So I've been pretty burnt out on the SCP set I was making for good while now and decided to start up on a new one that I didn't have to reverse engineer from pre-existing lore just to give myself a break. Decided to do a full set inspired by Tul-Tazlan, a set touched on in the collaborative create a booster game over on contests and games. The whole concept of the plane involves a fantasy world that was reduced to a mostly desert wasteland with every kind of apocalypse imaginable seeming to have been simultaneously triggered a long time ago in an unknown event.
Possible Mechanics:
Found in booster
Kicker
Caprice (when you cast this spell, flip a coin until you lose a flip.)
Sandsoul
Mirage (, exile this card from your graveyard: create a 2/2 blue illusion creature token. Activate only as a sorcery.)
New additions
Wither
Salvage (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead.) Double sided card similar to Disturb or Aftermath but is always a non-creature artifact. Comments on mechanic is appreciated.
Example for clarification
Rusted Shambler
Artifact Creature - Zombie Construct (c)
Has it decayed from what it once was, or was it ever alive at all?
2/2
//
Corpse Burner
Salvage (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead.)
, exile target creature card from your graveyard: Draw a card and lose 1 life.
Improvements to the mechanic would be appreciated
Subthemes
Deserts
-1/1 counters
Vehicles (a la Mad Max)
I'm going to for sure include kicker, sandsoul, caprice and Salvage (if it needs to be modified to work I will include the modified version) but do not know if I want to include Mirage or Wither. I'd like to keep it it down to 5 mechanics. This is probably the biggest issue. I can't decide which of these two would make the cut. I don't know if the effect of Mirage is unique enough to include as a named mechanic and I don't know if I should include wither to expand the design space of the -1/-1 counters subtheme (and make it a little more different than Amonkhet). Can't really move forward until this is solved.
Tul-Tazlan: Post-Apocalypse themed set (Ideas and Brainstorming)
Archetypes I've got so far (open to suggestions.) will post some lore about what factions would correspond to them. Each is supposed to be based on either a kind of apocalypse found in popular media or a post apocalyptic trope.
: Coin Flip/Caprice.
Faction: Beastfolk. Mutated/ sentient animals living in the wild magic zones. References to Planet of the Apes and Zoo.
: Tokens.
Faction: Setechaf Bunkerfolk. A collection of people living in underground bunkers that rarely come out except to scavenge for supplies that can't be provided by the self sustaining ecosystem within. Very xenophobic and fearful of anything to do with things outside their bunkers.
: Illusions(?) (May change if Mirage is cut.)
Faction: Priests of the Faceless Gods. A bunch of half mad people who worship broken effigies from the old world and create illusions of the past that serve as their gods.
: Cards leaving your graveyard/Salvage(?). Kind of overlaps with with salvage so would want some ways to distinguish them.
Faction: Not sure. Was thinking some kind of scrapper or salvager group.
: Kicker.
Faction: Phen-Rah guild(?). Was honestly thinking this would be a good place to have the mutant cannibal people you see in lots of apocalypse movies. Probably working for half mutated demon lord that survived the disaster. Kinda plays on the idea of kicker as an "additional cost" that you sacrifice for power.
: Deserts/Sandsoul.
Factions: Hakazi Caravans. Mysterious traveling merchants that traverse the sands by night to avoid the sun and have a mystical ability to merge with the sand during the daytime in a sort of stasis. Origin unknown. Houses lots of unexpectedly civilized vampires who due to blood being scarce due to low populations and needing to barter needed supplies with others to get enough to survive. Does business with setechaf a lot. Rivalry with Sun Cult Marauders.
: Vehicles
Faction: Sun Cult Marauders. Led by Tiso the Sun lord, worships the sun and ritualistically burns themselves to create magical resistance to its rays. Raid other factions for resources constantly using mechanical contraptions salvaged from old world tech. Heavy Mad Max vibes. Rivalry with Hakazi Caravans.
: Either artifacts or artifact creatures.
Faction: Figured I'd have a sky net-esque arcane AI that constantly manufactures drones and robot soldiers to hunt down any life it can find. It and it's minions would constitute this faction (definitely have to put a terminator inspired legendary in the set somewhere, lol) .
: self Mill? Kind of not as sure about this one. Don't wanna do generic simic ramp or card draw. (Cause ew.)
Faction: a l i e n s??? Not sure. Ideas welcome.
: -1/-1 counters (wither?)
Faction: Sludge Fields of Kulf. Classic mutant/zombie wasteland scenario with the monsters within trying to infect and mutate rest of the world.
None of this is truly set in stone. If y'all wanted to give some ideas either for mechanics, archetypes or even possible lore I'd appreciate it.
: Coin Flip/Caprice.
Faction: Beastfolk. Mutated/ sentient animals living in the wild magic zones. References to Planet of the Apes and Zoo.
: Tokens.
