Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Welcome aboard! Always nice to see new people drop in!
General [Contest] Ravnica Reimagined (Entry Closed - Judging Complete!)
- Thread starter Onderzeeboot
- Start date
A new mechanic for the Orzhov guild.
Eclipse: Turn target creature you control face down. It's a 2/2 white and black Shadow creature.
Occult Lumimancer -
Creature - Human Warlock (r)
At the beginning of your end step, eclipse.
0/1
Rebirth to Darkness -
Instant (c)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield, then eclipse it.
Shadow Collector -
Creature - Human Warlock (u)
When Shadow Collector enters the battlefield, create a 0/0 white and black Shadow creature token.
Shadows you control get +1/+1
2/2
The two colors that are the most in opposition in my mind are Black and White. Good vs Evil, Lawfulness vs Corruption, Light vs Darkness. So I wanted to make a mechanic to highlight that opposition and thought that the concept of an eclipse fit nicely. Blotting out the light casts darkness onto the world, hence the idea to flip the card into something indiscernable.
Design is not my strong suit, but thanks to this context, I can see the appeal!
Eclipse: Turn target creature you control face down. It's a 2/2 white and black Shadow creature.
Occult Lumimancer -
Creature - Human Warlock (r)
At the beginning of your end step, eclipse.
0/1
Rebirth to Darkness -
Instant (c)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield, then eclipse it.
Shadow Collector -
Creature - Human Warlock (u)
When Shadow Collector enters the battlefield, create a 0/0 white and black Shadow creature token.
Shadows you control get +1/+1
2/2
The two colors that are the most in opposition in my mind are Black and White. Good vs Evil, Lawfulness vs Corruption, Light vs Darkness. So I wanted to make a mechanic to highlight that opposition and thought that the concept of an eclipse fit nicely. Blotting out the light casts darkness onto the world, hence the idea to flip the card into something indiscernable.
Design is not my strong suit, but thanks to this context, I can see the appeal!
Last edited:
Damn it. I thought of basically this exact mechanic for GU. I hope no one pre-steals my other current idea.
I could argue about the power and rarity of these designs, but I think we're more focused on the keyword here, which seems excellent for UR. Nice one!
This seems cool. Since you're straying from the traditional "colorless 2/2 face down," I wonder if it's more interesting to use a different P/T. The creature already requires a distinction for being BW. I do like the 1 drop as a 2/2, though. I even wonder if it's a bit much, assuming these are for standard. Overall, I like the name of the keyword and the idea.A new mechanic for the Orzhov guild.
Eclipse: Turn target creature you control face down. It's a 2/2 white and black Shadow creature.
Occult Lumimancer -
Creature - Human Warlock (r)
At the beginning of your end step, eclipse.
0/1
Rebirth to Darkness -
Instant (c)
Return target creature from your creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield, then eclipse it.
Shadow Collector -
Creature - Human Warlock (u)
When Shadow Collector enters the battlefield, create a 0/0 white and black Shadow creature token.
Shadows you control get +1/+1
2/2
I figured that since Morph, Manifest, Ixidron and even Cyber Conversion (which adds the artifact type) are all 2/2, it might be easier to remember. That being said, you might still be right. It would open different card design possibilities.
I did have standard in mind. Since most one mana 2/1s are at uncommon, I figured that a 2/2 would be acceptable at rare.
Thanks, looking forward to your designs if you participate!
This is a really fun design prompt! I'm taking a swing at my favorite guild: Boros. These guys have an interesting record with guild mechanics. Radiance sucked bad (maybe it was good in limited? I didn't play draft at that time), Battalion was cool, Mentor was somewhere in the middle. The guild has contributed some iconic cards to the game and basically gave this color pair its identity, but their mechanics don't seem to find much life outside of their sets (unlike Surveil, Evolve, Populate, etc.) So this is my attempt to give them a mechanic that feels right for them, but could be expanded to other planes and other colors.
