General [Contest] Ravnica Reimagined (Entry Closed - Judging Complete!)

Nanonox

Nanonox

My second entry, for Rakdos.

Graverob X: When this creature enters the battlefield, mill X cards, then exile X creature cards from your graveyard. If you do, Create a Treasure token. (It’s an artifact with “{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.”)

Greedy Excavator {B/R}
Creature - Human Rogue (c)
Graverob 1.
1/1


Cursed Relic {1}{R}
Artifact - Treasure (u)
When Cursed Relic enters the battlefield, discard a card, then draw a card.
Artifacts you control have “{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells you own from exile.
{T}, Sacrifice Pilfered Relic: Add one mana of any color.


Body Hoarder {2}{B}
Creature - Human Warlock (r)
Menace.
Graverob 2.
Body Hoarder gets +1/+1 for each creature card you control in exile.
2/2

The idea was to translate graverobbing into a flavorful mechanic. You dig open the grave (mill), search the body (exile) and get some loot (Treasure). Milling and creating artifacts makes this a relatively open-ended mechanic and the designs can go in a lot of directions. The downside is that it's pretty complex (like Map tokens that have the Explore reminder text in them).

edit: Thanks @Brad for the help!
 
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Brad

Brad

Nanonox said:
My second entry, for Rakdos.

Graverob X: When this creature enters the battlefield, mill X cards, then exile X creature cards from your graveyard. If you do, Create a Treasure token. (It’s an artifact with “{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.”)

Greedy Excavator {B/R}
Creature - Human Rogue (c)
Graverob 1.
1/1


Cursed Relic {1}{R}
Artifact - Treasure (u)
Discard a card, then draw a card.
Artifacts you control have “{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells you own from exile.
{T}, Sacrifice Pilfered Relic: Add one mana of any color.


Body Hoarder {2}{B}
Creature - Human Warlock (r)
Menace, Graverob 2.
Body Hoarder gets +1/+1 for each creature card you control in exile.
2/2

The idea was to translate graverobbing into a flavorful mechanic. You dig open the grave (mill), search the body (exile) and get some loot (Treasure). Milling and creating artifacts makes this a relatively open-ended mechanic and the designs can go in a lot of directions. The downside is that it's pretty complex (like Map tokens that have the Explore reminder text in them).
Click to expand...
I like this. Kind of an in-between of Bx "Mill X" graveyard enablers and Rx treasure enablers. Combining the two makes the cards a tempting splash for a theoretical B or R deck if this were a retail format.

You missed an ETB clause on the uncommon and I think the rare needs the menace and the graverob on different lines.
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

Has anyone been keeping track of what guilds have gotten mechanics so far? I don't think anyone's posted anything for Selesnya or Dimir.

...

New Selesnyan Mechanic — Worldsoul (As you cast this spell, you may tap two untapped creature tokens you control. If you do, copy this spell.)

Moment of Song — {1}{W}
Sorcery (C)
Worldsoul (As you cast this spell, you may tap two untapped creature tokens you control. If you do, copy this spell.)
Create a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying. Gain 2 life.
The song of Mat'Selesnya dances on the lips of even the smallest of creatures.

Strength of the Worldsoul — {2}{W}{G}
Sorcery (U)
Create two 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens, then creatures you control get +1/+1 and vigilance until end of turn.

Crashing Horncaller — {4}{G}
Creature — Elf Druid (R)
Worldsoul (As you cast this spell, you may tap two untapped creature tokens you control. If you do, copy this spell.)
Creature tokens you control are 4/4 green Rhinos with trample in addition to their other colors, types, and abilities.
2/4

---

OK, so I wanted to do something a little different from Selesnya's prior mechanics (aka Convoke, Populate, then Convoke again) that still felt like a token-y go wide thing. And then I remembered that Conspire exists (OK, that's a lie, Conspire is a cool mechanic I wish they would bring back). So the result is a hilariously snowball-y mechanic.
 
T

Tavahka

Howdy all! I’m also a long-time lurker driven out of the shadows by how fun this design contest is.

New Orzhov Mechanic: Linger

Linger states “when this creature dies, its controller may exile it if it wasn’t a token. If they do, they create a token copy of that creature, except it’s a 1/1 white Spirit with Flying”

For this mechanic, I wanted something that was flavorfully similar to Haunt, but with (some) lower rules complexity. Since token copies with different attributes exists in Eternalize, I thought this would be fun to play around with. Since this is basically free value for every card that has it, I imagine that balancing it would be pretty hard. Perhaps it should have another cost associated with it/activate from the graveyard instead. I liked the text on Join the Debtors too much for that though, and pretty much made the mechanic to work around that text box lol

Thanks for the fun thought experiment!
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KIRB EDIT: Images are a bit large, have put them in spoilers for easier forum reading.
 
