The Shattered Realm: Mechanical

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Feyd_Ruin
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Post by Feyd_Ruin » 3 years ago

Empowered — At the beginning of your upkeep, scry X, where X is the number of auras enchanting you.

Empowered — Creatures can't attack you or a planeswalker you control unless their controller pays {X} for each of those creatures, where X is the number of auras attached to you.

Empowered — At the beginning of your end step, draw x cards and you lose X life, where X is the number of auras attached to you.

Kind of like domain. The ability is written out but still cohesive.
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Post by Krishnath » 3 years ago

Feyd_Ruin wrote:
3 years ago
Empowered — At the beginning of your upkeep, scry X, where X is the number of auras enchanting you.

Empowered — Creatures can't attack you or a planeswalker you control unless their controller pays {X} for each of those creatures, where X is the number of auras attached to you.

Empowered — At the beginning of your end step, draw x cards and you lose X life, where X is the number of auras attached to you.

Kind of like domain. The ability is written out but still cohesive.
Sounds a lot like, landfall, except it counts aura's enchanted to you. Seems like a good mechanic for WUB.
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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

Here is a link to another Nuts and Bolts article that seems relevant for what were working on right now. https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2020-03-09

I'd like to chime into the discussion on color breakdown, that if we do go with mechanics for the five three color shards, we make the set a three color set. The reason I suggest this is because I feel that there is a reason no set in the past has divided its mechanics into five three color shards or wedges without being a three color focused set. I think there is a reason for that, and we should give it some consideration.
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Post by Legend » 3 years ago

SecretInfiltrator wrote:
3 years ago
I, personally, am still looking for more mechanical angles to approach the Creative we have laid out (e. g. through lands), not less.
How about the Moonfolk activation cost to convey floating lands. Also, fixed Sweep / inverse landfall as kicker.

Float (You may return a land you own to your hand as you cast this spell.)
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Post by dangerousdice » 3 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
3 years ago
Something like Embodiments would be a big help for the as-fan and keying to CMC rather than power is quite clever. I think we would need to nail it with the flavor though, as well as possibly doing some mechanical tweaking - I can tentatively support the concept.
the flavor I thought of for it was a bubble of really concentrated, volatile mana, and if you add more (by tapping creature), it bursts and manifests as a elemental, before going dormant again. of course, you guys can probably come up with better flavor!

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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

Another article I came across from Maro, this time on Vision Design Handoff: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2020-05-04
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Post by folding_music » 3 years ago

I would want so badly to call Empowered "Dreamcoat" instead :3 or at least have a cycle of Dreamcoats which are Empowered auras themselves!

I'm not sure of the necessity of formal wedges or anything, I liked each society being main in one color with secondary presence in another and I think we're just assembling patterns instead of cards at this point! let's test designing some and see what happens naturally.

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Post by dangerousdice » 3 years ago

what is everyones opinion on dfcs for the set?

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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 3 years ago

There is no mechanical or creative need for them beyond what any given set can claim.

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Post by dangerousdice » 2 years ago

here's a list of mechanics proposed so far, as well as a few new ones. I also made some cards for them.

Float (You may return a land you own to your hand as you cast this spell.)

really lost
sorcery -
Float (You may return a land you own to your hand as you cast this spell.)
put target creature on the top of it's owners library. then, if this spell was floated, that player shuffles their library.


animate N (Tap any number of creatures you control with total mana value N or more: This embodiment becomes an enchantment creature until end of turn.)

geyser-blaze rusher
enchantment - embodiment
haste
animate 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total mana value 2 or more: This embodiment becomes an enchantment creature until end of turn.)
3/1

privilege N [event] (when/whenever [event] happens, if this creature isn't privileged, put N +1/+1 counters on it. It becomes privileged.)

weaving runner
creature - dauthi peasant
ward
privilege 2 - you draw your second card this turn. (whenyou draw your second card this turn [event] happens, if this creature isn't privileged, put N +1/+1 counters on it. It becomes privileged.)
As long as weaving runner is privileged, it is a noble in adition to it's other types.

arcanize - [COST], exile ~ from your graveyard: [EFFECT].

draconic aspirant
creature - viashano wizard
haste
arcanize - , exile ~ from your graveyard: draconic aspirant deals 3 damage to any target.
1/1

Dominion - X (This creature gets +1/+1 if you control X).

thrash-spear gang
creature - viashano warrior
Dominion - equipment (This creature gets +1/+1 if you control a artifact).
when ~ attacks, create a copy that's tapped and attacking for each equipment attached to it.
1/3

empowered - X (This creature gets X if you control another enchantment).

thalaktos height-reacher
empowered - flying (This creature gets another if you control another enchantment).
"I think that the stars are calling us, urging us ever higher..."
1/1

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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 2 years ago

I'm pretty sure we had weave in there somewhere.

