Suppress Iteration 2.0

There are some definite rules questions about the most recent wording of suppress, particularly in the terms of what counts as an "external" modifier. In this set, mutate inherently gives creatures +1/+1 counters, and players are likely to see those as inherent modifiers to the creature, not external. But the point of suppress is deliberately to weaken mutate, so I needed to rethink the wording a bit.

Here's how it looks as I'm working with it:

So what's being specifically left out of this batch are abilities, whether they're activated, triggered, or passive. It's not going to shut down a firebreathing ability or an anthem effect on a creature. It's a deliberate choice both to give suppress itself a weakness, and also to work around what happens when you have a creature with an innate ability that determines its base power and toughness. If you suppress the abilities of Cognivore, for example, then it has an undefined power and toughness, causing all sorts of rules problems.

There is, however, another potential point of confusion I need to work through. The effect of suppress is intended to persist even if new buffs (or penalties! This also shuts down black's -X/-X stuff!) are applied. And that tends to go against how players perceive power and toughness alterations. 

How dangerous are these cards?

Over at Goblin Artisans I've got a series of "Here's what I learned" posts focused on the game design of Guilds of Ravnica (a set I really, really like).

In the entry on Izzet, I delve into how much work goes into creating a "spells matter" thematic identity that is draftable and competitive in limited environments. The lesson here is that it's a LOT of work and it's hard to do in sets that are designed around 10 color pairings being draftable. 

So, working through that is making me think about the challenges of trying to make spells matter in one way in U/B but scrying mattering in R/U and then reave in R/B and whether it's possible to design it all. I'm thinking of dumping the scrying matters concept (I'm actually thinking of dropping attempts to design for enemy color pairings entirely). 

I have thought about bringing flashback in to make U/B work better. But if I do that I'm giving the two colors way too many mechanics compared to the others. I could take mutate away from black. I might do it anyway. The color just doesn't seem to want to play with it and flavorwise, fecund is actually a better tool to show how disease and plague are being spread.

But rather than flashback, I thought about more ways to interact with the reave kicker to make and black and blue identity without bringing reave into blue.

Are these cards too powerful in the limited environment of Overgrowth?

These would be utter trash outside the game environment of Overgrowth. But it feels like they're really powerful within Overgrowth itself. Maybe they need to be uncommon? What I won't really know until playtesting is how frequently a player will be exiling a card from the graveyard.

Iterating U/B Cephalids

So as I'm designing and thinking about rarities and power levels I'm realizing the U/B cephalid identity of playing spells from outside your hand just isn't a coherent concept that can be contained within a set. Essentially much of what those types of decks do and how they win are just too powerful to represent at common. And that essentially makes U/B mostly undraftable within set. It's a constructed deck concept.

I started thinking about reave and how the mechanic interacts with blue. The reave kicker mechanic will not itself appear in blue. However, blue at all rarities is able to interact with the graveyard, particularly where instants and sorceries and sometimes even artifacts are concerned. At common it can return them from the graveyard (expensively). At higher rarities it can exile and play them. So there is some good mechanical overlap between blue and black and reave that's can be combined to encourage a style of deck where you're rewarded when sorceries or instants leave your graveyard. A couple of commons that can help set things up:

I made the trigger here a sacrifice to present the cephalids as a dark and desperate race.

Very simple, obvious reave card for common.

And the new signpost uncommon:

So both of the above cards can trigger Blightcoast Reaver's additional ability. Oh, I just now realized he has "Reaver" in his name but he doesn't actually have reave. I'll have to rename him.

I'm probably going to do some more iterating of Xirn, too. I essentially gave him the same ultimate as Jaya in order to make the old U/B dynamic work. What I need to do is give him a graveyard exile engine as his + power to help this concept.

Overgrowth Booster Examination 1

So I've templated/brainstormed about 95 cards for Overgrowth so far. There are quite a few gaps in some of the planned out archetypes, but it's enough for me to put together a not-quite-random sample of what an Overgrowth booster pack might look like and explore how well (or poorly) the set coheres.

