Fair enough. Actually, I've been thinking of buying booster boxes at the deflated price from prime and then doing drafts with friends, charging them around $11 to join and letting them keep the cards. That way I can probably make my money back and get a fair number of cards.
I really want to start a collection for standard (I only have several year old cards, save a draft I just went to). I think a booster box would be a nice, fun way to start one once BFZ comes out. I here a lot of people saying it's not worth it, but... I have amazon prime. I can get it for around $107, free shipping.
So, I reread the thread and I figured out a system that could work well for this. I feel like you guys are going too complex, and are being far too restricted by what is considered standard Magic. This is for limited only, correct? If that's the case, there's an easy workaround that it looks like none of you have thought of yet (correct me if I'm wrong):
Have only 1 basic land: Wasteland. It gives one colorless mana. That is the only basic land provided to you, and the only one found in booster packs. All colored mana comes from spells and non basic lands.
There'd be a slew of common cards that can be used for colorless mana. Many of these can give colored mana, like:
4 mana: enchantment. Enchant land. Enchanted land has "Tap, add 1 green mana to your mana pool"
or
2 mana: Creature. 1/1. Tap, 1 colorless. Add 1 red mana to your mana pool.
There'd be a handful of cycles like that, but long story short colored mana is hard to come by, but you can pretty easily build a deck in limited that can guarantee you get some. And then, you get some comparatively strong cards for lower mana costs using colored mana. How strong? Well, we'll have to wait and see what's best.
There'd probably be some Eldrazi that work in all decks, too.
Also, petition to call this plane the codename "Eldrazified" until we get something official.
I'm building a set for a fandom, but I want it to actually have some good design philosophy behind it, so I've been designing some mechanics around it. This is the first one I have. I originally called this memento, but I think I'll call it inscribe. It's an ability word where you "inscribe" a card from your, and opponents, or any graveyard onto the card. It can be a creature, a land, or whatever. It all depends on the card. Here's an example:
Inscribe-When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may exile a creature from a graveyard inscribed onto CARDNAME. CARDNAME gets +X/+X were X is the inscribed creature's power.
Is that worded right? And what do you think of the ability word? The theme of the set right now is being aware of what cards are in the graveyard and interacting with them, with some supporting mechanics based around sending them to the graveyard (Hellbent, mill cards, etc.).
I highly doubt the exiling will get past simply getting back exiling lands for the most part (helping with ramp and such). There might be more exiling, but outright stealing exiled cards is something that's dangerous to do. Oblivion Sower itself is something I never thought would get past R&D, so can't say I really can say for sure. I don't think we want a repeat of yugioh, where exiling/banishing became nothing but a second graveyard.
I'm afraid Ugin is too valuable to have his price diminished like that, as other people have said. Not that I wouldn't mind Nicol Boals vs. Ugin, but it's not happening.
We're definaitely getting at least 1 legendary. The choices are Emrakul (probably not happening), Kozilek (draw 4), and Ulamog (indestructible). I think I'd like Ulamog the most, but something about Kozilek is making me think it's him.
The face card of the Eldrazi deck is Oblivion Sower. Chances to get an Eldrazi titan as a "normal" card of the 60? More or less 0% ... we're "definitely" not getting a Legendary Eldrazi in this product, or at least not one of the three mentioned: if there's a new specific Eldrazi character (probably far less powerful) they're likely to introduce, that's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Are we for real having Oblivion Sower as the cover card? That's... kinda weak. I guess it does make sense, since I don't think they want any of their titans to become easy to obtain, but man that's pretty weak.
The point you made about other legendaries is interesting. Could any of the spawn one day grow up into something more...?
You know, while I originally came up with the idea of using liliana to get the big guys, I've found I have much more success during simulation draws getting them through windbrisk heights. I might abandon the black part and go white green, so I can have a mana ramp back-up. I'll experiment with that.
I'll also keep what you said in mind if I want to revamp this deck. Can't say I know what black tron is, and google hasn't given me anything. Thanks.
That's the draft I have right now. The deck is intended for something that I won't be bringing to any tournaments, but I can bring to local get togethers of people who aren't newbs. I want it to be fun but also fairly effective. I pretty much put in the cards that make the deck concept what it is and then filled it with cards I felt were good. My biggest worry is that it doesn't have much to do before it hits 3 mana. I feel its mana curve in general could use some work, and I'm not sure whether or not I have too many of some cards, or if there are cards that can do what I want better.
I probably won't be making this exact deck (if at all). I'll focus on buying the cards I need the most for it (dual lands, liliana, profane command, some eldrazi, probably not all of the ones I have up there).
