Subvert

There is a new challenge on reddit to make a mechanic from the top down around the name Subvert. I decided to design around this with the intention of using it for my Phyrexian set.

The first step  in this case is to define the word Subvert.

verb (used with object)

1.

to overthrow (something established or existing).

2.

to cause the downfall, ruin, or destruction of.

3.

to undermine the principles of; corrupt

This gives me a wealth of information. First and foremost is that it is a verb. Its an action. Subvert is something that you do. The actual definition is about overthrowing established order and corruption.
Subvert certainly sounds like a Phyrexian word. More specifically, Subvert sounds like an inherently Black thing. I'm picking up some hints of Red in overthrowing order, but the connotation of Subvert as provided by its Wikipedia entry leads me to believe Red isn't the right fit. While Subversion is used to overthrow order, its a more subtle and insidious weapon. Subversion is about slow methodical corruption through misinformation and the stealing of vital resources. The Red Scare is a good example of perceived subversion.  Subversion is using the opponent's resources against them.  While I'm not saying Subvert has to be Blue, if its going to go in another color Blue is looking attractive.

The next step is to see if there is any mechanical connotation within Magic that connects with Subvert. A gatherer search for the word Subvert turns up nothing but Subversion is a card. Subversion plays into the idea of Subvert. Its a slow stealing of the opponent's resources over to your side. Based on this my first thought was to have a reverse Extort.

Subvert - B (Whenever an opponent casts a spell you may pay B. If you do, each opponent loses one life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.)

While I think this execution nails the flavor perfectly, there are a number of problems. First, its completely reactive. You are piggybacking on the opponent's casts. As such you have to keep up mana all the time since you can't plan for how many Subvert triggers you need to pay in a given turn. This lends itself to heavy control deck with lots of instants, but this can only go on permanents so the mechanic fights itself. In the same vein, Subvert is a verb. It should be an action. This is not something that you can do whenever you decide to do it.  Its also very paralytic. It makes people not want to cast spells which isn't good gameplay.

The mechanic wants to be more proactive, but it still wants to retain the core of using the opponents resources against them. What other resource can be exploited besides them casting spells? Well, in Black you have access to Graveyards, Hands, Creatures, and Libraries. My first thought was a Delve-ish mechanic:

Subvert ( When you cast *this* you may exile a card in an opponent's graveyard.)

This kicker-esque mechanic uses a resource that black cares about, but there are a number of problems. The most obvious is that in Black most spells put cards into your opponent's graveyard. Thus the mechanic feeds itself. Also, not everyone can use the graveyard. Against most Red decks Subvert doesn't impact them in the slightest. Ideally Subvert makes the opponent upset to see their stuff being used.  My next idea is a bit of a riff on Morbid.

Subvert B (Whenever a card goes to an opponent's graveyard, you may pay B)
Whenever *this's* Subvert cost is paid, ACTION.

Pros of this mechanic are that it is proactive, You can make cards go to the opponent's graveyard. It still makes the opponent cautious of playing spells since spells go to the graveyard on resolution. It still has to appear on permanents only, but that isn't the worst drawback. I think it has some development issues. Getting to cascade cards is an issue. Repeating the effect several times has me a bit concerned, though it could be costed so that its not as much of an issue. This still has the problem of not tapping the opponent's current resources. This is a time sensitive mechanic that only works on cards that are "dying" in one form or another. It does have the benefit of still having the oppressive nature of Phyrexians. Phyrexians feed on death and transform it into other resources.

What other resources exist? Permanents in play, cards in hand, the library. Previous mechanics that are specifically U/B, Transmute, Delve, Cipher, and Exploit. Proliferate was essentially a U/B mechanic. Delve uses your graveyard as a resource. Exploit uses creatures as a resource. Cipher used the combat step as a resource. Transmute used the cards in your library as a resource. Proliferate used counters as a resources. U/B is about finding resources in unlikely places.

What if there was a way to feed off the opponent drawing cards?

Subvert COST (Whenever an opponent draws a card, you may pay COST)
Whenever you Subvert, ACTION

This means that you will always have an opportunity to use the Subvert ability. Its oppressive, because it feeds off the opponent, but it does so in a specific enough way that its not going to be a paralytic. The only place where this becomes a real battle is in a control vs control match, where evaluating when/if to draw extra cards is interesting. So some proposed cards/effects.Its proactive enough to feel in control of the cards your playing, and reactive enough to fit U/B's style. As the opponent you don't get to skip your draw step so these cards present a threat, but you do get to control when you would draw additional cards.

ST01 2B
Creature
Subvert B
When you subvert, target player loses 1 life.
1/4

ST02 1U
Creature
Subvert U
When you Subvert, tap target creature
1/3

ST03 1UB
Creature
Subvert UB
When you subvert target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
2/2

These cards are just the tip of the iceberg and I'm excited to get into the full design phase now that I have a mechanic that I like.

Cheers!

