The Shattered Realm: Mechanical

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

"Enchanted creature gets +1/+0. Enchanted creature or player has ward 1."

"Whenever a creature or planeswalker deals damage to enchanted creature or player, this Aura deals 1 damage to that permanent. Whenever a source other than a creature or planeswalker deals damage to enchanted creature or player, this Aura deals 1 damage to that source's controller."

Hmm.
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

Something I've been mulling when I'm at work.

Leap of Faith
Enchantment — Tradition (R)
(You may sacrifice this enchantment any time you could cast a sorcery.)
Creatures you control have flying and attack each combat if able.
All Soltari initiates must pass one simple test.

Respect for Nature
Enchantment — Tradition (R)
(You may sacrifice this enchantment any time you could cast a sorcery.)
Creatures you control have : Add G.
You can't cast noncreature spells.

Ignore the balance and design, these are just quick mock-ups, not tuned or well made.

The basic idea is the flavor is meant to represent the conflict between red and white. White wants to do things the way we always have, which usually works, but Red knows that you sometimes have to break the rules for the greater good (or fun, but let's stick with greater good for this analogy). So these enchantments are meant to have tug of war for players of, should I keep following my tradition, or break it because I can't go through with it anymore. Mechanically, Red loves sacrificing things, white likes enchantments. Both sides are happy.


So basically, I figure if this mechanic is any good, it could be in all colors except maybe Black since it's not supposed to sac it's own enchantments, but of course focused in RW as that's the Soltari.

As far as flavor for the plane goes: "The Soltari maintained a stable mental condition through following their religion which offered them peace and solidarity. This they achieved with strong oral traditions and a priesthood that propagated an unerring belief in a way back to the real world." — MTG WIKI

Credit to netn10 for the Crime//Punishment mechanic which I think this may have been at least subconsciously inspired by.

I'm not sure if I'm going crazy or there's actually something here.
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

I like the flavor of Traditions a lot, but it's also basically a drawback mechanic, and I'm not sure there's a huge amount of design space; it would have to be a secondary mechanic, and I think it needs something more: self-replacing? Drawing a card when you sacrifice?

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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

Thanks!

Yeah I think you hit the nail on the head there, I'm not satisfied with them at all as far as the mechanics go. Lately I've been worried that having a massive amount of enchantment tokens floating around might be TOO synergistic with Rift, so I've been trying to come up with a new enchantment type that will help facilitate upping the as-fan of enchantments in a fun way but not overpowering Rift.

You'll laugh at some of my ideas that I was previously too ashamed to share: "Perform a ceremony" (Crew a vehicle lol, don't think that's super interesting), Strands, enchantments that could be woven together (haha get it... oh boy) to make your own enchantment. Which seemed like WAAAY to much effort for little reward. I was cracking up over the idea of someone playing two or three separate enchantments so they could... make one enchantment... that they could've just played a normal version of. Whoops.

Then there was the idea of enchantments that all had text that came together, I.E. text on the bottom of the card in brackets that you could combine to make an effect, but again, felt like far too much effort for a small reward.

The only idea I had for an enchantment subtype that I actually liked wholeheartedly was Territories, (basically enchantments that are exchanged like the monarch but based on damage dealt by opponent's creatures) but I think they would go in a different set, one more themed around massive battles and faction gameplay.

I just can't seem to think of a exciting new enchantment type that could stand toe to toe as a replacement for something like Sagas. I'll keep brainstorming.

Another unrequested slice of my crazy brain. :)
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

I've just had an idea, thought I'd post. What if Weather was a new type of enchantment, or maybe not even a type, but a deck.

So basically, you have a deck full of enchantments that represent the weather, an extra deck that is either built during draft or added to after the game begins, I'm still not sure.
This deck then continually spews out enchantments before recycling them into itself and being reshuffled. I'm not sure if you'd need to actually pay mana or the exact details because this literally hit me just now but I think it could be really neat.

So maybe turn 1, Torrential Downpour
Enchantment — (Weather?)
Creatures your opponents control get -1/-0.

But then, the deck moves on, and turn 2 the weather changes to:
Clear Skies
Enchantment — (Weather?)
Enchantment spells you cast cost less to cast.

