Homelands Restored: Comments

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Skeleton

I've heard a number of people on the Internet moan about how unbalanced (read as "Not powerful enough") the cards from Homelands are. Personally, I really like the set. It did a good job for its time. But I'd like to play with cards from Homelands, too, without it being considered a joke.

Homelands restored is just that: An update for Homelands, with appropriate costs for Modern Magic. When a card is clearly out of color pie, or the wrong commonality, I'll address that as well. And if the wording isn't the way the card would be written today, I change the wording. Also, I might swap a few cards on the sheet for skeleton balance. Ambush, for example, probably should be white. If I do that, though, something else will need to become red...

I'm trying to put a light touch over these cards. A lot of people love a lot of cards from Homelands. It isn't my intention to remake the automobile over here... just bring it code so that it's road worthy. I'm sure, on occasion, I'll be tested to make a more interesting card. Hopefully, I will resist that temptation.

Most of the time, I'm just going to decrease the casting cost, where warranted. Sometimes, I'll need to make the card more powerful, because I can't decrease the cost any more (one casting cost cards for example.) On rare occasions, as with a few Legends like Baron Sengir, I plan to keep the casting cost and instead increase the power and toughness, since the Baron should really cost {5}{b}{b}.

Flavor text reformatted, and now featuring expansion symbols. It's a little difficult to tell what's going on in the expansion symbol, except in common, and a little zoomed in. It's the Homelands Expansion Symbol with the letter 'R' in the center, as you can see on Abbey Matron, for example.

this is a cool idea, but i hope that the eventual scope for this project ends up becoming larger than it is at the moment. understand why this is the case, but i think homelands could do with a little more work than re-costing and some colour shifts.

I don't disagree. But that's some pretty far down the road stuff. I'd like to see more work done with the early sets, too (I always thought a block based around Rabiah could be cool, for example. One thousand and one different mirror planes can create a bunch of fun stories...) But, for right now, I just want to make Homelands work.

Huh. That's weird. Why are some cards bigger than others in the visual spoiler? They all look the same size in my Picassa web album... what could I be doing wrong?

Looks like e.g. An-Havva Constable is being served up as 250x349, while An-Havva Hospitality is being served at 375x523. Note that the image URLs include "w250-h349" and "w375-h523". You can edit the "wXXX-hXXX" in the Picasa URLs to change the size they're served at.

Multiverse is just respecting whatever size Google sends the content at.

Good to know. Still weird, though. I'm just linking directly from my Picasa album. The fact that Google is assigning some art as larger than other art seems kind of random.

Alright, looking at the skeleton, I'm seeing a few problems. Obviously, Homelands was made during a time when Wizards just put enough cards on a sheet and called it a day, so the numbers won't align perfectly. But we're shooting for an ideal small set as much as we can, which means that we should compare Homelands to Journey Into Nyx.

The first problem is that Homelands doesn't have enough cards to be an official small set. 115 cards to JiN's 165. I'm sure there were at least 20 commons printed with alternative art in Homelands, and normally that would bulk up the numbers, but I'm not playing that game. I think it would be cool to see a set play with that theme again, but modern sets don't do that.

Here's a commonality breakdown:

Homelands
Common - 46
Uncommon - 23
Rares - 42

Journey into Nyx
Common - 60
Uncommon - 60
Rare - 35
Mythic Rare - 10

That's after rooting out all the reprints from different commonalities. JiN had two (Reprisal was a common in Masters, and Riddle of Lightning is a common from Future Sight.) Homelands had something like forty. Crazy stuff.

So here's some good news. I keep complaining that a number of commons are too complex for common, and a number of rares are too dumb for rare. Looks like we have a large glut of uncommons to fill, though.

