Commander Legends II, Identity Emblems

[Legend]

I imagine these in a Commander draft set, found occasionally in the land or perhaps token slot.

These are a cycle of emblems that increase a Commander's color identity by one of the five colors, but at a cost.
Color identity emblems can't be used if there's more than one Commander in the Command Zone - namely, Partners, obviously.
Like partners, the game begins with one in the Command Zone.
Like dungeons, they don't count towards the 100 since unlike Partners they're emblems, not cards.

These are still quite raw. Please share your drawback ideas if you have any.

Patience Infusion
Emblem
Your commander is white in addition to its other colors.
You can't draw more than one card each turn.

Arrogance Infusion
Emblem
Your commander is blue in addition to its other colors.
Spells, abilities, and permanents your opponents control can't be the target of spells and abilities you control.

Pain Infusion
Emblem
Your commander is black in addition to its other colors.
Whenever you cast a spell, you lose 2 life.

Torpid Infusion
Emblem
Your commander is red in addition to its other colors.
Permanents you control enter the battlefield tapped.

Vastness Infusion
Emblem
Your commander is green in addition to its other colors.
Spells you cast cost 2 more to cast.

[Mookie]

These strike me as.... extremely difficult to balance. Similar to Companion - either you find a deck capable of ignoring the downside outright, or the downside is too crippling to build a deck.

As for the cards themselves... Arrogance seems relatively easy to ignore, by just building a deck with no interaction... which leads to pretty unhealthy gameplay, IMO. Pain can be similarly ignored in high-power games - if the game is over by turn 4, the downside is negligible (which, again, seems like unhealthy gameplay). On the flip side, Torpid and Vastness both seem pretty backbreaking, and will render most decks nonfunctional. Patience seems like the most balanced, but runs into unfortunate side effects if your opponents are running wheels or other forced draw effects.

An alternate approach I would suggest would be to do what Vanguard does, and modify the starting hand size / life total. Still difficult to balance though.

[user_938036]

I like the concept but echo most of Mookie's concerns. Also it should be a new card type. Additionally, they should give a benefit in addition to their color or at least have the option of giving a benefit. Possibly taking a que from the class cards they have a cost that you can pay to add gain an effect or ability.

As far as the needed downside is concerned I don't feel it needs to be significant. Finding a universal downside would be a boon as it opens more possibilities for an actual card. Something as simple as skip your first draw step could be enough or even too much as you want to push these for low power games leaving the option of swinging the banhammer at any competitive outliers.

[Legend]

These strike me as.... extremely difficult to balance.

That's why they aren't very good. I was just too excited about the idea to spend the time developing balanced effects. Not to say that it can't be done. I believe it can. But the right balance isn't obvious (to me) and would probably require significant playtesting to strike.

An alternate approach I would suggest would be to do what Vanguard does, and modify the starting hand size / life total. Still difficult to balance though.

Vanguard is definitely a great place to look for ideas.

Also it should be a new card type.

I believe that if it's a card and not an emblem then it would count towards the 100. And it could be confusing whereas everyone knows emblems aren't cards, only exist in the Command zone, can't be interacted with (as of yet), and don't/can't go in a deck.

Additionally, they should give a benefit in addition to their color or at least have the option of giving a benefit. Possibly taking a que from the class cards they have a cost that you can pay to add gain an effect or ability.

I'm thinking there's benefit enough in being able to include another color in a deck to which it otherwise wouldn't have access.

As far as the needed downside is concerned I don't feel it needs to be significant. ... Something as simple as skip your first draw step could be enough or even too much as you want to push these for low power games leaving the option of swinging the banhammer at any competitive outliers.

You could very well be right. I'd much rather them be funky effects than just blatant downsides, but again, I was in a rush and figured creeping up on a risky effect like this would be wise in that it's cautious.

Finding a universal downside would be a boon as it opens more possibilities for an actual card.

A singular emblem was the first idea to hit me, but I still wouldn't want it to be a card for the reasons above. Starting with just one would have the benefits of being easier to test, to remember, and to ban if necessary. It would be quite awkward if there were 5 and less than 5 of them were banned and ugly if all 5 were banned. If the one card were a success, then perhaps a cycle could be made down the line. Yes, I think 1 is the way to do it. Now it just needs a suitable drawback. Something like:

Affinity for All
Emblem - Affinity
(A commander without partner can have up to one affinity.)
Your commander is the color of your choice in addition to its other colors.
Your commander tax is 3.

[user_938036]

While adding an additional color is a significant boon if all you do is add the color you end up creating either a single card or a cycle of five cards and that felt too limited. As I mentioned I think this idea would work best on a card like the class cards. This allows an entire extra layer of customization for commander. As for saying card or card type, I was speaking along the lines of conspiracy or schemes. I had assumed emblems were the same as those but looking into it emblems are just a subset of created objects, essentially emblems = token but in the command zone.

On the subject of it being counted as part of the 100. There is.a debate to be had there but as I'm unsure of my personal stance I don't want to have it.

[Mimicvat]

That's a nice design, simple and effective.

Because I can't just leave a design like that alone, what about affinities that benefit your opponents as opposed to weakening yourself?

Affinity for White: The first spell you cast in the game costs 2 additional to cast.
Affinity for Blue: At the start of the game, each opponent scrys two.
Affinity for Black: Your starting life total is reduced by ten
Affinity for Red: Opponent's creatures may attack you as though they had haste.
Affinity for Green: Each creature your opponent controls gets +1/+1

No real attempt to balance these just putting the idea out. For starters would be extremely hard to balance for low power and high power in the same card - cEDH does not care about bigger creatures, life total or attack haste one bit.