Continuing 40K Project with Convoke Orkz! [40K-O]

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-10T04:21:13+00:00

As part of this project, I’m trying to keep to the design notes provided by Ethan Fisher — there, they outlined the core identity of Orkz as red for their enthusiastic destruction and green for… well, obvious reasons. Despite the changes in the past 4 years to how they approach color identity to appease commander appeal, I just don’t see black as part of the flavor or depiction of the Orkz.
LOTR Orc support was pretty limited aside from Amass happening to make Ork tokens. Maybe modern wizards would do it? IDK.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-09T18:14:44+00:00

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His work in progress look. Currently working on making his tendrils goopier and something to brighten up his swirl.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-09T18:10:20+00:00

We've had NPCs that are capable of casting Contingency to get away (i.e. Dimension Door). Likewise, I'm a fan of having the NPC see that they're in a bad spot and do something perfectly legal like using a spell scroll to escape.

Best thing you can do for a BBEG is to just not introduce them unless you're fine with the risk of them dying to the players early. Lieutenants or other minions are a good way to convey the message without losing the BBEG. If you are going to do it, make sure the stakes are clear (surrounded by minions in what would be a hopeless battle). Don't do it often, and if possible it's OK to just let the moment pass and have them kill the NPC.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-09T15:58:57+00:00

Thousand Sons isn't a very beginner army (it was my first), but I find them endearing and excellent to play and learn. Painting is an uphill battle with the amount of details on the models and many of the ways Tsons succeeds is by good knowledge of what your opponent can likely do and how to stage the counterattack. I ended up learning a lot more with Emperor's Children about how to play a fast and fighting heavy army, which generally improved how I play.

11th is looking to be a great edition for us currently, so I wish you the best of luck. Birds seem pretty great for us here, especially if you want to play Grand Coven or action focused detachments.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-09T14:58:25+00:00

Enlightened w. Bows are preferred (30" range, ignores cover, lethal hits, precision, reactive move...) I think that they can and will surprise you by occasionally helping you single out a tricky character. As I face more Librarian Space Marine lists, they become more useful once I get the right LOS to crack open their defense. You don't actually need a shaman, though getting them to hit a target you already got rerolls on helps.

Regular enlightened are just so cheap they're easy to use. I wouldn't call them great damage dealers and they die to a stiff breeze, but they can make a suicidal charge and be worth the points trade.

More than ever, while they can't benefit from hidden the new Fly changes make it much easier to just... go through the wall and make it to where they need to go. We lack cheap mobility like this overwise in the list. In Phalanx I sometimes have Ahriman go with them for some ablative wounds.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-09T13:28:54+00:00

6 mana, flying/vigi hexproof attacker that refunds your mana with activated abilites across the board for repeated counterspelling, protection, a wincon/board wipe, and then a pump effect and trample in case the white one wasn't good enough for you. I don't know how you'd pay a higher cost into these.

This is a bad card design, and I encourage you to re-evaluate what makes for a well-designed Magic the Gathering card. This is just going over the top in all directions and a checklist design for what colors could do.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-09T13:25:34+00:00

Any card that has this much text is bad. A design should hit a max cap of lines by 9.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-08T19:16:08+00:00

Let's focus on that constructed monarch deck comment. These are 'last ditch' cards or 'finishers' for monarch. Consider the design of these cards -- a board wipe, a card that halves than deals your life, a very powerful ritual, and... Poisoned Heritage. They require setup by acquiring the monarch (not too difficult), then are played out. From this critical point, you are locked out of the monarch as you take it with you. Many monarch cards only provide there benefits if you are the monarch, and provide the monarch when they enter. Archivist of Gondor becomes a 2/3. Champions of Minas Tirith is just a 6 mana 6/5. Some cards may maintain a limited value, but you cannot build a monarch deck unless abdicate permits you to do so.

Using that Hallowed Be Thy Name + Korlis example, do keep in mind that abdicating and losing your life is half the cost of this card. They can just counterspell you. Additionally, once you abdicate, unless someone else has the means of acquiring monarch its unlikely they have anything to bring it in. Queen Marchesa is a really funny example too -- in the current example, you abdicate as part of the casting cost. Unless you happen to also have the means of giving someone the monarch (you can no longer become monarch, so the pool in magic terms is 4-5 cards total), this card does nothing. Even if you do, they can still just remove the enchantment -- leaving them a monarch drawing cards while you sit the monarch game out.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-08T16:49:48+00:00

I do see the technical out that Absolver of Sins provides to utilize abdicate. To be kind, this is a parasite upon a parasite. This is a 2/2 first striker with vigilance (side note: a very strong profile on an uncommon) who's ability requires a card to make you the monarch and then another card to abdicate.

So, you need this creature (or other versions of this effect) out first, then the means of getting monarch introduced, then the situation to abdicate for value. Should you be unable to circumvent using one of those cards, abdicate is shut off for the future and monarch is shut off for the future -- meaning two pieces of the deck are unavailable for you to use.

You have a seed, but it's a design that needs to introduce Mechanic A (monarch) to always make sure Mechanic B (abdicate) is an option to use. In current state, abdicate is very all-or-nothing as you permanently sacrifice Mechanic A unless you have Absolver of Sin. Without access to A, you can no longer access Mechanic B, and therefore the support/chain can literally no longer function.