The more challenging news is what to do with the sheer lack of cards in Homelands compared to Journey Into Nyx. Right now, the only answer I can think of is 'deal with it'. I mean, I can't just go about adding cards. I was thinking about adding Serra and Feroz as a shared Planeswalker to the set (like Tibor and Lumia), both as a one shot gift from the designer/developer, and because most modern sets have at least one Planeswalker in the block somewhere. I could also throw in the promo cards from this time period, but that's only 4 cards, and by rights, I should split them among sets... so one more card. A fifty card gap is a lot of cards.

Ah, well, stop thinking about the thing I currently can't control. If I was to break the set down on Journey's percentages, I'd end up with:

Common - 41
Uncommon - 41
Rare - 25
Mythic - 8

Not including promo card and planeswalker. I almost want to make extra vanilla creatures using spare Homelands artwork and flavor text, but I guess that's a bad idea, too. Most player would never guess I did that to bulk up the numbers of the set. It would just look weird.

It depends on the goal of the set. If you want to fix Homelands for Constructed play, I'd say go for the adjusted 115+2 card set. The distribution doesn't really matter anyway. On the other hand, if you want to play Limited, you definitely need to bump up the number of cards, else you'll have the Coldsnap problem but worse. Even then, 165 isn't enough for a stand-alone Limited environment.

You've been talking about doing The Dark Restored and Fallen Empires Restored. The Dark has 119 cards and FE has only 102 not counting alt-art commons. Those are both too small for regular small sets too. The thought occurs that you could combine this problem on one hand, with the problem on the other hand that Wizards are now doing 2-set block not 3-set, and take on a slightly more ambitious project:

Restore all three sets, and redistribute the cards from among them to make two sets, each of about 160 cards.

(The idea of adding a few extra vanillas using spare art and flavour text makes quite a bit of sense too, especially if the commons are a bit complex for common. But you certainly wouldn't want to do 40 per set. 10 per set might be more reasonable.)

Hmm... these are ideas, and good ones. Though, I would like to make sure Homelands Restored maintains a separate identity from Fallen Empires Restored...

To be honest, now I almost have too many thoughts floating in my head. One is the idea of hybrid sets... something I always wanted to work on... where packs were constructed from a side A half and side B half (think Nerds. Hold it... I don't think you get Willy Wonka candy in the UK. Google Nerds, then think about them?) Originally, I thought of making 5 half sets, with a potential 10 different combinations. But I'm going off on a tangent here. The idea here is to be comfortable with the sets being half a normal set, and encourage people to slap two 'half' sets into one booster. But that idea sounds better in my head, I'm sure, than in practice. I shouldn't try to convince anyone of how to play. It should be obvious based on the how the sets are constructed. Still a good idea; just not for this set.

There is, of course, the possibility of linking up these three sets with Legends, which has the numbers for a large set. But, Legends/Antiquities/Arabian Nights seems too obvious a second problem to work after this one... if I could somehow make the numbers work here...

Large set, small set, large set, small set. The three sets together are like a large set alone. I could keep the three sets as separate entities, and just copy and paste all the cards into one large set afterwards for purposes of drafting. It's an annoying compromise, though.

Something I didn't happen to mention was the possibility of reigning back cards printed in Timespiral for the Restored series. You know, like adding Sarpadian Empires, Vol. VII and Thelon of Havenwood. I didn't mention it here because I don't think anything was 'timeshifted' from Homelands, because that wouldn't make sense story-wise. There are references, of course, like Opal Guardian, but that would just create overlap.

I ran out of time tonight, and need to go home, but I'll be thinking about this. There's a most reasonable solution in all this, but I'm sure it will take time for me to begrudgingly accept it.

Ooh! One last idea. I could present this set as intended for league play. That way, players could play in a similar fashion to the way the original game was played, with no real idea of what all the cards do, and allow tradesies. It would also solve the upcoming ante card problem... just play for ante. I really want to see these drafted, though. Solving the 'how do I draft this' problem by saying 'You Don't--exclamation mark, smiley face' doesn't really solve the problem, it just sloppily tries to mask it.

I've been thinking about this over the weekend. There seems to be three 'best' ways to approach this.

