Crystal Expanse
Land - Desert T: Add C.
When Crystal Expanse is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card.
Development Site*
Land T: Add C. T: Add CC. Activate this ability only if Development Site is fortified.
Exploited Reaches
Land - Desert
When Exploited Reaches enters the battlefield, create a tapped Treasure token. T: Add C.
Fertile Wastes
Land - Desert T: Add C. T, pay 1 life: Untap target basic land
Harsh Tundra*
Snow Land - Desert
When Harsh Tundra enters the battlefield, scry 1. T: Add C.
Historical Archives*
Land T: Add C. T: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a legendary spell or to activate an ability of a legendary permanent.
Mana Storage*
Land
Storage 1 T: Add C.
Removage a storage counter, T: Add one mana of any color.
Mining City*
Land
When Mining City enters the battlefield, tap target untapped land you control and put a drought counter on it. (A land with a drought counter is a Desert with “T: Add C.” and loses all its other types and abilities.) T: Add one mana of any color.
UNCOMMON LAND 5/10
Caravan Way
Land - Desert
Storage 1 (This permanent enters the battlefield with one storage counter.) T: Add C. 2, T, remove a storage counter from Caravan Way: Draw a card.
Desolated Battlefield
Land - Desert T: Add C. 3, T, Sacrifice Desolated Battlefield: Destroy target nonbasic land. Its controller creates a Treasure token.
Private Wunderkammer*
Land
Storage 1 (This permanent enters the battlefield with one storage counter.) T: Add C for every storage counter on Private Wunderkammer.
Rainbow Cavern*
Land - Cave T: Add C. T: Add one mana of any color. Activate this ability only if Rainbow Cavern is fortified or enchanted.
Secret Room*
Land
Hexproof
T: Add C.
*present in the bonus sheet, for an increased chance of opening them
FYI, daruda will also put stun counters on your lands the way its worded. Was that your intent?
Yep, it's a drawing because it is strong. The supposed gameplan with him is to turn your island into desert with drought counter and avoid the drawback while also triggering Desertmass. You can also play land untappers.
Now that you've shown off these marquee cards, the meat and potatoes of the set are the commons. How can you show the way you intent to flesh these factions out in a way that wil be playable and allow for a lot of depth in design?
Idk if i will start with the white common or the colorless common (probably the latter). I'm still refining the skeleton to decide the exact number of multicolored and colorless cards. I'm feeling a little short on land and fortification space.
As a note, posting your future designs as text rather than image files - especially for large batches of cards - will make it easier for people to read and respond to your designs.
Oh, that is extremely bothersome but i'm gonna try
Now that the main commanders are ready, i will start to work with the commons.
But first, a little presentation for the last two mechanics. They are general mechanics, not tied to a specific faction.
Storage X (This land enters the battlefield with X storage counters.)
This ability appears on nonbasic lands, because they will often require storage counters to be activated. Those counters are a powerful resource and there will be plenty of ways to interact with them.
Landmass X: If you control X lands, -effect-
Landmass can become Basic Landmass, Forestmass, Islandmass, Desertmass and so on.
This mechanic will be extremely useful to turn draft chaff into something relevant even in late game. It's a way to have strong, efficient creatures while keeping the costs low.
I'm thinking to add Landcycling too but i'm not sure. Maybe there are already too many mechanics?
The last combination is grixis, in this set called KHORR
Khorr is a arid desert. It was home of ancient, powerful kingdoms, but now every natural resources is depleted. Pirates inhabit the land, using magic to navigate the sands as they were water.
The faction theme is Deserts and drought counters. Drought counters have the rulings ""A land with a flood counter is Desert and the ability "T: Add 1" and loses all its other types and abilities".
Flood counters are also present in this faction. There is also a pirate tribal theme and a small treasure subtheme.
The faction gameplan is disruption control, messing with the opponents' lands and winning with evasive creatures.
These are the legendaries:
Grixis legendaries where extremely hard to make, i hope they are good and fun enough.
The fourth combination is sultai, in this set called DEEPTRENCH
Deeptrench is a really deep sea. In the dark depths countless, enourmous sea monsters swim and feed. Deeptrench include a mangove swamp inhabited by merfolk. Those merfolks cultivates algae and plancton to keep the monsters sated and peaceful... until they need them.
