The Tri-Kingdoms (Development)

Daij_Djan
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Posts: 3,076
Set Hub: Under Construction
Favorite Card: Doran, the Siege Tower
Favorite Set: Innistrad
Color Alignment: White, Blue, Green

The Tri-Kingdoms (Development) Apr 16, 2018 21:50:08 GMT

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Post by Daij_Djan on Apr 16, 2018 21:50:08 GMT

First of all: Welcome (back)!

Apr 14, 2018 1:17:52 GMT norench said:

But on to my actual question I have for people. My personal bias is towards creating W/B W/U or B/U control decks. Although I did have moderate success with Red Deck Wins and R/G/W agro decks, I find them less entertaining and more algorithmic. So my question for those who have published custom sets here is...

How do you ignore your own bias and make a truly-balanced set? I find it easier to make control cards than I do agro cards, and never quite know where the balance point between speed and strategy is. When I am getting ready to publish my first full set, I would love to know people's advice on ways to make things even and, gasp, fair.

Well, this is a tough question. I've never been a fan of designing cards at higher rarities (especially mythics), so I've started entering weekly contests asking for such entries. Basically just make as many designs as possible (and get some feedback on them) and maybe try to find your own approach to design directions you normally don't like much.

"When in doubt, do a common."

burntsquirrelman
3/3 Beast

I am just a big ol' dummy

Posts: 182

Favorite Card: Raging River
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Color Alignment: Red, Green

The Tri-Kingdoms (Development) Apr 17, 2018 5:03:30 GMT

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Post by burntsquirrelman on Apr 17, 2018 5:03:30 GMT

I dunno how to make a set balanced yet. It's something I'm still working on, and I think everyone will continue to work on until the end of time. This includes Wizards of the Coast, as even they are not exempt from having something slip past them.

The best way to balance a set from what I've seen and experienced is to get a lot of input from anyone and everyone. It doesn't matter where they're from, who they are, their level of experience, or whatever. Get as much out of them as possible.

That's how the community finds all the silly little combos and interactions in real life. There are so many people talking and communicating different ideas that as soon as a new set is revealed, almost instantly all the interactions with every other card in the history of magic has been thought of and experimented with. But that's only because there are hundreds of thousands of people working in tandem, while WotC only has hundreds (maybe less? I dunno how many people work on Magic sets).

Probably my biggest issue with set design is I like to play by the Rule of Cool, and that doesn't always equal "Balanced Gameplay"

voltaic-qui
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The Tri-Kingdoms (Development) Apr 19, 2018 23:12:21 GMT

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Post by voltaic-qui on Apr 19, 2018 23:12:21 GMT

So... your factions are URG, RWU, RGW, and... mono-black? I foresee very real problems with color balance: six of the eight drafters are going to be going for red, most likely, while the players trying to go mono-black will have to compete for resources. Four multicolor cards minimum in a single booster also leads to some awkward scenarios.