Build of the Week: Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury

Last week when I was doing Prossh, I was struck by a different Dragon that seemed like a great general. For a while I've been thinking about a Dash oriented etb red deck, built around Pandemonium and Warstorm Surge. Zurgo was an interesting thought for that deck. He's similar to Norin, the traditional lead for such a concoction, but he gets to attack. Red loves equipment so the attacking angle was quite valuable. I felt the deck was missing something, and realized the other Red deck I had built on this premise was Sedris. Of particular import was the Black mana. Black gives the deck all kinds of goodies. Black brings with it reanimation, tutoring, and non-toughness based removal. In particular for this deck, it lets us more effectively use Flayer of the Hatebound as another Pandemonium effect, and since we are going to want to play several dragons with Kolaghan's trigger, it gives us Patriarch's Bidding. 

So the core is looking like:
Warstorm Surge
Pandemonium
Flayer of the Hatebound
Patriarch's Bidding

I think we want to max out on the mass reanimation:
Living Death
Twilight's Call
Rise of the Dark Realms
Balthor the Defiled

And have some single target reanimates:
Reanimate
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Dread Return
Torrent of Souls
Whip of Erebos

We also want to come from the other side, Hand to Play:
Sneak Attack
Through the Breach

And for the double wammy:
Cauldron Dance

Now that there's an idea of what we are trying to do, what else goes well with this? Well first and foremost we need some Dragons:
Archwing Dragon
Balefire Dragon
Bladewing the Risen
Bogardan Hellkite
Boltwing Marauder
Dragon Tyrant
Dragonlord Kolaghan
Hellkite Charger
Hellkite Igniter
Hellkite Tyrant
Knollspine Dragon
Kokusho
Moltensteel Dragon
Moonveil Dragon
Scourge of the Throne
Scourge of Valkas
Spawn of Thraxes
Stormbreath Dragon
Swift Warkite

That's all of the eligible Dragons. I'm going to shave a number of them down. The focus is on firebreathing since you can stack the Warstorm Surge trigger and then pump your guy. This lends itself to an aggressive style since the deck is capable of some explosive damage. We want to have low cost dudes to getting repeat triggers off of. That means haste enablers, and other Dashers.

Other Dash:
Ambuscade Shaman
Flamerush Rider
Lightning Berserker
Vaultbreaker
Zurgo Bellstriker

Haste Enablers:
Ogre Battledriver
Urabrask the Hidden
In the Web of War

From here two different directions emerge. Either the deck can go more of the big mana reanimator stuff, or it can go more in the Purphoros tokens and Blood Ghast route. I personally think the reanimator shtick is better served with Bladewing the Risen, and having a larger army is better with Kolaghan's triggered ability. Ok so what goes best with that deck concept? Making tokens, having grindy dudes, and etb triggers.

Purphoros, God of the Forge
Bloodghast
Reassembling Skeleton
Bloodsoaked Champion
Kiki-Jiki
Goblin Marshal
Siege-Gang Commander
Beetleback Chief
Murderous Redcap
Zealous Conscripts
Solemn Simulacrum

Of course with all these tokens some sacrifice effects will go well with them, We don't want too many, since we want an army to attack with. 

Skullclamp
Tymaret, the Murder King
Greater Gargadon

Now we want to add some deathmetal juiciness.
Terminate
Dreadbore
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Yawgmoth's Will
Wheel of Fortune
Kolaghan's Command
Hero's Downfall
Night's Whisper
Read the Bones
Erebos, God of the Dead
Entomb

That's a solid set of support spells. We can run a bit less artifact mana than usual since the deck has a significant number of lower cost cards, but some artifact mana is going to be good in any deck, and we have a number of Dash costs to support so the mana isn't going to go to waste. Erebos is of particular importance since the deck attacks people to death. He stops people from pulling out of bad situations where we can just kill them.

Sol Ring
Mana Crypt
Rakdos Signet
Talisman of Indulgence
Gilded Lotus
Thran Dynamo

Unfortunately, assuming 37 land, this puts the deck 14 cards over the cap. Whoops! Cuts need to be made. The first place that gets bits taken out of it is the selection of Dragons. With a greater focus, we can easily cut eight of the Dragons, leaving us six other cards to remove. The support cards can lose Yawgmoth's Will. As much as I love the card, we aren't built to abuse it. We can also drop Beetleback Chief and Goblin Marshal since the tokens they make don't work with Flayer of the Hatebound. Rise of the Dark Realms is too expensive for the direction of the deck now, and Zurgo is a bit too vanilla for our purpose. Torrent of Souls is cool, but a bit more than I want to pay for reanimation considering the multitude of haste enablers the deck already has. 

That brings us to the list:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-04-15-kolaghan/

I'm happy to start here. Its entirely possible that the number of dragons is low enough now to cut that sub-theme and just run one or two that line up with the Warstorm angle. The largest cards that didn't make it in are good equipment. I didn't include them since Dashed creatures bounce to hand and the deck doesn't particularly have the mana to re-equip every turn in addition to Dashing the creatures into play. The removal of the Dragons would only reduce my desire for additional mana, but perhaps Sword of Feast and Famine would alleviate some of that pressure on our mana.The opposite is also true, and you could just make add a ton of the dragons back in, add lots more mana to support the Firebreathing. That feels more like Bladewing's niche than Kolaghan, but there are advantages to each. The deck can also use more artifact removal in the first set of changes. 
Cheers!