1.) Add a core set. Revised makes the most sense, I guess, since that provides the least overlap, and would still be available when the three sets were out.

The good: Creates a solid anchor for a draft environment. Technically, this would be a four pack draft... but packs during this time contained fewer cards (12 per pack, if I'm remembering correctly.) One core, and three boosters of 12 cards each should be just about right, and would best represent the feeling of playing during this time period. ­

The Bad: 12 card packs means less decision making in each pack, and fewer deck archtypes (since it would be harder to horde cards like Tome Scour, or attain key cards like Dampen Thought.) I also didn't want to touch the core set, since that seems wrong somehow. Especially since I'm going to need to drop the power of a number of cards... in Homelands Restored, there are few cards I need to drop in power level. Revised contains cards like Dark Ritual, Winter Orb, Meekstone and the dual lands, just to name a number of cards off the top of my head. Making those cards 'worse' makes it feel like I'm defeating the purpose of updating older sets.

2.) Adding a 'time-shifted' slot. Instead of adding Revised to the lineup, I could instead bulk up each set with an extra 40-60 cards that operate like rares. The 'time-shifted' slot could be different for each set, but could also just be shared among all sets. I should stress that these would mostly be new cards, not reprints (they aren't really time-shifted. they're just using that space.)

The Good: This bulks up the numbers to normal expansion level. And while it may not provide the same numbers as a large set and two expansions, three expansions is the rough equivalent of a large and a small set, which will become the norm in short order. Also, the 'time-shifted' slot can do an excellent job patching the holes of the set. For example, many cards care about color and land type, but few cards change color or land type. A swathe of cards in the time-shifted slot could support a whole mechanic. Other cards, like Leeches, don't make any sense in Homelands (which includes no poison.) Timeshifted can help that. ­

The Bad: These cards don't come from any of the sets, so they don't feel like belong sitting next to their counterparts. It's nice that they get their own expansion symbol to separate them, and there will only ever be one per pack. But I can understand why a card based on Niveous Wisps doesn't belong in Homelands Restored.

3.) Ignore the problem; it isn't one worth solving. The sets are still draftable, but with fewer cards.

The Good: Dude1818 threw me when he mentioned the Coldsnap conundrum. But this isn't that. No one is suggesting we draft Homelands, Homelands, Homelands. All three sets together would result in over 350 cards total. That's a lot closer to drafting 3 packs of a large set, like Rise of the Eldrazi. (It should probably also be noted that this is the simplest option. At the very least, it's the easiest option to focus on, so I can get back to work making cards.)

The Bad: It might be doable and fun, but public perception might say it isn't, and public perception has a tendency to trump actual play. Also, the core set isn't normally split into 115 card pools and drafted one pack at a time. While players might see the same number of cards, they will end up seeing them in a restrictive order, which could 'solve' the draft environment much faster.

The more I think of this, the more I think I like the time-shifted option best. It's intrusive. But there's also a sense of exploration, which is nice. And it's limited to exactly one card in fifteen, so the people who don't like it don't have to worry about seeing too much of it... three packs will only contain 3 cards. Plus the bonus cards I was already planning on putting in (Planeswalkers, Promo cards and timeshifted from Timespiral) would naturally go in this space.

I would like to hear other people's opinions, though. This idea is far from set in stone.

Will 1 card in 15 be enough?

If so, then that sounds like a great solution.

I hope it will, if the sheer number of cards in that slot is incredibly varied. The format may be kind of predictable, but the occasional spoiler cards forcing two 'rares' should keep things fresh.... at least in theory. Guess there's no way to figure that's enough except by doing it.

The more I work with this set, the more I realize that the time-shifted slot is not enough. This isn't really a problem of 'not enough cards'. With the right cards, you should be able to support a smaller than small set handily. It's a problem of holes. Homeland has too many of them in the common slot, and there's only so many reasonable fills from uncommon and rare that I can make.

