The .pdf-document with all the cards and background stories, as well as the files for the Magic Set Editor and Magic Workstation can be found >>>here<<<
Text versions: Because of character limit, see posts #165 and #166
Learn about the story and the characters in Paiura: Characters
What is Paiura?
Paiura is a plane where mana can flow freely throughout the world. Elementals watch over the plane, led by their elemental lords. The Elementals possess a powerful artifact, the Celestial Loop, that secures the flow of mana in Paiura.
Young adventurers travel Paiura to find their calling. The world of Paiura consists of five interconnected lands, based on the wedge color combinations. The five great Elemental aspects are associated with the allied tri-color combinations. However, multicolor is not the main focus of the Paiura set. Paiura introduces a new card type, the sanctuaries. Sanctuaries are temples dedicated to worship the elemental gods of Paiura, academies where young wizards learn the arcane arts or just havens for traveling adventurers.
The five great elemental lords are:
Azrar, the Aspect of Air, element of freedom and passion.
Iavu, the Aspect of Water, element of wisdom and change.
Niadi, the Aspect of Life, element of nature and light.
Mnteros, the Aspect of Earth, element of death and renewal.
Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire, element of energy and emotion.
Design:
Paiura is a three set block, where Paiura is a large set and the other two small sets.
"Paiura", the first set, is completed and in playtesting.
The second set is called "Reign of Elements" and is currently in development.
The third set of the block is called "Unification" and is currently in design.
My thanks go to ThoughtriotX for helping me with the wording and to Tahazzar for constant feedback.
Paiura was born far outside the known multiverse. The plane was a single large continent interfused by a powerful, primordial energy known as the Kalin. This energy unified all four basic elements to one and was the source of all mortal life on Paiura. Elemental creatures reigned on Paiura and watched over the plane as it evolved.
However, at some point in its history, Paiura drifted into the multiverse and came in contact with the five colors of mana. The mana began to connect with the plane and separated the elements into five. From the Kalin, five new elemental lineages were born. Their elemental lords were:
W Azrar, the Aspect of Air U Iavu, the Aspect of Water B Yrestu, the Aspect of Darkness R Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire G Mnteros, the Aspect of Earth
Many other smaller aspects were born, but these were the five omnipotent rulers of the plane. Four of the colors of mana could manifest into one of the four basic elements, each having a counterpart, but the black mana manifested itself in something that had no counterpart in the other elements.
The plane was torn apart by the separation. The continent began to drift into five parts and mortal civilizations were destroyed by violent earthquakes. To prevent the further collapse, the elemental lords came up with a plan to give some part of their power into an artifact that would unify the colors of mana into one again. However, recognizing the contradiction of his own existence, Yrestu didn’t wish to unite his essence with the others and dismissed the plan, stating that the only way for Paiura to survive was to be seperated from the multiverse again.
This is when the Aspects turned on each other. Yrestu was forcefully drained of his essence and imprisoned deep under Paiura. The black mana now roaming uncontrolled through Paiura was absorbed by the other elements. A lesser Aspect, Niadi, was ascended by the others to become the new fifth element in the cycle – Life.
Hastily, the five great Aspects continued with creating the artifact known as the Celestial Loop. This powerful artifact controlled the flow of mana in the plane and stopped the separation. The colors of mana connected with the different elements shifted and the black mana was incorporated into fire, water and earth.
Each element now joined three colors of mana in itself:
WUB: Water UBR: Fire BRG: Earth RGW: Life GWU: Air
The elements now complemented perfectly and the cycle was closed.
Though the continent was no longer torn apart, a small separation remained. Five lands were created:
Bojega – a misty swampland, inhabited by giant mushrooms.
Vezadun – a volcanic peninsula with untamed rainforests.
Iavuret – a vast tropical ocean with paradisiac islands.
Tiya – an endless highland with a cold, dusty climate and high mountains.
Sunveil – A flatland with lush meadows and enchanted forests.
The mortal races of Paiura began to settle. The elves went to Bojega and the forests of Sunveil and began practicing druidism. Vezadun attracted many shamans because of its primordial energies blistering in the air. Humans built their own empire in the plains of Sunveil, which was later named Toria. Many human tribes also went to the Tiya highlands and began to live a nomadic life. Only Iavuret was shaped directly by Iavu. He filled the ocean with giant kraken, turtles and leviathans. This discouraged anyone from ever going there except for the toughest pirates.
The mortal races built many temples to worship the elemental lords which were now residing inside their respective elemental planes, separated from the physical world. Their agents still lived among the mortals to keep watch, but the five great Aspects themselves remained relatively passive. Only Niadi was a bit chatty in nature and always invited the elves to his plane on a cup of nectar.
However, something was not right. In many of Paiura’s regions a corruption of the land slowly began to spread. The incorporation of black mana into the other elements was unnatural – the land itself was corrupted and now it slowly became apparent. While the elves of Bojega could maintain a fragile balance of life and death, the corruption of the earth in Tiya drove many of its tribes insane and into mindless, bloodthirsty creatures. The unfortunate sailors and pirates that sailed through Iavuret too often were disfigured, transformed into creatures of the ocean’s dark depths.
Centuries later, Paiura is visited by several planeswalkers from other worlds. Iadera, an alien planeswalker from an unknown plane, bonds with the elves of Bojega and learns about their ancient druidism. Kiora Atua, a merfolk planeswalker, travels to Iavuret with a small group of her merfolk to study its majestic marine creatures, its ancient temples and a weird, powerful source of energy somewhere hidden deep beneath the ocean. Elspeth Tirel has been living as a citizen of Toria incognito for quite some time to find peace and shelter. Finally, Tezzeret is sent by Nicol Bolas to Paiura to steal the powerful artifact known as the Celestial Loop, planning on misusing its power to bend mana for his schemes.
Paiura also spawned a planeswalker itself, Jukjuk. Being a goblin and thus not the most intelligent creature, many consider Jukjuk a threat for Paiura as he will eventually misuse his powers to do something incredibly dumb.
Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries are the main focus of Paiura. Sanctuary is a new permanent type. A sanctuary card has a number printed in the lower right-hand corner, similar to a planeswalker. This number determines the number of sanctuary counters this permanent enters the battlefield with. A sanctuary can be attacked by creatures just like a planeswalker and damage causes sanctuary counters to be removed.
Sanctuaries increase the importance of a good defense. Therefore, Paiura is a slow and defensive format. However, a creature that can deal a quick blow to an opponent to take out his sanctuary might be valuable as well? Of course, sanctuaries can also be destroyed by targeted removal – however, the more powerful sanctuaries are all hexproof.
Shelter Shelter is an ability word closely related to sanctuaries. An ability, highlighted by Shelter is only active as long as you control a sanctuary.
Vitality Vitality is another ability word. It is used on abilities that only have an effect if you gained life this turn.
Primal Primal highlights an ability that triggers when a creature is exiled from the battlefield.
Snailshell Snailshell highlights an ability that causes a creature to assign combat damage based on its toughness rather than its power.
Recurring keyword: Fight, Landcycling
Paiura focuses on the five wedge-based lands of Paiura. Reign of Elements will focus on the five arc color combinations of the Elemental lords. The mana in Paiura is complex and there are many different synergies appearing throughout the color combinations. These are the five lands:
BGW Bojega
Bojega is a giant living swamp. Its inhabitants are elven and human druids, wild animals and giant mushrooms. The major mechanic of Bojega is gaining and draining life. Several creatures have abilities to drain life symmetrically but very fast. To get the better end out of it, life gain effects keep you ahead of your opponent. Vitality adds an additional incentive to gaining life.
GUB Iavuret
Iavuret is a group of small tropical islands. Its inhabitants are marine creatures, such as kraken and turtles, pirates and merfolk. Iavuret is the most defensive of the five tribes. Hidden on the ocean floor are sacred temples that need to be protected from the curiosity of the land dwellers. Their major mechanics are defensive creatures and “More toughness than power”.
RWU Toria
Toria is noble human and elven empire. Toria’s inhabitants are mages, knights or rogues. Its key mechanic is artifacts. Spells appear in artifact form, such as an artifact that shocks a creature when it enters the battlefield. This artifact can later be used by a wizard to be transformed into a golem warrior.
WBR Tiya
The Tiya highlands are the home of the barbarian tribes. Its inhabitants are humans, goblins, centaurs and minotaurs. Barbarian tribes wage war on each other since countless generations. However, on the snow-covered peaks of the highest mountains you can still find peace in the temples of air. Tiya is the most aggressive of the five lands. Its major mechanic is “Attacking matters”.
URG Vezadun
If you want to learn the ways of the shaman, you should travel to the volcanic rainforests of Vezadun. Its inhabitants are jungle animals, shamans of various races and elementals. Its major mechanic is summoning elemental tokens and sending them back to the elemental planes, which manifests in the ability word primal.
Cool set! Just a couple of things:
Why do the Bojega Gargantuans have trample if it already has defender?
The hybrid on the Iron Boletus seems forced. Because you aren't trying to make this a multicolored set, I'd make it monocolored with maybe an off color cycling cost. I understand it's function, the hybrid just seems out of place.
Loosen the Roots has flashback, I'd either use the keyword or make the card cost less and have no reoccuring effect.
Same thing about hybrid for the Marsh wisps. it would be fine at a cost of WR.
The Swarm of cockroaches has great flavor, but is incredibly overpowered. It wreck absolute havoc on limited. I'd either limit it's protection, or bump its rarity up to rare and its cost up to 3B.
The captivating spider should be just bg.
I'd drop the canyon ruins down to three or four toughness, just so your opponent has a chance to get rid of it.
Haste is not a gw ability at all.
The plauge smoker should be worded "if" instead of "when"
Iadera's +1 ability is a bit too strong. Compare her to Ajani. I'd limit the counters to one or two creatures.
Compare Jeluria to Karador, Ghost Chieftain. As a mythic, her power as a card could be boosted up. I'd change the activation cost from zero to GWB and have it put the creature onto the battlefield. Also, some lifelink wouldn't hurt this mythic rare legend.
Bojega Gargantuans has trample because there are ways to make your defenders able to attack.
The Loosen the Roots is not exactly flashback. You don't get to draw a card.
I agree on the hybrid mana costs. I'm a fan of multicolored cards, but sometimes it doesn't fit. My goal was to have most commons, uncommons be monocolored and the rares and mythics mostly multicolored.
Swarm of Cockroaches: Well you can't push its power very easily, as it cant be equipped, enchanted ect.
Canyon Ruins: Could be too powerful, have to test it though. Keep in mind you can always Naturalize it.
Captivating Spider: Agree
Iadera's Companion: 3/2 Hexproof, Lifelink?
Plague Smoker: When is correct. It triggers when it dies, it doesn't have too die at the moment when you use the ability. Reference: Adarkar Valkyrie
Iadera: "5 mana planeswalkers have to be extremely powerful, like Gideon, to see play." -LSV. Could make the place counters ability her 0 ability though and give her another +1.
Jeluria: I'd have to redesign her. I think given her ability to ramp up 2 mana, you can't have other very powerful abilities on her. (but of course it shouldn't be just a Knotvine Mystic)
yes, the companion would be great like that. and thanks for the reference for smoker, it's a good thing to know. anyway,
You may want to make fright in the depth only able to hit nonland cards, for funness sake.
The squid hatchling is too powerful for a common. I'd either bump him up to 1G or make him uncommon.
Suffocate has no need to be green.
Turtle form is an awesome card! I'd even consider dropping it's cost down to one blue mana.
The pirates of gormod bay could easily cost 2UB.
The stoneskin shark should have that ability always instead of it being an ETB ability.
The tidebringer's cycling cost is confusing. It would make more sense without the cycling cost, and perhaps and simple basic landcycling instead.
How did turtle island play in testing? It seems pretty powerful to me, but I could be very wrong.
The turtle marauder is already very wordy and the sanctuary limit I would think is unnecessary.
The coral torn halls would get really confusing with two kinds of counters on it. Maybe have it remove sanctuary counters instead?
Cursed pirate crew seems overpowered. An easy fix would to up the shelter activation cost, with either mana or with sacrificing creatures.
Fortress turtle could be a lot better. i'd take away the mana cost and have you draw two cards instead of one.
Keeping time wants to be a sanctuary.
Kiora's merfolk is a strange card. Firstly, why does it have flash if you cant use it's abilities right when you play it? Also, why would you need to use these at instant speed? Why is it not marine? Overall, the card seems to weak to take up a rare slot.
Kiora's +1 seems weak to me. Maybe she could make a spiketail hatchling/ unconditional cursecatcher or have the enchantment counter the spell unless that player pays 2.
