The Shattered Realm: Mechanical

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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

Venedrex wrote:
2 years ago
Anyone have any new thoughts they'd like to share?
Enchantments are still my favorite card type and I'm still occasionally thinking how to best mechanically execute them in this setting.

Height is REALLY flavorful. I'd certainly like to figure out a way not to make it a purely parasitic A-B counting mechanic, and also not sure that there should be hoser cards a la Weight of Gravity - Ice Age was an early lesson on how to not make that mistake.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
Venedrex wrote:
2 years ago
Anyone have any new thoughts they'd like to share?
Enchantments are still my favorite card type and I'm still occasionally thinking how to best mechanically execute them in this setting.

Height is REALLY flavorful. I'd certainly like to figure out a way not to make it a purely parasitic A-B counting mechanic, and also not sure that there should be hoser cards a la Weight of Gravity - Ice Age was an early lesson on how to not make that mistake.
For sure, that's a great call. I think you're spot on about it not being parasitic. I'll keep thinking about it and see if I can come up with something.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

Alright alright alright. Got some new food for thought.

What if we used Empower(ed). I like the mechanic and I think it would be a lot of fun. Moreover, I think it might just go hand in glove with something I've been thinking about.

Blessings. Yeah I'm shamelessly stealing from Innistrad, but hear me out. I think they might be a fun way to get the as-fan of enchantments up in the set that flavorfully fits the floating enchantment infused realm. Mechanically, they'd be an Aura Blessing (Enchant Player), but they'd go super well with Empower(ed), since it counts the number of auras you possess. In my head they go might go away if you do something considered wrong by the blessing, or an opponent does something right to break its power. Theoretically they would just be something like this:

This one is saying don't just spam spells like the Izzet mad scientists.

Blessing of Grace
Enchantment — Aura Blessing (U)
Enchant Player
The first noncreature spell enchanted player casts each turn costs less to cast.
At the beginning of enchanted player's end step, if that player has cast three or more spells this turn, that player sacrifices Blessing of Grace.

Combine this with Empower(ed):

Soltari Edge Sentinel
Creature — Soltari Warrior (U)
Vigilance
Empowered — At the beginning of combat on your turn, target creature you control gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is equal to the total number of Auras enchanting you and/or permanents you control.
2/3
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

Just a thought - I think I know a way to represent the enchantment-related weather. Enchantment subtypes with alternate layouts are all the rage nowadays...

"It's rainy if the active player cast a spell last turn, sunny if they attacked with a creature, storming if they did both, and foggy if they did neither." Then four different effects based on the current weather.

I think we could easily fine-tune this; there are a lot of knobs that could be turned (playing lands as one of the variables?).
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
Just a thought - I think I know a way to represent the enchantment-related weather. Enchantment subtypes with alternate layouts are all the rage nowadays...

"It's rainy if the active player cast a spell last turn, sunny if they attacked with a creature, storming if they did both, and foggy if they did neither." Then four different effects based on the current weather.

I think we could easily fine-tune this; there are a lot of knobs that could be turned (playing lands as one of the variables?).
That's a great idea, and it would work well across the board, but especially with cards depicting the Thalakos since they are in UG and are scholarly. I could see them having cards that reference these enchantments that represent the weather.

Tempest Scholar
Creature — Thalakos Wizard
As long as it is storming, Tempest Scholar gets +2/+2 and has ward .
"These weather patterns are being shaped by a greater force than mere nature"
2/3
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

I think we'd benefit from coming up with mechanics we can agree we want and doing a slight pullback from there; this thread has a lot in it, after all.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
I think we'd benefit from coming up with mechanics we can agree we want and doing a slight pullback from there; this thread has a lot in it, after all.
For sure. I think for me personally I would say no more mechanics than however many Kaldheim had, and no less than three. :grin:
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

Rumors of my death were... greatly exaggerated. 😎

What we've thought about so far.

Empowered (Effect based on auras enchanting you)
Enchantment creatures
Reweave (Elf Spider weaving enchantments)
Privilege/Prestige (Lots of ideas)
Rift (formerly enchantmentprovise) the flavor being experimenting with phasing to unlock power/mana, perhaps explaining why things went so wrong on this plane.)
Float (Moonfolk ability)
Arcanize (Exile from graveyard)
Dominion (gets +1/+1 if you control X)
Animate (Enchantment becomes a creature)
Height (Up down all around, height counters, make it not parasitic.)
Weather (Storming, Sunny, as long as it is...)
Aura tokens

OH HOLD THE PHONE
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

At the risk of double posting, I was trawling through these mechanics and I got to aura tokens. Which is a great idea btw props to folding_music.