I'm not going to do a full appraisal, but seeing most of the set is filled in at this point, I can look at the skeleton and see these as immediate problems:

­

    ­
  • Zero enchantment destruction
  • ­
  • No common artifact removal. Joven and Chandler were bumped to rare. I could see pushing them down to uncommon, but if I didn't, the only uncommon artifact removal would be (((Timmerian Fiends))) (?!).
  • ­
  • No discard. I admit, that doesn't really upset me, though.
  • ­
  • Black removal is funky. Dry Spell and Funeral March are in common, and Torture is in uncommon. I could bring Torture down. But there's no universal creature kill, like Lash of the Whip.
  • ­
  • No common red direct damage. I still don't know what I'm doing with Evaporate. In theory, it's could be common. Retribution will probably become a common at this rate.
  • ­
  • No hard counter. The only soft counter is Memory Lapse (which I seem to have forgotten to put in the set. Funny that.)
  • ­
  • No bounce
  • ­
  • Two common tricks. None in green. ­
  • ­

Further, the casting cost of common creatures currently are:
­{1}{w}, {1}{w}, {1}{w}
­{2}{u}, {1}{u}{u}, {3}{u}, {4}{u}
­{1}{b}, {1}{b}{b}, {4}{b}
­{r}, {2}{r}, {2}{r}{r}
­{g}, {g}, {g}, {1}{g}, {2}{g}{g}
­{3}, {7}

That's less than ideal. I can tinker with a few cards. Abbey Matron for example, can go back to {3}{w}. But you get the idea.

The timeshifted sheet can only pull so much work. I could cut all the fun stuff, and leave it as just a sheet of solutions to make draft work... but then we wouldn't have all the fun stuff. I'm just going to have to flesh the set out. I can either make the individual cards in the set look cool as possible in a vacuum, or make the set be fun to play. I'd rather do the latter, I guess.

Yep. I think you're going to need to just add some more commons (and uncommons etc) if you want the set to feel (a bit more) like a modern set. Even modern small sets like Coldsnap famously feel too small to be drafted.

Alright. Time to review the set and determine staples.

In Magic 2015, Wizards put these cards in common (keeping in mind that 2015 was 'the convoke set'):

White

­

    ­
  • 2x Boost Aura
  • ­
  • Protective instant/combat trick
  • ­
  • 2x Army boost(?)
  • ­
  • Life Gain
  • ­
  • Combat based removal
  • ­
  • Pacifism-ish
  • ­
  • ­Pillar of Light ­
  • ­
  • Disenchant
  • ­
  • 11 creaturs (counting token producing spells)
  • ­
Blue
    ­
  • 2x Hard counter
  • ­
  • Subset counter
  • ­
  • 3x Bounce-ish
  • ­
  • Card draw net positive
  • ­
  • Thirst-ish
  • ­
  • Shrink Trick
  • ­
  • Aura evasion
  • ­
  • Mill
  • ­
  • Loot (tied to a creature)
  • ­
  • 9 creatures total
  • ­
Black
    ­
  • Life drain
  • ­
  • 2x Aura removal
  • ­
  • Aura boost
  • ­
  • ­Dry Spell-ish
  • ­
  • Straight creature removal
  • ­
  • Creature removal combat trick
  • ­
  • 2x Discard (one attached to a creature)
  • ­
  • 2x Raise Dead (one attached to a creature)
  • ­
  • Mill (attached to a creature)
  • ­
  • Card draw net positive
  • ­
  • 12 creatures
  • ­
Red
    ­
  • 4x Creature removal (one tied to a creature)
  • ­
  • Subset creature removal
  • ­
  • Combat trick
  • ­
  • Fast mana (tied to a creature)
  • ­
  • Aura evasion-ish, boost-ish
  • ­
  • Aura boost-ish, direct damage-ish
  • ­
  • ­Lava Axe ­
  • ­
  • Direct damage
  • ­
  • Red loot (tied to a creature)
  • ­
  • artifact remval (tied to a creature)
  • ­
  • 12 creatures
  • ­
Green
    ­
  • 2x Combat trick
  • ­
  • Protection trick
  • ­
  • Fight
  • ­
  • Fog-ish
  • ­
  • ­Naturalize ­
  • ­
  • Anti-flying
  • ­
  • accelerant/filter
  • ­
  • accelerant (tied to a creature)
  • ­
  • aura boost
  • ­
  • 12 creatures
  • ­
Colorless
    ­
  • ­Tyrant's Machine ­
  • ­
  • 3 creatures
  • ­
  • colorless non-basic land
  • ­
  • 5-C non-basic land
  • ­

114 commons total, 59 of which are creatures. 9 flyers, 1 reach, 2 intimidators, 1 lure.

Good enough for now. Comparing this with Homelands Restored tomorrow. ­

Recoculous took a look at Magic 2014, and added a few more things that could be in a core set that weren't in that one. Figured I'd bring them forward here:

White ­

    ­
  • Flicker. Probably unneeded. But some sort of reset button for ETB effects would be nice, whether it's flicker or something like Invasive Species in M15 which I failed to count in my first pass. Probably not necessary in a set that was invented before 187 became a thing. If I add a bunch, though, I should look for a way to sneak this in.
  • ­
  • Deal damage to attacking/blocking. Minor staple.
  • ­
  • Tapping. I'm not sure if Master Decoy is a staple nowadays, what with NWO. Either way, the set has one, so we're fine.
  • ­
Blue ­
    ­
  • Tap creatures instant or sorcery. Not strictly a staple, but happens. Again, this pops up in M2015, but I didn't count Frost Lynx because it seemed like a minor point, though I should have.
  • ­
  • ­Ponder. I'm surprised to see this not represented in two sets. Used to be in every base. HR has Forget which now plays with this space, even if it is a rare.
  • ­
  • Mind Control. Not at common. I assume Recoculous is mixing his commons and uncommons together, though.
  • ­
  • Sea Serpent. Did not occur to me to think of this as one of the staples, but I guess it is. Technically, M15 had one with Glacial Crasher. HR had one in Dark Maze, but I moved it to black. I could move it back; the card is comfortable in either color.
  • ­
Black
    ­
  • Zombify. Again, an uncommon mechanic.
  • ­
  • Tutor. Again, uncommon.
  • ­
  • Shade. Another creature mechanic I wasn't counting. M15 had one in Zof Shade. HR doesn't, as far as I can remember.
  • ­
Red
    ­
  • Land destruction. Amazingly, not in M15 common. (((Orcish Mine))) in Homelands uncommon should be fine. Another in common would be acceptable.
  • ­
  • ­Act of Treason. Interesting that M15 doesn't have one. Was a staple for a number of years.
  • ­
  • Pyroclasm. Uncommon mechanic, and got one.
  • ­
  • Pyromancer. Uncommon mechanic, and got one.
  • ­
  • Firebreathing. Again, didn't count it as a staple. Probably should have, what with M15 having 4 cards (one uncommon, one rare) that features it.
  • ­
Green
    ­
  • Destroy non-creature permanent. More of an uncommon thing.
  • ­
  • Regrowth. Definitely uncommon.
  • ­
  • Overrun. Again, uncommon.
  • ­
  • Mana Elf. Okay, yes, I should have counted that. M15 has Arbor Elf. HR has Trade Caravan. No one said it had to be good.
  • ­
Interestingly, Recoculous doesn't say anything about artifacts or lands. Seems like a mistake. Terramorphic Expanse has been a staple ever since Time Spiral, for example.

Was doing the math. If I want HR to have Magic2015 numbers, then each color needs 22 cards (with 4 colorless cards.) Most colors have 7 right now. Red has 4. That seems... unreasonable. I don't want to crowd out Homelands with my design.

