Shard Themes
Custom Cards forum
Posted on May 18, 2010, 4:17 a.m. by Zanven
As I mentioned in the Breakdown, each shard is composed of two ally colors and an enemy color. This would mean that the over-all conviction of the shard would be in favor of the ally and twisted slightly by the enemy.
America (RWU) : The allied pairing of white and blue's Order and Knowledge make Law. This shard would be very structured and ordered, while dealing with an internal struggle, as Red would feel suffocated and screaming to get out when faced down by both enemies. White and blue would essentially attempt to control Red and let it vent by using it as a powerful tool to lash out and strengthen their spells with burn.
Green Orzhov : The allied pairing of white and green's Protection and Growth make Life. This shard would most like produce an abundance of creatures (potentially tokens and counters to represent rapid life expansion) while using Black to moderate the growth. Black's urge for death is easily satiated here by needing to cull frequently to keep the shard from exhausting itself, but Green and Black are careful to keep it from perverting the abundance of life to its own desires.
Green Izzet : The allied pairing of red and green's Freedom and Instinct result in complete Independence and lack of constraint. Big creatures, big power flung about at will, druidic and shamanistic. Blue's manipulation and illusions are quashed in the face of raw growing power, but gets to indulge its knowledge in bizarre applications of this strength.
Black Boros : The allied pairing of black and red's Ambition and Emotion result in a dangerous tyrannical power. The strongest rule in a disorderly fashion. Might makes right, and White does the best that it can to maintain life that is literally tearing itself apart. White's need for order and light are completely overpowered here.
Black Simic : The allied pairing of black and blue's Darkness and Manipulation create a realm of shady trades and forbidden knowledge, the kind of power that blue has wanted and that black is able to get. The laws of nature and instinct for Green are shackled and controlled while Black and Blue utilize Green's capability for growth to fuel their plots and demonic mage arts.
As you can tell, I'm currently trying to prevent a hard cement of each group into one particular theme or race as it stands. I want to see how everyone feels about these general bubbles I've lumped the ally-ally-enemy colors together into and whether or not you feel that would be the result of two colors teaming up on another.
American: Great
Green Orzhov: The keyword render is about the black feeding off the life energy but with an abundance of life energy (life gain, lifelink, e.t.c.) the costs are hardly felt. Shaman colours.
Green Izzet: The solid power of Green and the burn of red leads me towards ideas of powerful creatures with little fortitude (high toughness, lower power).
Black Boros: Excellent fit with the suggested introduction of the Tyrant creature subtype. Also works well with the Angels, Demons and samurai.
Black Simic: Wonderful.
My only bicker is that it means we have difficulty making negashard ultimatums.
May 18, 2010 7:26 a.m.
I do like that creature idea for Green Izzet; kind of like how Naya has Wooly Thoctar as a 5/4, Green Izzet may have a 5/1 Shroud or 1/5 Shroud, or maybe it flips like a Calcite Snapper. Designing the mechanics is out of my realm though, but I'm sure the Design Team will make all kinds of awesome cards to drape fluff and skin over. When I checked into Shamans, they were mostly green and red with a little bit of black, so I considered Green Izzet moreso shaman territory than Green Orzhov.
I'm also concerned about Render but that's a mechanic issue currently, so I'm just going to plow ahead and work with it from there.
May 18, 2010 12:44 p.m.
My only problem so far is that the enemy color is a little underrepresented and in the skeleton (at the moment) is color that is most apparent. This only makes sense because we want at least the first set to be largely single color cards to make our lives easier.
May 18, 2010 1:43 p.m.
mistergreen527 says... #6
I think these are looking great. I agree with your idea of not cementing each shard into a certain theme.
My main suggestion is similar to Xander574's: I think there should more focus on the single enemy color on each shard. In Shards of Alara, the enemy color pairing were barely present (only one card per shard). So, on the Negashards, instead of focusing on that ally pair, maybe try to conceptualize it as a merge between two of the enemy-guilds from Ravnica. For example, the RWU shard would be a merge between Boros and Izzet, pairing militaristic with mad science. This kind of gives me a Hitler-feel. It could have a hard-fisted dictator that punishes those that oppose him and does experiments on them.
Anyways, this is just an example. My main point I'm trying to make is that the enemy color should be more of the focus, not the ally-pairing (in my opinion).
May 19, 2010 10:56 a.m.
Alright, I'll cook up a complete set of enemy-color focus shards today at work and put them up tonight when I get home for a complete contrast and comparison. I have no problem with that at all.
May 19, 2010 1:12 p.m.
Okay, as promised, I took another look at the Shards and cooked up the Enemy-color angle rather than allies-ganged-up-on-one-colour!
Currently, if you were to look at the shards from a Ravnican perspective :
WUR : White Izzet, Blue Boros, or Red Azorius. What all three have in common is a hierarchy of control, powerful Magic, and lots of humans. To focus on the enemy colors, the Shard itself could be White, and the Red and Blue denizens draw on it to mix with their own spells and lifestyles. Potentially a mageocracy.