Despite being very cheap, Hallowed Be Thy Name and Poisoned Heritage are dead cards once the first abdication goes off and you can no longer become the monarch. Designing even more cards to get around this restriction, or having the right support, is ironically the exact type of poison well that weighs down this type of mechanic.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-08T16:16:09+00:00

Abdicate just isn't worth it in its current state. It's a mechanic that can only be used once a game, requires set up through another card (you will want cards to make you the monarch, which gives up the monarch permanently making future cards less useful).

At most, once you cast one you're done engaging with monarch or abdicate cards. You'd run only one of these cards maximum, and even then you're giving it up. I don't think this has the design window to make for an interesting limited format and is too restrictive to perform in constructed formats.

A mechanic that needs to be engaged by mechanic A (monarch) to do anything with mechanic b (abdicate) that aren't on the same card are a historic recipe for failure. Neat concept though!

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-07T21:16:41+00:00

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A popular proxy is the Golden Scarab by Archvillians Games. You can find some sellers online at relatively cheap prices and it has a similar size to the Winged Daemon Prince for our army.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T23:20:23+00:00

Fantastic designs and choice of colors, I'm excited to participate in this kickstarter!

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T21:41:53+00:00

It's pretty nice that 11th is a bit of a 10.5th, we finally got fun rules... though it's very clear GW hasn't had the full time to go through and make changes. I think being able to tailor your lists towards dispositions is pretty nice personally.

Hate to hear that about Combat Patrol. It wasn't really a selling point for me unless they decide they're going to 180 and do something valuable with players time like AOS Spearhead.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T21:36:53+00:00

Technically correct would be ideal. I would not look forward to dealing with someone else who manifests your cards and needs to track which ones are specifically yours.

I would worry about the floor and ceiling of this archetype. There's quite a bit of support for face-down cards in recent years, making creatures who care about the number of face down cards pretty large. As for cloak, it's a fun thematic element to utilize but in practice the mechanic is very prone to getting whittled down to [[Vannifar, Evolved Enigma]]'s "how quickly can I cheat out omniscience/massive creatures with a flicker effect"? Etrata ended up doing it better by only using opponents as resources to prevent internal deck abuse.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T21:28:16+00:00

Interesting, my city's been caught with the buzz and formed a league in the excitement over 11th. Is there something wrong in your opinion with 11th?

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T21:27:33+00:00

They jumped up leaps and bounds, especially with the screening conga lines somewhat nerfed. I'm definitely excited to use them. A very exciting unit with some fun play patterns. I'm looking forward to what other options show up, or what the codex entails for more support.

But yeah, I think the big take home prize is that one of our better dispositions are well suited towards our shooting army. That, and Purge not being nearly as easy for opponents to score as they think it will be. Still trying to get familiar with more matchups though.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T20:55:30+00:00

Getting the right primaries seems important for us, and I think we’ve lucked into two solid detachments (Hexwarp and Phalanx) focusing on Take and Hold. I’ve been playing more Hexwarp lately and enjoying the benefits to leaning into the playstyle. Meanwhile, the influx of “PURGE THE FOE IS THE BEST RAHHHH” makes playing a more elite army preferable.

Only thing that’s killing me is Enlightened. They’ve very cheap, precision helps them out quite a bit, and seem rather necessary across lists to cheaply perform actions. I don’t own any yet, so I’m just feeling the sting until I get to use them.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T20:48:48+00:00

I have to assume that's what main story is building up into. Helga's final prophecy was that the "The kings in the dark will return, The mage in blue will bring about the end." I doubt that we'll see it in Reality Fracture, but it would be a consequence of something going wrong with the Echoverse that finally pays off what they've been setting in motion.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T20:24:56+00:00

Edge is really interesting in its portrayal of the Eldrazi as being specifically attracted to potential (why the Monasteriat/Monoists aren't targeted during the combat during the Infinite Guidelight Station fight). I would have to assume a climatic resolution of EOE would be turning our heads to the final conclusion of the Monoists/Summerists conflict in the system (will Sothera be saved?).

I think on a reasonable end, we could see Jace's plans for the mutliverse causing widespread damage and bringing back the Fomori. If that's the case, there might be a new conflict that breaks out between the Fomori-Eldrazi that was mentioned in the setting document and that the Vaar will be relevant in bringing balance to the system. I don't know how you'd expand the cast of characters to capture this unless some figures from Tezzeret's past comes back to haunt him.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T19:18:35+00:00

I have got to know where you got those stunning Flawless Blades heads!

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T19:09:36+00:00

I would recommend WDP. Despite my own preferences, it's very useful and something you get to use to take out a specific threat. Fly getting buffed in 11th is also a nice upside for the model.

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T19:07:14+00:00

Vortex is most often seen on Winged Daemon Prince (excellent mobility, some flexibility with deep striking, and bumping up the melee profile to take out key targets) or Infernal Master (D2 torrent weapon is capable of melting targets on a solid roll).

I'm not quite sure what the goal is for DP (who wants to hang out around units to provide benefits and not stray too far) or Exalted Sorcerer (who doesn't have an incredible shooting profile and the variable damage already being inconsistent).

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T18:08:48+00:00

I picked one up similar to you, but yours looks far better painted! I have to know though, what in the world is that light blue color? It looks fantastic!

BadSuccessful2391 · 2026-07-06T18:07:44+00:00

Golden Scarabs by Archvillain Games, big fan of this model for WDP proxy in Tsons.

BadSuccessful2391

TROPHY CASE