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Brad

Brad


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Strangely, I like the rare the most. It feels like the kind of red rare that we always get and never really want.

I wanted to make it come back as a Clue in addition to its other types, but the reminder text got excessive.

Overlaps with my red common from the Boros designs.
 
ellogeyen

ellogeyen

Belt-Born Thrasher.jpgScab-Club.jpgUhrm, Burning Tree's Hunger.jpg
Creatures with power greater than their base power are empowered. All previous Gruul mechanics (can) alter a creature's base power, so this seems like a nice fit. It's very easy to make cards that synergize with empowered creatures in other guild (i.e. Simic +1/+1 counters or Izzet combat tricks).
 
ravnic

ravnic

So, for my first submission, I designed a new golgari keyword action, that works in a similar space as explore and connive do, where a chosen creature executes the action. This keyword lets them do everything the swarm loves - fill the graveyard, profit from it and grow your creatures. And, I would say, it does so in a rather elegant package.

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Consume should work nicely with all previous guild mechanics, dredge, scavenge and undergrowth. There is also a lot of potential for mechanical overlap here with other guilds, most certainly simic, who usually care about counters. As you can see, I've submitted three creature cards, but as with explore, you could very easily put the rider "target creature you control consumes" on other permanents and spells as well.

My first design checked if the milled card was a creature to give a counter. That however would've prevented an important dynamic: as the mechanic is designed now, every consuming card makes the others better. That rewards you for drafting a straight golgari deck instead of just picking some good stuff cards.
 
Brad

Brad

This is worse than ravnic's Golgari entry, but I'll post it.
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I had to nerf this pretty heavily to not make Dredge tier 1 in every format.

One note for ravnic, if you care, you missed changing the colors on your watermarks. The art that you found is great and the mechanic is a nice mix of Explore and Descend. One of the most BG mechanics that I've seen.
 
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ravnic

ravnic

So, my second entry is for the Azorius senate. They've had three pretty mediocre mechanics, so I though a lot about what really embodies the guild for me. It is the fact that they enforce the law in a magical way. So, the way I found to capture this in magic cards wasn't a traditional keyword, but a unique token. It's not an artifact, as usual, but this time, since it's magical, an enchantment. The token symbolizes the conviction one has to bend to once they've been deemed guilty by the senate's judges.

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Once a creature is tapped, they have obviously in some way commited a crime. So you can put stun counters on them to keep them imprisoned for as long as you think it is necessary.

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This mechanic is essentially a defensive removal tool. That's great when you try to race them in the air like Azorius often does, but it should also be useful for other defensive leaning guilds like dimir, orzhov or even simic. There have also been traditionally some cards that care about multicolor or enchantments in ravnica sets. This mechanic could make use of similar structures.
 
Velrun

Velrun

Wizards, make Conviction tokens please!

While you are at it, also add more shield counters and other keyword counters to competitive cards please.
 
Rusje

Rusje

Big wall of text, sorry

Gruul: impulsive, chaotic, reckless, impatient, anti-civilisation.

Modus operandi: invade a part of the city, destroy everything and live off the loot until exhausted. Rinse and repeat.

Thing is: the modus implies that there are no lands for Gruul. Furthermore, translating the modus operandi to mtg would be something like target opponent sacrifices x (non-token and random) permanents (invasion and destruction), you sacrifice y (non-token and random) permanents (your losses in battle) and create z treasure and food tokens (the loot).

This does not sound like fun and is terribly difficult to balance. Maybe Gruul got shafted on interesting mechanics due to the flavour part being at odds with the core play style of mtg (lands).

There are only a few existing abilities that do fit: fight and the red temporary card draw. Madness (a great mechanic) seems like a fit due to the now or never character of the ability. However, it requires a lot of build around/thought to be able to use it and that is just not Gruul.

I think fight is a great mechanic, but it is build around creatures and I would love to have a Gruul mechanic which embodies Gruul, but eschews creatures. Is it possible to do something with the red temporary card draw and that is akin to madness? What if even better, the mechanic is generic but could be bended to the flavour of the guild?