The faction theme is SEA MONSTERS! SEA MONSTERS FOR EVERYONE!
There is also flood counters. In this set, flood counters now automatically have the ruling "A land with a flood counter is an Island in addition to its other types".
There is also a big plant subtheme. Plant tokens are used to survive early game and can be sacrificed for resources.
The faction gameplan is aggro battlecruiser, surviving the early game to steamroll late game with powerful sea monsters.
These are the legendaries:
Sultai legendaries are all monothematic, they all play around sea monsters. BUT they all play with them in a different way. You have go tall/voltron, go wide, support and reanimator.
Is the intention with Layleva that you get the Elf when you choose not to mill, or when you mill but don’t return a land? The multiple If-then statements make that ambiguous.
Mmmh you are right. Any way to word it better? The idea is that the sacrifice and the mill ability are a may. If you fail to return something after milling, at least you get an elf back
For Kristik, note that granting Ward in response to a spell or ability targeting it doesn’t do anything - ward is a triggered ability that triggers of being targeted so once the spell or ability is on the stack getting ward afterwards is too later for it to trigger.
Damn i guess you are right. Any way for it to work? Should it be a triggered ability when targeted?
The third combination is abzan, in this set called QUALLINAR
Quallinar is a mystic forest inhabited by elves, but also dryads, avatars, spirits and other magical creatures. They have been isolated for centuries, but now Kram can dispel their magic wards and is ready to attack the ancient forest.
The faction mechanic is Constellation. Pretty simple. There is also a pretty strong Elf tribal theme.
The faction gameplan is aggro midrange, using abzan attrition cards to transition into lategame successfully.
These are the legendaries:
Abzan legendaries are very different fron nayan ones. They are way more different and specialized. Idk if that's good for the draft environment, but i like them. Skittik is the long lost brother from another mother of Cantovenator, i hope it is not too strong too.
The mechanic is "Spend only mana produced by basic lands to cast this spell." (yeah it's Imperiosaur)
What does sound cooler to an english speaker? Untainted or Uncontaminated?
Payoff for Rokudo is a little bit weak. I would have it add a counter for each different basic land type used to cast. (ex if you tap mountain and 2 forests, it gets two +1/+1 counters).
Note that Rokudo can trigger himself, entering as a 3/3 menace trample. But yeah, maybe i should switch him and Melara for the rarity.
The second combination is naya, in this set called UMYUK
Umyuk is the opposite of Kram. Umyuk people are all about living in the nature, being part of the ecosystem, both as predators and as preys. So they are all about basic lands.
This faction mechanic is "Uncontaminated", which means "spend only mana produced by basic lands to cast this spell". It's basically Imperiosaur: the mechanic.
Since making a whole faction about a drawback mechanic sucks, Uncontaminated won't be as prevalent as other mechanics, it's just here to enforce the basic-lands-matter theme. The theme will be executed by other, more lax effects.
The gameplan is to ramp basic lands. You can either ramp into fatties (representing dangerous predators) or into small, efficient creatures (representing the Umyuk hunters). To make weenie aggro viable in a commander environment, these creatures will be extremely keyword efficient. Think like Swiftblade Vindicator being a big subtheme in this faction.
To help the small creatures, there will also be an aura subtheme. This will link the Umyuk cards with the abzan cards (abzan is enchatress).
These are the legendaries:
I'm really happy with the naya legends honestly. They are all flexible enough to be built in different ways, letting you use every card and every subtheme of the faction. But they can also be built around with highly synergistic cards.
My only doubt is Cantovenator, i think it's too pushed.
I would just change "UX03" to a vehicle. You can make the crew cost something like "Tap a basic land".
That could work, but it would fondamentally change one main thing: you don't have a Fortification in your command zone anymore.
I'm thinking about two solutions:
- keep it as it is. It's still not an official card, i can make it so it works in my set.
- give the fortified land double strike. Dealing 21 commander damage eliminates a player exactly as dealing 40 damage, so doubling the land's damage would keep it worthy. It's a big buff tho.
Unfortunately, UX03 doesn't work the way you want it to for "Commander Damage". From a rules standpoint, there is no such thing as "commander damage", but rather a rule that "a player who has been dealt 21 damage by any commander loses the game". While the intention of your card is understandable, the templating for it to work doesn't exist outside of it being a silver/acorn type design.