Sanctum of the tides has not reason to be black.
On to Toria!
change of station should prevent attacking.
the scepter should just give the creature it's equipped to t: deal 1 damage. to have the scepter tap is repetitive.
School project seems like it would have memory issues, maybe make it until the EOT.
It would be simpler for the castlemage if it just tapped instead of only having it activate it once.
the chessboard and the enchanter have abilities which could be templated as imprint. You may want to change that or simply use the keyword.
sactum archmage feels ur, not uw.
citadel of toria is insane. I'd make the cost of copying more like UR and either lower the counters or take away hexproof.
Overall, Toria seems incredibly unfocused. It seems to want to care about artifacts a lot more, instead of being spread around with manipulating spells and the various things you're doing with the artifacts with conflicting ideas about whether to equip or sacrifice them. One of the most original ideas you came up with however are the firestone/astroniconium cards. There is a lot of design space with these guys. I'd recommend straying away from outfit and the various spell manipulation cards into creatures that work well with these kinds of ETB artifacts, like creatures that bounce artifacts like master transmuter or gating creatures like whitemane lion, or even ETB artifact that gate other artifacts, so you could get a crazy string going or gating then replaying all while getting abilities from the ETB artifacts. Also, these effects seem more aligned with the colors and flavor you have laid out than what you currently have.
Fright in the Depth: Sure
Squid Hatchling: I think its fine.
Suffocate: A good point. I changed this spell a bit without changing the mana cost. Guess it doesn't fit anymore.
Turtle Form: Reduce to U, but kicker should be 3 then.
Stoneskin Shark: Thought it was too powerful, but ok.
Pirates: Agree.
Tidebringer: I think about it.
Turtle Marauder: Just killing every sanctuary of your opponent would be too powerful.
Cursed Pirate Crew: Seemed fine in testing.
Fortress Turtle: Was very powerful in playtesting already.
Keeping Time: This would make it very similar to Coral-torn Halls. Play it, defend it for a couple of turns - get huge bonus.
Kiora's Merfolk: Yeah, not the best card. I redesign it.
Kiora: The ability was initially USacrifice: Counter unless 2.
But that seemed way too powerful in playtesting. You could lock the opponent completely out of the game when he is short on mana.
Sanctum of the Tides: Agree.
Change of Station: It does, you must have misread.
Scepter: You shouldn't be able to chain it by re-equipping it to other creatures. However, I could try to find a different wording that prevents that without having you to tap it.
Sanctum Archmage: UR then.
I redesigned Toria just recently after I scrapped another mechanic. If it seems not well designed as you say, I have to reconsider some of my ideas. Generally, the idea was that you get spells as artifacts that then do nothing on the battlefield. You can then either sacrifice them or use them as creatures. Your idea sounds promising too.
Yes, your original intent seems cool but somewhere along the line it seems as if it lost focus and got diluted with equipment and such. Just narrow the lens. The whole animation thing has slight flavor issues for me, and it seems just generally more fun to play with replay these 'spell' artifacts over and over again. You could also make some powerful creatures this way, taking away from the slowness of the format you commented on. For example:
Torian Raider 2R
Creature-Human Warrior
Repurpose 1 (As an additional cost to cast ~, return 1 artifact you control to its owner's hand.)
Haste
3/2
This, however would require the creation of several more cheap spell artifacts. But I think it would be worth the payoff in play value and the mechanics synergy with sanctuaries and cards like librarian assistant and fire stone.
Anyway, for Tiya;
The blackridge goblin is really good, especially for black. It's essentially a lava axe for 1b, and its very comparable to keldon mauraders, a card that saw a ton of play in red deck wins decks. The easiest solution I'd think would be to make each player lose three life and have it drop one toughness point.
Burning Ridge Stronghold would be more interesting and fitting for the shard if it gave +1/+0 and haste, and possibly started with 1 sanctuary counter.
I love the Burningridge Minotaur. There should be more creatures like this.
I'd pick just two colors for the Savage of Bloodcrest.
The Dark Consultant is an awesome spike card, but for it to be relevant it would have to have higher power. At three mana, a 2/2 or 3/2 would not be outlandish.
The Dragons Cave is an awesome design, but I don't see why it's white. Also, the dragon could very well be a 6/6.
I don't think that wolves are entirely the appropriate token for the primalist. I'd do something like a zombie, goblin, or spirit that matches the card's color.
Jukjuk's -2 seems a tad overpowered. Perhaps 3 damage instead?
Overall, I'd try and steer torwards cards like Dragons Cove that encourage attacking, mutually assured damage like the Blackridge Goblin, and aggressive creatures with flavor liek the Burningridge Minotaur. Remember, your theme has to show through a lot through your commons, so I'd put a greater focus on attacking and fighting in this shard.
As for Vezadun;
Cinderscale Mosa should be monored, but even then it doesnt seem to fit this shard very well.
Fertile Flames should have entwine, I'd reword it so it stays consistent with kicker.
Invoke the elements might be better worded as 3 additional 2/1 tokens.
You already have a ton of cards which prevent mana flood, I think molten cyclone is a bit overkill and a generally weak card.
I'd tweak the smoldering volcano so it would make 2-3 2/1 tokens for consistencies sake. The game could get really confusing otherwise.
I don't see why consult the elements is green. It probably could jsut cost 1ur.
*Something I didn't notice before but saw as I read forest warden: all the mushrooms should definitely be fungi. This is not just out of my love for this tribe, but the mushroom creature type is repetitive while you have a perfectly good fungus type out there.
Ravaging Cinder should exile the land.
Nice parasect
Same note for chaotic evocation as for the volcano. Just pick one token type and stick with it. Also, is it grixis colors for a reason? and is the dragon of Vezavet supposed to be jund colors?
Infernal outburst should exile the creatures it kills.
Jhova's companion should exile.
The Purefire Dragon seems more like a pheonix if you ask me.
I have no idea what rally the aspects is trying to do.
Iavu may be overpowered. Maybe it gives you and all your creatures hexproof instead? It just seems like there is hardly a way other than DOJ to recover from that.
Blackridge Goblin: Each player sounds good.
Burning Ridge Stronghold: I like it now. I limited it to attacking creatures, giving haste doesn't work well with that.
Dark Consultant: I thought about 2/1, but was worried: Do I really want such an easy 2 for 1? (what would be its power level compared to Vendilion Clique?)
Dragon's Cave: The dragon is red, the warrior entering its cave is white :). It just feels Boros to me.
General: I'd like to do maybe 1-2 more cards that encourage attacking but thats just a minor theme. Tiya doesn't really have a special mechanic. (Not everything needs that, they all share the sanctuary theme)
I am ok with having hybrid mana costs on some cards if the cards don't seem miscolored, like Captivating Spider was probably. For example Dragon of Vezavet looks very jundy to me. The mana is supposed to mix with each other in this set, there should be cards that can fit into multiple lands. For example, there are Pirates in WUB Esper and Mushrooms in BRG Jund. Cinderscale Mosa is really good in Iavuret where you can abuse it with power/toughness switching, but for all others just a 4/4.
Fertile Flames: I really don't want entwine for just one card. It should work with kicker too.
Smoldering Volcano: There are 2/1 haste tokens and 5/1 trample, haste tokens. I think that's fine. I don't want to get too absurd with Primal triggers.
Infernal Outburst and Jhovas' Companion: Agree.
Ravaging Cinder however doesn't make sense. You don't get any benefit from exiling the land and that thing is destroying the land, not unsummoning it or so.
Mushrooms: I guess I could make them be fungi. That would also allow for Fungus elementals or so in later sets. And your name is Fungus. You planned that all along!
Purefire Dragon: I couldn't find a good phoenix artwork. I'll look for it more.
Rally the Aspects: You get a 1/1 + 2/2 ... +X/X token.
Iavu: 9 mana mythic legend = powerful effect. Could be a reanimate target for legacy. I like it the way it is.
Will do an update soon on everything but Toria. Here is my design for Kiora's Merfolk UB
Creature - Merfolk
2/1
Flash
When Kiora's Merfolk enters the battlefield, creatures attack this turn if able.
Sacrifice Kiora's Merfolk: Gain control of target attacking creature until end of turn. Untap that creature.
edit: Updated the .pdf a bit. Changelog in the OP.
I still have no idea what I should change with Toria. The equipment focus should stay as this is what I think links knights and wizards. And Toria is primarily white aligned, so there should be many knights in that tribe.
However, I gathered some ideas for the next set of the block, called "Reign of Elements".
Though being warned, the goblin planeswalker Jukjuk, a native of Paiura, planeswalked to the plane of fire to meet the great firelords and express his admiration. It didn't go so well and Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire stole the planeswalker spark from Jukjuk for his insolence. The ascension of an aspect to a planeswalker causes an unbalance and elementals run rampant on Paiura and then war and destruction or something.
In Reign of Elements the sanctuary theme will be continued and deepened further. The small multicolor theme will also continue, although the focus will no longer lie on the different wedge lands. The war has caused alliances between the lands which manifests in synergies that exist between them.
The goal is to make cards and interactions that make playing Alara colors viable without having cards that don't have any place in the wedge combinations.
In Paiura Bojega focused on gaining and draining life and getting powerful effects by gaining life via Vitality. In Reign of Elements this is also true, however the focus is now on the draining life part via the ability word Perish. Perish abilities are active if you lost life this turn. W will leave Bojega and R will enter it. The resulting BRG Jund colors will use the mushrooms of Bojega in BG and the burn spells and elemental summonings of Vezadun in R.
W will now join with the armies of Toria. The resulting GWU Bant colors will now use the lifegain of Bojega and use it to empower artifacts of Toria in WU.
GUB Iavuret will stay mostly unchanged as it is seperated by a large ocean from the rest of Paiura and it turns out fire elementals mostly don't like water. Its mechanics are still "More toughness than power." However, since Toria's armies are now deployed elsewhere, many Pirates have emerged and started raiding coastal cities. Pirates appear in WUB Esper colors. They have a tribal theme and work well with defending Iavuret's sanctuaries while still applying pressure.
RUG Vezadun still cares about Elementals. However, the ability word Primal that gains you a bonus for exiling an Elemental or another creature will leave for the ability word Attunement that gains you a bonus while you control an Elemental creature. Attunement will appear in UBR Grixis colors. These colors share the elemental summonings of Vezadun in UR with the attacking theme of Tiya in BR.
RGW Naya colors will have a Plant token theme. Cards that create and pump Plant tokens appear again in Bojega and Vezadun.
The cards will be mostly monocolored with some offcolor kicker, cycling or ability costs. Again, the synergies of the previous wedge color lands should not suffer.
Elemental cards will mostly be multicolored. There will be one Elemental for each color combination of 1 to 5 colors. (mono and dual colored being common, all triple colored being uncommon, four colored being rares with whacky effects and the WUBRG being a mythic.) These elementals should have some synergy with the colors they appear in but there should also be cards that encourage a five color Elemental deck (this will be tough).
With all that in mind, I should have some work redoing some of the cards in Paiura.
It is very dissappointing that only 1.5 people have responded so far. It's a complete set and not just a few cards like most threads here. So, what's up with that?
I'm still looking forward to your comment, noyahuid.
Yes, I always hit the quality with my projects where people don't troll me neither because its bad or because I should get a life :D.
Thanks for catching that with UnidColor. I used the real name when possible, I must have missed that. (weird, he's one of my favorite artists.)
Depart: Yeah, until I find something better. I just hate manaflood.
Bojega Elves: Since in the next set there will be a focus on losing life, that would be a good idea.
Bojega Mouldcap: Yes, I don't want draws. If you have "Each player loses 6 life", the chance of a draw would be very high.
Loosen the Roots: You don't get to draw a card when you use it from you graveyard. But I guess there are ways to work around that. Maybe I just use flashback more often and drop Depart instead.
Swarm of Cockroaches: Good idea.
Toxic Mist: In that case, maybe a bit more interesting. -5/-0 if not kicked.
Insect Lair: 2, thanks for catching that.
Niadi's Gardener: Will redesign that guy.
Spectral Guide: Could be only green I guess.
Spirit of the Grove: Put some sort of counter on it?
Destroying Devil: From destroying angel.
Iadera's Companion: Well, its a rare. Was Watchwolf played in constructed? Idk
Angelheart Lily: Thanks.
Iadera: I try to think of another 0 ability.
Cast Away: Could remove the tap it term.
Horror of the Infinite Depths: It gets you by surprise :). I don't really like intimitate. Its one of those "Ooooh, I guess I just lose." abilities.
