Code Geass

Code Geass by Alex

276 cards in Multiverse

33 with no rarity, 111 commons, 76 uncommons,
48 rares, 8 mythics

3 colourless, 40 white, 46 blue, 43 black, 49 red,
39 green, 23 multicolour, 20 hybrid, 7 artifact, 6 land

645 comments total

Bringing the epic anime series into Magic.

Code Geass: Cardlist | Visual spoiler | Export | Booster | Comments | Search | Recent activity
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:

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.

Geass to Withstand
{w}
 
 C 
Instant – Geass
(Exile this spell when it resolves. Its target gains protection from other Geasses indefinitely.)
Target creature gets +1/+1 and first strike until end of turn.
Geass to Forget
{1}{u}
 
 C 
Instant – Geass
(Exile this spell when it resolves. Its target gains protection from other Geasses indefinitely.)
Tap target creature. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Geass to Die
{2}{b}
 
 U 
Sorcery – Geass
(Exile this spell when it resolves. Its target gains protection from other Geasses indefinitely.)
Target creature deals damage to itself equal to its power.
Geass to Betray
{3}{r}
 
 C 
Enchantment – Aura Geass
Flash
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.)

Geass to Live
{1}{g}
 
 U 
Enchantment – Aura Geass
(Enchanted creature has protection from other Geasses.)
Enchant creature
If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead it gains indestructible until end of turn and its controller sacrifices another permanent or discards a card.
Geass of Inaction
{1}{w}
 
 C 
Enchantment – Aura Geass
(Enchanted creature has protection from other Geasses.)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.
Geass of Ruthlessness
{2}{b}
 
 C 
Enchantment – Aura Geass
(Enchanted creature has protection from other Geasses.)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+1 and has lifelink.
Geass Canceller
{u}
 
 U 
Instant
Exile target creature, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.

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.

Gefjun Disturber
{2}{u}
 
 C 
Enchantment – Aura
Prepare {1}{u} ({2} 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.
Mass Disguise
{2}{u}{u}
 
 R 
Sorcery
Prepare {1}{u} ({2} 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.
Prepare for Ambush
{r/w}
 
 U 
Sorcery
Prepare {0} ({2} 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.
Seismic Instability
{x}{r}{r}
 
 R 
Sorcery
Prepare {x}{r} ({2} 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.

Drop from the Ceiling
{w}
 
 U 
Instant
The next creature card you play this turn can be played as though it had flash.
Draw a card.
Misinform
{3}{u}
 
 C 
Instant
Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
Draw a card.
Not As Dead As You Thought
{2}{b}
 
 C 
Instant
Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
Draw a card.
Venerated Tactician
{1}{g}
 
 U 
Creature – Human Soldier
Spells you cast during combat cast {1} less.
2/3

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.

Glasgow RPI-11
{1}{b}
 
 C 
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Eject (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Equipment.)
Equip {1}
Tristan RZA-3F9
{1}{w}
 
 U 
Artifact – Equipment
{2}: Equipped creature becomes 3/2 and gains flying.
{2}: 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 {2}
Lancelot Z-01
{1}{w}{w}
 
 R 
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+3.
At the beginning of each combat, choose first strike, vigilance, or lifelink. Equipped creature gains that ability until end of turn.
Equip {3}
Guren Mk-II
{1}{r}{r}
 
 R 
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and double strike.
Eject (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Equipment.)
Equip {3}

Test Pilot
{1}{w}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Soldier
Flash
When Test Pilot enters the battlefield, you may attach target Equipment you control to it.
2/1
Lloyd Asplund
{2}{u}
 
 R 
Legendary Creature – Human Artificer
Whenever an equipped creature you control attacks, draw a card.
Whenever an equipped creature you control blocks, draw a card.
"Data! I need d-a-t-a!"
1/4
Tenacious Pilot
{2}{b}
 
 U 
Creature – Human Soldier
Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may return Tenacious Pilot from your graveyard to the battlefield.
"Let me guess. You thought I was dead."
2/2
Sakuradite Engineer
{1}{u}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Artificer
{t}: Add two mana of any one color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.
1/1

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 {3} and trigger both abilities with X=3.) Britannia is represented by mostly white and black cards and some in blue.

Smug Cavalier
{w}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Soldier
Decadence 1 (At the beginning of your upkeep, if you haven't paid decadence this turn, you may pay {x}, 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.
1/1
Imperious Guardians
{4}{w}
 
 U 
Creature – Human Soldier
Decadence 2 (At the beginning of your upkeep, if you haven't paid decadence this turn, you may pay {x}, where X is your total decadence.)
Whenever you pay decadence, you may tap up to that many target creatures.
3/3
Cruel Princess
{1}{b}
 
 R 
Creature – Human Noble
Decadence 1 (At the beginning of your upkeep, if you haven't paid decadence this turn, you may pay {x}, where X is your total decadence.)
Whenever you pay decadence, you may destroy target creature with converted mana cost that much or less.
2/1
Supercilious Trooper
{1}{b}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Soldier
Decadence 1 (At the beginning of your upkeep, if you haven't paid decadence this turn, you may pay {x}, where X is your total decadence.)
Whenever you pay decadence, up to that many target creatures gain lifelink until end of turn.
2/2

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.

Incensed Firebrand
{3}{r}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Rebel
Revolt — At the beginning of your end step, if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn, Incensed Firebrand deals 2 damage to each opponent.
3/3
Black Knights Hangar
{1}{r}
 
 R 
Enchantment
Revolt — At the beginning of your end step, if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn, create a colourless Equipment artifact token named Knightmare. It has equip {1} and "Equipped creature gets +1/+1."
Return to the Old Ways
{2}{g}
 
 U 
Instant
Return target permanent card in your graveyard with converted mana cost less than or equal to the number of lands you control to your hand.
Revolt — Put it onto the battlefield instead if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
Traditionalist Insurgents
{3}{g}
 
 U 
Creature – Human Rebel
Flash
When Traditionalist Insurgents enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Revolt — Traditionalist Insurgents costs {2} less to cast if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.
2/2

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?

Silvertongued Rebel
{4}{r}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Rebel Rogue
When Silvertongued Rebel enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature an opponent controls with power 3 or less until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.
3/3
Winsome Mercy
{1}{w}{w}
 
 R 
Instant
When target creature you don't control dies this turn, return that card to the battlefield under your control.
"I spare you."
Return on the Other Side
{2}{b}{b}
 
 R 
Sorcery
Prepare {1}{b}{b} ({2} 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.
Charismatic Revolutionary
{1}{r}
 
 M 
Creature – Human Rebel
Raid — When Charismatic Revolutionary enters the battlefield, if you attacked with a creature this turn, look at the top five cards of target opponent's library. You may put a creature card with converted mana cost 4 or less from among them onto the battlefield under your control. That player puts the other cards on the bottom in a random order.
3/1
Zero Requiem
{1}{w}{b}
 
 M 
Sorcery
Prepare {w}{b} ({2} 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.

Propaganda Officer
{2}{u}
 
 U 
Creature – Human
When Propaganda Officer enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature with power 1 or less for as long as Propaganda Officer remains on the battlefield.
2/2
Allure of the Shiny
{1}{u}{u}
 
 R 
Sorcery
Attach target Equipment you control to target creature with converted mana cost less than or equal to that Equipment's. Gain control of that creature for as long as the Equipment is attached to it.
Hostage Situation
{2}{u}{r}
 
 U 
Enchantment
When Hostage Situation enters the battlefield, you may exchange control of two target permanents that share a permanent type.
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.
Incriminate with Complicity
{3}{b}{b}
 
 U 
Sorcery
Choose target creature. If you attacked that creature's controller this turn, and that creature didn't block, gain control of it.
Persuasion Strategist
{4}{u}
 
 U 
Creature – Human Soldier
Whenever you gain control of a permanent or a permanent an opponent owns enters the battlefield under your control, put two +1/+1 counters on Persuasion Strategist.
3/3

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.

