Just on the general subject of Ravnica mechanics: I keep expecting the "watermarks matter" mechanics from Unstable to reappear in a Ravnica set.
General [Contest] Ravnica Reimagined (Entry Closed - Judging Complete!)
- Thread starter Onderzeeboot
- Start date
Oooh. Fixed.
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That would be fun. It could work although it would go against their design philosophy.
We haven’t had a Ravnica set with new cards in many years now. War of the Spark 2019 before the whole Phyrexia storyline.
So I've been getting a little into commander recently (I know, I know... but it feels a bit like cube design in that everything is possible) and I've become obsessed with making Tormod, the Desecrator work. Thus my Golgari mechanic is inspired by him. Decompose is what the Golgari always did, they just now found a name for it. I like the idea of some organic thing that has served its purpose and now gives way to new life expressed in the card being exiled rather than just hitting the yard. It is now permanently gone and something else was created in its stead.
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Quick note, your entry does not meet the contest criteria, specifically this contest rule: "Two of the cards should feature the new mechanic itself, and the other card should interact favorably with the mechanic in some way." Only Shambling Compost features the keyword. Mentioning the keyword, like Resourcefulness does (edit: did), counts as interacting favorably with the mechanic in some way. (Edit: The old) Moldervine Goliath obviously falls into this last category as well
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Oh, you're right. I'll edit my entry.Quick note, your entry does not meet the contest criteria, specifically this contest rule: "Two of the cards should feature the new mechanic itself, and the other card should interact favorably with the mechanic in some way." Only Shambling Compost features the keyword. Mentioning the keyword, like Resourcefulness does, counts as interacting favorably with the mechanic in some way. Moldervine Goliath obviously falls into this last category as well
I decided to keep it simple, and using my fave guild.
Levy is an Orzhov mechanic that taxes blocking, so I made aggressive cards that love attacking and punish your opponent for blocking. I would enjoy playing with all these cards, personally, and I think that's a good metric for custom cards.
Levy is an Orzhov mechanic that taxes blocking, so I made aggressive cards that love attacking and punish your opponent for blocking. I would enjoy playing with all these cards, personally, and I think that's a good metric for custom cards.
NO GRUUL!?!?!
WHY NO GRUUL?!?!
GRUUL BEST GUILD
LET ME TELL YOU STORY
OUT ON RUBBLEBELT WE MEET ANGRY GIANT
HE VERY STRONG AND VERY ANGRY
HE BEAT UP ALL GRUUL WHEN WE JUST TRY AND RECLAIM OUR TURF
GRUUL CHAMPION COMES AND TRIES TO BEAT GIANT
THEY END UP KNOCKING EACH OTHER OUT
RURIC GAINS RESPECT OF GIANT AND LEARNS BRUTALITY OF GIANTS HOME
RURIC STARTS BECOMING MORE AGGRESSIVE
IN TURN OTHER GRUUL CLANS START BECOMING MORE BRUTAL AS WELL
GRUUL LIKE TO 'TRAMPLE'
BUT TRAMPLE TOO BORING
GRUUL NOW BRUTAL
ALL GRUUL LEARN OF THESE TACTICS
BRUTALITY ALLOWS FOR MORE DAMAGE
AMBUSHING NOW LEADS TO *counts on fingers*... THIRTY TIMES THE VALUE!
GRUUL NOW BEST CLAN
RUN RAVNICA THE WAY IT ALWAYS SHOULD BE RUN
WHY NO GRUUL?!?!
GRUUL BEST GUILD
LET ME TELL YOU STORY
OUT ON RUBBLEBELT WE MEET ANGRY GIANT
HE VERY STRONG AND VERY ANGRY
HE BEAT UP ALL GRUUL WHEN WE JUST TRY AND RECLAIM OUR TURF
GRUUL CHAMPION COMES AND TRIES TO BEAT GIANT
THEY END UP KNOCKING EACH OTHER OUT
RURIC GAINS RESPECT OF GIANT AND LEARNS BRUTALITY OF GIANTS HOME
RURIC STARTS BECOMING MORE AGGRESSIVE
IN TURN OTHER GRUUL CLANS START BECOMING MORE BRUTAL AS WELL
GRUUL LIKE TO 'TRAMPLE'
BUT TRAMPLE TOO BORING
GRUUL NOW BRUTAL
ALL GRUUL LEARN OF THESE TACTICS
BRUTALITY ALLOWS FOR MORE DAMAGE
AMBUSHING NOW LEADS TO *counts on fingers*... THIRTY TIMES THE VALUE!
GRUUL NOW BEST CLAN
RUN RAVNICA THE WAY IT ALWAYS SHOULD BE RUN
landofMordor
Administrator
Submission: Strike
The Golgari as we knew it is no more. Betrayed by their queen, the lowliest laborers of the Swarm suffered immensely at the frontlines of the Phyrexian invasion. Their efforts to rebuild are obstructed at every turn -- the unending tariffs of the Orzhov, the brutal policing of the Boros, and the Guildpact's newly interplanar ambitions. The guilds have failed the Golgari, and now they turn to each other for strength...
Picket Enforcer
Creature - Gorgon Citizen
Strike 1 (
, Tap another untapped creature you control: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and it goes on strike. Activate only once and only as a sorcery.)Picket Enforcer has deathtouch if it's on strike.
2/2
-----
"It might be hard to stand up to the bosses, but just try bowing to 'em once you're made of stone." -- Golgari Union shanty
(Common)
Drudge's Education
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has Ward
and Strike 2 (, Tap another untapped creature you control: Put two +1/+1 counters on this creature and it goes on strike. Activate only once and only as a sorcery.)-----
Golgari sewer workers habitually inoculated themselves against dysentery and salmonella. Guild coersion was just another kind of disease.
(Uncommon)
Svothgos, Shelter of the Gateless
Legendary Creature - Plant Zombie
Vigilance
Undergrowth - Svothgos enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card in your graveyard.
Whenever another nontoken creature you control with a counter on it dies, create a 1/1 Plant Zombie creature token.
3/3
-----
"They would have us believe our shackles are as inevitable as death. But through death, I have found the strength to break our chains."
(Rare)
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Quick note once more, your submission does not meet the contest criteria. While Drudge's Education does mention the keyword, I would count it as interacting favorably with the mechanic for the purpose of meeting the "two of the cards should feature the new mechanic itself, and the other card should interact favorably with the mechanic in some way" rule. You're the second person to make a submission that breaks this rule, which means I should probably clarify the original post a bit! Sorry for not being entirely clear!Picket Enforcer
Creature - Gorgon Citizen
Strike 1 (
Picket Enforcer has deathtouch if it's on strike.
2/2
-----
"It might be hard to stand up to the bosses, but just try bowing to 'em once you're made of stone." -- Golgari Union shanty
(Common)
Drudge's Education
Instant
Kicker - Tap an untapped creature you control.
Target creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn. If Educate the Masses was kicked, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it goes on strike.
-----
Golgari sewer workers habitually inoculated themselves against dysentery and salmonella. Guild coersion was just another kind of disease.
(Uncommon)
Svothgos, Shelter of the Gateless
Legendary Creature - Plant Zombie
Vigilance
Undergrowth - Svothgos enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card in your graveyard.
Whenever another nontoken creature you control with a counter on it dies, create a 1/1 Plant Zombie creature token.
3/3
-----
"They would have us believe our shackles are as inevitable as death. But through death, I have found the strength to break our chains."
(Rare)
Edit: I updated the rule to "Two of the cards should feature the new mechanic itself (not reference it, feature it), and the other card should interact favorably with the mechanic in some way (this includes straight up referencing the mechanic, e.g. like Astral Slide does for cycling)." This isn't a change to the contest rules, only a clarification of the original intent.
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I came up with a rather similar mechanic. (All of my cards are finalized. They're just being slow rolled to post.)
Not sure if it's allowed, but I went with a reprint for my common. I added the "during your turn" restriction so that it wouldn't be so painful to attack into. Also because GRUUL SMASH!!!
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I’m conflicted because I love the interaction between this cleanest of fight effects and your mechanic, and recognizing when the perfect synergy card already exists is an important skill for designers too, but I’ld say reprints very clearly break the contest rule “design three cards: one common, one uncommon, and one rare or mythic card (art is optional)”. Coming up with new art and flavor text is not the same as designing a new card, after all. There’s probably something you can do to tweak the card and make it your own.
Not sure if it's allowed, but I went with a reprint for my common. I added the "during your turn" restriction so that it wouldn't be so painful to attack into. Also because GRUUL SMASH!!!
That said, your biggest problem right now is originality. There’s an argument to be made that your mechanic maybe just about differs enough from Kirblinx’s to count, but your “favorably interacting” card treads in very similar design space as theirs does as well. It sucks when you have a good idea and somebody beats you to the punch, but I can’t ignore that, because otherwise people can just tweak and improve upon someone else’s submission. While having people iterate on one’s ideas online is a great way to hone and finetune your designs, it’s a bit at odds with the concept of a contest, isn’t it? I’m sorry!