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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

Something I've been working on: (Take it with a grain of salt, just wanted to share)

I call it ENCHANTIMPROVISE. Why this you ask? Here's the rundown. The last couple of months I have been mulling over everything we came up with, and I've had some ideas.

1. We can't use Constellation. Yes I am captain obvious, but it needs to be said. This concerned me because I read an article where Wotc brainstormed enchantment matter mechanics for the THB and decided they should just go with Constellation because, as it turns out, rewarding players for what the set is all about in the simplest way possible is good.

Naturally, my brain turned to artifacts matters, in search of a way to care about enchantments that is simple but effective. Improvise from Kaladesh stood out immediately. It's simple, powerful, but not broken. Most of all, it rewards players for using artifacts. Which is what we need for this set if I'm not mistaken. (only enchantments, not artifacts)

There was one issue though. "YOU DON'T TAP ENCHANTMENTS!" I can hear everyone screaming at me, and I said it to myself as well. But what if instead of tapping enchantments to reduce a spells cost, you phased them out until end of turn. That way, its still a cost, like tapping, but you don't get crazy value by retriggering etbs, and you trade the constant effect provided by the enchantment for mana to cast your spell.

Additionally, this is not me trying to replace Weave/Reweave. I think the set has room for a lot of mechanics, and this one I just suggested might be hot garbage, but I really like it and I thought I'd share my wild theory. Sorry for the rambling spew of info, but that's how my weird brain works.

(Flavor and name still need work of course)

Example card:

Draining Influence
Sorcery (U)
Each opponent loses 4 life and you gain 4 life.
Siphon: (Your enchantments can help you cast this spell. Each enchantment you phase out after you're done activating mana abilities pays for .)
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Post by Krishnath » 2 years ago

@Venedrex, you don't need the "until the beginning of your next upkeep" as that is already a part of phasing, which would reduce the wordiness of the ability considerably. So instead it would read "Enchatmentprovise (Your enchantments can help you cast this spell. Each enchantment you phase out after you are done activating mana abilities pays for 1.)"

Of course, it also needs a much better name, but it illustrates the point you are trying to get across wonderfully. And I think it is a good idea.

(Also the mana value of that spell is way to low, the average for deal 4/gain 4 is six mana as a sorcery, but that is another issue.)
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

Krishnath wrote:
2 years ago
@Venedrex, you don't need the "until the beginning of your next upkeep" as that is already a part of phasing, which would reduce the wordiness of the ability considerably. So instead it would read "Enchatmentprovise (Your enchantments can help you cast this spell. Each enchantment you phase out after you are done activating mana abilities pays for 1.)"

Of course, it also needs a much better name, but it illustrates the point you are trying to get across wonderfully. And I think it is a good idea.

(Also the mana value of that spell is way to low, the average for deal 4/gain 4 is six mana as a sorcery, but that is another issue.)
That's awesome! Guess it shows how little I know about phasing. Thanks for correcting that and for the feedback, I'll change it right away.
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Post by Krishnath » 2 years ago

Venedrex wrote:
2 years ago
That's awesome! Guess it shows how little I know about phasing. Thanks for correcting that and for the feedback, I'll change it right away.
Lol, I know a *lot* about phasing. Both of the mechanics introduced in Mirage (Flanking and Phasing) are among my favorite mechanics of all times, so I literally squeed with glee when Phasing became a deciduous mechanic with the updated wording of Oubliette and the M21 Teferi. I even remember the controversy when they changed how phasing worked because they accidentally printed a card that was utterly broken with it in it's original form. (Frenetic Efreet)

Originally, Phasing exiled the card, which together with a card that could phase out on command for 0 mana, gave you an infinite source of come into play triggers. It was pretty broken. Personally I think the new wording is a lot better however, as it doesn't kill tokens.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

