Philosphy and exmaples of Purple.
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Aug. 9, 2015, 8:37 p.m. by kengiczar
Please provide feedback, criticism, and point out if I've contradicted myself. Atypical to myself, I started with Development first, instead of design, because there is no color Purple in MTG. By focusing primarily on it's philosophy and nature first, and borrowing elements from other colors in these things first while differentiating Purple its' easier to arrive at unique cards. Here are some of my core ideas for purple:
Purple has two facets, the physical and the intangible. For philosophy, feel, and effect purple appears similar but is strikingly different from anything we've seen so far in it's nuances.
Broad design/development goals of Purple.
Purple spells sometimes put triggers on the stack. These are harder to interact with than more traditional spells.. (EDIT: Changed from "On the intangible side of things purple effects do not cause many traditional magic rulings to occur.") On the physical side of things purple is represented by technology and progress.
Purple does not cause ETB or Leaves the Battlefield effects to trigger.
Another facet of the intangible side is it cannot be interacted with easily.
Purple can casts spells without using the stack, like how morph functions. (EDIT: Ignore this for now. Needs revision for implementation to occur.)
Purple Kickers add effects that prevent spells from being countered.
Purples spells that effect permanents negatively are weak and seldom.
Purple can adopt to either enchantments or artifacts, depending on the nature of its society.
Purple Global type spells often have Choose a permanent type.
Instead of countering a spell, exiling it, or giving protection Purple just makes a spell do nothing.
Philosphical mixing of Purple with colors.
/Purple leeches off it's society slowly or is caught and punished if acting hastily for selfish gain. Purple is willing to let get away with diabolic deeds as long as they are used for the societies benefit, and the costs are exacted either on an enemy at war or nature.
/Purple members of society accept simple but boring jobs because after work they are focusing on the next new technology to be adopted by Society/Civilization in times of dire need.
/Purple seeks to incorporate the professional and personnel facets of society as well as merge shamanistic magics with the uncorporeal magics of purple.
/Purple seeks to push the boundaries of what Purple does by creating situations where big risks are taken for astounding payoffs to society. A /Purple character would want to be famous, but for contributing greatly to it's community or technology, or for facing an enemy alone that it has low chances of defeating. It's selfish like but the extent of it's harm to others is "Maybe help out the community, or die trying, leaving behind a void."
/Purple seeks to refine the organic structural nature of Purples bureaucracy in an attempt to better serve the masses. White also pushes members of society to strengthen themselves more than their tasks require for the sake of self-improvement, albeit sometimes at the cost of happiness.
How other colors view Purple.
doesn't like purple because Purple aschews natural development, respect, tradition and honor. Purple ignores that natural beauty of the world and in some cases tears it down for the sake of development.
doesn't like purple because purple doesn't appreciate the reasoning takes when red seeks to strike out on it's own. Purple will chastise for this if does not produce results which lead to the growth of society and civilization as a whole. Purple also hates that is willing to tear something down to create something better. Purple will leave the old things it made in place and take more resources from the wild. (Purple isn't good with Reclycling.)
doesn't like purple because purple has little uniformity. White doesn't like how Purple is content to exist and develop without actually improving. It seeks short term glory by taking advantage of Purple's natural weakness by honing it's members on a per-person basis.
doesn't like Purple because purple doesn't plan and never thinks "what if" for the sake of discovery. Rather purple creates when there is a need for it, and then continues on with it's existence.
doesn't like Purple because it doesn't allow selfishness. While Purple will nominate somebody to a position deemed "grand" by or , the titles don't come with respect. Rather respect is earned by doing a fine enough job, and even then you aren't praised for it. Black cannot easily be selfish because the means to do so aren't present in a Purple community.
Some Example Cards
Cost: P
Name: Unspoken Spell
Type: Instant
Rarity: Rare (EDIT: Put rarity here.)
