Clash on Beledin: Set Mechanics

The Mechanics of Clash

Clash is all about monocolor play inside of a forced 5-color environment. Using fetch counters and aggressively cycling to find a mana base that can best exploit the cards you're dealt.

'Twobrid mana'

Gossamer Wings

 

 C 

Artifact – Equipment

Equipped creature has flying.
As long as equipped creature is blue, it has hexproof.
Equip

Steamrush Invoker

 

 C 

Creature – Dwarf Wight

: Creatures can’t block this turn.

4/2

Jurgan Obelisk

 

 U 

Artifact

: Add .
, Sacrifice a Forest: Choose one—
• Add .
• You gain a fetch counter.
• Draw a card.

Returning to Clash is colorless hybrid, or 'twobrid' mana symbols. Each of these lets you spend instead of a colored mana to pay a cost. This can be crucial in a format where you have only marginal control over the color composition of your mana base.

Pledged to X

Griffin Skymaster

 

 U 

Creature – Griffin

Flying
As long as you’re pledged to white, each other creature you control has flying. (You’re pledged to white as long as Plains is the most common land type among lands you control.)

3/3

Swallowing Tar

 

 U 

Sorcery

Target player sacrifices a creature. If you’re pledged to black, that players sacrifices two creatures instead. (You’re pledged to black as long as Swamp is the most common land type among lands you control.)

Opalescent Lotus

 

 R 

Artifact

: Add .
: If you’re pledged to a color, add three mana of that color. (You’re pledged to a color as long as that color’s basic land type is the most common land type among lands you control.)

Pledge is about commitment. It doesn't matter if you get lucky, or chose a path with fetch counters, if you have more than one basic land type than any other, you are pledged to that color. The amount doesn't matter. If you play a basic Mountain on turn 1, you are pledged to red. Of course, if you play a basic Plains on turn 2, you are then not pledged to anything. There are even some cards that can get you out of a bind by letting you trade lands for resources.

Colorcharged

Void Conduit

 

 R 

Creature – Elemental Husk

Flying
Bluecharged — Void Conduit enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each spent to cast it.
Whenever Void Conduit deals damage to a player, you may draw that many cards.

1/1

Firefall

 

 C 

Sorcery

Redcharged — Firefall deals X damage to any target, where X is the amount of spent to cast it.

Sylvan Convergence

 

 R 

Sorcery

Greencharged — For each spent to cast this spell, choose one. You may choose the same mode more than once.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
• Create a 3/3 green Bear creature token.
• Put the top card of the land deck onto the battlefield tapped.

Colorcharged spells and creatures get more powerful and have effects that scale as more of a specific color of mana are spent to cast them.

Morph

Sunbeam Chaser

 

 C 

Creature – Bird

Flying
Morph— You gain 3 life (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)

1/3

Champion of Gruz

 

 M 

Creature – Avatar

Trample
When Champion of Gruz enters the battlefield or is turned face up, it deals 8 damage to each other creature.
Morph

8/4

Elvish Rhapsodist

 

 U 

Creature – Elf Druid

When Elvish Rhapsodist enters the battlefield or is turned face up, return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
Morph (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)

2/2

Everyone's favorite. While a mana 2/2 creature isn't always (or even often) preferable, Morph provides a similar benefit to the twobrid spells: the ability to play spells even with little colored mana. Clash has several twists on the mechanic, including beneficial non-mana morph 'costs', and abilities that trigger whether you cast or flip the creature.

Cycling

Leave of Absence

 

 C 

Instant

Put target nonblue creature on top of the spell deck.
Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Livia's Ambition

 

 U 

Instant

You draw three cards. Livia’s Ambition deals 3 damage to you.
Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Ring of Erasure

 

 M 

Artifact

, : Exile target permanent.
Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

In a format where you're at the mercy of randomness, what could be better than the ability to recycle the cards you can't use? Not only is Clash extremely cycling-heavy (more than any WotC set) but you can actually use a fetch counter to cycle any card - whether it has cycling or not - at sorcery speed.

Slivers

A classic returns. There have been Slivers in the original Pile box since its construction in 1999, so a set designed around its rules would just have to include them. Sadly updated to modern templating standards.