I have recently come back to Magic after a long hiatus, and after poking through my Magic folder, I found an MSE file for a set which I had abandonded. The set was going to have counter and graveyard themes. In green, the counter theme was reflected through mechanics involving spore counters. I thought I would share some of the more interesting ones with you guys.
New/Keyworded Mechanics
Sowing (At the beginning of your upkeep, put a spore counter on this card.)- This just a keywording of the traditional Thallid ability.
Gravestorm (When you play this spell, copy it for each permanent put into a graveyard this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)- I loved Storm back in the day. This is my attempt to do something similar that tied into the now defunct set's graveyard theme
Commons
Acidic Spores 2GG
Instant (C)
You may remove three spore counters from a creature you control instead of paying ~'s mana cost.
Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
Fungal Embrace 1G
Enchantment- Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has sowing.
Remove three spore counters from enchanted creature: Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play.
Fungal Power 2G
Instant (C)
Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.
Flashback- Remove two spore counters from a creature you control.
Grove Planter 1G
Enchantment (C)
When ~ comes into play, put a spore counter on target creature.
Flashback 1GG
1/2
Mycospawn GG
Creature- Saproling (C)
Remove a spore counter from ~: ~ gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
2/2
Scatter the Spores 1GG
Sorcery (C)
Put a spore counter on each creature target player controls.
Spore Pod 1G
Enchantment (C)
Sowing
Remove two spore counters from ~: Put a +1/+1 counter on target Saproling or Fungus.
Uncommons
Fungal Might [mana]2g[mana]
Enchantment- Aura (U)
Enchant Creature
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each spore counter on it.
Grove Seeder 2G
Creature- Elf Druid (U)
Sowing
Remove three spore counters from Grovian Seeder: Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play.
Sacrifice a Saproling: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
1/3
Hulking Thallid 4GG
Creature- Fungus (U)
Trample, sowing
Remove a spore counters from ~: ~ gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
5/5
Rares
Grove Botanist 2GG
Creature- Elf Druid (R) XG, Sacrifice a Saproling: Put a X/X green Fungus creature token with trample into play.
2/4
Well, that's all I have for now. I may post my thoughts on some of these if I have time later. What do you guys think about them?
Yeah, it's fan art of Assassin's Creed. Like I said, not the best picture, but it was the best I could find.
The phrase could easily read "Playing the decks less traveled" or "Choosing the decks less traveled." I just wanted to convey the idea of not following the norm.
net9: I'm not exactly sure. I've been in the process of building a new rig and haven't been able to move any documents yet (as the graphics card I ordered was DOA and my MoBo doesn't have built-in DVi ports), so I don't have access to the MSE files. However, from what I can remember, Jund is almost done, just needs some Green vs. White stuff, Naya needs some serious polishing, Esper needs some filling, and Bant and Grixis have absolutely nothing.
EDIT: Jaxck: Welcome aboard! We all look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Guess what? The last computer parts I need are finally coming! The graphics card from my initial order was DOA and I finally got around to ordering another on Tuesday. Praise the lord for rush shipping! The card should arrive before I get home from school, so I'm going to get started straight away. I'll finally get around to posting some of the decks I promised once I get MWS and what not working again.
I think we should ditch Defiance for a variety of reasons. First, I don't see how having a mechanic that is universal across all the shards fits with the flavor. As of right now, the shards remain separate, so why should the same mechanic fit them all? Second, as has been stated before, the mechanic is clunky and awkward.
However, this does not mean that the concept behind the mechanic should die. Personally I like the idea of the outgoing color fighting the incoming and so I feel we should try to find some way to represent these conflicts in such a way that we don't necessarily reference color. I'm tired and my head hurts, so I can't really think of an example of how to do this, I'm sure we can think of something.
I'm going to build the full MSE template right now before I go to bed.
re: Grixis- What about introducing Dredge in Redrawn? Maybe even Influx? I know, I know, me and my Ravnica mechanics, but Dredge is much less specific than Graft and connects much better on a more simple and evident level.
RE: "~"- HUMENS!!! (HL: Full Life Consequences, anyone?) *ahem* The second one looks better to me. Mana fixing I could see in, say Naya, whose core color is green, but not in Bant where white remains dominant.
The only custom bind I've been able to put up with is crouch jump. Granted, I play scout, pyro, and demo, so its not like I have a lot of complicated class functions to pay attention too.
And Sam, I have a baby grand. You have no right to complain.
Next thread title: How about "Yeah, we're pretty H[ARD] Core." or "The Short Bus: Not Just for R-t[ARD]s Anymore." Granted, the latter is of questionable political correctness, but still.
There are some sites out there that offer free wiki hosting. This is what a large group of the more prominent designers in the community and I planned to use a year or two ago for a MTGS custom core set. Unfortunately, the project sort of fell through, but the idea was thoroughly researched.
Also, I feel we ought to name the set. It feels wrong to make a wiki or website for it without giving it a proper name.