Text: Whenever you cast this spell target creature cannot attack until end of turn. (EDIT: Removed "Unspoken spell does not go on the stack or cause abilities to go on the stack." Changed "cannot attack this turn" to "cannot attack until end of turn".)
This card illustrates Purples desire to continue to grow by going about day to day duties. Purple is able to turn away large threats without physically influencing them. It's magic is so subtle that it is not interacted with easily. This comes at a high cost however.
Creating Tokens
Cost: P
Name: Rapid Development.
Type: Sorcery
Rarity: Uncommon
Text: You may cast Rapid Development as an instant by paying an additional P
mana. Put three 1/1 Citizen creature tokens onto the battlefield. These creatures cannot attack. These creatures cannot block during combat unless each creature blocks during combat.
Here you see you get more creatures per-card that perhaps any other card in MTG history, but the tokens themselves aren't concerned with rushing into battle. The creatures will not block except together because rather then be willing to risk a member of their society they would rather their society either succeed or fail as a whole. (EDIT: Changed type to Citizen. This will be Purples premier creature type.)
Purple Combat/Defensive Trick example
Name: Unwilling Opposition
Cost: P
Type: Instant
Rarity: Rare/Uncommon
Text: Target spell that targets a permanent you control has no effect.
This one is probably the most OP but also the most easily related to form of resistance. It still feels like Counterspell though so I'm scratching my head to figure out a new way to go about things.
Purple/Blue spell trickery
Cost: P
Name: Aether Etchings
Type: SorceryText: You may cast Aether Etchings anytime you could cast an instant by paying mana. Until end of turn target creature you control gains all activated abilities of target creature you don't control. (EDIT:I removed "This spell does not go on the stack or cause triggered abilities to trigger." from this since it already has a form of kicker and a great effect.)
Darksteel Reactor - This embodies purple perfectly. Purple prefers to display dominance through overwhelming structures or movements. By simply being purple this color has the highest chance of succeeding.
Well it's a slow start, but things are bound to be that way when you are creating something from almost nothing.
I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of where Purple was designed from. Read this before coming back with card designs.
Also, "not using the stack" is way too good on spells so cheap.
August 9, 2015 8:45 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #4
Ive just got to point out that if purple can cast spells without using the stavck, then those spells will all be uncounterable since your opponent does not have the chance to respond at all.
August 9, 2015 9:03 p.m.
@ JWiley129 I have read all the articles on the official website that detail purple. Including purple was considered as a way to show how vastly different the "alternate reality" would be for the set Planar Chaos but part of the problem was there was no established Philosophy behind it.
I understand your concern about the ability to "not use the stack" cheaply being to powerful. Could you give me what you think is fair for a spell that says "target creature cannot attack this turn" as an instant?
@ Coinman1863 The problem with Split Second is that it can be used to aggressively deny opponent's the opportunity to act with "maintaining priority".
My plan for some, not all, purple spells is to behave similarly to Morph. I want to be careful that the effects put onto "doesn't use the stack" is very weak as far as board state goes, but is still helpful.
I forgot to mention it but here are some of the things that Purple will never do on it's own:
Destroy creatures.
Counter Spells.
Discard.
Exile.
Be as fast as red. Never!
One of the things I "do" want to do have Purple cause creaures to not be able to attack. Not make a Tax, just make them flat out unable to attack. This can be temporary or if an artifact/enchant is expensive enough, permanent.
August 9, 2015 9:15 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
Everything I'm seeing is just unnecessarily complicated and rule-bending seemingly for the sake of being unnecessarily complicated and rule-bending. Maybe a good idea for a single card in one set, but not for something like a color.
August 9, 2015 9:23 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #7
White and blue both have a lot of ways to stop creatures from attacking, and you will need some way that both seperates purple from these other colors abilities and also has a fair amount of design space available.
Also you are leaving a lot of room for artifact and enchantment removal open which has so far been limited to two of the 5 colors.
