Thursday, September 2, 2010

An Early Death for M99

Sad to say, I have officially decided to end this project. There are several reasons behind this.

First, I don't feel that it meets my needs as a Magic design project for the time being. Between the number of reprints and the simplicity of most of the cards, the project is much more about designing an environment than designing cool cards. Without the resources or interest in heavy playtesting, this is not a particularly effective route to practice. I'd rather just work on my cube if I want to practice balancing a format.

Additionally, while I wanted to do the work largely on my own, the complete lack of feedback or attention has contributed to my lack of enthusiasm. Writing this stuff is a lot less fun when it doesn't feel like anyone is reading it.

Finally, the Great Designer Search 2 has been announced. I'm going to be putting a lot of work into card design, and it's going to need to be newer and bolder than M99. This is the smallest of the reasons, but was the final impetuous for me shutting the project down entirely.

That said, I certainly don't consider the M99 project to be a failure. My goal with these things is always to learn, and I've certainly learned a few things about both design and managing myself.

Now, off to go practice...

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Stray Thoughts: Punishment

NOTE: Rather than simply clean things up and write a post about my final conclusion, I've got an ongoing thought process recorded here. It seems more informative than just writing down my final conclusion.

I want to make up a returning keyword. I love what scry did for M11, but the existing ones just don't suit my needs. I'm leaning towards something to put in red, largely because I have a lot of trouble with the of available mechanics for commons. It definitely has to be something that can go on non-creature spells, and if it can go on creatures as an ETB ability so much the better.

Considered but dismissed:
Flashback - Elegant mechanic, not very much design space and no clear flavor
Kicker - Similar issues, no overarching flavor or clear mechanic
Hellbent - Interesting and very Red, but not very fun and requires too much support
Contraptions - Overpowered

New Idea: What about the "Punisher" mechanic from Odyssey block? It's not a keyword, but it's flavorful and a casual favorite. Let's take a quick look over the options and see what's there:
Book Burning - Not very good, but fun and wacky.
Blazing Salvo - Solid card, but not super interesting.
Barbarian Bully - Interesting concept, bad choice for reprint
Longhorn Firebeast - Similar - cool concept, underpowered by modern standards
Dwarven Scorcher - Like Blazing Salvo, but worse.
Browbeat - A classic. Definitely worth reprinting if we use the mechanic.
Breaking Point - Too far off-color for my tastes.
Molten Influence - Off color and overly narrow
Skullscorch - Ew. Let's stick to cards that are actually fun.
Dwarven Driller - Um, no?
Lava Blister - Who designed these cards and why do they hate fun?

More recently, Temporal Extortion, Dash Hopes, and Tyrannize have shifted the concept slightly adding black and changing it to life loss.

Okay, there are definitely a lot more of these than I thought. Still, most of them are horribly unfun or distressingly off-color. Browbeat is the only one I like enough to be sure I'd want to reprint it.

Concerns:
Often involves using off-color abilities - should be careful.
Something of a griefer mechanic - cruel choices that aren't fun for new players.

Let's try off the ability tentatively with a few commons, browbeat at uncommon, and one scary rare:

Jerk Elemental - 1R
Creature - Elemental (C)
When Jerk Elemental enters the battlefield, any opponent may have it deal 4 damage to him or her. If a player does, sacrifice Jerk Elemental.
3/1

Firesmite - 2R
Instant (C)
Firesmite deals 5 damage to target creature unless that creature's controller has Firesmite deal 5 damage to him or her.

Browbeat - 2B
Sorcery (U)
Any player may have Browbeat deal 5 damage to him or her. If no one does, target player draws three cards.

Devastate - 1RR
Sorcery (R)
Target opponent may have Devastate deal 7 damage to them. If they do not, they sacrifice and artifact, a creature, and a land.

The more I mess with this mechanic the more I think it belongs in black. It feels more like a sadistic choice forced upon the hero than an angry threat, and life payment fits the template a lot better than choosing to take damage. Even Browbeat has an awkward template where people could accidentally give their opponents cards by targeting them. This may have a place in the set at some point, but I don't think it's the common-level mechanic I'm looking for. I'll keep in mind if I need some more flavor for black, but it's not going on the skeleton any time soon.

