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2 years ago ::
Dec 24, 2010 - 1:05AM
#41
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Date Joined:
Mar 31, 2008
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Actually, I'm not sitting pretty either. I'm happy with a lot of what I have so far, but the set (and the block) needs more. I'm still searching for the "mechanic that evolves over the course of the block" that Maro challenged me to find. Expect to see new mechanics added when you "open my booster pack" in January.
-Ethan Fleischer
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2 years ago ::
Dec 24, 2010 - 6:19AM
#42
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Date Joined:
Feb 18, 2008
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Well i checked into each contestant's wiki.
Devon's actually reworking his entire set, scraping the idea of five separate nations and fleshing out the invaders.
It's too late to help Jon, but it's a nice change of pace.
Devon's still wrestling with how to show off "Using tools of peace as weapons of war".
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Conversly, Shawn has finally realized that when Maro said "Make blight the center of your design" he meant "Make blight the center of your design". And now he's scrambling to fit a nonblue, nonwhite mechanic into white and blue. (and red and green for that matter).
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Scott's sitting pretty, as Shawn has made the choice to go to -1/-1 counters for him.
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Ethan is also sitting pretty, as he has no real issues with his design right now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jon L is trying to overhaul his mechanics.
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So it looks like everyone's on equal footing this time around. Except for Ethan, everyone's making major changes to their set. While some have bigger challanges than others, everyone's got work to do.
This gives me a terrible foreboding, because of some advice I read in Joel Spolsky's software design article, ThingsYou Should Never Do, Part I:
They didn't [ sabotage themselves ] on purpose, now, did they?
Well, yes. They did. They did it by making the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make:
They decided to rewrite the code from scratch.
The contestants need to build upon their existing work, guided by the advice from the judges. Returning to start throws away that guidance. A new mechanic, a limited overhaul, and a reassessment of focus would be reasonable, but reworking the set would put a designer weeks behind everyone else.
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2 years ago ::
Dec 24, 2010 - 7:52AM
#43
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Date Joined:
Feb 28, 2002
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Actually, I'm not sitting pretty either. I'm happy with a lot of what I have so far, but the set (and the block) needs more. I'm still searching for the "mechanic that evolves over the course of the block" that Maro challenged me to find. Expect to see new mechanics added when you "open my booster pack" in January.
-Ethan Fleischer
It's not that hard to find a mechanic that evolves. In my mock-up submission, I have one mechanic (pattern) that goes on sorceries on the first set, instants on the second set, and permanents on the third set. You just need to define a path of evolution, and then create a mechanic that respects the restrictions imposed by that line of evolution.
When doing a design work, the sooner you define the restrictions, the better.
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2 years ago ::
Dec 24, 2010 - 8:42AM
#44
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Date Joined:
Mar 13, 2004
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Blight, as it exists, has always been intended for black, red, green (and colorless). MaRo didn't like assault in blue, but it still fits well into white, green, and red. We have death mechanics (requiem, forsake) that span all five colors, but, despite working on it in challenge 2, blue remains the odd man out that needs a stronger identity.
MaRo mentioned that he might have been tempted to include one common blue blight card, so I've been investigating blue (and white) blight possibilities. They exist, but I'm not convinced any are robust enough to serve as those missing pieces.
I think the problem is, when you introduced Blight, you didn't make it clear that it wasn't the center of your design....
Spoiler:
Show
Before receiving the judges feedback, I imagined the Blight would serve only as the inciting incident for the story of Wodotha. Encouraged by the judges to make the Blight into the centerpiece of the story, I knew I had to find it a distinct mechanical role. After three days of false starts, someone suggested the game could accumulate blight counters as a clock to an event where marked permanents would die. I liked the flavor, but was wary of the complexity. Playtesting never clicked until I brought the number of counters needed for destruction all the way down to one. Suddenly, being blighted was a rush, feeling like your marked creature could vanish suddenly. The Blight itself had character in the game.
Making each blight action both destruction and marking makes it so that, under normal circumstances, there's only one blighted permanent at a time. Thus it feels like the Blight chases cards across the table. And, though I only used it once on the final design, it opens possibilities for self-blighting cards to be used as both an advantage and a drawback.
Once blight was locked in place, I decided to design for black, since it had the most space to utilize the mechanic. Because blight was so linear, I wanted the other set mechanics to be more modular. With a sadistic demon as the villain and secret initiator of the Blight, I figured black's flavor could focus on reveling in destruction while the world falls apart. It's only in your second comments (for the blue commons) that you point out that blight's only in three colors. Really it's all about miscommunication on both parts. Maro not being clear enough, and you not being clear enough. I'm glad to hear you aren't going to try to stuff blight where it doesn't belong. I'm sure with your extra time you can find cards that work well with Blight, that don't violate the spirit of blue or white. Actually, I'm not sitting pretty either. I'm happy with a lot of what I have so far, but the set (and the block) needs more. I'm still searching for the "mechanic that evolves over the course of the block" that Maro challenged me to find. Expect to see new mechanics added when you "open my booster pack" in January.
-Ethan Fleischer
I didn't want to imply that you have nothing to do. But compared to the other contestants, you are in a pretty good spot. You aren't making any major overhauls to your set, the judges love your flavor, and you have enough time to devote to working on the rest of your block.
