Team Made Set - Opinions and Directions

[NeuroDeus]

First of all I am not commanding anyone but I put these opinions up because I felt that although the Team Made Set is a great set it is one of the most disorganized things done I have seen lately. Respect my opinions and I will respect yours.

A) The 350 cards can be divided equal among the those taking part in designing the set. Also a small part of the cards (20 or more maybe) could be let to put in those cards which have been posted by a curious passer-by.

B) Cards made SHOULD NOT be re-written or revised. This may look aquired but think of it. You submitted this and that card today and about 3 people gave in about 20 others rewrites and revisions of the same cards. The persons should only hint and leave it to you to change it. Rewrites also add to the hassle when the cards are gathered. I saw cards changed from a colour to multicolor than to another different color and worst of all dozens of the same cards with the the only difference being a name.

C) Please put up some fantasy with names and yes... submit flavour texts to cards. If you cannot get a good name close bracket the name and let the people think of a better name... And 'Reaper of the Dead' is not the same as 'Dead Reaper'

D) When working on a card slot keep it in you mind that you are doing a rare/un/common card.

E) To the surprise of everybody Power Cards do exist. All cards submitted and redesigned are all of 'mild' power or being milded down. People are just destroying Power cards becuase they are too Juzam or too Blastoderm. All there do exist crappish cards.

F) 40% of the deck being Zombies is not a good idea.

G) Each Designer should be given the go ahead to produce a Power Card or two for his slots.

H) If a Designer is simple crap at doing red cards why not change slots with other designers for blue or land slots?

I) Cards should be submitted in this way :

Name - Rarity
Cost
Card Type
P/T (If any)
Card Text

Ex1:
Torrid Waters - C
(B)
Sorcery
Sacrifice X Islands : Put X 1/1 blue Merfolk Tokens into play.

Ex2:
Reaper of the Dead - R
(3)(B)(B)
Creature - Lord
*/3
Reaper of the Dead's power equal to the number of creatures in all graveyards. If a creature with flying is in a graveyard Reaper of the Dead gains flying.
BB, Remove a creature from your graveyard from play: Regenerate Reaper of the Dead.

J) If 9 Drakes have been submitted and only 2 should be chosen the CPA has the very nice poll function which of course usable. When people vote they should say why they chose that particular card.

K) A designer should have a card that he can do as he wishes. Nobody can touch that one except heavily protest at it being to weak (or to powerful).

Sure Card Designers Are :
Duke
Duster
FoR
-Others its up to the 'regulator' in this case its Duke.

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

First of all, I would like to agree with NeuroDeus on the lack of organization; No ones to blame, but we neglected to set down some nesscary guidelines when starting the set...

A) The 350 cards can be divided equal among the those taking part in designing the set. Also a small part of the cards (20 or more maybe) could be let to put in those cards which have been posted by a curious passer-by.

A) I disagre that parts of the set should be "roped off" for big players in set construction. I just think cards should be submitted, critiqued, and put in regardless of creater (Not to say that they shouldnt get credit)

B) Cards made SHOULD NOT be re-written or revised. This may look aquired but think of it. You submitted this and that card today and about 3 people gave in about 20 others rewrites and revisions of the same cards. The persons should only hint and leave it to you to change it. Rewrites also add to the hassle when the cards are gathered. I saw cards changed from a colour to multicolor than to another different color and worst of all dozens of the same cards with the the only difference being a name.

B) I tend to concur on this point. I think cards should be talked about and stuff, heres an example:

Bob B
Instant
Gain 40 life

Suggestion:

Bob
Comments-Change it to 12, make it a sorcery...
Name Suggestion: Dark Bob

Does that make any sense? I think we'll do ok as long as everyone doesent re-write the card.


C) Please put up some fantasy with names and yes... submit flavour texts to cards. If you cannot get a good name close bracket the name and let the people think of a better name... And 'Reaper of the Dead' is not the same as 'Dead Reaper'

C) I dont get the "Dead Reaper" comment, but I agree. Also, I wonder if Duke and Duster can let us into the kingdoms are characters involved with the storyline, so we can make approirate names.