And then we go to something else on turn 3, and so on until we shuffle the deck and start over. I don't know if the mana costs on the enchantments are even nesseccary depending on if you pay to put them in the Weather deck during the game, or maybe it's something you can do for free, or maybe you do it during draft, maybe you cast them for mana when they show up or maybe they just get temporarily put onto the battlefield but I think this might be something worth exploring.
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago



:grin:
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

More musings.


Inscriptions.

These are, well I don't know if this even works in the rules. I think they could, but I don't know if the effort would be even worth it.

So the basic idea is, you have a permanent, could be anything. At the bottom of the card, (I think?) you have some words. For example:

Underspire Explorer
Creature — Elf Scout (U)
When Underspire Explorer enters the battlefield, mill four cards. You may put a land from your graveyard into your hand.
[Mill 4 cards.]
2/2

OK seems pretty innocuous right?

Now here's where it gets interesting (to me anyway).

Echoes of Wisdom
Enchantment (U)
At the beginning of your upkeep, scry 1.
: Sacrifice Echoes of Wisdom: Draw a card.
[At the beginning of your upkeep,]

So with the two examples I could put the first card on the right, and the second on the left, and the result would be:

[At the beginning of your upkeep] + [mill four cards]

At the beginning of your upkeep, mill four cards.

And here's the kicker hehe pun intended.

Inscription (You may connect this card to any card you own and control with an inscription any time you could cast a sorcery. If an effect is created by this connection, that effect triggers as described. Obviously this would need to be cleaned up, but that's the idea.

So basically you have cards with rules text on them that you can connect (by placing them right next to each other in the order you want and that works within the rules.) to form abilities. You can form powerful effects by combining the words on your permanents, and you can swap them for different effects. The flavor is there are word(s) inscribed on these specific permanents, so each one has a piece of the puzzle, and you can combine them to unlock it.

Examples of words that could be used:
Draw a card
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control
Whenever a creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control
You may pay .
If you do,
You gain 3 life.
Target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.
Tap three untapped creatures you control.

Lets see if I can make something out of this.

Whenever a creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay . If you do, target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.

Of course I still have to figure out why anyone would pay instead of just getting free fights, but hey that's what refinement is for.
I guess this is reverse Cleave, instead of cutting words out of a card, your combining them.
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Post by silver_skeleton » 1 year ago

First I have to say, nice idea for a set, I like the premises and the themes. This has potential. I'd love to contribute some ideas.

I think there's several kinds of Aura mechanics enchantment sets can benefit from, so here are three mechanics for you to consider using. Probably not all, but maybe you like one of them. I tried to design them so they go on commons.

One is a mechanic to cast an aura multiple times, so they aren't just certain card disadvantage.
Reverberate COST (When enchanted creature leaves the battlefield, exile this card. You may cast it from exile for its Reverberate cost.)
I know there's no hard limit to the number of times you can cast this, the cost would need to account for that. If it's too problematic, the time window could be limited to casting only until your next end step.

Then there's a kind of reverse Bestow, a mechanic that could go on cheap enchantment creatures you can change to auras when they're no longer useful in combat:
Essence Shift (Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control and this isn't an aura, you may attach it to that creature and it becomes a non-creature aura with enchant creature.)
Creatures that give just their abilities to enchanted creature, but not giving their p/t, to further distinguish from bestow. Also, maybe the 'non-creature' isn't nessecary? I don't remember, are bestowed auras creatures?

The third is auras that can make their own creatures. I don't know if this specific mechanic could work ruleswise, I just hope it can.
Soulforge COST (You may cast this aura spell without a target for its Soulforge cost instead of its mana cost. It then enters the battlefield attached to a newly created 1/1 colorless Elemental creature token.)
The wording in the reminder text is a bit sloppy, but I think it conveys what the mechanic is supposed to do.

Also I love the aura token idea. As I understand you want to use one fixed aura token, right? What if it can get more flexible? If you plan to use creature ability counters, the aura token could grant abilities from any ability counters on it to enchanted creature. So spells could create aura tokens with different ability counters on it or without any. Negative is it could get a little fiddly with counters on auras, but I think the flexibility could be worth it.

I've got more ideas, but I think that's enough for this time, and I'd like to see what you think of this.

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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

silver_skeleton wrote:
1 year ago
First I have to say, nice idea for a set, I like the premises and the themes. This has potential. I'd love to contribute some ideas.

