Ancient Egyptian-Themed Custom Set: Let's Brainstorm!
Custom Cards forum
Posted on March 31, 2015, 1:10 p.m. by pookypuppy6
So even though I haven't come close to finishing Quarahal, my steampunk/sky pirate themed set (I guess you could say I ran out of steam on that one), I feel another set idea has come to me that I want to explore...ANCIENT EGYPT! Yes, starting with a tiny basis of knowledge from playing Pharaoh on the PC, seeing the first two The Mummy movies, and reading about Cleopatra and Alexandrian Egypt before Rome did it over, I am looking to make a set based on Egyptian mythology of sorts.
So, what kind of things would you think you'd see in an ancient Egypt-style set? For example, what kind of myths t include?
What kind of mechanics might the set have? Obviously I am considering pre-existing mechanics such as Exalted or Undying or Unearth, but what other kind of mechanics may thematically work in a set like this? Maybe something to do with artifacts? Maybe Curses? What kind of new mechanics might be flavourful for ancient Egypt?
What species/tribes/kinds of creature live here? I imagine humans (obviously), but also zombies and skeletons in the tombs, along with scorpions and insects, giant sand wurms and crocodiles in the river, plus ostriches. What about more serious tribes, like leonin/cats (fit in well with Bastet the cat goddess) or Hound people similar to the Alnok (goes well with Set or Anubis)
Any other off-the-wall ideas, like cards that represent the ten plagues of Egypt or just trawling down the Nile for knowledge, don't be afraid to put it past me! Also, I don't mind you dredging up old cards I don't know about that do very similar things to the above intention!
ducttapedeckbox says... #3
I'm on my phone but I'll try to remember to leave a more detailed post later.
With sets like this- that have so many opportunities for legendary creatures like the gods and pharohs and heroes (not sure if they're a big part of Egyptian mythology like they are in Greek, for example), you might be better off making a custom cube. That way, the rarity and legendary count won't be a struggle. I guess you could also create the block like Kamigawa, except add cohesion to the set. I worked on a League of Legends custom cube for a while, and this was a problem we faced.
As for the content itself, leonin/cats are a must, as are scarabs, sphinxes, and scorpions. Ainok probably would be good as well. Crocodiles? Camels?
You could try to choose a single story of Egyptian mythology, like when Osiris got cut up by... Horus? And Isis put him back together? Wasn't it something like that? This would limit the legendary count, and allow you to focus on a theme.
Sorry for the lack of cohesion in my post, just puking out ideas.
March 31, 2015 1:19 p.m.
What era of egypt?Early egypt is much more society, monarchy, mercantile feel to it. More bases in life and loose superstitions and mixed tribal cultures.
Late egypt has more of the full on epic religous tones and world conquoring. Slavery, taxes, deification, ritual, unification, etc.
March 31, 2015 1:23 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #5
ThatJunkMage: Yeah, Yugioh basically hands me most of my instants and sorceries on a platter, especially for black cards. Curses are tempting to try. Undying seems far too good to have on only rares; not many people were mummified sure, but skeletons could still use it I think.
ducttapedeckbox: Didn't think of camels! I was thinking of going for the story where the humans turned on Ra and stuff got cray, or make my own story. I'll have to work it out. I'm a bit unhappy with making gods mechanically like in Theros though; I want them to be legendary creatures rather than egendary enchantments, and I don't want to do devotion.
March 31, 2015 1:28 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #6
@squire1 : That's something I will have to figure out. I will probably be taking bits from any era and slamming them together seeing as the plane won't be actual Egypt. I really like the Pharaohs, building monuments and mysticism, but I also want there to be room for buried secrets with trap-laden tombs and old mummies and sarcophagi. I also want there to be agricultural focus, based around the river and hunting for oases and whatnot, but I do like the idea of a more organized, mercantile town here and there where I can include more city tropes like thieves and all sorts.
March 31, 2015 1:33 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #7
Also, does anyone think that a "life matters" theme would be flavourful for such a setting? Mechanically it would be a challenge (such as having cards for blue) but might invite interesting gameplay such as cards that care about having high life, cards that care about having low life, etc. But is it thematic to ancient Egypt in particular? I figured it would kind of be for some reason.
