Code Geass
Code Geass by Alex
275 cards in Multiverse
33 with no rarity, 111 commons, 76 uncommons,
47 rares, 8 mythics
3 colourless, 40 white, 46 blue, 43 black, 49 red,
39 green, 22 multicolour, 20 hybrid, 7 artifact, 6 land
637 comments total
Bringing the epic anime series into Magic.
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| Mechanics | Introduction and General Invitation | Proxies for playtest | Design Challenge 2 | Colour-pair archetypes | Skeleton |
Welcome to Code Geass the Magic set! My aims are that the set will:
- Be a reasonably faithful adaptation into Magic of the epic anime series Code Geass. If you haven't watched it, don't worry - I believe the mechanics should convey all the flavour you need to know. (But watch it. It's seventeen kinds of awesome.)
- Provide a gameplay experience that feels like Code Geass. In the same way that the experience of playing Innistrad led to feeling afraid, and the experience of playing Theros led to feeling triumphant, I want the experience of playing Code Geass the Magic set to feel like you're a master strategist, a tactical mastermind: making plans, predicting your opponents' moves, and perhaps thinking on your feet, to come out ahead.
Current candidate mechanics include:
Geass
Lelouch's Geass is a fascinating power. He can compel absolute obedience, but only once from each person. This is reflected by the new Geass subtype, shared by many instants, sorceries and Auras in the set. Some are positive, some are negative, but each one can only be used on a creature that hasn't already been Geassed.
Target creature gets +1/+1 and first strike until end of turn.
Tap target creature. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Target creature deals damage to itself equal to its power.
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has haste.
When Geass to Betray enters the battlefield, untap enchanted creature and gain control of it until end of turn.
(Enchanted creature has protection from other Geasses.)
Enchant creature
If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead regenerate it and its controller sacrifices another permanent or discards a card.
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+1 and has lifelink.
Instants and Prepare
Code Geass is a series characterised by tactical plots, ploys and counterploys, dramatic turnarounds and secret plans being revealed at the best (or worst) possible moment. To reflect this planning-ahead theme and get the experience of feeling like you're a master strategist, we need a preparation mechanic. The flagship mechanic for this aspect of the series is prepare, a mechanic which allows you to take cards which would normally be cast at sorcery speed and set them up exiled face down, from where they can later be cast at instant speed often for a discount. There's also a higher than usual number of instants, cantrips and combat tricks, to keep the combat step feeling dynamic and unpredictable.
(
as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -5/-0, doesn't untap during its controller's untap step, and its activated abilities can't be activated.
( as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
Each creature you control becomes a copy of target creature you control until end of turn, except they aren't legendary if that creature is legendary.
( as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
If you control a Mountain or a Plains, target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
( as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
Seismic Instability deals X damage to each creature without flying and each planeswalker.
Draw a card.
Note that my prepare mechanic was designed in 2014. It's delightful that Wizards finally caught up with me and printed foretell in Kaldheim. The one difference is that prepare grants flash, but that's plenty significant enough to have some interesting play differences.
Knightmares and Eject
The Knightmare Frame mecha in the series are represented by Equipment cards. They mostly have a new keyword mechanic eject representing the ejection pods built into most Knightmare Frames in the series, which save their pilot when the mech is severely damaged in combat. A number of blue and white cards give you bonuses for using artifacts or equipment.
Eject (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Equipment.)
Equip
: Equipped creature becomes 3/2 and gains flying.
: Equipped creature becomes 5/4 and loses flying.
Eject (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Equipment.)
Equip
At the beginning of each combat, choose first strike, vigilance, or lifelink. Equipped creature gains that ability until end of turn.
Equip
Eject (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Equipment.)
Equip
When Test Pilot enters the battlefield, you may attach target Equipment you control to it.
Whenever an equipped creature you control blocks, draw a card.
: Add two mana of any one color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.The Britannian Empire and Decadence
The world-spanning Holy Britannian Empire believe they're naturally superior to other races. They have a very well-organised military, but suffer from excessive internal politics, entitlement, arrogance, and racism, especially towards the conquered natives. Some of their most corrupt and indulgent characters have the new decadence mechanic. This grants you powerful effects, getting more powerful as you accumulate more of them, but also costing you most of your mana each turn. (If you have a card with "Decadence 1" and another with "Decadence 2", you get the opportunity to pay and trigger both abilities with X=3.) Britannia is represented by mostly white and black cards and some in blue.