So let's take a look at 1 Rare/Mythic, 3, Uncommons, and 10 Commons:

Rare/Mythic

This was initially rare, but as I was crafting more and more cards, I realized this is actually mythic in practice, especially within the terms of the set. Not only does it mutate, it can steal triggers of whatever an opponent might use to mutate their own creatures. Imagine if your opponent has one of the drumbeat enchantments. If they try to trigger it, you can steal the effect.

It doesn't exactly represent what blue is doing much in this set. It's just a pure limited bomb and goes well with any blue color combo. It's intended to illustrate the blue-green "grow smarter" archetype but it's so strong it doesn't require it at all. I may need to bump up the mana cost.

Uncommon 1

Now that I've nailed down the fecund mechanic, this card seems much less dangerous and I think it's fine at uncommon. It's kind of like the Amonkhet embalm lord in that it doesn't affect itself until it dies and makes a token. I thought that perhaps it should be the B/G signpost card, but fecund is also going to be in blue and white, and I don't want to given players the false impression that fecund is limited to two colors.

Uncommon 2

So this is the B/R reave signpost card. But I'm concerned about the fact that it doesn't have the reave kicker keyword on it. It facilitates reave by making sure you can trigger it across the whole turn and still get a benefit on the Corpse Kindler. So you can ignore the reave cost in a turn and still get the bonus effect. The question here is whether players will recognize when they look at a reave card that they only need to exile one card per turn, unless they've got a card that counts how many cards have been exiled.

Uncommon 3

I'm still not quite sure on the power level on this one, as well as templating the soldier tokens in this set as having first strike. That does tend to make them good against the other token creatures, but then again, they're going to be weak against the mutate creatures. Note that the ability wants you to have evasive creatures. White and blue will have their fliers (and blue will have one or two unblockables).

Common 1

So obviously this card tells you that your counters can be used in this set as more than just P/T bonuses. Potentially useful when your creature gets suppressed! And this is firmly in the G/W archetype for the set where you carefully manage your green mutate beasts by also removing counters to use a resource.

Common 2

Very simple anti-token creature red card. The R/W archetype is supposed to be about using militaristic force to deal with the creatures of the overgrowth. Since red can keep creatures from blocking, this seemed like a good way to express the dynamic. Though I could also maybe give it an ETB effect where it deals damage to a token creature and that would be on-color too.

Common 3

There are, to my surprise, no cephalids in this pack. I'm still trying to figure them out at common rarities given that the U/B focus is on playing with spells from outside of your hand. Since Xirn and the plague killing off the cephalids represents a central conflict in the set, that's a big gap right now to work on. U/B is not really playable yet.

This card itself is a neat way to encourage you to allow it to trade in order to maybe be fed to a reave trigger. Maybe it should be 3/2 to encourage aggression and increase the likelihood of a trade?

Common 4

Obviously this counterspell signals to players that you should feel comfortable exiling your own cards. So I wonder if the signaling that this is a set about exiling cards to be used as a resource is compatible with the signaling that this set is about creatures growing in size and number. To me, as somebody who had top-down designed these mechanics with an interesting story in mind, it makes sense. But I'm a little concerned that the reave mechanic doesn't appear connected to the others when you look at just the cards.

Common 5

Once you see mutate creatures, this card clearly signals that white is intended to keep them in check. So I like it, even though it's not a terribly strong combat trick. Funny thing. If you use this on a mutate creature, it will get a +1/+1 counter, but the counter won't modify its stats this turn.

I'm glad I concepted this mechanic, and it plays well in U/W, but I do worry about rules issues with it.

Common 6

This set's version of Shock. One of the very first reave cards I designed. I am concerned that the story it tells is kind of confusing and that it's not going to really be clear to players that reave represents a desperate effort to destroy plagued undead and overgrown monsters. I think I also need to have a red spell and possibly a black one as well that exiles a creature if it kills it.

Common 7

I decided to put the fecund bird in white rather than blue. I think I might give blue a small fecund crab or turtle at common to give it some strong early defenses.

Common 8

This will be the only "new" common land. Should I have common ETB tapped dual lands? Probably. The set is heavily focused on two-color decks. I do also plan to have rare dual lands for the ally colors. I'm still trying to figure out a good balance on what they do when they ETB.