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Goals and Principles

I've been lagging a bit on this project, and I think it's partly due to a lack of clear objectives. "Make a new-style core set" is a good starting point, but it leaves a lot to be determined. After only two new core sets, we're still learning what exactly that means. Furthermore, M99 is being designed in the abstract, without any Standard environment to fit into or M98 to differentiate it from.

Let's start with what I doubt want M99 to be. I don't want it to be a list of my favorite cards. I don't want it to be a half-assed way to get out of designing new cards. I don't want to just fill in the blanks, taking M11 and replacing half the cards with similar new ones.

1) I want it to be a complete, cohesive set. The design process doesn't end when I've got 229 cards filled out - that's when I start making cuts and filling holes.

2) I want the set to have some iconic, memorable selling points. The new planeswalker cycle is a good start, but some exciting reprints and splashy new cards will help.

3) I want the set to have its own feel that is distinct from M10, M11, and any hypothetical sets M12-M98. This will probably involve designing a new "returning" mechanic, as there aren't any others that I feel fit the core as well as scry.

With more specific goals in mind, hopefully I will be able to make more progress on the set.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Stray Thoughts: Illusions and Aven

I love that the "sacrifice when it's targeted" ability has gotten flavored as illusions in blue. It's just so perfect that they seem real until something looks directly at them. Tragically, I don't think the ability is a fit for M99.

As much as I love both the gameplay and flavor, it just keeps warping the set around it. I keep going, "Oh, that's a cool design, but it would break too many ice cages at common." I hope the effect continues to show up on-and-off, but for now I won't be including Ice Cage or any illusions in the set.

On a completely unrelated note, I've decided to include Aven as a sub-theme. It allows me to get flyers into white that interact with the soldier tribe, and can even show up a little in other colors.

I've already got the Aven Strikeforce at uncommon, and Aven Cloudchaser seems like a good common inclusion. I love the principle of Aven Brigadier, but it certainly won't cut it as a reprint. He's symmetrical, overcosted, and not nearly flashy enough to fill the Mythic slot I'm looking at for an additional lord. So let's take a page out of Nocturnus's book and design ourselves an awesome mythic lord.

Aven Sky Commander - 1WWW
Creature - Bird Soldier (M)
Flying, First Strike
Other Bird creatures you control get +1/+1 and first strike.
Other Soldier creatures you control get +1/+1 and flying.
3/3

Finally, a quick take on something to fill out our generic black commons while adding some continuity to the set.

Rotting Aven - 2B
Creature - Bird Zombie (C)
Flying
2/1

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Design Skeleton 2

I'm going to take another run at the design skeleton, filling out more of the generalized categories and adding the reprints and new designs I'm happy with. With this out of the way, I can start looking more closely at what holes need filling.

To see what I'm doing, check out Mark Rosewater's article on the subject here.

White

CW01 - Noble Escort (W) soldier, Lifelink 1/1
CW02 - Glory Seeker (1W) soldier, 2/2
CW03 - First-Gate Guards (3W) soldier, Vigilance 2/4
CW04 - creature, small, 3/1?
CW05 - creature, small, taps to buff
CW06 - creature, small, first strike
CW07 - creature, small, flying
CW08 - creature, small, flying, soldier?
CW09 - Wild Griffin (2W), Flying 2/2
CW10 - Blinding Mage (1W), WT: Tap Dude, 1/2
CW11 - creature, small, ETB gains life
CW12 - creature, medium, good blocker
CW13 - creature, medium, flying
CW14 - enchantment, pacifism/prison effect
CW15 - enchantment, creature buff
CW16 - instant, fog/safe passage effect
CW17 - instant/sorcery, artifact/enchantment removal
CW18 - instant, combat trick (all creatures)
CW19 - instant, combat trick (one creature)
CW20 - sorcery, conditional removal
UW01 - creature, knight
UW02 - Aven Strikeforce (1WW) soldier, flying, 3/1
UW03 - creature, medium lifelink
UW04 - creature, big flyer
UW05 - creature, junior lord
UW06 - enchantment, good creature buff
UW07 - sorcery, conditional reanimation?
UW08 - Celestial Purge (1W) instant, exile black or red perm
UW09 - conditional removal (prison or kill attacker)
RW01 - creature, big angel
RW02 - Frontline Recruiter (1WW) soldiers get +1/+1, T: make 1/1 soldier, 2/2
RW03 - creature, small, amazing utility dude
RW04 -
RW05 - Splashy Rare Cycle
RW06 - Honor of the Pure (1W) enchantment, white creatures you control get +1/+1
RW07 - Day of Judgment (2WW) sorcery, Destroy all creatures
RW08 - enchantment, makes rules
MW01 - creature, epic lord
MW02 -

