There will definitely be a mechanic, Geass, of some kind. There has to be!

One idea is that it's a new subtype shared by Auras, instants and sorceries, such as Geass of Inaction and Geass to Betray. Those can have a variety of effects. Crucially, those effects can be positive or negative, and I'll want a balance of both. Thus you get potential for player A using a positive Geass in response to player B using a negative one, or vice versa.

(Yes, this is neglecting the other Geass users in the series. But Lelouch's Geass is by far the most notable in the series, and the one with the most interesting potential for gameplay.)

If I'm going to do that, then I'll want at least 10 common Geasses and 5 uncommon/rare ones, all at least somewhat Limited playable, and a good mix of positive and negative effects.

But the negative effects, for the most part, want to not actually kill the creature. There can be a couple of exceptions, but killing the creature (or bouncing it etc) makes the "protection from other Geasses" effect rather irrelevant.

Flavour-wise, there's a little bit of a problem that Lelouch doesn't tend to use his Geass power on his own side - he uses his immense charisma and manipulation skills to get them to do what he wants. It's a slight break from flavour in that Lelouch using his Geass on someone doesn't prevent other Geass users using a different Geass user using their own, different Geass on them... but Magic's always had a problem with the flavour of "these Faction X spells are in my deck, working together with Faction Y spells in my deck, against other Faction X spells in your deck".

­ White:

• Geass of Inaction common negative
• Geass to Withstand common positive
• uncommon

­ Blue:

• Geass to Forget common negative (recent negative blue Auras/spells: variations on Pin to the Earth/Hydrosurge, variations on Paralyzing Grasp, Crystalline Nautilus, Frost Breath)
• Geass to Evade common positive (recent positive blue Auras/spells: Aqueous Form, Fate Foretold, Oracle's Insight, Stratus Walk, Way of the Thief, Flitterstep Eidolon; Crypsis, )
• Geass to Inform uncommon (Domestication? Turn to Frog)

­ Black:

• Geass of Paralysis common negative
• Geass to Murder, Geass of Ruthlessness common positive (recent positive black Auras/spells: Aspect of Gorgon, Deviant Glee, Eternal Thirst, Grisly Transformation, Mark of the Vampire, Boon of Erebos, Cutthroat Maneuver, Necrobite)
• Geass to Die uncommon

­ Red:

• Geass to Betray, Geass of Recklessness common negatives (as in used on opponent's creatures)
• (((Geass to Ferocity))) common positive (combat trick)
• uncommon (could be a burn spell)

­ Green:

• Geass to Obstruct common negative (?? the only recent green negative Aura is Spirespine. Inst/sorc possibilities include Plummet, Stave Off, Culling Mark.)
• Geass to Fight common positive (could also have any combat trick)
• Geass to Live uncommon/rare

I've tweaked the reminder text. Instant and sorcery Geasses can be exiled underneath their target, serving to mark that creature as protected until it dies (or gets hit by a Geass Canceller).

For Auras it's a bit trickier. The first thought is to try to say that when a creature becomes enchanted by an Aura Geass, it gains protection from other Geasses permanently: I'd make the reminder text something like "(Enchanted creature has protection from other Geasses. Exile this card if it would leave the battlefield.)" But that's fiddly, weird with regard to timing, and prevents bounce spells bouncing the Geass.

An alternative approach is to say that Aura Geasses quite simply only prevent other Geasses while they're attached to the target. This is perhaps odd, but what ways would the Aura leave without the target leaving? Normally it'll be because the Aura is being hit by a Disenchant effect. And, well, if you Disenchant a Geass, that seems close enough to using a Geass Canceller on it that I would expect another Geass to be able to hit the target. So that lets me have the very short and simple reminder text "(Enchanted creature has protection from other Geasses.)" It is a little bit odd that "ongoing" Geasses have an alternate way around them where "oneoff" Geasses don't, but I think that's just a consequence of the way things are reflected in Magic terms. It'd be much stranger to have to write Geass to Betray or Geass to Withstand as Auras with flash, an ETB trigger, and no ongoing effect except the Geass prevention.

Playtesting showed that the common Geasses are fine as utility spells. The "can't Geass a creature that's already Geassed" issue didn't come up. I think I'm okay if that only happens every 3 games or so.

However, we did find when tucking instants/sorceries behind a creature, they look like Auras. V said the instant/sorcery Geasses should just be Auras.

I'm not convinced. The current wording on Geass to Betray is:

> (Exile this spell when it resolves. Its
> target gains protection from other
> Geasses indefinitely.)
> Gain control of target creature until end
> of turn. Untap that creature. It gains
> haste until end of turn.

As an Aura, it would say:

> (Enchanted creature has protection
> from other Geasses.)
> Flash
> Enchant creature
> When Geass to Betray enters the
> battlefield, gain control of enchanted
> creature until end of turn. Untap that
> creature. It gains haste until end of
> turn.

That's more wordy, and I feel it's less clear what the actual effect of the spell is. Plus then the Geass card is hanging around on the battlefield rather than exiled; don't know if that's much worse, but I feel it's at least a little bit worse.

Suggestion #1: See if you can find similar geass effects that do work as auras, even if not quite traditional auras (but it might mean sacrificing geas to betray :( ). I think this is worth trying because if it works it would clean up the geass mechanic a lot, I agree with V that the two different implementations is a problem.

Suggestion #2: Reverse it, turn the aura geases into sorcery geases saying "target creature gains", since the spell has to stick around as a reminder anyway. I think this fits the flavour slightly better too.

FWIW, two years later, suggestion #2 still seems like a reasonably good idea to me.

Hmm. So Geass of Inaction would stop saying

> Enchantment - Aura Geass
> (Enchanted creature has protection from other Geasses.)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.

and instead would say

> Sorcery - Geass
> (Exile this spell when it resolves. Its target gains protection from other Geasses indefinitely.)
> Target creature can't attack or block. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)

That's... not too bad. It really does look like an Aura, and I think it'd look strange out of context to have a Pacifism that works just like Pacifism but as a sorcery. But. The confusion between Aura Geasses and instant/sorcery Geasses is a real thing and a problem, and needs a solution.

Other examples: Geass to Inform would read

> Sorcery - Geass
> (Exile this spell when it resolves. Its target gains protection from other Geasses indefinitely.)
> Choose target creature an opponent controls. Whenever that creature becomes tapped, you draw a card. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)

Or using "For the rest of the game" (as on Praetor's Counsel or Stigma Lasher), Geass to Live would read

> Sorcery - Geass
> (Exile this spell when it resolves. Its target gains protection from other Geasses indefinitely.)
> Choose target creature. For the rest of the game, if that creature would be destroyed, instead regenerate it and its controller sacrifices another permanent or discards a card.

Yeah, it all seems to work. The phrasing looks odd for indefinite effects, but it might be worth putting up with it to alleviate the Aura/instant confusion. The version with "For the rest of the game" looks a bit better.