tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22192794900193562842024-03-12T23:12:00.778-07:00LarcentMTGDesignLarcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-75299043099447348442020-01-18T09:51:00.000-08:002020-01-18T09:51:17.179-08:00Please Stand By ...So Overgrowth has ... um ... stopped growing.<br />
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A couple of things happened. First, I just got too busy in real life and had some other stuff to deal with. I kind of dropped out of designing and even playing Magic (Though I paid attention to the Core 2020 releases and Throne of Eldraine, I really didn't play at all during this time).<br />
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Second, I started realizing that Overgrowth was starting to feel too much like Zendikar (particularly pre-Eldrazi), with its emphasis on wild, dangerous nature and civilization represented by scattered outposts rather than big cities.<br />
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Third, Magic is going back to Zendikar later this year, but before that to a new plane named Ikoria, a home of massive monsters, which is <i>also</i> kind of the feel I was going for with Guthreham.<br />
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Fourth, I was growing unhappy about how all the conflict in the set is very secretive and remote. The story--Xirn just discovering that the plane is pregnant--puts the narrative not in a very good spot to tell a story, unless we were going to present Overgrowth in a block over a couple of expansions.<br />
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So I'm doing some serious rethinking and tossing out some concepts and reframing. I'm going to make Guthreham a plane where, actually, everybody knows it's pregnant and everybody has ideas about what it's going to give birth to and wants to prove to it that their particular ethos should guide the entity's behavior.<br />
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Stay tuned for a completely new Overgrowth.<br />
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Also! I was on the most recent episode of Beacon of Creation talking about "Theros: Beyond Death." <a href="http://beaconofcreation.libsyn.com/episode-105-theros-beyond-death-wlarcent">Check it out!</a>Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-45386592789329532752019-04-27T14:26:00.000-07:002019-04-27T14:26:15.671-07:00Overgrowth Booster Examination 2I'm up to about 200 cards and am fleshing the set out--both the feel and the mechanics--as I start churning out some more cards across all rarities. So I figure it's a good time to see how an individual pack might look again.<br />
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As I'm building green, it's too easy to fall into having everything relate directly to mutate or fecund. I realized in the rare slot I could actually craft a creature that works with the B/G vermin theme. I didn't want to do a typical "vermin lord," so I came up with this. It can work with just green, but it's better if you play it with black.<br />
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I really like the relatively new W/R concept of caring about a creature's combat skills. There are enough creatures in this set for this to work. It also works with green, which has a few vigilance creatures in this set.<br />
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Initially I had this scribe have you draw a card for each bird you controlled, but the ceiling for the number of cards you might draw seemed high for uncommon, and I thought maybe he was too niche for rare. So I put a limit of two to make it fit the slot.<br />
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So I decided to bump up the power, cost, and rarity of this one. Zombie tokens in this set all have base 2/2. Interesting detail on its use in the set besides just trying to sweep tokens: Since it only targets one creature, it can deal damage to mutate creatures without giving them counters. There are creatures, like elementals and lizards, where some have mutate and some don't.<br />
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An interesting design challenge with the <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-ally-color-uncommon-signposts.html">Choked Fen Nest</a>, B/G signpost card: There's a natural inclination to want to give all the small critters in black and green fecund already, given that it's the set mechanic. But if all the selected creatures already have fecund, it makes the enchantment meaningless. It doesn't stack. So I did my best to make sure that most of the fecund creatures, especially at common, did <i>not </i>share the targeted creature types. Scorpions are not on the list.<br />
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There are two common lands that sac to give you some fixing and five uncommon lands that sac for effects. I think that's enough to get lands in the graveyard to assist with R/B reave cards.<br />
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Since white and blue are so heavily dependent on flying and defensive tactics, I wanted to give red tools to be aggressive with them. Red also has a reach creature (a wizard) with reave that does damage to a flying creature if you pay the reave kicker.<br />
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There is not quite enough of the suppress mechanic in this set, particularly given that the U/W uncommon signpost card rewards you for suppressing. There are only eight cards that suppress, four in blue and four in white. I will probably want at least one more in each color.<br />
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I've weakened the main spell here so that it's no longer <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/07/if-you-reave-i-wont-cry.html">-2/-2 creature removal</a>. That seemed a little strong, and I'm using reave in the set for other -X/-X effects in black.<br />
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This guy hasn't really changed much at all, other than me fixing the wording so that it enters the battlefield with the counters.<br />
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Yes, I'm going to go with the familiar set pattern of putting in a vanilla in each color to help fill out curves in a limited format. I made the green vanilla a snake and the black vanilla an insect, so you can give them fecund with Choked Fen Nest.<br />
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So when I designed this, it became clear how much fecund is just free embalming (compare to <a href="https://scryfall.com/card/akh/27/sacred-cat">Sacred Cat</a>). The difference is that you cannot control when the token is created the way you can with embalm, which could potentially be a weakness. I'm still not sure if that means I'm undercosting these creatures up front.<br />
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With the absence of a devoted mana-smoothing or card-sorting mechanic in this set, I'm spreading scry around a bit.<br />
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Note the death trigger here rather than the enter-the-battlefield trigger. That's going to be typical for the cephalids.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-16804919680506600342019-04-23T15:33:00.000-07:002019-04-23T15:33:09.882-07:00Meaningful Choices in a Couple of RaresA different take on white's typical board clears:<div>