Isn't any way for it to work? Because it's quite important for the design
On a larger scale, if your intention is designing for a commander draft, you should be fine basing your plans on the 20 draft pack model. There's not a new commander draft set in the expected future, so no indication how the draft/set/play booster model would effect those types of products.
That's why i'm following Karlov Manor skeleton and i will follow Karlov Manor booster composition
By drating 4 boosters of 15 cards, the number of total cards will be same as drafting 3 booster of 20 cards. The extra rares from the bonus sheet will also make it similar to drafting double-rares booster. Or at least that's my idea. Thos way it can also be drafted as a normal set, or the booster can be mixed with the next set i'll make to create a superchaotic experience where all the tricolor combination are represented.
My only concern for you is that fortifications (even with a reconfigure type riff) are incredibly narrow for usable and game relevant design space. I think you will likely have a difficult time finding enough depth to make a full theme for your set around them.
The theme of set is Technology VS nature, which is mechanically manifested by fortifications, but also land manipulation and basic lands matter. Fortification is just the central theme of Kram, but they will no be important for the green factions.
Still, colorless fortifications (and nonbasic lands) will help the whole draft because of color identity.
updated UX03, i'm quite satisfied now (well, except for the ruling). Also made the other legendary
I think the Kram face legendaries are good, they represent the faction's theme while also providing many different playstyle.
First cards designed will be a cycle of tricolor legendaries. 2 rares and 2 mythics for five tricolor combinations: jeskai, naya, sultai, abzan and grixis.
These legends will be the foundation of the commander draft, but will be accompanied by other 20-25 legendary creatures (most of them bicolor) designed after.
The first combination is jeskai, in this set called KRAM
Kram is all about technology and progress, so its themes are Fortifications and nonbasic lands. The gameplan is mainly control one, aiming to accumulate resources through the combination of nonbasic lands and fortifications to outlast your opponents and win. These are the legendaries:
I hope that the mythic ones are not too strong and i think that the rare one is a little weak.
I have not yet a good idea for the last legendary. Maybe something that sacrificies nonbasic lands for big tokens. I'm accepting suggestions.
This set as a big tricolor theme and also a nonbasic land&fortifications theme (darksteel garrison for reference). It is meant to be commander-drafted (so playing in 4 players at 40 life) without any partner or similar shenanigans. Players will open 4 packs instead of 3.
This is the skeleton of the set
81 commons
16 colorless
12 white
12 blue
12 black
12 red
12 green
5 multicolors
100 uncommons
15 colorless
12 white
12 blue
12 black
12 red
12 green
25 multicolors
60 rares
10 colorless
5 white
5 blue
5 black
5 red
5 green
25 multicolors
20 mitics
5 colorless (maybe 1 will be pentacolor)
1 white
1 blue
1 black
1 red
1 green
10 multicolors
There will also be a bonus sheet made of 80 cards: 40 will be tricolor legendary creatures (20 rares and 20 mythics) and 40 will be fortifications and nonbasic lands (from various rarities). This will strenghten the set's themes.
I'm trying to follow the new set design rules made after the cancellation of draft boosters. That means less common and a "list" (in my case the bonus sheet) of extra cards appearing in the set.
I will edit the post as long as i create the cards
COMMON LANDS 8/8
Crystal Expanse
Land - Desert
T: Add C.
When Crystal Expanse is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card.
Development Site*
Land
T: Add C.
T: Add CC. Activate this ability only if Development Site is fortified.
Exploited Reaches
Land - Desert
When Exploited Reaches enters the battlefield, create a tapped Treasure token.
T: Add C.
Fertile Wastes
Land - Desert
T: Add C.
T, pay 1 life: Untap target basic land
Harsh Tundra*
Snow Land - Desert
When Harsh Tundra enters the battlefield, scry 1.
T: Add C.
Historical Archives*
Land
T: Add C.
T: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a legendary spell or to activate an ability of a legendary permanent.
Mana Storage*
Land
Storage 1
T: Add C.
Removage a storage counter, T: Add one mana of any color.
Mining City*
Land
When Mining City enters the battlefield, tap target untapped land you control and put a drought counter on it. (A land with a drought counter is a Desert with “T: Add C.” and loses all its other types and abilities.)