Blue

CU01 - Maritime Guard (1U) merfolk 1/3
CU02 - Scroll Thief (2U) merfolk ophidian 1/3
CU03 - Tidal Ambushers (2U) Flash 2/2
CU04 - creature, small, ETB effect
CU05 - creature, small, flying
CU06 - creature, small, looter?
CU07 - creature, medium, high-flying
CU08 - creature, medium, good blocker
CU09 - Harbor Serpent (4UU) Islandwalk, can't attack w/o 5 islands, 5/5
CU10 -
CU11 - Mill?
CU12 - Mill?
CU13 - enchantment, bad creature buff
CU14 - enchantment, lock down creature
CU15 - instant/sorcery, card selection
CU16 - Divination (2U) sorcery, Draw 2 cards
CU17 - instant, bounce spell
CU18 - instant, combat trick
CU19 - instant, soft counter
CU20 - Cancel (1UU) instant, Counter target spell
UU01 - creature, interesting ETB ability
UU02 - creature, shroud dude
UU03 - creature, biggish flyer
UU04 - creature, interesting tap ability
UU05 - creature, cool wall
UU06 -
UU07 - enchantment, steals stuff
UU08 - Flashfreeze (1U) counter red or green spell
UU09 - instant/sorcery, complicated card draw
RU01 - creature, large flyer
RU02 - Merfolk Sovereign (1UU) merfolk get +1/+1, T: target merfolk unblockable, 2/2
RU03 - creature, leviathan of some sort
RU04 - creature
RU05 - Splashy Rare Cycle
RU06 -
RU07 - enchantment, dominating CA
RU08 - sorcery, big weird spell
MU01 -
MU02 -

Black

CB01 - creature, small rat
CB02 - Bog Raiders (2B) zombie, swampwalk, 2/2
CB03 - Gravedigger (3B) zombie, ETB return creature from GY to hand, 2/2
CB04 - Child of Night (1B) lifelink 2/1
CB05 - creature, small ETB discard
CB06 - Pact Imp (2B) ETB draw 1 lose 1, flying 1/1
CB07 - creature, small shade
CB08 - creature, small, flying
CB09 - creature, medium, 4/2?
CB10 - Rotting Legion (4B) ETB tapped 4/5
CB11 -
CB12 -
CB13 - enchantment, creature buff w/drawback
CB14 - sorcery, life drain
CB15 - instant, combat trick
CB16 - sorcery, creature recursion
CB17 - sorcery, choosable discard
CB18 - sorcery, multi-discard
CB19 - sorcery, -x/-x effect
CB20 - instant, creature kill
UB01 - creature, small, deathtouch
UB02 - Ravenous Ghoul (1B) zombie, Sac creatures for +1/+1 counters, 1/1
UB03 - creature, medium, drawback
UB04 - creature, small, flying zombie
UB05 - Pact Devil (2BB) ETB draw 2 lose 2, Intimidate, 2/2
UB06 - cool GY hate
UB07 - sorcery, tutor
UB08 - Deathmark (B) sorcery, kill white or green creature
UB09 - Rise from the Grave (4B) sorcery, reanimate creature from any GY as black zombie
RB01 - Pact Demon (2BBB) upkeep draw 1 lose 1, flying, trample, 4/4
RB02 - Cemetery Reaper (1BB) zombs get +1/+1, 2BT: exile C in GY to make 2/2 zomb, 2/2
RB03 - creature
RB04 - creature
RB05 - Splashy Rare Cycle
RB06 -
RB07 -
RB08 - big sorcery, counts swamps?
MB01 -
MB02 -