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White creature-focused board clears are supposed to be "fair," equal across all players, but it's also intended for white to build their deck in such a way that they can take advantage of the "fairness" of it all. In this case, you can take the board state into consideration and decide what "all" includes. Because white has a lot of access to token creatures, it may be that you want to save them from your wrath.</div>
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In blue, I decided that <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2019/02/compelling-or-just-weird.html">Compelling Memory</a> is weird without actually being as interesting as I thought at first. So I've scratched it and replaced it with a different type of modal steal spell:</div>
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Note that with that first choice, if you target a creature with mutate, it will come over to you with an additional +1/+1 counter.</div>
Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-82522701693194723602019-04-01T15:39:00.001-07:002019-04-01T15:45:36.014-07:00Races of Guthreham: Ogres<br />
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The ogres (appearing in red and black) are hardy,
shamanistic, tribal creatures that appear to be immune or at least highly
resistant to both the plagues and the mutations the Overgrowth is bringing
forth, but they're not taking any chances.</div>
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They tend to keep
to themselves now and are known for killing any other sentient races that they
encounter. The mage hermits of Nightscrape Mountain are adept enough to keep
themselves safe, and so they've been trying as much as possible--turning to
magics other than just pyromancy--to see how the ogres are managing to survive
in the wild.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The ogres don't
just kill whatever they come across, they cremate the corpses, saving only
edible meat that they make sure is clean through shamanistic magic. This even
includes their own. They engage in cannibalism, but it's more out of survival
than cruelty. Though ... honestly ... they don't hate it.</div>
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All that's left
of any dead ogre (or any creature they kill, either for food or to protect
themselves) is ash. It's been this way for decades now. The ogres don't have
graveyards. They have cairns piled around throughout the Nightscrape Mountains
to memorialize the dead. There are no bodies to dig up there, but ashes of
ogres who have died are scattered around the earth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The ogres are part of an aggressive midrange strategy. Black and red
spells are used early to clear out initial threats. Then the ogres come out in
force and reave can be used in various ways to make the ogres stronger or to
clear a path for attack.</div>
Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-25031738575009170592019-03-30T11:09:00.001-07:002019-03-30T11:09:24.966-07:00Cycle of RuinsI wanted to stick in a cycle of sacrifice-for-value uncommon monocolor lands. As with Evolving Wilds, it's a way to get cards into the graveyard for reave kickers that doesn't make you feel like you have to waste or throw away cards. In addition, since this is such a creature-focused set, it's a way to put in some spell-like effects that will be put in the land slot rather than making somebody play fewer creatures in a limited format.<br />
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That led me toward the memorial cycle from Dominaria as inspiration, but with my own variations to represent Guthreham:<br />
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<br />
These were once major communities of Guthreham that Janell convinced the citizenry must be abandoned in order to keep dark forces of artifice, necromancy, and demonology from returning to the plane. Over decades , they've decayed and the overgrowth has taken them over. But there's still things to pick over there for scavengers who are willing to brave the wilds.<br />
<br />
I've decided on a rare cycle of allied-color dual lands, but am not sure of the format for them as yet. This set lacks specialized mana-ramping or card-sorting mechanics, so it feels like they need to have conditions to come in untapped.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-22257532592917983322019-03-28T19:53:00.000-07:002019-03-29T09:22:36.445-07:00Reprints for OvergrowthThinking of a few bread-and-butter common spells that would fit in Overgrowth and don't really require me to attempt to reinvent or adapt for the set.<br />
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<br />
With green primary for the mutate mechanic, I want a fight spell to be as simple, given the potential of triggered reactions on both ends. And it might get messy if we try to use fight as an instant. So sorcery speed and no frills seems like the way to go here. If you target a creature you control with mutate, it will get the +1/+1 counter before it fights, just like <a href="https://scryfall.com/card/rix/133/hunt-the-weak">Hunt the Weak</a>. Looking at the casting cost of Hunt the Weak, that gives Prey Upon some major value if you've got a mutate creature to use it on.<br />
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<br />
Final reward fits well mechanically and flavorfully in Overgrowth to capture the idea in black of thoroughly obliterating a creature to keep it from becoming zombified by the various plagues going around. Mechanically it takes out a potential graveyard target for various reave kickers.<br />
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<br />
Given how heavily this set emphasizes creatures with three of its four mechanics, a cheap creature counter is pretty much a no-brainer.<br />
<br />
<b>EDITING TO ADD:</b><br />
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<br />
I totally forgot about Evolving Wilds, which, was actually the first card I realized I wanted to reprint in the set. Getting a land in your graveyard early is very useful for reave kickers, and this was why I ultimately decided that I should take the "non-land" distinction off the cards reave could exile out of your graveyard. In a limited format--especially in this creature-focused set--it may be a few turns before you end up with cards in your graveyard. Evolving Wilds helps speed up red-black decks.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-32133585151032425562019-03-27T18:10:00.002-07:002019-03-27T18:10:58.929-07:00You Know What Magic Doesn't Have?A: Skunks!<br />
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Seriously, I looked through Scryfall and was surprised to discover not a single skunk. Not even in the unsets. Well, that needs to be fixed!<br />
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<br />
I thought of several different green ideas for the skunk. First it was 2/2 first and was blockable by only one creature (who is brave enough to stop it?), but that is completely pointless on such a small creature. Then I thought about it destroying an enchantment or artifact when entering the battlefield, but I wanted to put fecund on it, and that seemed too strong, even at uncommon. But flavoring it as a creature that punishes you for blocking it by getting even nastier is a green thing and it definitely fits a skunk.<br />
