Hi everyone, Owa here with my first custom set. As you c]an see from the title, it is a lotr set. I love designing custom cards, especially from certain famous pieces of works.
So, I'm looking o you guys for 2 things
Feedback on this set
and
Ideas for another set
Thanks, and I hope you enjoy this.
Alright, so to start off, I'll give you a link to all of the cards. They are hosted on a site (Photobucket) that you should be able to browse through them at your leisure. http://s1377.photobucket.com/user/owa666/library/
Now, what I have to say about this set.
This started off as a few cards, the Aragorns, and most of the fellowship. I then moved onto the supporting characters, the animals, and the villains. MOst of the Flavor is taken from the book, unless it's a really good quote from the movie. There are a few new keywords as well. My favorte are COvet (The creature gets a +1/-1 counter for each color of mana in your pool. It's meant to represent Smaug's hoard.) ____ Mount (This is meant to give a steed mechanic to MTG. It's har though as you can't just say "Two legged creature" lol) And also Traitorous (Used on Grima. It's pretty straight forward in my opinion, and is a cool combo.
Ancalagon and Ungoliant: These two should absolutely be creatures, I know, but the sheer power of these two don't fit well into creatures. Origionally Anc. was a 30/30 (I mean, come on, he's way bigger than even Emrakul) But the mana cost for him would have been WAY too much. Especially with all the abilities I was planning on putting on him. Ungoliant on the other hand, seemed like she could have gone either way, but I think the idea of her growing in power as a planeswaljer fts her best. So, instead, i gave them the ability to turn into creatures, for quite the cost.
A final ssue I will touch on is the "War of the Ring". It's a new card type as you can see. In my mind this "Event" would be played like a sorcery, but act like an enchantment, only, no way to destroy the effects.
So, look through, tell me what you think 'm happy for both good and bad crtiscism!
Just one thing from a neophyte: where is the blue? I would think that the wizards at least would be U/X.
As I was making this, I guess I didn't really look at it as " Make a set that would be completely self-sufficiant." Like, I didn't have basic lands or any Instants/Sorceries etc.
It was more just to make the characters, and I agree, some of the wizards could have used blue, But I didn't think of it at the time. I'll be more throurough adn try and get5 every color in next time
It's obvious that you really enjoy the LOTRs series and know quite a bit about its lore. You put a lot of time into putting this together and it shows. That said, these cards have a lot of problems.
* Half of these cards would break the game in half. In particularly, the land cards are absurdly strong. Producing 2/2 tokes for one mana any number of times per turn? Effects like that cannot be on a land.
* Having 5+ lines of flavor text on cards with 5+ lines of rules text isn't done. The micro print on these cards is way too much.
* Colorless halflings are weird. I don't see them that way.
* Many of your cards a way too complex and/or break the color pie. There are way too many mechanics as well as some pretty poor ones. I saw you post a thread on the mechanics of your set, and I wont repeat the criticism there.
I know that's a lot of negative feedback, but I'm just trying to be honest. As you can see with your poll, there has general been a negative reaction and I just want to help you understand why. That's not to say they're aren't some goes ideas among your cards, but if you want to get more attention, refining your design process and skills would be the most important places to start. Take a look at Bravelion83's articles on custom design. They will help.
It's obvious that you really enjoy the LOTRs series and know quite a bit about its lore. You put a lot of time into putting this together and it shows. That said, these cards have a lot of problems.
* Half of these cards would break the game in half. In particularly, the land cards are absurdly strong. Producing 2/2 tokes for one mana any number of times per turn? Effects like that cannot be on a land.
* Having 5+ lines of flavor text on cards with 5+ lines of rules text isn't done. The micro print on these cards is way too much.
* Colorless halflings are weird. I don't see them that way.
* Many of your cards a way too complex and/or break the color pie. There are way too many mechanics as well as some pretty poor ones. I saw you post a thread on the mechanics of your set, and I wont repeat the criticism there.
I know that's a lot of negative feedback, but I'm just trying to be honest. As you can see with your poll, there has general been a negative reaction and I just want to help you understand why. That's not to say they're aren't some goes ideas among your cards, but if you want to get more attention, refining your design process and skills would be the most important places to start. Take a look at Bravelion83's articles on custom design. They will help.
What cards have too much text on them in particular?
Which cards break the color pie the most?
Also, besides keywords, which cards are too complex?
What cards have too much text on them in particular?
War Oliphaunt (Flavor)
Sauron, Lord of the Rings (Rules and Flavor)
The Oathbreakers (Rules)
Theden, King of Rohan (Flavor)
Samwise Gamgee (Flavor)
The Witch King of Angmar (Flavor)
The One Ring (Rules)
The Door of Durin (Rules and Flavor)
Sauron, Morgoth's Lieutenant (Flavor)
Meriadoc Brandybuck (Flavor)
Peregrin Took (Flavor)
Helms Deep (Flavor)
Gwaihit the Windlord (Flavor)
Faramir of Gondor (Flavor)
Gandalf the Grey (Rules and Flavor)
Gandalf the White (Rules and Flavor)
Durin's Bane (Flavor)
Galadriel (Flavor)
Fell beast (Flavor)
Aragorn Elessar (Rules and Flavor)
Boromir of Gondor (Flavor)
Aragorn (Rules and Flavor)
Which cards break the color pie the most?
