#example design

Distant Third Example Designs

Sniff Out by @3smuth

This is a good example of a card that uses a tertiary mechanic for mechanical reasons. This is intended as an answer to planeswalkers- it counters their loyalty abilities and destroys them. The tertiary mechanic here is, of course, the ability to counter abilities though arguably the ability to destroy planeswalkers is as well. This is a good example mechanically, because it uses the tertiary ability in a way that no other color (namely blue) couldn’t. Countering abilities like this will always feel a little weird to me in green for some reason, but even so this still just feels like a green card.

Tongue Twister by @teaxch

This is a good example of a very simple use of a tertiary keyword. This is a mechanic that needs flash to function, and so you add flash. Simple as that. Red is tertiary in flash for exactly this reason- cards that would not otherwise function without flash. (Also, the name here is wonderful. I love a good pun).

Vile Exploitation by @naban-dean-of-irritation

This is a good example of a card that uses a tertiary mechanic for flavor reasons, rather than mechanical. There’s no reason that this card couldn’t be done in red (or green, the other mechanic tertiary in this) but the flavor of it feels so viscerally black. And since black is does get land destruction, it’s the right choice for this card.

The biggest overall thing I want you to take away from this is to think about why this card exists. (This is good advice in general, but especially here.) Why is it this color as opposed to any other? You need a good mechanical or flavorful justification like the ones here. I hope this provides you with some direction of where to go with this contest!!!!

“New Archetype” examples and discussion ~

So, I’m not going to go in-depth as much with these things to “justify” my thoughts, because this is a more challenging contest, and I think that intention matters a lot here. I’m going to go over that first and foremost, and that will invite discussion, I hope, taking these designs and the process in good faith.

> Tumult Trap

Mechanical Intention: This is designed to be a powerful common removal spell that requires/supports an UR shell. The looting is designed to eventually allow for that return, and as an archetypical example, it’s assumed that looting and “exile lands to return” will be a resource theme, similar to Escape in the sense that you’ll have limited resources for recursion.

Flavor Intention: Treasure hunting is a big adventuring theme, and the journey to get there is as treacherous as anything. This card is supposed to represent part of that search, where you (a treasure hunter) knows a certain path that you’ve laced with a trap. You can go back that way if you need to get rid of bigger threats on your way to your goal. “Don’t follow me, because I know a path that’ll mess you up.”

> Wasteland Colos

Mechanical Intention: The archetype presented here is in the BW token vein, but less about amassing large numbers of tokens and more about using big creatures to protect small creatures. This particular card leans more towards black than white, but as a signpost uncommon it presents indestructible as a shared keyword while making a big body for the midrange game. It is presumed that BW will care about 1/1 or smaller creatures.

Flavor Intention: This desert world, whatever it is, has trade routes and experienced caravan guides, but they have a relationship with their beasts. The beast can travel alone, but its job is to protect the humans who are making their way across the sands. Fairly straightforward symbiosis. Black in this set is presumed to be more goal-oriented and determined, power without the more selfish aspects.

> Season of Scars

Mechanical Intention: Auras are the obvious theme here for this big enchantment. Enchantments may play a subtheme, but the balance here is using Auras as alternative resources, as well as having Auras on lands, which hasn’t been done in large concentrations since (surprisingly) Return to Ravnica. You can use your Auras to help creatures later in the game, where you might have a higher concentration of them (considering it’s a draftable set). Ooh, what if there was an Aura that could do both, like the Runes?

Flavor Intention: In general shamanic terms, there’s the natural connection to the land and the worship of the great mountain, with ritual scarring that mirrors etchings of power, history, and culture. These people use their past to learn from the scarred lessons of the shamans that came before them, lessons that reappear to give power even after the death of the scarred or the destruction of the land.

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But here’s the thing: these cards still play well with cards that came before it. And that’s perfectly fine; in fact, it wouldn’t be good MTG design without it. Consider what you’re making in the context of “new and exciting space” but keep in mind that I’m not going to dock points for having a functional card in the greater MTG context.

Substitute Teachings ~

Share Alike — @3smuth (Sorry, I know you had a different version in the works) Delinquent’s Dilemma — @mistershinyobject Preacher of the Vault — @follower-of-liliana Zhur-Taa Beckoner — @abelzumi

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Rather than go through each individual one, I’ll point out the differences here. Share Alike and Delinquent’s Dilemma both play into the school tropes, the students in a magical world and all that. They have common themes related to problems students face, a magical twist on common shared imagery. 

But, Preacher of the Vault and Zhur-Taa Beckoner take a different approach to this prompt: they’re plane-based. Is a Phyrexian preacher going to be shown in front of a classroom or teaching a bunch of Phyrexilings? No, but they’re going to be dispensing knowledge, they’re going to be sowing information, and prophesying about the blessings of Sheoldred. The young Gruul centaur student is learning about her past, her lineage, what creatures may come and what may emerge from the underground.

If you’re feeling stuck or if you’re looking to open up the prompt more, ask yourself some questions!

> I have a good card, so how can I make this flavored around teaching/learning? What ideas fit, if they can fit, and what needs to be remedied? 

> How does each color take approaches to new information? What information does each color seek? How can they be combined?

> On different planes, what is learned, taught, or understood? How would a green Kamigawa lesson be different than a green Lorwyn lesson? Could someone on UB Innistrad take a different approach to study than someone on UB Eldraine?

The most important aspect of this contest to keep in mind: I have an understanding that not everything will be a 100% fit to the idea of school and school tropes. There’s lots of wiggle room here. Listen to vague and heartfelt ideas and see where they take you.

Two different cards, two different levels of complexity, two different degrees of effort put into the art.

Spellwound Entity at first glance has a star that is very difficult to track. It track something that can change at any moment, isn’t visible on the board, and usually isn’t tracked. However, what saves this card is that, in the deck it goes in, it isn’t a problem at all. Giving it haste and 1 toughness means the only deck that would realistically play this is a burn deck or combo deck. Burn decks will rarely cast more than two or three spells a turn, and usually in such quick succession so early in the game that you don’t have time to forget about it. Combo / storm decks might play this as a finisher if they can get it to high enough power, but in those cases, the player is probably already counting their storm count. The near-complete lack of defensive capabilities also keeps your opponent from needing to do much of the math.

Pop Examples: One silly, one serious ~

One is the artifact commander I’ve always wanted! Almost entirely flavor-based, too. She enters the battlefield and surveys her domain and its prosperity. Whenever she erects a monument, she gets her servants/worshippers to emerge. And she can throw them in front of her beautiful statues to save them from destruction.