Red

CR01 - Goblin Mountaineer (R) mountainwalk, 1/1
CR02 - Goblin Piker (1R) 2/1
CR03 - Goblin Chariot (2R) haste, 2/2
CR04 - creature, small, first strike
CR05 - creature, small, firebreathing
CR06 - creature, small, ETB human
CR07 - creature, medium
CR08 - creature, medium, attacks always or can't block
CR09 - creature, small, bad flyer (aven?)
CR10 -
CR11 -
CR12 -
CR13 -
CR14 - sorcery, art/land destruction
CR15 - enchantment, conditional creature buff
CR16 - sorcery, prevent blockers
CR17 - instant, combat trick
CR18 - sorcery, player-only burn
CR19 - instant, small burn
CR20 - instant, larger burn
UR01 - creature, taps or sacs for damage
UR02 - creature, double strike?
UR03 - creature
UR04 - creature, dies at EOT
UR05 -
UR06 -
UR07 - instant/sorcery, 2 to each creature+player?
UR08 - Combust (1R) instant, 5 damage to W/U creature, cannot be prevented/countered
UR09 - instant, awesome burn
RR01 - creature, big dragon
RR02 - Goblin Tactician (1RR) Goblins get +1/+1, T: sac goblin for shock? 2/2
RR03 - creature, smashy giant
RR04 -
RR05 -
RR06 -
RR07 - damage sweeper
RR08 - big random splash spell
MRo1 -
MR02 -

Green

CG01 - creature, small plant wall
CG02 - creature, small
CG03 - creature, small
CG04 - creature, small
CG05 - Llanowar Elves (G) elf, T: add G to mana pool, 1/1
CG06 - Sylvan Ranger (1G) elf, ETB search for basic land to hand, 1/1
CG07 - creature, medium, life gain?
CG08 - Elvish War Party (2G) elf, Trample, 3/2
CG09 - creature, medium, reach
CG10 - creature, medium, deathtouch
CG11 - creature, large
CG12 - creature, large, trample
CG13 - creature, largest
CG14 - instant, fog?
CG15 - flying hate?
CG16 - sorcery, life gain cantrip?
CG17 - enchantment, interesting conditional buff
CG18 - sorcery, artifact/enchantment destruction
CG19 - instant, combat trick
CG20 - sorcery, land search
UG01 - creature
UG02 - Acidic Slime (3GG) ETB kill art/ench/land, deathtouch, 2/2
UG03 - creature
UG04 - Fecund Beast (3GG) draw card when it or other creature dies, 3/4
UG05 - creature, huge
UG06 -
UG07 - sorcery, Lure effect
UG08 - Autumn's Vale (G) instant, cannot be countered/targeted by blue/black spells
UG09 - enchantment, powerful buff aura
RG01 - creature, huge wurm
RG02 - Elvish Archdruid (1GG) elves get +1/+1, T: get G for each elf, 2/2
RG03 - creature, sweet 4/4 for 2GG
RG04 -
RG05 - Splashy rare cycle
RG06 -
RG07 - Overrun variant
RG08 -
MG01 -
MG02 -

Artifact

UA01 - creature, small
UA02 - creature, medium
UA03 - creature, large
UA04 -
UA05 - mana fixing
UA06 - life gain
UA07 - equipment
UA08 - equipment
UA09 - equipment
UA10 - equipment
RA01 - creature
RA02 - creature
RA03 -
RA04 -
RA05 - equipment
RA06 - equipment

Land

CL01 - 5-color mana fixing
RL01 - wu land
RL02 - ub land
RL03 - br land
RL04 - rg land
RL05 - gw land
RL06 - special ???
RL07 - special ???

Gold

UZ01 - W/U planeswalker signature spell
UZ02 - Liliana's Extortion (2UB) Sorcery, opponent discards 2 you draw 2
UZ03 - B/R planeswalker signature spell
UZ04 - Marik's Summons (1RG) Sorcery, get 3 1/1 elves or one 3/3 ogre
UZ05 - G/W planeswalker signature spell
MZ01 - W/U Planeswalker
MZ02 - Liliana the Hunted (2UB)
MZ03 - B/R Planeswalker
MZ04 - Marik of the Tribes (2RG)
MZ05 - G/W Planeswalker

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Liliana and Marik

If you missed my previous post, part of the plan for M99 is to have 10 gold cards in the set: Each allied color pair gets a mythic planeswalker and a signature spell for them at uncommon. Here are the first two of each:

Liliana the Hunted - 2UB
Planeswalker - Liliana (M)
+1: Return target non-land permanent to owner's hand.
-2: Target player sacrifices a creature.
-6: Target player discards their hand, then loses 1 life for each card in their graveyard.
{4}

Liliana's Extortion - 3UB
Sorcery (U)
Target player discards two cards and you draw two cards.

Marik, Lord of the Tribes - 2RG
Planeswalker - Marik
+2: Each player puts two 1/1 green Elf creature tokens on the battlefield.
-3: Put a 3/3 red Ogre creature token onto the battlefield.
-7: Untap all creatures and gain control of them until end of turn. They gain haste until end of turn.
{4}

Marik's Summons - 1RG
Sorcery (U)
Choose one - Put three 1/1 green Elf creature tokens onto the battlefield; or put a 3/3 red Ogre creature token onto the battlefield.


DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Tribe Members

Having determined the five lords I will be using, let's figure out what commons and uncommons I'm going to be printing within their tribes. First, some reprints:

Elite Vanguard
Glory Seeker
Maritime Guard
Scroll Thief
Rotting Dead
Bog Raiders
Goblin Mountaineer
Goblin Piker
Goblin Chariot
Llanowar Elves
Sylvan Ranger

And then lets look at some very simple new cards to fill out some of the holes:

Noble Escort - W
Creature - Human Soldier (C)
Lifelink
1/1

First-Gate Sentries - 3W
Creature - Human Solider (C)
Vigilance
2/4

Aven Strikeforce - 1WW
Creature - Bird Soldier (U)
Flying
3/1

Tidal Ambushers - 2U
Creature - Merfolk Soldier (C)
Flash
2/2

Ravenous Ghoul - 1B
Creature - Zombie (U)
Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
1/1

Elvish War-Party - 2G
Creature - Elf Warrior (C)
Trample
3/2

I'll start using these to fill out the design skeleton and get more of an idea what to do next.

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Tribes and Lords

Tribes and their lords have always been a fun and popular part of the core set. Alpha gave us Goblin King, Elvish Champion, Lord of Atlantis, and Zombie Master. More recently, M10 and M11 have had splashier lords for less-supported tribes, like Vampire Nocturnus and Knight Exemplar. So what tribes will M99 support?

The five most traditional tribes for each color are Soldiers, Merfolk, Zombies, Goblins, and Elves. More recently, we've seen Vampires start to replace Zombie's as black's primary race. Despite my love of obscure tribes, I've decided to stick with the primary five for a cycle of core set rares. I'm going to try to squeeze in a more unusual lord or two at other rarities, though.

Lords boost your army, and as such are important enough that you often don't want them to attack. One of the clever solutions to give them some added value is to give them tap abilities that let them contribute even when they can't attack. I'm a big fan of tight cycles, so I'm going to be sticking with lords that are 2/2s for 1CC, grant +1/+1 but no keyword abilities, and have a tap ability related to their tribe. Here are the three reprints I'll be using:

Merfolk Sovereign - 1UU
Creature - Merfolk (R)
Other Merfolk creatures you control get +1/+1.
T: Target Merfolk creature is unblockable this turn.
2/2

Cemetary Reaper - 1BB
Creature - Zombie (R)
Other Zombie creatures you control get +1/+1.
2B, T: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
2/2

Elvish Archdruid - 1GG
Creature - Elf Druid (R)
Other Elf creatures you control get +1/+1.
T: Add G to your mana pool for each Elf you control.
2/2

I chose zombies over vampires because vampires deserve epic, flavorful lords like Nocturnus rather than simple cycled lords. That leaves white (soldiers) and red (goblins). So what can fill out the cycle?

