Aqualinus is unique in that is a plane mostly covered in water. You would think Blue mana dominates this plane, however, other colors have a strong presence on this plane due to the geography of the ocean.
BLUE LANDS - The vast seas of course
WHITE LANDS - Coastal Plains on the few islands on this plane
GREEN LANDS - Jungles on the isolated islands and verdant Coral Reefs in the shallows
RED LANDS - Volcanic Islands and Rifts along the ocean floor
BLACK LANDS - Marsh along island coasts and The Deep, a mysterious darkness that is slowly seeping from the darkest depths of the ocean
THEMES:
-Tribes: 5 dual-colored tribes and 5 mono-colored tribes
-Aquatic World: lots of water-based spells/creatures in every color
-Pirates: Yarrr, lets play with Black Humans
-Aggressive World: Nature is deadly, so lots of removal and kill spells. Many creatures have evasion to protect them from the elements. Many nature/weather-based spells.
-Vessels: Artifacts that function as transports to give ~walking to Tribes
-Big Monsters: Sea Monsters in every color!
THE 5 DUAL-COLORED TRIBES: (PRIMARY COLOR, secondary color)
-Merfolk (BLUE, black) Lost their once great kingdom to The Deep. Now struggling to hold onto their crumbling culture. Atlantean/Greek themes. Black Themes: Surrendered to The Deep, card discard, graveyard matters Blue Themes: Remains of once glorious civilization, card draw, mill
-Aven (WHITE, blue) The self-proclaimed protectors of Aqualinus. Enforcers and legislators of the law. See themselves as the "Angels" of the land. Soldier/Nationalist Regimes theme. White Themes: Protectors of the people, control, white weenie, flying Blue Themes: Writers of the law, control, blink, flying
-Kioru (RED, white) Lava-based elementals. A tribal society who worship the volcano gods. Hawaiin/Islander themes. Red Themes: Wild magic and fury of the earth, wizards, haste, direct damage White Themes: Protectors of the holy sites, protection, creature pump, healing
-Viashino (GREEN, red) Evolved, amphibious Viashino different from their cousins on other planes. Capable of communing with the Gargants of this realm by tapping into their primal nature Live in Jungles and Coral Reefs. Barbarian/Druid themes. Green Themes: Shamanistic/Druidic magic, Summon tokens, creatures you control matter, creature pump Red Themes: Feral/Wild strength, combat tricks, high power
-Horrors (BLACK, green) Released with the coming of The Deep. Encroaching upon the rest of the planes. Hideous monsters never seen before. Sea Monster/Deep Sea themes. Black Themes: Encroaching death, deathtouch, corruption, assassins Green Themes: Encroaching monstrosities, big creatures, morbid, mana ramp
THE 5 MONO-COLOR TRIBES
-Cats (WHITE) Live mostly in independent port cities or Aven protectorates along coastal plains. Townspeople themes White Themes: White weenie, life gain, exile
-Cephalids (BLUE) Live hidden along the ocean floor. Masters of illusion and the mind. Onslaught themes. Blue Themes: Evasion, counter spell, illusions
-Ogres (RED) Isolationist who live as hermits in the mountains. When angered, they turn into deadly threats that can escalate out of control. Hermit themes. Red Themes: Expensive but powerful, fighting tricks, difficult to block, bloodthirst
-Gargants (GREEN) Massive creatures inhabiting the plane. Often controlled by Viashino. Big variety. Some aquatic, some flying, some amphibious, and some terrestrial. Wurm themes. Green Themes: Big monsters, a little evasion, wurm-like
-Pirates (BLACK) Humans/Undead who roam the seas. Hard to keep lock down and even harder to keep down. Pirates of the Caribbean themes. Black Themes: Creature pump, evasion, regeneration, destroy
Trying to see what people think of the flavor and if the cards seem balanced so far. Just picking some of the more iconic cards I have developed for each tribe so far.
Pirates
Captain Trinidad Two-Tails2BB
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate {R}
Other Pirate creatures you control get +1/+1.
Whenever a Human creature you control dies, put a 1/1 black Pirate Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
3/3
The Vehemence3
Artifact - Vessel {U}
Pirate creatures you control have Islandwalk
Horrors
Polluting Anemone G
Creature - Horror {C}
Add B to your mana pool
1/1
Kioru
Kioru Magmadagger1R
Creature - Kioru Soldier{C}
Whenever Kioru Magmadagger blocks or is blocked by a creature, it deals 1 damage to that creature.
1/2 "Like playing catch with a Kioru" - Pirate expression for a stupid thing to do
Cephalids
Cephalid Illusionist1U
Creature - Cephalid Wizard {R} 1U:symtap:; Create a 1/1 blue Cephalid creature token that has "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it"
1/1
Cats
Feline PrivateerW
Creature - Cat Soldier {U}
Protection from Pirates They're not the only ones who roam the high seas
1/1
Gargants
Whale Gargant5G
Creature - Gargant {C}
Islandwalk
Whale Gargant can't attack unless your opponent controls an Island.
