Ideas Manifested: Recent Activity
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| Mechanics | Left and Right Shards: A Faction System | Theorize V1 | Theorize V2 |
Recent updates to Ideas Manifested: (Generated at 2025-10-19 19:28:21)
Here's another shot at primary
secondary 
common. How does this feel?
Cat is primary in Green and White, Spirit is also in those colors. Probably still needs some representation of Red, so we're tossing in Berserker.
Convoke shows up in red sometimes, but is primary in green and white. Haste shows up in green, so maybe it's not the best representation of red-ness. Vigilance is absent in red and present in green/white, so it brings this in to something that could only be at least green/white... maybe.
Probably need to think of something more red-aligned than haste.
This was originally meant to be part of the primary color with hybrid color common cycle, but I wanted to record this idea.
There are some Red Cats and Spirits, but Green and White get many more of these.
Red gets to rummage. This tries to tie it to the G/W identity by making the rummage require a Creature card, then making a small creature token. It's not a super-complicated design, and it feels like it can be elegant enough to be effective in draft.
Doesn't fit the common cycle's concept theme of only using straightforward existing mechanics. But this kind of card makes me feel like I'm understanding the faction concept a little better.
This is meant to represent the most simple
primary 
secondary common, using existing Magic mechanics.
I wanna give Deathtouch as the Black keyword and Trample as the Red/Green keyword, but those generally are never printed on the same card, and Green gets Deathtouch anyways. So howabout Lifelink?
Part of the struggle here is that Black does get Trample at sufficient creature size. Is there a more interesting keyword we can give this?
Black has some Beasts, but Red and Green have far more. Dinosaurs, too. Black brings the Nightmare.
I want this to remain "common" in complexity... but how can we make this feel more Blue? Is there a way to tie in the -breathing to some kind of output that is rather blue?
We could have it Scry X, where X is the damage done?
This is meant to represent the most simple
primary 
secondary common, using existing Magic mechanics.
Black and Red get firebreathing/shadebreathing. This isn't found on Blue.
Vigilance is a keyword that only Blue gets out of the three.
There are Black and Red Goblins, and Warrior is primarily a creature type in those colors. I'm not thrilled about this exact set, though, because it feels like it isn't representing Blue enough. Probably want a distinctly Blue creature type on that line. Blue also gets some Warriors, so it's not entirely using the supplemental colors.
Unsure what rate to put the shadebreathing. Is it really "red" if it also increases toughness? Can we sneak haste in instead of the toughness increase?
This is meant to represent the most simple
primary 
secondary common, using existing Magic mechanics.
White gets First Strike. Black rarely does, but it's mostly a White keyword. Both Blue and Black get Surveiling.
Soldier is primarily a White creature type, with Rogue being in Blue and Black.
Perhaps having First Strike comboes with either a Deathtouch (Black) or "bounce-touch" (Blue)?
Rarity
Shuffle after searching
Colorless cast, activation cost on the draw effect.
This represents one of the members of the Witnesses Guild. This is based on Etrian Odyssey, where the "party size" is 5. So theoretically, Lace can attack while protecting the other members of her team.
Gonna update this a pinch to say "attacking creatures".
Fling your creature, deal some damage! Here Top Swap is used as a way to be like, "Yeah buddy, there's more where that came from!" Because of the nature of needing to sacrifice creatures in order to fling, this is gated partly on having other things to sac.
There's a few differences between this and Fling. The Top Swap mechanic filters, so it should definitely not just be Fling with upside. It also maybe doesn't want to hit "any target"? Being able to just, abyss your opponents is annoying to deal with. So this version hits only face... though maybe it should also hit Planeswalkers, I'll go edit that in.
It's also a Sorcery! Does this seem like it'd be safe at Instant? "Turn three I hit you with my hasty creatures; on your end step I fling one at you; on turn four I hit you with my hasty creatures, thing fling." That play pattern needs to make sure it doesn't dominate too much. We also don't want to have this just blank removal by being a reusable Fling every turn.
If you have two Top Swap cards, you're able to juggle them. Perhaps a common in a set could be this creature here, where you're incentivized to "juggle" your cards by playing several?
The power is a CDA so that you can cast your spells whenever before damage is dealt, and it'll still work. Plus if you Fling it, its power will count the Fling in the number of spells you've cast.
I feel like this is a complete and elegant enough common as is. Maybe it even could be a 1 cost?
This is meant to show coordination and synergy with Intimidating Roar and Counter Top Swap. You put a counter on it, get a hit in, draw a card. Now you're not down in card advantage for using the Top Swap mechanic.
These kinds of engine piece commons would need to line up well with the Top Swap cards in the set. Without another card to put counters on it, this is just a 2/2... with Trample!
I'm still figuring out when to include Trample on creatures with counters. I think the baseline is, if a creature puts counters on itself, no trample?
I want this to still be a worthwhile creature to have when you're not putting counters on it. Shouldn't be worse than a Bear.
This is meant to relate to paying off Top Swap. Because you know the card that'll be on top of your library, you can use this to draw an extra card each turn. As a back up, there's a Scry 1 effect to help you line up the top card.
Perhaps this works too well with exactly one mechanic, and not great with others? Maybe the set needs both Scry and Top Swap to support this? Hard to say. R&D would probably appreciate costs being added to the draw effect. Is paying
to know the top card of your deck to definitely draw it worthwhile? Is 
the right cost to play this?
It appears as though Green has never had a Sorcery/activated ability that gives this to your whole team. So here's that! Top Swap makes it so you can use it repeatedly to give your team evasion. You can keep playing it turn after turn, as long as you have the board to meaningfully swing.
Without the Kicker, and considering the filtering done by Top Swap, how does this feel? Would you be happy playing this effect for 3? Should the threshold for "can't block" be higher?
The kicker might be too "please only play this spell every turn", eh? It's here to help turn the card in to even more of a finisher, but slowly. Mostly I'm just enjoying putting Kicker on these to make the cards feel more relevant later.
Kicked only affects your own permanents
The prompt for this was, "what is safe to put in blue with top swap". I... don't think this is the answer, really. It can blank removal, and can help you get value out of your etb creatures. That's pretty neat, but maybe it does nothing unless it is comboing?
Top Swap means this'll be available for the player casting it essentially every turn. Maybe that blanks removal too well? Discourages trying to interact because your opponent will just bounce their thing? I'll have to think about it.
Kicker is to just experiment with having additional effects on kicker with this mechanic. Maybe what we do instead, is to have one effect like Surveil or somesuch, and the kicker returns a permanent they control to its owner's hand?
Is it clear that you could bounce a permanent, and then use the Top Swap bottoming effect to bottom the card you pick up? Is that interesting or useful?
Continuous tormenting! Top swap gives a sense of inevitability here. Each turn, an opponent can torment opponents. It's not an effect strong enough to win on its own, but given time it can add up.
This is identical to the "torment" mini-effect of Hour of Devastation, like Torment of Hailfire.
Seeking how much this should fairly cost, and how much Top Swap adds to that. Torment of Venom does this effect at
, but is also a targeted removal spell.