Frontline Recruiter - 1WW
Creature - Human Soldier (R)
Other Soldier creatures you control get +1/+1.
T: Put a 1/1 white Soldier token onto the battlefield.
2/2

Goblin Tactician - 1RR
Creature - Goblin Shaman (R)
Other Goblin creatures you control get +1/+1.
T, Sacrifice a Goblin: ~ deals 2 damage to target player.
2/2

Both quite simple, but they fit their respective tribes. One last design before I sign off for the night:

Knight Marshall - WW
Creature - Human Knight (U)
First strike
Soldier creatures you control have first strike.
2/2

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Drawing Cards

Three colors generally have the ability to draw cards. Blue is by far the best, and usually draws cards simply using instants and sorceries that do little else. Black gets to draw cards as well, but almost always has to pay life for them. Finally, green can draw cards at higher rarities by using creatures.

Blue

I want blue to have some very simple, sorcery-speed card draw/selection at common, and a slightly flashier instant at uncommon. I'm pretty happy with Divination as a simple card with a flavorful name, but let's make something new for the common card selection and uncommon instant.

Fateful Choice - U
Sorcery (C)
Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

Quick Thinking - XUU
Instant (U)
Look at the top X cards of your library. Put up to two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

Somewhere in between Sleight of Hand and Ponder lies Wise Choice. I like it because it forces decisions but not shuffling. Quick Thinking is a very clever design, but I'll have to see if it actually plays well. I can see either of these getting replaced at some point.

Black

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do a vertical cycle of black card-drawing, life-losing spells or creatures. Here's my first run at the cycle:

Pact Imp - 2B
Creature - Imp (C)
Flying
When ~ enters that battlefield, you draw a card and lose 1 life.
1/1

Pact Devil - 2BB
Creature - Devil (U)
Intimidate
When ~ enters the battlefield, you draw two cards and lose 2 life.
2/2

Pact Demon - 2BBB
Creature - Demon (R)
Flying, Trample
At the beginning of you upkeep, you draw a card and lose 1 life.
4/4

I'm really happy with these. If I can design 226 more cards like this cycle, I'll be knocking on WotC's door the next day.

Green

This hasn't been a core part of green's color pie in a while, but I feel like the mechanic is so good that it deserves the use.

Fecund Beast - 3GG
Creature - Beast (U)
Whenever ~ or another creature you control is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, you may draw a card.
3/4

I'll keep doing post like this designing 5-10 cards a shot, and load them all onto the design skeleton once a week or so. For the record, I had never thought about any of the above cards before today.

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Design Skeleton

This is just going to be a preliminary version, but it's taken some work to put together. I'll continue filling this out as I actually design cards.

To see what I'm doing, check out Mark Rosewater's article on the subject here.

White

CW01 - creature, small
CW02 - creature, small
CW03 - creature, small
CW04 - creature, small
CW05 - creature, small
CW06 - creature, small
CW07 - creature, small
CW08 - creature, small, flying
CW09 - creature, small, flying
CW10 - creature, small, taps dudes
CW11 - creature, small, gains life
CW12 - creature, medium
CW13 - creature, medium, flying
CW14 -
CW15 -
CW16 -
CW17 - instant/sorcery, artifact/enchantment removal
CW18 - instant, combat trick (all creatures)
CW19 - instant, combat trick (one creature)
CW20 - conditional removal (prison or kill attacker)
UW01 - creature, knight
UW02 - creature
UW03 - creature, medium lifelink
UW04 - creature, big flyer
UW05 - creature, junior lord
UW06 -
UW07 -
UW08 -
UW09 - conditional removal (prison or kill attacker)
RW01 - creature, big angel
RW02 - creature, senior lord
RW03 -
RW04 -
RW05 -
RW06 -
RW07 - sorcery, board sweeper
RW08 - enchantment, makes rules
MW01 - creature, epic lord
MW02 -