5/6
Ogres
Furious Ogre2RR
Creature - Ogre {C}
Bloodthirst 1
Furious Ogre can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.
4/2
Aven
Aven Blinkmage1UW
Creature - Bird Wizard {U}
Flying UW:symtap:; Exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.
1/3
Armored Shoreguard1U
Creature - Bird Soldier {C} W: Armored Shoreguard gains Flying until end of turn
1/3
Merfolk Scavenger1U
Creature - Merfolk {C} 2U:symtap:; Draw a card There are all kinds of treasures in The Deep. You just need to know where to look for them.
1/2
Depraved Mer1B
Creature - Merfolk {C}
Whenever Depraved Mer dies, target opponent discards a card. I've seen the Deep. There is nothing but darkness. The sooner you embrace it, the sooner you can let go.
2/1
Viashino
Behemoth Caller1G
Creature - Viashino Wizard {U} 4GG:symtap:; Put a 4/4 green Gargant creature token onto the battlefield under your control.
1/1
Viashino Sickletail2R
Creature - Viashino Soldier {C}
First Strike
3/1
Hi eljimbobo just wanted to say that I really like an ocean themed plane and I read your flavor and your spoiler and I'd like to say some comments.
I've seen that you nailed some mechanics to your tribal, wish is really good, but feel free to make your own mechanics. I see that you use Morbid and Bloodthirst, but for a set to feel unique it has to have it owns personality either by reusing old mechanics in a new way, or by making some new.
Also, instead of nailing lot of mechanics for each tribes, you should just put one and focus on it. Of course spells and creatures of each tribes will use lots of different thing, but you have to put a specialty to each tribe, something that will make them different.
Be sure to make some synergies between your mono colored tribes and dual color tribes that include that color. It will really add up something to the mix.
Now onto the spoiled cards.
I see you have an artifact with a new sub-type. Be sure to make cards that care for that sub-type or it will be useless. Also be careful with non stacking effect like Islandwalk because if a player begin a game with 2 The Vehemence in his hands, he won't really like that card. Also, be careful to not fall into the trap of putting Islandwalk to most of your pirate, making this artifact useless. Just a warning because I see lots of people doing this kind of mistake (me first XD) when using mechanics that could be flavorful to lots of creature.
I would like to see a little more horror. I see in their description Morbid and mana ramp. I see the ramp alright with this mana dork, but I'd like to know what kind things could horror ramp to? What would they do with lots of mana? Put big creatures quickly? or activate lots of abilities? or using big X spell? We can't really tell with just that card.
That Kioru is cute, but I wished you could have shown us a card of each color in the dual colors tribals. I'd like to see what a white kioru would look like.
Here we can see the Cephalid's love for Illusion. Just one detail: we don't create tokens, we put them on the battlefield. Should be:
Put a 1/1 blue Cephalid creature token onto the battlefield. It has "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it".
We see the weenie aspect of the cats. Not a lot to say.
Here we see the big monster Gargant. Not a lot to say.
The only thing I dislike with your ogre is that, they are supposed to be some kind of hermit that become violent if provoked. But they have bloodthirst, wish normally mean that you're the one who provoked the enemy. You're on the offence. Really feel you could make something more personal of those ogre.
Ha, here we get a lot of your Aven. I see a bounce you control, remember to put something worth bouncing in those colors. I really like the flavor of the armored shoreguard, he's too heavy because of his armor that he can't fly himself XD. I feel like he shoudl have been white, with a blue mana cost for the activation. Since it feel kind of weird to see a blue creature with heavy armor and white is a usually the army color.
I see for the merfolks that you want to push milling and card discard, wish is really good with graveyard matter. I see a 1/2 that make you draw card, and a 2/1 that make your opponent discard, I see what you did there
Really minor detail:
Whenever Depraved Mer dies, target opponent discards a card.
Should be
When Depraved Mer dies, target opponent discards a card.
Since it won't happen multiple time.
For the Viashino, the green is like the support color, and the red is the aggressive one. But maybe making token is too much. I mean, why does green viashinos need the red ones if they can make aggressive creatures themselves.
Also, another side note:
You don't need to specify that the token is under your control.
And I don't know, the green one shouldn't be a Wizard, it should be a shaman. Because Wizard are usually blue who is the opposite of green.
So in short, I like it. And also, void_nothing said something very important: Beware possible linearity with regard to tribal deckbuilding.
This is a common problem when designing tribal set.