Ungoliant (BR can't destroy enchantments)
Ulmo, Lord of Waters (One sided mass destruction is not white nor blue.)
The Mines of Moria (colorless source of 1 mana 1/1 tokens. Broken)
The Tower of Orthanc (colorless source of 1 mana 2/2 tokens. Broken)
The Tower of Barad-dur (colorless source of 1 mana 2/2 tokens. Broken)
Minas Tirith, the White City (colorless source of 1 mana 1/2 tokens. Broken)
Edoras, Capotal of Rohan (colorless source of 1 mana 1/1 tokens. Broken)
Meriadoc Brandybick (way too efficient for colorless)
Manwe, King of the Balar (Cost???)
Legolas Greenleaf (First strike and destroy effects not mono green.)
Eorlingas (White doesnt get haste)
Gandalf the Grey (White doesn't get unrestricted counters. Also, busted)
Gandalf the White (White doesn't get unrestricted counters. Also, busted)
Galadriel (Damage to self and cant block ability neither white nor green. Tap destroy is nor really white either)
Arda (White doesn't get any color mana producers)
Also, besides keywords, which cards are too complex?
Warg (one too many abilities)
War of the Ring (too many token types, distinction between an event and an enchantment unclear/unneeded.)
Sauron, Lord of the Rings (Copy ability doesn't work/has many issues if it did)
The Oathbreakers (Too many abilities)
The One Ring (Too many abilities)
Legolas Greenlead (Too many abilities)
Gothmog (Too many abilities)
Galadriel (Too many abilities)
Aragon Elessar (too many abilities)
Aragon (too many abilities)
Everything with banding
So, basically every card with flavor is too long. And every card with more than two abilities has too many? This seems very picky to be completely honest. I definatly understand some: The Saurons and maybe the Aragorns. But many are (IMO) not too long.
I guess if I have to sacrifice flavor and abilities in order to make a good set that captures the theme of that set, I'd rather have a bad one.
The only real problem with the Color Pie I have is that it seems wrong to say have Galadriel be Black or Red, yet thats what her abilites call for. Or Legolas be anything other than Green (Or perhaps white), even though he should definatly get First strike.
But, obviously these are two seperate worlds, and weren't supposed to be intertwined, so of course there would be hiccups haha.
Thanks for the time you took. I'm going to review the set later, and revise it best I can.
Basically, any card that with it's combined rules and flavor text exceeds 9 lines probably has too much going on it. Just look through the sets printed in the past few years. Out of each set, what percentage of cards exceed that? The answer is very little. Brevity is more powerful than four sentences of flavor jammed onto a card with 4 abilities already. And flavor can be expressed mechanically too. I think if you take the time to simplify you will create cards that are a lot more interesting and have more unique identities.
Hey!
I love this idea. I’ve been trying to make something purely LOTR themed in mtg for a while and currently that’s my Nath of the Gilt Leaf edh deck. Anyway, my main thought would be that the sylvan elves seem more Green Black to me than Green white because as we see Thranduil and some of his Kin tend to have a dark side whereas the river elves and other Noldor tend to be brighter folk. Just a thought! Love the idea(:
So, I'm looking o you guys for 2 things
Feedback on this set
and
Ideas for another set
Thanks, and I hope you enjoy this.
http://s1377.photobucket.com/user/owa666/library/
Now, what I have to say about this set.
This started off as a few cards, the Aragorns, and most of the fellowship. I then moved onto the supporting characters, the animals, and the villains. MOst of the Flavor is taken from the book, unless it's a really good quote from the movie. There are a few new keywords as well. My favorte are COvet (The creature gets a +1/-1 counter for each color of mana in your pool. It's meant to represent Smaug's hoard.) ____ Mount (This is meant to give a steed mechanic to MTG. It's har though as you can't just say "Two legged creature" lol) And also Traitorous (Used on Grima. It's pretty straight forward in my opinion, and is a cool combo.
Ancalagon and Ungoliant: These two should absolutely be creatures, I know, but the sheer power of these two don't fit well into creatures. Origionally Anc. was a 30/30 (I mean, come on, he's way bigger than even Emrakul) But the mana cost for him would have been WAY too much. Especially with all the abilities I was planning on putting on him. Ungoliant on the other hand, seemed like she could have gone either way, but I think the idea of her growing in power as a planeswaljer fts her best. So, instead, i gave them the ability to turn into creatures, for quite the cost.