If nothing else it's a fun enough concept to come up with and I want to iron it out.
Anyways, If you guys have any advice for improving this, which I'm sure it needs, please let me know. (sorry if I'm a noob and I've made some huge mistakes designing it).
I'd kill for something fetchable, but we just had the shock lands so I doubt it. What if it was something like
LANDNAME
Tap: add W to your mana pool
Swamp cycling 2
heck I could see those being fetchable
I don't think that's been done before, and I think that may be interesting.
Edit: I'm thinking on whether or not it should enter the battlefield tapped. It is a rare cycle, but is it okay to just be a strictly better basic? (Besides, you know, getting red mooned and the such).
The thing with allies is that most of the cards work standalone. You could have, say, 30% of your creatures be allies and it would still work well enough as a mechanic. It worked all right in limited for me, at least. Of course it won't be that effective but duel decks have never exactly been tournament material.
I don't think we should get our hopes up for the eldrazi cards in the eldrazi deck. I doubt we'll get Emrakul. I can see us getting some of the milder common ones like Hand of Emrakul or Crusher and an original or 2 like that new guy we've seen that eats lands, for the most part at least. I'm definitely hoping for at least one It that Betrays, since it seems like a lot of fun, but we're only going to be getting so many rares, and only so many of those will be creatures. You can expect most eldrazi titans to be commons/uncommons.
We're definaitely getting at least 1 legendary. The choices are Emrakul (probably not happening), Kozilek (draw 4), and Ulamog (indestructible). I think I'd like Ulamog the most, but something about Kozilek is making me think it's him.
Second Cast -- this is flashback. How does second cast differ?
Because I forgot flashback existed. Good to know, thanks.
Oh, and thanks mondu. I'll make sure to read those things, so far I've only read nuts and bolts.
Origin I mostly included in order to work with the source material I designed this set to work with. The main idea I ad was to have cards that were originally of one color, but could either be used in a black deck or could be brought back by a black card in order to change it. There's a whole play in Sound Horizon about people coming back from the dead changed in order to exact their revenge. I suppose there could be a good way to do that that's less clunky, so i'll start thinking about that.
Renewal was something I came up with when I thought about Sound Horizon's theme of a cycle of life and death. I also intended this set for limited, which usually means smaller, 40 card decks, so the impact of shuffling a few cards back into your deck may actually be significant, especially since this will probably be on a a fair number of strong uncommons. I also wanted it to interact with a the graveyard interactions. As white you could take cards out of your graveyard for their effects. You could counter someone bringing back one of your cards with, say momento, or a revival spell, by shuffling it back in as a sort of counter. And you'd have to keep mana open to do this if you think the opponent has something in the wings like that.
I feel there is a level of elegance to how many things you could do with just shuffling a card back in your deck, but I agree it does sound like it could be a lot of work. Not to mention when designing cards I often feel like I may be designing cards just so I can use the mechanic a reasonable amount. And I feel like that's a red flag. I'll keep it as a possibility, but I may have to think of something else. I might include things in the first playtest, maybe not.
Any other ideas for mechanics I can add? because right now I just have momento and some returning ones (hellbent and flashback).
So I wanted to make a fan set based around Sound Horizon (a series of japanese rock operas. They're good, you should check them out), but I wanted it to have good mechanics and a well balanced set of cards, so I've been researching how to build a set. Before I start working on a preliminary list of commons I wanted to get advice on how I might improve these mechanics, and any mechanics I might want to bring back to compliment them.
The general theme of the set is abilities that interact with what's in the graveyard, or ones influenced by what's in the graveyard. The mechanicsI've thought up so far are:
Renewal (name TBD): By paying a card's renewal cost while it's in your graveyard, place it on the bottom of your deck and then shuffle your deck. White has a lot, blue a little less, green less than that, red less than that, and black has the least.
Second Cast (name TBD): Realized this was just flashback. ood to know, I'll use that instead.
Momento (name TBD): When this permanent comes enters the battlefield, exile a card from a graveyard as a memento that remains "attached" to the permanent until it leaves the battlefield, at which point the momento returns to the graveyard. The type of card that can be exiled and what effect it has varies card to card.
Origin (name TBA): "If you paid COLOR mana to cast CARDNAME, then CARDNAME is COLOR in addition to its other colors". It can also effect creature type. Example:
Soldier dude (C)
Creature-Human Soldier
W/2 mana cost
1/1
Origin-If B was used to cast Soldier dude, it is a black zombie in addition to its other colors and creature types.
While this card is black, it has +1/+1.