Not using the stack is dangerous waters to tread, just saying. You know that if you make any spell that is playable for the cost given, its very easily abusable, which actually diminishes your design space for cards. Your basically starting with a broken mechanic and attempting to fix it from the start. It is also just very confusing for players, especially new ones, and in general that is severely discouraged. Many new players have a hard time understanding the stack as it is, and if you add a whole new 'doesnt use the stack' facet to the game you will throw them way off.
August 9, 2015 9:28 p.m.
@ Epochalyptik. Which do you think is the worst offender? "doesn't go on the stack", "cannot attack", or "does nothing"?
If I had to guess I would say "Doesn't go on the stack". Whichever you say I will cut that and find a simpler solution.
August 9, 2015 9:31 p.m.
Also, what does "Does Nothing" mean? It has to have some rules meaning not just "it does nothing."
August 9, 2015 9:36 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #10
All of them. "Cannot attack" is probably the least inane, but it's going to cause some memory headaches at some point.
August 9, 2015 9:41 p.m.
@ JWiley129 - Does Nothing means "Has no Effect", like Fiery Gambit. You can also see this on Shell of the Last Kappa. I do not wish for Purple to exile however so sticking with "Has no effect" is better. I'll edit the main post changing "does nothing" to "has no effect" once I finish eating this delicious sandwich.
August 9, 2015 9:43 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #12
So purple is basically the control player's dream. Sidestep the stack, prevent things from triggering, completely nullify uncounterable spells. It's just not necessary in the design space and it's broken as hell.
August 9, 2015 9:50 p.m.
kengiczar I like what you've idealized flavorfully with not using the stack for spells, but it simply doesn't make sense in this setting. A card being cast has to "be" somewhere. If it's not on the stack, then where is it? Are you also inventing a new zone? The purple zone? That seems like too much. Also, if you're not using the stack and these spells can't be responded to, I don't see the need to even target. If nothing can happen to said target between the time you cast the spell and that spells resolution, there's no need to do anything more than choose, rather than target.
My recommendation, sadly, is to put away the idea of not using the stack. Cast the spells as normal, and try to not to bend how the core of the game works. New mechanics are cool, necessary in fact, but the core of the game should remain untouched. In the end, you'll find it to honestly look much more elegant anyway.
August 9, 2015 10:14 p.m.
@ Epochalyptik Changing "cannot attack" to be an "until end of turn" effect on sorcery/instant speed cards, as well as activated abilities. For a static effect, I will put those on Enchantments or Artifacts in the future.
For Epochalyptik, JWiley129: RoarMaster brings up a good point "Also you are leaving a lot of room for artifact and enchantment removal open which has so far been limited to two of the 5 colors."
Since I want Purple to be a color that does not work well with cards like Mana Vault or Phyrexian Arena, (because the purple mentality is for no member to create/do something that harms it's own society) I am thinking that for enchantment and artifact removal Purple should only have ways to get rid of artifacts and enchantments that you do not control.
August 9, 2015 10:16 p.m.
@ -Logician, taking into consideration what you and Epochalyptik have said I decided that instead of using "does not go on the stack" I'll have the spells I wanted that ability on to instead create triggered abilities. This has three unique aspects to it:
1: For an opponent' without counter spells they appear pretty much the same.
2: For an opponent with Counters these spells will be a nightmare and encourage spells like Stifle, Trickbind and Voidslime to be more attractive.
For an opponent that is highly proactive having all my spells create triggers doesn't do much. For example an opponent playing mono stompy doesn't care if I tap his Tarmogoyf down with a spell, or make it unable to attack. This might seem worse than just tapping it down and indeed it is. But purple won't care.
You can see this above but here it is again:
Cost: P
Name: Unspoken Spell
Type: Instant
Rarity: Rare (EDIT: Put rarity here.)
Text: Whenever you cast this spell target creature cannot attack until end of turn.
August 9, 2015 10:30 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #16
The whole 'that you do not control' point seems like it will have little effect on the game or flavor really as 99% of the time you are blowing up opponents artifacts or enchantments anyway.