Common 9

Mutate bear! An obvious gimme for the mechanic. This should hopefully signal that green is a primary color for mutate.

Common 10

This is the "Ah ha!" card for reave players to help them glue their deck together. Normally a card that could keep coming back like this would not be a common. I think it works in this set because it's parasitic. You have to cast another spell or use another ability to bring it back. But I do worry about what happens when one player is able to draft them all. It might have to be bumped to uncommon just because we need to limit the number of them. The combo with Corpse Kindler is pretty strong. We'll have to see.

The State of Overgrowth Mechanics

I think I am pretty close to what special mechanics I want to build the set with. Let's go over where things stand.

1. Mutate. When a creature with mutate is the target of a spell or ability it gets a +1/+1 counter.

Mutate is primary in green and red. It's secondary in black and blue. White does not have access.

I'm happy with the mechanic itself, but rethinking the name of it. While the mechanic does represent magical mutation, the fantasy concept of mutation also tends to involve wild variations as a result. The initial incarnation of mutate did this, but I've simplified it because it was even more parasitic than this. So I think I want to give the mechanic a name that indicates growth. It will be fun trying to find a word that hasn't already been used on green cards.

2. Reave. Reave is a kicker-type ability that allows you to exile a card from your graveyard as an additional casting cost. As with kicker abilities, the caster will be rewarded with a bonus effect if they pay the reave cost.

Reave appears only in red and black and on a couple of artifacts. It is very important to note that the bonus effect is written in such a way that it cares only if a card left your graveyard to trigger. That means it doesn't need to be the reave kicker that triggers it. Recursion spells of any kind will also count for reave cards. This matters in higher rarities, where the power of a reave bonus increases on the basis of the number of cards that have been exiled.

Also, while every card with reave on it will inherently have a bonus effect, there will also be cards with abilities that care about cards leaving your graveyard that don't have reave on them. This allows for permanents with recurring triggers to reward repeat use of reave.

3. Fecund. When a non-token creature with fecund dies, create a token copy of it.

Fecund will appear on all five colors, but primarily in green and white.

It's not the most innovative mechanic, but I feel like it's a very intuitive way of representing quick reproduction. Fecund will appear only on small animal creatures, not sentient races.

4. Suppress. When a creature is the target of suppress, it is unaffected by external power and toughness changes.

Suppress will appear only in blue and white. A creature can be suppressed for just a turn or for longer.

I have a feeling the rules text will need more tweaking after playtesting, but I like how the concept of it serves as a counter to mutate and reave bonuses that buff creatures.

Overgrowth Equipment

A de-emphasis on creature auras so that mutate doesn't get too oppressive creates a need for equipment for decks that aren't going to be having significant access to mutate or growth mechanics.

But Guthreham under Janell's rule has a massive cultural opposition to artifacts, and they tend to end up destroyed when found.

So I came up with a trio of uncommon artifacts that can be used, but then sacrificed for value if the need arises. Granted, the flavor isn't exactly perfect if the player gets to decide whether to destroy the artifact. But it's sort of a compromise and the set really needs these guys, I think.

Altogether this puts the set at about a dozen artifacts, and that seems about right. In common there's a mana helper and a bunch of simple artifact creatures. Then equipment at uncommon. Then some weird stuff at rare and mythic.

Iterating Suppress

Doing some brainstorming about how Suppress might work as it's fleshed out. It is kind of similar to detain or tap spells, but with a different feel that seems appropriate for Overgrowth's emphasis on growing creatures.

So I've reworded the text a bit and also made it so it can be both an end-of-turn effect or also an ongoing aura.

So to make it clearer in the rules, it won't affect any sort of power and toughness alterations that are endemic to the creature itself. That gives the mechanic a little bit of a weakness, but it also makes it more clear and avoids a lot of rules conflicts.

I do realize that using words like "unaffected" and "external" might cause some level of confusion. I want to make it clear that it doesn't destroy auras or equipment or even counters. They just don't "affect" the creature. And I think this wording sets it up that additional combat tricks or buffs in response also don't work. I think. This will obviously need to be playtested quite a bit.