I think there's several kinds of Aura mechanics enchantment sets can benefit from, so here are three mechanics for you to consider using. Probably not all, but maybe you like one of them. I tried to design them so they go on commons.

One is a mechanic to cast an aura multiple times, so they aren't just certain card disadvantage.
Reverberate COST (When enchanted creature leaves the battlefield, exile this card. You may cast it from exile for its Reverberate cost.)
I know there's no hard limit to the number of times you can cast this, the cost would need to account for that. If it's too problematic, the time window could be limited to casting only until your next end step.

Then there's a kind of reverse Bestow, a mechanic that could go on cheap enchantment creatures you can change to auras when they're no longer useful in combat:
Essence Shift (Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control and this isn't an aura, you may attach it to that creature and it becomes a non-creature aura with enchant creature.)
Creatures that give just their abilities to enchanted creature, but not giving their p/t, to further distinguish from bestow. Also, maybe the 'non-creature' isn't nessecary? I don't remember, are bestowed auras creatures?

The third is auras that can make their own creatures. I don't know if this specific mechanic could work ruleswise, I just hope it can.
Soulforge COST (You may cast this aura spell without a target for its Soulforge cost instead of its mana cost. It then enters the battlefield attached to a newly created 1/1 colorless Elemental creature token.)
The wording in the reminder text is a bit sloppy, but I think it conveys what the mechanic is supposed to do.

Also I love the aura token idea. As I understand you want to use one fixed aura token, right? What if it can get more flexible? If you plan to use creature ability counters, the aura token could grant abilities from any ability counters on it to enchanted creature. So spells could create aura tokens with different ability counters on it or without any. Negative is it could get a little fiddly with counters on auras, but I think the flexibility could be worth it.

I've got more ideas, but I think that's enough for this time, and I'd like to see what you think of this.
Those are some cool ideas! I like the various methods of solving the aura disadvantage problem. Soulforge is pretty interesting as a variant on Living Weapon. My main focus lately has been trying to get everything in the set to gel together, which is why I've been throwing out some many new ideas.

In my head, we have a combat mechanic, (exalted), a enchantments matter mechanic (rift), and we're digging into mechanics around auras. Part of my reservations with aura tokens, is although I love the idea of them in a vacuum, my only concern with aura tokens is that they might be TOO synergistic with Rift.

Which is a weird thing to say I know, but what I mean is, if we have too many enchantments floating around, the actual cost of rift becomes negligible and it becomes too easy of a challenge for players to solve. So I think you might be on the right track with singular aura mechanics.

But then again, maybe that doesn't matter and it's totally fine to have a bunch of aura tokens. It's one area that I think will become clearer once we start playtesting. For a while I was looking at just making a new enchantment subtype, which would hopefully increase the density of enchantments, but not create quite so many enchantments as something like the enchantment equivalent of blood or food tokens.
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Post by silver_skeleton » 1 year ago

I'd be interested to help out more, but I would need to read up some more on your creative work on the plane and setting. I did read all the posts in this thread, but I was mainly looking at the mechanics and didn't pay all that much attention to the groups in this world. My mechanics proposals weren't really meant for a specific group.

Some more thoughts on the mechanics...

Did you think about a Metalcraft variant for enchantments? It's simple, flexible, and provides a different experience than constellation. But with aura tokens this could be a too easy to achieve. I agree that playtesting is the only way to see if they become a 'too much synergy' problem. Regarding what I wrote about the aura tokens was a bit silly, the ability counters can just be put on the creature.

I like animate/embodiment, but as is it's very close to Vehicles. What if you didn't need to tap creatures, but instead the embodiment is a creature as long as a certain state is true? It would move towards devotion/gods then... Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud. Alternatively, how about combining animate with the phase-out cost of Rift instead? So a bit like Vehicles but phasing out creatures, or phasing out enchantments to "crew" it. Or phasing out a single enchantment with mana value at least X.

Empowered looks very specific to me. Number of auras enchanting a player... Do you think it's common enough to warrant the variable? Why not make it a state on-off check "if there's an aura enchanting you"? Also, regarding flavor, I think it would be weird to be empowered by auras (curses) of opponents on you, so maybe only an aura you control?