I thonk if you wanted to make purple different from the other colors, work with the stack, amd have little effec on permanents, I might go more the direction of Purple cards only being able to interact with spells that are on the stack.
The most obvious example being countering them, but for more of a different flavor I might change it to exile target spell on the stack. but there is so much more available to work with. Target spell gains lifelink/deathtouch(if target spell is a creature, that creature enters the battlefield with(lifelin/deathtouch)may make memory issues if so add a 'add a counter, as long as creature has said counter it has...ect, copy target spell, change target of target spell, target spell on the stack targets up to x others, if target spell would pe put into the grave this turn return it to your hand instead, search for a card taht has the same name as target spell, ect ect ect.
I dont know, just spitballing ideas here at this point. Point being its a field that is largely untouched in the game and yet has all the rules in place to allow it to work.
August 9, 2015 10:41 p.m.
GreenGhost says... #17
The name of unspoken spell should have something to do with a creature's indifference to attacking
August 9, 2015 10:45 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #18
I'll take a moment to point out how few effects actually counter abilities. Some things should not be wantonly tampered with. The stack is one of them. Reserving design space for an entire color of spells that perform all of their effects through on-cast triggered abilities is hideously broken; those spells cannot be interacted with consistently or effectively.
Add to that the already-better-than-blue control effects and you have some serious work to do to make this proposal even faintly viable in any realistic scenario.
August 9, 2015 10:52 p.m.
Why wouldn't Unspoken Spell not just say "Target creature can't block this turn"? Sure you get the weird fact it's a trigger, but it should just be a targeted Falter.
August 9, 2015 10:54 p.m.
@ Green_Ghost - I agree. The name made slightly more sense originally but now it seems unrelated. What do you think about "Attitude of Indifference"?
@ RoarMaster - One of those things you said really struck a chord with me. "if target spell would pe put into the grave this turn return it to your hand instead".
I am considering a spell that is similar to something like Reverberate but a little different, and can use the "triggered on cast" aspect of Purple:
Card Text: Whenever target spell would be put into a graveyard this turn, put it into your hand instead.
This is very special because it can be used to put an enemies spell into your own hand for later use. In other words Purple has a way to accept enemy spells into it's own agenda! It's got aspects of graveyard replacement effects, copying, and to a lesser degree resource denial that are different than anything I've seen before.
August 9, 2015 10:56 p.m.
Just a heads up, you can't put your opponent's cards into your hand. That is strictly Silver-Bordered land.
August 9, 2015 10:59 p.m.
@ JWiley129 - I want it to be a trigger because as a trigger it's harder for players to deal with without mattering to aggro players. As I mentioned earlier if somebody is playing mono they won't care whether it works via a trigger or regular means. My opponent with Remand however is SOL. On the other hand a player with Voidslime can laugh his butt off at me for even trying to get one past the.
Also Unspoken Spell is meant to be used solely for stalling. The trigger is an upside; triggers make up for not being able to create openings to attack by being less vulnerable to Blue. Blue magic can be countered easier but can be used for either offense or defense.
Thanks for the heads up, I wasn't aware about not being able to take opponents cards into my hand.
How do you feel about this text on an instant? "Whenever target instant or sorcery spell would be put into a graveyard this turn, exile it instead. For as long as that spell remains exiled you may cast it by paying it's mana cost."
August 9, 2015 11:10 p.m.
I don't quite get why you're so fixated on the "When you cast ~" mechanic. I don't think it is worthwhile mechanical space to examine since the ways to interact with it don't really exist that much.
August 9, 2015 11:17 p.m.
@ JWiley129 " I don't think it is worthwhile mechanical space to examine since the ways to interact with it don't really exist that much." That's the reason I want to include it. Check out these three examples, which all give their controller the ability to cast spells they would not normally have access to.
Praetor's Grasp Pros:
Can be cast whenever you have the mana.
Grabs a card from the library zone.
Puts it into exile.