Jailbreak Liberator
{1}{b}
 
 U 
Creature – Human Soldier
Raid — When Jailbreak Liberator enters the battlefield, if you attacked with a creature this turn, you may return target creature card from a graveyard to its owner's hand.
2/1
Daring Hijacker
{r}
 
 R 
Creature – Human Rebel
Raid — When Daring Hijacker enters the battlefield, if you attacked with a creature this turn, gain control of target artifact. If it's an Equipment, you may attach it to target creature you control.
1/1
Guerrilla Tactician
{1}{r}
 
 U 
Creature – Human Rebel
Raid – At the beginning of your postcombat main phase, if you attacked with a creature this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Guerrilla Tactician.
"With each raid we gather more resources, techniques, supporters. It's only a matter of time before Britannia falls."
1/1
People's Champion
{2}{r}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Rebel
Raid — When People's Champion enters the battlefield, if you attacked with a creature this turn, create a 1/1 red Citizen creature token.
3/1

Holy Sword Urabe
{3}{g}
 
 C 
Legendary Creature – Human Samurai
Reach
Bushido 2 (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.)
2/3
Material Gambit
{1}{w}
 
 C 
Sorcery
Create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
Gambit — When target creature you control dies during combat this turn, create another two of those tokens.
Aggressive Gambit
{1}{r}
 
 C 
Sorcery
Aggressive Gambit deals 3 damage to target creature.
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.
Compassionate Athlete
{1}{w}
 
 C 
Creature – Human Student
Lifelink
Channel – {w}, Discard Compassionate Athlete: Target creature gains lifelink until end of turn.
2/1

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 (25) | 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 {2}{r}, CMC <= 3, 3 damage. But as I spent a while trying to come up with a name I realised this would fit, but people would object if this had "Shocking" in the name but dealt 3 rather than 2 damage.

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 28 Nov 2016 by Jack V:

Flavour text: "I want a revolution thiiiiiiiiis big" :)

 On Suzaku Kururugi (reply):
on 30 Aug 2014 by Alex:

My rough feeling for power and toughness in this set goes:

  • 1 = Fairly weak human
  • 2 = normal, fairly strong human
  • 3 = unusually skilled human, or a mech with a poor pilot
  • 4 = exceptionally skilled human, bad human + good mech, good human + bad mech
  • 5 = Suzaku :) or good pilot + good mech
  • 6+ = good pilots in very good mechs

Most combat tricks will only grant +1/+1 or less. No Giant Growth in this set.

Recently active cards: (all recent activity)

Gareth RPI-V4L
{1}{u}{b}
 
 U 
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+3 and has flying and ward {2}.
Eject (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Equipment.)
Equip {2}
1 comment
2020-11-09 12:48:26 by Alex
Lelouch, the Chessmaster
{1}{u}{r}
 
 M 
Legendary Creature – Human Rebel
You may look at and prepare the top card of your library at any time.
Nonland cards in your hand and on top of your library have prepare. The prepare cost is the card's mana cost reduced by up to {2}. ({2} as a sorcery: Exile the card face down. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)
2/4
5 comments
last 2021-03-08 16:23:22 by SecretInfiltrator
C.C., Impulsive Witch
{2}{g}{g}
 
 R 
Legendary Creature – Human Witch
Vigilance
Other legendary creatures you control have vigilance.
When C.C., Impulsive Witch dies, return her to the battlefield tapped under her owner's control at the beginning of their next upkeep.
3/3
4 comments
last 2021-03-08 10:20:40 by Alex
Shen Fu
{g}{g}
 
 R 
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+3.
{1}: Target creature blocks equipped creature this turn if able.
{g}: Equipped creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Equip {3}
0 comments
Rakshata, Engineer Improviser
{1}{r}
 
 R 
Legendary Creature – Human Artificer
You may cast Equipment spells and activate equip abilities any time you could cast an instant.
{1}: Target equipped creature or artifact creature gains haste until end of turn.
2/2
1 comment
2020-11-11 01:03:39 by Alex

Recent comments: (all recent activity)
On Lelouch, the Chessmaster:
on 2021-03-08 16:23:22 by SecretInfiltrator:

That's probably supposed to be "look at and prepare" rather than "look and prepare at".