<br />
I seem to be defaulting into putting fecund on every small animal creature I'm making. I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do. If this were a "real" set, there'd be a problem where with the sheer number of token creatures this set is creating. I might take fecund off a few of them, especially if it makes G/W too fast compared to other color combos. Having fecund encourages aggression since you'll get another copy of the creature when it dies.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-91310451085237618422019-03-26T15:25:00.000-07:002019-03-26T17:17:10.647-07:00The Races of Overgrowth: CephalidsThe cephalids of Guthreham are not quite like the ones of Dominaria. They are deep-sea, octopus-like humanoids, but they lack the xenophobia-driven conspiracies and predatory mindset of the Dominarian counterparts.<br />
<br />
For Overgrowth I actually took inspiration for cephalids from octopuses themselves. Octopuses are known for being incredibly smart, but unlike pretty much every other intelligent race, they typically are not a communal or collective species. In the animal kingdom, pretty much every race that ranks high in intelligence--whether, humans, monkeys, parrots, dolphins, elephants, etc.--also favors communal living and child-rearing. Octopuses are very rare in that they do not.<br />
<br />
So in Guthreham, cephalids are brilliantly smart creatures from birth with a natural adeptness with magic. And they're not raised or schooled in any conventional sense. Each cephalid, even as a young child, is expected to fend for him or herself and make their own way in the seas.<br />
<br />
This would sound cruel for any other race, but their high early intelligence means that this is not some absurd death sentence. The young cephalids adapt and grow very quickly.<br />
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Culturally, this led to a very self-directed society that doesn't really have any sense of a "community." And while cephalids are not emotionless automatons, they are also not terribly empathetic creatures and don't easily grasp concepts that involve caring about what other people do. Their emotions are deeply personal, both in good and bad ways. They can feel fear when they're in danger and happiness when they succeed. But they don't feel grief over another cephalid's death or outrage over injustices (on the flip side they also don't envy over somebody else's accomplishments or feel greed for their belongings).<br />
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All of this very self-directed, inward-focused society matters because they remained out of the war between the humans and elves and the undead and demons entirely decades and decades ago, and they were generally oblivious to the developing overgrowth. Not completely unaware--they are intensely curious consumers of knowledge and history. But they didn't see a threat. And they were completely unprepared when the growth led to the spread of diseases, and the diseases pushed the afflicted to coastal regions, and then the afflictions got passed into the ecology of the sea.<br />
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Because cephalids are so self-directed, they have no concept of public health. They are not religious. They have no priests or healers. Since they have no emotional attachment to each other, they typically just accepted that cephalids get sick and die eventually. Even when it's them.<br />
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But the the overgrowth brought an alarming escalation of disease into the cephalids' ecology and they are dying now at a much more rapid rate. The diseases are affecting their brilliant minds, causing them to go crazy, which in turn makes them extremely dangerous to themselves and others, particularly the desperate and also sick communities of humans who have taken up refuge on the Blightcoast.<br />
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Cephalids are now increasingly realizing that they have to start thinking of themselves as a race and a community or they are going to die off entirely. They still might be too late.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-34281231221380753922019-03-13T20:18:00.001-07:002019-03-13T20:18:32.237-07:00Planeswalker Iterating (and Two New Ones!)As I'm designing and editing and feeling the mechanics of the color combinations and how the story beats are flowing, I'm getting a better sense of both Xirn and Janell.<br />
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Here's the current incarnation of Xirn:<br />
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Now that I feel like I've nailed down the "learning from death" theme and scavenging style of gameplay for U/B in this set, I am really enjoying this iteration of Xirn. It is very attached to the concepts of the set, but it's not so parasitic that Xirn can't be a good U/B Johnny build-around planeswalker. His plus is intended to facilitate reave on your black cards. The play pattern here is that you dispose of your creatures this way and gain knowledge from exiling them. Then, when he grows strong enough, you recycle your spells.<br />
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I need to put together a "races of Guthreham" post on the cephalids, but I do want to make it clear that they're not black because they are evil or even naturally predatory. They have unfortunately become widely afflicted with diseases and corruption, requiring them to make some very harsh, very black choices to try to survive. Xirn himself is afflicted with disease, and he thought he was at death's door when his planeswalking skills sparked. Why this disease growing inside his body would make him aware that the plane is pregnant is an intriguing and relevant mystery.<br />
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Meanwhile, though I had initially planned for Janell to be W/G to reflect the ties between the humans and elves of the Arbor, her borderline obsession with believing she can "manage" Guthreham's growth and her refusal to recognize that the spread of disease and plagues are connected to this growth really pulls her away from green. The more I develop the set, the more she feels monowhite, and this will help make her an antagonist for the set--not necessarily evil, but obsessed with trying to make sure that whatever it is Guthreham is going to give birth to is pure and holy:<br />
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Her second skill is intended to "reset" mutate creatures and eliminate artifacts in tune with her concepts of managing beasts and eliminating the corrupting influences of the unnatural. Her emblem is designed so that it doesn't target anything, so it allows white to compete with mutate creatures while not itself triggering mutate abilities.<br />
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As I'm worldbuilding more, I'm coming to realize that the storyline is drawing me towards having planeswalker leader types among the elementals in the Deep Tangle and also perhaps among the tribal ogres.<br />
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Here's what I imagine to be either a dryad or a treefolk planeswalker<br />