Fecund 4.0!

Yeah, I know. But trying to make limited creature duplication is a challenge. So here, now, I'm essentially making a keyword out of a trigger that already exists in Magic.

There's typically something in a set that gives a bit of a spin on this. Currently we've got Hunted Witness in Guilds of Ravnica. This is an uber-simple version. It simply makes a token version of itself when it dies. Token versions don't create duplicates when they die. So it doesn't essentially create immortal little vermin creatures that keep coming back. But it does create some nice B/G autorecursion of small creatures that feels very on-color.

It also allows this type of card.

The one thing I worry about with this, though, is that these creature types seem already primed for inclusion of fecund within this set. We'll have to see when I really start fleshing out the commons.

Trading Out Detain for "Suppress"

Detain doesn't seem to be fitting well, though I do need a mechanic in U/W that matches the controlling/defensive/reactive playstyle I want for them.

Blue and white both have the ability to alter and set a creature's base power and toughness. What if I gave them a mechanic that essentially temporarily represses power and toughness boosts?

So the big question here is what it means rules-wise that a creature loses all modifiers. What I have in mind is anything from instant effects, enchantments, equipment, and even counters that alter a creature's base power and toughness. But what does that do to */* creatures? Typically when U/W meddles with a creatures abilities or removes their abilities the ability gives the creature a base power and toughness to avoid a situation where a creature has an undefined power or toughness. Does this effect abilities that set a base power and toughness on a creature?

Krunanan, Skyprodder

I had an idea in mind that deep within the "Untended Cradle" is a creature that had evolved itself enough over a long period of time to become secretly extremely powerful U/G creature that manipulates in subtle, psychic ways, some of the high-speed evolution taking place there.

This eventually made me think of a highly intelligent dragon that the humanoid races of Guthreham are completely unaware exists.

And then as I was thinking about my U/G theme of self-directed evolution I hit on the idea of creatures learning to control triggered abilities. Multitriggering abilities has become an interesting, janky component of blue's identity. Tying it to a creature's abilities seems green. So I end up with Krunanan, here:

This card just seems like it's going to break stuff, but unfortunately I'm not really good at mentally recalling/thinking about what has been published in the past. I've attached it to an attack trigger and then set it target a single other creature to gatekeep it just a little bit.

Within the set itself, you can use it to trigger pretty much all the special abilities in this set. Mutate and Fecund are both triggered abilities. Reave itself is a casting cost, so it doesn't trigger reave, but if there's a creature with an ability that triggers when you pay a reave cost, you can trigger that.

I also had a story idea in my head that Krunanan becomes evolved enough to "spark" and becomes a planeswalker with a build-around focus on creature abilities. I'm still brainstorming what that might look like.

If You Reave, I Won't Cry

Given the parasitic nature of reave and things triggered when cards are reaved (riven? whatevs), I'm a little concerned about its playability in limited. So I decided there should be a cycle of common sorcery/instant spells that would typically be used as useful if not terribly exciting tools for sealed/draft 40-card decks. The twist is that there's a bonus if they get exiled from anywhere. So you're essentially double-dipping with reave. The reave card itself gives you some sort of bonus if you exile a card from the graveyard. These cards also do something when they're exiled.

The bonus on this one is not terribly exciting. But it could be useful if you're playing W/B and need to be reaving out cards to make zombies in order to survive.

Keep in mind how this also triggers if you exile a card off the top of your library but are still able to cast it. Which you can do with Plundered Sanctum. And don't forget about effects that let you play a spell from your graveyard and then exile it.

The familiar land tutor. Note how this significantly boosts R/G if you reave it out and have creatures with the mutate ability. Each one you untap gets a +1/+1 counter.

Ashen Illumination as the typical discard/draw red card also has the bonus of putting another card in your graveyard for potential reaving. I haven't designed it yet, but I'm sure there will be a red spell of some sort that will let you exile, then cast the top card of your library in some fashion. Which means that if Ashen Illumination is the top card of your library it will cost only 1 colorless to cast (plus the discard).