T: Add one mana of any color.
UNCOMMON LAND 5/10
Caravan Way
Land - Desert
Storage 1 (This permanent enters the battlefield with one storage counter.)
T: Add C.
2, T, remove a storage counter from Caravan Way: Draw a card.
Desolated Battlefield
Land - Desert
T: Add C.
3, T, Sacrifice Desolated Battlefield: Destroy target nonbasic land. Its controller creates a Treasure token.
Private Wunderkammer*
Land
Storage 1 (This permanent enters the battlefield with one storage counter.)
T: Add C for every storage counter on Private Wunderkammer.
Rainbow Cavern*
Land - Cave
T: Add C.
T: Add one mana of any color. Activate this ability only if Rainbow Cavern is fortified or enchanted.
Secret Room*
Land
Hexproof
T: Add C.
*present in the bonus sheet, for an increased chance of opening them
Yep, it's a drawing because it is strong. The supposed gameplan with him is to turn your island into desert with drought counter and avoid the drawback while also triggering Desertmass. You can also play land untappers.
Idk if i will start with the white common or the colorless common (probably the latter). I'm still refining the skeleton to decide the exact number of multicolored and colorless cards. I'm feeling a little short on land and fortification space.
Oh, that is extremely bothersome but i'm gonna try
Now that the main commanders are ready, i will start to work with the commons.
But first, a little presentation for the last two mechanics. They are general mechanics, not tied to a specific faction.
Storage X (This land enters the battlefield with X storage counters.)
This ability appears on nonbasic lands, because they will often require storage counters to be activated. Those counters are a powerful resource and there will be plenty of ways to interact with them.
Landmass X: If you control X lands, -effect-
Landmass can become Basic Landmass, Forestmass, Islandmass, Desertmass and so on.
This mechanic will be extremely useful to turn draft chaff into something relevant even in late game. It's a way to have strong, efficient creatures while keeping the costs low.
I'm thinking to add Landcycling too but i'm not sure. Maybe there are already too many mechanics?
Khorr is a arid desert. It was home of ancient, powerful kingdoms, but now every natural resources is depleted. Pirates inhabit the land, using magic to navigate the sands as they were water.
The faction theme is Deserts and drought counters. Drought counters have the rulings ""A land with a flood counter is Desert and the ability "T: Add 1" and loses all its other types and abilities".
Flood counters are also present in this faction. There is also a pirate tribal theme and a small treasure subtheme.
The faction gameplan is disruption control, messing with the opponents' lands and winning with evasive creatures.
These are the legendaries:
Grixis legendaries where extremely hard to make, i hope they are good and fun enough.
Deeptrench is a really deep sea. In the dark depths countless, enourmous sea monsters swim and feed. Deeptrench include a mangove swamp inhabited by merfolk. Those merfolks cultivates algae and plancton to keep the monsters sated and peaceful... until they need them.
The faction theme is SEA MONSTERS! SEA MONSTERS FOR EVERYONE!
There is also flood counters. In this set, flood counters now automatically have the ruling "A land with a flood counter is an Island in addition to its other types".
There is also a big plant subtheme. Plant tokens are used to survive early game and can be sacrificed for resources.
The faction gameplan is aggro battlecruiser, surviving the early game to steamroll late game with powerful sea monsters.
These are the legendaries:
Sultai legendaries are all monothematic, they all play around sea monsters. BUT they all play with them in a different way. You have go tall/voltron, go wide, support and reanimator.
Mmmh you are right. Any way to word it better? The idea is that the sacrifice and the mill ability are a may. If you fail to return something after milling, at least you get an elf back
Damn i guess you are right. Any way for it to work? Should it be a triggered ability when targeted?
Quallinar is a mystic forest inhabited by elves, but also dryads, avatars, spirits and other magical creatures. They have been isolated for centuries, but now Kram can dispel their magic wards and is ready to attack the ancient forest.
The faction mechanic is Constellation. Pretty simple. There is also a pretty strong Elf tribal theme.
The faction gameplan is aggro midrange, using abzan attrition cards to transition into lategame successfully.
These are the legendaries:
Abzan legendaries are very different fron nayan ones. They are way more different and specialized. Idk if that's good for the draft environment, but i like them. Skittik is the long lost brother from another mother of Cantovenator, i hope it is not too strong too.
