MTG Salvation

Welcome back to Life and Death!

If there are any fans of this blog, then I'm sorry that I have been so slow to update. I have no excuse, but I will try to continue my updates a little more frequently.

We're moving to the great bog of Stol, south of the Persus mountains on the continent of Sheshner. The bog was once a fantastic lake, rich in blue mana. After the humans extracted everything they could, it created what would be analagous to a low-pressure system. Mana flooded towards where there was no mana. Black mana, hungry for power, found a new home.

There are few actual inhabitants of Stol. There are a few alchemists, still hoping to find the source of human magic of lore, exporing the now dangerous terrain. Then there's Zoma, who we will discuss in a later entry. The majority of the beings in Stol are skeletons, devoted to the memory of a long-forgotten entity known simply as the Arch.

In Sheshner, much like in real life, different cultures have different legends, but here pretty much all of them have a story of the Arch. It's definitley considered a fairy tale, as even the immortal Redea of Zarnesh has no memory of ever seeing the Arch. But generally, the story of an enormous giant humanoid skeleton swinging a ridiculously large sword is what is told from generation from generation. The reason that some throughout the continent continue to believe that the Arch is a true story is due to the existence of the following artifact:

Arch-Blade
4
Legendary Artifact-Equipment
Rare
Equipped creature gets +3/+3 and has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player sacrifices that many permanents."
Equip 4

It's known as the Arch-Blade but many think of it as a hoax, perpetrated by those who wish to keep the legend of the Arch alive.

But there are plenty of followers of the Arch lurking around Stol, waiting for the orders to attack.

Skeleton Sentry
2B
Creature-Skeleton
Common
B:Regenerate Skeleton Sentry
The never dying soldiers have been waiting for the Arch for countless years.
2/1

Unholy Rhythm
2B
Sorcery
Uncommon
Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.
Balancing B (You may play this spell by paying its Balancing cost if you control fewer permanents than an opponent)
The Arch's skeleton stalkers marched in a sinister unison.

Not to mention my favorite reprint I added to the set:

Lord of the Pit
4BBB
Creature-Demon
Rare
Flying, trample
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature other than Lord of the Pit. If you don't, Lord of the Pit deals 7 damage to you.
It's used to being the master, but when the Arch awakens, it will be nothing but a slave.
7/7

See you next time, when we travel north to the Persus mountains, where war has been raging strong for 500 years.

Welcome back to Life and Death.

For this installment, we travel miles and miles east of the walls of Nyme, over the desert of Sheshner, across the water and over to the island chain known as Lesak, the cradle of Human civilization.

Five hundred years ago, and moreso, the humans knew of a great lake on the mainland, which was known as Stol. The water in this lake was the purest form of blue mana that the continent provided. The humans took water from the lake back to thier island homes at Lesak, and the wizards grew stronger.

But it seems that humans on this world really know how to use up resources. Around the time the oasis of Nyme dried up, the lake of Stol had become nothing but a bog, and the blue mana that that had come for had become black. As the humans used up the last waters from Stol that they had, the water actually infused blue mana into the land of Lesak. This allowed Lesak to have an unending supply of fresh water, and in turn allowed humans to create the massive irrigation system to make the land around Nyme farmable.

Because of the demand for engineers to create the irrigation system, magic research has fallen by the wayside, and industry has become king. Today, Lesak is known for its museums for human history, the arts, industry, and piracy.

Industry, as it is today, is known as upkeep on the irrigation system, and the manufacture of military machines. Although the man in charge of the war machine project is named Harold, the person who actually designed most of the machines is this person:

Marlin, Chief Engineer
2UU
Legendary Creature--Human Engineer
Rare
T: Tap or untap target Machine
2: Tap target Machine
2U: Untap target Machine
"Harold, you cannot break a broken man."
2/3

The flavor text is a reference to how Harold gained his power, by exploiting the ability of Marlin. Marlin is the creator of most of the war machines, and the discoverer that these machines, when built in Lesak, naturally have so much blue mana flowing through them that they are actually alive, but just barely.

