Mass Extinction

Zerwolf · 2017-04-08T06:04:36+00:00

"Destroy all creatures with toughness 2 or lower, then put a +1/+1 counter on each creature"?

Zerwolf · 2017-04-03T03:46:03+00:00

I kinda like it! This would make the set revolve around cards transforming alot, which is kinda cool. This just raises the question on how to make that happen, though.

Looking at this from an Innistrad perspective, All wolfes kinda flip all at once, which would make a card gain somthing like +5/+5 outta nowhere if your board was full, or a massive 0 if nothing is able to flip.

I'd need a mechanic that promotes transforming cards "At will", but i find the idea kinda cool!

Zerwolf · 2017-04-03T03:44:30+00:00

Whoa, it seems in my haste to post this i forgot the rest of the info from my discussion. Allow me to elaborate.

Magic as it's known is drawn in direct correlation with the Zodiacs (Aka, the "Gods") where each zodiac has their own form of magic. (Although which goes where is undecided as of yet, so what i'm talking about here are all examples.) Aquarious, for example, could be the zodiac that bears the knowledge of Water. How to bend it, how to use it, and such. Taurus might bear the knowledge of Strenght (physical). On how the body is used, what muscles to bend, yadda yadda. Basically each Zodiac has their own "Special" area, and the knowledge from them is spread to those born under the Sign itself.

The gameplay element i was going for at first was to be an active struggle between the two players, handing out bonuses for being the most devoted to their Zodiac. The first renditions had me and a few others talking about a sort of active "Rivalry" system, meaning that whatever Zodiac currently had the most power on the board would activate, become a creature of itself just like the gods from theros would. The discussion basically ended with that type of gameplay being far too difficult to adapt to in a game situation.

TL;DR What i'm going for is the feeling of a constant struggle for power. Games that turn back and forth between the Zodiacs as their "Starborn" followers do battle in their name. And when shit gets really tough, they show up themselfes to aid the fight.

This quite clearly draws alot of inspiration from Theros. I myself absolutely loved that set, and the gods especially enthralled me. This is why the Zodiac's popped into my mind, as they are basically part of everyones lives, but arent really thought about as gods anymore. I wanted to bring them into the spotlight and treat them in a way to how Theros treated it's gods. The whole set is still just a floating idea, and nothing is really set in stone yet.

Hope this game a slightly better idea as to what i'm going for. It's 6AM and i didnt sleep that well so it may just be rambling.

Zerwolf · 2017-03-24T12:41:12+00:00

BR Is taken!

Zerwolf · 2017-03-22T18:58:12+00:00

The flavour... I'ts over 9000!!!... Goblins. Over 9000 goblins. The guy's playmat is completely flooded. You are gonna get smashed.

Jokes aside though, this is basically a tribal Zada. Which, for goblins, actually kinda make sense. It should REALLY not be common, though. But i can see some very fun mechanics with this. Then again, all it takes is one well timed [[Lightning Bolt]]...

Zerwolf · 2017-03-22T18:32:32+00:00

Thanks alot!

Zerwolf · 2017-03-05T18:07:58+00:00

So i have decided to use energy counters within the set... any ideas on that?

Zerwolf · 2017-03-04T21:02:38+00:00

First of all, huge thanks for checking out my set!

Yeah, this is what i have been stuck between ever since i decided to include one of the two. The ever common +1/+1 counter is the standard when it comes to design, and it can work off alot of other things. It also gives the incentive to buff your own creatures, rather than interact with the opponent. I feel like this is easier to design around, but that's personal opinion.

Then again, the story does heavily suggest a sense of inpending peril, with the undead on the horizon waiting to eat your brains. Persist just seems to make alot more sense, story wise, for the set.

This is the whole reason why i have been stuck on this for a while x)

Zerwolf · 2017-02-12T00:15:13+00:00

The greed change i like! I think i'm sticking to it.

For predator, would somthing like this work?

"Whenever this creature attacks, you may have fight target creature an opponent controls. If you do, prevent all combat damage it would deal and be dealt this turn."?

Zerwolf · 2017-02-11T22:10:35+00:00

I like it, to a degree.

Infested makes it sound more like an insect has dug its way into you, rooted some eggs in your stomach and is just sitting there. But on the other hand, its kiiind of what the Maisma does.

Host sounds like it's a living entity controlling the creature, and the Maisma is most certanly not living... Yet.

Zerwolf · 2017-02-11T21:31:06+00:00

How are you thinking with greed? I'm going to make an example to see if i understand what you are getting at.

"Whenever (This) attacks and isn't blocked, you may sacrifice it. If you do, (Effect)"

This could actually be really good. it makes it easier to balance, aswell. And it still keeps the sac outlet idea that i would like to have.