Blue

CU01 - creature, small
CU02 - creature, small
CU03 - creature, small
CU04 - creature, small, ETB effect
CU05 - creature, small, flying
CU06 - creature, medium
CU07 - creature, large serpent variant
CU08 -
CU09 -
CU10 -
CU11 -
CU12 -
CU13 -
CU14 - enchantment, lock down creature
CU15 - instant/sorcery, card selection
CU16 - instant/sorcery, card draw
CU17 - instant, bounce spell
CU18 -
CU19 - instant, soft counter
CU20 - instant, hard counter
UU01 - creature
UU02 - creature
UU03 - creature
UU04 -
UU05 -
UU06 -
UU07 -
UU08 - instant, complicated counterspell
UU09 - instant/sorcery, complicated card draw
RU01 - creature, large flyer
RU02 - creature, lord
RU03 - creature
RU04 - creature
RU05 -
RU06 -
RU07 -
RU08 -
MU01 -
MU02 -

Black

CB01 - creature, small
CB02 - creature, small
CB03 - creature, small
CB04 - creature, small
CB05 - creature, small
CB06 - creature, small
CB07 - creature, small shade
CB08 - creature, medium
CB09 - creature, medium
CB10 - creature, medium
CB11 -
CB12 -
CB13 -
CB14 - unknown, draw 1 card lose 1 life
CB15 -
CB16 - sorcery, creature recursion
CB17 - sorcery, choosable discard
CB18 - sorcery, multi-discard
CB19 - sorcery, -x/-x effect
CB20 - instant, creature kill
UB01 - creature
UB02 - creature
UB03 - creature
UB04 - creature
UB05 - creature
UB06 -
UB07 - unknown, draw 2/3 cards lose 2/3 life
UB08 -
UB09 - sorcery, reanimation
RB01 - creature, lord
RB02 - creature
RB03 - creature
RB04 -
RB05 -
RB06 - unknown, draw N cards lose N life
RB07 -
RB08 -
MB01 -
MB02 -

Red

CR01 - creature, small
CR02 - creature, small
CR03 - creature, small
CR04 - creature, small
CR05 - creature, small
CR06 - creature, small
CR07 - creature, medium
CR08 - creature, medium
CR09 -
CR10 -
CR11 -
CR12 -
CR13 -
CR14 -
CR15 -
CR16 -
CR17 - instant, combat trick
CR18 - sorcery, player-only burn
CR19 - instant, small burn
CR20 - instant, larger burn
UR01 - creature
UR02 - creature
UR03 - creature
UR04 - creature, dies at EOT
UR05 -
UR06 -
UR07 -
UR08 -
UR09 - instant, awesome burn
RR01 - creature, big dragon
RR02 - creature, smashy giant
RR03 - creature, goblin lord
RR04 -
RR05 -
RR06 -
RR07 - damage sweeper
RR08 - big random splash spell
MRo1 -
MR02 -

Green

CG01 - creature, small
CG02 - creature, small
CG03 - creature, small
CG04 - creature, small
CG05 - creature, small, taps for mana
CG06 - creature, small, searches for land
CG07 - creature, medium
CG08 - creature, medium
CG09 - creature, medium
CG10 - creature, medium
CG11 - creature, large
CG12 - creature, large
CG13 -
CG14 -
CG15 -
CG16 -
CG17 -
CG18 - sorcery, artifact/enchantment destruction
CG19 - instant, combat trick
CG20 - sorcery, land search
UG01 - creature
UG02 - creature
UG03 - creature
UG04 - creature, medium, draws cards
UG05 - creature, huge
UG06 -
UG07 -
UG08 -
UG09 - enchantment, powerful buff aura
RG01 - creature, huge wurm
RG02 - creature, elf lord
RG03 -
RG04 -
RG05 -
RG06 -
RG07 -
RG08 -
MG01 -
MG02 -

Artifact

UA01 - creature, small
UA02 - creature, medium
UA03 - creature, large
UA04 -
UA05 - mana fixing
UA06 - life gain
UA07 - equipment
UA08 - equipment
UA09 - equipment
UA10 - equipment
RA01 - creature
RA02 - creature
RA03 -
RA04 -
RA05 - equipment
RA06 - equipment

Land

CL01 - 5-color mana fixing
RL01 - wu land
RL02 - ub land
RL03 - br land
RL04 - rg land
RL05 - gw land
RL06 - special ???
RL07 - special ???