The graveyard mechanic seems a bit random in this set. Is it fulfilling a role in this set?

Before I make more suggestions for mechanics, I really need to read the creative.

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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

silver_skeleton wrote:
1 year ago
I'd be interested to help out more, but I would need to read up some more on your creative work on the plane and setting. I did read all the posts in this thread, but I was mainly looking at the mechanics and didn't pay all that much attention to the groups in this world. My mechanics proposals weren't really meant for a specific group.

Some more thoughts on the mechanics...

Did you think about a Metalcraft variant for enchantments? It's simple, flexible, and provides a different experience than constellation. But with aura tokens this could be a too easy to achieve. I agree that playtesting is the only way to see if they become a 'too much synergy' problem. Regarding what I wrote about the aura tokens was a bit silly, the ability counters can just be put on the creature.

I like animate/embodiment, but as is it's very close to Vehicles. What if you didn't need to tap creatures, but instead the embodiment is a creature as long as a certain state is true? It would move towards devotion/gods then... Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud. Alternatively, how about combining animate with the phase-out cost of Rift instead? So a bit like Vehicles but phasing out creatures, or phasing out enchantments to "crew" it. Or phasing out a single enchantment with mana value at least X.

Empowered looks very specific to me. Number of auras enchanting a player... Do you think it's common enough to warrant the variable? Why not make it a state on-off check "if there's an aura enchanting you"? Also, regarding flavor, I think it would be weird to be empowered by auras (curses) of opponents on you, so maybe only an aura you control?

The graveyard mechanic seems a bit random in this set. Is it fulfilling a role in this set?

Before I make more suggestions for mechanics, I really need to read the creative.
For sure, this is mostly a testing ground, so not all the mechanics that have been discussed here are actually going to be part of the set.
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

It's always great to have a fresh perspective from someone who brings in interesting ideas! And... we need to revisit the creative, frankly.
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

Food for thought:

Rite of Wisdom
Enchantment (R)
Ceremony 3 (Tap any number of creatures you control with power 3 or greater and pay to perform the ceremony.)
When Rite of Wisdom is performed, draw a card.

Rite of Devastation
Enchantment (R)
Ceremony 3 (Tap any number of creatures you control with power 3 or greater and pay to perform the ceremony.)
When Rite of Devastation is performed, it deals 2 damage to target player or planeswalker.

Once again, shamelessly stealing from artifact mechanics, in this case vehicles. My thought process was, what if you had enchantments that had an activated ability that you could sink mana into over and over. But then I thought, even if you had to discard a card, it seemed to repetitive and overpowered. So then I thought, what if you fused the crew cost of vehicles with a mana sink to balance it out.

So these enchantments are powerful because you can get an effect that's stronger than something like creatures you control get +1/+1 repeatedly, but in order to do so you have to cast the enchantment, tap creatures, and pay mana. So if you want you can keep spamming your ceremony, but if you do you'll have to lower your defenses in terms of mana and creatures.

Additionally, these enchantments could still have regular effects as well, but that might be too op. Also, the secondary cost could change between mana, discarding cards, sacrificing permanents, etc etc. I think if this fit the set it would be in all five colors but most heavily concentrated in because that color pair and the Soltari seem like the most fitting for the mechanic.

EDIT:

After thinking about it some more, what about making this into a re-flavored take on vehicles. At first I was thinking, what the heck would turning an enchantment into a creature represent? But then I thought, what if it represented pulling a creature who had been stuck between dimensions a la shadow back into reality for a moment.

So then Reconstitute N (Tap any number of other untapped creatures you control with total power N or greater: This permanent becomes an enchantment creature until end of turn.)

To prevent double dipping with rift where you attack with an enchantment creature and then phase it out to pay for a spell, rift could be changed to.

Blah blah each untapped enchantment you phase out...