Mermaid's Song: I really like it. What is wrong with it?
I am ok with doing something different with the colors than what is normally done with them. That is the flavor of a wedge set, isn't it? You don't just mix everything together what the colors stand for into one shard.
Turtle Marauder: I agree. I try to reword it.
Kiora: Interesting, Fungus thought this was too weak
I tried doing it with creature types first. But it became out of hand. I had to make the cards a creature type that I didn't like for it or have the cards read. "Octopus, Serpent, Leviathan, Turtle, Lobster and Crocodile creatures you control have..." and Creature - Marine just sounds weird. So I chose the least evil.
Change of Station: I didn't want to have it at 2 mana because then it would be better. 2,5 would be optimal.
Toria Elves: if its 1/2 the vigilance doesn't matter anymore. Up it to 3 mana then.
Scepter of Supremacy: Because you could reequip it. I try to prevent that in another way.
School Project: Sure
Visit the Antiques Shop: ThoughtRiotX did the wording that way. (I used his wording service)
Citadel of Toria: I would like to use a colored frame but still have full art. I have to search for it or make one myself.
Icebane: Why should it be?
Death and Decay: 2,5 again..
Morbid Raven: That only blue gets to decide what cards they draw is one of the worst designs of magic imo. (next to basic lands not having cycling)
Raptor Abberation: Lizard then.
Jukjuk: Erm.. you lose 2 life on the -2?
Hmh?
Cinderscale Mosa: Sure
Fertile Flames: If you copy a modal spell, it has the same mode.
Rally the Aspects: I'll redesign it.
Can you elaborate a bit you last statement?
Actually, I was worried that I overloaded my set with too many things so I cut it down a bit to the current version. A friend of mine noted that also. If you look at recent sets, what new keyword mechanics have been introduced there? Innistrad got only transform. The previous sets had 2-3. I think introducing a new card type is on par with that. Also, I intend to introduce two new keywords in the next set. Deathlink (Now what could that be?) and Manifest (A manifested permanent can no longer leave the battlefield + some additional things I don't know yet so it doesn't conflict with the rules.)
Every faction should have at least some sanctuaries. But Iavuret and Toria should care about them the most.
The next set won't swift to Alara colors. It will be a multicolor set with no "shards", every color combination will have synergies. I won't post the cards grouped by land, but you should still see what land it belongs to.
To be honest, when I started this set I had no real vision of what exactly I was doing. I just started making cards because I couldn't sleep for several days and was in some kind of creative insomnia state Oo.
Later I looked back at some of my ideas and tried to forge everything into something coherent. I wanted to do a set with the things I like - which are turtles and mushrooms (don't ask me why). So I had Bojega and Iavuret designed. And the wedge color combinations just fit perfectly for them. I never planned it as a "wedge Alara", more just a set focused on sanctuaries with a multicolor theme, because I like multicolored cards. (I think there should be more in every set. Of course not 90% like in Alara everytime but 15-20% is probably fine.)
I think you are right I should add one or two more keywords, but they shouldn't be shard specific.
On Jukjuk: I meant it as an idea to make it more black.
I made a new design for Iadera, with more synergy and accentuating a bit her "from another world" part. Also, an example of a deathlinker and my current design for Vezavetru as an example for manifest. When it appears on creatures, you could add: "If this creature's toughness is non-positive, it is instead 1." However, I don't see actually see a problem with a creature with 0 toughness staying on the board.
-4 ability is probably too strong.
Now I think I will redesign Paiura, this time with a layout and then fill it with the existing cards and exchange the sucky cards with new ones.
I'll comment on the other things you brought up when I have time.
Death and Decay: BB would be too hard for a multicolored set. So I would suggest adding: You lose 2 life. (If the creature dies.)
Toxic Mist: I'm currently at -5/-1 and -5/-5 if kicked. I don't think switching P/T would fit the card.
Spirit of the Grove was meant to be a fixer for lifegain decks, whatever you currently need. If it has both, it wouldn't be interesting. It could also create 1/1 white Bird tokens.
Morbid Raven: Fair point, I didn't consider that.
Your idea with these four color shards certainly has potential, but as I thought about the 4 mana elementals I wanted to create, I found out that these color combinations are more defined by the lack of the 5th color than by the other 4. If you make the set like in your preview, you are overloading it a bit with mechanics, or not? Remember that just doing something new for the sake of doing something new is not good design.
However, lets not digress too much. I may take a mechanic from your BRGW shard though :).
I will make a segment about "Reign of Elements" in my OP, as you are only allowed one thread at time. Will post a few more cards soon.
Other new cards:
Spiritual Umbra, Vile Cocoons, Emerald Embrace (Bojega)
Coralskin, Camonga Crabs (Iavuret, yes I did an Enchantment - Equipment. No, I don't care.)
Blessed Rain, Planar Invoker, Wall of the Winds (Vezadun, blue acceleration, yes. There must be ways to actually play the Aspects with their 8+ CMC.)
I recolored many cards to balance the different colors, got rid of the stupid Turtle Marauder and made more Tiya cards care about attacking.
I also changed the Obelisk cycle to be Alara colors. These are now associated with the different Aspects. This is a good way to introduce them and to promote the Alara colors. There are now the obelisks for alara colors and the common land cycle for the wedge colors. The different land's wedge colors now derive from the different Aspects revered to them. The change of focuse from wedge to Alara colors in Reign of Elements now also makes alot of sense.
I more and more started to depict the Aspects as "good". Therefore, the whole story Vezavetru wants to burn the whole land because it's fun doesn't fit anymore. So, now the story is that Jukjuk stole an elemental artifact which regulates the flow of mana on Paiura. This angers the elements, especially Vezavetru, who's retaliation is to steal the planeswalker spark from Jukjuk. But the artifact (name soon to come) remains lost. The flow of mana on Paiura begins to stop (design: nearly all non-Elemental cards are monocolored). Angered and desperate to find the artifact, the elementals now roam on Paiura leaving a wake of destruction behind.
"Though being warned by other shamans, the goblin Jukjuk, a native of Paiura, planeswalked to the elemental planes. He steals the Celestial Loop, an artifact of great power, and sells it to a planeswalker from another world - a dark and vile person, half metal, half human. The elemental lords are furious. Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire retaliates by stealing the planeswalker spark from Jukjuk. But the Celestial Loop remains lost. The flow of mana on Paiura begins to stop. Angered and desperate to find the artifact, the elementals now roam on Paiura leaving a wake of destruction behind. And thus the Reign of Elements began.
Meanwhile, it was revealed, that Elspeth has been living incognito as one of Toria's nobles since the events of New Phyrexia. Now that her home is once again in jeopardy, she reveales her true identity and promises that she will find and confront Tezzeret, and return the Celestial Loop."
In the third set, the artifact is found and the flow of mana starts again, which leads to many more multicolored cards (similar to Alara Reborn).
Please tell me what you think of this and Toria.
But now, commeting on your comments:
OMEGA: This would be the most powerful card in Magic ever.
Baricargage: Very strong, interesting though.
Elspeth: You are probably right, that she is not too powerful, but not so weak as you make it sound either. The ultimate reads "Creatures attack THIS each turn if able." I could make her cost 3W. The bird creating ability can't be a +1, because that would be strictly better than original Elspeth. So, the +1 needs to be better?
Lady Jarvarlo: The blue one, yes.
Blue: I like Depart the way it is (mechanics wise - flavorwise its horrible). Its a small increment of reducing variance with each card that has it instead of just one card trying to solve all mana flood problems.
Tidal Thresher is contradictory. That's why I like it. In a Iavuret deck with Snailshell its a giant beating.
Perished Beauty: I didn't find the frame you descriped. I am unhappy with the frame too, but I want the full art (especially on the mythics like Azrar).
Red: Seriously, that is a consideration? Oh well, I guess I can change P/T and CMC.
Gold: Keep in mind, I try to come up with some crazier ideas, since its not final anyway. Don't know what to make out of your comment, though (some others too :))
Essence of Growth: I don't like strict unblockable, I will change it.
The Elusive Dreamers: Sure, but don't turn the power level too high. Maybe a 4/3 then.
Reign of Elements: Will be an enchantment.
Azrar: Please tell me what you think about it. Powerful enough for its cost? I made it a 10/10 now.
I added some stuff about the third set of the block, called Unification. (yes, yes, I should probably stick to designing the second one first :D)
Elspeth, with the help of the alien planeswalker Iadera, confront Tezzeret and reacquire the Celestial Loop. The powerful artifact is reinstalled and the mana begins to flow again. However, many have fallen in the war against the raging elements and many of Paiura's ancient temples and sanctuaries have been destroyed. Acknowledging, that his possession of a planeswalker spark would permanently cause an unbalance in the elements, Vezavetru gives his spark to a young shaman of Vezadun, called Jhoara. Each of the five great Aspects transfer a part of their power to Jhoara. She becomes the mortal guardian of the plane, the Aspect of Paiura. With the Celestial Loop reinstalled, the flow of mana nourishes life and helps the Paiurans rebuild their civilizations. But the artifact is not properly adjusted yet. For a short period of time, there is such an excess of mana that the Paiurans can literally waste it without any care.
New game term: Dissipate
In Unification, it is all about wasting mana. Dissipate is now the game term for mana being lost at the end of each step or phase.
Cards will require you to waste mana prior to you casting the spell. This way, you can use the same mana on any number of spells you cast in a turn.
While this could potentially lead to degenerate turns, nothing can be more broken than Bloodbraid Elf into Blightning, right?
Unify
Cards with Unify are split cards, like Fire // Ice. However they use a frame similar to the leveler frame. Details yet to be developed.
Multicolor
While Paiura and Reign of Elements had a healthy mix of monocolored and multicolored cards, cards in Unification will be predominantly multicolored
Art on Celestial Loop is a placeholder ofc.
I really like the design of Jhoara. It would be the first WUBRG planeswalker and I think it's not too shabby. The second ability sets up the other abilities perfectly. I also like the whole every ability is -X thing. Her abilities drain her power and she needs some time to rest and build up her powers again. (0 ability).
If you didn't guess already, the block is heavily influenced by the elementals of WoW and by Avatar.
Now that all Aspects have been revealed, which one do you think is the best, which one is not that well designed?
Here are all again:
I am not sure yet how far I will go in Unification with the wasting mana theme. It can be a interesting mechanic, but it also has to work smoothly and not substitute the other mechanics of the block. Basically, if not enough cards have this mechanic, it is not any different then paying mana the ordinary way. So many cards should use this mechanic to do the things the races in Paiura already do.
Yay, I finally found the colored full-art frames! And hell, I'm going to abuse it!
More Reign of Elements cards:
Cycle of Elemental hosers:
I completed the dual color Elemental cycles (except for two):
And some Unification cards. Unification is currently my deposit for any crazy multicolored card ideas I have.
I'm still not sure about the Unify cards. Any attempt to make a good looking card frame has failed so far. There is not enough space on leveler frames to put all the information on it. I invented a new mana type, the Paiuran mana, , but I don't know yet what it does :). It shouldn't be parasitic ofc. An idea is that it counts as every color of mana when it's in your mana pool.
Still in need of feedback on my next to last post.
I decided on the Paiuran mana.
It now appears in the mana cost of multicolored cards.
An instance of a Paiuran mana can only be paid by any color of mana that hasn't been spent yet to pay any other Paiuran mana or colored mana symbol.
For example: S shall be the Paiuran mana. If a card has a mana cost of SSR it can be paid for example with WBR, but not with WWR or WRR.
A spell that costs 3SG can be paid with RRRRG, because what you pay for the colorless part doesn't effect the Paiuran mana.
A spell with one or more Paiuran mana symbols in the cost is all colors.
Unify as a mechanic has been scrapped.
The dissipate mechanic should give you an edge when you are behind on board by playing multiple things at once. This is important or the player to first establish a stable board position usually wins because he can play his sanctuaries. If designed correctly, the dissipate mechanic will mostly allow you to get additional cards or defensive bonuses (like Snakecharmer Hermit), not offensive ones. Dissipate 1G means dissipate one green mana and at least one mana of any color or colorless mana btw.
You might notice, that the style of Unification is very Lorwyn-like. I want all three parts of the block to feel slightly different. Paiura was neutral, say Zendikar-like, Reign of Elements should be darker, and Unification is magical christmasland. I will move some cards from Reign of Elements into Unification that do not fit because of this decision.
Niadi: I was worried he was too strong actually. He is only killable by mass removal, and if you block once, then hit, you threaten to win the game on the next swing.