A final ssue I will touch on is the "War of the Ring". It's a new card type as you can see. In my mind this "Event" would be played like a sorcery, but act like an enchantment, only, no way to destroy the effects.
So, look through, tell me what you think 'm happy for both good and bad crtiscism!
Thanks, Owa.
URArjun, the Shifting FlameRU
As I was making this, I guess I didn't really look at it as " Make a set that would be completely self-sufficiant." Like, I didn't have basic lands or any Instants/Sorceries etc.
It was more just to make the characters, and I agree, some of the wizards could have used blue, But I didn't think of it at the time. I'll be more throurough adn try and get5 every color in next time
* Half of these cards would break the game in half. In particularly, the land cards are absurdly strong. Producing 2/2 tokes for one mana any number of times per turn? Effects like that cannot be on a land.
* Having 5+ lines of flavor text on cards with 5+ lines of rules text isn't done. The micro print on these cards is way too much.
* Colorless halflings are weird. I don't see them that way.
* Many of your cards a way too complex and/or break the color pie. There are way too many mechanics as well as some pretty poor ones. I saw you post a thread on the mechanics of your set, and I wont repeat the criticism there.
I know that's a lot of negative feedback, but I'm just trying to be honest. As you can see with your poll, there has general been a negative reaction and I just want to help you understand why. That's not to say they're aren't some goes ideas among your cards, but if you want to get more attention, refining your design process and skills would be the most important places to start. Take a look at Bravelion83's articles on custom design. They will help.
What cards have too much text on them in particular?
Which cards break the color pie the most?
Also, besides keywords, which cards are too complex?
War Oliphaunt (Flavor)
Sauron, Lord of the Rings (Rules and Flavor)
The Oathbreakers (Rules)
Theden, King of Rohan (Flavor)
Samwise Gamgee (Flavor)
The Witch King of Angmar (Flavor)
The One Ring (Rules)
The Door of Durin (Rules and Flavor)
Sauron, Morgoth's Lieutenant (Flavor)
Meriadoc Brandybuck (Flavor)
Peregrin Took (Flavor)
Helms Deep (Flavor)
Gwaihit the Windlord (Flavor)
Faramir of Gondor (Flavor)
Gandalf the Grey (Rules and Flavor)
Gandalf the White (Rules and Flavor)
Durin's Bane (Flavor)
Galadriel (Flavor)
Fell beast (Flavor)
Aragorn Elessar (Rules and Flavor)
Boromir of Gondor (Flavor)
Aragorn (Rules and Flavor)
Ungoliant (BR can't destroy enchantments)
Ulmo, Lord of Waters (One sided mass destruction is not white nor blue.)
The Mines of Moria (colorless source of 1 mana 1/1 tokens. Broken)
The Tower of Orthanc (colorless source of 1 mana 2/2 tokens. Broken)
The Tower of Barad-dur (colorless source of 1 mana 2/2 tokens. Broken)
Minas Tirith, the White City (colorless source of 1 mana 1/2 tokens. Broken)
Edoras, Capotal of Rohan (colorless source of 1 mana 1/1 tokens. Broken)
Meriadoc Brandybick (way too efficient for colorless)
Manwe, King of the Balar (Cost???)
Legolas Greenleaf (First strike and destroy effects not mono green.)
Eorlingas (White doesnt get haste)
Gandalf the Grey (White doesn't get unrestricted counters. Also, busted)
Gandalf the White (White doesn't get unrestricted counters. Also, busted)
Galadriel (Damage to self and cant block ability neither white nor green. Tap destroy is nor really white either)
Arda (White doesn't get any color mana producers)
Warg (one too many abilities)
War of the Ring (too many token types, distinction between an event and an enchantment unclear/unneeded.)
Sauron, Lord of the Rings (Copy ability doesn't work/has many issues if it did)
The Oathbreakers (Too many abilities)
The One Ring (Too many abilities)
Legolas Greenlead (Too many abilities)
Gothmog (Too many abilities)
Galadriel (Too many abilities)
Aragon Elessar (too many abilities)
Aragon (too many abilities)
Everything with banding
I guess if I have to sacrifice flavor and abilities in order to make a good set that captures the theme of that set, I'd rather have a bad one.
The only real problem with the Color Pie I have is that it seems wrong to say have Galadriel be Black or Red, yet thats what her abilites call for. Or Legolas be anything other than Green (Or perhaps white), even though he should definatly get First strike.
But, obviously these are two seperate worlds, and weren't supposed to be intertwined, so of course there would be hiccups haha.
Thanks for the time you took. I'm going to review the set later, and revise it best I can.
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
I love this idea. I’ve been trying to make something purely LOTR themed in mtg for a while and currently that’s my Nath of the Gilt Leaf edh deck. Anyway, my main thought would be that the sylvan elves seem more Green Black to me than Green white because as we see Thranduil and some of his Kin tend to have a dark side whereas the river elves and other Noldor tend to be brighter folk. Just a thought! Love the idea(: