Return to Alara (I'm Creating a Set!)
Lore forum
Posted on May 16, 2019, 10:14 a.m. by ZendikariWol
I'm making an Alara set and I'd like some opinions. I'll start with my storyline, then move onto mechanics. This is gonna be a long, long post, and I get it if you don't want to read it.
Story: Alara has been reforged, but it's still rebuilding. Society has begun to remake itself... but it's a work in progress. The world is presently split mostly into three regions;
New Akrasa, the birthplace of civilization on New Alara. Largely populated by Bantians, Esperites, and some Nayans (modtly elves and leonin).
The Ruins of Old Bant, now infested by horrors and cults. Demons, Dragons, and Corrupted Sphinxes are gaining traction there, amassing armies of undead and varying other horrors.
The Badlands, consisting largely of the remnants of Jund, Naya, and Grixis, is a savage land where the strong survive and the weak are eaten. There is some semblance of society, in what survives of Naya, but it's not a lot.
This is set 1 of a 2-or-3-set block which sees a villain rise just as Alara finishes settling down. But that's not important right now.
This set is about Alara's uneasy settling down. Here are some of the main conflicts at play:
In the Badlands and the Ruins, the conflict is obvious. Cults vie for power, or the strong eat the weak. But in New Akrasa, the trouble is a little more nuanced.
The relationship between Bant and Esper is strained. The Bantians find Esperites painfully objective and far too questioning of what's around them, which leads them to be far too disrespectful, in the Bantians' opinion, to authority. Specifically, Angels. The ruling class of New Akrasa is composed of Angels and Sphinces. Angels think the Sphinxes are too cold, too objective. Sphinxes think the Angels care too much. The Elves and Leonin, meanwhile, the ones who still tie themselves to Naya, are unhappy about their lack of political power.
Bant's mechanic for this set is Renown. Deeds of valor lead to sigils, sigils lead to... well, renown!
Esper's mechanic is just artifact synergy. I've been considering Metalcraft but may not have enough artifacts in the set to make it work (I'm estimating 35-50?).
Grixis' mechanic (no, not a keyword) is quid pro quo. Everything has a cost, and Grixis is willing to pay. Pay for greater gains, or pay to make enemies pay. You're sacrificing permanents, paying life, and discarding cards a lot to activate abilities or cast spells.
Jund's mechanic is Predation. Predation reads "Whenever this creature attacks, you may sacrifice a creature. If you do," and the effect varies from card to card. Jund is still hostile, and it still eats to live- and takes pride in it!
Naya's mechanic is interacting with creatures with power X or greater/less. Think old Naya, but more versatile, symbolizing their fairly newfound reverence for different beasts. It respects the majesty of nature in all its forms, great and small.
ZendikariWol says... #3
Azeworai, I wanted a challenge. I had no idea what I was in for.
As to your proposed mechanic, it seems like a weaker Metalcraft to me, or a sort of Metalcraft/Improvise hybrid. It would require a LOT of artifacts in one set to pull off effectively, as the think that distinguishes it from the mechanics above is that it's an activated ability, and you would probably want to be activating it multiple times per turn if you want it to be particularly or outstandingly spicy. That wouldn't be so restrictive if we were on Kaladesh or Mirrodin, where nearly half the set is artifacts, but there are four other shards we have to build on this plane.
That being said, I was considering something with tapping artificers. Maybe to put counters on things- +1 counters on artifact creatures, charge counters on artifacts. Maybe to insta-equip equipments. Maybe it depends on the artifact. Idk.
I was also considering a sort of artifact scavenge; reading something akin to "X: Exile an artifact card from your graveyard: put X +1/+1 counters on an artifact creature you control, where X is the exiled card's converted mana cost." Probably called Disassemble. I scrapped the idea (hah) because it felt too improvisational, and that's not Esper's feel. They're meticulous, deliberate. That's why I didn't use Improvise.
In short, lots of clever ideas here, but nothing seems to fit just right.
May 16, 2019 11:46 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #4
If you're looking for a villain... Isn't Kess Dissedent Mage from the Grixis shard of Alara? She seems like bad guy material
May 16, 2019 2:26 p.m.
ZendikariWol says... #5
Actually, from what I’ve read on the game wiki, Kess was trying to restore life to Grixis. It would be interesting to she is now. Now that Vis holds no value, what’s the next step for Kess? That would be easy to determine if I knew... anything about her character.
If anyone has the C17 pamphlet with Kess in it (it’s the Inalla precon), I would love it if you could share- I’m a commander player and I never take issue with one more general to toy around with.
May 16, 2019 3:30 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #6
"Others use their knowledge for good ... Kess's home is one of the few pockets of life remaining on the devastated shard-world of Grixis. She harvests vis, a magical substance that hold small bits of precious life energy, in hopes that she can one day use it to restore what was lost." - Arcane Wizardry insert.
May 16, 2019 5:16 p.m.
Honestly, I know it's a horrid mechanic I came up with. xD
May 16, 2019 5:56 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #9
We can still theorize from that text regarding Kess... Others use knowledge for good: so she has no good intentions in her harvest for power. To restore what was lost: we can glean that she doesn't want to change grixis but bring it back in all its demonic/undead/milling/discard/etc glory.
Its something to work with.
May 16, 2019 7:09 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #10
The context was that the paragraph was about Niv-Mizzet and Kess who use their powers for good.
May 16, 2019 11:38 p.m.
PhoenixGevurat says... #11
Meren of Clan Nel Toth is a good Villian in a return to alara as her hatred toward her circle and all of jund led her to murder the rest of Clan Nel Toth and seek the destruction of the entire jund shard if not more
December 6, 2020 5:29 p.m.
ZendikariWol says... #12
It would be interesting to work Meren in, and she's certainly been on my radar- I have a list of every legendary creature and planeswalker associated with Alara as well as where they are now.
I don't think she has the right scale to be the main villain in an Alara story. She'd definitely come into conflict with Esper and Jund, and she may forge a temporary alliance with a demonlord of Grixis to supplement her power and assist her, but...
When rumors of a Grixian incursion on Jund start to float around, Bant's generals see this as an opportunity to take out two birds with one stone.
Hey, maybe this could be interesting? Not what I'm rolling with atm, but an interesting countertheory. Thanks for letting me know.
Idoneity says... #2
I've never seen this done before! For the Esper keyword, maybe something like cost, tap two untapped artifacts you control - X happens. It could work. I'm no game designer.
May 16, 2019 10:45 a.m.