Jhoara: There will be cascade only on Jhoara. I think it's fine to have another keyword on a planeswalker. If you open a Jhoara and have no idea what the ability does, you will just ask somebody (you just opened a planeswalker, you should be excited! (unless it's Chandra Ablaze)). If you open some crappy common and have no idea what the ability does, that's bad on the other hand cause you wont care.
My thought process on the last ability was:
When you play Jhoara, you will most likely -1 her first. Can you set up a sick cascade with your titan in hand? -2 her on the next turn. Found an Azrar? Great, put that into your hand and -3 Jhoara on the next turn. The opponent is aggressive and threatens to kill Jhoara? Put Azrar second from top, +10 Jhoara, then -3 her on the next turn.
Celestial Loop: I'm not happy with the wording. But the idea is that you can overload your opponent with mana (but only during his turn) and he gets manaburned if he can't spend it. The art is placeholder.
Jukjuk: The flavor is, that he is the worst creature ever. And MAYBE you will need a chump blocker to block a titan or so for one turn, haha :D. I agree that drain 3, draw a card is probably too good for 2 mana, so I'll increase to 3.
I'll think about Mnteros and Azrar. You caught me on the flavor text :).
Jukjuk's Grunt: Yes, haste is gone. Upped damage to 3.
Tezzeret's Insurance: No longer defender.
Earthen Colossus: Correct
Bundled Wrath: Hm, I'm ok for having very strong Elemental specific cards, but it's probably not restricting enough. Maybe only multicolored elementals?
The Watery Doom: I interpret it as kind of a defensive ability. As red you wont care when you attack. The defensive part is that you can attack your opponent before you untap, so you are never defenseless. The colors of that thing is partly Iavuret BGU which are the defensive colors in this format. I don't know if the mechanic has a problem or not, the extra turn part was kind of a desperate solution.
Princess of Stone: I care more about having it fit the element instead of the color. Since green can have all the listed abilities, I think it's fine colorwise. She's an earth chick, so it's all about being defensive. As I said earlier, I wanted to reinterpret some of the colors without giving red counterspells or so.
Ajun: Keep in mind you can counter that spell on the following turn again. Don't know, maybe you're right.. would like more opinions on this.
Ulgera Wurm: Probably some reminder text would be a good idea.
Dreaming Druid: You are right. This would definitely not be a myth as a mythic. So a mythic it is! The card is supposed to be dangerous :).
Restore the City: Remember the Fallen. Pretty much the same card adapted to my set.
The Sixth Element: Darkness is the sixth element. It has been removed from the "elemental pie" when Paiura was still young. Now it unifies with the other elements again. The flashback cost is that way, because you should play 5 color if you are playing elementals.
Typhoon Bolt: The idea is that Azrar completely gave in to her rage, which is what only fire elementals normally do - and it felt good. I try to phrase it a bit better. On power level: I keep it in mind, but test it first.
Rockslide Ravager: The block's Wild Nacatl :D.
Elspeth: .. I'm in at a loss here. A planeswalker should protect herself and provide some sort of clock - there are not infinite ways to do that. The Garruk's all do something similar. I'll make a thread about her and ask for opinions.
On the ultimate: You get a sanctuary and it says: "Creatures attack this (sanctuary) each turn if able." There is no "this turn".
The Paiuran mana will appear on about as many cards as Phyrexian mana on New Phyrexia cards. It should provide more options while still having powerful multicolor cards. Also there will be the "When you cast a spell with mechanic XYZ, this deals X damage" enchantment that is in every block.
Bundled Wrath: Cost up to 5, restricted to colored cards.
The Sixth Element: I don't understand what your problem is with the card. There will be many more cards that do something and even more for WUBRG. The flavor is the elements converging into one and there is nothing mechanically wrong with it.
I made a thread about Elspeth in the Card Forum, but it seems that unless you post something completely broken you just get overlooked.
Some cards for Reign of Elements that were lacking - golems for Mr. Toria:
And as always, some unifications are in order. Also the fixed Celestial Loop:
I finished the commons for Reign of Elements. Now it's all about filling the gaps and doing some more rares and mythics. But turns out I'm pretty bad at working under restrictions. I try to think of a red mythic for Reign of Elements and end up with a multicolored common for Unification.
It was very difficult to put in all the synergies for the different color combinations (the lands as well as the aspects.) Azrar (GWU) ended up just being about flying creatures.
As soon as I have time, I'll update the Reign of Elements.pdf with all the cards. Until then, here are some new ones:
Are there any infinite combos possible with Ornate Jewelry that are TOO easy to get together?
I changed the Paiuran mana to the original Paiura symbol.
And a new planeswalker I wanted to show off with this post.
Kiora already appeared in Paiura, now she reappears in a more twisted form. Kiora (Kiora Atua) visited Paiura to study Iavuret, its majestic marine creatures and ancient temples, and the ancient powers hidden deep beneath the ocean. However, her merfolk allies slowly turned into monstrosities, the naga - something which should have scared Kiora off, but it didn't. Now she is posessed by the power which she thought she could control.
Here are both Kioras:
The second ability represents the petrifying gaze, related to Medusa and all that. The second part of it is a state-triggered ability, not a condition. It can take the damage after (for whatever reason) or before you use the ability. I restricted it to combat damage for now for balance reasons (might be unnecessary?). I was unsure about the first ability, if cliqueing someone on a planeswalker ability was too good. But I played some Modern recently and whenever someone cliqued me, it didn't seem so bad. And Liliana Vess sucked, so might as well upgrade it. I dislike ultimates as they are kinda boring, so the last ability is inspired by the new Sorin - the emblem represents the dark power she found.
This is the 7th walker of the set - might be a little excessive, but what the heck. I couldn't resist. I wanted to continue the story line for all of Paiura's lands, so it made sense to make that into a card.
Colossal Watchers: I don't know if the term is necessary for making it work with the rules. Will ask about that when I check the wordings on all cards.
Master of the Inanimate: Having 3-4 do-nothing artifacts become 5/5 creatures until end of turn is a pretty big game. You will mostly use the white ability, but as a kill condition it certainly should be useful.
Sunveil Ranger: I think I agree. Also she is too powerful for a common. For the mana: A yellow/gold mana symbol you can't really see on the gold cards unfortunately.
Overgrown Colossus: Uncommon it is!
Bonethistle: Oh, I didn't notice. Thanks for catching that. Guess I should have made some more research.
Ornate Jewelry: I also remembered, there is this Phyrexian mana: gets +1/+0 until end of turn dude. Definately have to change it.
Temple Nagas: Yes, that's the intention.
Taneos Vadeen: Change it to "that creature's" power. Could make him BR - the only multicolored nonelemental creature in Reign of Elements. That would actually be quite awesome (he is one the people who caused all these bad things to happen in RGN).
Hrowas' Avenger: Theoretically he could become one. I don't know what happens then if it didn't say other.
Maelstrom Dweller: This term was basically added for Vezavetru, the elemental planeswalker. On creatures it is not without significance, so I added it here too. What if you attack with a 6/6 and you block with Mr.Dweller, since it can't die right? Then your opponent destroys your sanctuary. Now you might say: He could just destroy the sanctuary before combat damage. I would reply: You can't cast sorceries during combat, you fool!
Lotus Lizard: Sure.
Chromafin: Glad you like it. For Unification, i cared about having colorful art (not Hello Kitty Island Adventures art, but just colorful art) and the colors should fit well with the card frame.
Phoenix Storm: I guess you're right. Still would like to keep this card in some form. Flashback maybe? Or a return to your hand from graveyard clause? (ofc after nerfing the card a bit.)
Throne of Unification: It's already very strong I think. This card can tutor for the Aspects. (maybe should even cost 2 / 3)
Throne of New Toria: For an uncommon I wouldn't want to go any further.
Jailor of Iavuret: Neutral no comment or bad no comment?
Pirate's Curse: Sure. Drop the "opponent controls" and add "You may exile it instead" to the second part and it works better.
Ruins of Capital City: I like the first part (rebuilding and stuff), the actual effect is not that awesome, but I got nothing right now.
Kiora Spellcatcher: The ultimate is pretty brutal in control mirrors. We tested her in some games, her +ability was problematic but the ultimate was fine.
Kiora, the Disfigured: It's a state-trigger. Once the ability has been used, the next time the creature has taken combat damage this turn, it will be destroyed. So, if it already had been dealt damage, the trigger goes on the stack immediatly after the ability resolves. If it takes damage later that turn, it triggers at that point. But if it's confusing, I'll just change it to "if". There shouldn't be much difference in gameplay as a creature just tapped will most likely not block this turn. It was only for flavor reasons, as you smash something after you turned it to stone to destroy it.
Thanks for taking so much time to comment on every card. Definately got some use out of your suggestions. But please clarify on Mr. Jailor McYogg-Saronino :).
Copyright stuff: Alright, I'll click through all the cards and add it. But I won't update the .pdf file.
On the mana: Would this work? (see new cards) I really would like to use my own symbol and the leaf is very nice (I like that symbol, but not the others - this image to symbol converter of MSE works very weird.. (though its awesome that it's implemented in the first place.))
Hrowas' Avenger: Okay, changed.
Throne of Unification: Made it cost 1, 2 to activate, search for any land or Elemental card but put that card on top of your library.
Jailor of Iavuret: Alluring Siren. Changed to "Whenever blabla dies, if it was attacking.."
Pirate's Curse: Sure
Kiora McNagastein: Flavor wise it should only destroy it if it takes damage after its turned to stone. Mechanics wise that doesn't make sense -.-
Undisputed Clearing: I made a quite similar card for RGN:
Having to ask the opponent to choose the mana each time you use it can get a bit annoying I think, but as you see I liked the general idea too ^^
Plane of Water: Basically a different take on Torta's Rest, which was 1U, 2 counters, at upkeep sac for 2 cards. Now only Plane of Fire (removing counters to ping stuff?) and Plane of Air (no idea) are missing.
Random angel, Sunveil Ranger revisited (the Paiuran mana is too small in the text box, this is some kind of bug), a sorceress using the plenty of mana to kill minotaurs and stuff (the quality of the red frame in MSE is really poor, you can't even read the artist), and the rest of the seven mana cycle (now all have two colored symbols). I need to stop making Elven cards (I can't think of any decent name anymore). The black one is a "good" black card just like for example Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is an "evil" white card.
Gaping Rift: Hm.. there is no reason for it to be elemental outside of flavor. So I'll just give it the subtype "Rift".
Devoted Archangel: Right, changed it from a redirection effect to prevention, so the wording got messed up.
Sunveil Ranger: I like it now. Think I'll leave it like that.
Sun Bolt: I didn't like the numbers on that in any configuration I tried. With only dissipate W, the mechanic doesn't feel like it makes any difference to kicker. So I settled with 4 damage + 4 life, 1R+1W for symmetry. Btw Galvanic Blast is also strictly better than Shock.
Druid of Tranquilia: yeah but you could also pay that for a mono-green card so that's no argument. Maybe: regenerate those creatures? Works well with a card you'll see in a moment.
Tiya's Redemption: Making "good" black cards will be hard. It doesn't turn the creature into a sanctuary ofc, but the creature finds the sanctuary and rests (no more fighting for you, so it's exiled :)) I like the mechanic of the card, I'll try again on the flavor part.
Omega McPhilanthropist: He definitely doesn't feel green at all, nice :D. Power level: I think he's too strong. Once he hits the board there is no time where the opponent can respond to him wiping the board. There should be some sort of restriction (at any time you could cast a sorcery? no killing stuff in response to a removal). Four colors IS hard, but depending on the format it's not that hard.
I need a mono-black mythic rare for Reign of Elements, preferably someone who hates elementals (like Taneos Vadeen). Any ideas?
Edit: Couldn't think of anything, all legends are already in a card, so I just made it a bomb for control decks:
There is no card yet with such an effect, so I just invented the wording on Jhoara.
I'll talked with a friend yesterday and we discussed how we fix the transition of the story from Paiura to Reign of Elements - there were still some holes. So, I'll post the whole background story soon (it's much more than I currently have posted).
I updated the Reign of Elements.pdf. The set is almost complete, some cards are missing (Elemental cycles are incomplete), some cards I'm not happy with, but I included them anyways. I still have to add some landcycling on some of the cards. Currently, I don't plan to support 5 color Elementals in this deck, there is no room anymore and it fits better in Unification.
I also posted the story up to the Paiura set in the original post.
To reply to your comments:
Sun Bolt: I'm just saying, I don't want to be forced to not make ever any card strictly better than another one.