Magic Enveloper
2UU
Creature-Machine
Uncommon
Defender
Whenever Magic Enveloper becomes tapped, counter target noncreature spell.
Marlin discovered that the war machines were actually alive when he realized that the Enveloper actually ate magic.
0/2

Teleportation Chamber
2UU
Creature-Machine
Uncommon
Defender
Whenever Teleportation Chamber becomes tapped, return target creature to it's owner's hand.
Although Harold was excited about its potential, Marlin thought it too cruel to erase people from the world.
0/1

The blue engineers of Life and Death are mostly for the creation and repair of the war machines, where the soldiers in white are the ones to actually fire them off. For example:

Construction
1U
Sorcery
Common
You may put a Machine card from your hand into play under your control.
"Harold has increased the demand for the war machines by two hundred per cent. Of course it can be done, but should it?" -James Marlin

Reload
U
Instant
Common
Untap up to two target Machines.
"Ma'am! The pigeon carrying the instructions finally came!" -Richmund, squire to Danielle of Nyme

Catapult Operator
W
Creature-Human Soldier
Common
T: Tap target Machine you control.
Marlin designed the war machines to be fully automatic. Harold's mass production lines created defects.
1/1

Catapult Rallyer
2WW
Creature-Human Soldier
Uncommon
Flash
When Catapult Rallyer comes into play, you may tap any number or target Machines you control.
2/2

Next time we're heading to the great bog of Stol, and the stalking followers of the Arch.

Welcome back to Life and Death.

Here's another flavorful entry.

Many centuries ago, humans lived only on the island archipelago, Lesak. But humans, being explorers by nature, eventually began wandering the vast desert of Sheshner that exists on the mainland near the island chain. Eventually, they discovered an oasis that they named Nyme. Again, due to human nature, some people began to settle there, as it made sense to make it some sort of rest stop for explorers to this continent.

By 500 years ago, the humans had a small city built at Nyme. But the oasis wasn't the gift that kept on giving. The overuse dried the oasis up. This infuriated Redea and her elves...of which the humans knew very little of. Before long the humans found themselves in the middle of a war in which those who lived at Nyme were nearly destroyed. Redea let those who survived the attack stay at Nyme as long as they did nothing else to destroy nature.

Then, due to human stubborness, many of these survivors decided to stay at Nyme. For 400 years, people braved the elements, and somehow the city survied. Then there was something of an industrial revolution in Lesak, the home of most humans. As industy began to take over, the political leaders of Nyme and Lesak got together to agree to work on the greatest project of human engineering: a giant irrigation program to bring life back to the desert.

Lesak had an unlimited supply of fresh water (more on this on a later entry) but overpopulation had made farming less possible. They needed more land, and land was something that there was plenty of near Nyme, there just wasn't any water. It took 50 years to complete, but finally, the land surrounding Nyme was farmable. With the food coming from here, the political leaders of both Nyme and Lesak came together in one location, in Nyme. After all, economically, Nyme was booming. Industry was all that Lesak had left.

But 20 years ago, 30 years after the irrigation system started bringing the water, Redea and her elves were once again upset about the destruction of nature. The humans thought that they were obeying her will, after all, farmable land is much better than desert. To the elves, a desert is as natural as anything, and should be respected for what it was. The second Elvish War began.

This time the human military was much more organized. Soldiers were better trained plus the industry of Lesak led to the development of war machines that aided the humans in their battle so much, that the elves were nearly destroyed. Redea did do a great job in hiding her numbers, however, and did major damage to the irrigation system. The humans had no idea that the elves were nearly vanquished. Because repair of the irrigation system became top priority, and because the elves were crippled so, both sides agreed to sign a pact of non-agression that would end the fighting.