Proficient is a creature keyword that means: "Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, add one mana of any of its colors. Spend this mana only to activate abilities."
Just realized my Viashino uses the long-form version of adding mana in its reminder text. That's what I get for working on an old-border cube before jumping into this challenge!
Proficient is a creature keyword that means: "Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, add one mana of any of its colors. Spend this mana only to activate abilities."
Just realized my Viashino uses the long-form version of adding mana in its reminder text. That's what I get for working on an old-border cube before jumping into this challenge!
Well, working in an old border cube and having battleforge angel which invalidates all other creatures in that cube does that.
Tldr: I am curious how to balance the angel with any old border cube.
That said: I am thinking on an admission from the old timers viewpoint.
Edit: I do not mean this as an insult strionic, but I think your admission is unbalanced (but fun). The first two are okay, but the rare is bonkers compared to the others.
Edit edit: bonkers means blow out of the water bonkers, especially in an old border cube. (Read I murder someone to get that kind of power in my hands)
Last edited:
I had a similar thought, but apparently my brain only wants to think of dumb counter-based mechanics, which is kinda boring to spread out to all ten guilds (though doing something with Finality counters might be interesting for Orzhov...)
I have two counter mechanics right now and have RG and GW left. I thought of a counter mechanic for both.
I'm also really glad that my idea isn't Finality counters with Orzhov, or I'd look like a thief.
Nope. Well, kind of. But sometimes your Rally the Righteous couldn't hit your entire board and so you failed to kill when a simple Trumpet Blast would have done.
You weren't casting that card to untap... well, okay, Thundersong Trumpeter was both insane to untap and both colors of your deck. That one got upshifted when you mouse over it, that was a common at the time. Maybe not even the best common because Skyknight Legionnaire benefitted from a flier-light environment in triple-Ravnica. (less so later, Orzhov made spirit tokens, Simic had Assault Zeppelid at common. Also less so once people figured out the triple-Ravnica Izzet Drake Familiar deck, which was absolutely stellar. Have you heard the good word of Mark of Eviction?)
Other exceptions that didn't suck in Limited: Wojek Embermage versus Saproling tokens. Cleansing Beam versus your opponent's entire deck, if you were careful.
And don't forget the one actually good card: Bathe in Light made the finals of a Pro Tour, and the winner described his group's testing with "I realized that I didn’t want to play Zoo; the mana is inconsistent, and we didn’t have the Bathe in Light tech." - it was not commonly known before PT Honolulu.
Part of poor Radiance's problem is that it was on the most random cards where I wouldn't even play them if they targeted everything. But another part is that they were overcosted for the Radiance:
-compare Cleansing Beam to Seismic Wave, although that's partially modern power creep.
-Incite Hysteria is literally worse than half a preexisting split card. In two different ways!
-on the other hand, Bathe in Light holds up great, because it does more than Brave the Elements (which didn't even exist yet!) but costs less than Akroma's Blessing (let's not talk about Reverent Mantra...)
I really liked RGD, in case you can't tell. I was a young teen punk and very plugged into both Limited and Standard at the time. One of my all-time favorite formats. Mindmoil is still my favorite stupid build around Limited rare of all time. (hint: bouncelands.)
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I was tempted to denounce radiance largely, but couldn’t have written about its historic context as thoroughly as you did. Excellent post! The only addition I have is that I feel Leave No Trace deserves a little more love for being a very cheap one-sided Tempest of Light. That’s pretty decent now that many players’ main format is Commander!
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Oh, and also because sometimes you happen to play the same colors as your opponent, and the fact that a positive or negative effect affects the whole board instead of just your side or their side really hurts.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I think this is awesome and I can't wait to see them
Make sure to pick your two favorites for me to judge though Some alternatives: overdo, dramatize, sensationalize, hype up ("if ~ was hyped up"). These all play into Rakdos going the extra, extra mile while putting on a show.