Tiya's Redemption: If there is a way to make a white card 'evil', you should also be able to take the characteristics of black and make them 'good'? That said, I don't think I did that very well.
Druid of Tranquilia: Lifelink also appears in green, so its not that misplaced? I'm looking at the color combinations that want to make use of these cards and think of what they both could need. RGW decks use Plant tokens, so they want the +1/+1 counters. Bojega BGW decks want lifegain (Dreaming Druid, untap play this guy, play EMRAKUL??)
Jhoara: You guessed right!
Corrupted Hellkite: Yeah, sometimes you get Vorapede. I'm fine with it being kind of a myth.
Your cards: I REALLY like the idea of Blood Trickster. I think I will make that into an Elemental. However, I would change it to "Whenever you lose life" (when your opponent attacks you, it doesn't matter if he gets pumped afterwards, right?). Great idea
Story thing: That's fine. Maybe I can get someone else to comment on it, maybe? I mean, I know that enough people read the thread, but somehow no one has to say anything.
The .pdf-document with all the cards and background stories, as well as the files for the Magic Set Editor and Magic Workstation can be found >>>here<<<
Text versions: Because of character limit, see posts #165 and #166
Learn about the story and the characters in Paiura:
Characters
What is Paiura?
Paiura is a plane where mana can flow freely throughout the world. Elementals watch over the plane, led by their elemental lords. The Elementals possess a powerful artifact, the Celestial Loop, that secures the flow of mana in Paiura.
Young adventurers travel Paiura to find their calling. The world of Paiura consists of five interconnected lands, based on the wedge color combinations. The five great Elemental aspects are associated with the allied tri-color combinations. However, multicolor is not the main focus of the Paiura set. Paiura introduces a new card type, the sanctuaries. Sanctuaries are temples dedicated to worship the elemental gods of Paiura, academies where young wizards learn the arcane arts or just havens for traveling adventurers.
The five great elemental lords are:
Azrar, the Aspect of Air, element of freedom and passion.
Iavu, the Aspect of Water, element of wisdom and change.
Niadi, the Aspect of Life, element of nature and light.
Mnteros, the Aspect of Earth, element of death and renewal.
Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire, element of energy and emotion.
Design:
Paiura is a three set block, where Paiura is a large set and the other two small sets.
"Paiura", the first set, is completed and in playtesting.
The second set is called "Reign of Elements" and is currently in development.
The third set of the block is called "Unification" and is currently in design.
My thanks go to ThoughtriotX for helping me with the wording and to Tahazzar for constant feedback.
Paiura was born far outside the known multiverse. The plane was a single large continent interfused by a powerful, primordial energy known as the Kalin. This energy unified all four basic elements to one and was the source of all mortal life on Paiura. Elemental creatures reigned on Paiura and watched over the plane as it evolved.
However, at some point in its history, Paiura drifted into the multiverse and came in contact with the five colors of mana. The mana began to connect with the plane and separated the elements into five. From the Kalin, five new elemental lineages were born. Their elemental lords were:
W Azrar, the Aspect of Air
U Iavu, the Aspect of Water
B Yrestu, the Aspect of Darkness
R Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire
G Mnteros, the Aspect of Earth
Many other smaller aspects were born, but these were the five omnipotent rulers of the plane. Four of the colors of mana could manifest into one of the four basic elements, each having a counterpart, but the black mana manifested itself in something that had no counterpart in the other elements.
The plane was torn apart by the separation. The continent began to drift into five parts and mortal civilizations were destroyed by violent earthquakes. To prevent the further collapse, the elemental lords came up with a plan to give some part of their power into an artifact that would unify the colors of mana into one again. However, recognizing the contradiction of his own existence, Yrestu didn’t wish to unite his essence with the others and dismissed the plan, stating that the only way for Paiura to survive was to be seperated from the multiverse again.
This is when the Aspects turned on each other. Yrestu was forcefully drained of his essence and imprisoned deep under Paiura. The black mana now roaming uncontrolled through Paiura was absorbed by the other elements. A lesser Aspect, Niadi, was ascended by the others to become the new fifth element in the cycle – Life.
Hastily, the five great Aspects continued with creating the artifact known as the Celestial Loop. This powerful artifact controlled the flow of mana in the plane and stopped the separation. The colors of mana connected with the different elements shifted and the black mana was incorporated into fire, water and earth.
Each element now joined three colors of mana in itself:
WUB: Water
UBR: Fire
BRG: Earth
RGW: Life
GWU: Air
The elements now complemented perfectly and the cycle was closed.
Though the continent was no longer torn apart, a small separation remained. Five lands were created:
Bojega – a misty swampland, inhabited by giant mushrooms.
Vezadun – a volcanic peninsula with untamed rainforests.
Iavuret – a vast tropical ocean with paradisiac islands.
Tiya – an endless highland with a cold, dusty climate and high mountains.
Sunveil – A flatland with lush meadows and enchanted forests.
The mortal races of Paiura began to settle. The elves went to Bojega and the forests of Sunveil and began practicing druidism. Vezadun attracted many shamans because of its primordial energies blistering in the air. Humans built their own empire in the plains of Sunveil, which was later named Toria. Many human tribes also went to the Tiya highlands and began to live a nomadic life. Only Iavuret was shaped directly by Iavu. He filled the ocean with giant kraken, turtles and leviathans. This discouraged anyone from ever going there except for the toughest pirates.
The mortal races built many temples to worship the elemental lords which were now residing inside their respective elemental planes, separated from the physical world. Their agents still lived among the mortals to keep watch, but the five great Aspects themselves remained relatively passive. Only Niadi was a bit chatty in nature and always invited the elves to his plane on a cup of nectar.
However, something was not right. In many of Paiura’s regions a corruption of the land slowly began to spread. The incorporation of black mana into the other elements was unnatural – the land itself was corrupted and now it slowly became apparent. While the elves of Bojega could maintain a fragile balance of life and death, the corruption of the earth in Tiya drove many of its tribes insane and into mindless, bloodthirsty creatures. The unfortunate sailors and pirates that sailed through Iavuret too often were disfigured, transformed into creatures of the ocean’s dark depths.
Centuries later, Paiura is visited by several planeswalkers from other worlds. Iadera, an alien planeswalker from an unknown plane, bonds with the elves of Bojega and learns about their ancient druidism. Kiora Atua, a merfolk planeswalker, travels to Iavuret with a small group of her merfolk to study its majestic marine creatures, its ancient temples and a weird, powerful source of energy somewhere hidden deep beneath the ocean. Elspeth Tirel has been living as a citizen of Toria incognito for quite some time to find peace and shelter. Finally, Tezzeret is sent by Nicol Bolas to Paiura to steal the powerful artifact known as the Celestial Loop, planning on misusing its power to bend mana for his schemes.
Paiura also spawned a planeswalker itself, Jukjuk. Being a goblin and thus not the most intelligent creature, many consider Jukjuk a threat for Paiura as he will eventually misuse his powers to do something incredibly dumb.
Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries are the main focus of Paiura. Sanctuary is a new permanent type. A sanctuary card has a number printed in the lower right-hand corner, similar to a planeswalker. This number determines the number of sanctuary counters this permanent enters the battlefield with. A sanctuary can be attacked by creatures just like a planeswalker and damage causes sanctuary counters to be removed.
Sanctuaries increase the importance of a good defense. Therefore, Paiura is a slow and defensive format. However, a creature that can deal a quick blow to an opponent to take out his sanctuary might be valuable as well? Of course, sanctuaries can also be destroyed by targeted removal – however, the more powerful sanctuaries are all hexproof.
Shelter
Shelter is an ability word closely related to sanctuaries. An ability, highlighted by Shelter is only active as long as you control a sanctuary.
Vitality
Vitality is another ability word. It is used on abilities that only have an effect if you gained life this turn.
Primal
Primal highlights an ability that triggers when a creature is exiled from the battlefield.
Snailshell
Snailshell highlights an ability that causes a creature to assign combat damage based on its toughness rather than its power.
Recurring keyword: Fight, Landcycling
Paiura focuses on the five wedge-based lands of Paiura. Reign of Elements will focus on the five arc color combinations of the Elemental lords. The mana in Paiura is complex and there are many different synergies appearing throughout the color combinations. These are the five lands:
BGW Bojega
Bojega is a giant living swamp. Its inhabitants are elven and human druids, wild animals and giant mushrooms. The major mechanic of Bojega is gaining and draining life. Several creatures have abilities to drain life symmetrically but very fast. To get the better end out of it, life gain effects keep you ahead of your opponent. Vitality adds an additional incentive to gaining life.
GUB Iavuret
Iavuret is a group of small tropical islands. Its inhabitants are marine creatures, such as kraken and turtles, pirates and merfolk. Iavuret is the most defensive of the five tribes. Hidden on the ocean floor are sacred temples that need to be protected from the curiosity of the land dwellers. Their major mechanics are defensive creatures and “More toughness than power”.
RWU Toria
Toria is noble human and elven empire. Toria’s inhabitants are mages, knights or rogues. Its key mechanic is artifacts. Spells appear in artifact form, such as an artifact that shocks a creature when it enters the battlefield. This artifact can later be used by a wizard to be transformed into a golem warrior.
WBR Tiya
The Tiya highlands are the home of the barbarian tribes. Its inhabitants are humans, goblins, centaurs and minotaurs. Barbarian tribes wage war on each other since countless generations. However, on the snow-covered peaks of the highest mountains you can still find peace in the temples of air. Tiya is the most aggressive of the five lands. Its major mechanic is “Attacking matters”.
URG Vezadun
If you want to learn the ways of the shaman, you should travel to the volcanic rainforests of Vezadun. Its inhabitants are jungle animals, shamans of various races and elementals. Its major mechanic is summoning elemental tokens and sending them back to the elemental planes, which manifests in the ability word primal.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Why do the Bojega Gargantuans have trample if it already has defender?
The hybrid on the Iron Boletus seems forced. Because you aren't trying to make this a multicolored set, I'd make it monocolored with maybe an off color cycling cost. I understand it's function, the hybrid just seems out of place.
Loosen the Roots has flashback, I'd either use the keyword or make the card cost less and have no reoccuring effect.
Same thing about hybrid for the Marsh wisps. it would be fine at a cost of WR.
The Swarm of cockroaches has great flavor, but is incredibly overpowered. It wreck absolute havoc on limited. I'd either limit it's protection, or bump its rarity up to rare and its cost up to 3B.
The captivating spider should be just bg.
I'd drop the canyon ruins down to three or four toughness, just so your opponent has a chance to get rid of it.
Haste is not a gw ability at all.
The plauge smoker should be worded "if" instead of "when"
Iadera's +1 ability is a bit too strong. Compare her to Ajani. I'd limit the counters to one or two creatures.
Compare Jeluria to Karador, Ghost Chieftain. As a mythic, her power as a card could be boosted up. I'd change the activation cost from zero to GWB and have it put the creature onto the battlefield. Also, some lifelink wouldn't hurt this mythic rare legend.
Bojega Gargantuans has trample because there are ways to make your defenders able to attack.
The Loosen the Roots is not exactly flashback. You don't get to draw a card.
I agree on the hybrid mana costs. I'm a fan of multicolored cards, but sometimes it doesn't fit. My goal was to have most commons, uncommons be monocolored and the rares and mythics mostly multicolored.
Swarm of Cockroaches: Well you can't push its power very easily, as it cant be equipped, enchanted ect.
Canyon Ruins: Could be too powerful, have to test it though. Keep in mind you can always Naturalize it.
Captivating Spider: Agree
Iadera's Companion: 3/2 Hexproof, Lifelink?
Plague Smoker: When is correct. It triggers when it dies, it doesn't have too die at the moment when you use the ability. Reference: Adarkar Valkyrie
Iadera: "5 mana planeswalkers have to be extremely powerful, like Gideon, to see play." -LSV. Could make the place counters ability her 0 ability though and give her another +1.
Jeluria: I'd have to redesign her. I think given her ability to ramp up 2 mana, you can't have other very powerful abilities on her. (but of course it shouldn't be just a Knotvine Mystic)
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
You may want to make fright in the depth only able to hit nonland cards, for funness sake.
The squid hatchling is too powerful for a common. I'd either bump him up to 1G or make him uncommon.
Suffocate has no need to be green.
Turtle form is an awesome card! I'd even consider dropping it's cost down to one blue mana.
The pirates of gormod bay could easily cost 2UB.
The stoneskin shark should have that ability always instead of it being an ETB ability.
The tidebringer's cycling cost is confusing. It would make more sense without the cycling cost, and perhaps and simple basic landcycling instead.