March 31, 2015 1:49 p.m.
zephramtripp says... #8
Some sort of treasure hunting mechanic could be interesting.
March 31, 2015 2:07 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #9
The other thing I want to do but I'm not sure if Instant/Sorcery is a theme that works particularly well in Ancient Egypt. "Life Matters" theme or "Instants/Sorceries" theme... hmmmm.
But yeah, treasure hunt does sound kinda cool. Traps from Zendikar would fit well here, but I don't want to tread on the vision of Zendikar and the "adventure theme" that has.
March 31, 2015 2:46 p.m.
Sphinxes at rare. Ainok, humans, and aven. Maybe a god for each color. Ancient Egypt was actually pretty lush so less focus on desert and more focus on the rivers/deltas/trading aspect. I'm thinking a sacrifice matters theme. For instance, flavorwise, a lot of of the token creatures could be slaves, and there could be legendary artifacts that require sacrificing a certain number of creatures to build. Suspend could be used flavorwise for the passage of time. I'm thinking the gods could be higher costed than Theros but have suspend with the ability to sacrifice to bring them out sooner. Curses could use suspend as well (Curse of the Cabal reprint). Many different kinds of token generators (artifact tokens/enchantment tokens?). Lands with enter the graveyard effects (so you can sacrifice them).
I'll brainstorm some more and post what I come up with later.
March 31, 2015 3:25 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #11
Oh boy I've always enjoyed Egyptian themes! Will this set be like Three Kingdoms where it takes directly from the lore and makes them into cards or more like Theros where instead of actual Greek gods they made their own? With Arabian Night so far into history, another desert kinda set would be neat to see. Also yeah Curses should be brought back, stuff like Curse of Misfortunes just doesnt have enough friends :3
March 31, 2015 3:29 p.m.
jandrobard says... #12
Just a note: In the original egyptian stories there were few zoomorphic creatures that weren't gods.
March 31, 2015 4:53 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #13
@jandrobard: While helpful to note, I think the set would be pretty boring with just humans being the most civilized race on the scene. You could feasibly twist the story to suit, so for example, the plane has civilizations/races made in the god's image (like Aven for a Ra or Horus type, cats for a Bastet type, etc.)
March 31, 2015 5:09 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #14
Possibly have each color represented by a god and thus the race is represented there? Or maybe two gods per color. Or just have custom gods based off the real gods? But yeah, no one said we had to be 100% true to original lore.
March 31, 2015 7:19 p.m.
jandrobard says... #15
Custom gods could be fun. The "each god has a race" could also be fun to work with, as it would promote playing the god with their people.
March 31, 2015 8:14 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #16
Could be interesting to see some tribal antics work in with how the god benefits their people. I would imagine the five main gods could be a bird, a cat, a dog/jackal, an alligator/crocodile, and maybe just a basic human god? Ra, Bastet, Anubis, Sobek, and Neith inspiration or somethin like that.
March 31, 2015 8:50 p.m.
This is a sweet idea for a set.
maybe an ankh equipment. I would offer more input, but i suck with custom cards.
March 31, 2015 11:01 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #18
Yeah... while life pr instant/sorceries are mechanically themes I want to explore, tribal themes do seem a bit stronger here. I can even borrow a mechanic from when I attempted to do a tribal set long ago: Grudge
Grudge (When this creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control that shares a creature type with it)
Mind you, I could have those above mechanics as small subthemes along with Curses. Maybe I could make the tribes into enemy-colours and cast those colours in a mechanically familiar but new tribal light, like W/B "life matters" Hounds or B/G "curses" Cobramen.
April 1, 2015 8:20 a.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #19
AH, I GOTTIT!
How about enchantment gods that has a different KIND of devotion. Instead of devotion that relies on how many mana symbols you have from permanents in play, how about enchantment gods with a mechanic which relies on how many of a certain CREATURE TYPE you control. So for example, a god that be like "As long as your tribevotion is less than four, Batanastet isn't a creature"
So similar but different gameplay. It can reward playing a certain tribal type, and have effects going from common, uncommon etc. But chiefly, it allows me to do gods without being forced to do devotion and give the plane its own distinct feel or mechanic that is SIMILAR but unique.