Gold

UZ01 - W/U planeswalker signature spell
UZ02 - U/B planeswalker signature spell
UZ03 - B/R planeswalker signature spell
UZ04 - R/G planeswalker signature spell
UZ05 - G/W planeswalker signature spell
MZ01 - W/U Planeswalker
MZ02 - U/B Planeswalker
MZ03 - B/R Planeswalker
MZ04 - R/G Planeswalker
MZ05 - G/W Planeswalker

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Concepting Planeswalkers

Planeswalkers were key to the marketing of Magic 2010, and Magic 2011 expanded on this by giving the planeswalkers "signature spells" at common and uncommon. So far, the core sets have been used to show off the original 5 planeswalkers introduced, one representing each color. So what direction could this be taken in the future?

I've always liked the idea of introducing gold cards to the core set in a very limited fashion, and planeswalkers seem like the ideal way of doing this. My current plan is to create a single mythic planeswalker for each allied color combination, and give each signature gold spell at uncommon. 10 gold cards seems like a reasonable number to put in a core set, and the use of planeswalkers gives them a thematic connection.

It will take me quite a bit of brainstorming before I can even come up with 5 planeswalkers I like enough to playtest, but I wanted to share the concepts I'm working on for the various color combinations. Names are strictly working titles at this point.

White/Blue - "Gareth Seaborn"
Blue's planeswalkers have been designed around the color's philosophical aspects ("control and manipulate") so I thought it would be interesting to focus more on blue's elemental associations with water and air. A merfolk planeswaker seems like a cool concept, and blue/white seems like a good pair for the related appropriate mechanics like tapping, flying, and rule-changing.

Blue/Black - "Liliana Undercover"
I want to do at least one new version of a current planeswalker, and Liliana struck me as the most interesting choice. Rather than going for redemption or a spiral into madness, I settled on the concept of Liliana on the run, forced to rely on subtlety rather than raw power. Some sort of defensive bounce/discard will likely be used.

Black/Red - "Marek the Hunter"
We've seen the "evil and crazy" take on black/red quite a few times, so I want to try something different but still in tune with the color combination. Some sort of antihero vigilante could be fitting to the combination, so I'll see what I can think of along those lines.

Red/Green - "Damar of the Hoard"
This is the only bottom-up design on the list. I designed the combination of abilities a while back, but they're a good fit for red/green and the core set. I'll wait to show him off until I've got the others finished, though.

Green/White - "Bob the Gardener"
In a game that is all about the battles between planeswalkers, what would a peaceful planeswalker look like? It would be interesting to design relevant abilities with a "not intended for combat" feel to them.

Introducing Magic 2099

I've designed quite a few Magic cards over the years, doing everything from scrawling them on napkins to submitting them to online competitions. I mostly lost interest for a while, frustrated by the quality of forum discussion and lack of local interest in playing around with fan-made cards. I never got around to my eventual goal of designing a complete set, and have been inspired to give it another shot.

I was always discouraged by the prospect of trying to flavor a block and its mechanics, so instead I am choosing do design a core set, using a combination of fan-designed cards and "reprints" of existing cards. This experiment is as much about trying to design an environment as it is about creating individual cards.

I chose the name Magic 2099 (M99 for short) because it communicates that I am attempting to create a new core set in the contemporary style, but shouldn't cause any copyright issues until I'm over a century old. The set is not intended to be a realistic prediction of what Magic will be like in 2098.

I will keep this blog updated with my progress and thought processes as I design the set. Comments and criticism are welcome, but please refrain from suggesting new card designs as I am trying to challenge myself to complete this on my own.