Today, the humans are still very untrustworthy of Redea and her elves, and think that she would break the pact at a moment's notice. So they continue to build the war machines (to be previewed in a later entry), and continue to defend the city of Nyme as best as they can, with soldiers such as this:

Danielle, Defender of Nyme
4WW
Legendary Creature--Human Soldier
Rare
Danielle, Defender of Nyme has protection from creatures when blocking.
Charge (Whenever this creature attacks, choose one--untap this creature, or this creature gains double strike until end of turn.)
4/4

Charge is the other keyword mechanic in this set (Balancing being previewed in Number 2). The flavor behind the mechanic is a creature that can attack twice per turn, so Danielle can attack, then untap to block any threat, or, can attack twice and deal 8 damage.

Originally it was "Whenever this creature attacks for the first time this turn, untap all creatures with Charge. After this step there is another attack step in which only creatures with Charge may attack," but that was a huge headache to try to work around. My templating is easy enough to understand, but doesn't quite fit the flavor as nicely as I would've liked. If anyone else can come up with some better templating for an ability like this, please let me know!

Anyways, back to the defenders of Nyme flavor:

Desert Patrol
2W
Creature--Human Soldier
Common
Vigilance
1/4
If we were on the offense, we'd be scouts. As we're just defending Nyme, we're a patrol.

Knight of Nyme
WW
Creature--Human Knight
Uncommon
Charge (Whenever this creature attacks, choose one--untap this creature, or this creature gains double strike until end of turn.)
The Knights were long considered a ceremonial position, however, with rising tension against the Elves, Knights were once again well trained in battle.
2/2

And one more:

Pact of Non-Agression
3WW
Enchantment
Rare
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice two permanents.
You skip all of your combat phases.
Creatures cannot attack you.
"Both sides honor the Pact above all else." -Evermore, Zarnesh Druid

Next time we'll travel to the islands of Lesak!

Welcome back to Life and Death.

Last time, I talked about some of the flavor of the set, specifically about Redea and her elves, this time I'm going to show some cards from a more mechanical point of view.

Basically, from a mechanical point of view, the main theme of this block is going to be permanents. Many effects require the cost of sacrificing a permanent, which isn't always a bad thing in this set. After all, here's probably one of the most powerful cards in the set.

Forsythe's Denial
1UU
Instant
Uncommon
Counter target spell.
Balancing U (You may play this spell by paying its Balancing cost if you control fewer permanents than an opponent.)
"And sometimes the truth should never be known."

First note: I designed this before Cancel was designed. I might think about changing the hardcast to 2UU, but I think this is about right. After all, it would most likely be played for its Balancing cost.

Balancing is the most common new keyword mechanic in the set. From this example, it looks like control really loves this mechanic, but beatdown decks might like this one, too.

Sabertooth Lynx
3GG
Creature--Cat
Uncommon
Balancing 2G(You may play this spell by paying its Balancing cost if you control fewer permanents than an opponent.)
5/4

Yeah, if you control fewer permanents than an opponent, then it's a 5/4 for 3 mana. But does evasion suit you better?

Stol Phantom
3B
Creature--Phantom
Common
Fear
Balancing 1B(You may play this spell by paying its Balancing cost if you control fewer permanents than an opponent.)
"A memory of a loved one treated wrongly can cause the most terrible fear." -Jake Forsythe
2/2

I think a 2/2 fear for 2 seems good.

So, what do you do to make sure you've got the edge in balancing? If you're willing to take a risk, you might want to try this land:

Weak Shrubs
Land
Common
T:Add 1 to your mana pool.
T, sacrifice Weak Shrubs: Add GG to your mana pool.

These lands possibly should come into play tapped...it can help you get that 5/4 on turn 2. But then you're down to 1 land, and even though you'll probably get to Balance for the rest of the game, sacrificing a land can definitley put you in a bad way. Anyways, if they came into play tapped, then it would be better just to think about reprinting the lands like Dwarven Ruins from Fallen Empires.