The main theme of interacting with the graveyard will work differently with each color. Each color has its own "primary theme" of how it interacts with the graveyard and a "Secndary theme" to give it more to work with.
White: It's primary theme is how it doesn't want cards in the graveyard, yours or your opponents. white cards might have abilities that only work when you have 2 or fewer creatures in your graveyard, or your opponent as 1 or fewer sorceries in theirs, etc. Has a lot of renewal and graveyard exile. Secondarily it gets extra mileage out of equipment.
Green: It's primary theme is using the memento mechanic. Secondarily, it is good at getting a lot of different mana colors besides green, and some of its activated abilities have costs in non-green mana.
Red: It's primary theme is getting rid of lands and artifacts from both sides and getting buffs for lands and artifacts being in the graveyard. Secondarily, it has hellbent effects and often discards its own cards for powerful effects.
Black: It primarily makes use of non-black cards in any graveyard. It can do things like exiling a non-black card to get a 2/2 black zombie for 1 mana. Secondarily, a lot of cards can become black zombies through origin, so it naturally has multicolored cards and puts non-black cards in its own graveyard.
Blue: It makes use of the Second cast mechanic, and its mill cards can also self mill in order to get cards into the graveyard. It also uses the renewal mechanic quite a bit, partially to shuffle your deck if you look at the top few cards of your deck and decide you don't like them. Secondarily, it handles artifacts, especially ones with activated abilities. It has ways of generating non-blue mana that only works for artifact activated abilities.
So what do you think? Concerns? Any tweeks? Mechanics I should add? Card ideas, maybe?
Thoughts?
Have only 1 basic land: Wasteland. It gives one colorless mana. That is the only basic land provided to you, and the only one found in booster packs. All colored mana comes from spells and non basic lands.
There'd be a slew of common cards that can be used for colorless mana. Many of these can give colored mana, like:
4 mana: enchantment. Enchant land. Enchanted land has "Tap, add 1 green mana to your mana pool"
or
2 mana: Creature. 1/1. Tap, 1 colorless. Add 1 red mana to your mana pool.
There'd be a handful of cycles like that, but long story short colored mana is hard to come by, but you can pretty easily build a deck in limited that can guarantee you get some. And then, you get some comparatively strong cards for lower mana costs using colored mana. How strong? Well, we'll have to wait and see what's best.
There'd probably be some Eldrazi that work in all decks, too.
Also, petition to call this plane the codename "Eldrazified" until we get something official.
Inscribe-When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may exile a creature from a graveyard inscribed onto CARDNAME. CARDNAME gets +X/+X were X is the inscribed creature's power.
Is that worded right? And what do you think of the ability word? The theme of the set right now is being aware of what cards are in the graveyard and interacting with them, with some supporting mechanics based around sending them to the graveyard (Hellbent, mill cards, etc.).
Are we for real having Oblivion Sower as the cover card? That's... kinda weak. I guess it does make sense, since I don't think they want any of their titans to become easy to obtain, but man that's pretty weak.
The point you made about other legendaries is interesting. Could any of the spawn one day grow up into something more...?
I'll also keep what you said in mind if I want to revamp this deck. Can't say I know what black tron is, and google hasn't given me anything. Thanks.
That's the draft I have right now. The deck is intended for something that I won't be bringing to any tournaments, but I can bring to local get togethers of people who aren't newbs. I want it to be fun but also fairly effective. I pretty much put in the cards that make the deck concept what it is and then filled it with cards I felt were good. My biggest worry is that it doesn't have much to do before it hits 3 mana. I feel its mana curve in general could use some work, and I'm not sure whether or not I have too many of some cards, or if there are cards that can do what I want better.
I probably won't be making this exact deck (if at all). I'll focus on buying the cards I need the most for it (dual lands, liliana, profane command, some eldrazi, probably not all of the ones I have up there).
If nothing else it's a fun enough concept to come up with and I want to iron it out.
Anyways, If you guys have any advice for improving this, which I'm sure it needs, please let me know. (sorry if I'm a noob and I've made some huge mistakes designing it).
LANDNAME
Tap: add W to your mana pool
Swamp cycling 2
heck I could see those being fetchable
I don't think that's been done before, and I think that may be interesting.
Edit: I'm thinking on whether or not it should enter the battlefield tapped. It is a rare cycle, but is it okay to just be a strictly better basic? (Besides, you know, getting red mooned and the such).
I don't think we should get our hopes up for the eldrazi cards in the eldrazi deck. I doubt we'll get Emrakul. I can see us getting some of the milder common ones like Hand of Emrakul or Crusher and an original or 2 like that new guy we've seen that eats lands, for the most part at least. I'm definitely hoping for at least one It that Betrays, since it seems like a lot of fun, but we're only going to be getting so many rares, and only so many of those will be creatures. You can expect most eldrazi titans to be commons/uncommons.