We also have the idea of empowered. (X effect, where X is equal to the number of auras enchanting you,) OR if not empowered, both Rift and Reweave want a lot of enchantments in the set.

I was originally thinking of making a new card type called blessings that enchant players. But what if Blessing was the mechanic that makes aura tokens. Or the name of the Aura tokens themselves, predefined like blood and clues.

The reason this is exciting is because it solves several problems I've been mulling over for the last month,

1. The set needs a lot of enchantments as-fan

2. The set needs another enchantment mechanic.

3. The set needs a unique mechanic.

Another plus with aura tokens is, they solve auras fundamental weakness, they are card disadvantage. But if you can make token auras, suddenly, you're not a card down when the thing you are enchanting gets toasted. I mean technically you are, but not to the same extent as if you just played a regular aura, rather than getting a blessing as a bonus from casting a regular spell.

For instance:

Soltari Healer
Creature — Soltari Cleric
Lifelink
: Create a Blessing token and attach it to you or target creature you control. (It's an enchantment aura with: "Enchanted creature gets +1/+1".)
3/4

Soltari Healer
Creature — Soltari Cleric
Lifelink
When Soltari Healer enters the battlefield, bless. (Create an aura token and attach it to you or target creature you control.)
3/4

Grace of the Skies
Instant (C)
Target creature you control gets +2/+2 and gains flying and haste until end of turn.
Create a Blessing token and attach it to you or target creature you control. (It's an enchantment aura with: "Enchanted creature gets +1/+1".)
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

Hmm, I'd just really want the token to do something when attached to a player. Something other than "turn on empowered/whatever the final name winds up being."
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
Hmm, I'd just really want the token to do something when attached to a player. Something other than "turn on empowered/whatever the final name winds up being."
Yeah, for sure. It could be just about anything honestly. "Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control."

That's prolly too strong in multiples, but it's an example of the type of effect that could work for both players and creatures.

Or it could sac itself like the clues, which I think I like better for balance. (It's an enchantment aura token with ", , Sacrifice this enchantment: Scry 1.")
Kinda like shard tokens from Niko Aris but auras and less unbalanced in large amounts throughout the set.

I like making them sacrifice themselves because that might help keep people from going all in on making a bunch of them on one creature and getting blown out, creating some tension between wanting to control a lot of enchantments but also saccing them for the value. Especially if you had to decide between the risk of putting them on creatures like Champion of the Flame which would really like holding the auras or on yourself where they'd be much safer, but provide less benefit.
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

I'll sleep on the Aura token mechanic and as the leads (only two people involved?) we can go through the existing mechanical suggestions at a later time.
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

On reflection, the mechanics I definitely would like to use in the final version are rift, the weather concept, and the Aura tokens thing.

I love empowered but it is as limited in its scope as enchant players (other than Curses) are; there are more Curses than you'd think that you'd want to put on yourself, of course, but they are hard to design and this risks becoming a pure A/B mechanic with the Aura tokens. However, I'd love to use empowered, without an ability word, as a Limited theme.

Rift is just great.

Weather is a mechanic to go on enchantments but not an "enchantment mechanic" and I think if I tuned it right, it would really be good.

And of course enchantment creatures are the way to go, that's not really even a mechanic.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
On reflection, the mechanics I definitely would like to use in the final version are rift, the weather concept, and the Aura tokens thing.

I love empowered but it is as limited in its scope as enchant players (other than Curses) are; there are more Curses than you'd think that you'd want to put on yourself, of course, but they are hard to design and this risks becoming a pure A/B mechanic with the Aura tokens. However, I'd love to use empowered, without an ability word, as a Limited theme.

Rift is just great.

Weather is a mechanic to go on enchantments but not an "enchantment mechanic" and I think if I tuned it right, it would really be good.

And of course enchantment creatures are the way to go, that's not really even a mechanic.
Thanks for the feedback! I agree 100%. I'll probably head into the tank for a while and see what designs I can have fun coming up with these mechanics.
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

Yup, mechanical proofs of concept will be on my mind as well. If only I could have cards come to me in dreams like Club Flamingo legend Gerrard's Mom.