Death and Decay4BB
Sorcery (R)
Wither
~ deals X damage divided equally, rounded down, among any number of target creatures or players, where X is equal to the number of swamps you control. You gain that much life.
If you control a non-token, black Knight creature, at the beginning of your next upkeep, you may play ~ from your graveyard without paying its mana cost and then exile it.
Excellent article. Very well thought out. I would probably run this deck myself, but alas, I've been away from the game, so I lack playsets of everything past Tenth. I guess my PTQ aspirations must go on hold until next season. *sigh*
re: faze. My suggestion for Naya 3rd set was Selection- Fill in its teeth (When ~ comes into play, choose a creature with power 5 or greater. At the beginning of your upkeep, fill in its teeth.) A lot of creatures would have Selection- put a +1/+1 counter on it. Selection needs a better name, but I think it could work. Thoughts?
Jund, Bant, and Esper 3rd set seem to have a basic focus. Now the big problem is with Grixis, which needs a 2nd set basis and a 3rd set basis.
OK, I really like this one. It's Naya, but lacks the erroneous Simic parallels of Graft and the memory issues of Mindglue.
I still don't know about 10 power though. I fear that the effective decks will be the ones that focus on getting one creature to 10 power, at which point it will become like playing Bant. However, this would create some interesting synergy, so I guess it may not be much of an issue.
New/Keyworded Mechanics
Sowing (At the beginning of your upkeep, put a spore counter on this card.)- This just a keywording of the traditional Thallid ability.
Gravestorm (When you play this spell, copy it for each permanent put into a graveyard this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)- I loved Storm back in the day. This is my attempt to do something similar that tied into the now defunct set's graveyard theme
Commons
Acidic Spores 2GG
Instant (C)
You may remove three spore counters from a creature you control instead of paying ~'s mana cost.
Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
Fungal Embrace 1G
Enchantment- Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has sowing.
Remove three spore counters from enchanted creature: Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play.
Fungal Power 2G
Instant (C)
Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.
Flashback- Remove two spore counters from a creature you control.
Grove Planter 1G
Enchantment (C)
When ~ comes into play, put a spore counter on target creature.
Flashback 1GG
1/2
Mycospawn GG
Creature- Saproling (C)
Remove a spore counter from ~: ~ gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
2/2
Scatter the Spores 1GG
Sorcery (C)
Put a spore counter on each creature target player controls.
Spore Pod 1G
Enchantment (C)
Sowing
Remove two spore counters from ~: Put a +1/+1 counter on target Saproling or Fungus.
Uncommons
Fungal Might [mana]2g[mana]
Enchantment- Aura (U)
Enchant Creature
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each spore counter on it.
Grove Seeder 2G
Creature- Elf Druid (U)
Sowing
Remove three spore counters from Grovian Seeder: Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play.
Sacrifice a Saproling: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
1/3
Hulking Thallid 4GG
Creature- Fungus (U)
Trample, sowing
Remove a spore counters from ~: ~ gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
5/5
Rares
Grove Botanist 2GG
Creature- Elf Druid (R)
XG, Sacrifice a Saproling: Put a X/X green Fungus creature token with trample into play.
2/4
Well, that's all I have for now. I may post my thoughts on some of these if I have time later. What do you guys think about them?
Building the decks less traveled?
EDIT: Jaxck: Welcome aboard! We all look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Cheers!
However, this does not mean that the concept behind the mechanic should die. Personally I like the idea of the outgoing color fighting the incoming and so I feel we should try to find some way to represent these conflicts in such a way that we don't necessarily reference color. I'm tired and my head hurts, so I can't really think of an example of how to do this, I'm sure we can think of something.
I'm going to build the full MSE template right now before I go to bed.
Any ideas?
EDIT: And by ravishingly roguish, I mean involving the card type Rogue, in addition to its nonconformity.
RE: "~"- HUMENS!!! (HL: Full Life Consequences, anyone?) *ahem* The second one looks better to me. Mana fixing I could see in, say Naya, whose core color is green, but not in Bant where white remains dominant.
And Sam, I have a baby grand. You have no right to complain.
Also, I feel we ought to name the set. It feels wrong to make a wiki or website for it without giving it a proper name.
Sorcery (R)
Wither
~ deals X damage divided equally, rounded down, among any number of target creatures or players, where X is equal to the number of swamps you control. You gain that much life.
If you control a non-token, black Knight creature, at the beginning of your next upkeep, you may play ~ from your graveyard without paying its mana cost and then exile it.
That being said, anyone playing in the PTQ's? I probably would if I hadn't just come back from my year and a half hiatus.
OK, I really like this one. It's Naya, but lacks the erroneous Simic parallels of Graft and the memory issues of Mindglue.
I still don't know about 10 power though. I fear that the effective decks will be the ones that focus on getting one creature to 10 power, at which point it will become like playing Bant. However, this would create some interesting synergy, so I guess it may not be much of an issue.