LOL. It literally never occured to me that the copies would also have Thrive. That goes a little beyond my intended power level.
A redraft of the rule would read: "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, except it doesn't have Thrive."
If that turns out too weak, it could change to: "At the beginning of EACH end step, etc."
I'm also tempted to rewrite this rule to make a copy of "this permanent," so it can be applied to a broader selection of cards.
LOL. It literally never occured to me that the copies would also have Thrive. That goes a little beyond my intended power level.
A redraft of the rule would read: "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, except it doesn't have Thrive."
If that turns out too weak, it could change to: "At the beginning of EACH end step, etc."
I'm also tempted to rewrite this rule to make a copy of "this permanent," so it can be applied to a broader selection of cards.
Copying without thrive is strong enough (and happens sometime in magic). Thing is, the strength depends on the amount of token makers/strength of the card (you do not have any token makers in your three cards). There are many examples in mtg that go exponential:
I think the exponential growth would be a neat idea for some mythic, not an inherent property of the mechanic.
Make some unplayably expensive enchantment that has "Tokens you control have thrive" and let the EDH players drool over it
One way out would be to word it like, "At the beginning of your end step, if this creature isn't a token and you created a token this turn, create a token that's a copy of this creature"
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).
This sounds like something worth exploring, maybe expanding on Modern Horizons' treatment of Gruul and shifting Loamy mechanics into this guild. Off the top of my head, I immediately thought of something like Rakdos' Unleash mechanic.
Uproot (You may sacrifice a land as this enters the battlefield.)
Scab-Clan Brawler
Creature - Human Berserker
Uproot (You may sacrifice a land as this enters the battlefield.)
When Scab-Clan Brawler enters the battlefield, it deals damage to any target equal to the number of land cards in your graveyard .
3/2
Bloodthirsty Growth
Creature - Fungus Shaman
Uproot (You may sacrifice a land as this enters the battlefield.)
When Bloodthirsty Growth enters the battlefield, search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. If it was uprooted, create a Blood token.
1/1
Marauding Horde
Creature - Human Berserker
Uproot (You may sacrifice a land as this enters the battlefield.)
When Marauding Horde enters the battlefield, if it was uprooted, create three Treasure tokens.
5/5
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.
To add to the fixes already suggested, here's the Progenitor Mimic text, making Thrive a mite wordier but getting the power level you wanted.
"At the beginning of your end step, if you created a creature token this turn and this creature isn’t a token, create a token that’s a copy of this creature."
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.
The sad part of Gruul is that flavour wise it should not be a may. And then things start to get iffy. Lands are a core part of mtg. Sacrificing a few is okay, but all the time and as an additional cost. Pfew.
Selesnya Mechanic: Flourishing! (You are flourishing if you control more permanents than each of your opponents).
Selesnya Grovetender -
Creature - Elf Druid (C)
When ~ enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 green Saproling token.
1/1
Dawn's Light -
Sorcery (U)
Create 2 2/2 green and white Plant Druid tokens. Then, if you are flourishing, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Thrix, Mindful Cultivator -
Creature - Insect Druid (R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you are flourishing, search your library for a basic Forest or Plains card and put it onto the battlefield. If you aren't flourishing, create 2 1/1 green Insect creature tokens with flying instead.
4/5
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Selesnya has a cool mechanic for increasing the number of permanents it has in play (populate) and a cool mechanic for using those permanents (convoke). Convoke is obviously a successful mechanic, but I wanted to riff on it in a way that didn't require tapping all the cool guys you've made. Outside of Ravnica, GW has a landfall/ramp-y identity, so I liked that flourishing also makes use of extra land drops (and that Thrix gets you more of them).
The common is a design we've seenbefore, but, weirdly, never in green! The uncommon is a hybrid Overrun/board builder which I think would be decent in limited. Both could be tuned up and down depending on the environment. The rare is designed to help you cast more of your cards when you are ahead and help you get to flourishing faster when you are behind. I anticipate a (hopefully fun) mini-game where you opponent has to decide when to try to take away your flourishing or not. (Also, she's a 4/5 so that you can cast Wildfire with her in cube).
It's possible that there's a play design issue here where constantly counting the number of permanents becomes annoying (this could be a bigger problem in Commander). I think it's wise to avoid passive P/T changes which turn on/off with flourishing, since post-combat damage math could get annoying. That's why here I've opted for a one-time and once-per-turn check. If this were to go into a set, you could imagine ensuring that all "flourishing checks" happened either upon resolution or on upkeep. A second play design issue is that in the early turns, flourishing depends heavily on whether you're on the play or draw. I think this can be solved by 1) making lots of the multi-permanent spells cheap, to help you get to flourishing even if you are on the draw 2) designing more cards like Thrix, which are modal based on whether you are flourishing or not, and 3) using flourishing as a bonus, rather than placing the bulk of each card's power budget within the flourishing mode.
Loving everyone's cool designs! Thanks for a fun contest.
I like this thematically and it will work well mechanically as long as the difference in power level on flourishing vs not is somewhat small on most cards. Feels like a more Selesnyan Ascend.
K, here's my shitty Selesnya mechanic because I couldn't really think of one:
I think the green card is actually cool and the other two are very ok.
That’s right, last chance to get in on the action, everyone! Or to pick your two final entries if you submitted more than two (looking at you @Brad <3)!
Selesnya rare should probably be a mythic, but I cba going back to change it, and I'd have to use another set symbol too.
Couldn't settle on hiding or hidden for Dimir and ended up with a reminder text that is kind of esl, should probably be "hidden creature", but eh, details.