Krishnath wrote:
2 years ago
Venedrex wrote:
2 years ago
That's awesome! Guess it shows how little I know about phasing. Thanks for correcting that and for the feedback, I'll change it right away.
Lol, I know a *lot* about phasing. Both of the mechanics introduced in Mirage (Flanking and Phasing) are among my favorite mechanics of all times, so I literally squeed with glee when Phasing became a deciduous mechanic with the updated wording of Oubliette and the M21 Teferi. I even remember the controversy when they changed how phasing worked because they accidentally printed a card that was utterly broken with it in it's original form. (Frenetic Efreet)

Originally, Phasing exiled the card, which together with a card that could phase out on command for 0 mana, gave you an infinite source of come into play triggers. It was pretty broken. Personally I think the new wording is a lot better however, as it doesn't kill tokens.
Gotcha, that's cool. I started playing around 2017, so my first time using a card with phasing was Teferi from M21. I had heard about the mechanic and seen Teferi's Protection played online, but that's about it.
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Post by Krishnath » 2 years ago

Venedrex wrote:
2 years ago
Krishnath wrote:
2 years ago
Venedrex wrote:
2 years ago
That's awesome! Guess it shows how little I know about phasing. Thanks for correcting that and for the feedback, I'll change it right away.
Lol, I know a *lot* about phasing. Both of the mechanics introduced in Mirage (Flanking and Phasing) are among my favorite mechanics of all times, so I literally squeed with glee when Phasing became a deciduous mechanic with the updated wording of Oubliette and the M21 Teferi. I even remember the controversy when they changed how phasing worked because they accidentally printed a card that was utterly broken with it in it's original form. (Frenetic Efreet)

Originally, Phasing exiled the card, which together with a card that could phase out on command for 0 mana, gave you an infinite source of come into play triggers. It was pretty broken. Personally I think the new wording is a lot better however, as it doesn't kill tokens.
Gotcha, that's cool. I started playing around 2017, so my first time using a card with phasing was Teferi from M21. I had heard about the mechanic and seen Teferi's Protection played online, but that's about it.
It's a surprisingly versatile mechanic, and it can technically be used on any permanent, or as part of another mechanic.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

Back with another mechanic. This one is... much more questionable, so get your grains of salt ready. I'm not even really sure if it makes sense at all, but that's never stopped me from posting before!
So here goes:

Basically the mechanic is me doing my best to avoid making sagas or classes again. What I have so far is this:

Phenomena, Observation, and Discovery. This would be found in Simic colors, and it would be for the Thalakos. The inspiration comes from the Victorian era scientist type that gathers specimens and writes down findings in a book. Mechanically, it functions almost like an achievement system, if that makes any sense at all. So lets say you have a card with this mechanic, in this case a version of Garruk's Uprising

Account of Species
Enchantment — (U)
Whenever a creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card
Phenomena — Draw two cards. (Whenever you draw two cards, put a knowledge counter on this) (Would need to be worded so it only happens once per game I think)
Observation — Scry 2. (Whenever you Scry 2, put a knowledge counter on this)
Discovery — Remove two knowledge counters from Account of Species: Create a copy of Account of Species, except it doesn't have this effect. (It would need to have some wording to prevent players from copying the enchantment more than once.)

So to recap, this is different from sagas in the sense that it wants you to encounter a phenomena (oh I drew two cards that's cool and interesting) observe that (Oh I scryed 2 in my research on the phenomena), then as a reward you figure out how to replicate your findings, aka copying the enchantment or some other effect, but only once you've checked off the first two boxes. The strange thing is, this could be reworked in a bunch of different ways. It could have the subtype phenomena, it could be templated differently, etc etc.

I also don't think having three ability words is probably a good idea, so that would be changed most likely. I'm using them here more like flavor words from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, but the mechanic doesn't need them.

The premise is that the Thalakos are using the scientific method (Blue) to observe and emulate things they find in the natural world (Green) represented in game through things like scrying, drawing cards, returning cards from the graveyard and many many more.
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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 2 years ago

There is some technical stuff wrong about this, which is all fixable, either by wording these as proper ability words or properly formating these as keyword mechanics. Anyway...