D) When working on a card slot keep it in you mind that you are doing a rare/un/common card.

D) I agree, and some select few need to go back and create some rough ideas on what earlier card rarites need to be. I volunteer to be on such a commitee, if there is one.

E) To the surprise of everybody Power Cards do exist. All cards submitted and redesigned are all of 'mild' power or being milded down. People are just destroying Power cards becuase they are too Juzam or too Blastoderm. All there do exist crappish cards.

E) I think power cards are ok, but I dont want to go down the road of unbalanced power cards- thats Urza's saga all over again.

F) 40% of the deck being Zombies is not a good idea.

F) I have no idea what your talking about, but if this is true about our set, your right.

G) Each Designer should be given the go ahead to produce a Power Card or two for his slots.

G) You keep talking of power cards, I hope you mean strong, balanced cards...because I refuse to participate in anything that promotes such over powered cards as seen in the Urza cycle.

H) If a Designer is simple crap at doing red cards why not change slots with other designers for blue or land slots?

H) I really dont wanna section off slots for different Designer's...I say that if someone is bad at designing red cards and submits a red card, we either cut it or tweak it till its good. (Preferablly the tweaking can be by someone good at making red cards)

I) Cards should be submitted in this way :

Name - Rarity
Cost
Card Type
P/T (If any)
Card Text


I) I agree, we have been lacking a set way to submit the actual cards. I find this one fine...of course, flavor text if any goes on the bottom.
Also, I know its not the point, but shouldnt Torrid Waters be blue?

J) If 9 Drakes have been submitted and only 2 should be chosen the CPA has the very nice poll function which of course usable. When people vote they should say why they chose that particular card.

J) I think after we've all submitted a large amount of cards (Nearing or over 350) then we can go back and vote on which ones to include. For now, I just say Let it Be.

K) A designer should have a card that he can do as he wishes. Nobody can touch that one except heavily protest at it being to weak (or to powerful).

Sure Card Designers Are :
Duke
Duster
FoR
-Others its up to the 'regulator' in this case its Duke.

K) Im not sure what you mean NeuroDeus, could you be more clear?


Again, I'd like to thank you for bringing these problems to our attention!

Also, we should name our set...Duke? Duster? Anyone?

 

[NeuroDeus]

The 350 card slotting wasn't a command but a simple opinion because yes the set was really disorganized. Ignore the last (K) remark everbody... It was Duke who said we should be given a card that we took great care to do.

Name : Team Made Set = The Mountain Scrolls...

I imagined a story about a Youth who went to seek the Magic of The Mountain Scrolls... or something blah...

And I mean no Urza's Saga but 4 Power Cards in 350 won't hurt... and also 4 Crappy ones...

 

[DÛke]

...Duster and I had a great idea for the story. It's quite unique and never has been done before in the age of Magic.

Duster - should we reveal some hints? I don't know...

...but I think it would help us create card names...

Ok...quick hint: (Black) and (Red) are not the only evil forces out there...in this story, (White) and (Green) take a great part a being the ill-willed colors, while (Black) and (Red) seem helpless against (White) and (Green)'s naturally divine powers. (White) uses its divinity, while (Green) uses its bonds with nature in order to seek global domination. (Black) and (Red) try to stop them...

What does (Blue) do? That's when Duster comes in and tells you.

 

[NeuroDeus]

Shouldn't have you guys told the story so that we might tailor some cards directly on the story... are we going to have legends ? may I do one? may it be blue? may I make it powerful? may ....

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

More importanly, what are some important nations in the story? Areas that will be explored? We need names guys, come on...

 

[Spiderman]

A) The 350 cards can be divided equal among the those taking part in designing the set. Also a small part of the cards (20 or more maybe) could be let to put in those cards which have been posted by a curious passer-by.

I don't know if you intentionally or not intentionally want to model how WOTC does it, but I'm pretty sure they just brainstorm card ideas without really worrying about color, at least the first time around. They also probably don't worry about the number of cards. When they have a pile, they probably look at them again and start sorting them out, more specifically to color and weeding out the weak ideas.

D) When working on a card slot keep it in you mind that you are doing a rare/un/common card.

