More on my block mechanics...

[Rooser]

Like several others, I'm making my own block with MSE.

Anyway, I'm just looking for some feednack on my ideas. I've changed the theme and plot of the block many times and finally landed on something I'm happy with, so here's the basic premise for the Cold Moon block:

The Imperial Council, (Represented mostly by blue cards), controls most of the feudal lords in Aleria, (Represented mostly by white and black cards), and is puppeteering it's way to world domination, (Sound like any flag-waving countires we know?). The Imperial Academy, (Again, blue), is researching "cold animation", or more simply, "the process of making kick-@$$ golems and colossi", so there is a slight emphasis on artifacts and artifact creatures. The Academy is in charge of an archaeological dig near the Gyran Forest where they make most of their findings. This site belongs to a long lost civilization known as the Daedalans. Being so close to the vast wilderness puts the Academy, and the rest of Aleria, in direct conflict with Rangers, Barbarians, Druids, Shamans, and other "noble savages" as represetned by Red and Green cards. So in short, the block chronicles a war between White/Blue/Black and Red/Green, and will eventually result in the destruction of the corrupt Imperium at the hands of Red/Green hippy-anarchist types.

There will be multi-color cards, but the will all be either White/Blue, Blue/Black, or Red/Green. Also I will be "reprinting" things as I see appropriate, (Preview: Iridescent Angel, Propaganda, Drain Life).

The primary themes of the block will be your library, and X cost spells, (Plenty of creatures with an X cost that come into play and do soemthing for X).

Also, Politician and Templar will be creature types.

I will be using three keyword creature abilities. They aren't too big a deal, just simple mechanics I wanted to use. Tell me what you think.

Stoic: A creature with Stoic ignores all effects that alter power and toughness, (Both positive and negative). It can still be targeted by such effects and it can still recieve +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters and such, but they will have no effect, (Unless the creature loses Stoic of course). Spellls which apply more than one effect still give the effect that does not alter power or toughness, so if you Overrun, your Stoic creatures won't get +3/+3, but they will get trample. This is primarily a white ability.

Venom: Really just my short-hand for the classic text, but note that my Venom mimics the more recent incarnations of it. "Whenever a creature with Venom deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature." Primarily Black and Green.

Anarchy: Whenever a creature with Anarchy would deal combat damage to a player, that player puts the bottom X cards of their library into their graveyard instead where X equal's the creature's power. I know milling the bottom is unorthodox, but it meshes better with some of the other block mechanics than milling the top would. Also note that this is a replacement effect, and not optional. A creature with Anarchy will NEVER deal combat damage to a player, even if their library is empty. This allows me to make the Anarchy creatures a bit oversized for their casting cost, as in most cases losing 1 card from your library is less damaging than taking one point of damage. This is primarily a red ability.

Other Block Mechanics:

Memory: Memory triggers when a card with Memory goes to the graveyard from anywhere. If the owner of the card has at least one card in hand, they may choose a card in hand and place it on the bottom of their library. If they do, the card with Memory is put on top of the owner's library. This is a recursion engine, yes, but is card disadvantage, no? Of course, there will be cards that can make use of the bottom of your library, (Which is why Anarchy is worded the way it is), so Memory can be used to great great effect is played with the right cards.

Archive: This one is my pride and joy. In simple terms, Archive is "self-tutoring", but it has so many more subtleties. Cards with archive will have an archive cost. If a card with archive is in your library you may pay it's archive cost at any time to reveal it from your library and remove it from the game. As long as it is removed this way, you may play it as though it were in your hand. Taken alone, that's interesting, but not phenomenal. But I have so many plans to enchance the process. First, when you use the archive ability, the cards is considered to become archived, and while it's still removed from the game, it is condiered to be in the constant ste of being archived, and oh so many abilities could leap-frog off this. For example (All the cards below are just examples, and not necessarily cards I plan to make):

Random Fiery Guy - 2R
Creature - Mooky Joe Bob, 2/2
Whenver a player archives a card, ~this~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

Random Archive Card - 4GG
Sorcery
This Sorcery Does Some Stuff
When this cards is archived, creatures you control get +1/+1 and trample until end of turn.
Archive - 2GG

Note that the second one makes the archive function act as a spell that you always have in your hand so long as the card is in your deck. This extreme level of efficiency will require me to balance the archive cost with the function it gives. To go further, some archive cards might have archive triggers that circumvent them being removed from the game.