UGB : Blue Golgari, Black Simic, Green Dimir. What all three have in common is like a grimy, sewer-bound feeling of death, flesh and experimentation. Undead, mutants, and horror-movie mythos abound, the Shard itself could be Blue, and the Green and Black creatures shambling around on it could pump their infectious taint through the mana to inflict and spread to the other shards.
BWR : Black Boros, Red Orzhov, White Rakdos. What all three have in common is fanatical zeal towards combat and ambition. Aside from Boros, Orzhov and Rakdos were always more than happy to play by their own rules, where might makes right. Demons, devils, spirits and angels fit in well here, and I honestly think the current concept of this shard is going along great. I am completely on board for tyrants and potentially a demon ruler with a bunch of angels and priests shackled up or bound in his procession. The Shard itself could be Black, and the original race on it (potentially demons) are flexing their control on the new angel arrivals and getting chummy with goblins and orcs. I would really like to see orcs as there are only a few in Magic as it stands; generally goblins or ogres are favored instead.
RGU : Red Simic, Green Izzet, Blue Gruul. What these three have in common is a somewhat bizarre sense of invention and pioneerism; they either create new magic, new creatures, or new methods of combat. Mutants, wizards and weirds are found here. The Shard itself could be Red, and the Green and Blue scientists and degenerates could tap upon the violent unpredictable mana when working on their all present concept of Flow.
GBW : Green Orzhov, White Golgari, Black Selesnya. What these three have in common is death; either transcending death, recycling the dead, or revering them to blossom new life from the old. Spirits, reborn beings, sprouts, tokens and elves hail from these settings. The shard itself would be Green, and the Black and White denizens utilize the vast wellspring of life to flourish and grow.
Kind of a retread and swerve from what was already discussed, but as mistergreen mentioned, not a lot of focus had been on enemy colors, and if it is the inverse of Alara, which focuses on allied colors, we certainly need to have a look at it.
Comments, suggestions, and general piecemealing (what is worth taking and blending in, what is not) appreciated!
May 20, 2010 2:05 a.m.
Love it all. Nom nom. Great that we have a base.
For the Tyrant Overlord of (I will use the previously invented names purely for ease of typing but they are by no means set in stone) Sorok I was thinking a Demon Dragon Tyrant I'll post another card for what I've got in mind.
May 20, 2010 6:16 a.m.
i acctually love all of this...if we are voting between the two i vote for this one. I feel like for convenience we should refer to each one as the enemy color and then the allied colors names. Red azorius=RWU Green Dimir=UGB White Rackdos=WRB Blue Gruul=RGU Black selesnya=GWB
otherwise still down for goblin aristocrats =P hahaha
Fantastic stuff.
Make the Tyrant lord of white rackdos a new Oros, the Avenger
May 20, 2010 1:10 p.m.
I was thinking http://tappedout.net/media/concept-cards/tama-fagroll,-the-juggernaught-(promo).jpgFagroll, the Juggernaught (promo) but hey.
If we follow Xander's idea then we can still have ultimatum's but they are based on the opposing colours.
May 20, 2010 8:55 p.m.
Um... Tama, I love you (jk) but, I feel that -fag-roll- may conjure up some ideas (strange ideas). Maybe Fargol instead?
May 20, 2010 11:59 p.m.
Fargril was more how the pronunciation was in my mind. Will be edited.
The idea of the core colour being the enemy colour.
May 21, 2010 12:33 a.m.
I can see how the name could cause some concerns, especially since most Magic players already tend to twist card names into the worst avenue possible.
May 21, 2010 2:45 a.m.
I just imagined myself FAGROLLing someone and giggled...which is a problem.
May 21, 2010 1:55 p.m.
The name can be changed. The names only matter in relation to whether the names match the card.
May 22, 2010 11:20 p.m.
I want to make a deck so badly, even if it sucks. Other than the obvious Executioner's Capsule , and Ichor Wellspring , what other artifacts work very well with Glissa and what kind of deck should I make with her?
Fun combos are appreciated and encouraged.
November 10, 2013 2:41 a.m.
I would suggest running it as a G/B rock style build with maybe some white. Basically, card advantage, removal and value.
For creatures, you can run things like Blade Splicer , Tidehollow Sculler . If it is a mostly artifact build, you could also run Cranial Plating . Carapace Forger is playing in Pauper for its ability to be a mini goyf. While it is harder to turn in modern due to lack of artifact lands, it is still a consideration.
For removal, Abrupt Decay is your best bet, but 1-2 Capsule could be good too for attrition based games.
Unless you have ways to kill Ichor, I would suggest more generic card draw like Phyrexian Arena
November 10, 2013 3:16 a.m.
RainerApfelsaft says... #21
I would suggest Ratchet Bomb .
Other than that Triskelion has a nice synergy and Wurmcoil Engine should at least be strong in a deck with Glissa
Zanven says... #2
Edit : Green Orzhov should say "but Green and White are careful to keep it from perverting the abundance of life to its own desires", not Green and Black.
May 18, 2010 4:18 a.m.