So I'm working on a custom block that has a heavy focus on creatures and tribal themes, each tribe consists of a human component and an animal component. The animal portion are entirely monocolored, while the human half is some mix of the color of their animal or dual colored with that color and green. The tribes are:
Lions - W
Owls - U
Rats - B
Dragons - R
Wolves - G
I wanted to also give each tribe some sort of identity beyond "gives +1/+1 to other creatures of this type" because that's just..too basic tribal and prevents them from having a real identity. I'm still developing those themes with some of the tribes, but I feel I've really settled on how I want rats, owls and wolves to function. Since the subject of the thread is rats, I'll get to theirs last. Owls primarily focus on knowledge and manipulation, so they feature a lot of cards that let you scry or look at your opponents hand or library (or individual cards from either), shuffling decks, basically fatesealing, etc. But they do not have any real card draw, I wanted to make that distinction. Wolves are closer to a more basic tribal style, lots of token creation and getting bigger effects the more of them are, power of the pack and all of that. Rats I took what they are best known for previously and amped it up, I wanted to make them annoying, they are small, cheap and easy to kill, but you'll likely feel the effects of doing so and they will piss you off while they're around. Their primary function is forcing your opponent to discard cards from their hand or to wittle away at them or their creatures. They are the real control tribe of this block, and it is an annoying style of control.
Another aspect is how the human component plays off of the animal, generally one enables the other or benefits from the effects of the other. I wanted to emphasize the bond between the humans and their animals and really make them part of the same tribe, without any weirdness in the type line. And to do this I came up with the first keyword for my set, Kin.
Kin functions much the way Devoid does, it is simply a descriptive keyword for a card. It is formatted as (creature type) Kin. So for instance:
While Sniveling Wretch's creature type is Human Shaman, he is a Rat Kin and cards and effects that specify the rat creature type will also apply to him. He's also a good example of the sort of human/animal synergy I was shooting for. He lowers your opponents maximum handsize, making them more likely to have to discard, and he punishes them for having to discard, be it because they have too many cards in hand or because of the abilities of any number of rats you may have in play, it kinda covers your bases a bit.
Something else that is typically attributed to rats is that they are dirty, unclean, and dangerously so. One of the greatest plagues to ever hit mankind was blamed on rats (really it was their fleas, but eh details). That word plague, that is one that is almost intrinsically entwined with the animal and felt like a natural fit for them.
Plague replaces the normal combat damage an infected rat would deal and allows them to chip away at a different resource than an opponent's life, it chips away at their hand. Whenever a creature with plague would deal combat damage to an opponent, they discard that many cards instead, denying them the ability to fight back. Most rats on their own won't be able to outright kill an opponent, they'll mostly rely on their human counterparts to do the real work, but your opponent will hurt and suffer the long game until you finish them off. Of course, the leader of the tribe can make quick work of things once enough suffering has been endured.
By the time you're casting Petulous, your opponent should have a nice, full graveyard and not many cards in hand to deal with your remaining threats.
There are, of course, other ways to benefit from a full graveyard and your opponent dropping cards into it.
All of those rats must get hungry though, and the more of them there are, the more damage they can do.
One last minor mechanic is the introduction of basic creatures, an idea that I know others have used in the past and is a pretty simple one. Mostly just filler cards to round out a tribal list or for limited, given the importance of creatures to this block and plane I felt it was a decent enough idea to try out here.
There is also a cycle of lands that don't tap for any mana on their own, but you can filter two mana into them to generate a single mana of one color, which grants an extra effect if used to cast a specific creature type.
And the rest of the cards that I'm not going to try and cleverly set up a preview for (try and find the interactions!)...
You have a wall of text with 16 cards, its a bit much to take in all at once.
Ignoring individual cards. Is "kin" really necessary? Is the tribal component such a key component that you can't afford to run any cards that aren't on tribe? If it is, is there an actual benefit to having them not part of the tribe?
Plague is awful. It is such an overwhelmingly powerful ability in the early game that cards will have to be overcosted and unplayable. However its power level immediately inverses later in the game. Having a keyword that makes your creatures harmless is a detriment. Plague can reasonably go on creatures with 1-2 power at the 3-4 CMC range, any lower and its too aggressively stripping opponents hand, any higher and its turning your fatties into pillows; that is unreasonably narrow for a keyword.
Basic creatures have been brought up repeatedly, the problem is simply "why?" Vanillas are a key part of limited and rarely constructed(really only when massively undercosted). However even in limited there is a limit to the number of vanillas, especially small ones, you want to run. Basic creatures usually have some ability that makes you want to run a lot of them, look at the current 'basic' creatures, those are what people think of doing when they try basic creatures.
user_938036 said it best. Why aren't these rats? What the point of them being human/(class) but then have a keyword that also make them rats too?
Also don't use the card-name auto replace feature in keywords. Keywords are suppose to use 'This creature' or 'This (whatever permanent)'.
