many different ones. You need at least 8 players to have all roles covered at least once and that's already a lot for a multiplayer round. I think 5 player multiplayer is the recommended number for events like draft. Especially since some of the cards ask for multiple players with the same roles. Sure, there are cards that add additional roles, but that seems like a lot of effort for little gain. I'd cut the number of classes down to 3 or at least 5.
- Commemoration has issues: Triggering off players losing is something that won't happen very often. As said before, 5 player multiplayer is realistic. So this is going to happen 4 times tops. And then the reward is so little. One +1/+1 counter for such a mayor event? Just a 2/3 flyer? And it has to be YOU who lost? Nah, this just isn't going to play interestingly. As I'm not very familiar with Game of Thrones I can't be certain, but this is what this world is inspired by a bit, right? So I heard character deaths are frequent and, most of all, mayor events there. Why not play that up? Have BIG THINGS happen when a player dies. Things with lasting effects on the game. A second concern is that the mechanic works differently for the two cards you put it on. One cares about a specific player, while the other one cares about any player. Not what a mechanic should do.
Neutral points:
· Curtain Fall: The card as is needs to reveal the hands, otherwise you can't determine at random between the non-lands.
· Role markers: Are they going to be tokens in the set? Are there a bunch coming with the display? I think you really need them.
· Too Many Faces reads funky: It's weird how it still triggers, but has no effect when you are a Pretender.
· Usuability in other formats: Cards that care about roles have very little use in formats without roles. I put that as a neutral point, as it's not too much of a problem, as un-set cards also sell.
Positive points:
+ Roles are an amazing concept: I love the idea of adding roles to the game. Make players start out the game differently. It's a unique take on drafting as well, as all the players have different goals and the cards have different values for everyone, before they even start picking. It certainly will have interesting impact on multiplayer politics as well, if there's more cards like Royal Intelligence and Lab Servant.
+ Sign Post: A great new name for Fork in the Road!
+ Indomitable Ranks: 4 mana 1/8 hasn't been done before and not been done as vanilla as well. Cool.
+ Promising Neonate: Is what I'd expect role cards to look like. Lasting effect with reasonable payoff without the role mattering.
IcariiFA
Negative points:
- How does the set work?: Is this supposed to be a draft format? If so, it's problematic, as I imagine 40 card decks run out of a library very fast in this format. If not, there's no point to the commons. So I suppose it IS a draft format. And as I said, I don't see that working out. But I never played this format, so I can't be sure.
- Amass track issue: While Amass sounds like a really cool mechanic on paper, it's probably really tedious to keep track of the spells cast each turn. Guess you'll have to have a die next to the game, ticking it up every turn. Forget about it and the backtracking begins.
- Roofside Settlement power level: For a land that gains an occasional 2 life and you have to find the help of other cards for that, only producing colorless mana is already enough of a drawback. Making it enter tapped is a deal breaker in a format this fast.
- One big dorm: The way Home is worded right now, all creatures can just be at home in a single land. So you put one land aside and from then on Home is just all upside. I don't think that's how you wanted this to work, right?
Neutral points:
· Home: "That land is this creature's home and it lives there." made me laugh. What a silly sounding wording. It's cute. I like it.
· The powerlevel of the cards: Very hard to judge without ever having played this format.
· Naive Conclusion: Should probably be an uncommon?
· Functional?: You did reprints instead of functional reprints as was asked. I don't think that should matter, as finding reprints that are a good match is actually worth a lot.
Positive points:
+ Lands matter: I think having lands matter with two mechanics is a great call for the format and your own Home mechanic is very creative and actually goes for different space than Landfall.
+ Sholtien's Rebuff: Really solid designed card. A fair thematical counterspell for not too much mana.
+ Exciting format: I think people would really enjoy this "change of pace" for a more wacky draft format. It also opens up interesting new developmental space.
+ Battlecruiser Magic: Yay! This might be the place for that.
That being said, I am very unsure as to who to give my point. I'll have to think it over a bit more and maybe take a look at any response I get here.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
I might give more detailed feedback later or in the next few days if I have time to make it properly like these submissions deserve.
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Yeah, I should of been more clear. I think there might of some confusion since you could choose any format/supplement to base your set off of, but that set ultimate had to be a booster anyway. This makes it weird to design a set for say commander where most commons wouldn't jive very well with what would actually be usuable in commander.
I intended it to be a draft set. So yes, you might run through your library faster than normal. But consider first of all that you'll be playing much bigger, high powered threats so in theory you hsould be killing faster. Second, is it such a bad thing that perhaps this format would encourage you to go over 40 cards in your deck? I don't think so. It makes a meaningful choice in optimizing what's in your deck versus how quick you burn through it. I think it encourages some new angles in deckbuilding.
Most amass effects would be one time things. Only a few rares and maybe a mythic would have it be a repeatable thing to track every turn. So tracking for a single turn wouldn't be a huge amount of back tracking. That said, I agree it would need be very limited in an effect that would require counting turn to turn as opposed to a one time yes here and there.
Yeah, I could of dropped the ETB tapped clause and it'd be fine.
It's totally the way I wanted it to work :). Some of my initial designs for home included cards that cared about other creatures that also lived there, but I quickly determined that those kind of effects wouldn't be what would show on a common and I had other design space to show. That's part of why it was important for me to have some kind of land destruction at common to counter home strats that stack all their creatures on one land.
Some other effects I was experimenting with wanted to track the home land in different ways that conflicted with each other too, but that was looking complicated. I was going to explore having more lands in the set than normal, and have them care about creatures living there as I showed with my common to further encourage spreading out your critters among them.
Yeah I'm not 100% on the naming, but given the time frame and not having something better, I went with it because I felt it was a solid mechanic that fit the format well.
Yes it is! Mostly mental playtesting here, so I would have to test A LOT.
Maybe. I planned on card draw being on a small subset of cards, but this design just stuck and felt better at common given how the set was shaping towards accelerating.
Yeah I miss read that. I'm glad it was deemed acceptable, because as you say it is more challenging.
Yes, that was a point I wanted to make with the land mechanics; that they cover quite different design space. You may also consider Multikicker playing into this as almsot a third "land" mechanic. So between the three you have a mechanic that cares about lands in play, cares about them coming into play, and cares about how much mana you can produce.
I'm glad you like the card. Before I came up with amass for the set, I was experimenting with converge since I made Kylshin a multicolor set. But I started experimenting with the idea that playing multiple spells a turn would be a common occurance and wanting to reward/encourage that. Further, coverge had already used a lot of design space I wanted.
I was happy that I created a 2 mana counter that had some flexibility but fair limits. In theory it will always be able to counter something costing 2 or less. I kinda wish we could have this power level of counter in standard.
Thanks, I think it could have some great appeal too, especially to newer players, timmies, johnnies, and those who enjoy casual games that mix up the gameplay.
Very much so. That's why I made my vanilla common HUGE and the average CMC of the pack is way above average.
Thank you again for the thoughtful comments. I would love to hear further feedback as this is a set/project I'd consider expanding in full.