Community Set: Xikera: Comments

Tribes: Insects: gB, called Xikerites (plane is named after them), common classes: Mage, Warrior, Assassin,
Dwarves: wR, Called Gratha, common classes: Rebel, Warrior, Soldier,
Wizards: Ub, called Silum, common races: Human, Illusion,
Beasts: rG, called Mrani, no classes,
Aven: Wu, called Etori, common classes: Nomad, Mystic, Monk.

New mechanic ideas welcome! Primary color of each tribe CAPITAL, secondary color lowercase.

So, are there plans for other color combinations, or will this set be asymmetrical in its tribal distribution?
I think I need either a bit more flavor or a bit more mechanical direction before I give any ideas. I will say that the colors you've chosen are quite appropriate to the tribes.
Do you have any ideas on the density of multicolor? Will there be hybrid? Is each tribe going to have a signifying mechanic, as have the clans, guilds, and other factions of sets past?
I get the idea that the dwarves aren't the only race besides the insects. What other races are there? Also, what is the world like?

@L2i0n0k7: Thanks for the idea of balancing colors, I added more tribes now, mechanical ideas still needed! I like the idea of hybrid mana costs. Also, flavor: INSECTS: ruthless tyrants. DWARVES: Just but warlike rebels. WIZARDS: Manipulative, plotting, secretive civilization, comparable to Dimir flavorwise. BEASTS: Savage, sometimes tamed as mounts by Insects. AVEN: Mystics, searching for a mysterious lost treasure that is fabled to be of great power.

World: Southern swampy jungle fringed by mountains, Xikerite homeland in jungle. Northeastern and Northern mountains home to Grathan dwarves and one tall Northern mountain, regarded with superstition, is secretly the home of the Silum (Wizards). The Mrani, or beasts, live on the edges of the jungle, sometimes venturing into the mountains. The Etori aven live in grasslands to the north of the mountains. Unplotted ocean to the northwest.

Xikerite Keyword: Swarm {Cost}: Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may pay {Cost}. If you do, put N 1/1 black Insect creature tokens onto the battlefield.

Swarm seems interesting. A possibility would be giving tokens equal to the damage done, which makes it more interactive with power-boosting. That's part of the reason poisonous was changed to infect. It also opens up cross-tribe synergy, which is important for limited play, if another tribe gets a mechanic that increases power.

@dude1818: Good idea, just not sure whether that would be too powerful. Maybe Swarm: Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice it. If you do, put that many 1/1 black Insect creature tokens onto the battlefield. or Swarm [Cost}: Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may pay {Cost.} If you do, put that many 1/1 black Insect creature tokens onto the battlefield. Which do you like better?

Grathan Keyword: Revolt N: Whenever this creature becomes blocked, up to N target creatures that share a creature type with it get/gain (boost) until end of turn.

Silum keyword: Manipulate (Whenever ~ becomes tapped or untapped, you may do the same to target creature.)

Ooh, I like the version of swarm with a cost. Knobs are good. For revolt, is the boost going to vary from card to card? If so, it has to be an ability word. As for exploit, an inspired/wisdom/hexproof mechanic seems too narrow for a keyword (hexproof especially). Why not just go with inspired?

Mrani Keyword: Savagery: Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may have ~ fight that creature and deal damage to you equal to its power.

@dude1818, yes, revolt will vary from card to card, and it will always be a P/T boost or evergreen keyword. I don't know about taking inspired. The flavor of Inspired doesn't really fit the manipulative flavor I want. Any other ideas? I'm open to suggestions.

Etori keyword: Loresearch N (Whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under your control, look at the top N cards of your library, then you may put them back in any order.)

Inspired isn't the right flavor, no. I'm not sure what a good manipulative mechanic would be. Maybe something like "Whenever this creature becomes tapped or untapped, do the same to target creature"? That's fine reminder text and the comp rules can say it's two triggered abilities, namely "Whenever this creature becomes tapped, tap target creature." and "Whenever this creature becomes untapped, untap target creature." It'll mostly be used to tap defending creatures and get bonus uses out of creatures with tap abilities, but also lets you put a card or two with a negative tap/untap drawback that's normally worth it but not when played against manipulative creatures.