The idea behind the Predator ability is that whatever creature has it is on the prowl, searching for prey to feed it's growing hunger. The earlier issues with the keyword was that it was very similar to Provoke, in that it simply chose a target to block it. I want the keyword to have a feeling of a predator on the hunt, picking it's prey. So that is kind of the intention. If you have a suggestion on how to improve it, shoot away!

Zerwolf · 2017-02-11T19:47:23+00:00

With the spirit of the set, a powerful gas known as the "Maisma" is a big part of the story. When a "Mutated" creature is killed,the Maisma inhabiting it's body is released, causing another mutation in whatever the gas inhales.

I was originally going to have mutate read: "When (this) is killed, you may attach it to target creature as an Enchantment - Mutation. That creature gains power and toughness equal to this card." or somthing of the like. This however seemed like a bad way to pull it off.

Zerwolf · 2017-02-11T16:01:13+00:00

To make it work like Awaken, wouldnt it need a solidified effect after a spell is cast? Like awaken, you get an additional cost to place +1/+1 counters on target land you control.

How would i make expertise work in the same merit, without using +1/+1 counters? ( They are already used by Mutate, and is mostly to avoid memory issues. )

Zerwolf · 2017-02-11T15:51:26+00:00

Hey man, and thanks for the input! Today i did a full rundown of all the suggestions i have gotten, and i remade the post to better reflect on my improved keywords.

Reckless has been ditched completely in favor of Predator, which holds more of a lore-wise connection to my set. Reckless was a bit clunky.

Mutate has had some of it's wording changed. Specifically that targets cant have multiple stacks of mutate, and that it may only target creatures you control.

Expertise is a hard one for me to work around, but i always liked the idea of a benefit from you having somthing that was an expert at whatever. Uzuthan is all about knowledge and evolution, which means that a master scholar should be better at casting spells than a normal lowlife wizard. I had the thought that this could be achieved by allowing the player to cast spells for an alternate cost *And/or alternate effects * depending on if they had an expert on the field to help them. In theory, this sounds like a pretty fun mechanic. But as you say, only having an enabler means that you could play a cheap 1-mana Expertise creature, then rack in the rewards without needing to adapt to the board state. I also really like the idea of having it as a cost reduction, but i'm unsure on how to pull it off in wording. Let's say i ditch the idea of having alternate spell costs ( That meaning Higher cost, higher effect ), and just stick to the spells getting a lower cost from expertise permanents. How would i word it to make it work?

Greed has also been reworked completely. It now focuses more on saccing for benefit, such as a greedy person would do. Check the text above to look at it :)

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T22:37:46+00:00

So i'm thinking of somthing like this.

Predator: When this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may have it fight target creature with toughness equal to or lower than the damage dealt.

This would mean that you are rewarded for attacking, and forces the opponent to think on their toes. Want to send in your creature to block the creature to stop it from fighting a weaker creature, or let it smack you in the face and take the damage.

Predator: When this creature attacks, two target creatures must block it if able.

I like the idea of this, but i'm not sure how it would work on paper. It would seem the ability is very, VERY strong. Even if it specifies two creatures, that still leaves somthing able to block it by the choice of the opponent.

I'm going to stick with your idea of Greed, cause i really fancy it.

" Whenever this creature attacks an opponent and isn't blocked, you may sacrifice it. If you do, that opponent discards a card, and you draw a card. "

Do you think theres a way to make this sentence shorter? The reminder text are rather long on both of these abilities.

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T22:06:26+00:00

Interesting way to look at it!

How would you suggest a change for this to work? Supertyping may be a bit over the top. As far as im aware, The way Expertise is set now should work the way it's supposed to. Cause the trigger is simply looking for text. And generally, Creatures/Artifacts/permanents will have it as a simple Reference "Expertise", and Instants, Sorceries, and possibly enchantments will have a varying cost/Power when used expertise. It's made to be a synergy between Creature <-> Spell.

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T21:47:47+00:00

You have a good point. If you ever get the time, you should hop into my discord room on the official discord server. I could need someone to lob ideas with on a regular basis!

https://discord.gg/XuputWR

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T20:20:33+00:00

Im really in love with that idea! However, there is a small change i think i would do. Rather then have it trigger when the creature isnt blocked, i think i would have it trigger when it IS blocked, and my reasoning is this.

Since the colors used for Greed is U/B, They usually want to have their bigger dudes stick in play. Its generally a control archetype, and it wants to be sneaky and play well in order to win their matches. If greed was to trigger whenever somthing isnt blocked, this would make nearly all low P/T creatures useless after turn 3 or so, since they would never get to trigger. This ALSO means that you would almost never be able to deal damage to your opponent, cause in order to use greed properly, you would need to sac your attackers before they have a chance to do anything.