Maybe the mechanic could be called “hype” and then it could say “if ~ was hyped up?” I feel like two-word keywords feel a bit odd sometimes.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
One of the other big issues with Radiance was the mirror. Your board might be safe if you cleansing beam their saprolings, but if you needed to kill Sylesnya Guildmage, you probably hit a few of your own as well.
Also possibly the least boros feeling mechanic ever
One of the other big issues with Radiance was the mirror. Your board might be safe if you cleansing beam their saprolings, but if you needed to kill Sylesnya Guildmage, you probably hit a few of your own as well.
Also possibly the least boros feeling mechanic ever
The gameplay was ass, but come on--having the literal cop faction affecting you differently purely based on color and not on your allegiances or your actions seems fairly reasonable from a flavor standpoint. (American here, other people might have a more reasonable set of expectations for their country's institutions)
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I was just talking about this with my (politically left-leaning) brother-in-law, who is a cop. It's slightly worrisome that the ACAB attitude is adopted as is in countries with a police force that is... more professional than the American one. At the same time the Dutch police force has its problems with racial profiling as well, so your point may still stand.
This is objectively correct. I just think it would be fun for Boros to have a multiformat all-star that catches a ban after 8 months on the scene. If I were to put this Angel through development, I'd turn the following knobs in this order:
-Give the ability a "once per turn" clause.
-Make the token come into play without attacking.
-Make the ability cost
-Make the card cost
-Change the creature type from Angel to Brushwagg.
-Cut first strike.
-Start over.
For the purposes of the contest, I'm more bothered by the fact that it is kind of straddling the line between being a Red card and a Gold card. I may submit a re-worked version of the card before the deadline for the consideration of our Supreme Arbiter.
Regarding the discussion of Radiance in limited: it's fascinating to read stories of more competitive play in this era. Ravnica came out during my freshman year of college, when I was just getting back into the game. At that time, my favorite way to play was collecting the preconstructed decks and letting friends borrow them, then gradually upgrading them with random pulls from booster packs. I seem to remember cutting all the Radiance cards from "Charge of the Boros" almost immediately, probably to add more Lightning Helix and Skyknight Legionnaire. It was honestly an incredibly fun way to play, and the Ravnica Block decks had incredible flavor and identity. But I didn't have any copies of Char, and my only shockland was a Temple Garden, so I was functionally playing a different game altogether compared to the competitive scene.
I feel like Azorius kind of lacks mechanical identity in Ravnica. Forecast was incredibly forgettable. Detain is thematically cool, but it's largely uninteresting. Addendum felt like the decent cards had an option you'd almost always use; usually the instant.
I tried to make Addendum better:
The common is usable in any kind of blue deck without being overwhelming, so it should make a draftable common.
I feel like the uncommon has a ton of good options. Run through all the uses in your head.
If Cryptic Command was WU and was printed today.
Counter a spell feels necessary on a card like this.
Bounce a creature is a slight downgrade to bouncing a permanent.
Gain 4 life is pretty mild.
Another strong effect, but slightly worse than drawing a card.
I made the latter three effects slightly worse so that this wouldn't be too strong when it hits three options. I think it creates an interesting minigame of not wanting the opponent to get value out of the "Counter target spell" effect during their own turn.
I tried to make Addendum better:
The common is usable in any kind of blue deck without being overwhelming, so it should make a draftable common.
I feel like the uncommon has a ton of good options. Run through all the uses in your head.
If Cryptic Command was WU and was printed today.
Counter a spell feels necessary on a card like this.
Bounce a creature is a slight downgrade to bouncing a permanent.
Gain 4 life is pretty mild.
Another strong effect, but slightly worse than drawing a card.
I made the latter three effects slightly worse so that this wouldn't be too strong when it hits three options. I think it creates an interesting minigame of not wanting the opponent to get value out of the "Counter target spell" effect during their own turn.
Last edited: