Thanks to and inspiration from fun memories, Grillo_Parlantes’s ”Penny Pincer Cube” project (particularly the artifact/golem themes, bounce-land mentality and to all of the folks that assisted with the project), and to tilt_aint_sexy, grapplingfarang and AlmightyGnat for testing sealed with me on Magic Online.
A marriage of Rise of the Eldrazi and Scars of Mirrodin Block, this fantasy set aims to meld the tension and themes of each limited environment with cards from Magic’s vast backlog to create dynamic gameplay experiences.
Rise of the Eldrazi is famous for its rich drafting experience with a plethora of build-around archetypes as well as smooth mana-usage system to advance the game state as the turns increment. Scars of Mirrodin Block is infamous for its resurrection of the poison counter, a mechanic that has affected almost every constructed format, but beyond the damage tension created by infect, it also featured interplay between artifact- and non-artifact-centric cards. A simple card like Shatter could be a mulligan or a Doom Blade, depending on the composition of the opponent’s draft and build: delectable!
Lastly, it should be noted that this project was constrained by the financial value of cards included. No card was to be over five dollars, but the majority of cards were to be under a dollar. This set is meant to be able to be drafted with less well-known individuals at little risk of theft; the entire construction (sans basics) was under 200 dollars after shipping and most of that is just in bulk around 10 cents per card! (In most situations, it should be more annoying to replace stolen cards than the monetary cost stung a wallet.)
Driving Mechanics
True to the union described above, to most frequent mechanics present are from SOM and ROE: Infect, Proliferate, Level up, Eldrazi Spawn, Metalcraft. Including these marquee abilities, several additional concepts aid to recreate and evolve the parent experiences. The following mechanics are the core:
· Counters of the -1/-1 variety (wither, infect, persist, etc.): The infect threat has created one of the more interesting dichotomies in limited Magic. Along with the awkwardness of decks including infect and non-infect creatures, the -1/-1 counters dealt during damage slowly accrue to diminish the strength of larger power and toughness. Wither and persist add to the interplay already occurring.
· Proliferate: Primarily, this added to poison and -1/-1 counters in SOM, but there are additional cards with counters that gain an advantage, including level up in this set.
· Levelers, strive, invokers, equip costs, repeatable activated abilities, CMC5+ spells: Both SOM and ROE had numerous cards that allowed players to invest spare mana to further develop their board state, whether through activated abilities or large mana costs.
· Spawn, mana ramp, bounce lands: Spawn aided mana production in ROE, and myr mana ramp did so in SOM. Bounce lands are a natural fit to improve the mana situation of any deck.
· Artifact-supporting mechanics (metalcraft, affinity, etc.): A Shatter becomes a Doom Blade becomes a mulligan. The tensions around artifacts create a strange and rewarding valuation system that has been amped up a notch or two from Scars of Mirrodin Block.
· “Dinosaurs”: In stark contrast to the artifact themes, creatures that are large and aren’t artifacts have their own benefits.
Supporting Concepts
To supplement the primary mechanics, and to add some interesting subthemes, the following mechanics are part of this set:
· Big toughness, indestructibility: Both of these attributes are annoying in typical environments, but -1/-1 counters and a healthy mix of removal spells
· Charge, filibuster & other counters: A few cards care about counters that aren’t related to the infect mechanic and can be manipulated in interesting ways (only if spellcasters dare to think outside the box)!
· Myr: The subtle tribal synergies of Scars Block are back again, with some help from the original Mirrodin Block.
· Land sacrifice/etc., land destruction/etc., landfall, cards in hand as a resource: Beyond big mana, Ravnica-era bounce lands open up possibilities for additional synergy and risks. A small subset of spells are included to interact with these value-generating lands while providing typical limited-environment plays.
· Untap, tap: Soliton holding a Heavy Arbalest was a mainstay of the triple Scars draft format, and by branching out of that format, some Shadowmoor-Eventide untappers have been added (along with cool auras that grant creatures tap abilities) to bolster the bolt throwing!
· Sacrifice: Furnace Celebration was iconic in the original Scars Block, giving a unique drafting experience for those building around it. It’s a natural fit with Atog-style cards and artifacts that can replace themselves when they go to the grave, as well as eldrazi-spawn tokens.
· Conditional removal: Many NWO draft formats are defined by the way removal interacts with the majority of available cards, and Rise and Scars Block were no different. Sorcery-speed removal forces players to decide to use their mana on their own turns. Expensive removal puts a player to the question “Answer or threat?” in the middling stages of the game. Beyond the cost and timing of removal, the classes of threats that may be answered, the finality of the answers and possible additional costs (in time or resources) create a richer experience than “Vindicate, go.”
· Conditional tutors: Cogs (artifacts with CMC 1 or less), equipment, auras and basic land may be searched for via non-rares. A few rares search for more powerful or less specific cards (such as artifacts in general). By focusing on conditional tutors, players will have to weigh card advantage and accessibility of already (as well as to-be) drafted cards with more powerful and/or searchable cards in packs containing tutors.
You can view this set at CubeTutor (with new rarity in the filter->tags area): http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/23512
What’s Missing
To pack so many interplaying ideas into only 220 cards, some of the mainstays of progenitor formats were left by the wayside.
· Defenders: A novel theme to include, defenders almost never seems to be a fan favorite. Eschewing it was an easy decision.
· Broodwarden, Raid Bombardment: Spawn creation is much lower in frequency than it was in Rise, and as such, these cards aren’t invited to the party.
· Venerated Teacher, Time of Heroes, Champion’s Drake: Proliferate steps in to teach the lessons of Venerated Teacher, but Champion’s Drake and Time of Heroes don’t have stand-ins as this format seems a bit faster than Rise and there are not as many leveling creatures in total.
· Surreal Memoir, Kiln Fiend: Some of the more brutal archetypes from Rise of the Eldrazi drafting have been left out along with all rebounding spells.
· Phyrexian mana: The exclusion of phyrexian mana came down to two things: balance of cards among colors and, sadly, secondary-market value of some of the more-interesting cards.
· Tribal golem: With splicers competing for colored creature slots, the golem theme (predominantly in New Phyrexia, but seen in all of Scars Block) was discarded in favor of more varied creatures.
By The Numbers
The original sets, along with Masters sets and Innistrad, set forth interesting precedents for the numerical breakdown of card classes across rarities. The ratios of Myr, Levelers, infect creatures, CMC-expensive spells, equipment and artifacts were taken Scars of Mirrodin and Rise of the Eldrazi (and mostly stayed the same). Additionally, the ratios of removal (both artifact and non-artifact) was similar to that seem in Scars and Rise, respectively. More information available upon request.
Color Coherence
Originally, this project was to contain all 10 Ravnica Block bounce lands, but after seeing how frequently they would occur in the uncommon slot with only 60 unique inclusions, the quantity was reduced to 5 and a small set of themes were constructed with the idea to have colors of overlapping bounce lands tie together five color-pairs into triads.
· Blue-Black-Green, Infect: Sultai has the most impressive infect and proliferate creatures, rooting the strategy in it. Additional infectors can be found each in the commons of red and white.
· Black-Green-Red, Sacrifice: Since eldrazi spawn are only created by Jund-colored spells and Furnace Celebration falls within the shard, Jund was the next natural triad (linking green-red to black-green). More sacrificial artifacts are found in blue and white.
· Green-Red-White, Tokens: With green-red already making spawn, and myr token creation in white, Naya is the token triad. Both red and white effects that reward “going wide”.
· Red-White-Blue, Artifacts Matter: White-blue combines with red to form the core of the metalcraft and other artifact themes.