Forlorn Sentinel
Enchantment — Traveler (U)
Vigilance
Reconstitute 3 (Tap any number of other untapped creatures you control with total power 3 or greater: This Traveller becomes an enchantment creature until end of turn.)
Time lost it's meaning as he kept watch from beyond.
4/5

Of course maybe this is stealing too much from artifacts, or Aether Revolt in general. Maybe this is a bad way to go, but thought I'd throw it out there. And to me, I think the only main distinctions between artifacts and enchantments is that enchantments don't tap, (unless they're creatures) artifacts are heavier in colorless and, the big one, flavor. Also, I figure if Wotc can make improvise which is essentially convoke for artifacts and unearth which is flashback for permanents, this should be fine.
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

OK, looking at prospective mechanics and ideas, this is where my brain is at right now:


If we have Rift and Exalted, that covers two major bases, rewards for playing enchantments, and a more aggressive combat centered mechanic. From a design standpoint, I feel that the set would benefit from a mechanic or card type that increases the as-fan of enchantments while being novel. Exalted is a returning mechanic, and Rift is a typeshifted version of Improvise.

Additionally, I think the set might want a smoothing mechanic similar to cycling or kicker. Most of the ideas I've been throwing out recently I think are pretty bad. Ceremony I worry is too repetitive, reconstitute is just copy pasting vehicles, which is meh, and so I'm still trying to come up with something decent. So far I think the most sensible ideas are from silver and void. I like the idea of enchantment version of metalcraft, but I worry that the space has already annoyingly enough been filled by rift. Another concern I have is making something with some complexity and depth, without going overboard. I have a lot of crazy ideas that just seem too much work for too little result.

I guess what I'm trying to convey is, I think what this set could really use is a new subtype of enchantment and or mechanic, I just don't know what that would be. I think what is missing the most right now is something brand new and exciting. I think the set needs 1-3 more mechanics, and I think that most if not all should be brand new. In my head, we know this set needs a bunch of enchantments.

So when you open a pack (if this was printed) you are going to see a ton of enchantments no matter what. For this reason, I think it makes logical sense to either have a lot of those enchantments be a brand new type so that players have something exciting and new to experience, rather than just more regular enchantments.
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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

I don't believe I've contributed anything to this project so far (in part because I tend to get a little bit siloed in C&G subforum), but I just happened upon this post and a potential solution to the problems Venedrex just articulated occurred to me. The proposed mechanic is somewhere between Bestow and For Mirrodin!: you make auras with an alternative cost that allows them to make a token to attach to (let's call this mechanic "incarnate" for now). This allows for a bit of depth of play, because players can balance the risk of getting 2-for-1'd by removal with the reward of having your aura on a stronger, non-summoning-sick creature. I threw together a few examples:

Morbid Fascination 1UB
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and has menace and "When this creature dies, you may draw cards equal to its power."
Incarnate 1UB (You may cast this card for its incarnate cost. When you do, create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token. This aura enters the battlefield attached to that token.)

Blind Rage 1R
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and can't block.
Incarnate 2R (You may cast this card for its incarnate cost. When you do, create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token. This aura enters the battlefield attached to that token.)

Holy Grace 1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
When Holy Grace enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Enchanted creature has lifelink.
Incarnate 1W (You may cast this card for its incarnate cost. When you do, create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token. This aura enters the battlefield attached to that token.)

As you can see, the incarnate cost usually ends up being within one mana of the normal cost, although I'm sure there would be exceptions.

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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

Thanks for the input. Yeah, solving the aura problem is interesting. What I didn't realize until today was that equipment came about as a way of "fixing" auras. Of course, in doing so, they made auras look pretty bad.

To me, auras and equipment are two sides of the same coin. I wonder if auras could be made to be reusable in a way that isn't as clunky as Bestow. Equipment etb, and don't (usually) snap on to creatures, but they don't go to the graveyard when the equipped creature dies. Whereas auras you pay less upfront but open yourself up for getting blown out, as everyone is aware.

So, what if Auras did something similar to equipment, but in slightly different way. I'm wondering if there is a way to make an aura that automatically goes to another creature when the original enchanted creature dies. Or perhaps back to your hand? Hmm...

I also am wondering if this type of reusability could be flavored as Traditions, aka customs that are passed down, in this case from creature to creature as auras. I'm just not sure what the method of transfer would like. Paying mana? Tapping both creatures? Both? Descending mana value? Shared creature type?

Rite of Wisdom
Enchantment — Aura Tradition (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has: "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
When enchanted creature dies, return this to the battlefield enchanting a creature you control with the same type.
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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

Haha just realized that I completely recreated an idea that had already been posted in this thread... the dangers of jumping in without reading back.

