Rise of Daetheniel Showcase

Welcome to a world of runes, magic, light and shadows, dragons and men, and beings of untold power. A plane lost to the millennia now locked in a struggle for domination, home to a myriad of untold secrets and hidden wonders. And as the conflict comes to a head, the deepest magics of the plane begin to stir, shaking the foundations of the world to it's core...





The Spirits awake.



Disclaimer:

When I first finished this set a just over a year ago, the focus of the set was on Runes, which are described in further detail below. Because of the release of Kaldheim, I can no longer use the term "Rune" as intended for the set. Therefore, any mention of Runes in any posts before 2/15/21 should be called Glyphs instead. This does not mechanically or flavorfully change the identity of the set; it only serves as a term clarification.

What is Rise of Daetheneil?


Rise of Daetheniel is a 171-card set during a power struggle on the plane of Daetheneil. The set is the first of a two-part block, and marks the events leading up to the awakening of five all-powerful beings called the Spirits that hold immense power over the plane. At the time of this set there is a large conflict between two of the main factions of sentients living on the plane, whose fighting causes the Spirits to stir and eventually awaken. The set provides a base worldbuilding platform for the plane of Daetheniel and introduces both the main factions of the plane and the backstory that will lead into the next set, The Rune War.


Where is Daetheneil?


Daetheneil is a far-flung plane within the multiverse, largely uninhabited by sentient races. It is a high fantasy plane consisting of shadow creatures, humans, dragons, dragon-men, and elementals. What really sets Daetheniel apart, however, is it’s magic: All native magic comes in the form of magical symbols known as Glyphs. The basic of these glyphs is a unit of raw energy storage that can be tapped or shaped at a later date. The Agarze have spent years in studying the glyphs and their potential, and most of the natural world is saturated with them.


What is the story of Rise of Daetheneil?

Ibzen Vahn, a captain of the Agarze standing forces, stumbles upon a scouting party of Shadows while patrolling with his squadron, and the creatures react strangely to his presence, treating him like a rabid or deranged beast. He also suddenly develops powers of shadow, allowing his body to turn into a smoky mist. Confused, he flees his group, fearing the safety of his comrades, and sets out on a journey of self-discovery.
Meanwhile, Fenalen, a planeswalker from an underwater world, has com to Daetheneil to study the Glyphs, and stumbles onto a dangerous secret: The magic of this plane is tied to five elemental beings, whose dreams and thoughts shape the very fabric of its reality. And the growing unrest between the Agarze and the Shadows is waking them up.
The scouting patrol of the Shadows was just the first in an all out attack on the Agarze borders, a war of reclaiming the land from civilization. The Shadow leader, Wenizal, forges a pact with the dragons and elementals to aid in the fight.
Ibzen comes to the heart of the Runelight Woods, a magical place where druids grow the physical incarnation of Glyphs onto trees and attune themselves to the leylines of the plane. The druids use the light of the Glyphfruit to examine Ibzen, and then tell him if he wants to understnad the nature of his condition truly, he must travel to the heart of the Shadowlands.
As Ibzen crosses the mountains to his destination, Pnidre, one of the five slumbering Spirits and taking the form of a eagle-like phoenix, stirs and senses the latent spark buried in Ibzen's subconsciousness. With that revelation he dreams, and from that dream springs Enzar from the core of a volcano, the fire elemental to carry a sentience-- and a Spark.
Ibzen reaches the heart of the Shadowland, a twisted place where the darkness creates a warped reflection of the real world--or perhaps the real world is a warped reflection of here. At it's center he comes to a giant sleeping forme; Xengala, the progenitor of Shadowkind and one of the five great Spirits. He tells Ibzen that he was born of a dream between himself and IBzen's mother, and becuse of this he is unique--half man, half Shadow. Faced with this earth-shattering revelation, Ibzen's spark ignites, and he is briefly pulled away from Daetheniel to find himself standing in another world of Spirits and magic (Kamigawa) before returning to his own.
Fenalen rushes to warn the two warring factions of the danger they have wrought, but it is too late; as he arrives at the battlefield, the hills begin to shudder and the ground takes a bestial form before his eyes: Kenliad is the first to awake, and the others will soon follow.

Who are the main players/factions in Rise of Daetheneil?


There are several major factions all vying for power on the Plane of Daetheneil. They are:

The Agarze 

The Dragonborne 

The Shadows 


In addition, there are several races not embroiled in the main conflict that also exist on the plane:

Elementals 

Dragons (appear minorly in the set)


And then of course there are the various animals.


The Agarze are a human race descended from pre-civilization Dominarians. Due to a freak planeshifting event long before recorded history, their tribe was ripped from Dominaria to Daetheniel. There they built a milicratic civilization to protect themselves from the Shadows and have lived there ever since. In additions to the humans of Agarze, they are joined in battle by the spirits of their ancestors.


The Shadows are creatures made of darkness born from the mind of one of the five sleeping Spirits. They wish to overrun the physical plane with the night and take it back from the Agarze as their own. Recently they've begun to be more aggressive and dangerous in their attacks on patrols.


The Dragonborne are a race of mixed dragon and human blood that coexist with the Agarze. Though some live inside the Agarze civilization, others are far wilder and live among the dragons.


Agarze civilization, both human and Dragonborne, is separated into two castes: the wizards () and the soldiers ().


What is the color pairings of this set?


There are four groupings of colors in this set, each with their own keyword (all of which will be spoiled later in previews). The color pairs are:


--Esper

--Selesnya

-- Izzet

--Jund


This means that eight of the ten color pairs are built into the set. The only ones missing are Boros() and Simic(). But don't worry, because all colors have at least one mechanic that plays well with the other four colors, which means that all of the pairings are entirely buildable.


What can I expect from this set?


Rise of Daetheneil is a unique 171 card set that introduces a single overlying game mechanic that is present through the whole set, as well as four other mechanics each typed to their own color grouping. three of these keywords are new; one is a reskin of a very old keyword (I'll let you do the guessing  ). The set is designed to be self containing and draftable. The set has not been playtested much, so suggestion on card power and design is highly appreciated, and balance is not completely guaranteed, though I am pretty confident in the set.


How are you planning on showcasing this set?


Instead of showcasing this set all at once, I've opted to go for a spoiler approach with the entire set. What this means is that every few days I will make a larger preview post in this thread looking at a selection of the cards, with maybe one or two cards in between to keep interest. Once all cards have been spoiled, I'll post the full set above and in the last post and reveal what's coming next for the world of Daetheniel.

In addition, every so often the preview will consist of story explaining the plot of the set through the cards and a hand written plot line.

Please do be aware that I am often pretty busy, so I can't guarantee massive spoilers every day, but I will try to post at least a handful of cards every 2-3 days.


Note: Once all the spoilers are done and I post the full set file, some cards might be recosted or have minor text edits. DO NOT PANIC; this is because people leave good card suggestions in the thread, as people often do, and I may adjust cards in response to those notes. In the last post and here, once the entire set is spoiled, I will leave a change log in which I note all the cards changes as well as the new renders. This way I'm not clogging up the spoilers with card fixes.