· White-Blue-Black, Levelers: Lastly, Esper finds the majority of levelers worth playing to complete the cycle of triads. Again, additional levelers are found in the commons of the other colors (red and green).
Ease of Construction
One major design focus was ease of pack construction: no “print runs” needed (… for now)! This fantasy set was built to “easily” fabricate packs through creating 15 piles and then adding one card from each pile to each booster. To create 48 packs, a person needs 6 of each “c2”, 5 of each “c1”, 3 of each “u” and 1 of each “r”. (I suggest making lists of each pile for reference if needed.)
· Five common2 piles (“c2” tag on CubeTutor): One pile for each color, with artifacts that have activated abilities of those colors included. Each pile should include 8 unique cards.
· Six common2 piles (“c2” tag on CubeTutor): One pile for each color, with artifacts that have activated abilities of those color identities included, as well as one hybrid card and an equipment. One additional pile for the remaining color cards. Each pile should include 10 unique cards.
· Three uncommon piles (“u” tag on CubeTutor): One pile for each color, with artifacts that have activated abilities of those color identities included, as well as one hybrid card, one myr card, one bounce land and an equipment. One additional pile for the remaining color cards. Then, combine blue with red, white with green and artifacts with black. Each pile should include 10 unique cards.
· One rare pile (“r” tag on CubeTutor): All cards that are marked as rare. This pile should include 60 unique cards.
There will be a few leftover cards (mostly uncommons) at the end of this process!
Sealed Gameplay Notes
As mentioned above, this set has been tested in sealed format only (as I have no way to simulate drafting easily via Magic Online).
Most decks were constructed to explore synergy but focused on maximizing removal and power. Unfortunately, this meant infect wasn’t greatly played. The average game was 8-12 turns in length, with at least 2/3rds of the games being fairly back and forth. Most decks splashed a third color, but were primarily two colors. (A few decks splashed a third *and* fourth color via Terramorphic Expanse, Growth Spasm and mana myr/bounce lands.)
Compleat Descending (working title), A “Limited Masters” Fantasy Set
(What is a fantasy set? It’s designed like a cube, but packs are made similar to conventional Magic: the Gathering boosters in an attempt to recreate the traditional draft experience. Such a collection of cards involves a few hundred unique cards and close to one thousand total cards with which to create the packs. Check out some pictures of pack creation for this project to further illustrate this concept: http://imgur.com/a/DFBE3 )A marriage of Rise of the Eldrazi and Scars of Mirrodin Block, this fantasy set aims to meld the tension and themes of each limited environment with cards from Magic’s vast backlog to create dynamic gameplay experiences.
Rise of the Eldrazi is famous for its rich drafting experience with a plethora of build-around archetypes as well as smooth mana-usage system to advance the game state as the turns increment. Scars of Mirrodin Block is infamous for its resurrection of the poison counter, a mechanic that has affected almost every constructed format, but beyond the damage tension created by infect, it also featured interplay between artifact- and non-artifact-centric cards. A simple card like Shatter could be a mulligan or a Doom Blade, depending on the composition of the opponent’s draft and build: delectable!
Lastly, it should be noted that this project was constrained by the financial value of cards included. No card was to be over five dollars, but the majority of cards were to be under a dollar. This set is meant to be able to be drafted with less well-known individuals at little risk of theft; the entire construction (sans basics) was under 200 dollars after shipping and most of that is just in bulk around 10 cents per card! (In most situations, it should be more annoying to replace stolen cards than the monetary cost stung a wallet.)
Driving Mechanics
True to the union described above, to most frequent mechanics present are from SOM and ROE: Infect, Proliferate, Level up, Eldrazi Spawn, Metalcraft. Including these marquee abilities, several additional concepts aid to recreate and evolve the parent experiences. The following mechanics are the core:
· Counters of the -1/-1 variety (wither, infect, persist, etc.): The infect threat has created one of the more interesting dichotomies in limited Magic. Along with the awkwardness of decks including infect and non-infect creatures, the -1/-1 counters dealt during damage slowly accrue to diminish the strength of larger power and toughness. Wither and persist add to the interplay already occurring.