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Her first power is intended to be used on mutate creatures. I gave her a mana-producing easy-to-get-to "ultimate" because this set doesn't really have any mana-ramping mechanics. I do worry that red-green might be a little too slow.<br />
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I have a red legend among the mage hermits in mind, but as I'm building, the hardy ogres seem more and more like a race that has some secret insight and strength to resist the nature of the overgrowth and survive. That got me thinking about a leader among the ogres with enough power to actually implement those harsh solutions to keep pestilence and overgrowth at bay.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOBHYb2Ur37zMld558BocRZG2hyVtoWjuRJaCQgMLjXvG_rgWiLy9zNE-8ErljbRwgMvU1q36xaEGkhj49zXJVaRiNzl2sPcv0y0hYOtX3FdMT6Gy0O8sZpipVoH3RDyaw5KdbeenrVM/s1600/Skurn+Cairn+Chieftain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOBHYb2Ur37zMld558BocRZG2hyVtoWjuRJaCQgMLjXvG_rgWiLy9zNE-8ErljbRwgMvU1q36xaEGkhj49zXJVaRiNzl2sPcv0y0hYOtX3FdMT6Gy0O8sZpipVoH3RDyaw5KdbeenrVM/s320/Skurn+Cairn+Chieftain.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Like Xirn, Skurn isn't evil per se (Oh god, I just realized their names rhymed. I'll have to change Skurn's). But he's a strong believer that the reave concept--disintegrating the dead and taking them completely out of the cycle of life and death--is the only way to keep the overgrowth at bay.<br />
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So the big question here is whether Iya and Skurn also realize that Guthreham is pregnant, and what are their attitudes about it?<br />
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<br />Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-24693544877277648202019-02-28T16:09:00.000-08:002019-02-28T16:09:01.113-08:00Compelling ... or Just Weird?So ... I made this thing in blue because I decided I wanted to try to get weird in blue, as you do:<br />
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So this crazy card started with the idea of allowing a player to clone a spell in a way that's different from forking or copying it as we typically see in blue and red. And it's a way to cast a spell in any graveyard in a mechanic that doesn't exile it (which itself is an odd choice because this set encourages exiling cards from graveyard).<br />
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I made that first part first, and then I realized that it also had to be castable without using that spell cloning ability. So this ended up turning into this weird modal spell where you can either replay a spell, or you can hang onto it and steal a creature.<br />
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So if it's not clear how it works: If you use the first part, Compelling Memory completely transforms into the targeted spell until the end of the turn (including casting cost and other features). So it loses the creature stealing text. Otherwise, you can just hard cast it for six mana to steal a creature.<br />
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This is one of those "I don't know" spells where I'm not sure it makes for a more interesting spell cloning mechanic that either simply instant-speed copying or flashback/jump-start mechanisms. And I'm not even sure it's right for this set (though since neither spell exiles, that means that you can use them to play reave kickers ... including potentially reave kickers on the graveyard spell you're cloning.)Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-75954752529187822942019-02-24T21:16:00.000-08:002019-02-24T21:16:22.456-08:00The Races of Overgrowth: HumanOvergrowth isn't a tribal set, but as I'm designing, there's a definite connection between certain races and the mechanics of the set. So it's worth exploring the stories I'm trying to tell with these races and just see how everything relates together and whether it all feels coherent.<br />
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Guthreham is a human-focused plane, though as both the creatures and the diseases grow out of control, it is a question as to whether that's going to be the case in a hundred years or so.<br />
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Humans will appear primarily in white and blue, with some wizards in red to represent the hermits who have retreated to the Nightscrape Mountains. There may be some humans in black to represent the effects of the plagues on the living, but they might end up all being zombies instead. We'll just see how that goes.<br />
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There are two main centers of power for the humans remaining in Guthreham. There's The Arbor, the central pastoral W/G city where planeswalker priestess Janell oversees all. The human military force there is devoted to keeping the rampaging wilds from intruding into the human settlements within the scope of The Arbor. The Arbor is made up of eight groves called Acres, named after various species of trees that Janell planted decades ago to memorialize the rout of the forces of darkness. So there will be references to Elm Acres and Juniper Acres et cetera on some cards to indicate connections to The Arbor.<br />
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Janell's commandment for humanity to abandon urban places and let the wilds retake the cities caused some problems as The Arbor isn't large enough to house everybody. As the wild areas of Guthreham grew in size and in danger and as plagues started to infect more and more humans, people started getting crowded out of the mainland and pushed toward the coasts. Some enterprising people started building essentially houseboats to live off the coast, keeping them safe (well, slightly safer) from the various predators. People naturally began to gravitate together for safety to what eventually would become known as the Runetide Flotilla, a U/W community of ships off the western coast of the primary continent.<br />
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The flotilla has also become a home for many mages who have decided not to abandon Janell to the mountains the way the pyromages have. They're heavily involved with attempting to research the origins of the plane's uncontrollable growth and the dangers it presents. It's becoming increasingly clear that Janell is not willing to recognize that this growth is a threat, and they're not entirely sure what they're going to do about it.<br />
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Several mages have also been keeping tabs on the plague-crippled cephalids and are deeply concerned about their potential extinction and what that might mean for the future of the humans of the plane.<br />
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Because of the flavor of W/U being a coastal, ship-based community, I decided that gulls would be the birds for the set:<br />
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The flavor of humans in Guthreham is intended to be defensive, desperate, and potentially at risk. White and blue is intended to feel very control defensive, with evasive flyers plinking away for a hard-fought win. Even in red, the wizards will be powered by the use of the reave kicker, meaning that in order to deploy them to their best potential, you will need to be willing to make some sacrifices and get some cards into your graveyard:<br />
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<br />Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-10420218010647091232019-01-23T21:33:00.000-08:002019-01-23T21:33:12.443-08:00Enemy Color Pair UncommonsThe more I build the set mechanically, the more it feels like this is an ally color set without a whole lot of interest in supporting enemy color pairs.<br />
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But I nevertheless want to make it possible to play these color pairs, and so I wanted to provide some uncommons that work with what's going to be available in those colors without actually forcing a mechanical playstyle. Here's where they stand in the latest iteration.<br />
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Choked Fen Nest hasn't changed. It's an interesting mix of tribal batching with a set mechanic that doesn't actually require a particular play style. Just draft these creatures and they all get a second life. That's it.<br />
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This does play well with green and white's emphasis on fecund, so there's a potential three-color deck here that can be drafted.<br />
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I simplified this card and am eliminating the R/U concept of rewarding scrying to the bottom. I don't think I can devote the card design space that it needs for this set. Red and blue have very, very little conceptual overlap in this set. So I just went way simple here as a way of helping red and blue players dig into their decks to get to needed spells. If nothing else, this card signals that there is no particular playstyle being pushed for anybody in blue and red.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFQYvwi7X8if79pEwRX6h0cHLZo92PXXQBcKJCeLOOEax9c7zP-ngCOu4INNmVvf4Zm-6IsmQqoBf4VvVwQZEsGIL9TeOb3Nw1y5Vxhl5qGhup-cLhG0DSwydg6qTntGS4K3E91rW52A/s1600/Cradle+Cove+Hunter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFQYvwi7X8if79pEwRX6h0cHLZo92PXXQBcKJCeLOOEax9c7zP-ngCOu4INNmVvf4Zm-6IsmQqoBf4VvVwQZEsGIL9TeOb3Nw1y5Vxhl5qGhup-cLhG0DSwydg6qTntGS4K3E91rW52A/s320/Cradle+Cove+Hunter.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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The text on this one is awkward. Green and blue have access to mutate and fecund, both of which are triggered abilities. I didn't want to actually reference either of those keywords because I didn't want to send a message that G/U is the primary pair for those mechanics. Rather, I simply wanted to let G/U players focus simply on triggered abilities themselves. This also works on enter-the-battlefield triggers and death triggers. Blue will be getting some death triggers to work with the U/B mechanical concepts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrUdjQsbJ6FXrpIUwXEvB-H7pbiK3uPwEb6LbCI2WVE3EKYdCANairihdrY5Ff1i7wBCtmKcSk7GLkZz-d3AmYDGpLDl04mJAy8KqOQqlpbui3lIVefQrFdneCOSv-qT87T7l2Ha0QvU/s1600/Poxtender+Priest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrUdjQsbJ6FXrpIUwXEvB-H7pbiK3uPwEb6LbCI2WVE3EKYdCANairihdrY5Ff1i7wBCtmKcSk7GLkZz-d3AmYDGpLDl04mJAy8KqOQqlpbui3lIVefQrFdneCOSv-qT87T7l2Ha0QvU/s320/Poxtender+Priest.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Sort of semi-tribal for white and black. White has the humans. Black has the zombies. If you draft the two colors, you can't actually help but to get these creature types, really. Black also has zombie tokens, so they'll be sacrificeable to protect more important creatures. And that's kind of what I want the flavor of W/B to be -- harsh sacrifices to stay alive in this plagued environment.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyhjBxPnsbngXK9EQRiOnxTa-ADrdXyw5kKK2r3C3CI3w-VcygssqcbI7JDM0DbrnznG2rKOiT_lILMIBWHfYGB6E2KLGSMEWFjJj7jKtKC71ZPL8S7Osy1wOVOt3Yibgzwwhh311HbWI/s1600/Veteran+Warmage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyhjBxPnsbngXK9EQRiOnxTa-ADrdXyw5kKK2r3C3CI3w-VcygssqcbI7JDM0DbrnznG2rKOiT_lILMIBWHfYGB6E2KLGSMEWFjJj7jKtKC71ZPL8S7Osy1wOVOt3Yibgzwwhh311HbWI/s320/Veteran+Warmage.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Like U/R, there really is not much connecting white and red, so I wanted to keep it in a space where it wasn't forcing some deep choices. White will have at least one spell (and possibly a creature ability) that does damage to attacking and blocking creatures in this set. So I think it works in a draft format. And note that the bonus is each turn, not just your own.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-59810851384038223002019-01-15T15:21:00.000-08:002019-01-15T15:21:48.907-08:00Overgrowth Removal SpellsI've noted <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/11/overgrowth-booster-examination-1.html">Hyperscouring Flame</a> in a few posts as this set's version of Shock, though it only hits creatures. That was one of the first red spells I iterated. So here's some more burn and removal spells I've been working on:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkRKc5KP7uU9jCkkJRuutWDMtmwPBjz-uSIEyQuQlcCv1ODt00o6sDu9cmwp-iLpp2jWbNRS2PL7RGG_AUjijZMKdWbhWNTwCQOg5B8UgC1At2xpjzi22zROlUDgaoJ565K4PTLANTAA/s1600/Far-Reaching+Flames.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkRKc5KP7uU9jCkkJRuutWDMtmwPBjz-uSIEyQuQlcCv1ODt00o6sDu9cmwp-iLpp2jWbNRS2PL7RGG_AUjijZMKdWbhWNTwCQOg5B8UgC1At2xpjzi22zROlUDgaoJ565K4PTLANTAA/s320/Far-Reaching+Flames.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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There's not a lot of "to the face" red burn options as yet. There's going to be some interesting tension with burn spells and the existence of the mutate mechanic. Any mutate creature targeted with a damage spell will get the +1/+1 counter before the spell revolves, meaning players will have to keep that in mind. They'll even get the +1/+1 even if the spell targeting it gets countered!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2yvTq-hCs1VdtKI2weC98U61LQi54n8-2dqLs2q-x_QoLN20e1XDI_W5g1BUo8NsF4IAOpxngTON4Oxn2kaQGhEWROkV2zoOO3mwjLCDHVW9shmImMVbuMKMc1hrGefy1CuoGRP3ZL8/s1600/Branded+Bloodline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2yvTq-hCs1VdtKI2weC98U61LQi54n8-2dqLs2q-x_QoLN20e1XDI_W5g1BUo8NsF4IAOpxngTON4Oxn2kaQGhEWROkV2zoOO3mwjLCDHVW9shmImMVbuMKMc1hrGefy1CuoGRP3ZL8/s320/Branded+Bloodline.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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This one's intended for use against token creature-heavy decks (green/white/black). Though the nature of fecund means this isn't necessarily a board clear--many will have toughness higher than one. This may end up being a fairly weak card.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOQmeO6OmxYsM-C9xUNOBSMlbqgV3IhFKKiGDfSSqmIcc2vxPjKS3QyErglhIYwoD8N_qUAJte61THdEi_KfcHr99PHZa8kIfz8FjIFsxPcZd7fAjYfXKj9qp3Y5mWScc21_iwd12KyY/s1600/Nightpyre+Purge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOQmeO6OmxYsM-C9xUNOBSMlbqgV3IhFKKiGDfSSqmIcc2vxPjKS3QyErglhIYwoD8N_qUAJte61THdEi_KfcHr99PHZa8kIfz8FjIFsxPcZd7fAjYfXKj9qp3Y5mWScc21_iwd12KyY/s320/Nightpyre+Purge.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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The rare red board clear for the set. There's also a rare red ogre with a reave enter-the-battlefield effect that does X damage to all non-flying creatures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DLBxK6BGuaz6DOtoR05FMerXhThi-EPf-Qfe2TALfax8McN8zUfNo_aIKt1Z3PavWBKJENOLxZBACJXPWf21HVGLT3-FW2CBCC0p7ZP5tMOJ84QK6XJCr6PQtdjUZw2tuxu7fWu15WM/s1600/Swift+Retaliation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DLBxK6BGuaz6DOtoR05FMerXhThi-EPf-Qfe2TALfax8McN8zUfNo_aIKt1Z3PavWBKJENOLxZBACJXPWf21HVGLT3-FW2CBCC0p7ZP5tMOJ84QK6XJCr6PQtdjUZw2tuxu7fWu15WM/s320/Swift+Retaliation.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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White is the anti-mutate color, so doing more damage to a creature with counters on it seems appropriate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLp0Fe248JThgKFPQZJ0Wc94cmRsH48YA5oAWKmY-Cd7Pn-eSA40DjEVmsxE0amr_5vQF_BPeJstqjdRLyfUEwI9lQz9G7fOjRKKLD1nD-yi-tCJt5lIbjdnK5DHdieR6rilgnjyWVVg/s1600/Ashen+Pox+Outbreak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLp0Fe248JThgKFPQZJ0Wc94cmRsH48YA5oAWKmY-Cd7Pn-eSA40DjEVmsxE0amr_5vQF_BPeJstqjdRLyfUEwI9lQz9G7fOjRKKLD1nD-yi-tCJt5lIbjdnK5DHdieR6rilgnjyWVVg/s320/Ashen+Pox+Outbreak.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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The Ashen Pox is the name of the disease (there are many plagues and diseases being unwittingly hosted by the various races) that's zombifying folks. Making a modal kill spell looks a little weird. But given the existence of reave in the set, I wanted it to be an option. I'm wondering if this is too expensive. I may cut it down to 2B.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWgyqqHGXHTdf93CSn3Ch-o9jZZBSOoRgi3J9Jn5DC5M3YgEdqok5xDU1pATHRnuEjKokQS0RiCKkfQbJkiubPm9mD7MmiMNPpYf0Ix7qMWrB60w_KVNr0ouKach9CAHticpUMbRJYR8/s1600/Revelers+Wrath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWgyqqHGXHTdf93CSn3Ch-o9jZZBSOoRgi3J9Jn5DC5M3YgEdqok5xDU1pATHRnuEjKokQS0RiCKkfQbJkiubPm9mD7MmiMNPpYf0Ix7qMWrB60w_KVNr0ouKach9CAHticpUMbRJYR8/s320/Revelers+Wrath.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Note that if you target a creature you control with mutate, it will get an extra counter.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-11509175556783658022019-01-12T15:57:00.000-08:002019-01-12T15:57:22.987-08:00New Ally Color Uncommon SignpostsMore iterating! I'm really starting to get the feel for how I see each of the five allied color pairs playing out so, I've been doing some tweaking. Here's where the signature uncommon card for each of them looks at the moment with an explanation of what type of gameplay I'm trying to foster:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhALj-3tKhZeaYwtrzCNkwFQLn4c8k0xEScJ0qi2dfXLbdaw1o3ju5KCH5PJitEYOXu0WsdYDjrzVj3eFFfyq4d91g8bwVUmIeFG6F94Aa8mdBC7x-0TPsc2PEn4KVWrEpsPnP7WTdbG9Y/s1600/Deep+Tangle+Reveler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhALj-3tKhZeaYwtrzCNkwFQLn4c8k0xEScJ0qi2dfXLbdaw1o3ju5KCH5PJitEYOXu0WsdYDjrzVj3eFFfyq4d91g8bwVUmIeFG6F94Aa8mdBC7x-0TPsc2PEn4KVWrEpsPnP7WTdbG9Y/s320/Deep+Tangle+Reveler.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Green and red is the pairing intended to really play up mutate. Initially I had this elemental growing whenever your mutate creatures grow. But I think a better choice here at uncommon is to give it a targeted trigger to make sure you can mutate whenever you attack with this. It is possible to target itself, so if need be, it can attack as a 5/5 trampler. But I did want to make it possible to start turning other mutate creatures into bigger threats each turn.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCU-7ZkmxV3aMuW2ZjQLYQKfAkNcDNutMBMRZIST3lVoIMpptFoqH-sfOf_TaFZsoRskHeR9XhCk18CZO0HlrRwvhAPZOR-EgS27hjBtNCEs0rNKS326cfVkwv7JTKG8dr99Gn4G_i0I/s1600/Acres+Wildtender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCU-7ZkmxV3aMuW2ZjQLYQKfAkNcDNutMBMRZIST3lVoIMpptFoqH-sfOf_TaFZsoRskHeR9XhCk18CZO0HlrRwvhAPZOR-EgS27hjBtNCEs0rNKS326cfVkwv7JTKG8dr99Gn4G_i0I/s320/Acres+Wildtender.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Despite my intent to try to make green and white the color of collecting and spending +1/+1 counters from creatures for value, it doesn't really seem to be playing out right and gets stranger and stranger the more I try to template it, given that white does not have access to mutate. So with fecund primary in green and white, I had to come to terms that this set is putting them in a familiar go-wide space for green and white. What does make this a little different is that the nature of fecund means that your creature has to die before you get your tokens. So it encourages some early aggression and trades in this color combination.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFktR2zetb4bonwdwDAWlEgKkfpw5nBc_EPnFXxSJuBgM6M4BwpMhdig08sqxb5EE_-kyJYmXvVXqsdeXbnY6wU8oEKygdMs0hr2JGjGDZsAVsWTO82pI5xtj22pVxaIYa9iJMMl-M4SE/s1600/Cairn+Cremator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFktR2zetb4bonwdwDAWlEgKkfpw5nBc_EPnFXxSJuBgM6M4BwpMhdig08sqxb5EE_-kyJYmXvVXqsdeXbnY6wU8oEKygdMs0hr2JGjGDZsAVsWTO82pI5xtj22pVxaIYa9iJMMl-M4SE/s320/Cairn+Cremator.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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I've remade the <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/11/overgrowth-booster-examination-1.html">Corpse Kindler</a> into this guy to more clearly emphasize red and black as the reave colors. Because it's not common, it can have repeated triggers and even some scaling. It clearly tells the player you can increase the threat level of this ogre by playing more spells that remove cards from your graveyard.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG2eO7z3EuA3bD5s66Y9q714eyI7va_vVu3LU9zl-ngB2hvNXgx9GKRk2CXI0mCPxDR0UEQCq5bhIvis9rEeF8x3PCBz19rLkd6t3K9GzD5RyejvT6EHuSOGiZChDrUeE_uSWddYZwB4/s1600/Blightcoast+Madwight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG2eO7z3EuA3bD5s66Y9q714eyI7va_vVu3LU9zl-ngB2hvNXgx9GKRk2CXI0mCPxDR0UEQCq5bhIvis9rEeF8x3PCBz19rLkd6t3K9GzD5RyejvT6EHuSOGiZChDrUeE_uSWddYZwB4/s320/Blightcoast+Madwight.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Blue and black remains the only color pairing where they don't share dominance over a mechanic, but I think that's okay. As I <a href="https://goblinartisans.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-ive-learned-from-guilds-of_31.html">recently wrote about Dimir</a>, the two are thematically connected, not necessarily mechanically. Blue will have graveyard spell recursion. Black will have reave. Both colors will have the ability to trigger this ability. I think I am going to pull mutate from black. It's not fitting properly, but both colors will have some access to fecund.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_7NJ4N0TlC7ZMeOwQ4p_l1Jnn32fFqyjE2nyCofLe5C3MbYIS6Z1JK_nle_abTxCEyC2_slRGlO4gJtxkVrvGwTy4enjnr4h3ukuGfh-ZsWM-njRx3otPgWdYNS4XIEFyiqh5VFMUSk/s1600/Runetide+Gullknight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_7NJ4N0TlC7ZMeOwQ4p_l1Jnn32fFqyjE2nyCofLe5C3MbYIS6Z1JK_nle_abTxCEyC2_slRGlO4gJtxkVrvGwTy4enjnr4h3ukuGfh-ZsWM-njRx3otPgWdYNS4XIEFyiqh5VFMUSk/s320/Runetide+Gullknight.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Initially I was going to have him suppress anything blocking or blocked by it, but that feels more like a member of the corps than a signature card for the suppress mechanic. Since the play concept I envision for them is for them to hold big creatures back while picking away with evasive creatures, rewarding that play pattern seems to be the right choice. (And yes, these are still people riding giant seagulls).<br />
