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Recent updates to Multiverse Design Challenge: (Generated at 2025-05-22 03:45:28)
For Challenge # 042
Similar to Young Chandra, but with a one-off "ultimate" instead of a second repeatable ability. It's not much of an ultimate for planeswalker standards, but having the choice between two useful options is nice for uncommon.
Young Chandra
Young Garruck
Splinter of Jace
(And with apologies for accidently stealing the "young" naming sequence from the one-cost rare planeswalkers like Young Ajani)
For Challenge # 042
On balance, I think the flavour of a "young" version is sufficiently non-mythic it could be uncommon. A cocky, confident, but not very experienced planeswalker can logically be less powerful overall, even if she can cast the same spells.
I took several people's suggestions and made a simplest-possible version, with two +0 abilities. But I think this is plausible: a non-strictly better version of prodigal pyromancer that has a second ability.
While, I admit, the ability doesn't look too stellar, I think a combination of ETB and shuffling useless lands away makes it more than fair. Really, I was just looking for a way to get white to draw cards, and this seemed the most likely, non-intrusive way.
Mmm. Noted. But while I would normally agree with that sentiment, I think I need to disagree in this one instance. Players have come to expect a few things from Planeswalkers, and one of those things is a certain amount of options and choice. A lot of the other designs that we're been working with here, and I don't want to sound like I'm dissing people, because I think they're very good designs, but a lot of the designs I've been seeing fail to excite me. If I can be a bit of a pessimist for a second here... they just kind of look like Enchantments with quest counters on them. The only thing that makes them different is that they can be attacked... which is a drawback, not a feature.
That being said, I'm very aware that this challenge is potentially impossible. It's asking for us to do something that will automatically be rejected by a certain segment of the audience, no matter what spin we put on it. If there are 3 abilities on the planeswalkers, some people will complain that the card is too confusing, and not a good 'common'. If there are 2 abilities, some people will complain that the Planeswalker doesn't feel 'alive' enough... whatever that means. I think I'd rather err on flavor, and get the idea of a Mythic card pulled down to the realm of a common, than err on the side of mechanics, and turn a mythic mechanic into a common mechanic. I'm pretty sure plenty will disagree with me.
On the flip side, assuming I'm keeping three abilities, do you think the ultimate is too much? I'm guessing I probably should have stuck with "Discard three cards, then draw 3 cards". At least that doesn't require as much thinking...
@Alex: Thanks! I was going for basically a planeswalker version of Venerated Teacher :)
I did something like this with loyalty lands in Gentlemen Magicians: http://multiverse.heroku.com/cardsets/5
But those were still rather flawed. Thinking about what happened, what I think a common or uncommon planeswalker needs is:
It's the kind of ability that isn't usually too bad in the late late game, where you've got a ton of lands in play. Any time before that, though, you're drawing some cards but losing board presence, and typically cards in the battlefield zone are more important than cards in any other game zone. To say it another way, usually the permanents you put back are going to be lands, so the cards you are drawing are going to be harder to cast. And you're also forced to re-draw the lands, so it's more like you've gotten an advance on those 3 cards to get them immediately, rather than over the course of the next few turns. Yes, you'll occasionally get some ETB value, but most competitive games these days aren't so durdly as to allow for much of that; the creatures have gotten pretty aggressive.
@Alex: Yeah, it might be :) I'm sure there's something there that would be worthwhile.
Heeee. FWIW, Sarkhan the Mad also has no [+] ability. But this is a more blatant take on it. Something like a Seal of Strength that can be attacked. Interesting. One of the most "common"-seeming submissions so far for this challenge, I think.
Well... it looks painful (which admittedly isn't a great quality in a common), but actually it's card neutravantage: you're up three down three. It's something like Ovinomancer's drawback, except less so because you can use ETB creatures or whatever. I could see myself using it.
I think I still disagree with the idea that common planeswalkers should have 3 abilities, so I think the 2-ability version here is sensible.
This definitely makes sense. I think it would be more natural if it had more than one loyalty, so there was a reason it was a planeswalker rather than a sorcery, but a 2-loyalty planeswalker with two -1 abilities would be reasonable. Wizards did an only-negative planeswalker once with Sarkhan the Mad.
Name evokes Selesnya Evangel, but the abilities are a little more Selesnya Guildmage. Very solid design.
Interesting how Sakura-Tribe Scout and Llanowar Elves are both one-drops, and yet it's better to have a card with the two abilities having opposite signs than to have them both [+1]ing.
Hmm, I wonder if it'd be interesting to have a planeswalker with only [0] abilities?
Yup, works well. Curiously reminiscent of Fire Whip.
Yup, I agree with most things said here. The challenge does lead one to imagine a flavour event that's led to a lot of new planeswalkers appearing. You do need to consider the planeswalker uniqueness rule, and the simplest solution there is to leave off the planeswalker type, and give the guy a correspondingly generic name. And non-rare PWs should probably only have 1-2 abilities rather than 3-4.
This specific one is a nice approach: taking the idea "there are lots of planeswalkers in this set" and running with it :) Good job!
Slightly altered his abilities. His best role in this theoretical limited format is not just pinging players and creatures, but also killing and keeping in check enemy planeswalkers. This guy would be one of the higher pick uncommons, I'd guess.
Ouch, that -6 is painful to yourself! "Draw 3 cards, then Plow Under x 1.5 yourself." I could see myself sitting there quietly praying that my opponent uses that -6, haha
I don't think this is worded properly. For example, as it stands, the +2 ability reads, "Target player chooses one of the following -- You discard a card, or you lose 2 life."
@jmg: I think he means that it has too many abilities. Having a bunch of commons in a set with full text boxes is a little daunting to the new player. Almost every common they print these days has 0 or 1 ability, and most of the time the ability they have is something super simple like "Flying", or "First strike". That's why I think a common PW should have 1-2 short abilities, at most.
Added Emeralda, I wondered to myself - why should planeswalkers get + abilities at all?