· Proliferate: Primarily, this added to poison and -1/-1 counters in SOM, but there are additional cards with counters that gain an advantage, including level up in this set.
· Levelers, strive, invokers, equip costs, repeatable activated abilities, CMC5+ spells: Both SOM and ROE had numerous cards that allowed players to invest spare mana to further develop their board state, whether through activated abilities or large mana costs.
· Spawn, mana ramp, bounce lands: Spawn aided mana production in ROE, and myr mana ramp did so in SOM. Bounce lands are a natural fit to improve the mana situation of any deck.
· Artifact-supporting mechanics (metalcraft, affinity, etc.): A Shatter becomes a Doom Blade becomes a mulligan. The tensions around artifacts create a strange and rewarding valuation system that has been amped up a notch or two from Scars of Mirrodin Block.
· “Dinosaurs”: In stark contrast to the artifact themes, creatures that are large and aren’t artifacts have their own benefits.
Supporting Concepts
To supplement the primary mechanics, and to add some interesting subthemes, the following mechanics are part of this set:
· Big toughness, indestructibility: Both of these attributes are annoying in typical environments, but -1/-1 counters and a healthy mix of removal spells
· Charge, filibuster & other counters: A few cards care about counters that aren’t related to the infect mechanic and can be manipulated in interesting ways (only if spellcasters dare to think outside the box)!
· Myr: The subtle tribal synergies of Scars Block are back again, with some help from the original Mirrodin Block.
· Land sacrifice/etc., land destruction/etc., landfall, cards in hand as a resource: Beyond big mana, Ravnica-era bounce lands open up possibilities for additional synergy and risks. A small subset of spells are included to interact with these value-generating lands while providing typical limited-environment plays.
· Untap, tap: Soliton holding a Heavy Arbalest was a mainstay of the triple Scars draft format, and by branching out of that format, some Shadowmoor-Eventide untappers have been added (along with cool auras that grant creatures tap abilities) to bolster the bolt throwing!
· Sacrifice: Furnace Celebration was iconic in the original Scars Block, giving a unique drafting experience for those building around it. It’s a natural fit with Atog-style cards and artifacts that can replace themselves when they go to the grave, as well as eldrazi-spawn tokens.
· Conditional removal: Many NWO draft formats are defined by the way removal interacts with the majority of available cards, and Rise and Scars Block were no different. Sorcery-speed removal forces players to decide to use their mana on their own turns. Expensive removal puts a player to the question “Answer or threat?” in the middling stages of the game. Beyond the cost and timing of removal, the classes of threats that may be answered, the finality of the answers and possible additional costs (in time or resources) create a richer experience than “Vindicate, go.”
· Conditional tutors: Cogs (artifacts with CMC 1 or less), equipment, auras and basic land may be searched for via non-rares. A few rares search for more powerful or less specific cards (such as artifacts in general). By focusing on conditional tutors, players will have to weigh card advantage and accessibility of already (as well as to-be) drafted cards with more powerful and/or searchable cards in packs containing tutors.
You can view this set at CubeTutor (with new rarity in the filter->tags area): http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/23512
What’s Missing
To pack so many interplaying ideas into only 220 cards, some of the mainstays of progenitor formats were left by the wayside.
· Defenders: A novel theme to include, defenders almost never seems to be a fan favorite. Eschewing it was an easy decision.
· Broodwarden, Raid Bombardment: Spawn creation is much lower in frequency than it was in Rise, and as such, these cards aren’t invited to the party.
· Venerated Teacher, Time of Heroes, Champion’s Drake: Proliferate steps in to teach the lessons of Venerated Teacher, but Champion’s Drake and Time of Heroes don’t have stand-ins as this format seems a bit faster than Rise and there are not as many leveling creatures in total.
