What is happiness and peace in peaceful times when the berserker has known so much trauma that caused them to become a berserker in the first place? That is the idea I'm grasping for.
2022-10-25 01:26:52:
Sorrow
commented on the cardset Washikow
Fwiw, I'm all ears for a suggestion in place of Citizen that fits both black and green. Assassin doesn't fit Washikow, so that's off the table.
The cost of being a one-drop relevant. Checking the top of library feels like a scout thing to me, although I worry about too much of it making for tedious cards when viewing scout as a whole in the set.
2022-10-22 10:03:29:
Sorrow
commented on the cardset Washikow
The thematic idea is more about finding what role (represented by profession) that is fulfilled in society. The Unwanting are anticommunal entities, emerging from those who reject finding a role to the point they exit themselves from the community and humanity. Of course, not every one has the strong rejections that lead them to becoming Unwanting, but some may be bored or restless in the role they've chosen, perhaps because they haven't chose a role that suits them, or because times are simply slow and uneventful.
Mechanically, there is no link between these concepts.
Citizen was definitely something that was "I'll settle for this for the sake of mechanics" rather than one I felt a need to flavorfully include. Each two-color pairing has an associated job. I couldn't come up with something that seemed fitting for both black and green that worked within the scope of the community. I was hesitant to include Berserker and Rogue for similar reasons, but I felt I could flavor them in ways that fit the plane easier.
Warriors on Washikow go out and fight- they are traditional combat heroes. Berserkers on Washikow are homebodies who freakout and get violent when their communities are attacked or invaded (when the warriors aren't home or by surprise).
In this instance, "cleric" was designated as being akin to someone who has magical medical knowledge. A healer would likely have knowledge of medicinal herbs that would have been enhanced/stemmed from what their knowledge as a gardener.
Mechanically speaking you would gain a lot simple rules text by re-flavoring these as "tools of the trade" Equipment artifacts and replacing role ability with equip ability.
Alternatively straight up retrace might be an option, or maybe a variant with a targeting restriction to - in this case - non-Druids?
This reminds me of Alpha cards in a bad way - a lot of words for questionable/unreliable benefit. Being a common both the long rules text and unreliability are an issue.
From the perspective of reliability e. g. this might be better if it was an "at the beginning of combat"-trigger that grants +2/+2 or "When this creature attacks, you gain 2 life." depending on the card reveal. But that would make the wording even longer.
Is the top-card-of-the-library thing happening here a larger theme for scouts or just something this card does?
Is the mana value on this relevant, because just going up in cost and have this at
"Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and is a Scout in addition to its types. Whenever enchanted creature attacks, scry 1 and you gain 2 life."
Is simple and reliable. Even simpler without the scry 1 or without the life gain.
Alternatively you could make player choice matter e. g.:
"Whenever enchanted creature attacks, you may have it get +2/+2. If you don't scry 2 and gain 2 life."
Given that Druid is a supported "profession" and Gentle Cultivator ( Gentle Cultivator ) I'd expect a "Gardener" to be a Druid or maybe "become a Druid", but a Citizen becoming a Cleric makes me question what each "profession" is thematically.
Flavorfully, I was going for lethargic depression from feeling useless and in games this should trigger from your turns when you aren't doing anything "new or exciting". The inclusion was never to a larger theme and just relegated to individual cards. However, since the occurrence of not playing cards nor activating abilities can happen in any game, I thought the mechanic could exist fine without anything to set it up beyond the luck of what a player draws.
I feel it works in both green and blue, but it really depends on the environment.
I'm not certain the set has enough enchantments yet to make this worthwhile in the first place. Blue has at least two Sagas, but one of them is a rare that itself copy other Saga abilities...
Fwiw, I meant that based my observation of Weaver of Harmony I was unsure if this effect is in blue's pie, not that the card itself was inspired by Weaver of Harmony.
Changed to a triggered ability from "Counter all spells and abilities that target the enchanted permanent unless their controllers pays ." Unsure if it I can say "counter it unless its controller pays" or if the "its" becomes an unclear antecedent and needs to be the "that spell or ability's controller" that I currently have.
What is happiness and peace in peaceful times when the berserker has known so much trauma that caused them to become a berserker in the first place? That is the idea I'm grasping for.
Fwiw, I'm all ears for a suggestion in place of Citizen that fits both black and green. Assassin doesn't fit Washikow, so that's off the table.
The cost of being a one-drop relevant. Checking the top of library feels like a scout thing to me, although I worry about too much of it making for tedious cards when viewing scout as a whole in the set.