, where X is your total decadence.)
Whenever you pay decadence, Smug Cavalier gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the amount you paid.
, where X is your total decadence.)
Whenever you pay decadence, you may tap up to that many target creatures.
, where X is your total decadence.)
Whenever you pay decadence, you may destroy target creature with converted mana cost that much or less.
, where X is your total decadence.)
Whenever you pay decadence, up to that many target creatures gain lifelink until end of turn.
The Black Knights and Revolt
The Black Knights are the rebel insurgency. Once terrorists, but now under the leadership of Zero they've become a fully-fledged resistance movement, a rebel army, trying to kick out the oppressors and reclaim their homeland for themselves. Their anger can be particularly provoked if some of their comrades have suffered, represented by the returning revolt mechanic. Cards with revolt give you extra bonuses if a permanent you control has left the battlefield this turn. The Black Knights are represented by mainly red cards with some green.
and "Equipped creature gets +1/+1."Revolt — Put it onto the battlefield instead if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
When Traditionalist Insurgents enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Revolt — Traditionalist Insurgents costs
less to cast if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.Control Change
The anime is known for characters changing sides, whether due to shifting loyalties, blackmail, Geass, or more dramatic and spoilersome reasons. This is represented by a high density of control-change effects in the set. Who can you trust?
( as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
When target creature deals combat damage to an opponent this turn, put target creature card from that player's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
( as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
Until your next turn, if damage dealt by a source an opponent controls would reduce your life total to less than 1, instead prevent that damage and gain control of that source.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, up to two target creatures get +X/+X, where X is the number of permanents you control but don't own.
Other mechanics
A few other mechanics from Magic's history return. Raid cards in red and black give you rewards for attacking even if your attackers won't survive combat - which can give opponents a hard time knowing whether to block or not. The traditionalist Japanese soldiers have Bushido, making them more fearsome in combat. A few creatures have channel, giving the cards an alternate use as combat tricks. And the chess motif of the series is represented by a cycle of gambit cards where you deliberately put a creature of yours at risk for the sake of a greater reward.
Bushido 2 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
Gambit — When target creature you control dies during combat this turn, create another two of those tokens.
Gambit — When target creature you control dies during combat this turn, choose up to one target creature. Aggressive Gambit deals 3 damage to that creature.
Channel –
, Discard Compassionate Athlete: Target creature gains lifelink until end of turn.Limited
The set is designed and balanced for limited play. I've got ten colour-pair archetypes with corresponding signpost gold uncommons like UZ04 Recruiter for the Elevens and UZ07 Hostage Situation. You can see the skeleton here, generate a virtual booster or just check out the full visual spoiler.
Cardset comments (22) | Add a comment on this cardset
The set creator would like to draw your attention to these comments:
|
On Shocking Arrival (reply):
on 05 Jan 2021
by
Alex:
It's a bit similar to Drop from the Ceiling. Too similar? I hope not. I guess the set also has Ninja in Disguise in the same space too. This was originally meant to be I think I do slightly prefer it with 3s rather than 2s though. What do others think? |
On The Ends Don't Justify the Means (reply):
on 09 Dec 2016
by
Jack V:
Thinking it through, maybe it's something like this. Black: "Ends justify the means" is a central black tenet. Black is all about efficiency, selfishness and ruthlessness. There are some exceptions (eg. YOUR means trump OTHER PEOPLE'S ends :)) White: White is very conflicted. White is about the community, about systems, about having principles and sticking to them. That's not so much "means over ends" as there are LOTS of ends and white is torn between them. Every white paladin facing down a hostage situation is weighing up "keep my word, so people trust it in future" vs "save the innocent in front of me" vs "dispense justice, so fewer people take hostages in future" etc etc. Other colours conveniently "forget" about things that aren't in front of your face. White doesn't have that luxury. Sometimes your immediate end is sacrificed on the alter of the means of a HIGHER end. If you're lucky, a worthwhile one. Sometimes not. Green: What are these "ends" of what you speak? I do what comes naturally to me, and accept the consequences. Red: What are these "means" of which you speak? Why would you put, like, extra steps between me and my goal? DO THE GOAL. That's the point. Stop overthinking everything! Blue: I don't believe there's a one size fits all answer to this question, but if it helps, I'm absolutely definitely going to overthink everything. |
On Urban Guerrilla (reply): |
On Suzaku Kururugi (reply):
on 30 Aug 2014
by
Alex:
My rough feeling for power and toughness in this set goes:
Most combat tricks will only grant +1/+1 or less. No Giant Growth in this set. |
Recently active cards: (all recent activity)
Gambit — You may choose target creature you control. When that creature dies during combat this turn, search your library for another basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Gambit — When target creature you control dies during combat this turn, choose up to one target creature. Aggressive Gambit deals 3 damage to that creature.