· Surreal Memoir, Kiln Fiend: Some of the more brutal archetypes from Rise of the Eldrazi drafting have been left out along with all rebounding spells.
· Phyrexian mana: The exclusion of phyrexian mana came down to two things: balance of cards among colors and, sadly, secondary-market value of some of the more-interesting cards.
· Tribal golem: With splicers competing for colored creature slots, the golem theme (predominantly in New Phyrexia, but seen in all of Scars Block) was discarded in favor of more varied creatures.
By The Numbers
The original sets, along with Masters sets and Innistrad, set forth interesting precedents for the numerical breakdown of card classes across rarities. The ratios of Myr, Levelers, infect creatures, CMC-expensive spells, equipment and artifacts were taken Scars of Mirrodin and Rise of the Eldrazi (and mostly stayed the same). Additionally, the ratios of removal (both artifact and non-artifact) was similar to that seem in Scars and Rise, respectively. More information available upon request.
Color Coherence
Originally, this project was to contain all 10 Ravnica Block bounce lands, but after seeing how frequently they would occur in the uncommon slot with only 60 unique inclusions, the quantity was reduced to 5 and a small set of themes were constructed with the idea to have colors of overlapping bounce lands tie together five color-pairs into triads.
· Blue-Black-Green, Infect: Sultai has the most impressive infect and proliferate creatures, rooting the strategy in it. Additional infectors can be found each in the commons of red and white.
· Black-Green-Red, Sacrifice: Since eldrazi spawn are only created by Jund-colored spells and Furnace Celebration falls within the shard, Jund was the next natural triad (linking green-red to black-green). More sacrificial artifacts are found in blue and white.
· Green-Red-White, Tokens: With green-red already making spawn, and myr token creation in white, Naya is the token triad. Both red and white effects that reward “going wide”.
· Red-White-Blue, Artifacts Matter: White-blue combines with red to form the core of the metalcraft and other artifact themes.
· White-Blue-Black, Levelers: Lastly, Esper finds the majority of levelers worth playing to complete the cycle of triads. Again, additional levelers are found in the commons of the other colors (red and green).
Ease of Construction
One major design focus was ease of pack construction: no “print runs” needed (… for now)! This fantasy set was built to “easily” fabricate packs through creating 15 piles and then adding one card from each pile to each booster. To create 48 packs, a person needs 6 of each “c2”, 5 of each “c1”, 3 of each “u” and 1 of each “r”. (I suggest making lists of each pile for reference if needed.)
· Five common2 piles (“c2” tag on CubeTutor): One pile for each color, with artifacts that have activated abilities of those colors included. Each pile should include 8 unique cards.
· Six common2 piles (“c2” tag on CubeTutor): One pile for each color, with artifacts that have activated abilities of those color identities included, as well as one hybrid card and an equipment. One additional pile for the remaining color cards. Each pile should include 10 unique cards.
· Three uncommon piles (“u” tag on CubeTutor): One pile for each color, with artifacts that have activated abilities of those color identities included, as well as one hybrid card, one myr card, one bounce land and an equipment. One additional pile for the remaining color cards. Then, combine blue with red, white with green and artifacts with black. Each pile should include 10 unique cards.
· One rare pile (“r” tag on CubeTutor): All cards that are marked as rare. This pile should include 60 unique cards.
There will be a few leftover cards (mostly uncommons) at the end of this process!
Sealed Gameplay Notes
As mentioned above, this set has been tested in sealed format only (as I have no way to simulate drafting easily via Magic Online).
Most decks were constructed to explore synergy but focused on maximizing removal and power. Unfortunately, this meant infect wasn’t greatly played. The average game was 8-12 turns in length, with at least 2/3rds of the games being fairly back and forth. Most decks splashed a third color, but were primarily two colors. (A few decks splashed a third *and* fourth color via Terramorphic Expanse, Growth Spasm and mana myr/bounce lands.)