On Lelouch, the Chessmaster:
on 2021-03-08 13:14:24 by Vitenka:

The reminder text has gone amusingly wrong here.

On C.C., Impulsive Witch:
on 2021-03-08 10:20:40 by Alex:

Specifically, all the Four Holy Swords are legendary, and several of them are common: Holy Sword Asahina, Holy Sword Chiba, Holy Sword Urabe, and Holy Sword Senba at uncommon. I confess that ability is lifted straight from Esika, God of the Tree. I spent a while trying to think what would be a flavourful ability for C.C. to have... none of deathtouch, reach or trample really work. Vigilance is OK. She is something of a commander (and/or mascot) so granting an ability to (some of) your team is quite nice.

The other ability I wondered about is a reflection of the way she can touch someone to make them relive painful memories. On a green card, the closest mechanic I can think of for that... might be stun, as on the Kamigawa snakes like Orochi Ranger. I know that ability has bimbled around the colour pie a bit and settled in blue (Queen of Ice), but I don't think it'd look particularly out of place on a rare.

But I'll stick with the vigilance-granting for now.

On Gung-Ho Strategist:
on 2021-03-06 22:13:37 by Alex:

Hmm, annoyingly this is a bit too close to Guerrilla Tactician.

On Code Geass:
on 2021-03-04 23:10:29 by Vitenka:

Well,it's a good set; and always nice to see a mecha ccg (since the battletech ccg was...not a success). Lelouch; however; was, is and shall always remain, a douche.

On Code Geass:
on 2021-03-04 17:47:12 by Alex:

Thank you! :D
It is my favourite anime, out of maybe 90 or 100 that I've seen. As I mentioned above, I once wrote about how it's seventeen kinds of awesome, and I still stand by that :)

As you'll have seen, I've been doing a slow steady trickle of development on the set. I'm noticing how a lot of the cards look somewhat unimpressive by modern standards, which is an interesting way to observe power creep of printed Wizards sets over the years since I designed a lot of this set. I'm trying to make tweaks to address that where possible, but in some cases it's not easy.

On Code Geass:
on 2021-03-04 16:04:17 by Froggychum:

Not super related to magic, but I just finished watching this show. It was outstandingly excellent, probably the best anime I've watched so far (I'm not a huge anime fan, so I haven't seen very many yet).

No spoilers, but the ending literally had me in tears. That's the fourth time in my life that I've ever cried at television. Absolutely incredible writing.

Sorry, I've been looking for somewhere to gush on this show for a while haha.

I looked through some of the set, and I really like the direction you took for this. It certainly feels very faithful to both magic and the source, which I know for certain is hard to do.

Well done Alex, and All Hail Lelouch!

On Uncontrolled Power:
on 2021-03-04 12:16:34 by Alex:

I was thinking about how there aren't many cards in the set that encourage you to build a Geass deck. That led me to this concept, where Lelouch in the series loses control of his Geass (at the worst possible time, naturally).

That was the flavour inspiration. Mechanically this is something like the og Zendikar quests like Archmage Ascension, turning into a one-sided Wild Evocation if you ascend.

As and when I turn all Geasses into instants/sorceries I'll probably remove "or Aura" from the text here.

On Drop from the Ceiling:
on 2021-02-20 12:34:13 by Alex:

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."

On Underwater Mine:
on 2021-01-27 18:01:17 by Alex:

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 {u} to this card to play up the underwater-ness. But that runs into a weird issue. Imagine the following cards:

  • A 1/1 Merfolk creature, costing {u}, with "{2}, Sacrifice ~: ~ deals 3 damage to target attacking creature". That's a flagrant colour pie violation, on par with Psionic Blast.
  • A noncreature artifact, costing {u}, with the same ability. Like Witching Well but zapping an attacker. That's still clearly way out of pie for a blue card.
  • A noncreature artifact, costing {1}, with the same ability. That's perfectly fine in the colour pie, with plenty of precedent, from Aeolipile to Moonglove Extract to Springjaw Trap.

I was considering making this have a first line of text saying "When ~ ETBs, if {u} 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!

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