Making a set, part 4

Unfortunately I was not able to mock up the cards that I have made and get some games in. This article is going to be about the direction the set is going and the challenges I already see on the horizon.

The first challenge is the amount of Phyrexian mana I want to have in the set. Ideally the Phyrexians have several tight cycles to show their unity. The Phyrexians are many different colors in the set. They take up the allied color pairs. They are fighting the Alarans, who are also many different colors, but who don't have as core an identity. The hope is that tight complete cycles of Phyrexian cards and the looser, less defined cycles of Alaran cards get that message across. The challenge is that the best way to convey the Phyrexians is through the use of Phyrexian mana. Dual color Phyrexian mana is very cool, but I don't think it has a ton of printable space. Remember, I intend for these sets to be capable of seeing print. The essential problem with multicolor Phyrexian mana is the identity of the cards involved. Phyrexian mana is supposed to represent a hybrid of artifact and colored spell. Having a card with P/U and P/B means that card is colorless, blue, black, and blue+black. That's a lot of options. As such, dual color Phyrexian mana cards will be used with the frequency of hybrid mana cards on Ravnica, ie one cycle at each rarity. This helps enforce the allied pairings without overloading on these cards that don't have too much depth. I would like to keep the Phyrexian mana card count low, so that means doing free spells is unlikely, but having cards that cross colors with Phyrexian mana is great.
So we need a cycle of:
1C cmc, (P/C) activation
and allied P mana cards.
at each rarity.
That totals 30 Phyrexian mana cards in the set. That feels like a good ratio, but it is a constriction since other Phyrexian mana cards is essentially locked outside the cycles.

The second challenge is going to be the similarity between Devour and Bulk. Bulk is essentially the reverse of Devour. Whereas with Devour you eat all the creatures you have already played, with Bulk your play more creatures and it grows the creatures you already have. They work on the same axis but from different directions. The challenge is going to be making the cards feel different enough and not just mirrors of each other within the same faction. It has been brought up that repeating mechanics to reduce complication is a bit foolhardy since new players have to learn the mechanic anyway. To that end, it might behoove me to just replace Devour. There isn't that much mechanical space left to explore. That would leave a hole for the Grixis+Bant faction. I'll try the first playtest with the Devour cards but I'll also be brainstorming ideas to replace it.

The third challenge is artifact density. In order to make Compleat work there has to be a lot of artifacts. Way more than usual. This is not hard to do in a set that has both Phyrexians and Esper, but the inflation in the number of artifacts might be too much. If greater than 50% of the permanents have to be artifacts than Compleat will probably have to change.

That's about where I'm at. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to get the cards input into MSE and printed by this Thur/Fri and get some real feedback.

Thanks for reading!

Build of the Week: The Jund Overlord

Prossh is essentially everything that you'd want in a Jund colored general. He has the beatstick aspect of Karrthus while having the grindy value oriented play of Sek'Kuar. He is both a sacrifice outlet and a sacrifice payoff. He's a very competitive general and there's a reason for that, he is a swiss army knife for his colors, and recasting him only gives you more value! I seriously debating putting this list together over another Jund general, but he's so good that he just crowds out all the other options.

I started with my Ghave List here:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ghave-13-01-14-1/

The two of those generals are going to have a similar play pattern. They are going to want value etb creatures and grindy sacrifice stuff. That's the general way G/B is going to want to play. From the list I culled the following.

Avenger of Zendikar
Blood Artist
Carrion Feeder
Craterhoof Behemoth
Deranged Hermit
Eternal Witness
Oracle of Mul Daya
Puppeteer Clique
Regal Force
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Skullmulcher
Solemn Simulacrum
Wood Elves
Woodfall Primus
Yavimaya Elder

Chord of Calling
Collected Company
Vampiric Tutor
Ashnod's Altar
Birthing Pod
Gilded Lotus
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Phyrexian Altar
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Doubling Season
Earthcraft
Fecundity
Greater Good
Mana Reflection
Survival of the Fittest
Sylvan Library
Demonic Tutor
Explosive Vegetation
Hunting Wilds
Kodama's Reach
Living Death
Maelstrom Pulse
Natural Order
Skyshroud Claim
Tooth and Nail

That's a lot of cards! Many of them aren't going to make the final list, so lets start cutting things.
Regal Force is good, but since Prossh makes red tokens its a bit less good here. Its also competing with Skullmulcher for a slot as Dude That Draws Cards when it enters the battlefield. I think I prefer Skullmulcher for this deck, even though it doesn't get to turn the counters into creatures again like in Ghave. Woodfall Primus is a solid card, but we aren't going to have as many ways to get him back or go infinite with him. I also think the red persist rare, Furystoke Giant is better suited for the direction this deck is going. Collected Company is a stretch in Ghave, and definitely not worth the trouble in this deck without Saffi to piece together infinite combos out of thin air. Mana Reflection/Hunting Wilds can go. I'm not super pumped to resolve either in this deck. Same goes for Vampiric Tutor/Demonic Tutor and Survival of the Fittest. All of these are powerful cards, but I want Prossh to be a bit lower on the Bullshit scale. Adding more variance will do that better than anything else. Natural Order also gets the axe even though its great. This has a similar logic behind it but also we are going to be down on green dudes with Prossh making red tokens.