April 1, 2015 8:28 a.m.
jandrobard says... #20
That would be fun. I don't think tribevotion should be a worded mechanic.
April 1, 2015 noon
That Grudge mechanic would work well with the sacrifice mechanics I was suggesting. I still think having the gods have a mechanic similar to Greater Gargadon (pay a ton upfront or sacrifice over time) would be cool and shake up combat (your chump blockers would make your others stronger via Grudge and help your god come out sooner).
April 1, 2015 12:52 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #22
@Ruffigan: While a "sacrfice matters" theme is too close to morbid/Innistrad for my tastes, I will likely be using a single mechanic that DOES use sacrifice to pair with Grudge.
@jandrobard: So ignoring the fact that tribevotion is a crappy placeholder name, do you think the mechanic itself should not be keyworded? It would make my life easier to just say "this happens when you control this many Crocodiles" or "X, where X is the number of Snakes you control".
April 1, 2015 1:07 p.m.
jandrobard says... #23
I think it shouldn't get a keyword because it frees up space for other potential worded mechanics. Also, we don't have to strictly adhere to new world order, so words aren't so bad.
April 1, 2015 1:11 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #24
Well, I only have two unique keywords so far, so I have room for at least another one and returning mechanic (probably Undying). I think I'll just do what Lorwyn did and not keyword the tribal theme, but definitely have it throughout the block.
April 1, 2015 1:51 p.m.
jandrobard says... #25
So far curses have been brought up a few times. Thoughts?
April 1, 2015 3:25 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #26
Could we have tomb lands that search for curses? Or maybe tomb artifacts?
April 1, 2015 7:32 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #28
That could work. I want a curse that makes a mummy token of some sort.
April 1, 2015 7:36 p.m.
jandrobard says... #29
Maybe use zombies as mummies (they're both animated corpses) and reprint Curse of Shallow Graves?
April 1, 2015 7:41 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #30
Should the gods/races be monocolored? If so:
White: Cats
Blue: Crocodiles
Black: Undead
Red: Dogs
Green: Humans
April 1, 2015 7:53 p.m.
jandrobard says... #31
That would work. Alternatively each god could be monocolor, and have their tribe spread across all the colors. That way it isn't like theros, and each group of a god's followers has stuff from the whole color pie, plus synergy with their tribe. A little like how slivers work.
April 1, 2015 8:01 p.m.
CharlesMandore says... #32
I'm calling FAMOUSWATERMELON to help on this one. Besides that this idea sounds fantastic!
April 1, 2015 8:47 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #33
Yeah I mentioned the gods being monocolor, but it feels weird not having a faction for avians. Blue could be Avians, black be Crocodiles. Undead would just be a side creature type in Black. Curses could be in all colors but primarily used in Grixis maybe, being green and white aren't exactly huge on that concept. Not all gods would plague curses on their foes, either.
April 1, 2015 8:58 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #34
I'm actually considering an enemy-coloured theme for the tribes:
W/B Humans (based on Osiris, God of the Dead)
U/R Hounds/Jackals (Based on Sutekh, God of Storms/Chaos)
B/G Snakes/Cobramen (Based on god knows what)
R/W Cats/Leonin (Based on Bast, god of warfare)
G/U Crocodiles/Crocodile men (Based on the crocodile god whose name I forget)
April 1, 2015 8:59 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #35
Avians can come in the following set. I was thinking the story is based around the big daddy god (Ra) having buggered off for some reason in the first set, then he comes back in the second set.
April 1, 2015 9 p.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #36
Based on the set I recently had brainstormed on this site it was an enemy guild set and it got a bit awkward to try and make right. But I feel like if you are having representations of gods from Egyptian, you'd need strong rep of avians as a lot of gods are avians. Crocodile god should be Sobek also.
April 1, 2015 9:04 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #37
I have been summoned.
Whoa whoa, wait a sec, didn't we start a set like 10 threads ago? Not to put this down in the slightest, but shouldn't we finish one project before going to the next?
Also, I'm all for the Egyptian theme. Pyramids will be an obligatory reprint.
April 1, 2015 9:54 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #38
I don't ever remember there being blue dogs... Otherwise, seems fine. I was also thinking that Convoke could work instead of the sacrifice ability, because the workers don't have to die when they build something.
