Community Set Building
Custom Cards forum
Posted on May 14, 2019, 10:18 a.m. by Diddle
This is an idea I've had for a while. After numerous failed attempts to design sets with friends, I'm moving the task over to here. I have no plans, so the setting, mechanics, lore, and everything else is up to the community. Please don't bombard the forum with cards you make alone, instead talk about your ideas and design as a group. Please mention me with any questions and I will get back to you ASAP.
Most of our designing is done on discord, with this forum documenting the process and summerizing development details for any wishing to join. The discord link can be found below.
https://discord.gg/cxeEkH2
OK, so here's an idea, I know Diddle said that we don't want too many mechanics, but we DID decide that each color pairing has both angels, and another tribe, that tribe being different for each color pairing. So, what if the unique tribe for each color pairing has a crappy or under-used mechanic, and the angels each have a new one that interacts with the matching old one in a cool, new way. Also, before we get further into designing mechanics, I think we need to discuss the feels of each of the color pairings and their tribes before we design their mechanics. I think it would be good to know the sort of flavor of each color pairing, their unique tribes, and how they are trying to win. Once we have that covered, I think designing mechanics and choosing old ones will be much easier.
June 9, 2019 9:24 p.m.
The issue with using so many mechanics is that it won't leave room for any of them to be developed well. Look at guilds of Ravnica, the only new mechanic in the set that really had any synergy or higher level build around potential beyond one card was Surveil. Mentor was barely on any cards and had no synergy outside buffing whatever creature had mentor, undergrowth was uninspired and sure it had some strong cards but thats it wasn't deep or memorable, jump-start is strong but its still just weaker flashback, and convoke was a returning mechanic that was used well, but wasn't particularly exiting. I do like the idea of reusing older mechanics, but for some of them such as Sweep or Reinforce there is a reason they aren't fondly remembered.
June 10, 2019 2:05 p.m.
Yea, I can see that. Now, what do you think each of the color pairing's themes should be. So, how do they play, how do they win, what are they like, what are their values? In order to design or choose mechanics that will work well and feel flavorful, we at least need some basic answers to each of these questions first. Also, for ease of conversation, do we want to establish a discord for this, and just use this thread to post summaries of our decisions?
June 10, 2019 7:12 p.m.
spells/pillowfort
graveyard
lifegain/kithkin tribel
big stuff/pump spells
aristocrats/devils tribel
June 11, 2019 7:17 a.m.
Yes, but I feel that Mechanics come from world design, not the other way around. We should think a bit more about the story first, or else the mechanics and cards may feel uninspired, and unconnected, so we should think a bit more about what these color pairings feel like first
June 11, 2019 1:49 p.m.
I have created a discord for this project as the forum style makes coherent conversation difficult
https://discord.gg/cxeEkH2
Diddle says... #1
you wouldn't need to reveal it if we had you cast it face down. we could give it the morph ruling of you have to reveal it at the end of the game and if it doesn't have the ability than you are DQ'd, but is more focused on graveyard shenanigans in this set than the secrets and scheming. We already established that was our instant/sorcery color for this set so i think this would be a good mechanic for them if we don't include face-down. We need to think of a more flavorful name, but that can wait for later. Does anyone else have idea for new mechanics?
June 9, 2019 5:12 p.m.