Post by jverse on Nov 4, 2021 4:44:24 GMT
I've just finished off another set that is about as good as I can get it for now. I'm sure there are minor fixes and imbalances to be corrected, so let me know if you see anything. Thanks!
Here are the links to the full set gallery:
Imgur
Google Drive
Set Summary:
Name: Souls of Manitouaki (it means "spirit land")
Setting/Inspiration: Native American snow world
Set Code: SMA
Number of cards: 299 (started as two sets that were condensed down to one, but I kept some of the higher rarity cycles)
Mechanical themes: graveyard, sacrifice, spirits, elementals, primarily mono-colored with minor two-colored support
Draft Archetypes:
New Mechanics:
The set features a strong "graveyard matters" theme that I attempted to incorporate in each color while keeping each mechanic in-line with current color pie trends. You'll notice that sacrifice mechanics appear much more than normal throughout the set, as well as mill (self and opponent) to help facilitate graveyard play.
White - Commune (Exile target creature card from your graveyard. If you do, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying.)
Not much to say here. I modeled this mechanic after some cards that already exist in white. I felt that commune played well and had a lot of potential to accommodate various archetypes that white does well, including flying, spirits, tokens, and go wide strategies.
Blue - Meditate (Reveal the top card of your library. You may put that card into your hand if it's an instant or sorcery. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
This was one of the more difficult mechanics to come up with. In the end I chose something similar to explore, but with a focus on spells rather than lands. This plays well with scry and other top-decking abilities, as well as helping to fill your graveyard with instants/sorceries as some cards in the set make use of that.
Black - Ritualize <cost> (You may cast this card for its ritualize cost if any player sacrificed a permanent this turn.)
Somewhat uninspiring, but it felt very appropriate to give black this mechanic due to the amount of sacrificing going on. I feel there is room for more creativity in how I implemented this, so I'm open to ideas before I finalize the set.
Red - Envision (Exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn.)
I really liked the idea of using red's impulse draw as a named mechanic. One weakness of this mechanic is that in order to stock your graveyard you need to actually cast the card exiled card. It does create a sense of urgency though.
Green - Ancestry (Does something as long as there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.)
I tried about a half-dozen mechanics in green that all felt wrong. I wanted a way to power up a small number of large creatures while still making use of the graveyard, but without feeling too influenced by things that would otherwise occur mainly in black. Ancestry makes use of the fact that green plays a lot of creatures, and gives you some benefit for letting them die or be sacrificed. I haven't playtested this as much as I'd like, but I hope getting three creatures into your graveyard is doable even in the initial few turns.
Other returning mechanics:
Evoke - I love elementals (which you may have noticed in some of my other custom sets) and they feature prominently here. Although spirits are the stars of the show, elementals and their tribal mechanic, evoke, are a perfect match for the sacrifice and nature themes in a Native American-inspired set.
Snow - I knew I wanted snow to be a minor archetype playable in the set, but I actually found the design space to be rather small and restrictive. I didn't really bring anything new to the table in terms of my snow implementation, but I hope the cards are still fun to play.
Here are the links to the full set gallery:
Imgur
Google Drive
Set Summary:
Name: Souls of Manitouaki (it means "spirit land")
Setting/Inspiration: Native American snow world
Set Code: SMA
Number of cards: 299 (started as two sets that were condensed down to one, but I kept some of the higher rarity cycles)
Mechanical themes: graveyard, sacrifice, spirits, elementals, primarily mono-colored with minor two-colored support
Draft Archetypes:
New Mechanics:
The set features a strong "graveyard matters" theme that I attempted to incorporate in each color while keeping each mechanic in-line with current color pie trends. You'll notice that sacrifice mechanics appear much more than normal throughout the set, as well as mill (self and opponent) to help facilitate graveyard play.
White - Commune (Exile target creature card from your graveyard. If you do, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying.)
Not much to say here. I modeled this mechanic after some cards that already exist in white. I felt that commune played well and had a lot of potential to accommodate various archetypes that white does well, including flying, spirits, tokens, and go wide strategies.
Blue - Meditate (Reveal the top card of your library. You may put that card into your hand if it's an instant or sorcery. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.)
This was one of the more difficult mechanics to come up with. In the end I chose something similar to explore, but with a focus on spells rather than lands. This plays well with scry and other top-decking abilities, as well as helping to fill your graveyard with instants/sorceries as some cards in the set make use of that.
Black - Ritualize <cost> (You may cast this card for its ritualize cost if any player sacrificed a permanent this turn.)
Somewhat uninspiring, but it felt very appropriate to give black this mechanic due to the amount of sacrificing going on. I feel there is room for more creativity in how I implemented this, so I'm open to ideas before I finalize the set.
Red - Envision (Exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn.)
I really liked the idea of using red's impulse draw as a named mechanic. One weakness of this mechanic is that in order to stock your graveyard you need to actually cast the card exiled card. It does create a sense of urgency though.
Green - Ancestry (Does something as long as there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard.)
I tried about a half-dozen mechanics in green that all felt wrong. I wanted a way to power up a small number of large creatures while still making use of the graveyard, but without feeling too influenced by things that would otherwise occur mainly in black. Ancestry makes use of the fact that green plays a lot of creatures, and gives you some benefit for letting them die or be sacrificed. I haven't playtested this as much as I'd like, but I hope getting three creatures into your graveyard is doable even in the initial few turns.
Other returning mechanics:
Evoke - I love elementals (which you may have noticed in some of my other custom sets) and they feature prominently here. Although spirits are the stars of the show, elementals and their tribal mechanic, evoke, are a perfect match for the sacrifice and nature themes in a Native American-inspired set.
Snow - I knew I wanted snow to be a minor archetype playable in the set, but I actually found the design space to be rather small and restrictive. I didn't really bring anything new to the table in terms of my snow implementation, but I hope the cards are still fun to play.
