Legitimate abilities?
Custom Cards forum
Posted on March 21, 2015, 10:31 p.m. by Epochalyptik
I decided to open up MSE again and look at some of my work from the past two or three years. I'd like to go back to designing a set (it seems like everyone does, these days), and I think some of these ideas are pretty good. But it's always helpful to get outside opinions.
What do you think?
Veterancy N (Whenever a creature dealt combat damage by this creature this turn dies, put (a) N +1/+1 counters on this creature.)
The first mechanic evokes Sengir Vampire and goes well with vampires, soldiers, and anything else that canonically gets a lot more experienced or hardened with combat. Note that veterancy only pertains to combat damage, so you can't machine gun things with ping abilities and get huge creatures. Most veterancy abilities are veterancy 1, but a few cards do/may have veterancy 2. This mechanic typically appears in 
, with 
and 
representing secondary colors and 
getting an occasional instance.
Reprise [cost] ([cost], Discard this card: Return target instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost less than this card's converted mana cost from your graveyard to your hand.)
This mechanic began as a unique idea, and I took some notes from soulshift and transmute to refine it. It can only return cards with lower CMCs, so it brings some natural balance instead of forcing me to nerf card designs around it. This mechanic appears primarily in 
with seeing secondary inclusion and maybe getting a few instances.
Martyrdom (When this creature dies, if it attacked or blocked this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control that attacked or blocked this turn.)
This one I'm not so sure about. It's undergone a few wording changes, and it's one of a number of combat-oriented, //-aligned abilities that I have in my roster. I already have veterancy, which I like, so maybe this gets pushed to another set (not that designing a second set is an easy task)? It's on even shakier ground because veterancy also involves counters. I really like the idea of a few cards having both veterancy and martyrdom, but they shouldn't both be introduced in the same set.
I'm kind of stuck on what to give green because green has kind of been shafted thus far. Veterancy technically does extend into green's slice of the color pie, but I wonder if it's just playing second fiddle at that point.
This set does include a colorless non-artifact creature subtheme with Nomads (which actually do use the tribal designation for enchantments, artifacts, and one land). Maybe I could create an environment-based mechanic to share amongst green and the Nomads? I don't want to copy landfall, but perhaps an ability word based on the number of nonbasics you control?
Actually, I think I do have that.
Tectonic --- [ability]
Tectonic, which gives a nod to Tectonic Edge and the idea of nonbasics in general, is an ability word that produces an effect based on the number of nonbasic lands you control (might be modified to include all nonbasics on the battlefield).
The set is largely environment-focused, so land already plays an important role. I don't feel that this idea could be too much of a stretch.
Let me know what you think!
ABadMagicPlayer100 says... #2
So you're planning to make more lands like the Leechridden Swamp cycle? You could support your color pairs by having an activation requirement or bonus effect if you control a permanent of the other color. For example you could have the land for the Blackwatch have the Swamp subtype and an effect like ", 
: Each opponent loses one life. If you control a white permanent, you gain life equal to the life lost this way."
March 24, 2015 11:24 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
The issue is that the major cities are all monocolored for the most part. That idea might work for multicolored lands/cards, though.
Epochalyptik says... #1
ETB tapped with basic land types and "CC, T: [utility]" abilities. I'm not married to the idea, though. I just thought it might be cool to do something along those lines. Maybe I'll tweak the idea some more; I'm not really sure if some of the effects are too powerful for their frames.
March 24, 2015 2:32 p.m.