Faction: Setechaf Bunkerfolk. A collection of people living in underground bunkers that rarely come out except to scavenge for supplies that can't be provided by the self sustaining ecosystem within. Very xenophobic and fearful of anything to do with things outside their bunkers.
: Illusions(?) (May change if Mirage is cut.)
Faction: Priests of the Faceless Gods. A bunch of half mad people who worship broken effigies from the old world and create illusions of the past that serve as their gods.
: Cards leaving your graveyard/Salvage(?). Kind of overlaps with with salvage so would want some ways to distinguish them.
Faction: Not sure. Was thinking some kind of scrapper or salvager group.
: Kicker.
Faction: Phen-Rah guild(?). Was honestly thinking this would be a good place to have the mutant cannibal people you see in lots of apocalypse movies. Probably working for half mutated demon lord that survived the disaster. Kinda plays on the idea of kicker as an "additional cost" that you sacrifice for power.
: Deserts/Sandsoul.
Factions: Hakazi Caravans. Mysterious traveling merchants that traverse the sands by night to avoid the sun and have a mystical ability to merge with the sand during the daytime in a sort of stasis. Origin unknown. Houses lots of unexpectedly civilized vampires who due to blood being scarce due to low populations and needing to barter needed supplies with others to get enough to survive. Does business with setechaf a lot. Rivalry with Sun Cult Marauders.
: Vehicles
Faction: Sun Cult Marauders. Led by Tiso the Sun lord, worships the sun and ritualistically burns themselves to create magical resistance to its rays. Raid other factions for resources constantly using mechanical contraptions salvaged from old world tech. Heavy Mad Max vibes. Rivalry with Hakazi Caravans.
: Either artifacts or artifact creatures.
Faction: Figured I'd have a sky net-esque arcane AI that constantly manufactures drones and robot soldiers to hunt down any life it can find. It and it's minions would constitute this faction (definitely have to put a terminator inspired legendary in the set somewhere, lol) .
: self Mill? Kind of not as sure about this one. Don't wanna do generic simic ramp or card draw. (Cause ew.)
Faction: a l i e n s??? Not sure. Ideas welcome.
: -1/-1 counters (wither?)
Faction: Sludge Fields of Kulf. Classic mutant/zombie wasteland scenario with the monsters within trying to infect and mutate rest of the world.
None of this is truly set in stone. If y'all wanted to give some ideas either for mechanics, archetypes or even possible lore I'd appreciate it.
Last edited by Incredium 2 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Love this idea. My few comments
Mirage has potential but feels underwhelming imo. Being a static 2/2 isn't very appealing to me and if it's tacked onto a mediocre spell it doesn't feel worth it to me.
Sandsoul is interesting but I think it should be in addition to their types so they can still block.
Like caprice and salvage. Would be interested in seeing how you use them.
This is something I'd be interested in. I will think of some suggestions. Those are just my first impressions.
Mirage has potential but feels underwhelming imo. Being a static 2/2 isn't very appealing to me and if it's tacked onto a mediocre spell it doesn't feel worth it to me.
Sandsoul is interesting but I think it should be in addition to their types so they can still block.
Like caprice and salvage. Would be interested in seeing how you use them.
This is something I'd be interested in. I will think of some suggestions. Those are just my first impressions.
-
SecretInfiltrator
- Posts: 5931
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: they / them
- Location: The Shattered Realm
Caprice seems horrible. I hoped the card design would be convincing, but it really is just used in a very straightforward way.
Mirage as originally proposed in the CCaB-thread, while undercost, had a variable cost. for a 2/2 from the graveyard seems very efficient.
Salvage and mirage hit very similar mechanical space.
You don't explain sandsoul.
Good tohave factions. It would be fun to reference a bunch of apocalypses overall.
Mirage as originally proposed in the CCaB-thread, while undercost, had a variable cost. for a 2/2 from the graveyard seems very efficient.
Salvage and mirage hit very similar mechanical space.
You don't explain sandsoul.
Good tohave factions. It would be fun to reference a bunch of apocalypses overall.
-
benjameenbear
- Posts: 1129
- Joined: 5 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
Love the idea for the world! I have a few ideas for you to consider!
I like the factions that you've described and I think an interesting design space for Simic would be the Earth fighting back with elementals, except those elementals have been twisted into horrors because of all the apocalypses that occurred. So, maybe they have a land cost with Deserts that you can play with or they have a special kicker ability that does something with lands so that it conveys the idea of the earth itself being in retaliation for all the apocalyptic occurrences. Or maybe you can do a semi-Kaiju theme where massive monsters emerged from the earth and oceans to devastate the world? Lots of design space here imo.