Now that we've carved out some space and picked a spot on the Bullshit Scale for our guy, what else do we want? The theme is value and sacrifice, but what else works well with Jund? Dragons! Lets get some stompy flyers in the deck:

Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
Boltwing Marauder
Broodmate Dragon
Destructor Dragon
Dragon Broodmother
Dragonlord Atarka
Dragonlord Kolaghan
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
Savage Ventmaw
Scourge of the Throne
Swift Warkite

We don't just want to jam any dragon into our deck. A run through of dragons in our colors shows these as possible options. I like the idea of running all of these but Scourge of the Throne and Dragonlords Atarka and Kolaghan are a bit outside our purview. I also considered cutting Savage Ventmaw, but since we are likely to have 2-3 global haste enablers the possibility of getting a 6 drop for free is really attractive.

Assuming we play 37 lands, that leaves 19 open slots. Into those slots go some Prossh specific cards and the best of Red.

Goblin Sharpshooter
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Disciple of Bolas
Farhaven Elf
Goblin Bombardment
Attrition
Fires of Yavimaya
Hammer of Purphoros
Vicious Shadows
Deathbringer Thoctar
Xenagos, God of Revels
Food Chain
Phyrexian Reclamation
Furystoke Giant
Xenagos, the Reveler
Madrush Cyclops
Yavimaya Dryad
Garruk, Primal Hunter
Seize the Day
Cauldron Dance
Night's Whisper
Sarkhan Vol
Sarkhan the Mad
Sprouting Thrinax
Stalking Vengeance
Chancellor of the Forge
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Reclamation Sage

This actually puts us at 10 cards over. I don't think the Sharpshooter is what we want. He's quite good but we want to use our slots on things that actually eat out dudes. Attrition is a powerful sacrifice outlet, but we don't really have the mana to use it appropriately. Garruk is also a great draw spell, but triple green is tough. Disciple of Bolas is less restrictive but probably the highest power creature we'll have is Prossh, who I don't want to just eat willy nilly. Yavimaya Dryad is probably the worst 187 value dude so it gets the axe until test proves I need more of those effects. Sarkhan Vol can't be counted on to had around as a haste enabler. I could have cut Madrush Cyclops instead, but I've always wanted to play that card. Sprouting Thrinax is a great throwback to the Jund that this deck is intended to play like, but not really good enough at any one thing. That still leaves the deck heavy. The area that we are most overloaded on is the dragons. Cutting the borderline ones, Destructor Dragon and Savage Ventmaw drops us to only needing one cut, and I think we can do ok with 36 land to start. Its a bit low but we have a ton of value ramp guys and artifact mana,

The final list:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-04-15-prossh/

Thanks for reading!
Things I'm looking for on first play through are how did the mana work? Do we need more land? Do we need more of a color? How easy was it to get ahead on cards? Is playing the game almost completely at sorcery speed worth it? Do we need more dragons or less? Is the combo aspect of the deck too consistent? Are there other value creatures that we want in the deck, like Vulturous Aven/Phyrexian Rager?

Making a set, part 3

Back again. I worked out the first draft of the common cards. I haven't put mana costs to anything since I'm looking mostly to figure out if there is enough room for everything.
As a reminder,
Compleat - If this permanent doesn't have a Compleat counter on it, you may activate its compleat ability. You pay the cost and the compleat ability goes on the stack. When the compleat ability resolves you may sacrifice another artifact. If you do, put a compleat counter on this permanent and it becomes compleat.

Bulk - Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay N. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on this permanent.

Devour - No changes

Phyrexian Mana - No changes

Colored Artifact - No changes.

There are some features of the card set that I think are unchangeable. Black doesn't get cards with Bulk. Bulk comes from the alliance of Bant and Naya, the non-black shards. White doesn't get Devour. Devour is from the alliance of Grixis and Jund, the non-white shards. Esper still has colored artifacts, but the spread of etherium evident in Alara Reborn is not going to be touched upon. We'll have colored artifacts in non-esper colors due to the Phyrexian mana cards, so we don't need to worry too much about that. The phyrexians are going to have strict cycles to show their unity even though their colors are much more splintered. At common, they have a cycle of 5 cards, one of each color, that has phyrexian mana in the mana cost, and an activatable ability for an allied color phyrexian mana cost. The other cycle is allied cost phyrexian mana cards, ie (P/W)(P/U). These cycles have to be strict while the Alaran forces don't get complete cycles to show that they are fractured.