Also I'd really like to see some noncreature cards and some more iconic creature for some tribals (Mostly Horrors and Gargants).
BLUE LANDS - The vast seas of course
WHITE LANDS - Coastal Plains on the few islands on this plane
GREEN LANDS - Jungles on the isolated islands and verdant Coral Reefs in the shallows
RED LANDS - Volcanic Islands and Rifts along the ocean floor
BLACK LANDS - Marsh along island coasts and The Deep, a mysterious darkness that is slowly seeping from the darkest depths of the ocean
-Tribes: 5 dual-colored tribes and 5 mono-colored tribes
-Aquatic World: lots of water-based spells/creatures in every color
-Pirates: Yarrr, lets play with Black Humans
-Aggressive World: Nature is deadly, so lots of removal and kill spells. Many creatures have evasion to protect them from the elements. Many nature/weather-based spells.
-Vessels: Artifacts that function as transports to give ~walking to Tribes
-Big Monsters: Sea Monsters in every color!
-Merfolk (BLUE, black) Lost their once great kingdom to The Deep. Now struggling to hold onto their crumbling culture. Atlantean/Greek themes.
Black Themes: Surrendered to The Deep, card discard, graveyard matters
Blue Themes: Remains of once glorious civilization, card draw, mill
-Aven (WHITE, blue) The self-proclaimed protectors of Aqualinus. Enforcers and legislators of the law. See themselves as the "Angels" of the land. Soldier/Nationalist Regimes theme.
White Themes: Protectors of the people, control, white weenie, flying
Blue Themes: Writers of the law, control, blink, flying
-Kioru (RED, white) Lava-based elementals. A tribal society who worship the volcano gods. Hawaiin/Islander themes.
Red Themes: Wild magic and fury of the earth, wizards, haste, direct damage
White Themes: Protectors of the holy sites, protection, creature pump, healing
-Viashino (GREEN, red) Evolved, amphibious Viashino different from their cousins on other planes. Capable of communing with the Gargants of this realm by tapping into their primal nature Live in Jungles and Coral Reefs. Barbarian/Druid themes.
Green Themes: Shamanistic/Druidic magic, Summon tokens, creatures you control matter, creature pump
Red Themes: Feral/Wild strength, combat tricks, high power
-Horrors (BLACK, green) Released with the coming of The Deep. Encroaching upon the rest of the planes. Hideous monsters never seen before. Sea Monster/Deep Sea themes.
Black Themes: Encroaching death, deathtouch, corruption, assassins
Green Themes: Encroaching monstrosities, big creatures, morbid, mana ramp
-Cats (WHITE) Live mostly in independent port cities or Aven protectorates along coastal plains. Townspeople themes
White Themes: White weenie, life gain, exile
-Cephalids (BLUE) Live hidden along the ocean floor. Masters of illusion and the mind. Onslaught themes.
Blue Themes: Evasion, counter spell, illusions
-Ogres (RED) Isolationist who live as hermits in the mountains. When angered, they turn into deadly threats that can escalate out of control. Hermit themes.
Red Themes: Expensive but powerful, fighting tricks, difficult to block, bloodthirst
-Gargants (GREEN) Massive creatures inhabiting the plane. Often controlled by Viashino. Big variety. Some aquatic, some flying, some amphibious, and some terrestrial. Wurm themes.
Green Themes: Big monsters, a little evasion, wurm-like
-Pirates (BLACK) Humans/Undead who roam the seas. Hard to keep lock down and even harder to keep down. Pirates of the Caribbean themes.
Black Themes: Creature pump, evasion, regeneration, destroy
I like the individual tribes' flavor.
Beware possible linearity with regard to tribal deckbuilding.
Otherwise I'm excited.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Trying to see what people think of the flavor and if the cards seem balanced so far. Just picking some of the more iconic cards I have developed for each tribe so far.
Pirates
Captain Trinidad Two-Tails 2BB
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate {R}
Other Pirate creatures you control get +1/+1.
Whenever a Human creature you control dies, put a 1/1 black Pirate Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
3/3
The Vehemence 3
Artifact - Vessel {U}
Pirate creatures you control have Islandwalk
Horrors
Polluting Anemone G
Creature - Horror {C}
Add B to your mana pool
1/1
Kioru
Kioru Magmadagger 1R
Creature - Kioru Soldier{C}
Whenever Kioru Magmadagger blocks or is blocked by a creature, it deals 1 damage to that creature.
1/2
"Like playing catch with a Kioru" - Pirate expression for a stupid thing to do
Cephalids
Cephalid Illusionist 1U
Creature - Cephalid Wizard {R}
1U:symtap:; Create a 1/1 blue Cephalid creature token that has "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it"
1/1
Cats
Feline Privateer W
Creature - Cat Soldier {U}
Protection from Pirates
They're not the only ones who roam the high seas
1/1
Gargants
Whale Gargant 5G
Creature - Gargant {C}
Islandwalk
Whale Gargant can't attack unless your opponent controls an Island.