How did turtle island play in testing? It seems pretty powerful to me, but I could be very wrong.
The turtle marauder is already very wordy and the sanctuary limit I would think is unnecessary.
The coral torn halls would get really confusing with two kinds of counters on it. Maybe have it remove sanctuary counters instead?
Cursed pirate crew seems overpowered. An easy fix would to up the shelter activation cost, with either mana or with sacrificing creatures.
Fortress turtle could be a lot better. i'd take away the mana cost and have you draw two cards instead of one.
Keeping time wants to be a sanctuary.
Kiora's merfolk is a strange card. Firstly, why does it have flash if you cant use it's abilities right when you play it? Also, why would you need to use these at instant speed? Why is it not marine? Overall, the card seems to weak to take up a rare slot.
Kiora's +1 seems weak to me. Maybe she could make a spiketail hatchling/ unconditional cursecatcher or have the enchantment counter the spell unless that player pays 2.
Sanctum of the tides has not reason to be black.
On to Toria!
change of station should prevent attacking.
the scepter should just give the creature it's equipped to t: deal 1 damage. to have the scepter tap is repetitive.
School project seems like it would have memory issues, maybe make it until the EOT.
It would be simpler for the castlemage if it just tapped instead of only having it activate it once.
the chessboard and the enchanter have abilities which could be templated as imprint. You may want to change that or simply use the keyword.
sactum archmage feels ur, not uw.
citadel of toria is insane. I'd make the cost of copying more like UR and either lower the counters or take away hexproof.
Overall, Toria seems incredibly unfocused. It seems to want to care about artifacts a lot more, instead of being spread around with manipulating spells and the various things you're doing with the artifacts with conflicting ideas about whether to equip or sacrifice them. One of the most original ideas you came up with however are the firestone/astroniconium cards. There is a lot of design space with these guys. I'd recommend straying away from outfit and the various spell manipulation cards into creatures that work well with these kinds of ETB artifacts, like creatures that bounce artifacts like master transmuter or gating creatures like whitemane lion, or even ETB artifact that gate other artifacts, so you could get a crazy string going or gating then replaying all while getting abilities from the ETB artifacts. Also, these effects seem more aligned with the colors and flavor you have laid out than what you currently have.
Squid Hatchling: I think its fine.
Suffocate: A good point. I changed this spell a bit without changing the mana cost. Guess it doesn't fit anymore.
Turtle Form: Reduce to U, but kicker should be 3 then.
Stoneskin Shark: Thought it was too powerful, but ok.
Pirates: Agree.
Tidebringer: I think about it.
Turtle Marauder: Just killing every sanctuary of your opponent would be too powerful.
Cursed Pirate Crew: Seemed fine in testing.
Fortress Turtle: Was very powerful in playtesting already.
Keeping Time: This would make it very similar to Coral-torn Halls. Play it, defend it for a couple of turns - get huge bonus.
Kiora's Merfolk: Yeah, not the best card. I redesign it.
Kiora: The ability was initially USacrifice: Counter unless 2.
But that seemed way too powerful in playtesting. You could lock the opponent completely out of the game when he is short on mana.
Sanctum of the Tides: Agree.
Change of Station: It does, you must have misread.
Scepter: You shouldn't be able to chain it by re-equipping it to other creatures. However, I could try to find a different wording that prevents that without having you to tap it.
Sanctum Archmage: UR then.
I redesigned Toria just recently after I scrapped another mechanic. If it seems not well designed as you say, I have to reconsider some of my ideas. Generally, the idea was that you get spells as artifacts that then do nothing on the battlefield. You can then either sacrifice them or use them as creatures. Your idea sounds promising too.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Torian Raider 2R
Creature-Human Warrior
Repurpose 1 (As an additional cost to cast ~, return 1 artifact you control to its owner's hand.)
Haste
3/2
This, however would require the creation of several more cheap spell artifacts. But I think it would be worth the payoff in play value and the mechanics synergy with sanctuaries and cards like librarian assistant and fire stone.
Anyway, for Tiya;
The blackridge goblin is really good, especially for black. It's essentially a lava axe for 1b, and its very comparable to keldon mauraders, a card that saw a ton of play in red deck wins decks. The easiest solution I'd think would be to make each player lose three life and have it drop one toughness point.
Burning Ridge Stronghold would be more interesting and fitting for the shard if it gave +1/+0 and haste, and possibly started with 1 sanctuary counter.
I love the Burningridge Minotaur. There should be more creatures like this.
I'd pick just two colors for the Savage of Bloodcrest.
The Dark Consultant is an awesome spike card, but for it to be relevant it would have to have higher power. At three mana, a 2/2 or 3/2 would not be outlandish.
The Dragons Cave is an awesome design, but I don't see why it's white. Also, the dragon could very well be a 6/6.
I don't think that wolves are entirely the appropriate token for the primalist. I'd do something like a zombie, goblin, or spirit that matches the card's color.
Jukjuk's -2 seems a tad overpowered. Perhaps 3 damage instead?
Overall, I'd try and steer torwards cards like Dragons Cove that encourage attacking, mutually assured damage like the Blackridge Goblin, and aggressive creatures with flavor liek the Burningridge Minotaur. Remember, your theme has to show through a lot through your commons, so I'd put a greater focus on attacking and fighting in this shard.
As for Vezadun;
Cinderscale Mosa should be monored, but even then it doesnt seem to fit this shard very well.
Fertile Flames should have entwine, I'd reword it so it stays consistent with kicker.
Invoke the elements might be better worded as 3 additional 2/1 tokens.
You already have a ton of cards which prevent mana flood, I think molten cyclone is a bit overkill and a generally weak card.
I'd tweak the smoldering volcano so it would make 2-3 2/1 tokens for consistencies sake. The game could get really confusing otherwise.
I don't see why consult the elements is green. It probably could jsut cost 1ur.
*Something I didn't notice before but saw as I read forest warden: all the mushrooms should definitely be fungi. This is not just out of my love for this tribe, but the mushroom creature type is repetitive while you have a perfectly good fungus type out there.
Ravaging Cinder should exile the land.
Nice parasect
Same note for chaotic evocation as for the volcano. Just pick one token type and stick with it. Also, is it grixis colors for a reason? and is the dragon of Vezavet supposed to be jund colors?
Infernal outburst should exile the creatures it kills.
Jhova's companion should exile.
The Purefire Dragon seems more like a pheonix if you ask me.
I have no idea what rally the aspects is trying to do.
Iavu may be overpowered. Maybe it gives you and all your creatures hexproof instead? It just seems like there is hardly a way other than DOJ to recover from that.
Burning Ridge Stronghold: I like it now. I limited it to attacking creatures, giving haste doesn't work well with that.
Dark Consultant: I thought about 2/1, but was worried: Do I really want such an easy 2 for 1? (what would be its power level compared to Vendilion Clique?)
Dragon's Cave: The dragon is red, the warrior entering its cave is white :). It just feels Boros to me.
General: I'd like to do maybe 1-2 more cards that encourage attacking but thats just a minor theme. Tiya doesn't really have a special mechanic. (Not everything needs that, they all share the sanctuary theme)
I am ok with having hybrid mana costs on some cards if the cards don't seem miscolored, like Captivating Spider was probably. For example Dragon of Vezavet looks very jundy to me. The mana is supposed to mix with each other in this set, there should be cards that can fit into multiple lands. For example, there are Pirates in WUB Esper and Mushrooms in BRG Jund. Cinderscale Mosa is really good in Iavuret where you can abuse it with power/toughness switching, but for all others just a 4/4.
Fertile Flames: I really don't want entwine for just one card. It should work with kicker too.
Smoldering Volcano: There are 2/1 haste tokens and 5/1 trample, haste tokens. I think that's fine. I don't want to get too absurd with Primal triggers.
Infernal Outburst and Jhovas' Companion: Agree.
Ravaging Cinder however doesn't make sense. You don't get any benefit from exiling the land and that thing is destroying the land, not unsummoning it or so.
Mushrooms: I guess I could make them be fungi. That would also allow for Fungus elementals or so in later sets. And your name is Fungus. You planned that all along!
Purefire Dragon: I couldn't find a good phoenix artwork. I'll look for it more.
Rally the Aspects: You get a 1/1 + 2/2 ... +X/X token.
Iavu: 9 mana mythic legend = powerful effect. Could be a reanimate target for legacy. I like it the way it is.
Will do an update soon on everything but Toria. Here is my design for Kiora's Merfolk
UB
Creature - Merfolk
2/1
Flash
When Kiora's Merfolk enters the battlefield, creatures attack this turn if able.
Sacrifice Kiora's Merfolk: Gain control of target attacking creature until end of turn. Untap that creature.
edit: Updated the .pdf a bit. Changelog in the OP.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
However, I gathered some ideas for the next set of the block, called "Reign of Elements".
Though being warned, the goblin planeswalker Jukjuk, a native of Paiura, planeswalked to the plane of fire to meet the great firelords and express his admiration. It didn't go so well and Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire stole the planeswalker spark from Jukjuk for his insolence. The ascension of an aspect to a planeswalker causes an unbalance and elementals run rampant on Paiura and then war and destruction or something.
In Reign of Elements the sanctuary theme will be continued and deepened further. The small multicolor theme will also continue, although the focus will no longer lie on the different wedge lands. The war has caused alliances between the lands which manifests in synergies that exist between them.
The goal is to make cards and interactions that make playing Alara colors viable without having cards that don't have any place in the wedge combinations.
In Paiura Bojega focused on gaining and draining life and getting powerful effects by gaining life via Vitality. In Reign of Elements this is also true, however the focus is now on the draining life part via the ability word Perish. Perish abilities are active if you lost life this turn. W will leave Bojega and R will enter it. The resulting BRG Jund colors will use the mushrooms of Bojega in BG and the burn spells and elemental summonings of Vezadun in R.
W will now join with the armies of Toria. The resulting GWU Bant colors will now use the lifegain of Bojega and use it to empower artifacts of Toria in WU.
GUB Iavuret will stay mostly unchanged as it is seperated by a large ocean from the rest of Paiura and it turns out fire elementals mostly don't like water. Its mechanics are still "More toughness than power." However, since Toria's armies are now deployed elsewhere, many Pirates have emerged and started raiding coastal cities. Pirates appear in WUB Esper colors. They have a tribal theme and work well with defending Iavuret's sanctuaries while still applying pressure.
RUG Vezadun still cares about Elementals. However, the ability word Primal that gains you a bonus for exiling an Elemental or another creature will leave for the ability word Attunement that gains you a bonus while you control an Elemental creature. Attunement will appear in UBR Grixis colors. These colors share the elemental summonings of Vezadun in UR with the attacking theme of Tiya in BR.
RGW Naya colors will have a Plant token theme. Cards that create and pump Plant tokens appear again in Bojega and Vezadun.
The cards will be mostly monocolored with some offcolor kicker, cycling or ability costs. Again, the synergies of the previous wedge color lands should not suffer.
Elemental cards will mostly be multicolored. There will be one Elemental for each color combination of 1 to 5 colors. (mono and dual colored being common, all triple colored being uncommon, four colored being rares with whacky effects and the WUBRG being a mythic.) These elementals should have some synergy with the colors they appear in but there should also be cards that encourage a five color Elemental deck (this will be tough).
With all that in mind, I should have some work redoing some of the cards in Paiura.
It is very dissappointing that only 1.5 people have responded so far. It's a complete set and not just a few cards like most threads here. So, what's up with that?
I'm still looking forward to your comment, noyahuid.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Yes, I always hit the quality with my projects where people don't troll me neither because its bad or because I should get a life :D.
Thanks for catching that with UnidColor. I used the real name when possible, I must have missed that. (weird, he's one of my favorite artists.)
Depart: Yeah, until I find something better. I just hate manaflood.
Bojega Elves: Since in the next set there will be a focus on losing life, that would be a good idea.
Bojega Mouldcap: Yes, I don't want draws. If you have "Each player loses 6 life", the chance of a draw would be very high.
Loosen the Roots: You don't get to draw a card when you use it from you graveyard. But I guess there are ways to work around that. Maybe I just use flashback more often and drop Depart instead.
Swarm of Cockroaches: Good idea.
Toxic Mist: In that case, maybe a bit more interesting. -5/-0 if not kicked.
Insect Lair: 2, thanks for catching that.
Niadi's Gardener: Will redesign that guy.
Spectral Guide: Could be only green I guess.
Spirit of the Grove: Put some sort of counter on it?
Destroying Devil: From destroying angel.