These are a first draft and I'm sure that I'm going to wind up changing things as I make costs and input these into the Set editor for printing. Hopefully I can get some games with the card file in by the next update.

Design Skeleton:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KKbhhgreewQ_ap6qMUWLUrVr42nUMWPxWT9cPe_JLBs/edit?usp=sharing

cw01 2(P/W)
artifact creature
(P/U): cw01 gains flying until end of turn
2/2

cw02
creature
first strike
2/1

cw03
creature
2W:Compleat
When cw03 becomes compleat, destory target enchantment
2/3

cw04
creature
COST: Compleat
As long as cw04 has a compleat counter on it, it gains +2/+2.
2/2

cw05
creature
3/5

cw06
creature
flying
1/2

cw07
artifact creature
3/1

cw08
creature
flash
2/2

cw09
creature
bulk - 1W
1/1

cw10
creature
bulk - 1W
Vigilance
1/5

cw11
sorcery
exile target creature with power 4 or greater

cw12
instant
target creature gets +1/+2 until end of turn

cw13
instant
put two 1/1 soldier tokens with first strike onto the
battlefield

cw14
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted Creature can't attack, block, or be sacrificed

cw15
Artifact - Equipment
Equip - N
When equipped creature attacks, tap target creature.

cu01 2(P/U)
artifact creature
(P/B): cu01 gains deathtouch until end of turn.
1/2

cu02
creature
flash
when cu02 enters the battlefield tap target creature.
2/3

cu03
creature
flying
2UU: Compleat
As long as cu03 has a compleat counter on it, it gains
+2/+2.
2/2

cu04
creature
flying
Bulk - 1U
2/1

cu05
artifact creature
Hexproof
Bulk - 1U
3/4

cu06
sorcery
return target non-land permanent to its owner's hand

cu07
sorcery
return target creature or artifact to its owner's hand

cu08
instant
counter target creature or artifact spell

cu09
enchantment - aura
enchant creature
enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controllers untap step and can't be sacrificed.

cu10
instant
draw two cards

cu11
draw three cards, then discard a card

cu12
instant
counter target spell unless its controller plays 2

cu13
tap or untap target creature

cu14
enchantment
enchant creature
enchanted creature get -3/-0

cu15
artifact - equipment
Equip - N
When equipped creature attacks, it gains flying until end of turn.

cb01 2(P/B)
artifact creature
(P/R): cb01 gains haste until end of turn.
3/1

cb02
creature
intimidate
2/1

cb03
creature
2B: Compleat
When cb03 becomes compleat, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
2/2

cb04
creature
3/3

cb05
creature
deathtouch
1/1

cb06
artifact creature
flying
When this enters the battlefield you lose two life
2/2

cb07
creature
Devour 1
When cb07 enters the battlefield target player loses one life for each creature cb07 devoured.
0/0

cb08
sorcery
Destroy target nonartifact creature

cb09
sorcery
target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a non-artifact, non-land card and that player discards
that card.

cb10
Instant
Target creature gets +3/+0 and gains lifelink until
end of turn.

cb11
sorcery
Destroy target creature.

cb12
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets -3/-3 and can't be sacrificed.

cb13
Instant
Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn

cb14
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature get +2/+0.

cb15
Artifact - Equipment
Equip - N
When equipped creature attacks, the defending player loses two life.

cr01 2(P/R)
artifact creature
(P/G): cr01 gains trample until end of turn.
4/1

cr02
creature
R: Compleat
As long as cr02 has a compleat counter on it it gains +2/+1 and has haste.
2/2

cr03
creature
2/1

cr04
creature
First Strike
bulk - 1R
1/1

cr05
creature
devour 1
1/2

cr06
creature
intimidate
5/3

cr07
instant
deal 5 damage to target creature.

cr08
instant
deal two damage to target creature or player.

cr09
sorcery
creatures can't block this turn

cr10
sorcery
put two 1/1 red warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield.

cr11
instant
deal two damage to target creature.

cr12
sorcery
deal three damage to target creature and its controller.

cr13
enchantment - aura
enchant creature
enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and "This creature can't block or be sacrificed."

cr14
sorcery
Destroy target artifact or land.

cr15
instant
target creature gets haste

cg01 2(P/G)
artifact creature
(P/W): cg01 gains vigilance until end of turn.
2/4

cg02
creature
deathtouch
1/3

cg03
creature
3/3

cg04
creature
COST: Compleat
As long as cg04 has a compleat counter on it, it gains +1/+2 and reach.
3/4

cg05
creature
1G: Regenerate
1/1

cg06
creature
devour 1
3/2

cg07
creature
3/1

cg08
creature
bulk - 1G
4/3

cg09
creature
trample
bulk - G
5/5

cg10
instant
target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn

cg11
sorcery
search your library for a basic land and put it into play tapped. Shuffle your library.

cg12
enchantment - aura
enchant creature
enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and gains trample and can't be sacrificed.

cg13
Instant
destroy target artifact.

cg14
instant
prevent all combat damage artifact creatures would deal
this turn.

