The source of the inspiration for this deck is the magic of the number nine.
The deck has 21 lands. 2+1 = 3 which is a factor of 9.
The deck has 20 or mana spells which is a factor of 24.
The deck has 75 lands and spells CMC or less. 7+5 = 12. 1+2 = 3.
19 spells of CMC equal to . This is 38. 3+8=11. 1+1=2. This represents the doubling circuit of 1,2,4,8,7 and 5.
One of the spells is the doubling cube itself. (edit: this is out of sync at the moment with the deck's updated design)
There are 17 mana spells. That's 51 mana. 5+1=6.
The lands are 21. 2+1=3. The 3 mana spells are 51. 5+1=6. 3+6=9 (a symbolic representation of the beginning and end.)
There are 14 mana spells in the deck. 14x4=56. (2)
There are 6 mana spells in the deck. 6x5=30. (3)
There are 2 mana spells, 2x6=12 (3)
and three mana spells. 2X7=21 (3)
Total, not including Garth One-Eye, there are 24 spells CMC or greater. 2+4=6.
When you compare the 75 CMC or less, 7+5=12, 1+2=3 with the 24 CMC or greater, 2+4=6, you get a symbolic representation of the beginning of the deck as 3 and its ending as 6. Again, you have 3+6=9
The deck has 18 colors of mana. It has 7 blue, 1 green, 3 red, 1 black and 6 white. 1+8=9.
It has 192 combined generic and hybrid symbols. 1+9+2=12. 1+2=3. The generic mana costs are symbolized by 3 and the colored costs by 6. 3+6=9.
The deck has a CMC 216 mana cost total. 2+1+6=9. 216 divided by 24 equals 9. The 9 loosely represents gravitational convergence and radiational divergence.
There are a lot more details that I don't necessarily need to go into, but this deck was inspired by research I've been doing into Buckminster Fuller and also Randall Carlson. I suppose this became a bit of an homage to their teachings.
One last thing I will mention is that there is some profound significance between these numbers and the number 13. I don't need to go into it, but you can learn about the significance of the "12 surrounding the 1" in a short youtube clip of Buckminster Fuller explaining the significance of the Vector Equilibrium. He talks about submarines in the video. It's pretty good and pretty short and he covers all the important details.
If you're interested in more in-depth ideas related to the significance of 9 with respect to dimensionality, you can read more here. Show
After some studying and imagining, I came to equate the following shapes with the following numbers:
1, tetrahedron (This is represented by the Mind Stone and signifies positive-space building patterns)
2, cuboctahedron (This is symbolically represented by the Mightstone and the Weakstone. The Mightstone represents gravity, the Weakstone, radiaton.)
3, cube (this represents the negative-space building patterns)
4, octahedron (This is represented by Hedron Archive. It introduces an additional degree of dimensionality to the Mind Stone symbolically.)
5, sphere
6, rombicdodecahedron (this is an inverse cube... it also is the sixth platonic solid but only stable in the 4th dimension. Just like the Hedron Archive represents a shift up in positive-space dimensionality building patterns from Mind Stone, this is the equivalent for negative space in terms of a shift up from a cube. An equatorial section of its 4th-dimensional representation produces the equivalent to the Mightstone and the Weakstone in 3-dimensional space, and an equatorial section of that equivalent section can produces either the cube (3) or the tetrahedron (1) equivalents within their 2-dimensional spaces. (I'm using Mightstone and Weakstone metaphorically. Its actual name is the Vector Equilibrium or the Cuboctahedron.)
7, icosahedron (This is represented by Dreamstone Hedron. It has 30 edges, 20 faces and 12 vertices. It's negative-space equivalent is represented by the number 9 and is called the dodecahedron. Like the icosahedron, this negative-space equivalent is a platonic solid and is known to magic players as a 12-sided die. The icosahedron is familiar to magic players as the "20-sided die." Likewise, the tetrahedron is a 4-sided die and the octahedron is a 8-sided die. Both the 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 20-sided and the 12-sided dies form the 5 platonic solids. (There's a 6th in 4d, but no need to worry about that one for now.)
The unique part about the Icosahedron and the Dodecahedron is that they form inverses of each other. The centerpoints on the faces of one form the vertexes for the other. They're like penguins. They permanently mate.