Archive Counter Spell - 3UU
Instant
Counter target spell
When this card is archived, put it on the stack.
Archive - UUUU

Big Reanimation Target - 6BB
Creature - Ooky, 7/7
Flying
When this card is archived, put it into your graveyard.
Archive - 1B

I know the wording on the counterspell doesn't quite agree with the rules, but you get my drift. Also, as archiving can trigger abilities, it can also maintain static ones. Consider:

Keldon SuperDude - 2RR
Creature - Face-Smasher, 2/2
~this~ gets +1/+1 for each card currently archived.

I'm tired of making up fake names - 1BB
Sorcery or some such
This card does some stuff
As long as this card is archived, nonblack creatures get -1/-1.
Archive - 3BBB

Oh, but I've thought of more! There will also be cards that have archive triggers or static effects such as those above, but no actual archive cost, which means you will have to use other cards to archive them! Something like this, but not actually this.

Guy - WW
Creature - Puppy, 2/2
When ~this~ is archived, remove target creature from the game.

Supa-Freak - 4UU
Instant
Search your library for up to two cards and archive them.

Of course ther will be mana-less archive costs too!

The big draw back to archive is that it needs to be in your library. If it's in your hand, the archive trigger does you no good! But you can use some thing like Memory to put a card in hand back into your library. Hilarious!

Note, I'll probably save Archive for the first expansion, as it's a big idea that needs to be given a lot of attention.

Anyway, tell me what you think!

 

[Swiftcutter]

Stoic = I don't really like it. It just doesn't do enough.

Venom = Sounds good to me.

Anarchy = I like it, but I would give it to blue creatures instead of red. Blue is the traditional color of mill, and red doesn't seem like a color to give up dealing damage in favor of a more subtle path to victory. You could do it on some black creatures too I suppose, since it sort of fits into black's "degeneration" theme. Anyway, if you do take my advice, I would change the name to something less red-centric.

Memory = Mediocre. Somewhat interesting, but a little messy, and is a lot like buyback/flashback.

Archive = Very nice! I was tinkering with a similar mechanic not too long ago. You might consider having the "tutored" cards go directly to your hand instead of being removed from the game. It's more streamlined that way, and you could still have things that trigger off of it. In any case, this one's a keeper.

 

[Rooser]

First of all, thank you for responding. Second of all, don't mistake my responses for close-mindedness!

Stoic certainly isn't anything special, it's just keyworded for brevity's sake. Same goes for Anarchy actually. And Venom, but keywording Venom sounds like something WOTC would actually do anyway.

As for Anarchy being blue, I say no. Just because milling has historically been a blue ability doesn't mean it should have been. Personally I think milling makes way more sense for red, if you think of it symbolically. You're burning down the library. You're destroying all information, all history. Symbollically, an attack on the library is an attack on the predestined order of things. Milling is anarchy, and the ability stays red. Also, Milling is "anti-blue" because it punishes the decks which draw more cards.

By itself, yes, Memory is very mediocre, and it is a lot like Buyback, (But not Flashback. If you think buyback and flashback are similar ... *shakes fist*). You'll have to trust me that Memory will be made interesting by the cards surrounding it. Also, you might be missing the nuances of the ability. It triggers when the card goes to the graveyard from anywhere. So it works when it's countered and when it's entombed and when it's discarded. Also, remember the mechanic isn't limited to instants and sorceries. Permanents can have memory too, and thus self-reanimate upon death. Also, I'm hoping you notice the direct correspondence between Memory and Archive. Do you have a good Archive trigger in your hand? Just discard a Memory card and put that card on the bottom of your library, thus making it's Archive trigger ready for use.

As for Archive, I'm glad you like it, but there are two good reasons to remove the card from the game instead of putting it in your hand:

1) It would become extremely abusive when combined with Memory. "I'll activate an Archive trigger, I'll discard/play a Memory card and put the Archive card back on the bottom of my library and do it all again next turn." Can't be done if the Archive card isn't technically in your hand.

2) I want to be able to make static abilities related to the Archive cards. Cards that say, "While this card is archived, attacking creatures get +1/+1" or "T: This creature deals damage equal to the number of cards currently archived to target creature."

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.