cg15
enchantment
enchant creature
enchanted creature becomes a base 0/4 and gains "can't be sacrificed."

cz01 (P/W)(P/U)
artifact creature
defender
0/5

cz02 (P/U)(P/B)
artifact creature
unblockable
2/2

cz03 (P/B)(P/R)
artifact creature
intimidate
3/1

cz04 (P/R)(P/G)
artifact creature
When cz04 enters the battlefield it fights target creature.
4/4

cx05 (P/G)(P/W)
artifact creature
Protection from black.
3/4

cx06 WUG
creature
Bulk - 1
3/3

cx07 WUB
artifact creature
vigilance
TAP: Target artifact creature gains +1/+1 and lifelink,
1/4

cx08 UBR
creature
Devour 1
When cx08 enters the battlefield, return a creature
from your graveyard to your hand for each creature it
devoured.
1/2

cx09 BRG
creature
Devour 3
2/2

cx10 RGW
creature
Trample
Bulk - G
4/4

cx11 P
instant

cx12 P
sorcery

ca01
artifact creature
2: Compleat
When ca01 becomes compleat, put two 1/1 artifact
creature tokens onto the battlefield.
1/1

ca02
artifact creature
2/2

ca03
artifact creature
devour 1
2/2

ca04
artifact creature
bulk 2
2/2

ca05 Ichor Wellspring 2
artifact
when ichor wellspring enters the battlefield or is put
into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card.

ca06 Mycosynth Wellspring 2
artifact
When Mycosynth Wellspring enters the battlefield or is
put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may
search your library for a basic land card, reveal it,
put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.

ca07 Armillary Sphere 2
2, TAP, Sacrifice Armillary Sphere: Search your library
for up to two basic land cards, reveal them, and put
them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

cl01 Evolving Wilds

cl02 Bant Panorama

cl03 Esper

cl04 Grixis

cl05 jund

cl06 Naya

Sharuum

This week I'm going to do something a little different. This is a deck I'm in the process of building myself. It completes my U/B Graveyard matters decks. I've been working towards it for a while. Its a linear strategy and quite strong.
Decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/30-10-14-sharuum/

This was a blast to figure out. Its a pretty filthy combo deck, built to abuse the artifact type as much as possible. It can go for big mana plays with Ugin and Karn, or with a blink sub-theme with Filigree Angel and Venser. Its also quite capable of taking infinite extra turns with Time Sieve and other tricks. Its not super optimized yet since I haven't gotten to playtest it, but its obviously not taking it easy either. I'm going to break this down by groupings of cards.

Blink related:
Baleful Strix
Deadeye Navigator
Duplicant
Filigree Angel
Magister Sphinx
Master Transmuter
Myr Battlesphere
Solemn Simulacrum
Momentary Blink
Venser the Sojourner

These are the core of the blink sub-theme. They offer powerful enter the battlefield effects, or they blink things on their own. I could have included some of the sacrifice cards here, but they do serve a somewhat different function. I also think it worthwhile to mention that strength of blinking Sharuum herself.

Big Mana:
Karn, Liberated
Ugin the Spirit Dragon
Tunnel Vision/Open the Vaults
Memnarch
Teferi, Temporal Archmage

These are all plans that need a huge amount of mana to work out correctly. While there are other 7 or more casting cost cards, they are mostly artifacts, letting me cheat their mana cost with Sharuum.

Combo enablers:
Krak-Clan Ironworks
Sculpting Steel
Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek
Phyrexian Metamorph
Tunnel Vision/Open the Vaults
Karn, Silver Golem

These cards have other utility but really they exist as a means to set up combos. Metamorph and Sculpting Steel combine with Sharuum to create an infinite sacrifice loop.

Combo payoffs:
Time Sieve
Disciple of the Vault
Bitter Ordeal
Spine of Ish Sha

These cards directly benefit from the enabler cards. Generally they instantly end the game by either taking infinite turns, destroying all permanents, exiling the enemies library, or draining all of their life.

Acceleration:
Gilded Lotus
Grim Monolith
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Sol Ring
Worn Powerstone

Pretty standard artifact mana package. This section could honestly use some beefing up and might grow to include some number of signets, Mindstone, Dreamstone Hedron, etc.

Protection:
Helm of Possession
Darksteel Forge
Lightning Greaves
Mana Drain

Most of these cards have a second function. Many cards from the blink section also work here, Filigree Angel/Baleful Strix/etc. They fall under the Protection heading because that's their primary purpose. Its a light list because I believe in pushing plan A really hard.

Value/Card Draw:
Memory Jar
Mimic Vat
Mind's Eye
Mirrorworks
Rings of Brighthearth
Sensei's Divining Top
The Chain Veil
Trading Post
Voltaic Key
Rite of Replication
Stolen Identity
Thirst for Knowledge

This set up gets me a lot of cards and plays out tons of artifacts that can all start interacting with each other. I want to try to fit Strionic Resonator into this section whenever possible.