Iadera's Companion: Well, its a rare. Was Watchwolf played in constructed? Idk
Angelheart Lily: Thanks.
Iadera: I try to think of another 0 ability.
Cast Away: Could remove the tap it term.
Horror of the Infinite Depths: It gets you by surprise :). I don't really like intimitate. Its one of those "Ooooh, I guess I just lose." abilities.
Mermaid's Song: I really like it. What is wrong with it?
I am ok with doing something different with the colors than what is normally done with them. That is the flavor of a wedge set, isn't it? You don't just mix everything together what the colors stand for into one shard.
Turtle Marauder: I agree. I try to reword it.
Kiora: Interesting, Fungus thought this was too weak
I tried doing it with creature types first. But it became out of hand. I had to make the cards a creature type that I didn't like for it or have the cards read. "Octopus, Serpent, Leviathan, Turtle, Lobster and Crocodile creatures you control have..." and Creature - Marine just sounds weird. So I chose the least evil.
Change of Station: I didn't want to have it at 2 mana because then it would be better. 2,5 would be optimal.
Fortune Telling: Mysteries of the Deep
Tat Merchant: Sure.
Toria Elves: if its 1/2 the vigilance doesn't matter anymore. Up it to 3 mana then.
Scepter of Supremacy: Because you could reequip it. I try to prevent that in another way.
School Project: Sure
Visit the Antiques Shop: ThoughtRiotX did the wording that way. (I used his wording service)
Citadel of Toria: I would like to use a colored frame but still have full art. I have to search for it or make one myself.
Icebane: Why should it be?
Death and Decay: 2,5 again..
Morbid Raven: That only blue gets to decide what cards they draw is one of the worst designs of magic imo. (next to basic lands not having cycling)
Raptor Abberation: Lizard then.
Jukjuk: Erm.. you lose 2 life on the -2?
Hmh?
Cinderscale Mosa: Sure
Fertile Flames: If you copy a modal spell, it has the same mode.
Rally the Aspects: I'll redesign it.
Can you elaborate a bit you last statement?
Actually, I was worried that I overloaded my set with too many things so I cut it down a bit to the current version. A friend of mine noted that also. If you look at recent sets, what new keyword mechanics have been introduced there? Innistrad got only transform. The previous sets had 2-3. I think introducing a new card type is on par with that. Also, I intend to introduce two new keywords in the next set. Deathlink (Now what could that be?) and Manifest (A manifested permanent can no longer leave the battlefield + some additional things I don't know yet so it doesn't conflict with the rules.)
Every faction should have at least some sanctuaries. But Iavuret and Toria should care about them the most.
The next set won't swift to Alara colors. It will be a multicolor set with no "shards", every color combination will have synergies. I won't post the cards grouped by land, but you should still see what land it belongs to.
That was a lot of text. Thanks for your comment.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Later I looked back at some of my ideas and tried to forge everything into something coherent. I wanted to do a set with the things I like - which are turtles and mushrooms (don't ask me why). So I had Bojega and Iavuret designed. And the wedge color combinations just fit perfectly for them. I never planned it as a "wedge Alara", more just a set focused on sanctuaries with a multicolor theme, because I like multicolored cards. (I think there should be more in every set. Of course not 90% like in Alara everytime but 15-20% is probably fine.)
I think you are right I should add one or two more keywords, but they shouldn't be shard specific.
On Jukjuk: I meant it as an idea to make it more black.
I made a new design for Iadera, with more synergy and accentuating a bit her "from another world" part. Also, an example of a deathlinker and my current design for Vezavetru as an example for manifest. When it appears on creatures, you could add: "If this creature's toughness is non-positive, it is instead 1." However, I don't see actually see a problem with a creature with 0 toughness staying on the board.
-4 ability is probably too strong.
Now I think I will redesign Paiura, this time with a layout and then fill it with the existing cards and exchange the sucky cards with new ones.
I'll comment on the other things you brought up when I have time.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Commenting on your next to last post:
Death and Decay: BB would be too hard for a multicolored set. So I would suggest adding: You lose 2 life. (If the creature dies.)
Toxic Mist: I'm currently at -5/-1 and -5/-5 if kicked. I don't think switching P/T would fit the card.
Spirit of the Grove was meant to be a fixer for lifegain decks, whatever you currently need. If it has both, it wouldn't be interesting. It could also create 1/1 white Bird tokens.
Morbid Raven: Fair point, I didn't consider that.
Your idea with these four color shards certainly has potential, but as I thought about the 4 mana elementals I wanted to create, I found out that these color combinations are more defined by the lack of the 5th color than by the other 4. If you make the set like in your preview, you are overloading it a bit with mechanics, or not? Remember that just doing something new for the sake of doing something new is not good design.
However, lets not digress too much. I may take a mechanic from your BRGW shard though :).
I will make a segment about "Reign of Elements" in my OP, as you are only allowed one thread at time. Will post a few more cards soon.
Edit: Pdf with 63 Reign of Elements cards is up.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
http://www.mediafire.com/?cvhk5zmpwld4642
Other new cards:
Spiritual Umbra, Vile Cocoons, Emerald Embrace (Bojega)
Coralskin, Camonga Crabs (Iavuret, yes I did an Enchantment - Equipment. No, I don't care.)
Blessed Rain, Planar Invoker, Wall of the Winds (Vezadun, blue acceleration, yes. There must be ways to actually play the Aspects with their 8+ CMC.)
I recolored many cards to balance the different colors, got rid of the stupid Turtle Marauder and made more Tiya cards care about attacking.
I also changed the Obelisk cycle to be Alara colors. These are now associated with the different Aspects. This is a good way to introduce them and to promote the Alara colors. There are now the obelisks for alara colors and the common land cycle for the wedge colors. The different land's wedge colors now derive from the different Aspects revered to them. The change of focuse from wedge to Alara colors in Reign of Elements now also makes alot of sense.
I more and more started to depict the Aspects as "good". Therefore, the whole story Vezavetru wants to burn the whole land because it's fun doesn't fit anymore. So, now the story is that Jukjuk stole an elemental artifact which regulates the flow of mana on Paiura. This angers the elements, especially Vezavetru, who's retaliation is to steal the planeswalker spark from Jukjuk. But the artifact (name soon to come) remains lost. The flow of mana on Paiura begins to stop (design: nearly all non-Elemental cards are monocolored). Angered and desperate to find the artifact, the elementals now roam on Paiura leaving a wake of destruction behind.
Meanwhile, it was revealed, that Elspeth has been living incognito as one of Toria's nobles since the events of New Phyrexia. Now that her home is once again in jeopardy, she reveales her true identity and promises that she will find and confront Tezzeret, and return the Celestial Loop."
Please tell me what you think of this and Toria.
But now, commeting on your comments:
OMEGA: This would be the most powerful card in Magic ever.
Baricargage: Very strong, interesting though.
Elspeth: You are probably right, that she is not too powerful, but not so weak as you make it sound either. The ultimate reads "Creatures attack THIS each turn if able." I could make her cost 3W. The bird creating ability can't be a +1, because that would be strictly better than original Elspeth. So, the +1 needs to be better?
Lady Jarvarlo: The blue one, yes.
Blue: I like Depart the way it is (mechanics wise - flavorwise its horrible). Its a small increment of reducing variance with each card that has it instead of just one card trying to solve all mana flood problems.
Tidal Thresher is contradictory. That's why I like it. In a Iavuret deck with Snailshell its a giant beating.
Perished Beauty: I didn't find the frame you descriped. I am unhappy with the frame too, but I want the full art (especially on the mythics like Azrar).
Red: Seriously, that is a consideration? Oh well, I guess I can change P/T and CMC.
Gold: Keep in mind, I try to come up with some crazier ideas, since its not final anyway. Don't know what to make out of your comment, though (some others too :))
Essence of Growth: I don't like strict unblockable, I will change it.
The Elusive Dreamers: Sure, but don't turn the power level too high. Maybe a 4/3 then.
Reign of Elements: Will be an enchantment.
Azrar: Please tell me what you think about it. Powerful enough for its cost? I made it a 10/10 now.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Wow, thank you.
Guess I'll have to update the other files too now
If you ever play it online, message me.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Elspeth, with the help of the alien planeswalker Iadera, confront Tezzeret and reacquire the Celestial Loop. The powerful artifact is reinstalled and the mana begins to flow again. However, many have fallen in the war against the raging elements and many of Paiura's ancient temples and sanctuaries have been destroyed. Acknowledging, that his possession of a planeswalker spark would permanently cause an unbalance in the elements, Vezavetru gives his spark to a young shaman of Vezadun, called Jhoara. Each of the five great Aspects transfer a part of their power to Jhoara. She becomes the mortal guardian of the plane, the Aspect of Paiura. With the Celestial Loop reinstalled, the flow of mana nourishes life and helps the Paiurans rebuild their civilizations. But the artifact is not properly adjusted yet. For a short period of time, there is such an excess of mana that the Paiurans can literally waste it without any care.
New game term: Dissipate
In Unification, it is all about wasting mana. Dissipate is now the game term for mana being lost at the end of each step or phase.
Cards will require you to waste mana prior to you casting the spell. This way, you can use the same mana on any number of spells you cast in a turn.
While this could potentially lead to degenerate turns, nothing can be more broken than Bloodbraid Elf into Blightning, right?
Unify
Cards with Unify are split cards, like Fire // Ice. However they use a frame similar to the leveler frame. Details yet to be developed.
Multicolor
While Paiura and Reign of Elements had a healthy mix of monocolored and multicolored cards, cards in Unification will be predominantly multicolored
Art on Celestial Loop is a placeholder ofc.
I really like the design of Jhoara. It would be the first WUBRG planeswalker and I think it's not too shabby. The second ability sets up the other abilities perfectly. I also like the whole every ability is -X thing. Her abilities drain her power and she needs some time to rest and build up her powers again. (0 ability).
If you didn't guess already, the block is heavily influenced by the elementals of WoW and by Avatar.
Now that all Aspects have been revealed, which one do you think is the best, which one is not that well designed?
Here are all again:
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
More Reign of Elements cards:
Cycle of Elemental hosers:
I completed the dual color Elemental cycles (except for two):
And some Unification cards. Unification is currently my deposit for any crazy multicolored card ideas I have.
I'm still not sure about the Unify cards. Any attempt to make a good looking card frame has failed so far. There is not enough space on leveler frames to put all the information on it. I invented a new mana type, the Paiuran mana, , but I don't know yet what it does :). It shouldn't be parasitic ofc. An idea is that it counts as every color of mana when it's in your mana pool.
Still in need of feedback on my next to last post.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
It now appears in the mana cost of multicolored cards.
An instance of a Paiuran mana can only be paid by any color of mana that hasn't been spent yet to pay any other Paiuran mana or colored mana symbol.
For example: S shall be the Paiuran mana. If a card has a mana cost of SSR it can be paid for example with WBR, but not with WWR or WRR.
A spell that costs 3SG can be paid with RRRRG, because what you pay for the colorless part doesn't effect the Paiuran mana.
A spell with one or more Paiuran mana symbols in the cost is all colors.
Unify as a mechanic has been scrapped.
The dissipate mechanic should give you an edge when you are behind on board by playing multiple things at once. This is important or the player to first establish a stable board position usually wins because he can play his sanctuaries. If designed correctly, the dissipate mechanic will mostly allow you to get additional cards or defensive bonuses (like Snakecharmer Hermit), not offensive ones. Dissipate 1G means dissipate one green mana and at least one mana of any color or colorless mana btw.
You might notice, that the style of Unification is very Lorwyn-like. I want all three parts of the block to feel slightly different. Paiura was neutral, say Zendikar-like, Reign of Elements should be darker, and Unification is magical christmasland. I will move some cards from Reign of Elements into Unification that do not fit because of this decision.
Speaking of which:
And I updated Elspeth a bit:
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Jhoara: There will be cascade only on Jhoara. I think it's fine to have another keyword on a planeswalker. If you open a Jhoara and have no idea what the ability does, you will just ask somebody (you just opened a planeswalker, you should be excited! (unless it's Chandra Ablaze)). If you open some crappy common and have no idea what the ability does, that's bad on the other hand cause you wont care.
My thought process on the last ability was:
When you play Jhoara, you will most likely -1 her first. Can you set up a sick cascade with your titan in hand? -2 her on the next turn. Found an Azrar? Great, put that into your hand and -3 Jhoara on the next turn. The opponent is aggressive and threatens to kill Jhoara? Put Azrar second from top, +10 Jhoara, then -3 her on the next turn.