Three named mechanics is on the low side - I usually prefer four to five, although more than that is even justifiable at times.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
Yup, mechanical proofs of concept will be on my mind as well. If only I could have cards come to me in dreams like Club Flamingo legend Gerrard's Mom.

Three named mechanics is on the low side - I usually prefer four to five, although more than that is even justifiable at times.
Yeah, that's fair. I'll be thinking about some other mechanics that could come in. One thing to note, so far we have no returning mechanics, so that's an option as well.

I'd love to come up with cards from my dreams. I heard that's how Maro came up with flashback. As I'm sure you've heard before :)
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

Agreed. And of course I just want other mechanics that fit with the setting, they needn't (and maybe shouldn't) have anything to do with enchantments.

The last dream Magic cards I remember were some sort of unused Planeshift promo cards. They were both tricolor legends styled after Egyptian gods, and I don't think I even comprehended what the cards did in the dream - I certainly didn't remember when I woke up.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
Agreed. And of course I just want other mechanics that fit with the setting, they needn't (and maybe shouldn't) have anything to do with enchantments.

The last dream Magic cards I remember were some sort of unused Planeshift promo cards. They were both tricolor legends styled after Egyptian gods, and I don't think I even comprehended what the cards did in the dream - I certainly didn't remember when I woke up.
That sounds awesome! I can see the cycle now... like the amonkhet ones but even more epic.
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

So, with @Ulka apparently going with battle cry over exalted for Chaos of Tarkir, I wonder if exalted would make sense here?

It could go on creatures as well as on enchantments, giving some non-Aura enchantments an actual "combat purpose". Along with enchantment creatures that would be help in Limited.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
2 years ago
So, with @Ulka apparently going with battle cry over exalted for Chaos of Tarkir, I wonder if exalted would make sense here?

It could go on creatures as well as on enchantments, giving some non-Aura enchantments an actual "combat purpose". Along with enchantment creatures that would be help in Limited.
Exalted would make a TON of sense here. We've got the whole climbing up thing with sky world, the Dauthi wanting to be exalted in society, and a need for some combat mechanics. I really like that idea! 10/10 flavor home run, like sagas on Kaldheim.
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

Awesome. Have you thought of a new mechanic for the set's overall needs? I'd be excited to hear it.
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Post by Venedrex » 2 years ago

I've been digging around in my brain, but I haven't thought of anything just yet. One thing I have been thinking about is a type of mana sink mechanic, I'm not sure it's strictly nesseccary, but it came to mind because so far all the mechanics don't really have any mana costs required.
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Post by void_nothing » 2 years ago

Smart. I'll think of the appropriate kicker-alike mechanic, and we'll compare notes.
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Post by Venedrex » 1 year ago

OK, long time no post I know, but that's how it goes.

Some things I've been mulling over.

Weather. What if it was a token or a card that you put out on the field, like the day night token, but instead of flipping back and forth, it goes up and down in intensity. Kinda like a storm count (hehe) but maybe it stops at a number like seven and then loops back to 0 based off of cards with the weather ability. The intensity of the weather would be represented by a die that ticks up and or down.

That

In other words,
Gale Force Winds
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, increase the intensity of the Weather by 2, then you may tap target creature with mana value less than or equal to the intensity of the Weather.
(When the Weather intensity reaches 7, reset it to 0 (or 1)

Enchantment auras. What about calling them Oaths, and making them in the vein of Blood or Clue tokens. I know the oath cycle Oath of Kaya exists already, so maybe the name is too close for comfort, but the flavor of a creature being enchanted by their numerous oaths, and then breaking them being represented by cracking the oath token for a boon seems like a lot of fun. Maybe the oaths were vows taken by the Soltari representing their beliefs or something I dunno. What the boon you'd get for cracking them is I don't know yet.

So for instance. Ahem: Create an Oath token and attach it to a creature you control. (It's a (colorless?) enchantment aura with: ", Sacrifice this enchantment: [Effect to be determined]."

Just where my mind has been at lately, no sweat if the aforementioned is drivel, just thought I'd share.
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

I was never 100% opposed to the up and down universal variable idea that was originally height. It's a bit flavorfully odd to say the weather gets more intense - what kind of weather? Wind, rain, snow? - but I think the play pattern would look good. The main concern there is still parasitism.

It occurs to me that something that can apply to both creatures and players for the Aura tokens is preventing damage, but I don't know how exciting that is. Not sure I like pop'ems for this either. Still having a think.
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