Raise - Pokemon MtG Set Mechanic [Plus Proof of Concept Cards]

[Guardman]

One of my long term goals has always been to create a Pokemon MtG set that really captures the feel of Pokemon. To say it has been a lot of false starts would be an understatement. Unlike my Breath of the Wild set where I had a very clear vision of what I wanted the set to be to capture that feeling or my Monster Hunter set where I am more using a mechanic to capture the feel while the rest of the set is more bottom up Colorless, I've always had a clear vision of what I want to capture with a Pokemon set, just not how to capture it.

To that end, I feel like I finally stumbled onto a good first mechanic to capture the feel of raising a Pokemon and having it evolve.

Raise X - [cost] (If you cast this spell for its raise cost, it enters with six time counters. At the beginning of your first main phase, remove a time counter from it. It is a 1/1 and does not have the following abilities as long as a time counter is on it.)

It is a mix of Prototype, Impending, and Backup, which makes a lot more sense when you see the cards I put together as proof of concept (I also threw in a Raise support card). The main thing to keep in mind though is that it works like Backup in that it only affects the text below the raise ability. So the creature will always have the abilities above Raise, while it will only the abilities below Raise when it has no time counters on it.



Interested in thoughts - Especially if you feel it captures the feel of raising a Pokemon or if there is some rules thing I didn't realize I missed.

[ratammer]

"How would a Pokémon MTG set work" is a question I've often thought about. I like your idea, but I'm not sure how likely it is that a 1/1 is going to be able to survive the amount of turns required for the Raise 5 or Raise 6 to kick in. I believe that's one of the reasons "Level up" is considered a failed mechanic - it was too easy for you to remove your opponent's creatures before they became useful.

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

The idea has merit, but I think a 1/1 is simply too small to matter.

Maybe make it a 2/2 or 2/1? Using morph/disguise and manifest as a baseline?

I like your idea, but I'm not sure how likely it is that a 1/1 is going to be able to survive the amount of turns required for the Raise 5 or Raise 6 to kick in. I believe that's one of the reasons "Level up" is considered a failed mechanic - it was too easy for you to remove your opponent's creatures before they became useful.

But the thing is, unlike "Level Up" these guys can be cast for full power by simply casting them for the regular cost. So you can bypass the whole wait if you have enough mana.

[Mergatroid_Jones]

I think raise is a cool idea! I love splitting the text box like you did so it retains only some of the abilities of the full card. But it does feel kinda weird that your charizard is actually a charmander.

Not trying to influence your designs in any way (or steal your thunder since I'm far from the first person to do this kind of thing), but I will drop my custom Pokemon sets if you care to peruse to see the way I resolved the same issues you'll be encountering.
Pokemon Masters on cubecobra for draft: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/f32dd98 ... 36d0d1fd99 ... and on Nexus: customcards/20421-pok-mon-masters/
Pokemon Villains (smaller followup set which hasn't yet had the evolution ability updated) on cubecobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/2bc9c26 ... 1f2e65981c ... and on nexus: customcards/22430-pok-mon-villains/

[Guardman]

"How would a Pokémon MTG set work" is a question I've often thought about. I like your idea, but I'm not sure how likely it is that a 1/1 is going to be able to survive the amount of turns required for the Raise 5 or Raise 6 to kick in. I believe that's one of the reasons "Level up" is considered a failed mechanic - it was too easy for you to remove your opponent's creatures before they became useful.

I do think you and Sporegorger Dragon are right about 2/2 is better than 1/1. I also think you are right about the number of turns on Raise being a bit too long. However, I think 2/2 will help with that as it would increase the mana cost, while lowering the number of turns for Raise. If I ever get around to testing the mechanic, I think the big thing is figuring out where the line is between good, bad, and too good as I think it is probably a finer line than I would like.

The idea has merit, but I think a 1/1 is simply too small to matter.

Maybe make it a 2/2 or 2/1? Using morph/disguise and manifest as a baseline?

I like your idea, but I'm not sure how likely it is that a 1/1 is going to be able to survive the amount of turns required for the Raise 5 or Raise 6 to kick in. I believe that's one of the reasons "Level up" is considered a failed mechanic - it was too easy for you to remove your opponent's creatures before they became useful.

But the thing is, unlike "Level Up" these guys can be cast for full power by simply casting them for the regular cost. So you can bypass the whole wait if you have enough mana.

That is sort of my thought. I basically see them as modal cards with the chance to become bigger if you are willing to put in the mana. Also, I my initial balance thought on them is the idea that if you plan on raising them, they don't become raised until the turn they could attack if played on curve.

I think raise is a cool idea! I love splitting the text box like you did so it retains only some of the abilities of the full card. But it does feel kinda weird that your charizard is actually a charmander.

Ideally I would be able to find art that includes both (or all of the evolutions), but I went with the first that I found for the above. See below for how I would prefer to show it to give some impression that you are raising a charmander to a charizard for example.

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

So you're thinking, Raise 2 for Pokemon that evolve once (two stage evolution), Raise 3 for Pokemon that evolve twice (three stage evolution).

Then I assume Raise 4 is for Megas, and Raise 1 for non-evolved Megas (like Mewtwo, etc).

[Guardman]

So you're thinking, Raise 2 for Pokemon that evolve once (two stage evolution), Raise 3 for Pokemon that evolve twice (three stage evolution).

Then I assume Raise 4 is for Megas, and Raise 1 for non-evolved Megas (like Mewtwo, etc).

More like (to use Fireblast Charizard as an example), if played on curve, Fireblast Charizard would attack turn 7. So you get 7 - 4 (Mana Value of the Raise cost) = 3 to get the Raise 3.