Denies opponent of resources so long as the card is in exile.
Lets you cast the card whenever you normally could.
Praetor's Grasp Cons:
Gives opponent's two opportunities to counter.
Requires the correct color mana.
Increases overall cost of spell taken.
Reverberate Pros:
Copies spells and only costs to do so.
Reverberate Cons:
Requires a target.
You must make decision immediately.
Does not deny resources.
My spell Pros:
Denies resources.
Hard to Counter.
Lets you cast the card whenever you normally could.
My Spell Cons:
Have to have the right color mana.
Has to have a valid target.
Increases overall cost of spell taken.
You must make decision immediately.
August 9, 2015 11:39 p.m.
There's a difference between those spells and your mechanic. One is that Magic is becoming more and more interactive, so this mechanic is very likely to not exist. This type of mechanic is fine on creatures like the Eldrazi Titans, but not on Instants/Sorceries where the only way to interact with the spell itself is counterspells.
August 9, 2015 11:44 p.m.
@ JWiley129 That's like saying the only way to interact with Counterspells is Counterspells. I mean you've got a point yes this spell is hard to stop, but then again so is Abrupt Decay.
August 9, 2015 11:48 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #27
Since I'm on a phone, it's near impossible to write up a full review of this, so I'll have to make a few quick comments. First of all, purple sort of sounds like a combination of Blue and White (mind tricks and order). The cards that you've made reflect this, as they fit in those colors only. The cards are also all pretty overcosted and too situational to be of any use in most decks. Overall, I just feel like the color needs something much more unique to exist (and not something like it doesn't go on the stack). Keep brainstorming thoughthough :)
August 10, 2015 6:09 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #29
Note that almost all of the cons you listed apply to most spells in general.
August 10, 2015 6:30 a.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #30
True. But these actually just seem like overcosted copies of other existing cards. Something a bit more original, whether it's overcosted or not, would be welcome.
August 10, 2015 6:34 a.m.
electromancer says... #31
Oh man this thread looks fun. So a new mechanic for purple city dwellers? I'm hearing a lot of control, but not conterspell? How about card advantage through copy effects?
"Envision" (turn your creatures into mini planeswalkers)
Envision X (Whenever a spell resolves, you may pay the mana cost of that spell to attach it to [insert creature name]. You may pay X to copy a spell attached to [insert creature name] once per turn)
Example:
Frisky Task Mage 1P
Cat Wizard
Envision 2PP (Whenever a spell resolves, you may pay the mana cost of that spell to attach it to Astute Task Mage. You may pay 2PP to copy a spell attached to Astute Task Mage once per turn)
2/1
Anyway it's just a thought. I figure it fits the city theme since the creature builds on the shoulders of giants in a way. Also, looks hard to abuse
August 12, 2015 5:27 a.m.
@ FAMOUSWATERMELON,
Epochalyptik and electromancer thanks so much for sticking in there with me! It really means a lot. This is by far the most ambitious thing I've done when it comes to custom cards. I will do my best to come up with some new mechanics and ways to impact the game. I'll try to do it without creating new card types as well. More specifically Electormancer, I like the sound of that, but it doesn't sound very . It's like Imprint on a creature for spells. I do like the sound of the creatures building upon other things however. I'll try that mentality out tomorrow when I continue with the topic at the end of this post.
Take a look at the six colored mana symbol spread here: http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/386
As sits squarely between the two colors most related to combat, and , and is better at combat than either, to the point that those colors have to rely on a second spell besides their creature to come out on top, so to do I want Purple to be better at NOT combat than or to the point where they cannot win at a strict control game.
Having spells that create triggers when they are cast already makes them a horrible, horrible opponent for blue. So now the question is how do we make Purple a horrible color for to deal with in a 1v1 straight up mono battle? To do this I first thought of what is black best at: Recursion, Kill Spells, and Discard. Since Purple is Proactive to blue it's only fair that it's reactive to black.