Again, the first time around I don't think this should matter. Only when it's been looked at again and probably balanced for playability should rarity become a concern.

Huh, that's about it. Maybe you've gotten past the brainstorming session, maybe not. Basically what I'm trying to say is not to limit yourselves to numbers or concerns about rarity for the first cut. That's why you have tweaking and voting later on

If it would help, I can attach a file of the cards to be considered/already in/whatever from time to time if someone wants to send me one (so you don't have to keep typing them in and they'll be in one place).

 

[DÛke]

...and I think mostly everyone is taking it exactly the opposite. The card "list" I came up with is NOTHING but a list of MORE obvious cards...NOT all of them will be in the set, and some ones I forgot will probably take their place.

When we are overly flooded with cards, then, we can vote on which cards each color will have and why...note that ANYONE could vote, not only us, the card makers. So you, Spiderman, are welcome later on to vote, or even now, to drop a couple of ideas.

After we vote, and get each color its fair share, then, we look at each card and decide its rarity.

...and After ALL that, we'll work on the storyline if there'll be any, and we'll "adjust" some card names and creature types in order to fit some of the background story.

...when ALL that becomes clear and obvious, we'll look at the set, the story...and the way it is...then, we'll come up with the name that suits both, the story AND the cards.

...THEN, we'll be done.

 

[Duster]

Since the details aren't completely ironed out yet, I'd still like to discuss with DUke more about that storyline. But I think what DUke posted above about White and Green being the manipulative colors of the set is a good start for us. Blue will be impartial at first, but definately throws things for a loop later on. If this does develop into a 3 set expansion, I'd like to see some opposing color stuff happening in the third as a result of blue.

This is basically a Mercadian Masques type storyline, taking place in a specific city or region, very political type stuff. My first set name suggestion was "Subterfuge" but that's obviously not set, especially since we still have a lot to work out with the storyline.

S'all for now!
Dustin

 

[Landkiller]

I feel that each person who makes a card should give it a name that is appropriate, and also be allowed to use proper nouns.

I mean, there is a difference between

Labyrithine Maze
and
Maze of Ith

They are both good names, but the second name has more of a personal touch, and connects to an imaginary world better.

What do you think about using made-up names, just like the original designers of Magic, and not only 'established' storyline names?

SO many cards in the set have 'generic' names, that it is almost bothering me. Not about any particular card, it's

Hmm... Next, I'd like to address the issue of Legends. How many will be included? Has anyone said anything about this yet?

As for rarity, I think the Simplest cards should be the commons, with Complexity being the judge of rarity. Also, extremely powerful (Phyrexian Scuta?) but simple cards can be rare, or common, depending on our needs.

 

[Thallid Ice Cream Man]

Just out of curiosity, is there any sign that either black or red (or both) are likely to choose desperate tactics to deal with the threats of white and green? In other words, are black/red/both of them taking a philosophy of "The ends justify the means." more seriously than either color has in the past? This may seem pointless, but it actually might affect card design for both black and red. In one sense, black might be more ruthless in its actions, because it hates white and green, whereas red is - or, at least, was - allied with green, despite hating white. However, red is the color of chaos, so maybe no one can predict what it will do... Obviously, despite being the "heroes" of this story, black and red aren't holy or pious by any means.

Also, by what we have heard of the story so far, it seems that there might be room for many color hosers. Is this true, or are these cards specifically unwanted?

 

[DÛke]

...no, not to many color hosers.

Yes, the colors will be true to themselves. Black is still the devil, while Red is still the chaos. However, the way White and Green are planning to dominate is really unexpected, and Black and Red must do everything they can to stop such forced domination.

...the real reason behind the domination is that W/G are forcefully trying to bring everyone into peace (make everyone W/G)...nothing is wrong with that, but W/G are crossing the limits...they're commiting crimes, disobaying their laws all to bring peace...and they stand behind their "Gods" as a defense. They're even shattering B/R's beliefs, and religions...

B/R do not want their religions, and beliefs to be shattered by the so called peace. They stand in what they believe in, therefore, they fight back. In a civil way.

This is not carved into stone...but that's what I think of it so far.