Pattern Recognition #206 - A New Set - Rare Lands and a Legendary

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

5 August 2021

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Hello everyone! This is Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series as written by myself, berryjon. I am something of an Old Fogey who has been around the block quite a few times where Magic is concerned, as as such, I use this series to talk about the various aspects of this game, be it deck design, card construction, mechanics chat, in-universe characters and history. Or whatever happens to cross my mind this week. Please, feel free to dissent in the comments below the article, add suggestions or just plain correct me! I am a Smart Ass, so I can take it.

As part of designing this set from the top down, I had to accept that this also meant designing cards top-down not just in terms of themes and mechanics, but also in terms of rarity. One of the things I may not like about 'current' Magic design is the notion of the 'Design Around' cards. These are cards that Wizards creates for each set to be emblematic of how the set works, both in draft archetypes and in terms of cards that have a certain WOW factor that would cause players to look at a card and say "I want to build a deck featuring that card!"

Some relatively recent examples include Oko, Thief of Crowns and... you know what? Maybe I shouldn't talk about the most broken card in the past five years and the one I dedicated a whole article to explaining why?

But they do exist, and while anchor pieces for archetypes tend to occur at Uncommon in order to make sure they show up in Draft, the ones at Rare and even Mythic tend to be the capstones for how things are envisioned to work by Wizards. What I'm going to be doing in this article is to set down the five Artifacts that I have set aside at Rare for each of the Five Tribes, and the five Legendary Creatures, and if I have time, I'll nail down the five Rare Lands as well. 15 cards would be a good start, so let's actually get the easy set out of the way first.

Rare Tribal Lands

The five Rare Lands are a traditional part of each set, Dual Lands (except for Tarkir and Ikoria) that provide a cycle of lands that each provide two different types of mana. Now, as this is a Tribal set, and each Tribe is associated with an allied colour pair, which types of mana that are going to be produced by each land are already set down. What I need to figure out is the Name, the Flavor and the Gimmick of these lands. And the hardest part of these is the Gimmick.

You see, ever since the ABUR Duals, each type of land that produces multiple types of mana has had some sort of gimmick or drawback in order to help balance them out in the game. High-tide marks, like the Ravnican Shock Lands, represent maximal utility, while the Pain Lands and the Scry Lands represent average utility that don't adversely affect the balance of the game. And you get your tap lands that appear at common in your packs that are all drawback.

So working from that, I can see that I need something on theme to keep the Lands in line with the Tribes. My first thought was the Tribe Reveal Land from Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, such as Ancient Amphitheater. For those of who didn't see the card, it's a land that comes into play tapped unless you reveal a Giant from your hand.

In a Tribal set? That's not really a drawback. And there's nothing stopping you from just playing the tribal card you just revealed, rendering the information loss moot. And in this set, there will be cheap drops in all Tribes, so again, it's not much of a drawback.

What I'm thinking, however, is a little risky, but something that does work - or so I hope. What if I gave these Dual Lands the relevant creature type? That is, the one would be a Land - Noble. Now, for the most part, this would be a non-entity, but we are looking at Tribal Lands, and one of the things I do want to look into is having cards like Forerunner of the Empire, but for the relevant tribes. This would allow for a tiny bit of mana fixing by letting the Forerunner-esque creature have the opportunity to slow-search for the relevant Land.

And in fact, I think I will do that here, and let play-testing see if this is viable or not.

But that's not really a thing that will affect the playability of the cards themselves. They need to have actual play effects to be unique. Coming into play tapped is a common drawback, but is useless without a sort of boon to go along with things. And here is where I come into my first problem.

Do I want this Boon to be Symmetrical or Not?

To put this into context, do I want this cycle of five lands to be the same, except for the relevant Tribe and the colours produced? Or do I want to have them do slightly different things for the relevant tribes? For example, going back to Ravnica, you have not only Sacred Foundry as part of the larger cycle of Rare Symmetrical Lands, but you also had Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion as an uncommon land that only really worked for the relevant colours.

I mean, I could move the utility lands down to the common slots reserved for them, and leave the rares as simple duals, but that doesn't actually answer my question. And I have to answer it in order to move forward. In the end though, Lands are useful, but they shouldn't be something so showboat. That's for the Creatures and Planeswalkers.

So I decided on a placeholder mechanic. Something that can be easily switched out if needed, and works within the tribe and without as needed. Well, less a mechanic, but rather something that can apply equally to all colours and all tribes without going overboard. Allow me to demonstrate:

The Casa Taedere
Land - Noble
This land enters the battlefield tapped unless you reveal a Noble creature from your hand.
Add or . If this mana is spent on a Noble creature, you may Scry 1 or that creature enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
"This land is more than just a place to settle. We must make it our home, lest we fall to indignity and carelessness. Our love for this place must be as love for our families, both new and old." - Alba Taedere

The Enclosure
Land - Rogue
This land enters the battlefield tapped unless you reveal a Rouge creature from your hand.
Add or . If this mana is spent on a Rouge creature, you may Scry 1 or that creature enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
"When we came here, the land was not unspoiled. It has its mysterious held by those who left this place behind. Who are they? What do they want? We are here to find out, my fellows! Let us go forth, and no one will stop us!" - Tichaona Zalasta

The Pyre Pit
Land - Warlock
This land enters the battlefield tapped unless you reveal a Warlock creature from your hand.
Add or . If this mana is spent on a Warlock creature, you may Scry 1 or that creature enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
"Brothers! Sisters! Thank you for joining me! My fire is your fire, my feast is your feast! Let us celebrate the night and the coming dawn, for each new day is a new joy and a new friend! Let us embrace those who have left us, and those who will join us!" Xián Anhiora