We're definaitely getting at least 1 legendary. The choices are Emrakul (probably not happening), Kozilek (draw 4), and Ulamog (indestructible). I think I'd like Ulamog the most, but something about Kozilek is making me think it's him.
Because I forgot flashback existed. Good to know, thanks.
Oh, and thanks mondu. I'll make sure to read those things, so far I've only read nuts and bolts.
Origin I mostly included in order to work with the source material I designed this set to work with. The main idea I ad was to have cards that were originally of one color, but could either be used in a black deck or could be brought back by a black card in order to change it. There's a whole play in Sound Horizon about people coming back from the dead changed in order to exact their revenge. I suppose there could be a good way to do that that's less clunky, so i'll start thinking about that.
Renewal was something I came up with when I thought about Sound Horizon's theme of a cycle of life and death. I also intended this set for limited, which usually means smaller, 40 card decks, so the impact of shuffling a few cards back into your deck may actually be significant, especially since this will probably be on a a fair number of strong uncommons. I also wanted it to interact with a the graveyard interactions. As white you could take cards out of your graveyard for their effects. You could counter someone bringing back one of your cards with, say momento, or a revival spell, by shuffling it back in as a sort of counter. And you'd have to keep mana open to do this if you think the opponent has something in the wings like that.
I feel there is a level of elegance to how many things you could do with just shuffling a card back in your deck, but I agree it does sound like it could be a lot of work. Not to mention when designing cards I often feel like I may be designing cards just so I can use the mechanic a reasonable amount. And I feel like that's a red flag. I'll keep it as a possibility, but I may have to think of something else. I might include things in the first playtest, maybe not.
Any other ideas for mechanics I can add? because right now I just have momento and some returning ones (hellbent and flashback).
The general theme of the set is abilities that interact with what's in the graveyard, or ones influenced by what's in the graveyard. The mechanicsI've thought up so far are:
Renewal (name TBD): By paying a card's renewal cost while it's in your graveyard, place it on the bottom of your deck and then shuffle your deck. White has a lot, blue a little less, green less than that, red less than that, and black has the least.
Second Cast (name TBD): Realized this was just flashback. ood to know, I'll use that instead.
Momento (name TBD): When this permanent comes enters the battlefield, exile a card from a graveyard as a memento that remains "attached" to the permanent until it leaves the battlefield, at which point the momento returns to the graveyard. The type of card that can be exiled and what effect it has varies card to card.
Origin (name TBA): "If you paid COLOR mana to cast CARDNAME, then CARDNAME is COLOR in addition to its other colors". It can also effect creature type. Example:
Soldier dude (C)
Creature-Human Soldier
W/2 mana cost
1/1
Origin-If B was used to cast Soldier dude, it is a black zombie in addition to its other colors and creature types.
While this card is black, it has +1/+1.
The main theme of interacting with the graveyard will work differently with each color. Each color has its own "primary theme" of how it interacts with the graveyard and a "Secndary theme" to give it more to work with.
White: It's primary theme is how it doesn't want cards in the graveyard, yours or your opponents. white cards might have abilities that only work when you have 2 or fewer creatures in your graveyard, or your opponent as 1 or fewer sorceries in theirs, etc. Has a lot of renewal and graveyard exile. Secondarily it gets extra mileage out of equipment.
Green: It's primary theme is using the memento mechanic. Secondarily, it is good at getting a lot of different mana colors besides green, and some of its activated abilities have costs in non-green mana.
Red: It's primary theme is getting rid of lands and artifacts from both sides and getting buffs for lands and artifacts being in the graveyard. Secondarily, it has hellbent effects and often discards its own cards for powerful effects.
Black: It primarily makes use of non-black cards in any graveyard. It can do things like exiling a non-black card to get a 2/2 black zombie for 1 mana. Secondarily, a lot of cards can become black zombies through origin, so it naturally has multicolored cards and puts non-black cards in its own graveyard.
Blue: It makes use of the Second cast mechanic, and its mill cards can also self mill in order to get cards into the graveyard. It also uses the renewal mechanic quite a bit, partially to shuffle your deck if you look at the top few cards of your deck and decide you don't like them. Secondarily, it handles artifacts, especially ones with activated abilities. It has ways of generating non-blue mana that only works for artifact activated abilities.
So what do you think? Concerns? Any tweeks? Mechanics I should add? Card ideas, maybe?