I.e- Plague (When this creature would deal combat damage to a player, that player discards that many cards instead.)
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOut of the ground,I rise to grace...W BAfter the lights go out on you, after your worthless life is through. I will remember how you scream...B
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Lions - W
Owls - U
Rats - B
Dragons - R
Wolves - G
I wanted to also give each tribe some sort of identity beyond "gives +1/+1 to other creatures of this type" because that's just..too basic tribal and prevents them from having a real identity. I'm still developing those themes with some of the tribes, but I feel I've really settled on how I want rats, owls and wolves to function. Since the subject of the thread is rats, I'll get to theirs last. Owls primarily focus on knowledge and manipulation, so they feature a lot of cards that let you scry or look at your opponents hand or library (or individual cards from either), shuffling decks, basically fatesealing, etc. But they do not have any real card draw, I wanted to make that distinction. Wolves are closer to a more basic tribal style, lots of token creation and getting bigger effects the more of them are, power of the pack and all of that. Rats I took what they are best known for previously and amped it up, I wanted to make them annoying, they are small, cheap and easy to kill, but you'll likely feel the effects of doing so and they will piss you off while they're around. Their primary function is forcing your opponent to discard cards from their hand or to wittle away at them or their creatures. They are the real control tribe of this block, and it is an annoying style of control.
Another aspect is how the human component plays off of the animal, generally one enables the other or benefits from the effects of the other. I wanted to emphasize the bond between the humans and their animals and really make them part of the same tribe, without any weirdness in the type line. And to do this I came up with the first keyword for my set, Kin.
Kin functions much the way Devoid does, it is simply a descriptive keyword for a card. It is formatted as (creature type) Kin. So for instance:
While Sniveling Wretch's creature type is Human Shaman, he is a Rat Kin and cards and effects that specify the rat creature type will also apply to him. He's also a good example of the sort of human/animal synergy I was shooting for. He lowers your opponents maximum handsize, making them more likely to have to discard, and he punishes them for having to discard, be it because they have too many cards in hand or because of the abilities of any number of rats you may have in play, it kinda covers your bases a bit.
Something else that is typically attributed to rats is that they are dirty, unclean, and dangerously so. One of the greatest plagues to ever hit mankind was blamed on rats (really it was their fleas, but eh details). That word plague, that is one that is almost intrinsically entwined with the animal and felt like a natural fit for them.
Plague replaces the normal combat damage an infected rat would deal and allows them to chip away at a different resource than an opponent's life, it chips away at their hand. Whenever a creature with plague would deal combat damage to an opponent, they discard that many cards instead, denying them the ability to fight back. Most rats on their own won't be able to outright kill an opponent, they'll mostly rely on their human counterparts to do the real work, but your opponent will hurt and suffer the long game until you finish them off. Of course, the leader of the tribe can make quick work of things once enough suffering has been endured.
By the time you're casting Petulous, your opponent should have a nice, full graveyard and not many cards in hand to deal with your remaining threats.
There are, of course, other ways to benefit from a full graveyard and your opponent dropping cards into it.
All of those rats must get hungry though, and the more of them there are, the more damage they can do.
One last minor mechanic is the introduction of basic creatures, an idea that I know others have used in the past and is a pretty simple one. Mostly just filler cards to round out a tribal list or for limited, given the importance of creatures to this block and plane I felt it was a decent enough idea to try out here.
There is also a cycle of lands that don't tap for any mana on their own, but you can filter two mana into them to generate a single mana of one color, which grants an extra effect if used to cast a specific creature type.
And the rest of the cards that I'm not going to try and cleverly set up a preview for (try and find the interactions!)...
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Ignoring individual cards. Is "kin" really necessary? Is the tribal component such a key component that you can't afford to run any cards that aren't on tribe? If it is, is there an actual benefit to having them not part of the tribe?
Plague is awful. It is such an overwhelmingly powerful ability in the early game that cards will have to be overcosted and unplayable. However its power level immediately inverses later in the game. Having a keyword that makes your creatures harmless is a detriment. Plague can reasonably go on creatures with 1-2 power at the 3-4 CMC range, any lower and its too aggressively stripping opponents hand, any higher and its turning your fatties into pillows; that is unreasonably narrow for a keyword.
Basic creatures have been brought up repeatedly, the problem is simply "why?" Vanillas are a key part of limited and rarely constructed(really only when massively undercosted). However even in limited there is a limit to the number of vanillas, especially small ones, you want to run. Basic creatures usually have some ability that makes you want to run a lot of them, look at the current 'basic' creatures, those are what people think of doing when they try basic creatures.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Also don't use the card-name auto replace feature in keywords. Keywords are suppose to use 'This creature' or 'This (whatever permanent)'.
I.e- Plague (When this creature would deal combat damage to a player, that player discards that many cards instead.)
BAfter the lights go out on you, after your worthless life is through. I will remember how you scream...B