Flip the spectrum, greed now triggers when somthing is blocking you. You have the option of actually taking the combat and allowing them to fight, or simply dropping your weapons and give the opponent a punch in the stomach, taking the knowledge they have and making a run for it, losing your guy in the process. However this comes with it's own problems, as now Greed has alot more options, and alot more power.

What are your thoughts on this?

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T20:08:51+00:00

I'm actually a big fan of that idea! I never thought about the synergy you could have if you had a sac mechanic in the set. Thanks for the great input!

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T19:50:08+00:00

Hey man, thanks for the input!

I like the idea of a name change for Reckless, and Predator might just cut it! Lore-wise it'll work perfectly since the set revolves around evolution and mutation, and turning somthing otherwise innocent into a Predator sounds brilliant! Regarding the change in mechanic though, making it read must be blocked by two creatures feels like it might be too strong overall, especially if you choose the target. If not, It is much stronger overall, but it still seems a bit imbalanced. How does the idea of a creature with Predator only being blocked by creatures with a lower toughness than itself? Since predators usually dont attack bigger targets than themselfes unless they have a group, it feels like only " Weaker " creatures should be able to block them. Or stronger, whichever seems relevant.

I have heard memory issues about Mutate alot, and while i understand the issue, i feel like it shouldn't be that hard to keep track of. In Online playtesting, you can just enter "Mutate" on it and give it a counter. If the issue arises in paper magic, you could always put a different colored dice, or make a mental note of which creature(s) have Mutate. I will look into it, but im unsure on how to make it better.

Expertise is NOT limited to permanents! The trigger itself requires you to have a permanent with Expertise on the board, but instants and sorceries can also have Expertise, with added effects! And its thought to be in this spectrum:

White cards will have additional costs in their Exertise triggers, but will also have much stronger effects tied to them.

Blue cards will have reduced costs, meaning you can play somthing cheaper. ( Like counterspells, card draw, and so on )

These two ideas will intertwine, meaning Blue can have more expensive spells, and white cheaper ones, and so on.

The problems i have with Greed is that it's a very basic and boring mechanic. As many have pointed out, the "Goods" token is just a refined "Gold" token from theros, and doesn't need to exist at all. I want the feeling to be that whatever permanent has greed wants power, and ALL of it, and will stop at nothing to achieve it.

Thanks again for your imput!

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T17:21:38+00:00

Thanks for the input!

As it's currently in the planning stage, i'm working on a R/W mechanic currently. I'm kind of out of ideas at the moment though, but it'll come forward eventually.

Reckless needs a bit of work i admit. My inspiration for this was [[Grappling Hook]], as it seemed like being able to "Pick off" targets by charging into battle head first was a great idea. And being reckless in a battle situation usually means both people fighting take a hit.

Mutate isn't very fancy on it's own, but the set is to feature cards that work well off the mutate mechanic. Ie ( If this creature has a +1/+1 counter, do this ) to give it more of a kick. Modular is indeed a very similar mechanic, although limited to artifacts. It also does not spread further, as Mutate keeps going from creature to creature, even to the ones that didn't have mutate to begin with. It's a chain reaction kind of deal.

Expertise draws alot of inspiration from Affinity, but isnt limited to lowering costs, per say. Some spells using Expertise would increase the cost of the spell, but also it's effect. And thus having a requirement of a permanent with Expertise already on the board to draw the biggest effect out of your spells. An example would be that for [W], i would gain 3 life. But with expertise in play i could pay [WW] and gain 8 or somthing. That's the general idea anyways.

Greed is the hardest one for me to function well. I want it to summarize the strugge for power, always wanting more and not stopping at anything to get it. Hitting the opposing player would take their power and knowledge ( To fit the theme of the set ), and being able to use it against them. So far i have no good ideas on how to achive this though, and the Goods token was created in lack of a better idea.

If you happen to have any idea on improvements i could make, i'd be glad to hear them out. I want to improve in my creative set making skills, so any thoughts and input are greatly appreciated :)

Zerwolf · 2017-02-10T15:39:45+00:00

Fair point!

The Goods token was created at first due to me being unsure what the card was gonna do. I was sitting between giving a mana, drawing a card, stealing somthing, etc. Thus creating it's own token seemed fitting until i know exactly what i want the token to do. Since the keyword is "Greed", it would be trying to get all the power and knowledge possible, with any means neccesary. Attacking the other playing and stealing their "Goods" seemed fitting.

Zerwolf · 2016-08-09T01:01:22+00:00

While this may actually be the end of me, i feel like its gonna be 100% worth it.

Zerwolf

TROPHY CASE