Anyway, what about the late game? What can I do to keep that permanent count down?

Splendid Reckoning
2UU
Sorcery
Rare
As an additional cost to play Splendid Reckoning, sacrifice any number of permanents. Draw X cards, where X is the number of sacrificed permanents.

Set yourself up for plenty of Forsythe's Denials. Hope you enjoyed it.

Next time: More flavor, this time from the walls of Nyme!

Welcome to Life and Death!

As it says in the description, this blog is going to be a showcase for my custom set, Life and Death. In each entry I will post a few of the cards, some of my comments about the cards, and also some background story for the set.

I'm going to start right off the bat with a card. I don't have a place to host images at this point in time (that may change), and these blogs don't seem to allow attachments, so you'll have to forgive me that the cards will be in text form for now.

Redea, Elvish Chieftain
2GG
Rare
Legendary Creature--Elf Shaman
T: Redea, Elvish Chieftain deals 1 damage to each attacking white, blue, black, red, or colorless creature. Those creatures don't untap during their controller's next untap step.
You may enter Zarnesh only on my terms.
3/4

Redea is the chieftain of a xenophobic tribe of Elves that live in the Zarnesh forest, near the edge of the Sheshner desert. In that desert was an oasis that has since dried up as the humans built their city Nyme. Redea blames the humans for the destruction of the natural spring, and led a battle against them 500 years ago. The elves nearly destroyed Nyme, but she let those who lived stay there, warning not to interfere with the process of natur any further.

Since then, the humans have built up the city into a thriving metropolis, and has made much of the land fertile, thanks to an enormous irrigation system from the island archipelago Lesak. 20 years ago, upset that once again the humans were changing nature's course, Redea led another battle against the humans. This time, the elves were outnumbered and encountering fiercer opposition, and Redea was almost defeated. When the fighting stopped, the government of Nyme and Redea and her council signed a pact of non-agression, a term of which any human or elf making a hostile act towards the other race can constitute an act of war. Redea keeps her elves in the forest now, careful not to break the pact, which would seem to mean the end of her and her tribe.

A few humans have decided to join Redea and her cause, championing the fight against the destruction of nature. Her ancient wisdom and Elvish magic can sense whether or not the new druid's cause suits her. Redea sits in Zarnesh as her tribe gains strength. She knows that if she ever attacks Nyme again, Nyme will fall.

Here's a couple of more cards that show off some of the flavor of Redea and her elves.

Leafmaker
1G
Creature--Elf Shaman
Uncommon
T: All mana in your mana pool becomes green.
"We strive to make all magic pure." -Redea
2/2

Elvish Natural
1G
Creature--Elf Shaman
Common
1G, sacrifice a permanent: Destroy target enchantment.
The Naturals took on Redea's image, for she was considered the most pure.
1/1

Phobia
2G
Enchantment--Aura
Uncommon
Enchant white, blue, black, red, or colorless creature
Enchanted creature has "When you control a forest, sacrifice this creature."
"You are not allowed here." -Redea

Zarnesh Druid
G
Creature--Human Druid
Common
Whenever Zarnesh Druid blocks or is blocked by a white, blue, black, red, or colorless creature, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Redea's first lesson to those few humans who kept her company was xenophobia.
1/1

Mechanically, the Elves are very xenophobic, and only appreciate the "pure," that is, loyal to green mana, thus the "white, blue, black, red, or colorless" versus "nongreen." A multicolored card, green-white for example, isn't pure enough for Redea to trust. Redea is a conduit for much of the green mana in the Zarnesh forest, so many of the other creatures in the forest also follow the hate of the unpure, and even the forest itself. I'll leave you with one more card.

Vast Maze of Zarnesh
2GGG
Enchantment
Rare
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a forest or sacrifice Vast Maze of Zarnesh.
White, blue, black, red, and colorless creatures don't untap during their controller's untap step.