Viruna, War of Eras: Info

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Viruna: War of Eras

Where your future comes back to haunt you.

This set's MTGS thread

Background

This is a set inspired by an idea of Socrates, which can be found in this thread here.

The main idea of this set is a war between a plane's past and future. Similar to Mirrodin Besieged, the set is split in half between past and future cards. While they can easily be mixed and matched, each side brings with it certain mechanical themes.

Flavor

Viruna is a vibrant and volatile plane. Large beasts and primordial ancients rule over the land and its inhabitants. Smaller races like Humans, Aven, Elves, and Flamekin all pay tribute to these forces of nature. In return they are blessed with unnatural strength and divine power, while the clever Vedalken are shunned by most and even hunted by the Elves. Life is not easy here, but the people are content, living for the thrill of what tomorrow will bring.

Viruna is a shining testament to industry and innovation. In cities who's skylines reach impossible heights, the plane's inhabitants live peaceful lives made easy by all manner of technology. Vedalken hold high standing in society, creating and maintaining the machines that run Virunan life, while the Sparkkin, a descendant race of the Flamekin who have evolved to take the form of lightning, provide the energy to power modern machinery. Elves who threaten the stability of city life are enslaved by the very race they hunted millennia ago.

The continued abuse of time magic by the Vedalken of the future has created a time rift on the plane, bringing these two realities together. Now, these vastly different eras are headed towards an all out trans-temporal brawl. Who will emerge victorious in this war of eras? As LSV might say, only time will tell.

Mechanics

This set is split between the past and the future, and each brings it's own mechanical themes.

Dominance vs Emulate

These are the two new mechanics in Viruna that represent some of the main focuses for each era.

Dominance is an ability word that goes in front abilities that care about you controlling one of the largest creatures on the battlefield. Dominance abilities are active so long as you control one of the creatures with the greatest power, which means they'll still work if you're tied. Dominance appears in all colors, but primarily {r} and {g}. Dominance either wants you to be a tempo deck that stays ahead of it's opponent, or a beatdown deck that goes over the top with large creatures. A large assortment of combat tricks, auras, and equipment mean even small creatures can join in the fight for dominance.

Emulate is a keyword that goes on creatures and artifacts, allowing them to copy activated abilities. Whenever you active an ability of a permanent of the same type, the permanent with Emulate will gain that ability until end of turn. Emulate appears in all colors, but primarily {u} and {b}. With a wide array of abilities to copy, Emulate decks can take control of the board or sometimes even combo your opponent out with damage or milling effects. Other activated abilities like firebreating or pump effects let emulate play a role in aggressive decks as well.

Artifacts vs Enchantments

Artifacts and enchantments both play a big role in Viruna. In addition to matching flavorfully, each permanent type plays well with its era's major mechanic.

A good majority of artifacts have activated abilities, which makes them an ideal fit with Emulate. Since Emulate checks permanent types, artifact creatures are particularly powerful. Not only do they get to copy the abilities of any artifacts or creatures you control, but they can also "bridge the gap" between the two, allowing your artifacts to get the abilities of nonartifact creatures and vice versa. Colored artifacts and artifact matters cards appear in {w}, {u}, and {r}.

Most of the enchantments we see, at least in limited, are auras. Thanks to the boost in size, auras are naturally equipped to play well with Dominance. Enchantment matters cards (and enchantment creatures, explained below) appear in {w}, {b}, and {g}.

Auras (& Bestow) vs Equipment (& Living Weapon)

With an already existing emphasis on enchantment and artifacts, as well as buffing creatures and giving them abilities, Auras and Equipment seemed like they would play an important role in the set. Initially, the set had Living Weapon and "Linger", a mechanic that allowed auras to stick around by attaching them to a creature. However, the recent invention of Bestow seemed to provide a much more elegant solution. I especially enjoy how LW and Bestow mirror each other very well (LW goes on equipment and makes them a creature first, while Bestow goes on auras and makes them a creature afterwards.)

Feedback is much appreciated, thanks!

Updated on 14 Oct 2013 by Alex