Ways to let Purple be ractive to black that are different from commonly seen or methods:
Vs Discard - Sometimes, whenever Purple discards a card due to a spell it goes into exile instead of the graveyard. Purple will get effects that let cards that let cards be cast from exile. This would seem "very" strong but remember, Purple doesn't cast form the graveyard. What this means is if the opponent isn't playing discard, or in some cases, Path to Exile, this effect does nothing.
Example -
Name: Cosmic Incarnation
Cost: Purple (And whatever else seems balanced. Still a concept so this is hard.)
Type: Enchantment
Text: Whenever a creature card you own would be put into your graveyard from your hand exile that card instead. You may cast creature cards exiled in this way as long as Cosmic Incarnation remains on the field.
Vs Kill Spells - Negate the benefit that gets from kill spells. other colors do this by having limited "when this creature dies" effects such as Academy Rector, indestructible (again ), blink effects such as Deadeye Navigator, or just plain not caring about doom blade because they have so many creatures ( and ) Here's my first idea. It's not as good as my anti-discard shenanigans/mysticism but this is the first thing that came to mind.
Example -
Card Name: Stoic Resonator
Cost: P
Type: Creature
Card Text: Whenever Stoic Resonator dies as a result of an instant or sorcery card exile that card from it's owners graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way by paying their mana cost.
Power/Toughness 2/2.
This gives you a way to use an opponent's Hero's Downfall against them, and even their Lightning Bolt. This particular mechanic doesn't help against Path to Exile or bounce however. NOTE: A card that is resilient to discard should not be resilient to kill spells and vice versa!
Vs Recursion - Nothing. Seriously, each color will have a specific route that is best for dealing with purple. Black's just happens to be recursion. HOWEVER, if I changed it so that kill spells were allowed to work vs Purple and NOT recursion it would look sort of like this:
Card Name: Universal Patterns (Drawing upon the intangible)
Card Cost: P
Type: Instant
Card Text: The next time a creature would enter the battlefield from a graveyard you may put a copy of that creature into play.
This gives Purple a way to mitigate some of blacks advantage but in a way that relies on that advantage being there in the first place. Also instead of preventing things from coming from the graveyard like does, it can be used against or with black classical reanimator styles. As a cheap instant it's very easy to see how this could both supplement and also be used to benefit from an opponent's spell at a mana advantage, without just stopping it like does.
How colors easily defeat purple - Stop trying to counter. Purple creatures will be created so that their "aggro" variants are weaker than . Just play Delver of Secrets
Flip or Merfolk/Faeries and crush those puny 1/1 Civilians!
- Stop trying to use kill spells and discard. Just put out your best death-touch or beefy creatures. Use your Menace ability to force 2-for-1's in your favor you dirty player.
- Ignore the creatures. They only trade with your tokens. Just keep charging in. Due to purples slower more continual rhythm top decking against them doesn't hurt you as badly. Toss every bolt at their head and you should win by T6 even if they've mananged to put out a meager defense.
- Your tax effects don't mean much to Purple because it doesn't plan to attack much anyways. At least not until it's built up a shining momument to it's civilization (non-creature artifact) or a champion of progress in either understanding the universe (an incredible but expensive to cast creature) or in understanding mechanics (an incredible but expensive artifact creatrue.) This shouldn't happen till around turn 8-9 so your flyers should have been able to pound enough face by then.
- This needs work. I have to identify a new way that Purple can use to deal with creatures, that isn't bounce, kill spells, kill spells or mind control/creature theft. This is where it all starts to fall apart.
Tomorrow I will go into specifics on how Purple deals with the other 4 colors.
August 12, 2015 6:55 a.m.
electromancer says... #33
So not that care about defending the mechanic I came up with, but I'm take you up on "Please provide feedback, criticism, and point out if I've contradicted myself"
"Electormancer, I like the sound of that, but it doesn't sound very u"
Why should a purple card feel ? Isn't it supposed to feel purple?
by the way I got another one:
Lonesome Hag PP
Creature- human witch
Envision 
Lonesome Hag's Envision cost is less for each cat you control.