Fates Reforged has 61 commons compared to M15's 114 (Not counting the non-basic lands in the land slot.) 11 cards per color seems far more reasonable. In theory, I could add 5 or 10 non-basic lands to common without messing with the numbers. 10 non-basic would probably lead to 3 color decks, though. 5 non-basics similar to Zendikar non-basic commons, though, would be fine. The break down, right now, would look something like:

Common WUBRG = 11
Common Colorless = 6

Total Common = 61

Uncommon WUBRG = 11
Uncommon Colorless = 5

Total Uncommon = 60

Rare WUBRG = 5
Gold Rares = 10 total
­Didgeridoo

Total Rares = 36

Mythic WUBRG = 5
Mythic colorless & gold = 3
Mythic extra slots = 2

Mythic Total = 10
Set total = 167 (possible 172 with 5 non-basics in the land slot.)

I got too many rares for this skeleton. But I'm sure I can push a number of them into uncommon, or make a few of them gold to fit.

What did you mean by "each color needs 22 cards... Most colors have 7 right now"? You've got more than 7 white cards in the set?

I was averaging, and talking about the common slot. Though, I probably should have said that.

Alright, White commons first. Currently, White seems like the weakest color, speaking strictly from a game design perspective. It doesn't have a way to win outside of pecking the opponent to death with a couple of Mesa Falcons. So giving the color some punch is a priority.

Currently has 7 cards, 4 of which are creatures. Needs 11 total, with 6 creatures ideally. Missing: ­

    ­
  • A way to achieve victory. At least two cards that will get there by themselves, and...
  • ­
  • One trick.
  • ­
  • A beneficial aura
  • ­
  • One army boost
  • ­
  • Cycle of off-color activations inspired by Leaping Lizard.
  • ­
  • One vanilla creature.
  • ­
  • At least one card that costs five or six. Maybe two.
  • ­
  • One creature that costs 3
  • ­

Things that aren't present, and could be, but aren't as necessary: ­

    ­
  • Life gain
  • ­
  • Reset or Flicker
  • ­
  • Combat based removal
  • ­

Blue commons. Like White, Blue didn't have a clear path to victory. Although, Coral Reef can help blue get there all by itself. And with some repeatable bounce, Dark Maze can become a big problem.

Currently has 7 cards, 3 of which are creatures. Needs 11 total, with 6 creatres ideally. Missing:

    ­
  • At least one creature with flying
  • ­
  • Something that grants evasion. Probably flying. To make Dark Maze and Reef Pirates serious threats.
  • ­
  • A hard counter
  • ­
  • Bounce. Theoretically repeatable. Maybe 2x
  • ­
  • Divination-ish
  • ­
  • An aura would be nice. Likely to be linked to 'grants evasion'.
  • ­
  • ­Leaping Lizard cycle.
  • ­
Things that aren't present, and could be, but aren't as necessary:

Black commons. Currently seems balanced, just missing pieces. Path to victory is as simple as playing a 1/1 Giant Albatross on round 2, then enchanting it with Feast of the Unicorn on round 3.

Currently has 8 cards, 4 of which are creatures. Needs 11, with 6 creatures ideally. Missing:

    ­
  • One solid creature destruction spell.
  • ­
  • Discard
  • ­
  • Raise Dead
  • ­
Things that aren't present, and could be, but aren't necessary: ­
    ­
  • Shade
  • ­
  • ­Weakness ­
  • ­
  • A combat trick
  • ­
  • Mill
  • ­
  • Card draw, net positive
  • ­

Alright. Red...

Currently has 5 cards, 3 of which are creatures. Needs 11, with 6. Missing:

    ­
  • A small direct damage spell
  • ­
  • A large direct damage spell
  • ­
  • Artifact removal
  • ­
  • Fast Mana
  • ­
  • Creature[s] can't block
  • ­

Things that aren't present, and could be, but aren't necessary: ­

Green, so far, has a strange path to victory in Homelands restored. Wanderlust your opponent's creature, then evade past the Wanderlusted creature with Willow Faerie and Joven's Ferrets. Later, drop a Hungry Mist and stare down your opponents bigger threats (or possibly Carapace the Mist and swing.) Strange that Green is acting rather Black/White.