The mechanic is:
entry: cost you may cast ~ for its entry cost from exile as though it was in your hand.


The cards:

Impulsive thoughts R

Instant uncommon

As an additional cost exile a card from your hand.

Exile the top 3 cards from the top of your library. You may play those cards until the end of your next turn. At the end of your next turn, put the cards exiled with ~ on the bottom of your library (including the one used to pay the additional cost and only cards that are still exiled).



Freed centaur 4G

Creature- mutant centaur Common

Entry 2G

When ~ enters the battlefield, destroy target enchantment or artifact. If you do, create a treasure token.

3/5


Raidfire 5RG

Sorcery mythic

Entry 2RG and exile a card from your hand.

Each player sacrifices 4 lands, 2 artifacts, and 2 enchantments. ~ does 4 damage to each permanent. You create 2 treasure tokens.

At the end of your next turn, put the card exiled with ~ on the bottom of your library.



The flavours:

The tempory draw (with returning the cards to the bottom of the library) fits the impulsive part without having to build around it like madness.
Gruul has cheaper entry costs than the casting cost, but often at the expense of resources like a card from your hand. This fits the use until gone.
Finally, the destruction for treasure.



For my second guild I want to use the same mechanic but then with a phyrexian twist. To show the inevitability of them. Yeah I know that they died for the trillionth time but hey, they always come back.

Orzhov: a religious cult that desires wealth (which they think means power) above anything else. They do this partly by being the loanshark. The other parts of having people indebted after dead, making them into thralls, the self-sacrifice of their followers to get to their goal fits quite well with phyrexia. Let's focus on loanshark and the endless phyrexian wave...


Orzhov loan officer 1W

Creature-human paper-pusher (argh, I mean human advisor) common

Entry: 3W and pay 1 life.

As ~ enters the battlefield choose a player.

When ~ enters the battlefield, the chosen player creates a treasure token.

At the beginning of the chosen players upkeep, that player pays 1 or 1 life.

1/3



Phyrexian nighthawk 1BB

Creature- phyrexian vampire uncommon

Entry: 2BB and pay 3 life.

Flying, deathtouch, lifelink.

When ~ dies, exile it instead.

2/2


Orzhov Arena 1WB

Enchantment rare

When ~ enters the battlefield every player creates 2 treasure tokens.

At the beginning of every players upkeep, that player pays 1 or loses 1 life.

At the beginning of your upkeep exile the top two cards of your library, exile a card from a graveyard, and you lose 1 life.


The flavours: loans which have to be paid back. These loans slow the game down or whittle the life totals, which is in favor of the phyrexians since they play the long game. The entry costs are often more expensive and require life, but some, especially the phyrexian exile themselves when they die.
 
StrionicAdventurer

StrionicAdventurer

My second submission is for Selesnya. These guys have actually had some incredible guild mechanics in Convoke and Populate, both of which are beautiful, clean designs with lots of space. My design wants to play in a deck that could also feature both these mechanics.

Thrive is a creature keyword that means: At the beginning of your end step, if you created a creature token this turn, create a token that's a copy of this creature.

Holdfast Spider.pngTemple Enforcer.pngParallel Leaves.png

One thing I absolutely love about this contest is watching the different mechanics appear and imagining how different combinations of these mechanics would play together. For example, Thrive would play beautifully with Reassemble and Decompose. I can also easily picture some green "glue" creatures that would link this mechanic with some of the Simic designs shown so far and white cards that would play well with some of the Orzhov designs, too.
 
Brad

Brad

Chris Taylor said:
Power level wise I don't love that kraj is a 1/1 for 4
Also 8 choose 6 is a lot of combinations
Click to expand...
{You may choose the same kind of counter more than once.)
I dunno if it's worded correctly, but it's there.

Thrive sorta scares me to go out of control as soon as you make a copy of the copy and the original and then make four more copies and then...

Would Tokenfall be more appropriate? Or "When CARDNAME or a token enters, do effect." Not sure. Feels dangerously snowbally as is, but maybe not. That said, I do kinda like "When CARDNAME or a token enters..."

I will say that I like the mechanic thematically and the mechanic's name. I also like the art that you chose and am confused by the set symbol lol. As another small critique: You can change the color of the watermark and you don't put a watermark on a monogreen card not featuring the guild mechanic. Not 100% sure on the latter, but that's what I noticed.

EDIT: Wait til you see how sad my Selesnya mechanic is lmao.
 
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