What does sound cooler to an english speaker? Untainted or Uncontaminated?
Note that Rokudo can trigger himself, entering as a 3/3 menace trample. But yeah, maybe i should switch him and Melara for the rarity.
EDIT: updated version of UX03
"These cards are bad. Except the ones that are broken. Well, they are broken".
Wizards from the Beyond completely destroy the format both conceptually and from a power level perspective.
Umyuk is the opposite of Kram. Umyuk people are all about living in the nature, being part of the ecosystem, both as predators and as preys. So they are all about basic lands.
This faction mechanic is "Uncontaminated", which means "spend only mana produced by basic lands to cast this spell". It's basically Imperiosaur: the mechanic.
Since making a whole faction about a drawback mechanic sucks, Uncontaminated won't be as prevalent as other mechanics, it's just here to enforce the basic-lands-matter theme. The theme will be executed by other, more lax effects.
The gameplan is to ramp basic lands. You can either ramp into fatties (representing dangerous predators) or into small, efficient creatures (representing the Umyuk hunters). To make weenie aggro viable in a commander environment, these creatures will be extremely keyword efficient. Think like Swiftblade Vindicator being a big subtheme in this faction.
To help the small creatures, there will also be an aura subtheme. This will link the Umyuk cards with the abzan cards (abzan is enchatress).
These are the legendaries:
I'm really happy with the naya legends honestly. They are all flexible enough to be built in different ways, letting you use every card and every subtheme of the faction. But they can also be built around with highly synergistic cards.
My only doubt is Cantovenator, i think it's too pushed.
That could work, but it would fondamentally change one main thing: you don't have a Fortification in your command zone anymore.
I'm thinking about two solutions:
- keep it as it is. It's still not an official card, i can make it so it works in my set.
- give the fortified land double strike. Dealing 21 commander damage eliminates a player exactly as dealing 40 damage, so doubling the land's damage would keep it worthy. It's a big buff tho.
Isn't any way for it to work? Because it's quite important for the design
That's why i'm following Karlov Manor skeleton and i will follow Karlov Manor booster composition
The theme of set is Technology VS nature, which is mechanically manifested by fortifications, but also land manipulation and basic lands matter. Fortification is just the central theme of Kram, but they will no be important for the green factions.
Still, colorless fortifications (and nonbasic lands) will help the whole draft because of color identity.
updated UX03, i'm quite satisfied now (well, except for the ruling). Also made the other legendary
These legends will be the foundation of the commander draft, but will be accompanied by other 20-25 legendary creatures (most of them bicolor) designed after.
The first combination is jeskai, in this set called KRAM
Kram is all about technology and progress, so its themes are Fortifications and nonbasic lands. The gameplan is mainly control one, aiming to accumulate resources through the combination of nonbasic lands and fortifications to outlast your opponents and win. These are the legendaries:
I hope that the mythic ones are not too strong and i think that the rare one is a little weak.
I have not yet a good idea for the last legendary. Maybe something that sacrificies nonbasic lands for big tokens. I'm accepting suggestions.
This set as a big tricolor theme and also a nonbasic land&fortifications theme (darksteel garrison for reference). It is meant to be commander-drafted (so playing in 4 players at 40 life) without any partner or similar shenanigans. Players will open 4 packs instead of 3.
This is the skeleton of the set
81 commons
16 colorless
12 white
12 blue
12 black
12 red
12 green
5 multicolors
100 uncommons
15 colorless
12 white
12 blue
12 black
12 red
12 green
25 multicolors
60 rares
10 colorless
5 white
5 blue
5 black
5 red
5 green
25 multicolors
20 mitics
5 colorless (maybe 1 will be pentacolor)
1 white
1 blue
1 black
1 red
1 green
10 multicolors
There will also be a bonus sheet made of 80 cards: 40 will be tricolor legendary creatures (20 rares and 20 mythics) and 40 will be fortifications and nonbasic lands (from various rarities). This will strenghten the set's themes.
I'm trying to follow the new set design rules made after the cancellation of draft boosters. That means less common and a "list" (in my case the bonus sheet) of extra cards appearing in the set.
I will edit the post as long as i create the cards
EDIT: map of the world