Ideas Manifested: Left and Right Shards: A Faction System

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Mechanics | Left and Right Shards: A Faction System | Theorize V1 | Theorize V2

I want to make a set with five, three-colored factions. It'll be a special drafting set for commander play. One element I want in this is that each three-color faction has two valid two-color pairings within them. One main color, one side color. I want none of the five factions to have an overlap in which there is a two-color pairing that contains one faction's primary color and one of its secondary colors, in a way that can be reversed.

Let's consider briefly the shards of Alara. Esper is primary blue, secondary white and black. Bant is primary white, secondary green and blue. In this configuration, you could have a sub-Esper deck that is blue/white, but also a sub-Bant deck that is white/blue.

There's a few ways to resolve this, but the one I know with the most promise is... "sided" shards? Not sure what to call it. Take a color on the color wheel, and that's the primary color. The two colors to its left (left shard) and to its right (right shard) are its secondary colors. That means there's a subfaction of the primary color and one secondary color to its right/left, and another in the same direction.

That gives us two valid faction layouts:

• [W]UB, [U]BR, [B]RG, [R]GW, [G]WU
• [W]GR, [U]WG, [B]UW, [R]BU, [G]RB

Either set follows the rules we've set.

Part of the special rules for the set is the "hybrid color rule"; if you can cast a spell that has a hybrid mana symbol on it inside your color identity, then you can include it in your deck. For example, if a faction is [W]UB, a card might be printed with a mana cost: you can include this in either a WU or WB deck. This rule allows for expression of faction identity, tying it to its primary color. To enforce the idea of sub-faction being utilized, some cards can be printed requiring the primary focus color and allowing for hybrid of other colors.

Consider again the example above, , on a card. It should;

• Do something that can be done with White
• Do something that can't be done with White alone, that is possible in both of either Blue or Black
• Should make sense for color identity if cast for either or
• In all of these cases, these cards should be doing something that is tied to the mechanic of the faction very strongly; it can't be drafted by other factions, so it shouldn't feel like it's made to play with other factions

We've got ten two-color pairings that result from all this. For that first set, you could draft any of: , , , , , , , , , . Each of these pairings belongs to only one faction because of their tie to the primary color of the faction. A user could decide to take any of the five other pairings possible. For the faction, they could draft and still be in that faction. This won't be the focus of the set, but it should be possible to do.

Each of the intended subfactions should feel like they're some part of a schism within that color. I'll make up a disposable flavor; is a faction of wizards. They have some cohesive identity as the "wizard faction". The flavor of the subfaction is scholarly, delving in to research of the arcane. is more like warlocks, forming risky temporary pacts with demons. They stand together in the fiction, have some inner tension, have some elements that reinforce drafting any card this whole faction wants while having subfaction wants.