I wouldn't nap until the deadline and then submit the first fiffteen cards on the Wiki, but i think you are in the best spot of any contestant. (Whichi isn't a bad thing since you got yourself there)
… and then, the squirrels came.
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2 years ago ::
Dec 24, 2010 - 9:53AM
#45
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Date Joined:
Mar 31, 2008
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You're right that I would probably have to completely screw up to be eliminated in this next round.
Massive props to my team, though. I wouldn't have got where I was without their excellent help.
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2 years ago ::
Dec 26, 2010 - 10:22AM
#46
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Date Joined:
Sep 26, 2007
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I know one of these examples has already been pointed out but I'm still astonished that Maro seemingly made totally false criticisms.
Uncommon Cycle:
UW01 –
Shining Knight
2W
Creature - Human Knight
2/3
First strike
Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 2W. If you do, put a 3/2 white Human Knight creature token with first strike onto the battlefield.
UU01 –
Mirror-wing Drake
3U
Creature - Drake
2/3
Flying
Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 3U. If you do, put a 3/2 blue Drake creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
UB01 –
Double Agent
2B
Creature - Human Rogue
2/2
Morph 2B (You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When CARDNAME is turned face up, put a 2/2 black Human Rogue creature token onto the battlefield.
UR01 –
Giltshield Grudgebearer
1RR
Creature - Dwarf Berserker
1/2
Double strike
Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 1RR. If you do, put a 2/1 red Dwarf Berserker creature token with double strike onto the battlefield.
UG01 –
Silverscale Wurm
3GG
Creature - Wurm
4/6
Trample
Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 3GG. If you do, put a 6/4 green Wurm creature token with trample onto the battlefield.
UG01 [Silverscale Wurm]. I talk a lot about aesthetics when it comes to design. An important part of aesthetics is balance. Right now you have three creatures in this cycle that have a higher toughness than power to start. I would have set it up so you had two and two. This is the obvious suggestion for the card to change to make it half and half.
Wait, 2/3, 2/3, 1/2, 4/6. He had ALL FOUR (non-black) creatures with higher toughness than power!
I'm guessing that he meant something other than what he wrote?
RW01 – Overcome
[Starfall Omen
community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...]
3WW
Sorcery
Preeminence – Destroy all creatures with power less than X, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
RW01 (Overcome). So I destroy all my creatures and all but your biggest creatures? The preeminence mechanic seems poorly used on this card. In fact, it seems to be mostly a negative as it guarantees all your creatures' destruction. And as Ken points out, this and the black one are "less than X" making them not parallel with the rest of the cycle.
Erm, the card guarantees AT LEAST one of your own creature's survival. And whilst there's no guarantee of killing your opponent's creatures (if they have an equal or higher power than your biggest), it seems a perfect use of the mechanic since it's actively pushing both players to care about the subtheme of 'power matters'!
I can only assume that since it's Christmas, the MtG team (Maro in particular) were a bit tired and didn't have enough mental awareness to read the cards properly.
Or am I missing something on either count?
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2 years ago ::
Dec 26, 2010 - 2:52PM
#47
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Date Joined:
Mar 13, 2004
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Wait, 2/3, 2/3, 1/2, 4/6. He had ALL FOUR (non-black) creatures with higher toughness than power!
I'm guessing that he meant something other than what he wrote?
He was likely mistaken. But his point about balance is still valid. four of the five have higher toughness than power, the fifth one should be made to line up with the others.
Erm, the card guarantees AT LEAST one of your own creature's survival. And whilst there's no guarantee of killing your opponent's creatures (if they have an equal or higher power than your biggest), it seems a perfect use of the mechanic since it's actively pushing both players to care about the subtheme of 'power matters'!
I can only assume that since it's Christmas, the MtG team (Maro in particular) were a bit tired and didn't have enough mental awareness to read the cards properly.
Or am I missing something on either count?
I think one of the other contestants had a similar mechanic... i think they got them mixed up.
… and then, the squirrels came.
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2 years ago ::
Dec 26, 2010 - 3:50PM
#48
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Date Joined:
Feb 28, 2002
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I'm a bit late, but here's my mock-up submission for the third challenge. community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...I had some troubles finding a partner that had a good world and wasn't already picked by another designer. But I expect to finish the fourth challenge on time. 
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2 years ago ::
Dec 26, 2010 - 4:32PM
#49
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Date Joined:
Sep 26, 2007
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Wait, 2/3, 2/3, 1/2, 4/6. He had ALL FOUR (non-black) creatures with higher toughness than power!
I'm guessing that he meant something other than what he wrote?
He was likely mistaken. But his point about balance is still valid. four of the five have higher toughness than power, the fifth one should be made to line up with the others.
I don't know... I mean, the way it is, it sends a clear message: reflection only exists outside of black. We can then presume (correctly) that this is a 'light' mechanic and that every colour other than black contains some 'light'. I think having the black be similar but different was a great choice, using contrasts to highlight the status quo.
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2 years ago ::
Dec 26, 2010 - 4:35PM
#50
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Date Joined:
Mar 16, 2009
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Logline suggestions:
Utopia: "Plowshares can be reforged." (previously posted)
Epolith: "Outlive. Outlast. Outright domination." (Survivor TV show)
Wodotha: "Peer into an/the abyss."
Penumbria: "Darkness, Light, and blood in between." (ugh, I sound like a B-movie)
Malgareth: "Escape by cunning or by force."
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