It will probably reassert itself as normal Green once enough big bodies hit the table. Let's see. Right now, we currently have seven cards, 4 of which are creatures. We need 11... and maybe we should have 7 creatures here to make sure green is doing its job the right way. What's missing is:

    ­
  • A big solid poozer.
  • ­
  • Two ways to get poison. Probably on creatures, though this may conflict with the 'we need more meaty creatures' problem...
  • ­
  • Giant Growth-ish
  • ­
  • Naturalizish
  • ­
  • Anti-Flying. Probably Reach
  • ­

Things that aren't present, and could be, but aren't necessary: ­

    ­
  • Fog
  • ­
  • Fight
  • ­
  • A larger boost, either aura or +1/+1 counters
  • ­
  • A second accelerant. Probably a sorcery at 3cc or 4cc.
  • ­

Each color and artifacts needs about 5 more uncommons. But I'm kind of at a loss for where to begin. Meanwhile, the strategies of drafting Homelands isn't clear. So my plan here is to find 10 strategies (2 for each color) that already kind of represented and ramp them up. Basing a side strategy on a single common might be okay... especially if that card wouldn't normally be drafted high (like Jinx.) Some of the existing new commons can always be changed to represent the new strats anyway. Let's do this color by color:

White: ­

    ­
  • "Whenever a creature you control increases toughness" 4 cards. Watch out for Mesa Falcon.
  • ­
  • Enchantments matter. 3 cards, plenty in other colors, and all three with an enter the battlefield ability... so maybe bouncing enchantments?
  • ­
  • 2 Power or less Creatures. All but one creature in White before bonuses. Aligns with Aysen Bureaucrats ­
  • ­
  • Soldiers Matter. Zero. But Castigating Caste can have its flavor changed, Sacred Duty can turn a creature into a soldier, and Aysen Crusader is already in uncommon. I can focus on making uncommons that dumped Soldiers on the board while including bonus lines for soldiers to matter.
  • ­
  • Clerics matter. Two already in common, three in uncommon. Baris, Serra Inquisitor and Murat, Death Speaker already feed into this at rare.
  • ­
  • Birds matter. Though, Soroya, the Falconer is probably not reason enough to go down this route. 3 birds in set is nice... but only one in white. Probably a good time to add a bird, even if I'm not doing this one.
  • ­

Trying to work out the uncommon theme for red, but nothing's coming to me. The obvious choice is Dwarf/Minotaur tribal. But after coming down with a bunch of Vampire tribal, I'd like to do something more clever. Anyhow, I'm posting the commons I didn't design here so I can get a better look at them all together.

­((Aliban's Power)) ((Ambush Party)) ((Anaba Bodyguard)) ((Dwarven Trader))

Geesh. Only four commons. No wonder why I'm having a problem seeing the common theme..

Considering what I have to work with, I guess I got:

­

    ­
  • Minotaur tribal
  • ­
  • Dwarf Tribal
  • ­
  • Plays well with first strike
  • ­
  • Power matters (though, I'm pretty sure I don't want to do this.)
  • I don't know... I'm sure I could spin a mechanic off the trader, build around haste, or build around the instant. But then I'd be building a mechanic around one card, and that seems weird. Let's see how well I can push 'plays well with first strike'.

Post your comments on Homelands Restored here!
If your comments are on a small number of specific cards, they may be better added to those cards. This is for comments on the set as a whole.


(formatting help)
Enter mana symbols like this: {2}{U}{U/R}{PR}, {T} becomes {2}{u}{u/r}{pr}, {t}
You can use Markdown such as _italic_, **bold**, ## headings ##
Link to [[[Official Magic card]]] or (((Card in Multiverse)))
Include [[image of official card]] or ((image or mockup of card in Multiverse))
Make hyperlinks like this: [text to show](destination url)
How much damage does this card deal? Shock
(Signed-in users don't get captchas and can edit their comments)