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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

OK, been giving this some more thought, and I like the joint suggestion of the Living Weapon/For Mirrodin type aura mechanic.

With this mechanic, I noticed some interesting (not problematic, just interesting) things. For one, slimytrout's method of making an optional ability seems key due to the fact that auras can't be shuffled to a new creature, so you might not always want to make a 1/1 or a 2/2 to enchant if you have a 6/6. Not a big deal at all just a unique difference between auras and equipment.

I think this mechanic would work well for giving some extra oomph/flexibility to auras, and I think it's rising to the top of the pile imho. The only regret I have is mostly that auras themselves can't be moved, but that's a fault of the type, not the mechanic. I really like the fact that this of course can be a mana sink, and helps you avoid getting two for one'd. Preventing auras from sitting in hand if you have no creatures is quite nice as well.

So I guess what I'm saying is, in my mind this has risen to the top of the heap for mechanics to add to Rift and Exalted.

I also want to say, I really love aura tokens, especially the idea of making them with some kind of sacrifice ability like blood or food (or just a small static buff) but once again I think this is a situation where it is one or the other with rift. I would be happy to just build the set with aura tokens + exalted + other mechanics OR rift + exalted + other mechanics. Just not the two together I think.

I just can't shake the feeling that both are neat on their own, but together I think they undermine each others strengths. I strongly suspect that Rift's cost would become near meaningless if there are a gazillion expendable enchantments to phase out, and the balancing of the aura tokens becomes miserable if they have to be evaluated in an environment where they are also a fuel source for spells. (Of course I know BRO had powerstones which are a fuel source for spells, but imagine powerstones combined with a version of improvise that phased out instead of tapped.)

I did have a weird idea for saving your auras as well that I'd thought I'd share also.

Tradition (When this creature dies, you may attach all its auras to target creature you control that shares a creature type with it.)

This I think is goofier and not really a serious contender, but I think it is the best of my bad original idea. I think it doesn't add too much, and is too repetitive and swingy.
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

So, I was tinkering with new mechanics, and I came up with this, then decided to check the list of unreleased mechanics to get inspiration because I felt like I was banging my head against the wall. I promise what follows was me just blindly trying to come up with something, and I thought it was too complicated and wacky to be usuable.

Carnivorous Findings
Enchantment — Discovery
Requirements:
• 1x creature with power 4 or greater
• 1x creature with power 2 or less
• 1x Forest
Result: : Draw a card.


Then I saw this from an article Maro wrote.
My jaw hit the floor. The very mechanic I thought I had come with and discarded for being too hard to implement? Someone already came up with it, and almost put it into a set.
Quests

Attack the Castle
W
Enchantment – Quest
Hexproof
(Mark each task as you achieve it. When the Quest is completed, sacrifice it for your reward.)
• You control a Knight or Soldier
• You control an aura or equipment
• You attack with at least three creatures
Reward – Put two +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.

Besides fighting, another notable thing about Knights is that they go on quests. We've captured this with a new mechanic. Quest cards are enchantments that require three tasks to perform. The actions can be performed in any order. Once all three tasks have been performed, the Quest can be sacrificed for a larger effect. Whether it's automatically sacrificed or the controller can sacrifice it when they want to is a switch that can be toggled by Set Design. They all have hexproof to keep the opponent from destroying it moments before you complete the Quest.

Every set wants something splashy, and this was our attempt at that thing for Throne of Eldraine. Set Design did play with it for quite a while, but eventually decided that Adventure served the role of the splash in the set and it and Quest were a bit too close with one another to do both. Quest first showed up in original Zendikar design, but ended up not getting used there. I do hope to one day find a home for it.


We feel this mechanic can be the splashy mechanic of the set. The frame will require some work, especially something to help players mark which tasks they've completed. It's possible that the Quests are something other than enchantments (although, Vision Design recommends enchantments), maybe even a new card type. If that happens, they can lose hexproof.