2/2
I know we're moving on but I thought it was funny. (you'd win the game if you got 10 cats)
August 13, 2015 2:49 a.m.
electromancer says... #34
Also I wanted to address the purple creature Stoic Resonator that you made. I really like that it's hexproof but not quite. It would synergize well with hexproof creatures but at the same time be a terrible target for your auras.
August 13, 2015 3:06 a.m.
Sorry I meant to say that it does sound blue to me. It's very much like a better version of Imprint. To put it another way it's like the unholy combination of Soulfire Grand Master and Riku of Two Reflections, if you look at just the Riku reflection.
With all of this said I lady is a very fun way for Envision to work because it promotes two things: Rarely seen Tribal type builds and for a board state deck to have reactive spells instead of just creatures that quickly rebuild. I feel like if the mechanic had a different name, and was cheaper based on board state, it would be an interesting mechanic for a Purple and X colored hybrid creature. This is a good time to start thinking about what creature type Purple could safely share without taking to much of another colors identity, or having that creature type be spread to thin.
Cats -
Hounds/Dogs -
Sphinx - (I think some of the Sphinx's such as Arbiter of the Ideal have pretty close to the Purple feeling since they are somewhat mystical and they build. Plus, Inspired.)
Birds - , birds will appear as commons in Purple, with like, 0 abilities, and at a pace of about 1 in every 3 sets.
Artificer - Close but not quite.
Engineer - and now Purple. The Purple engineers won't focus on making things cheaper or drawing cards from artifacts. Instead they will focus on the "Fortification" mechanic.
Avatar - Definately will be Purple avatars, but they will be appear sparingly. Since the intangible aspect of Purple is as vast as the cosmos these Avatars will range from CMC 4 to 8 with the smaller ones being less aggressive but similar to Stoic Resonator and the more expensive ones will have mechanics that affect the board when they die.
Right now I'm working on "Cosmic Incarnation" for a very expensive creature that does things when it dies or is put into a graveyard from anywhere. (If an opponent discards you T1 there will be ramifications that last the whole game.)
August 13, 2015 3:37 a.m.
electromancer says... #36
I just noticed that Stoic resonator really likes equipment. Is this intentional, should purple creatures like equipment? I would say yes, but I feel like white has already boggarted that design space.
Also, I approve of engineers working on fortification, but is that similar to fortify (Darksteel Garrison)?
Attack of the Birds P
Enchantment
Whenever you attack an opponent with a bird creature, put a 0/1 purple Bird creature token with flying on the battlefield under each players control. At the beginning of each player's upkeep, he or she loses life equal to the number of birds he or she controls.
fits the theme of "do you really want to remove my tiny creatures?"
August 13, 2015 4:50 a.m.
Stoic Resonator liking equipment - I suppose his ability works as a sort of counter to your opponents trying to 2-for-1 you. Especially if you enchanted him. Yes you'll still lose 2 cards, but you at least get 1 cards worth of card advantage. That's one potential benefit that Voltron could take advantage of, and if Resonator was to cheaply costed it might see play.
About Darksteel Garrison - Yes! That's the sort of defensive artifact work that Purple will work with. Their metallurgy won't have much offensive focus. I don't want them to make swords, but tools like "Welding Torch" are ok.
And I really, really, really like Attack of the Birds. That is such a nefarious twist on Purples tiny, tiny bird creatures. The flavor works very well. 10/10 I would play.
Could you create some flavor text? Something to do with one bird attracting many, or about how pesky the crows have become lately?
Here are some areas to explore thematically for the flavor text:
- Shakespear.
- Derevi's Race, flavor text pointing out the juxtoposition.
- The Raven Man (Who is Purple. Cuz illusions, birds, and some magics beyond even s grasp.)
