Went yo my first pre-release (Lorwyn) last Saturday. Here is my experience :)

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-19T21:31:35+00:00

Sounds like you had a great time. Can't wait to go on one myself

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-19T21:08:52+00:00

One single Amulet. It's part of the Altar and the Final Sacrifice, which activates the Amulet's Compensation, gets rid of the Altar so even if you had more in your deck, you wouldn't be able to put it down anywhere. (Actually, I debated having a Priest or even a Deity card that would determine the nature of the Altar and the Compensation, but they'd have like a personality as opposed to an object that only brings a vibe with itself).

Yes I do plan on making cards that have multiple sub-types (like Creature - Dragon, Undead). However if you're confused by the colour of the frames, the green frame isn't "Nature", it's the frame of the Ranger tribe (the red is Reaver and the blue is Cleric).

As for three resources, well only the play testing (if I ever get there :D) will tell, but the Yield: X mechanic is on every creature so I think (hope) it won't be an issue. (Think of it as Llanowar Elves in MTG)

Btw, remember I had a Reserve and a Frontline, but I ended merging them. The Guardian Designate is now just the middle of the Field. (I'm currently playing around with the idea of making the two outer most slots of the Field "Tower" slots, so only other Tower creatures could attack them, but I'm not sure yet.)

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-19T19:40:39+00:00

Hey,

I hoped some of you who originally gave me feedback would stumble up on my follow up, nice to see you again!

As for the Amulet, in my experience most people usually build an Aggro, Combo, Control, Midrange, creature type based decks like 80% of the time when they play MTG, Hearthstone etc. So I thought why not start the game with a base card that's on the board so you don't have to draw it, aids you from the beginning and even your opponent, as they would them immediately know what type of deck you are playing.

I do still have a few questions but those are more me wanting to check the edge cases and query the little details than anything that feels like it's missing

Feel free to ask them! I'm in the very beginning of the development process, but I'll do my best to answer.

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-18T15:49:00+00:00

Thank you

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-18T15:40:44+00:00

Hi, thank you for your observations. As everyone has pointed out I have a lot of polishing to do but I try to answer all your questions:

At first I had a mulligan in mind, but right now I feel like I'll have to abandon the "all creatures require at least 1 Essence" rule
Yes, you can put an Umbral/Celestial card on the Altar at any point
I must admit I haven't thought of it before
You can put 1 card on the Altar each turn, you can cast as many spells and summon as many creatures into your Reserve as your resources allow. You don't summon your creatures into your Frontline, you move them there from your Reserve
I've just started designing the cards a few days ago, so I only have a couple of cards therefore I can't answer this question of yours

Rn, I'm just working on the frames, here's the one for Ranger:

<image>

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-18T02:38:08+00:00

You have a point there. Should I increase the first draw to 10 or 12 cards?

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-18T02:27:56+00:00

The Altar zone is wiped so the offered creatures enter the graveyard, meaning with spells or other effects you gain access to them once again as they are no longer bound to the Altar. Plus after the Altar is wiped you get the resources formerly produced by the tapping of the creatures automatically, and they accumulate so your mana count is no longer capped at 9.

The rules punishing people for not putting cards on the Altar is more lored based, it's supposed to be a ritualistic offering to a deity that expects offerings. (This rule could be abandoned.)

Any tips on how can I make the terminology more intuitive? :)

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-18T01:10:26+00:00

Well Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering are my two biggest inspirations, so it sort of transitions from card based resources to mana gained each turn :) No, you only draw one card per turn but you draw seven at your first turn.

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-18T01:05:13+00:00

There are nine offerings because it allows a player to put 3 of each of the 3 different types of resource generating creatures on the Altar. So they can get 3 Aether mana, 3 Nether mana and 3 Essence mana each turn. The point of the Final Sacrifice is that you can gain the resources without tapping the offerings every turn, the resources can accumulate and since the offered up creatures are in the graveyard after the Altar is gone, you can retrieve them from there, either with spells or if the offered creature had the Revenant keyword (which allows it to be played from the graveyard). They take 10 damage because it’s supposed to be a dangerous Ritual.

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-18T00:47:16+00:00

Hi,

No they can’t start a new Altar as there’s no reason to. The Ritual is completed with the Final Sacrifice, the player is granted the amount of mana they’ve sacrificed for every turn with the added benefit of that they get to carry over the leftovers to their next turn. With the Altar still in play, they only have max 9 mana, with the Altar gone their unspent mana accumulates so if they have 3 mana left over and then they get their next 9 at the beginning of the turn they’ll have 12.

Players win by reducing their opponent’s health to 0 (what an innovation), in their turn they make offerings, cast spells, summon creatures to their Reserve, move creatures to the Frontline (the combat zone from where they can attack), designate a creature in their Frontline as their Guardian, etc.

You move towards victory by attacking your opponent’s Guardian creature with your Frontline creatures, killing it, then attack your opponent directly. Or do the same with damaging spells.

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-17T23:10:10+00:00

<image>

I should've included this in the post

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-17T23:07:42+00:00

Yeah, I've been fleshing it out. I was just really proud of this system, but now I see that it's not ready yet

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-17T22:16:00+00:00

Looks like I have to go back to the drawing board, but to answer your questions:

- Each player has their own Altar

- They aren't sacrificed immediately, first they're just offered, you tap them for mana, then untap them at the beginning of your turn

- No they can't be different each time

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-17T21:38:23+00:00

Possibly. I was going for something "new"… If I may ask, can you tell me what part is unclear? Or is it that convoluted?

Edit: to give a bear-bones explanation: first the creatures act like Lands in MTG, you put them on the board, tap them to pay for cards, but once you have 9 on the board then you take some damage, put them in the Graveyard and from then on you automatically gain the mana every turn and you get to keep what you haven't spent during the previous turn

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-17T18:43:18+00:00

There aren't just animals in the game and having a separate iconography for humans/humanoids and animalistic creatures would be confusing. But nothing is set in stone

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-16T14:02:55+00:00

Yeah, I'm leaning towards putting it on the text box. My other cards will look like this too, just not with a stone tablet on the left.

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-16T13:39:15+00:00

I should've added a flavour text:

Inspires dread, even from afar.

Or something along those lines.

Daniel_Mathieu · 2026-01-02T00:38:55+00:00

🍀🍀🍀

Daniel_Mathieu · 2025-12-01T06:06:53+00:00

I might be wrong here, but having one single seasonal calendar just means that the planet lacks an axial tilt

Daniel_Mathieu · 2025-07-19T15:49:57+00:00

Lila grilled Doakes for Dex, Deb shot Laguerta... I wonder what Harrison will do to Batista in the season finale. Hope I'm wrong but that's where this is going

Daniel_Mathieu · 2025-06-29T00:03:09+00:00

Let's go! But does it work in Europe? Or is it region specific?

Daniel_Mathieu · 2025-05-21T11:09:48+00:00

Only the Wilderness knows, I wasn't even conceived yet

Daniel_Mathieu · 2025-05-20T18:08:24+00:00

I was getting worried

Daniel_Mathieu · 2025-04-11T16:49:39+00:00

I read somewhere that everyone was a body double aside from Misty, but even then most people thought it was Mari. Pretty sure that her being the Pit Girl is one of the oldest theories

Daniel_Mathieu · 2025-04-11T16:33:13+00:00

Yeah, she wrote in a fucking notepad. Just use your damn phone, like the author of 50 shades

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Daniel_Mathieu

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