April 1, 2015 9:57 p.m.
jandrobard says... #39
Do we have to? I would rather commit seppuku than use that card in a deck.
April 1, 2015 9:57 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #40
I'm sorry, I'm new around this part of the forms. Is FAMOUSWATERMELON the supreme judged of all creations?
April 1, 2015 9:59 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #41
Leafbladefighter Hahahaha no not at all. I love creating cards and I'm very active in the Custom Cards forum is all.
April 1, 2015 10:12 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #42
This thread just went silent for 10 minutes. I could hardly post anything without having three more posts come up. Anyway, what if we 5 pestilences from the bible story, one in each color?
April 1, 2015 10:13 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #43
Ok FAMOUSWATERMELON, well I'm glad you're helping then.
April 1, 2015 10:14 p.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #44
Can the OP compile a list of the ideas we've come up with, then clear the comments?
April 1, 2015 10:16 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #47
I'm tellign you, this is a terrible Idea. do you remember the World of warcraft tcg? It was easily as good or better than mtg. anyhow, they recently disbanded. why? well, blizzard left to do hearthstone. BUT it was all downhill from one set released about 4 months earlier. THat set was egyption theme. The main issue is that there isnt and wasnt enought material to work with, And if WotC were to make this same mistake I fear the set could potentially stir up enought standard players to wreck a lot of its popularity, or possibly even destroy mtg. Trust me, I played the wow tcg, And this was what led to its destruction.
just, BTW.
April 2, 2015 12:26 a.m.
KalvinHobbez says... #48
...er...I don't know why that is such a big problem when this is a custom set by fans opposed to Wizards themselves making it. Also I thought I'm kinda cool on the Custom Card forums too...:c
Anyways, yeah it seems like one project at a time would make sense, but there hasnt really been any activity on the previous one recently...
April 2, 2015 2:34 a.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #49
Okay, so a lot of comments happened while I was sleeping apparently (I'm in the UK for those who don't know), so just to get a few things clear:
I didn't know there was a set being made by the community already, and while I will totally check it out (do link it to me), this is just my own personal project. I just eanted to ask for some brainstorming for ideas before I dived in on my own. It was the same with my other set Quarahal, I asked for help, advicr and MILD participation before just cracking on it on my own.
I'm way ahead of you guys on the plagues and pestilences part.
Doing enemy colours, blue/red fit the Hounds the best. These are intelligent, wizardly, stormbringing hounds. They're based around Sutekh, the god of Storms, the Desert (which is just a big ocean of sand) and Chaos (a red thing yes, but blue/red is freakin' nuts). It's just what I'm going with, as tribes are tricky to fit into colors that match round one another.
What problems did you have doing an enemy-colour set or block? It doesn't strike me as particularly tough; you have one or two of each enemy combo at common, three or so at uncmmon and a handful at rare, and include some mana fixing at common and uncommon rarities. You also have monocoloured creatures with enemy-coloured activation costs. Was there a different problem you encountered other than appropriating amounts/volume?
Derplingsupreme, I suppose the Egyptian themes was what ruined Yugioh as well? Wow, all aboard the surefire disaster choo-choo train! But in all seriousness... there is none, this is all just for fun. Don't panic.
Yeah, it's a bit hard to avoid Avians... really I don't have enough tribes to fill out ten colour combinations, but too many to fill out five. I'll have aven around in the first set, but the second set will likely explode with them as Daddy Ra/Horus comes back on the scene.
April 2, 2015 7:08 a.m.
Leafbladefighter says... #50
This seems like a good plan. I hope you have fun making it!
Servo_Token says... #2
As much as I hate to say this, look to the older YuGiOh sets for some themes and mechanics to use. I know back when I played as a kid, there were some heavy Egyptian themes, so that might be of some help.
As for recycling mechanics, I think that Curses, would be a good card type to bring, Undying is a sweet one, but make it like a rares only deal because to my limited knowledge, the slaves and such weren't mummified.
There needs to be cats, of course, and maybe some sort of God card dissimilar to the Theros gods to represent the Egyptian gods.
March 31, 2015 1:15 p.m.