August 13, 2015 5:41 a.m.
electromancer says... #38
Flavor text is probably not my strong point. Here's a classic quote from the movie 'The Birds' (Alfred Hitchcock)
Melanie: I keep telling you, this isnt a few birds! These are gulls, crows, swiftsMrs. Bundy: I have never known birds of different species to flock together. The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldnt stand a chance. How could we possibly hope to fight them?
Seems a bit long though.
August 13, 2015 6:17 a.m.
electromancer says... #39
text got stupid here it is again.
Melanie: I keep telling you, this isnt a few birds! These are gulls, crows, swifts...
Mrs. Bundy: I have never known birds of different species to flock together. The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldnt stand a chance. How could we possibly hope to fight them?
August 13, 2015 6:18 a.m.
It is long. But there's something I should have fleshed out more before. Specially this part of the card text: "At the beginning of each player's upkeep, he or she loses life equal to the number of birds he or she controls."
I think it would much better serve black without killing purple, but still allowing the potential to backfire, if it was changed to "Whenever a bird dies that creatures controller loses 1 life."
August 13, 2015 6:41 a.m.
electromancer says... #41
Hey since P is seem like an odd pairing I had an idea:
Green and purple are diametrically opposed so the combination of the two results in creatures similar to Giant Caterpillar which undergo metamorphosis from one extreme to another.
Also a G/P aura:
Coming of AgeP
Enchantment- Aura
Enchant Creature
Choose 1:
-Enchanted creatures power and toughness becomes 4/1
-Enchanted creatures power and toughness becomes 1/4
Alice: Where should I go?"
The Cheshire Cat: "That depends on where you want to end up."
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
August 13, 2015 6:46 a.m.
electromancer says... #42
kengiczar you could change it that way, but then it would be more B/W than B/P since you've taken away purples quasi removal defense and replaced it with removal punishment (opposite of other purple creatures). The version you've proposed would encourage the use of a Glorious Anthem. Also the name wouldn't fit as well since the birds wouldn't be senselessly attacking everyone. Attacking with a 0/1 that punishes you when it dies would be kinda dumb.
August 13, 2015 7:17 a.m.
@ electromancer - The design approach for your enchantment will differ significantly depending on if it uses split symbols or just two symbols. I presume you are using 2 different symbols here since there is no \ present in the mana cost above. The name seems like a riff on age counters. Overall I think that card would stay exactly as it is and cost 
and let you choose the mode.
Green enchantment Auras typically grant the following:
- +x/+x
- Gains reach
- Gains trample
- Gains hexproof
Purple Auras will do the following:
- Remove flying (helps or Purple)
- Impose upkeep costs, but not cumulative ones as a negative effect.
- Undecided
- Undecided
Once I've finished it in MTG Set Editor and figured out Imgur hosting i'll post a picture of "Attack of the Birds"
August 13, 2015 7:39 a.m.
@ electromancer Your right. I'll leave it how you originally had it.
August 13, 2015 7:40 a.m.
electromancer says... #45
Yeah that makes sense and I made mistake, I meant to say "enchant target creature. That way it's a buff for little creatures and can be used as an effective debuff against big creatures or non vanilla creautures like Tarmogoyf. Which give me an idea about G vs. P. Purple should be particularly powerful at neutering non vanilla or large creatures like Tarmogoyf and Primordial Hydra but should feel weak against efficient vanilla creatures like Delver of Secrets Flip and Kalonian Tusker.
Example of idea:
Congestion PP
Enchantment
Whenever a player declares attackers, add together the total toughness of each creature attacking and remove the creature with the highest toughness from combat if that amount exceeds the total number of lands on the battlefield.
(Punishes creatures for having big butts, but is mostly irrelevant against small tokens.)
Coinman1863 says... #2
With your unspoken spell, wouldn't Split Second be easier to understand as a keyword already exists for what you are looking for?
Split Second would only be for the "cause abilities to go on the stack" part. Or is this not what you are looking for?
August 9, 2015 8:43 p.m.