Draw a card.
― Suzaku Kururugi
( as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
Prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to creatures you control.
Gain 3 life.
Great quote from a video about this moment: "Has any one noticed that where suzaku jumps down kicking, there is no door in roof so only possibility is, he is been holding on to the roof this whole time." - "He hasn't been holding onto the roof, he's been spinning in circles in midair the entire time."
Land Mine didn't have any good designs mirroring the Repel Intruders-style design here, so I removed the coloured mana, making this more like Scalding Cauldron.
I considered adding back in some
to this card to play up the underwater-ness. But that runs into a weird issue. Imagine the following cards:
I was considering making this have a first line of text saying "When ~ ETBs, if
was spent to cast it, draw a card." But that I think makes this feel enough like a blue-coloured card that the activated ability feels out of pie.
This isn't an exact science, but I think it's better to leave this as it is. But it's interesting!
Episode 13 features underwater mines, and I've been thinking I'd like to use them as one of my common artifacts. The name "Underwater Mine" really suggests damage to attackers, but also suggests it really wants a
symbol somewhere on the card. I've been through quite a few potential designs before finally concluding this is a good way to do it.
The result is a version of Impeccable Timing with the significant drawback that it's telegraphed in advance, but the upside that if you can rustle up a blue mana from somewhere then it becomes a cantrip.
It also triggers revolt in decks including red or green as well as white, but Land Mine is more directly designed for that use case.
Yeah, the differences are very interesting too.
I remember discussing how it needed some upside, and flash makes a lot more sense for Code Geass (where the flavour is very much "surprise! you never guessed", and where it's not an in-world effect it makes sense for a lot of other cards to key off) and support cards make more sense for Kaldheim (where the flavour is more "inevitability" and lots of people in the world care about it). But they end up with quite a different feel despite working almost the same.
Top-down from the name (near the end of the Events / possible sorcery names). Mechanically similar to Death Pits of Rath and Shriveling Rot.
I've had a lot of difficulty working out what should be the signpost for the (Black-red archetype), based around Raid. I considered lots of complicated ways to let them keep attacking, like "if you attacked this turn, create a 1/1 soldier" or whatever, but eventually I realised it's as simple as: the Raid archetype wants a way to attack reliably without losing their attacker. So this is just a pretty effective attacker that's fairly hard to kill in combat.
Putting this in the skeleton for the moment. There now exists Persuasion Strategist and Hostage Situation, the first of which is pretty nice with this, the second of which... still doesn't make this worth it.
I think I'm fine for this to be a mostly-bad card that'll do cool things sometimes.
Unlike green and blue, the red rares in the skeleton don't include any card draw yet. So I gave Kallen a saboteur card draw ability with a red slant. Uncommon has several impulsive-draw effects (Rebel Spy, Ruthless Insurgent and Supply Raids - that's too many in fact, I need to remove one of those)... Anyway, my point is, I wanted a draw effect that wasn't an impulse-draw. I'm taking a cue from Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner here, and hoping that the preceding discard allows a red card to just straight-up draw more than it discarded.
Top-down design from the name. We see these guys in episode 4 and a few more times in the early episodes.
The green creatures half of this is Ivy Lane Denizen. The land half is Retreat to Kazandu.
The trample clause on this is probably unnecessarily restrictive given Garruk's Uprising.
I originally conceived this as:
> Whenever a green creature ETBs under your control, look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped.
>
> Whenever a land ETBs under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
But green rare does plenty of card drawing already and I don't think I want any more, so I switched this to give you counters for both lands and green creatures.
Top-down design from the name. We see these guys in episode 3.
This is another creature that's pretty good at wearing mechs. The flavour of that is a bit silly, but eh.