I'm not certain how Phenomena and Observation are different. Both end up doing the same thing. They have a parameter, which is the condition to a triggered ability, and both have the identical effect of adding a knowledge counter. Not sure whether only one of them is supposed to be single trigger, or whether they are supposed to happen in order (in which case this might want to use a template like leveler cards or the recent Class cards).

Since this seems to be a mechanic requiring three separate abilities there is a lot of complexity tied up in this. Have you thought whether you want the Thalakos ability to appear at common?

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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

SecretInfiltrator wrote:
2 years ago
There is some technical stuff wrong about this, which is all fixable, either by wording these as proper ability words or properly formating these as keyword mechanics. Anyway...

I'm not certain how Phenomena and Observation are different. Both end up doing the same thing. They have a parameter, which is the condition to a triggered ability, and both have the identical effect of adding a knowledge counter. Not sure whether only one of them is supposed to be single trigger, or whether they are supposed to happen in order (in which case this might want to use a template like leveler cards or the recent Class cards).

Since this seems to be a mechanic requiring three separate abilities there is a lot of complexity tied up in this. Have you thought whether you want the Thalakos ability to appear at common?
Yeah, I agree that it was a pretty bad idea, and like you say, it doesn't even work as written. You're also right about it not making much sense. I'll go back to the drawing board. Right now I'm really thinking about a mechanic to convey a sense of being in the sky, or being high up. Just not sure what would make player's feel like they are flying...? or at least surrounded by sky.

I also can't help but wonder if there's something to the fact that words like privileged/exalted/elevated are often used for both social status and physical location, which could be grounds for an ability or mechanic of something in the set, as was discussed previously.
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Post by dangerousdice » 2 years ago

heres a height mechanic that may or may not be a good idea, elevate/descend.

elevate (raise your height by one.)

descend (lower your height by one.)

-height-
2 high
1
===
0 "middle"?
===
-1 low
-2

height, like the day/night mechanic, doesn't inherently mean anything, but cards would care about it in various ways.

example rare

Arhec glider
creature - soltari citizen
when Arhec glider etbs, elevate twice.
at the beginning of your endstep, descend.
Arhec glider has flying if you are high.
2/3

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Post by Sporegorger_Dragon » 2 years ago

dangerousdice wrote:
2 years ago
Arhec glider has flying if you are high.
I perceive an interesting difficulty regarding this mechanic.
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Post by dangerousdice » 2 years ago

Sporegorger_Dragon wrote:
2 years ago
dangerousdice wrote:
2 years ago
Arhec glider has flying if you are high.
I perceive an interesting difficulty regarding this mechanic.
would "if your height is above 0" be better?

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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

dangerousdice wrote:
2 years ago
Sporegorger_Dragon wrote:
2 years ago
dangerousdice wrote:
2 years ago
Arhec glider has flying if you are high.
I perceive an interesting difficulty regarding this mechanic.
would "if your height is above 0" be better?
I think height is certainly an interesting idea to explore, I myself was going deep on the concept a couple months ago. (Pun accidental, but now intended). From what I can tell, there are a couple main ways to approach the concept, one of which being the what you have suggested here.

1. Your idea: If your height... ascend, descend, etc etc.

2. Altitude counters. i.e As long as Soltari Knight has two or more altitude counters... effect.

3. Caring about changing zones. Hand is high above the battlefield, battlefield is ground level, graveyard is way down low. This seems to be a meh idea after considering it a bunch personally.


Just my rando thoughts.

I like your idea quite a bit, but I think it might need a way to be tracked so players don't get confused about how high or low they are at any time. Something like a token with a sliding bar, or a spot for a die to go that goes up or down to keep tabs on your height. Of course you may have already had that in mind, with the 1 0 -1 being represented some way.

I do however like the feeling it captures of the player feeling like they are the ones flying, and it sounds really cool to say that you are soaring upwards with triggers, or maybe an opponent's spell could make you descend rapidly.

Oh boy I sense a design coming on...

Soar to Freedom (Generic Silly Name is Generic) (Yes I know it's just Revitalize with the set mechanic)
Instant (U)
You gain 3 life. Draw a card.
Elevate twice, then if your altitude/height/whatever is 3/three? or greater, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token

Weight of Gravity
Instant (U)
Target creature an opponent controls gets -4/-0 until end of turn. Draw a card.
Then that creature's controller descends twice.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

Anyone have any new thoughts they'd like to share?
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