Celestial Loop: I'm not happy with the wording. But the idea is that you can overload your opponent with mana (but only during his turn) and he gets manaburned if he can't spend it. The art is placeholder.
Jukjuk: The flavor is, that he is the worst creature ever. And MAYBE you will need a chump blocker to block a titan or so for one turn, haha :D. I agree that drain 3, draw a card is probably too good for 2 mana, so I'll increase to 3.
I'll think about Mnteros and Azrar. You caught me on the flavor text :).
Jukjuk's Grunt: Yes, haste is gone. Upped damage to 3.
Tezzeret's Insurance: No longer defender.
Earthen Colossus: Correct
Bundled Wrath: Hm, I'm ok for having very strong Elemental specific cards, but it's probably not restricting enough. Maybe only multicolored elementals?
The Watery Doom: I interpret it as kind of a defensive ability. As red you wont care when you attack. The defensive part is that you can attack your opponent before you untap, so you are never defenseless. The colors of that thing is partly Iavuret BGU which are the defensive colors in this format. I don't know if the mechanic has a problem or not, the extra turn part was kind of a desperate solution.
Princess of Stone: I care more about having it fit the element instead of the color. Since green can have all the listed abilities, I think it's fine colorwise. She's an earth chick, so it's all about being defensive. As I said earlier, I wanted to reinterpret some of the colors without giving red counterspells or so.
Ajun: Keep in mind you can counter that spell on the following turn again. Don't know, maybe you're right.. would like more opinions on this.
Ulgera Wurm: Probably some reminder text would be a good idea.
Dreaming Druid: You are right. This would definitely not be a myth as a mythic. So a mythic it is! The card is supposed to be dangerous :).
Restore the City: Remember the Fallen. Pretty much the same card adapted to my set.
The Sixth Element: Darkness is the sixth element. It has been removed from the "elemental pie" when Paiura was still young. Now it unifies with the other elements again. The flashback cost is that way, because you should play 5 color if you are playing elementals.
Typhoon Bolt: The idea is that Azrar completely gave in to her rage, which is what only fire elementals normally do - and it felt good. I try to phrase it a bit better. On power level: I keep it in mind, but test it first.
Rockslide Ravager: The block's Wild Nacatl :D.
Elspeth: .. I'm in at a loss here. A planeswalker should protect herself and provide some sort of clock - there are not infinite ways to do that. The Garruk's all do something similar. I'll make a thread about her and ask for opinions.
On the ultimate: You get a sanctuary and it says: "Creatures attack this (sanctuary) each turn if able." There is no "this turn".
The Paiuran mana will appear on about as many cards as Phyrexian mana on New Phyrexia cards. It should provide more options while still having powerful multicolor cards. Also there will be the "When you cast a spell with mechanic XYZ, this deals X damage" enchantment that is in every block.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Your wording on Celestial Loop is much better.
Earthen Colossus: Flayer of the Hatebound says you are right.
Bundled Wrath: Cost up to 5, restricted to colored cards.
The Sixth Element: I don't understand what your problem is with the card. There will be many more cards that do something and even more for WUBRG. The flavor is the elements converging into one and there is nothing mechanically wrong with it.
I made a thread about Elspeth in the Card Forum, but it seems that unless you post something completely broken you just get overlooked.
Some cards for Reign of Elements that were lacking - golems for Mr. Toria:
And as always, some unifications are in order. Also the fixed Celestial Loop:
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
It was very difficult to put in all the synergies for the different color combinations (the lands as well as the aspects.) Azrar (GWU) ended up just being about flying creatures.
As soon as I have time, I'll update the Reign of Elements.pdf with all the cards. Until then, here are some new ones:
Are there any infinite combos possible with Ornate Jewelry that are TOO easy to get together?
I changed the Paiuran mana to the original Paiura symbol.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
An (incomplete) cycle of Paiuran mana cards:
Some random cards...
And a new planeswalker I wanted to show off with this post.
Kiora already appeared in Paiura, now she reappears in a more twisted form. Kiora (Kiora Atua) visited Paiura to study Iavuret, its majestic marine creatures and ancient temples, and the ancient powers hidden deep beneath the ocean. However, her merfolk allies slowly turned into monstrosities, the naga - something which should have scared Kiora off, but it didn't. Now she is posessed by the power which she thought she could control.
Here are both Kioras:
The second ability represents the petrifying gaze, related to Medusa and all that. The second part of it is a state-triggered ability, not a condition. It can take the damage after (for whatever reason) or before you use the ability. I restricted it to combat damage for now for balance reasons (might be unnecessary?). I was unsure about the first ability, if cliqueing someone on a planeswalker ability was too good. But I played some Modern recently and whenever someone cliqued me, it didn't seem so bad. And Liliana Vess sucked, so might as well upgrade it. I dislike ultimates as they are kinda boring, so the last ability is inspired by the new Sorin - the emblem represents the dark power she found.
This is the 7th walker of the set - might be a little excessive, but what the heck. I couldn't resist. I wanted to continue the story line for all of Paiura's lands, so it made sense to make that into a card.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Colossal Watchers: I don't know if the term is necessary for making it work with the rules. Will ask about that when I check the wordings on all cards.
Master of the Inanimate: Having 3-4 do-nothing artifacts become 5/5 creatures until end of turn is a pretty big game. You will mostly use the white ability, but as a kill condition it certainly should be useful.
Sunveil Ranger: I think I agree. Also she is too powerful for a common. For the mana: A yellow/gold mana symbol you can't really see on the gold cards unfortunately.
Overgrown Colossus: Uncommon it is!
Bonethistle: Oh, I didn't notice. Thanks for catching that. Guess I should have made some more research.
Ornate Jewelry: I also remembered, there is this Phyrexian mana: gets +1/+0 until end of turn dude. Definately have to change it.
Temple Nagas: Yes, that's the intention.
Taneos Vadeen: Change it to "that creature's" power. Could make him BR - the only multicolored nonelemental creature in Reign of Elements. That would actually be quite awesome (he is one the people who caused all these bad things to happen in RGN).
Hrowas' Avenger: Theoretically he could become one. I don't know what happens then if it didn't say other.
Maelstrom Dweller: This term was basically added for Vezavetru, the elemental planeswalker. On creatures it is not without significance, so I added it here too. What if you attack with a 6/6 and you block with Mr.Dweller, since it can't die right? Then your opponent destroys your sanctuary. Now you might say: He could just destroy the sanctuary before combat damage. I would reply: You can't cast sorceries during combat, you fool!
Lotus Lizard: Sure.
Chromafin: Glad you like it. For Unification, i cared about having colorful art (not Hello Kitty Island Adventures art, but just colorful art) and the colors should fit well with the card frame.
Phoenix Storm: I guess you're right. Still would like to keep this card in some form. Flashback maybe? Or a return to your hand from graveyard clause? (ofc after nerfing the card a bit.)
Throne of Unification: It's already very strong I think. This card can tutor for the Aspects. (maybe should even cost 2 / 3)
Throne of New Toria: For an uncommon I wouldn't want to go any further.
Jailor of Iavuret: Neutral no comment or bad no comment?
Pirate's Curse: Sure. Drop the "opponent controls" and add "You may exile it instead" to the second part and it works better.
Ruins of Capital City: I like the first part (rebuilding and stuff), the actual effect is not that awesome, but I got nothing right now.
Kiora Spellcatcher: The ultimate is pretty brutal in control mirrors. We tested her in some games, her +ability was problematic but the ultimate was fine.
Kiora, the Disfigured: It's a state-trigger. Once the ability has been used, the next time the creature has taken combat damage this turn, it will be destroyed. So, if it already had been dealt damage, the trigger goes on the stack immediatly after the ability resolves. If it takes damage later that turn, it triggers at that point. But if it's confusing, I'll just change it to "if". There shouldn't be much difference in gameplay as a creature just tapped will most likely not block this turn. It was only for flavor reasons, as you smash something after you turned it to stone to destroy it.
Thanks for taking so much time to comment on every card. Definately got some use out of your suggestions. But please clarify on Mr. Jailor McYogg-Saronino :).
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
On the mana: Would this work? (see new cards) I really would like to use my own symbol and the leaf is very nice (I like that symbol, but not the others - this image to symbol converter of MSE works very weird.. (though its awesome that it's implemented in the first place.))
Hrowas' Avenger: Okay, changed.
Throne of Unification: Made it cost 1, 2 to activate, search for any land or Elemental card but put that card on top of your library.
Jailor of Iavuret: Alluring Siren. Changed to "Whenever blabla dies, if it was attacking.."
Pirate's Curse: Sure
Kiora McNagastein: Flavor wise it should only destroy it if it takes damage after its turned to stone. Mechanics wise that doesn't make sense -.-
Undisputed Clearing: I made a quite similar card for RGN:
Plane of Water: Basically a different take on Torta's Rest, which was 1U, 2 counters, at upkeep sac for 2 cards. Now only Plane of Fire (removing counters to ping stuff?) and Plane of Air (no idea) are missing.
Random angel, Sunveil Ranger revisited (the Paiuran mana is too small in the text box, this is some kind of bug), a sorceress using the plenty of mana to kill minotaurs and stuff (the quality of the red frame in MSE is really poor, you can't even read the artist), and the rest of the seven mana cycle (now all have two colored symbols). I need to stop making Elven cards (I can't think of any decent name anymore). The black one is a "good" black card just like for example Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is an "evil" white card.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
Gaping Rift: Hm.. there is no reason for it to be elemental outside of flavor. So I'll just give it the subtype "Rift".
Devoted Archangel: Right, changed it from a redirection effect to prevention, so the wording got messed up.
Sunveil Ranger: I like it now. Think I'll leave it like that.
Sun Bolt: I didn't like the numbers on that in any configuration I tried. With only dissipate W, the mechanic doesn't feel like it makes any difference to kicker. So I settled with 4 damage + 4 life, 1R+1W for symmetry. Btw Galvanic Blast is also strictly better than Shock.
Druid of Tranquilia: yeah but you could also pay that for a mono-green card so that's no argument. Maybe: regenerate those creatures? Works well with a card you'll see in a moment.
Tiya's Redemption: Making "good" black cards will be hard. It doesn't turn the creature into a sanctuary ofc, but the creature finds the sanctuary and rests (no more fighting for you, so it's exiled :)) I like the mechanic of the card, I'll try again on the flavor part.
Omega McPhilanthropist: He definitely doesn't feel green at all, nice :D. Power level: I think he's too strong. Once he hits the board there is no time where the opponent can respond to him wiping the board. There should be some sort of restriction (at any time you could cast a sorcery? no killing stuff in response to a removal). Four colors IS hard, but depending on the format it's not that hard.
I need a mono-black mythic rare for Reign of Elements, preferably someone who hates elementals (like Taneos Vadeen). Any ideas?
Edit: Couldn't think of anything, all legends are already in a card, so I just made it a bomb for control decks:
I'll talked with a friend yesterday and we discussed how we fix the transition of the story from Paiura to Reign of Elements - there were still some holes. So, I'll post the whole background story soon (it's much more than I currently have posted).
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
I updated the Reign of Elements.pdf. The set is almost complete, some cards are missing (Elemental cycles are incomplete), some cards I'm not happy with, but I included them anyways. I still have to add some landcycling on some of the cards. Currently, I don't plan to support 5 color Elementals in this deck, there is no room anymore and it fits better in Unification.
PDF: http://www.mediafire.com/?x5s6bd8q1yms2av
I also posted the story up to the Paiura set in the original post.
To reply to your comments:
Sun Bolt: I'm just saying, I don't want to be forced to not make ever any card strictly better than another one.
Tiya's Redemption: If there is a way to make a white card 'evil', you should also be able to take the characteristics of black and make them 'good'? That said, I don't think I did that very well.
Druid of Tranquilia: Lifelink also appears in green, so its not that misplaced? I'm looking at the color combinations that want to make use of these cards and think of what they both could need. RGW decks use Plant tokens, so they want the +1/+1 counters. Bojega BGW decks want lifegain (Dreaming Druid, untap play this guy, play EMRAKUL??)
Jhoara: You guessed right!
Corrupted Hellkite: Yeah, sometimes you get Vorapede. I'm fine with it being kind of a myth.
Your cards: I REALLY like the idea of Blood Trickster. I think I will make that into an Elemental. However, I would change it to "Whenever you lose life" (when your opponent attacks you, it doesn't matter if he gets pumped afterwards, right?). Great idea
Story thing: That's fine. Maybe I can get someone else to comment on it, maybe? I mean, I know that enough people read the thread, but somehow no one has to say anything.
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!