Edit: By the way, can I say how cool it is that so many of you are participating in this contest? It’s awesome to see all these different submissions rolling in <3
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This wasn't a tweak of his idea. Nor is it an idea I'd submit as a final. All of my ten ideas are designed, but I'm not trying to spam the thread about a month before the end. Would you like me to DM you my mechanics so that you're aware that they're already finalized?
@Onderzeeboot, I got one question: The card that mentions the mechanic and/or interacts with it favorably, is it also allowed to feature the mechanic itself?
To be fair, I also came up with "what if the Gruul do stuff if you deal excess damage?" as a mechanic — they aren't a terribly deep guild in terms of what they want to do (It's "play the platonic ideal of creature-based midrange, where your creatures are bigger than their creatures", by the way. That's the Gruul thing).
Personally, I feel like it's not a problem if people iterate on each-other's mechanics. I mean, the prize is quite literally a gift card.
(EDIT: Also, as a side note, @Brad... I feel like a lot of your designs are really good, but they don't feel very connected to the Guilds they're supposed to be representing. For most of them it's not really an issue, but it stands out quite a bit with Commanding Soloist and Drurd of the Tiny Axe, which straight-up feel like they're from a completely different plane. I dunno if that's something Onder is going to take into account, but I just thought I'd mention it because it kinda bugs me a little.)
Personally, I feel like it's not a problem if people iterate on each-other's mechanics. I mean, the prize is quite literally a gift card.
(EDIT: Also, as a side note, @Brad... I feel like a lot of your designs are really good, but they don't feel very connected to the Guilds they're supposed to be representing. For most of them it's not really an issue, but it stands out quite a bit with Commanding Soloist and Drurd of the Tiny Axe, which straight-up feel like they're from a completely different plane. I dunno if that's something Onder is going to take into account, but I just thought I'd mention it because it kinda bugs me a little.)
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I didn’t mean to imply that you stole Kirb’s idea, it’s just that in a contest where I have to judge each submission individually, the brownie points for the concept will go to the first one to submit the idea if two submissions are really similar.
Also, I love that you're doing all guilds, please keep doing that!
If you want to slowroll them and pick your final two submissions at the last moment, I do think it's a good idea to DM me the mechanics so you don't loose out on any brownie points
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Oop, almost forgot to answer this question. I think that's not technically against the rules of the contest, so go right ahead if it makes sense for your design! I will say that anyone trying to abuse this loophole by submitting one card with the mechanic, one card with both the mechanic and a favorable interaction, and one random card that has nothing to do with the mechanic, will likely not do well in the contest, even though they are technically fullfilling the contest requirements
I think this is what Brad is doing (just posting all 10 guilds and choosing 2 at the end). They only posted the Gruul one now because it was so close to mine, just to show that we had the same idea.I didn’t mean to imply that you stole Kirb’s idea, it’s just that in a contest where I have to judge each submission individually, the brownie points for the concept will go to the first one to submit the idea if two submissions are really similar.
Also, I love that you're doing all guilds, please keep doing that!
It's hard with this mechanic to know what the correct wording should be. I just went with what was close to what was on Aegar to be safe, but Brad's does look much cleaner.
EDIT: And in fairness to Brad and his Prey Upon reprint choice. I was really close to doing a Savage Smash reprint but thought it migh not meet the criteria, so great minds do think alike.
LadyMapi is right, it seems like a real obvious space to put the next Gruul mechanic. I just think that 'excess damage' has a little too much complexity points, so if they did this then some of the other keywords would have to be fairly grokkable. When I was researching on how to word it there are a lot of questions on how it interacts with: Deathtouch, Trample, Indestructible and Regeneration. Like all of these are decently easy to figure out for a seasoned mtg player, but I can see how a new player would be very confused.
I'm glad people enjoyed my little story, I thought it might hurt my entry a bit just not being able to explain my thought process with the design, but DO GRUUL THINK? GRUUL JUST DO.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Is Drurd a word I don't know?
landofMordor
Administrator
Updated to comply with the rules. Thank you!
I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the Bear Dude's name.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
It was so close to Druid I did a double take
I won't do the best two at the last moment, but I'll choose my finalists later? I don't even care about winning. This was a good design challenge.Also, I love that you're doing all guilds, please keep doing that!
Triumphant Orrery in particular has that "clunky but good in two color decks" vibe that a lot of Ravnican cards have had. It's also a 6/6 rather than a 4/4, assuming you choose Red and White.