5/6
Ogres
Furious Ogre 2RR
Creature - Ogre {C}
Bloodthirst 1
Furious Ogre can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.
4/2
Aven
Aven Blinkmage 1UW
Creature - Bird Wizard {U}
Flying
UW:symtap:; Exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.
1/3
Armored Shoreguard 1U
Creature - Bird Soldier {C}
W: Armored Shoreguard gains Flying until end of turn
1/3
Aven Skylancer 2W
Creature - Bird Soldier {C}
Flying
First Strike
2/2
Merfolk
Merfolk Scavenger 1U
Creature - Merfolk {C}
2U:symtap:; Draw a card
There are all kinds of treasures in The Deep. You just need to know where to look for them.
1/2
Depraved Mer 1B
Creature - Merfolk {C}
Whenever Depraved Mer dies, target opponent discards a card.
I've seen the Deep. There is nothing but darkness. The sooner you embrace it, the sooner you can let go.
2/1
Viashino
Behemoth Caller 1G
Creature - Viashino Wizard {U}
4GG:symtap:; Put a 4/4 green Gargant creature token onto the battlefield under your control.
1/1
Viashino Sickletail 2R
Creature - Viashino Soldier {C}
First Strike
3/1
I've seen that you nailed some mechanics to your tribal, wish is really good, but feel free to make your own mechanics. I see that you use Morbid and Bloodthirst, but for a set to feel unique it has to have it owns personality either by reusing old mechanics in a new way, or by making some new.
Also, instead of nailing lot of mechanics for each tribes, you should just put one and focus on it. Of course spells and creatures of each tribes will use lots of different thing, but you have to put a specialty to each tribe, something that will make them different.
Be sure to make some synergies between your mono colored tribes and dual color tribes that include that color. It will really add up something to the mix.
Now onto the spoiled cards.
I see you have an artifact with a new sub-type. Be sure to make cards that care for that sub-type or it will be useless. Also be careful with non stacking effect like Islandwalk because if a player begin a game with 2 The Vehemence in his hands, he won't really like that card. Also, be careful to not fall into the trap of putting Islandwalk to most of your pirate, making this artifact useless. Just a warning because I see lots of people doing this kind of mistake (me first XD) when using mechanics that could be flavorful to lots of creature.
I would like to see a little more horror. I see in their description Morbid and mana ramp. I see the ramp alright with this mana dork, but I'd like to know what kind things could horror ramp to? What would they do with lots of mana? Put big creatures quickly? or activate lots of abilities? or using big X spell? We can't really tell with just that card.
That Kioru is cute, but I wished you could have shown us a card of each color in the dual colors tribals. I'd like to see what a white kioru would look like.
Here we can see the Cephalid's love for Illusion. Just one detail: we don't create tokens, we put them on the battlefield. Should be:
Put a 1/1 blue Cephalid creature token onto the battlefield. It has "Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it".
We see the weenie aspect of the cats. Not a lot to say.
Here we see the big monster Gargant. Not a lot to say.
The only thing I dislike with your ogre is that, they are supposed to be some kind of hermit that become violent if provoked. But they have bloodthirst, wish normally mean that you're the one who provoked the enemy. You're on the offence. Really feel you could make something more personal of those ogre.
Ha, here we get a lot of your Aven. I see a bounce you control, remember to put something worth bouncing in those colors. I really like the flavor of the armored shoreguard, he's too heavy because of his armor that he can't fly himself XD. I feel like he shoudl have been white, with a blue mana cost for the activation. Since it feel kind of weird to see a blue creature with heavy armor and white is a usually the army color.
I see for the merfolks that you want to push milling and card discard, wish is really good with graveyard matter. I see a 1/2 that make you draw card, and a 2/1 that make your opponent discard, I see what you did there
Really minor detail:
Whenever Depraved Mer dies, target opponent discards a card.
Should be
When Depraved Mer dies, target opponent discards a card.
Since it won't happen multiple time.
For the Viashino, the green is like the support color, and the red is the aggressive one. But maybe making token is too much. I mean, why does green viashinos need the red ones if they can make aggressive creatures themselves.
Also, another side note:
You don't need to specify that the token is under your control.
And I don't know, the green one shouldn't be a Wizard, it should be a shaman. Because Wizard are usually blue who is the opposite of green.
So in short, I like it. And also, void_nothing said something very important: Beware possible linearity with regard to tribal deckbuilding.
This is a common problem when designing tribal set.
Also I'd really like to see some noncreature cards and some more iconic creature for some tribals (Mostly Horrors and Gargants).
Good luck to you :3
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