The uncommon cycle is tied directly to the Knights and the courts. (Currently, the first task is having a Knight or other color-specific creature type.) The rare cycle can also be tied to the Knights or possibly to different fairy-tale stories.
Change the name from quests to Experiments/Discoveries/Theory, whatever... and boom, we got ourselves a mechanic. Not to mention, these enchantments need hexproof since they are such a long term investment. And guess which colors have the most access to hexproof...? It's ironic. I kept thinking I had to design splashy and exciting mechanic to help fill the set, but maybe the mechanic was already designed. Best of all, it's still a brand new mechanic because it was never released.
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Post by folding_music » 1 year ago

quest - reward system puts me in mind of the victory condition cards in Mythos which were laid out as prose, with the card names you needed to assemble written in bolded caps. when you'd visited/played/endured every card named on it you'd get a certain amount of victory points which contributed to winning the game. i think? lemme look one up lol
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I guess a formatting question could be: would it be nicer to look at a bulletpointed list of requirements which fills the card by itself, or some sort of "When you gather a Vehicle, a Pilot and a Treasure token, do X" phraseology?

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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

Gravitational Observations
Enchantment – Theory (U)
Hexproof
(Mark each task as you achieve it. When the Theory is completed, sacrifice it for it's conclusion.)
• You control a Wizard or a creature with flying
• You control an aura or equipment
• You return a creature to its owner's hand
Conclusion – Draw a card for each creature with flying you control.
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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

I came up with another idea, this time hopefully one that hasn't been proposed already in this thread: lesson/learn, but with auras. Let's call it glorify/favor. To give some examples:

Selfish Cavalier 2B
Creature - Human Knight (C)
Menace
When Selfish Cavalier enters the battlefield, glorify it. (Choose a Favor card in your graveyard or outside the game. You may cast it targeting this creature for its Glory cost.)
2/2

Rampaging Rubyhorn 2RR
Creature - Beast (R)
Haste
Whenever Rampaging Rubyhorn attacks, glorify it. (Choose a Favor card in your graveyard or outside the game. You may cast it targeting this creature for its Glory cost.)
3/3

Glory of the Divine W
Instant (C)
Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Glorify it. (Choose a Favor card in your graveyard or outside the game. You may cast it targeting that creature for its Glory cost.)

---

Favor of Force 3
Enchantment - Aura Favor (C)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+0.
Glory 0

Favor of Piety 2W
Enchantment - Aura Favor (C)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has lifelink.
Glory W

Favor of Curiosity 2U
Enchantment - Aura Favor (U)
When Favor of Curiosity enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.
Glory U

Favor of Ferocity 1RG
Enchantment - Aura Favor (R)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever enchanted creature is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to up to one other target creature.
Glory {r/g}

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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

Got a new idea, or rather, a tweak for an old idea.


Way of Ambition
Enchantment — Aura Tradition (U)
Enchant Dauthi
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "At the beginning of your end step, you gain 1 life."
Over the ages, the Dauthi cultivated a society with a tangled web of rules, but that which also provided opportunities for the cunning to advance their station.

Traditions are a new type of auras that can only enchant creatures of a certain type, but when the enchanted creature dies, you may return the tradition to the battlefield and enchant it to a creature you control if able.


So the idea is that the tradition is passed down by members of the creature type, but if you don't have any more Elves/Soltari/etc etc the tradition will "die out" literally. You can still always just kill the enchantment itself if you really want it gone, but if you just kill the enchanted creature, as long as the enchantment's controller has another creature that it can legally enchant, the tradition will be passed on.

This would hopefully help shore up some of the weaknesses of auras while encouraging players towards running a decent chunk of the same creature type. You don't have to, but if you do you get rewarded by having auras that endure for longer. To balance this out, the aura can ONLY go on one creature type. Combined with the fact that I think most people would say that auras are probably the weakest of the types in the game, I think that helps keep things fair overall.
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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

Hmm, I have a suggestion for a different way of structuring it that might work a little more cleanly:

Way of Ambition 1WB
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2. If enchanted creature is a Dauthi, it has "At the beginning of your end step, you gain 1 life."
Dauthi tradition (When this card is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may return it to the battlefield enchanting a Dauthi creature you control.)

Reminder text could also be phrased as "when enchanted creature dies" so that it's weaker to exile/bounce if that feels more flavorful/balanceable.

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

I really like these directions for both glorify/favors and tradition, but they are both parasitic in their own ways (one being an A/B mechanic and the other being tribal) and both occupy the same niche of recursive Auras (solving the usual card disadvantage issue that comes with an Aura theme). Let's decide on one or the other.
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