Tutors:
Enlightened Tutor
Entomb
Reshape
Transmute Artifact
Tezzeret the Seeker
Kuldotha Forgemaster

The good part about working with artifacts is that it is very easy to line up tutors to play. Tinker itself is banned, but its ancestor and descendants are both legal. Entomb is a great card to line up Sharuum with, and Tezzeret is a bad ass. March of the Machines can easily kill people outright in this deck.

Utility/Removal:
Steel Hellkite
Wurmcoil Engine
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Ethersworn Adjudicator
Etherium Sculptor
Junk Diver
Myr Retriever

These cards don't neatly fit into catagories. They kind of do a lot of everything. Many of them are large creatures to hold the fort while you compile an overwhelming advantage. Tezzeret is awesome here, both drawing a card every turn and building to a lethal finish very quickly. Ethersworn Adjudicator is a pet card, but one that I think fits here quite nicely.

Land:
Academy Ruins
Adarkar Wastes
Ancient Den
Ancient Tomb
Arcane Sanctum
Command Tower
Darksteel Citadel
Fetid Heath
Flooded Strand
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
Marsh Flats
Mishra's Workshop
Mystic Gate
Phyrexian Tower
3x Plains
Polluted Delta
Reflecting Pool
Reliquary Tower
Scrubland
Seat of the Synod
Sunken Ruins
2x Swamp
Tolaria West
Tundra
Underground River
Underground Sea
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Vault of Whispers
Watery Grave

This mana base is extraordinarily expensive because of the inclusion of a Workshop. This is an ideal version. The shop will take me a while to build up to and likely will be a basic island while I'm waiting.

So there you have it folks. This is a great expression of the power of artifacts and will be a blast to play. I currently have about half the cards. I'll update on the progress of this one once its in a playable state.

Making a set, part 2

Last installment I listed the various things that were pushing me into a specific direction. Once I settled on Phyrexia versus Alara, henceforth referred to as AvP, there were some ideas as to why specifically the Phyrexians would invade. The Phyrexian civilization is all about expansion, multiplication, and perfection. They subsume the worlds that they come across. Alara has the resources of Etherium, Sangrite, and the tremendous mana well of the Maelstrom. Of these, it makes sense that they would center their invasion of Alara on Esper. Esper has taken the most damage as Phyrexians reprocess the Etherium of their bodies into their abominable creations. This makes it obvious that one of the main thrusts of the cards has to be colored artifacts. Its what is common to both Phyrexia and Esper. That's easy enough to do, dual color Phyrexian mana cards can have some creatures involved, and some Esperites can exist. What are the rest of the Alaran's doing though? It would make sense that they are rallying to fight. Since we are on the two-set paradigm, we are going to have to show up a third of the way through the story. I see Bant and Naya combining forces to hold their borders against the Phyrexians, and Bolas defending Grixis and Jund. I like the idea of having some returning mechanics since there is going to be a lot going on color-wise in the set. Having some repeats will help all but the new players, and its easy to repeat intuitive mechanics. Devour is a good mechanic that makes sense for Grixis and Jund. It also fits the sets theme of consuming resources. Neither Exalted or 5 Power Matters makes sense to bring back solo, so their coalition gets a new mechanic that fits GWur.

Thus far we have,
Phyrexia - Phyrexian mana
Alara - Devour, colored artifacts, X

I considered bringing back Infect since it is thematically correct, but I think it would have too much complexity behind it to also split the win conditions of the format. The Phyrexians clearly need another mechanic though. I don't think that proliferate has enough behind it to become a major mechanic. Its more like a rider that you can think of as a cantrip effect. It might be interesting to have in the second set as a returning mechanic.
Since the Phyrexians need a new mechanic, what are they trying to do? Well, they are on Alara primarily to claim Etherium for themselves. They want to become more perfect versions of themselves. What if they ate other artifacts to become Compleat? That's a cool idea. And with the high number of artifacts with color, its certainly do-able. Having it attached to a comes into play ability wouldn't have as much play to it, and it only gives you one shot to do it. What if it sacrificed an artifact in play?

Compleat - A keyword like monstrous that appears on Phyrexian cards in AvP. Each card with Compleat has a COST: Compleat. To Compleat, you sacrifice an artifact on resolution of the ability. If you do, the card gains the state Compleat. The individual cards gain a bonus, either through a trigger or by being Compleat. I think that Compleat might require a counter of some kind to mark that the ability has resolved. Also, the sacrifice of the artifact is a may so you aren't trapped into eating something you don't want to. Also, it will be worded to be another artifact so that the Phyrexian doesn't sacrifice itself. It makes more sense and closes off a lot of questions.

3GG: Compleat (As this ability resolves you may sacrifice another artifact. If you do, put a Compleat counter on this and it becomes Compleat.)

This lines up with the return of Devour, simulates the Phyrexian hunt for perfection through consumption, and works as another ability that can cross colors and make Phyrexians in the set feel multicolor without having to have multiple costs in the upper right.

As for the other Alaran mechanic, I've had something in the back of my mind for a while and this seems like the best place for it. I call it Bulk. Bulk likely won't last through the creative application, but it works for testing.