This one might be too powerful for common, given that black has primary access to reave and other reave effects that create zombie tokens.

It actually taps for colorless mana, but I think the Magic Set Editor is old and doesn't have that symbol. I think I'm going to take the "non-land" restriction off of reave kickers. I don't think it's necessary.

More Artifact Concepting

While Gutherham (and the Overgrowth set) is not an artifact-heavy plane, there are artifacts present due to its long history. It's Janell's anti-artifice mentality that's been purging them for the past several decades. So there are artifacts--and some of them are going to be quite impactful. Really they're going to kind of exist on the edges--either they're low in powerful and beneath Janell's notice, or they're very powerful but are hidden deep in places where Janell does not know they exist.

Some common artifact creatures:

As you can see, flavorwise the mages used to use artifact birds to pass along messages. They still have some in the Runetide Flotilla, but make sure the Arbor doesn't know about them.

An updated version of this early creation. These creatures are underground so Janell doesn't even know they exist. Note the spider creature type. This is compatible then, with black/green's vermin identity. Should I give it reach? Hmmm.

Since the cephalids are deep under the ocean, they obviously are not affected by Janell's efforts. That could have made it possible for a B/U artifact-heavy theme, but I've noticed that sets that try to sell an artifact theme in a color pairing kind of struggle unless there's a good as-fan of artifacts.

So even if Janell at the Arbor is very down on artifacts, I did want there to be some defensive artifacts accessible to white, given the emphasis on playing defensively in this set. In this case I flavored/balanced it as something very limited that only serves to protect.

I flavored the typical card-draw tome to go with the red hermits. Obviously anybody can play this artifact. It's going to be particularly good late game in red/black if you also have a reave card that cares how many cards left the graveyard.

Here are a couple of cards that tell a story about whatever secrets are hiding deep within Guthreham:

And the new version of Womb of Guthreham:

There's some stuff going down deep inside this plane. What does it mean? It's a secret. (Which means I haven't actually really figured it out yet.)

Blue Library Manipulation

So the typical card draw/filtering for blue needs to deal with the fact that the blue-red and the blue-black identities are different. There needs to be consideration of both scrying for red and the possibilities of playing things from outside of your hand for black.

So let's start with this set's version of Telling Time:

Putting a card on the bottom of the library rewards the blue-red scry-to-the-bottom gameplay. Putting a card in the graveyard makes it accessible for possible recursion or playing out of the graveyard later, or even a reave kicker with a black or red card.

Here's the draw three sorcery:

I had an idea of having blue and black spells that have inherent bonuses if they're played from outside your hand. I don't want push into that too much because it's so very parasitic and not terribly compatible with reave in black. But I might have one or two cards. Scour for Answers does go great with the set's mandatory Weird Blue Enchantment:

I think this is okay as rare and not mythic. To explain what's gong on with the scry components: In a limited environment with less emphasis on sorceries and instants, players might be concerned about exiling a bunch of cards they can't play. The scry on ETB before the exile is intended to let the player improve their chances of getting playable cards. They can bottom lands or creatures. And then the activatable scry is simply to make sure it's never a "dead" enchantment if you don't get any castable cards or after the cards have been cast. And it also makes the card compatible with red-blue.

Drumbeat Enchantments 2.0

Now that I have the mechanics and color pair identities nailed down, I went back and looked at the drumbeat enchantment cycle to see if I wanted to keep it.

I think I do, rather than having a uncommon creature auras. So what I did is to create them so that they grant appropriate color-associated bonuses that aren't typical combat keywords. So they're not granting menace, or flying, or hexproof, or what have you. Those will come from typical auras and combat tricks. But with mutate in mind, I wanted to have thoughtful bonuses that rewarded strategy but didn't give the typical +X/+X bonuses.

So here's the new iteration of the cycle.

White probably has the most powerful of them (especially when combined with the U/W flyers archetype). But white doesn't have access to mutate on its own, so it makes sense.

I am still unsure as to whether these enchantments are too powerful with the flexibility or too weak with the mana requirements. It will have to be tested.