@Gustostueckerl.
Should say 'only for you' as in, you shouldn't be able to deplete opposing lands, at least, not more than a few higher rarity ways.
Exiling the top cards is only disadvantageous in a situational or late game sense, it can sometimes result in BETTER draws. Yes, it can be a little bit feel-bad, but that can be a good thing, as players want to fail sometimes in order to make their successes feel like an accomplishment. I could be wrong, but I think players in general will be OK with losing a few cards from the top. Newer players will overvalue the drawback, just as they overvalue life gain, but that can be a positive learning experience of 'you thought this was bad but now you realise how awesome it really is'!
In order to make that mechanic look better to newer players, you can always have the cards be put back into your library on the bottom or through shuffling if newer player reception is particularly bad.
@Jetvans.
A lot of this is development, but yes, the cardlist is far from complete. Right now, I am working on finalising the mechanics for design testing and building the themes properly. A lot of good feedback nevertheless and I will be addressing some of it immediately (well, later today).
@Gustostueckerl.
Agree that Deplete should definitely on be for you. Exiling a bunch of cards isn't really that bad, what's so feel bad about it? The logistical issue can be solved by stacking pretty easily. On this note, the wording for Weld would be better as:
Wield N (When this creature enters the battlefield, exile the top N cards of your library Welded with this creature.)
Where 'Welded' is used like the Cipher 'encoded' for clarity and flavour.
Also agree that Horde could have development issues, but that shouldn't be a problem as long as the risks are kept in mind. 'Horde' is also a bit of a weird name for this set concept. 'Recruit' or 'strike' or something would be more thematically suitable.
Suggestion: Think carefully about what associations your themes can draw from and what sort of expectations people might have that you can play off of.
You don't seem to be using 'your team controls', why not? It seems like an elegant way to word things in order to allow the interaction whilst being flashy so it can be noticed. In terms of the rules, 'your team controls' would simply refer to things either you or your teammate controls, same could be done with 'the opposing team controls'. Other effects that could use similar wordings would be '(the opposing/your) team sacrifices' or '(the opposing/your) team discards' where the players in that team get the choose how to split up the cost between them.
I agree with BrainPo. Sidekick is great as is, the off-colour theme is perfect for the mechanic.
On the cards:
Swarm Advocate- Is this design really worth it? The "1/1 creatures get +1/+2" part is murky rules wise, it works, but not intuitively. Surely there is a clean design that could fit just as well here?
Dream Eater- Really cool, but is also quite powerful, maybe a little too powerful. I'm no developer though.
Rage from Beyond- Is this supposed to give haste to opposing creatures? If so, definitely too weak.
About Dominion, maybe.
About LD, having a bunch of LD cards is different from a theme. With just three or four, it's not a common occurrence, but when it starts getting to seven or eight, it starts to be problematic. Sure, when they are more expensive it's less worrying, but it's still going to screw people over. The most obvious and most common scenario where this would matter is in a top-deck scenario, where players have little cards. They won't need a lot of mana, but they need the colours to play whatever they can. It is ultimately colour screw that is most problematic for LD rather than simple land screw. A very minor LD theme (i.e. 'this set has more LD than usual to go with it's themes'), go ahead that's a good idea, but as soon it becomes a bigger theme, ('this set has a significant theme which is all about LD'), it's a bad idea.
Raid and Bloodthirst's design space at common is not exhausted.
Reign was just an 'off the top of my head' example to demonstrate. The reason I put 'tokens' as opposed to 'creature tokens' was to allow more room for support to reduce such problems. Also, token decks don't need a bunch of mechanic cards to be good. See Khans block tokens archetype. Not that I am saying you should use it though.
Ok, in order to fix the set up a bit and make it more focused, I've decided to focus on the flavor, and build stuff around that flavor. Tell me what you think. (snip)
This definitely is a step in the right direction. Mercadia in an interesting choice, but I would consider making a new plane. If you are going to be expanding to a more 'mana matters' theme, I would consider using either hybrid (e.g. Deathrite Shaman) or twobrid (Beseech the Queen) to play up this theme. Hybrid is more versatile and cleaner, but twobrid is less explored, so it depends. Of course, you don't have to use either.
"The design goal for Dinotopia is to create a gameplay that really feels like the player is witnessing the food chain in action. Animals eat other animals until the strongest emerges at the top of the food chain"
If you don't use devour, I will destroy you .
@Jetvans.
While the mechanic distinction parallel is nice, it's not necessary. This isn't a faction set, so I can afford to blur that line if it makes the set better otherwise.
Some other mechanics I am considering: Entwine, Convoke, Evoke.
Devour in name works and the mechanic concept in the abstract works, but the Jotnar devouring your own creatures isn't the idea. It also doesn't make sense in that devour wants lots of little creatures to devour while the Jotnar are only big, where as their enemies are smaller. Eating your enemy makes sense, but when their on your side...?
Exalted definitely would be a good fit in set as is a pretty good mechanic. However, my concern (by no means unredeemable) is that it has flavour overlap with Honoured: both are about honour and glory and such. This isn't too bad, but I do like having the clearer parallel of Overwhelm (Jontar) vs Honoured (Aesir/Civilisations). If you read much of what I have posted on the main thread, you'll know that's where Overwhelm came from and is an important part of the world and story. IDK though, Exalted is really good.