As for loresearch, nesting scry inside it is a bad idea. It also seems pretty good. Maybe just "Whenever an artifact etbs under your control, look at the top N cards of your library and put them back in any order." That's better balanced and opens up room for cards that also have "Whenever an artifact etbs under your control, you may shuffle your library." (if you don't like what see; uncommon) and "Whenever an artifact etbs under your control, draw a card." (good on it's own, better because of loresearch; rare).

You might want to make a mechanics page to collect all of the most refined mechanics. It will also let you link cards to reminder text, so you don't have to write on out every time.

@dude1818, thanks, I really like the ideas for manipulate and loresearch.

Also, everyone is welcome to contribute card ideas too. I made this a community set because I don't have time to finish a whole set.

Can someone please help with the mechanic list? Having trouble getting "Ability N" abilities to work with it because I am new to the site.

Also, I just created a skeleton. How do I put the already created cards into my skeleton?

I'll help you when I get off of work, if no one has responded before then.

Nevermind on the skeleton thing, figured that out. Still not sure about mechanic list though.

If you look at the skeleton outline, it will say that I have slots for allied color pairs but not enemy colored. The multi slots are actually for the five tribal color pairs.

@Alex: I agree, Swarm costs at common should be high or have some other drawback.

Are you really wanting 35 common gold cards? That's seven in each of the five tribes? Or perhaps six plus a handful of cards in the other gold colour pairs... Either way, that is a lot of gold commons. Like more than Return to Ravnica.

In the future, if you create a card, please try to find art for it. If you can't or don't have time, that's fine, but I would prefer cards with art.

And @Alex: I don't have much experience with set building, will lower that to 20.

Cycle of quirky uncommons coming!

I was counting those, I guess they really don't count, but Wizards are the Ub tribe.

If you're requiring we find art for cards, I won't be contributing cards themselves. It's too much of a hassle. I'll gladly offer opinions, though.

Nevermind on the art thing, I'll find art myself for cards you contribute. I guess requiring art is too hard.

I'll try to limit Manipulate, but out of curiosity, why do you think Manipulate feels WUG? To me it feels like pulling puppet strings.

That's because I've divorced myself from the flavor you've given the mechanic and I'm looking directly at the color pie. Blue gets to both tap and untap permanents, so manipulate works perfectly in mono-blue. Green is able to untap both creatures and lands, and white is able to tap pretty much anything. Black and red, on the other hand, don't have anything to do with tapping. Therefore the mechanic, sans flavor (which is generally how we must evaluate mechanics) feels . By this I mean I would expect to see it on a card, a card, or a card. It would ideally not appear on a , , , or card, though, with a bit of a stretch, I suppose it could appear on a card. We see Wizards stretch the color pie all the time, like when they gave Extort to for the Orzhov when it's clearly a mechanic that should only appear in . Whether that's okay for us, as amateurs, is up for debate.
With all that said, I like manipulate and the flavor of it, but I worry about the power level. If you have a lot of creatures with manipulate, they all basically become unlockable. Also, when you untap one, they all untap, which is potentially crazy. You may have to give the manipulate trigger a mana cost, limit it to either you or your opponent's creatures, or limit the targets to creatures without manipulate.
Sorry for any typos. They happen a lot when I'm typing from my phone.

@Lk2i0n0k7: I'll take the power of Manipulate into account when distributing it, but I like the puppet strings flavor and think it will work well as long as it's not overused.

Finding art is becoming too tedious, so I am removing art from the set.

Hey, does anyone feel like creating watermarks for the tribes? I know it's a lot of work, but if somebody likes doing that kind of thing, that would be really helpful! Thanks.

I think we'd need a more well-developed set and creative element before we could start producing art assets.