The Endless Copse
Land - Shaman
This land enters the battlefield tapped unless you reveal a Shaman creature from your hand.
Add or . If this mana is spent on a Shaman creature, you may Scry 1 or that creature enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
"It is said that this place was abandoned and left behind. We know that isn't true. We know that those who came before would never leave this place of their own volition. It is up to us to find out why, and to stop it from happening again. And I am glad to be by your side in this." - Eevi Vanasta

The Last Camp
Land - Scout
This land enters the battlefield tapped unless you reveal a Scout creature from your hand.
Add or . If this mana is spent on a Shaman creature, you may Scry 1 or that creature enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
"It is said that not all who wander are lost. We are not lost. We are the seekers and the finders. It is on us, those who travel from here to the ends of the world and beyond, to find the way and to show it to any who would follow, no matter their cause." - Solfrid Wanjeri

Each of these five lands serves multiple purposes. First, it reinforces the nature of the Tribal aspects of the set, with you getting a bonus for using the mana appropriately, with no penalty for not doing do. In addition, each land has a quote from the Tribal 'leader' that I hope will explain the nature of each of the Tribes, and to reinforce that these people are not enemies. That for the conflicts they will engage in - because this is still Magic, and conflict is at the heart of it all, they are not enemies. I also started pulling out names from different cultures to build things up, and the website "Behind the Name" is an amazing resource.

But now I have five names. It's time for five creatures.

The Five Legendaries

In making these creatures, I had three major aspects to consider. First, was making sure the each of these Legendaries properly supported their Tribe. That regardless of the actual chosen Tribal mechanic, you could have this creature in your tribal deck and it would work perfectly well. In addition, each of them had to have the Tribal Mechanic as well as their Tribal Lord effects. The two should not be intrinsically tied to each other, but they should be able to produce effects greater together than they do apart.

Third, Brawl and Commander. I know that Wizards is embracing these formats for good or for ill, and as these are Legendaries, I have to look at these five through the lens of "What if this was my Commander?" It's something I need to look at, in addition to the issues of Standard. And that is a whole 'nother pile of issues that I'm not going to have fun looking at.

Alba Taedere

This is the leader of the Noble faction of Solle, and as such, there are a few things that I need to talk about where she is concerned. During the development of this set, I envisioned this character as a sort of "Don Diego de la Vega" character. And for those of you who have no idea who that is, I'm talking about Zorro, AKA: The Man that Batman wants to be. As the set developed and I was convinced to drop the Rebels as a tribe, the notion of the rebelious noble stopped holding its appeal, and the realignment of the set to a more cooperative and competitive one meant that this character had to drop the rebel parts of the character, and double down on the Noble.

Part of the problem is that this color pair has a well-deserved reputation as a Control archetype, and I wanted to reject that notion entirely in this set. I mean, yes, there will be control in these colours. I can't avoid them. But I don't have to embrace them either. Instead, I want to focus more on the protective side of these colours. It's heavy on , but gets in on it as well.

As such, I want to portray this tribe as patient, probing then moving in for the kill.

Doña Alba Taedere was given rulership - or perhaps the better phrase would be stweardship over the exploration, development and colonization of Solle. Her position is not a precarious as it might appear, as she has developed and earned a personal reputation as a stalwart defender of everyone in Solle, be it from the threats native to the continent, or other factions under her purview. Even her own.

This means that she does not sit in her home, depicted in the rare Noble Land. She will go out and do and learn and teach, attack and defend. To do what is right, and not what is _required.

And if that means taking the dangerous journey to where the epicenter of Solle is, to determine for herself if it is a threat to everyone on Solle, she will do so.

Doña Alba Taedere

Picture - Alba Taedere is a mid-thirties woman with dark complexion and black hair, brown eyes, dressed in white and blue. The picture for this card should be posed as a formal portrait, and the artist is encouraged to include as much Spanish flair as possible. However, while this is a formal picture, her clothing should not only be elegant, but present the idea that after the portrait is done, she's going to go outside and do work. Other cards will show her in action, so this is her at stillness.
Legendary Creature - Human Noble
Flash
Double Strike
Renown 3 - (When this creature deals damage to a player, if it is not already Renowned, put 3 +1/+1 counters on it, and it becomes Renowned.)
You, and permanents you control have Ward , where is Alba Taedere's power.
"You are my people, one and all. I will defend you."
1/3

And here we have our first Legendary Creature! Doña Taedere has the potential to be a combat monster, given the inherent Double Strike. And yes, this means that if she attacks and isn't blocked, the first hit will be for 1 damage, then she will become Renowned, and the second strike will be for 4 damage. In addition, her Ward ability applies also to herself, going from Ward to Ward with Renowned. An earlier version went from Ward to outright Hexproof, but I think that was a little too powerful.

In addition, for being the colour of protecion, only has three cards with Ward, and a fourth shared with . It's a shame, that's what it is.

But I like to think that I've hit a solid middle ground here. She's workable by herself, as a self-contained creature. She doesn't require anything else to play, and she supports everything with her skills. She is combat oriented (or at least, I think so), with light-weight protection across the board with Ward. She isn't like Avacyn, Angel of Hope or Shalai, Voice of Plenty which can totally shut down your opponents. They'll just have to try harder, that's all.

Hrm, this article is running long. I think I'll stop here. Join me next week when I do the other four Legendaries!

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!