Bulk - 1G (Whenever another non-token creature enters the battlefield you may pay 1G. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on *this*.)

Its quite simple, but it works really well for Bant+Naya. They are marshaling their strength for the clash with the Phyrexians, but from a mechanical standpoint it also works well with their previous mechanics. It can build creatures up to 5 power, and it works well with playing creatures with exalted pre-combat.

Using this, I sketched out this design skeleton:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KKbhhgreewQ_ap6qMUWLUrVr42nUMWPxWT9cPe_JLBs/edit?usp=sharing

Now I get to do the fun part, actually making magic cards!

Making a Set

I've been reading through the Nuts and Blots articles from MaRo. I think it would be a great benefit to me to make a magic set from the ground up. Before I make the design skeleton, I first have to decide what the set is going to be about. What is the Vision for the set?
Step 1, list the things I like.
I have a luxury that R and D don't have, which is that this doesn't have to connect to other magic products in any real way. It can be about anything interesting. I'm going to try to stay to things that are printable. The set won't intentionally include storm or dredge, but this is more from a story perspective. So I get to just list things that I find compelling:

Phyrexians
Tezzeret
Graveyard mechanics
Multicolor, specifically enemy colors
Factions
Sphinxes
EDH
Enchantment Creatures

Ok that's a good list. Obviously not all of these things can work together. How many can I weave together into a complete picture?
Well Tezzeret was last seen on New Phyrexia, Sphinxes are a large part of Esper, where Tezzeret is from. Esper/Alara is well known for its multicolor theme, and there's factions aplenty! Its also probably the most important block for EDH. The introduction of tri-color legends that were cheap and interesting really drove a lot of interest in the format. Having Esper and Phyrexians is going to necessitate a lot of artifact creatures, so that means I have to cut Enchantment Creatures. It also doesn't play particularly well with the idea of the graveyard as an overall theme, but there might be room for a golgari mechanic that uses the yard in some fashion.

Ok. It looks like the Phyrexians are going to invade Alara. Why would they want to do that? Tezzeret must have informed them about Etherium. Phyrexians are all about perfection. They are going to want the perfect metal to compleat themselves. When last we left Phyrexia Elesh Norn had become the dominate force on the plane. Tezzeret was still present, but the Praetors were not a fan of him. I'm just going to baldly state that Elesh Norn is the Mother of Machines. Tezzeret was tortured into giving up the location of Etherium, The Phyrexians dissect Venser and figure out how to make a ship that traverses the planes. This leads to a cool trope to play into, the alien invasion. We know the Phyrexians are going to attempt to convert whatever plane they land on, but unlike Mirrodin, they won't literally be in the core of the planet here. They will have to grow from their initial landing. This might be too similar to the structure of Scars block anyway though. The other way to go is that they launch a large invasion force. I'd prefer the phyrexian to non-phyrexian % to be closer to 50/50 since this is a two set block, and the gradual over taking of a plane has been covered. Ok, going with a larger invasion force and being deep enough into the war that we've got a good amount of Phyrexians.

So the Phyrexians land on Alara in force to lay claim to Etherium, Sangrite, and the enormous mana source that is the Maelstrom. Alara has to marshal themselves to throw them off. Specifically, this is a threat to Bolas and his machinations. 

What mechanically defined the Phyrexians? 
Infect
Phyrexian Mana
Conversion
Biomechanical
Adaptive

The Phyrexians are essentially a more nightmarish version of the Borg, They consume and adapt, They re-purpose and change themselves based on the make up of what they consume. They function less like an army and more like an organism. They exploit the resources of others to make more of themselves. 

What mechanically defined Alara?
Multicolor
5 separate societies   
Cascade
Colored Artifacts
Exalted
Unearth
Devour
5 Power matters
Domain
Hybrid Mana (sparingly) 

Alara was defined by the split nature of the planes. Now that the planes are conjoined, they have been in chaos warring against each other. The hapless nature of most of the peoples of Alara is evident in their inability to see the cataclysmic crash of their lands together. However, the specialized nature of the various planes keeps them from working together. Despite this, the 5 conjoined planes have an embarrassment of riches, and more mana of the various colors than anywhere else. That's why Bolas wanted it for himself in the first place.

So the vision is Tezzeret convincing Phyrexia to use their limited planes-crossing technology to invade Alara. This pits Bolas against Phyrexia with the rest of Alara caught in the crossfire. The thing I keep thinking is how interesting it would be to have multicolor phyrexian mana cards. Obviously the Praetors of New Phyrexia are pretty well established, but if they needed to send ships, it would make sense for them to send lieutenants in place of themselves. Then I can take some of the characters mentioned in the New Phyrexia flavor text and make them into two-color Praetors for the Phyrexian leadership. This lets Phyrexian mana come back, but only be on multicolor cards, demanding at least 4 life per card. That should keep it more taxing than its prior incarnation.  

Ok, I'm excited. I'll be back next week with a design skeleton.