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Recent updates to Code Geass: (Generated at 2024-05-18 00:13:17)
Decided that the Japanese Traditionalists Faction can be green, including the Four Holy Swords and Tohdoh.
Yeah, that's just unfortunate. I don't think there's any good way round it, the only possible things are:
I think 3-6 are pretty impossible, so the only option is between 1 and 2.
That's the bunny. Reprint Stop That. Only flip the rules text and image :)
I think too many cantrips will work against your planning theme - they're more "ok, gotta pull something outta my ass, what can I find..."
What you really want is multiple build up turns, then multiple combat turns, repeat.
That can't easily be a theme, though - way too big a change to what magic is. Make a nice rare, though.
@jmgariepy: Yeah, I don't think slowtrips are actually sensible. Straight cantrips like Aggressive Urge and Zap would likely be fine; and if people cycle them mid-combat, well, "Wild improvisation or hoping to come up with an answer" fits parts of the series too.
Scry could work as well, though the flavour is tricky.
"Gaining tactical counters that you can trade in later" is an interesting idea. Very parasitic, and doesn't help that it'll need two different kinds of new cards (the ones that make counters and the ones that use them).
@dude1818: Yeah, occasional flash creatures and Dictate-type things can form one part of the puzzle. But "Surprise, I brought out a new creature!" has the downside that it's only useful as a trick in defense (well, unless we do something like ninjutsu).
@Vitenka:
Brainstorm, Ponder, Opt are all fine candidates for reprint-or-tweak; they don't have to exclude cantrips.
There'll definitely be Mecha playing the role of equipment. You're right, a tweak on Magnetic Theft would go great in that setting, but just one or two such.
"Attacks if able" and/or "blocks if able" is quite a sensible proposal; I've been trying to think how to distinguish the large number of relatively interchangeable mecha pilots, and that's a good way to mechanically represent the personality of some of them.
As for "Punch a card-flicking player on the nose" - it's already been printed, as Stop That... ;)
Very interesting proposal! Let me riff on it a bit.
So one problem with that version of Plan is that if the opponent goes "You know what, you've got a Plan, I'm just not going to block" then the cards are lost. Could easily tweak it to put them back into your hand, but then why bother planning? Discounts, I suppose, but... it's a bit fiddly.
Hmm... Maybe some sorceries could have the ability to use them during combat if you prepare them?
> Planning (: Exile this sorcery facedown from your hand. Until end of turn, you may cast it for any time you could cast an instant. If you don't, return it to your hand. Plan only as a sorcery.)
Perhaps that doesn't really make enough difference.
FWIW, I was thinking how to capture a "mastermind" feel, and wondered about a sort of morph-suspend, something like:
Plan (: Exile this facedown from your hand. Until the end of your next turn you may turn it face up and cast it for . If you don't, return it to your graveyard.)
That's obviously not quite right as is, but the idea is spells you can cast a turn in advance, that are very useful if you predict the board state correctly, but not so much otherwise. However, I'm not quite sure how to make that work: I don't want the memory issue of "cast it within a turn", and it would be nice if it could usually apply to cheap spells, but then it's hard to make it worth casting if you include the "morph" cost. Another possibility would be to exile them under a creature, to be set off when that creature does... something.
Morph roulette? Represents secrets and anticipating your opponent well.
Maybe just put lots of card-draw in the set. Rather than cantrips - just pain old Brainstorm. Gives you the choosing to set up ahead of time feel a bit.
Tactics... probably equipment works well here. Add some instants and abilities to swap equipment around and you've got improvisation. Though, yeuch at the board complexity level. Since unlike in a show, the players actually have to work out all the permutations and decide whether or not to fight.
Maybe counter that a bit with a bunch of "Must attack" creatures; and I can't help but feel there's room for some kind of "Enough Talk!" card that makes combat actually start, similar to split-second which makes a spell duel resolve.
Hmmm. The separate first-strike then normal strike don't get played around with much. Maybe some cards that can change what the block between the two phases?
Hmmmm. "Thinking on your feet" I can't help but think "Dig top of library and cast" is the best representation; but mechanically... slow slow slow. Maybe combine them a bit? "Look at top 3 cards of your deck, cast one, and put the other two back in any order" - cut's down on the shuffling, adds some forward planning element?
But OW how the players would stall, flicking the cards back and forth. ... add a "Punch flicking players on the nose" card.
What about more things with flash? Instant creatures keep your creature count up but also play like ambushes, or an uncommon cycle of dictates as advanced tactics.
For nostalgia reasons, I like slowtrips. But I'm pretty sure it's a trap. I know I used them myself in Magic 20XX... but that was because Hellbent really liked them, and people got the 'joke' once it was explained to them. "I don't want people digging for answers in the middle of combat" just doesn't make a good punchline.
