Ankheret: Design Principles

Egyptian Mythology and Tropes

Ankheret is a top-down Egyptian set. As such, there are a couple of considerations to keep in mind, besides designing cards based on Egyptian tropes.

One of the biggest elements of Egyptian mythology is that the gods aren't jerks. With the exception of the explicitly evil gods, they genuinely care about humanity, teaching them how to farm and stuff, no bullshit like Zeus raping half the world. So it's important to showcase the more personal interaction between gods and mortals. Right now, the worship keyword is doing this.

Another concept that is central is the eternal cycle of death and rebirth. Ra, for instance, dies each night and is reborn each dawn. Because of this, the set has a graveyard component, with the obvious mechanic demonstrating this being renewal. Stuff like unearth also fits this, plus representing the undead and mummies that everyone expects from an Egyptian story.

The final component is the theme of adventure (similar to Zendikar). This is less about the mythology itself and how it is portrayed in the media (think Indiana Jones). So we have stuff like traps and also expedition cards.

New World Order

This set is supposed to follow New World Order but a slight amount of above average complexity is fine since it won't be played by absolutely newcomers to MtG (being a homebrew set and all).

Created on 05 Oct 2014 by Berf