The thematic idea is more about finding what role (represented by profession) that is fulfilled in society. The Unwanting are anticommunal entities, emerging from those who reject finding a role to the point they exit themselves from the community and humanity. Of course, not every one has the strong rejections that lead them to becoming Unwanting, but some may be bored or restless in the role they've chosen, perhaps because they haven't chose a role that suits them, or because times are simply slow and uneventful.
Mechanically, there is no link between these concepts.
Citizen was definitely something that was "I'll settle for this for the sake of mechanics" rather than one I felt a need to flavorfully include. Each two-color pairing has an associated job. I couldn't come up with something that seemed fitting for both black and green that worked within the scope of the community. I was hesitant to include Berserker and Rogue for similar reasons, but I felt I could flavor them in ways that fit the plane easier.
Warriors on Washikow go out and fight- they are traditional combat heroes. Berserkers on Washikow are homebodies who freakout and get violent when their communities are attacked or invaded (when the warriors aren't home or by surprise).
In this instance, "cleric" was designated as being akin to someone who has magical medical knowledge. A healer would likely have knowledge of medicinal herbs that would have been enhanced/stemmed from what their knowledge as a gardener.
Mechanically speaking you would gain a lot simple rules text by re-flavoring these as "tools of the trade" Equipment artifacts and replacing role ability with equip ability.
Alternatively straight up retrace might be an option, or maybe a variant with a targeting restriction to - in this case - non-Druids?
This is the only card with such a weird hybrid cost. What's the thought behind this?
Is there really a way to make this a Warrior less clunkythan the "roles"?
This reminds me of Alpha cards in a bad way - a lot of words for questionable/unreliable benefit. Being a common both the long rules text and unreliability are an issue.
From the perspective of reliability e. g. this might be better if it was an "at the beginning of combat"-trigger that grants +2/+2 or "When this creature attacks, you gain 2 life." depending on the card reveal. But that would make the wording even longer.
Is the top-card-of-the-library thing happening here a larger theme for scouts or just something this card does?
Is the mana value on this relevant, because just going up in cost and have this at
Whenever enchanted creature attacks, scry 1 and you gain 2 life."
Is simple and reliable. Even simpler without the scry 1 or without the life gain.
Alternatively you could make player choice matter e. g.:
etc.
Is there a thematic connection between the "growing ambivalence" and the "profession plane"? Do they feed into each other mechanically?
I feel the "idea" of the set feels a bit disjointed.
Note to myself: Supported "professions" are:
Citizen feels like a weird profession - especially considering cardnames like Average Person ( Average Person ) or Mindful Person ( Mindful Person ). What roles do they fill? See also my comment on "Curious Gardener".
I expect similar questions Berserker vs. Warrior.
Given that Druid is a supported "profession" and Gentle Cultivator ( Gentle Cultivator ) I'd expect a "Gardener" to be a Druid or maybe "become a Druid", but a Citizen becoming a Cleric makes me question what each "profession" is thematically.
Attempted to follow SecretInfiltrator's suggestion
There's nothing set specific for this card; I just liked the idea of making it harder for an opponent to target their own permanent.
Yeah, I was missing "this turn."
Flavorfully, I was going for lethargic depression from feeling useless and in games this should trigger from your turns when you aren't doing anything "new or exciting". The inclusion was never to a larger theme and just relegated to individual cards. However, since the occurrence of not playing cards nor activating abilities can happen in any game, I thought the mechanic could exist fine without anything to set it up beyond the luck of what a player draws.
Is that supposed to be "if you have cast no spells and have activated no nonmana abilities this turn"?
I don't like it. Werewolves barely got away with the "no spells" theme because they encouraged dumping mana in activated abilities.
What will your way of enabling this theme be in the set? Triggered abilities? Special actions?
Usually this kind of effect would simply circumvent casting altogether and put the creature card onto the battlefield.
This seems really convoluted and narrow. Is there a reason for this to be in this set specifically?
I think, the wording you have is necessary. But it should say "enchanted permanent".
I feel it works in both green and blue, but it really depends on the environment.
I'm not certain the set has enough enchantments yet to make this worthwhile in the first place. Blue has at least two Sagas, but one of them is a rare that itself copy other Saga abilities...
Fwiw, I meant that based my observation of Weaver of Harmony I was unsure if this effect is in blue's pie, not that the card itself was inspired by Weaver of Harmony.
Used Weaver of Harmony's text as basis.
Changed to a triggered ability from "Counter all spells and abilities that target the enchanted permanent unless their controllers pays
." Unsure if it I can say "counter it unless its controller pays" or if the "its" becomes an unclear antecedent and needs to be the "that spell or ability's controller" that I currently have.
Thanks SecretInfiltrator!