I'm all about alternative rewards over 'draw a card', though, I do understand why regenerating one's hand is important. "Target creature gains first strike. Gain 3 life." sounds neat; but then you're done, and out of steam. Scry sounds like your best bet. Or maybe something scry-like. Alternatively, you could be gaining tactical counters that you could trade in later, piggy-backed off another card's effect. I'm sure a good brainstorm could come up with other things one could tack on.
I don't think there is any problem. And even if there is, multiverse breaks more rules than that anyway. Just say "Cards can have subtypes, and old cards that say 'creature type' are errata'd" and it's alllll fixed.
(Almost all fixed, changelings don't get to be 'arcane' or 'swamp', methinks)
That reply was really unhelpful! I think my problem is, I still don't understand what the problem would have been with the rules saying "cards with the tribal supertype can have creature subtypes", so I don't understand when that problem might show up elsewhere (if ever). But yes, it seems like having a specific subtype on two different lists is (hopefully) less likely to cause any problems.
Matt Tabak's reply is somewhat inconclusive, but he doesn't mention a Tribal-style problem with it. So if I decide I want this implementation of Geass (I'm not at all sure yet that I do) then I'll assume there's no rules problem.
Oh, I'm interested how differently the series came across to different people. Maybe "mastermind" is how the main character WANTED to think of himself, whether or not you think he succeeded?
As stated on the comments thread, "I want the experience of playing Code Geass to feel like you're a master strategist, making plans, predicting your opponents' moves, and perhaps thinking on your feet, to come out ahead." That's why I like the idea of an emphasis on instants and combat tricks.
However, playing a lot of instants is tricky when that inherently means you'll be playing fewer creatures. Oneoffs won't normally provide the board presence that a creature or equipment/mecha would, even if a large amount of instants will provide card parity.
So I'm wondering about a higher-than-normal amount of cantrips. Seeing lots of things like Zap into Shelter, Guided Strike into Refresh, sounds like the kind of back-and-forth tactical moves I'm after. One problem with that is that it can mean in the middle of combat, if it doesn't go your way, you'll be tempted to play a cantrip that doesn't help the current combat just in the hope of drawing something else that will.
This sends me down the somewhat bizarre train of thought to consider slowtrips instead. Flare rather than Zap, Feral Instinct rather than Aggressive Urge. My thinking is that this would encourage you more to sculpt a hand of tactics that either synergise together or that offer you outs for several different possible situations. (Looting or cycling could also help here, though again that leads to more the feeling of "frantic search for answers" which... hmm, I guess it's not exactly a foreign feeling to some Code Geass characters, when someone gets outwitted...)
Doesn't sound like Code Geass to me; but does sound like a good magic set concept :)
(Code Geass always felt like "Complete douchebag goes on a fantasy fulfillment power trip. EVENTUALLY enough bad things happen to him, and everyone cheers.")
I want the experience of playing Code Geass to feel like you're a master strategist, making plans, predicting your opponents' moves, and perhaps thinking on your feet, to come out ahead.
This sounds good to me!
Stepping back for a moment: It's clear that this is a top-down set. I'm wanting to achieve a gameplay experience that evokes 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 to feel like you're a master strategist, making plans, predicting your opponents' moves, and perhaps thinking on your feet, to come out ahead.
Is that actually possible? I don't see why not...
That's the motivation for things like the "bluff for instants" mechanic above.
Well, I guess I got yet another anime to catch up on. ;) But, you know, after I finish Kill la Kill. The 2009 season of The Melancholy of Haruhi will need to stay on the shelf for a little longer...
The set needs some mechanical themes. At the moment my ideas for Geass (Geass to Betray) and Knightmares (Glasgow RPI-11) are rather generic, nothing that would lead to unusual gameplay. So I need to find something more unusual and interesting to serve as a hook.
Geass itself certainly could be that, based on how powerful it is in the series, if I find a more interesting mechanical implementation than just a restriction that looks like a drawback.
One possibility for making the set feel different is that the creature cards, being humans, could almost all be 2/2 or smaller, with only a very few exceptions (mainly Kallen and Suzaku). That'd make Mecha, serving the role of equipment, very important for winning a combat, which is true to the series.
I'm also thinking I want the combat step to be emphasised and to be where a lot of tactical play comes through. This sounds like it wants a higher-than-usual number of instants, particularly combat tricks of assorted kinds, and/or mechanics that play up the role of instants as battlefield tactics, such as "bluff for instants". If most creatures are similar in size then that'd also increase the effectiveness of combat tricks.