Multiverse Design Challenge: Recent Activity
| Multiverse Design Challenge: Cardlist | Visual spoiler | Export | Booster | Comments | Search | Recent activity |
| All challenges | Upcoming Challenges | Make a new design challenge! | All challenges (text) |
Recent updates to Multiverse Design Challenge: (Generated at 2025-05-15 18:48:44)
It's possible neither or both would be a functional reprint.
I think "functional reprint" normally includes changing the card text to match the other changes: a functional reprint of Wild Cantor called "Goblin Firechanneller" would say "sacrifice Goblin Firechanneller" not "sacrifice Wild Cantor" :)
By parallel reasoning, I assume a functional reprint with a relevant creature type would naturally change the card text to match the new creature type.
But I think it's possible that's less of a functional reprint. Eg. it might be technically true, but I don't think it would be very meaningful to describe a colourless Gray Ogre as a functional reprint of Stonework Puma, because so much of the implicit rules are wrapped up in the type.
(I'm not sure about Sliver Construct -- that's a lot closer than Gray Ogre! :))
So I think, if the creature type is irrelevant (eg. Steamflogger Boss if there weren't so many fan-versions of rigger creatures), it's a functional reprint. If it's semi-relevant (eg. moving between two tribal types of different sizes), it's mostly a functional reprint. And if it's extremely relevant, there's no good comparison.
Hmm. If I make a functional reprint of Skirk Prospector into a Human Shaman, should it have "sacrifice a Goblin" or "sacrifice a Human"?
Added Spirit Advocate, since this seemed like the sort of challenge I should do first, so people could 'get' what I meant. I really wanted to showcase a functional reprint that jumped from one world, and landed in another known world, since those seem the most interesting to me. But the Spirit Advocate just wanted to do it's own thing, so I let it be.
For Challenge # 091. Given an option, I'll generally use the random generator. The generator gave me Rooting Kavu, which is an excellent choice for a functional reprint, since it makes a nice common nowadays (I'm assuming functional reprint can change rarities, since normal reprints can do that.) It even has a clause that I'd only put in at common: You're forced to exile the Kavu. I don't know why the Kavu bothered (it isn't like it would break anything)... but it helps prevent a bunch of extra shuffling in limited games, sure.
From MTGSalvation's Wiki:
"Functional reprint cards serve the exact same function as the card they resemble, except they differ in name or name and subtype. This usually has little effect on the game, hence their consideration as a kind of reprint[...] Functional reprints are often used to give a new block- or set-themed flavor to a card that plays an important role in defining a particular color.
"A functional reprint must have the same power and toughness if it is a creature, but may differ in creature type. The mana cost must be same for colored and colorless mana."
Some examples of functional reprints: Cultivate, Cylian Elf and Vampire Aristocrat.
I certainly agree that this challenge only goes to highlight what a great job Wizards did in Return to Ravnica. Individual problems aside, they really nailed 10 different guilds with 10 different modus operandi. It's very easy to lose that vision when designing.
yea there's always a some weirdo who likes weird stuff. j/k it is a difficult problem to solve. you might solve this problem, but then other problems might (read most likely) crop up. but if you want to try, you really have to find the right vision and the dedication not to stray.
for that matter, based on my intuition and observances from past sets, hybrid and color matters is not the way to go for this challenge. but also because that method seems dull and uninspiring. even if Ravnica guild mechanics aren't all competitive, at least they seem cool, fresh, and unique. it really feels like guild vs guild, and not colors A&B vs colors C&D.
I agree sometimes it seems odd what they don't want to do. (I suspect sometimes it conflicts with something else they're thinking of doing. And other times they're just wrong. And sometimes there's a business reason, not a gameplay reason.) In this case, to me, it seems more trouble than it's worth; it's a nice idea, but making names less unique[1] seems asking for trouble somewhere, in gatherer if not in the rules :)
[1] See, everyone! Valid use of "less unique"! :)
By the by, I do hope they get over some of their little taboos someday. It would be rather neat to see something like Shrink//Shrivel pop up.
I can understand why Wizards wouldn't want to print a different card with the same name, but this seems more than acceptable to me. In this case, Wizards doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between "we don't know if the rules can handle it" and "we don't want to deal with it, because it bothers us somehow."
I think the answers are 1) Yes, 2) Yes and 3) Yes. But Wizards still wouldn't want to try it since it's missing 4) Are we even playing Magic at this point? I'm guessing no. By the time you've found a way to make a fun non-modular game that can fill up 3 sets worth of design, you've walked so far from Magic proper that the average player won't recognize it, and therefore, won't like it. That doesn't mean it's bad. It, in fact, could be a better game than Magic. I just don't think the audience would appreciate the better game.
Pity that. I guess that's why there are other games in the world.
well the challenge only asks for guild mechanic, not block design. whereas shadowmoor's hybrid and color matters are the main mechanics and themes of that block. which doesnt fit the challenge anyway, since it feels color neutral. as in pick any 2 colors but they all play the same because of same mechanics with different colored skin.
another issue is how many guilds. the more guilds present, the more they overlap. i'd say limit to 5 guilds that have different game plans.
as for modular spells, you can tone it down a bit so that other guilds find them less useful. but still playable for a given guild. mortify is really efficient and versatile for its cost. you can try a narrower version, like destroy creature/enchantment CMC less than 3 for
.
as for wizards, is this even something they want to try? IOW is this challenge 1) worth aiming for, and 2) fun, and 3) fill up 3 sets worth of card designs?
LOL at the name, that's perfect.
I like both. I'm not sure what colour gets this; I agree "during combat" feels white.
Maybe make "duck" put a creature with flying? That's less ducky-y, but more W/U. Although it would change from "cute one-off" to "combo piece".
LOL, I love the name.
Bark is interesting. It's normally quite marginal, but if you do sacrifice any forests, it becomes very conditional but effective acceleration.
LOL. Wow, those are awesome. I was scared none of them would work as a split card; I'm really impressed you found five pairs that worked really well, even if you had to fudge a little on the mechanics sometimes. I can't believe I didn't think of dungeons and dragons :)
You had to choose to provide exactly 10 pieces of art, didn't you? That made me want to make 5 split cards, using each piece of art once. But split cards are famously constrained by their names. I've spent rather longer on this than I should have done, but behold:
Bark // Bite
Dungeons // Dragons
Duck // Cover
Risk // Reward
Fire // Rescue
And I know, they're not colour balanced. Making a neat symmetrical cycle of five split cards where all the art was drawn from those ten was a bit too much of a challenge even for me.
Shadowmoor's 3/4/5-colour decks are precisely because it used hybrid cards rather than gold cards. (Which is the very reason it was beloved by many players.) If Wilt-Leaf Liege, Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers etc had been gold rather than hybrid, you wouldn't be able to throw them in the same deck as Balefire Liege and Burrenton Liege and Unmake.
Eventide came a lot closer to this, with things like Shorecrasher Mimic, Favor of the Overbeing and Sturdy Hatchling that were explicit rewards for being both colours. The problem is that the Mimics and auras made for triple-Eventide draft being a painfully linear and boring format. One person gets all the Nightsky Mimics and Edge of the Divinitys, and probably wins unless they get outraced by the player with all the Riverfall Mimics and Clout of the Dominuses. (Fortunately triple-Eventide wasn't a mainstream draft format, it only happened at the Eventide prerelease and for people who bought a box of EVE without an accompanying one of SHM.)
The conclusion I draw from this is that encouraging specifically 2-colour decks (rather than 3/4/5s) is so hard that Wizards haven't found a way to do it either that plays well, so we shouldn't feel bad if we can't find a way!