For Dimir, I think you could have a remnant of a political faction that's trying to reclaim their power subtly with a predilection towards the Izzet faction. Maybe they're the creators of the sky-net-esque Izzet and they're trying to regain control of it? Salvage seems like a good mechanic here as well as -1/-1 counters. You can draw some inspiration from Shadowmoor for -1/-1 themes and/or wither. Maybe they tried inserting clones into positions of power and the clones turned on them? That would be pretty apocalyptic IMO.
I like the factions that you've described and I think an interesting design space for Simic would be the Earth fighting back with elementals, except those elementals have been twisted into horrors because of all the apocalypses that occurred. So, maybe they have a land cost with Deserts that you can play with or they have a special kicker ability that does something with lands so that it conveys the idea of the earth itself being in retaliation for all the apocalyptic occurrences. Or maybe you can do a semi-Kaiju theme where massive monsters emerged from the earth and oceans to devastate the world? Lots of design space here imo.
For Dimir, I think you could have a remnant of a political faction that's trying to reclaim their power subtly with a predilection towards the Izzet faction. Maybe they're the creators of the sky-net-esque Izzet and they're trying to regain control of it? Salvage seems like a good mechanic here as well as -1/-1 counters. You can draw some inspiration from Shadowmoor for -1/-1 themes and/or wither. Maybe they tried inserting clones into positions of power and the clones turned on them? That would be pretty apocalyptic IMO.
Curator of the MTGNexus cEDH Forums
The idea behind sandsoul was that it would effectively be a form of half-phasing, but instead of just straight up nonexisting itself it just turns into a land, which would force you to have land destruction if you wanted to destroy it at sorcery speed. It would also have some interactions with things that rely on # of lands or the like.Pygyzy wrote: ↑2 years agoLove this idea. My few comments
Mirage has potential but feels underwhelming imo. Being a static 2/2 isn't very appealing to me and if it's tacked onto a mediocre spell it doesn't feel worth it to me.
Sandsoul is interesting but I think it should be in addition to their types so they can still block.
Like caprice and salvage. Would be interested in seeing how you use them.
This is something I'd be interested in. I will think of some suggestions. Those are just my first impressions.
Also yeah consensus seems to be for a 2/2 is underwhelming, if that's the case could easily bump it down to . Just wanted to make it a universal cost to take away any unneeded complexity and wanted to be conservative going in. But yeah, not sure if it's worth it to make a whole mechanic out of that effect or just make it a non-keywords effect that shows up on cards associated with the Azorius faction once or twice.
I really liked the idea of playing with "wild magic" and having chaotic and unpredictable effects after the natural magical order of the world "broke" so to speak, which is kind of what caprice stems from. There would be a card or two in the set in the vein of Krark's Thumb that would help you control your coin flips, but still wanted it to feel unpredictable. How would you use or change it to be more interesting or effective?SecretInfiltrator wrote: ↑2 years agoCaprice seems horrible. I hoped the card design would be convincing, but it really is just used in a very straightforward way.
Mirage as originally proposed in the CCaB-thread, while undercost, had a variable cost. for a 2/2 from the graveyard seems very efficient.
Salvage and mirage hit very similar mechanical space.
You don't explain sandsoul.
Good tohave factions. It would be fun to reference a bunch of apocalypses overall.
Also, do you think it overlaps enough it would be better to cut it in favor of Wither? Question for everyone really
A lot of the simic one sounds cool with elementals. Maybe it would be like, natural disaster apocalypse themed? Like 2012 or Day after Tomorrow? Alternatively the giant monster thing could work, lol Kaiju apocalypse is basically just late game against any simic ramp deck 😆. I think it would be interesting, especially with the land kicker thing, though It may require a new mechanic which I'm already in need of cutting one so may not have room for more. Basically effect would need to be subtle enough to not need a keyworded mechanicbenjameenbear wrote: ↑2 years agoLove the idea for the world! I have a few ideas for you to consider!
I like the factions that you've described and I think an interesting design space for Simic would be the Earth fighting back with elementals, except those elementals have been twisted into horrors because of all the apocalypses that occurred. So, maybe they have a land cost with Deserts that you can play with or they have a special kicker ability that does something with lands so that it conveys the idea of the earth itself being in retaliation for all the apocalyptic occurrences. Or maybe you can do a semi-Kaiju theme where massive monsters emerged from the earth and oceans to devastate the world? Lots of design space here imo.
For Dimir, I think you could have a remnant of a political faction that's trying to reclaim their power subtly with a predilection towards the Izzet faction. Maybe they're the creators of the sky-net-esque Izzet and they're trying to regain control of it? Salvage seems like a good mechanic here as well as -1/-1 counters. You can draw some inspiration from Shadowmoor for -1/-1 themes and/or wither. Maybe they tried inserting clones into positions of power and the clones turned on them? That would be pretty apocalyptic IMO.
The dimir idea is actually really interesting, I'm down for it. I was thinking that the card for the AI itself would be probably be grixis so it would make sense. Yeah, I think I'll flesh that out and use that.