I think I'm going to go with my Simic and Selesnya mechanics:
New Simic Mechanic: Experiment with [X] (Create a 2/2 green and blue Lizard Mutant creature token, then put an [X] counter on that creature.)
Capture for Study -
Instant (C)
Return target creature to its owner's hand. If it had any counters on it, you may put those counters on target creature.
Monstrous Research -
Sorcery (U)
Choose two:
• Experiment with reach.
• Experiment with trample.
• Put two +1/+1 counters on a creature you control.
The Birthing Ooze —
Legendary Creature - Ooze Mutant (R)
The Birthing Ooze enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter, a flying counter, and a trample counter. : Choose a counter on The Birthing Ooze, then experiment with that counter. Activate only as a sorcery, and only once per turn. "Oh dear, it's Experiment Kraj all over again."
2/2
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 —
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 —
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 —
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
Just befor it all ends, a dimir agent sneaks into the contest. You couldn't see them, because they were veiled.
Veil is a keyword action, that embodies all that dimir stand for - mechanically and flavorwise. They overwhelm their opponents with trickery and card advantage. They gather information, hidden in the shadows. And when the time is right, they use that information to beat their foes. Let me present you "Veil", a keyword action, that says: "To veil a card, put it onto the battlefield face down. You may look at it. It's a colorless enchantment with ": Reveal this permanent and return it it's owner's hand." I added the reveal clause to make sure people who haven't bounced a morph before would play it incorrectly.
Most creatures and spells will let you veil the top card from your library, turning it essentially into a variant of investigate. Instead of artifact synergies, here you get enchantment and additional blink and bounce synergies. However, there would be some cards that also let you veil cards from your hand, as you can see in the rare I've created here.
I hope this will be allowed to participate, despite me making the guildmage hybrid instead of gold. It has activation costs of each color, and I could've made it gold just as easily. The monochrome art just looked cooler on that hybrid frame
Veil offers a lot of synergies. Azorius and sometimes Simic get to blink or bounce their permanents. Veiling cards from your hand can help you play with a hellbent-like mechanic in Rakdos. Also, all the enchantment synergies you often find in Ravnica would work with the face down cards. And, in the end, it's just card draw. Blue and black guilds should like that.
If the latter would get disqualified for using a hybrid that is only technically mostly a gold card, I would nominate conviction tokens as a runner up. But I hope that won't be necessary.
I hope this will be allowed to participate, despite me making the guildmage hybrid instead of gold. It has activation costs of each color, and I could've made it gold just as easily. The monochrome art just looked cooler on that hybrid frame
So I didn't end up having time to create renders for my cards, sorry Onder . I still wanted to share my designs. These are my two favorites.
My first mechanic is a keyword action called Subterfuge.
Spell Silence
Instant (C)
Commit Subterfuge. Counter Target spell unless an opponent pays 2. If you hit your mark, counter that spell instead (To commit subterfuge, look at the top card of an opponent's library. If a card type among cards in your graveyard or permanents you control matches one of that card’s types, you may reveal it and hit your mark).
Sneaky Scoundrel
Creature– Vampire Rogue (U)
Whenever you commit subterfuge, target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. You may have that player mill a card.
2/2
Patrol Thoughts
Sorcery (R)
As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay 2 life.
Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. Commit Subterfuge. If you hit your mark, that player discards the chosen card. Otherwise, that player puts it on top of their library. (To commit subterfuge, look at the top card of an opponent's library. If a card type among cards in your graveyard or permanents you control matches one of that card’s types, you may reveal it and hit your mark).
The idea here is that you become a better spy as the game goes on. As you gain more knowledge by playing more permanents and casting more spells, you're better able to hit your mark consistently. This mechanic also provides a nice reward for playing a wide range of card types without explicitly counting.
The next mechanic is one I am very excited about called Genome.
Aerial Adaptation
Instant (C)
Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains flying until end of turn.
Flying Genome (, exile this card from your graveyard: put a Flying counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery).
Smartscale Genomancer
Creature— Crab Lizard Wizard (U)
Whenever one or more counters are put on another creature you control, put a counter of that type on Smartscale Genomancer.
2/2
With the Genome mechanic, you're giving your creatures useful adaptations from your previous experiments. Since the Simic are most likely going to appear with either the Izzet, Golgari, or potentially both in the next Ravnica guild set, I wanted to make a mechanic for Simic that could go on both noncreature spells and interact with the graveyard. The Genome mechanic is great for this, since it can go on any card type while still favorably interacting with counters. There is a lot of design space here, since the mechanic can work with any type of counter. A Shield Genome, +1/+1 Counter, or -1/-1 Counter Genome are all possibilities for cards. Even a Defender Genome is on the table as an option, since the mechanic can target any creature.
I wanted to provide one more example of the mechanic in action. This isn't a part of the entry, but I thought it was still funny nonetheless.
Shlaj, Spawn of Kraj 2
Legendary Creature– Ooze Mutant (R)
Ward
Creature cards in your graveyard with Flying have Flying Genome . The same is true for creatures with first strike, defender, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, prowess, reach, trample, and vigilance (They have , exile this card from your graveyard: put a counter of the corresponding type on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery).
5/5
I thought it would be fun if there were a Genomic Soulflayer. I didn't think this was the most interesting use of the mechanic, hence why I didn't submit it for judging, but it was the first rare I thought of and still one of my favorite designs I came up with for this challenge. This definitely feels like the sort of thing WOTC would make if Genome made it to print.
Also, it’s still Sunday somewhere! American Samoa grants some final five hours to late submitters (Yes, I know Baker Island and Howland Island have six hours to go until midnight, but those are uninhabited, so I don’t buy that you’re submitting from there )