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I think I'm not going to overly design for enemy pairings, but will make some useful multicolor uncommons for them if people want to give them a try. I think I do want to keep the vermin theme for green and black because it fits the nature of the set so well. Black and white will still represent zombie survivalism. Maybe I should go with tribal-type rewards for enemy pairings, since the ally colors are all about the set mechanics.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-34137706970439320072019-01-09T19:35:00.000-08:002019-01-09T19:35:06.948-08:00Iterating U/B: Learning from Death?So I'm still thinking through how to capture the top-down concept of the cephalids in Guthraham, who are all dying of spreading plagues and are desperately using their deftness at magic and science to try to figure out solutions.<br />
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I was thinking a bit more about the recursion concepts with spells and the graveyard and how to make it connect with reave without giving blue access to reave. And I just kind of realized that maybe "death triggers can help you win" can be a good way to connect to connect blue and black thematically in this set without having to work out another mechanic.<br />
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So some tweaks to my <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/12/how-dangerous-are-these-cards.html">last iteration of U/B cards</a>, which I realized were too strong to return from the graveyard with no cost. Especially if I want them to be at common:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLIJ0g3dOApryczs4LHjalO6HzU7snzg_bEBVDdN3lJHtBBSi52OBOfIfWM-PNKGkS6uDoRdwgdTn6Uk5-IuWtZZ6xopXwmTySn8hKg3pn5MPv-6KRiNNkmwNg6hjBaMODyI6VFUkxYKY/s1600/Scour+for+Answers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLIJ0g3dOApryczs4LHjalO6HzU7snzg_bEBVDdN3lJHtBBSi52OBOfIfWM-PNKGkS6uDoRdwgdTn6Uk5-IuWtZZ6xopXwmTySn8hKg3pn5MPv-6KRiNNkmwNg6hjBaMODyI6VFUkxYKY/s320/Scour+for+Answers.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCuZ3BqKECQa0VSVLMRzzAXy1h6WeVe_thPFhJBkUxTuret44IpOBaWMM0Z4qNAGGL5TxcfC2_r9-ixDYFBUEPjZexNYEDZrs1iqmlMMIsahiSChXt_8pPmOFyER1zJ1grTjyJDinbnfs/s1600/Festered+Flesh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCuZ3BqKECQa0VSVLMRzzAXy1h6WeVe_thPFhJBkUxTuret44IpOBaWMM0Z4qNAGGL5TxcfC2_r9-ixDYFBUEPjZexNYEDZrs1iqmlMMIsahiSChXt_8pPmOFyER1zJ1grTjyJDinbnfs/s320/Festered+Flesh.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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So now they have death triggers and a cost to bring back from the graveyard. And they feed reave, especially any higher rarity cards that count how many cards have left the graveyard in a turn. And it still works very well with the U/B signpost <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/12/iterating-ub-cephalids.html">uncommon cephalid</a>.<br />
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I do have to worry now about creature recursion spells and infinite loops. I think I do need to put a recursion cost on the <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/11/overgrowth-booster-examination-1.html">Shambling Follower</a>. And no free sacrifice sinks.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-92072420944525652672019-01-08T21:16:00.000-08:002019-01-08T21:16:01.098-08:00White WeenieOn episode 54 of the <a href="http://beaconofcreation.libsyn.com/">Beacon of Creation</a> podcast, there was a discussion about designing for white weenie decks and how far you could push a creature that costs only one white mana to play.<br />
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It actually got me thinking about my guest post over at Goblin Artisans about <a href="https://goblinartisans.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-ive-learned-from-guilds-of_28.html">designing for R/W</a> and pushing combat-oriented players to look at particular parts of their creatures when building their decks. So I literally just sort of brainstormed this card in Twitch chat when the podcast was being recorded. Then I realized it could actually fit well in Overgrowth:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFbORvLrHnRimZ_gE7AyQxB3jcP55NZFcX1hDy46KQZlnyosKoewmaJB__CGSHlUCuSh6MHV4HOdtkxYl1-jMz2kwMseQ-Oqb5tpaa_tT4H3lM-MZLPj4K7LjsVac0A2czGRddFehyphenhyphengw/s1600/Arbor+Corpsman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFbORvLrHnRimZ_gE7AyQxB3jcP55NZFcX1hDy46KQZlnyosKoewmaJB__CGSHlUCuSh6MHV4HOdtkxYl1-jMz2kwMseQ-Oqb5tpaa_tT4H3lM-MZLPj4K7LjsVac0A2czGRddFehyphenhyphengw/s320/Arbor+Corpsman.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Mind you, this soldier could probably fit into any white set without difficulty. It actually could be a nice uncommon signpost white creature for a core set to help new players know which types of keywords to expect in white.<br />
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Note that it does give itself a bonus if you hit it with a spell or ability that grants any of the keywords. I initially had it written "as long as you control another creature with ..." but that weirdly makes it look like the Arbor Corpsman already has the keyword.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-3557094276691601112018-12-29T19:35:00.002-08:002018-12-29T19:54:30.300-08:00Suppress Iteration 2.0There are some definite rules questions about the <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/11/iterating-suppress.html">most recent wording of suppress</a>, 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.<br />
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Here's how it looks as I'm working with it:</div>
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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 <a href="https://scryfall.com/card/ody/77/cognivore">Cognivore</a>, for example, then it has an undefined power and toughness, causing all sorts of rules problems.</div>
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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. </div>
Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-58855572385154293472018-12-29T12:48:00.000-08:002018-12-29T12:48:43.924-08:00How dangerous are these cards?Over at <a href="https://goblinartisans.blogspot.com/">Goblin Artisans</a> 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).<br />
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In the <a href="https://goblinartisans.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-ive-learned-from-guilds-of_26.html">entry on Izzet</a>, 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. </div>
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So, working through that is making me think about the challenges of trying to make spells matter in one way in U/B but <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/06/ur-race-you-to-bottom.html">scrying mattering</a> in R/U and then <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-state-of-overgrowth-mechanics.html">reave</a> 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). </div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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Are these cards too powerful in the limited environment of Overgrowth?</div>
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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.</div>
Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-61591224257807430712018-12-04T20:24:00.000-08:002018-12-04T20:45:10.987-08:00Iterating U/B CephalidsSo as I'm designing and thinking about rarities and power levels I'm realizing the <a href="https://larcentmtgdesign.blogspot.com/2018/06/cephalids-xirn-and-ub-identity-in.html">U/B cephalid identity</a> 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.<br />
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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:<br />
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I made the trigger here a sacrifice to present the cephalids as a dark and desperate race.</div>
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Very simple, obvious reave card for common.<br />
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And the new signpost uncommon:<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-51813105359360364022018-11-27T17:26:00.000-08:002018-11-27T17:26:18.306-08:00Overgrowth Booster Examination 1So 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.<br />
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So let's take a look at 1 Rare/Mythic, 3, Uncommons, and 10 Commons:<br />
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<b>Rare/Mythic</b><br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Uncommon 1</b><br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Uncommon 2</b><br />
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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 <i>how many</i> cards have been exiled.<br />
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<b>Uncommon 3</b><br />
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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).<br />
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<b>Common 1</b><br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Common 2</b><br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Common 3</b><br />
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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.<br />
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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?<br />
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<b>Common 4</b><br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Common 5</b><br />
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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.<br />
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I'm glad I concepted this mechanic, and it plays well in U/W, but I do worry about rules issues with it.<br />
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<b>Common 6</b><br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Common 7</b><br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Common 8</b><br />
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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.<br />
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<b>Common 9</b><br />
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Mutate bear! An obvious gimme for the mechanic. This should hopefully signal that green is a primary color for mutate.<br />
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<b>Common 10</b><br />
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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.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-17397588731238837782018-11-24T19:24:00.002-08:002018-11-24T19:24:22.857-08:00The State of Overgrowth MechanicsI think I am pretty close to what special mechanics I want to build the set with. Let's go over where things stand.<br />
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<b><u>1. Mutate.</u> </b>When a creature with mutate is the target of a spell or ability it gets a +1/+1 counter.<br />
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Mutate is primary in green and red. It's secondary in black and blue. White does not have access.<br />
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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.<br />
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<b><u>2. Reave.</u></b> 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<b><u>3. Fecund.</u></b> When a non-token creature with fecund dies, create a token copy of it.<br />
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Fecund will appear on all five colors, but primarily in green and white.<br />
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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.<br />
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<b><u>4. Suppress.</u></b> When a creature is the target of suppress, it is unaffected by external power and toughness changes.<br />
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Suppress will appear only in blue and white. A creature can be suppressed for just a turn or for longer.<br />
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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.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-76270678800308149502018-11-24T18:30:00.000-08:002018-11-24T18:30:12.754-08:00Overgrowth EquipmentA 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.<br />
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But Guthreham under Janell's rule has a massive cultural opposition to artifacts, and they tend to end up destroyed when found.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-84950434417371654032018-11-24T17:23:00.000-08:002018-11-24T17:23:41.187-08:00Iterating SuppressDoing 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqbbHoGJXSQlK2-MGYOAwKC_9bQhllYThZrimXZ4x4SbSepeb3qSbYaLLU3xhrnpkRx7HK5GouQnGD_g8-Z5tnp2BI-12pqoLhkm55EXaOOdaYFOY1BD7bL6597IKtjQqEdd_G4prvrO8/s1600/Winds+of+Lethargy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqbbHoGJXSQlK2-MGYOAwKC_9bQhllYThZrimXZ4x4SbSepeb3qSbYaLLU3xhrnpkRx7HK5GouQnGD_g8-Z5tnp2BI-12pqoLhkm55EXaOOdaYFOY1BD7bL6597IKtjQqEdd_G4prvrO8/s320/Winds+of+Lethargy.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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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.<br />
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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.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-91702165624008872012018-11-24T16:04:00.000-08:002018-11-24T16:04:21.953-08:00Fecund 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.<br />
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There's typically something in a set that gives a bit of a spin on this. Currently we've got <a href="https://www.mtgsalvation.com/cards/guilds-of-ravnica/35375-hunted-witness">Hunted Witness</a> 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.<br />
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It also allows this type of card.<br />
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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.Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2219279490019356284.post-56081668775852386022018-11-24T15:38:00.000-08:002018-11-24T15:43:54.883-08:00Trading 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.<br />
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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?<br />
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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?Larcenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.com0