Bloodthirst is high on my list for one reason in particular, it's a really, really, REALLY good fit for the flavour. The gameplay works well and it fits into the mechanical themes, it's not as prominent in mechanical themes as Exalted, but it fits the same role Overwhelm is in perfectly. 'Jotnar' for those that don't know, is a Norse term for a race/group of ancient and wild beings, typically of great size and humanoid (hence the English 'giants' is often used more casually). Jotnar literally means 'devourer', so the name 'Bloodthirst' fits extremely well. The whole Jotnar vs Aesir conflict is something I will expanding on when the set is in development (R&D wise).
Should say 'only for you' as in, you shouldn't be able to deplete opposing lands, at least, not more than a few higher rarity ways.
Exiling the top cards is only disadvantageous in a situational or late game sense, it can sometimes result in BETTER draws. Yes, it can be a little bit feel-bad, but that can be a good thing, as players want to fail sometimes in order to make their successes feel like an accomplishment. I could be wrong, but I think players in general will be OK with losing a few cards from the top. Newer players will overvalue the drawback, just as they overvalue life gain, but that can be a positive learning experience of 'you thought this was bad but now you realise how awesome it really is'!
In order to make that mechanic look better to newer players, you can always have the cards be put back into your library on the bottom or through shuffling if newer player reception is particularly bad.
A lot of this is development, but yes, the cardlist is far from complete. Right now, I am working on finalising the mechanics for design testing and building the themes properly. A lot of good feedback nevertheless and I will be addressing some of it immediately (well, later today).
Agree that Deplete should definitely on be for you. Exiling a bunch of cards isn't really that bad, what's so feel bad about it? The logistical issue can be solved by stacking pretty easily. On this note, the wording for Weld would be better as:
Wield N (When this creature enters the battlefield, exile the top N cards of your library Welded with this creature.)
Where 'Welded' is used like the Cipher 'encoded' for clarity and flavour.
Also agree that Horde could have development issues, but that shouldn't be a problem as long as the risks are kept in mind. 'Horde' is also a bit of a weird name for this set concept. 'Recruit' or 'strike' or something would be more thematically suitable.
@zarepath.
Returning mechanics to consider: Modular, Fortification, Delve (second set?), Persist (second set?), Living Weapon, Scavenge (second set?), Evolve (second set?)
Suggestion: Think carefully about what associations your themes can draw from and what sort of expectations people might have that you can play off of.
On the cards:
Swarm Advocate- Is this design really worth it? The "1/1 creatures get +1/+2" part is murky rules wise, it works, but not intuitively. Surely there is a clean design that could fit just as well here?
Dream Eater- Really cool, but is also quite powerful, maybe a little too powerful. I'm no developer though.
Rage from Beyond- Is this supposed to give haste to opposing creatures? If so, definitely too weak.
About LD, having a bunch of LD cards is different from a theme. With just three or four, it's not a common occurrence, but when it starts getting to seven or eight, it starts to be problematic. Sure, when they are more expensive it's less worrying, but it's still going to screw people over. The most obvious and most common scenario where this would matter is in a top-deck scenario, where players have little cards. They won't need a lot of mana, but they need the colours to play whatever they can. It is ultimately colour screw that is most problematic for LD rather than simple land screw. A very minor LD theme (i.e. 'this set has more LD than usual to go with it's themes'), go ahead that's a good idea, but as soon it becomes a bigger theme, ('this set has a significant theme which is all about LD'), it's a bad idea.
Raid and Bloodthirst's design space at common is not exhausted.
Reign was just an 'off the top of my head' example to demonstrate. The reason I put 'tokens' as opposed to 'creature tokens' was to allow more room for support to reduce such problems. Also, token decks don't need a bunch of mechanic cards to be good. See Khans block
This definitely is a step in the right direction. Mercadia in an interesting choice, but I would consider making a new plane. If you are going to be expanding to a more 'mana matters' theme, I would consider using either hybrid (e.g. Deathrite Shaman) or twobrid (Beseech the Queen) to play up this theme. Hybrid is more versatile and cleaner, but twobrid is less explored, so it depends. Of course, you don't have to use either.
If you don't use devour, I will destroy you
While the mechanic distinction parallel is nice, it's not necessary. This isn't a faction set, so I can afford to blur that line if it makes the set better otherwise.
Some other mechanics I am considering: Entwine, Convoke, Evoke.
Bloodthirst is high on my list for one reason in particular, it's a really, really, REALLY good fit for the flavour. The gameplay works well and it fits into the mechanical themes, it's not as prominent in mechanical themes as Exalted, but it fits the same role Overwhelm is in perfectly. 'Jotnar' for those that don't know, is a Norse term for a race/group of ancient and wild beings, typically of great size and humanoid (hence the English 'giants' is often used more casually). Jotnar literally means 'devourer', so the name 'Bloodthirst' fits extremely well. The whole Jotnar vs Aesir conflict is something I will expanding on when the set is in development (R&D wise).