Icosahedron has 20 sides, 30 edges and 12 vertexes. Dodecahedron has 12 faces, 30 edges and 20 vertexes. They are "mirrors" of each other, or they are reflections of the same common agent in both negative and positive space forms.
8, Truncated Icosahedron - This is the Frankenstein love-child of the dodecahedron and the icosahedron. It has 12 regular pentagonal faces (just like the dodecahedron) and also has 20 regular hexagonal faces (similar to the icosahedron, except they're hexagonal as opposed to triangular) for a total of 32 faces. There are also 60 vertices and 90 edges.
9, Dodecahedron - The Negative space increase in dimensionality beyond the Rombicdodecahdron.
These shifts in dimensionality can be researched on their own by using an AQAL map and there are also philosophers who study and write about them. I got pretty obsessed with learning about them for a while. I liked Jean Gebser's aperspectival view on the cultural dimensionality of magic, (mind stone) mythic (hedron archive) and rational (dreamstone hedron) cultural models. He posited of a 4th stage called aperspectival which is why I started researching the 4th dimension and is why I got interested in the writings of Buckminster Fuller and people like Randall Carlson in the first place. I think this is represented by bitcoin in our timeline.
Other key relation to 9 is the number of artifacts (60) + the number of lands (21) = 81. 8+1=9
The number of non-artifact, non-creature, non-planeswalker spells = 2+2+2=6, and the number of non-commander creatures + planeswalkers = 11+1=12 (1+2=3)
again, 6+3=9
There is also symbolic relevance to the creatures + Tezzeret forming the 12 that surround the one (Garth.) Garth's story-line is from the house of Oor-Tael Magic. It represents the achievement of secret wisdom and mastery of forms.
Ok, I think that is mostly everything about the deck with respect to number 9. Oh, for the spells that are cmc or less, 10+38+51= cmc 99 total. 9+9=18, 1+8=9. or greater=117, 1+1+7=9
99+117=216. Importantly, 216 is twice 108. 108 is the angle of the degree of the pentagon. 5 x 108= 540 (this is 1.5x the # of degrees of a circle. So double this number gives us 3 circles or 1080 degrees.) Symbolically, the number 9 is also symbolized by the 12-faced pentagonal platonic solids when viewed using dream-logic.
Now for a summary of the metaphorical significance: How I see this is that Garth's "One Eye" are actually the 12 eyes of faces of the dodecahedron (representing nine-ness.) I suppose this can loosely be considered to be a metaphor for the "12 surrounding one" which comprises the form of the cuboctahedron (i.e. the Mightstone and the Weakstone.)
Well, I still need to work out more of this deck's mythos, but that's is what I've gotten so far.
It's really fun to play also.
Recent edit: I've found a new video called Black Whole which explores a concept called a 64 tetrahedron based in part on ideas of buckminster fuller called the isotropic vector matrix which shows an arrangement of 20 tetrahedrons into a mecha-tetra-hedron. then a reverse polarity model is combined or mirrored from this and a double toroidal sphere encompasses it.
There are allegories to the 4th dimension including the boundary of triple tetrahedrons in the form of a group of eight tri-tetrahedron which combine with the larger isotropic vector matrix star tetrahedrons to form the greater 64 tetragram and there are models which can link this with the i ching due to the identical modeling features. I have some weird theories on the fringe of these ideas involving the 0th hexagram being a root structure for consciousness development. This is symbolized in my deck by Shivan dragon's firebreathing mechanic.
The deck begins with 4 fundamental planes for four forces, these are Angel's Grace, Everybody Lives, Teferi's Protection and Storm the Vault.
And slotted into these four planes are 12 creatures who represent twelve planes of Dominaria in the shard of the twelve worlds. These form around the Shivan Dragon and create the vector equilibrium or the zero-energy frequnecy to the universe.
Then, via the octave equivalency of pattern repetition, you have the 40 mana producing artifacts (Treasure Vault is included) and these represent the isotropic vector matrix, and then these forms are bounded by the triple tetrahedral boundary of the 4th dimension, which are 8-fold and are represented by the 24 utility artifacts (mostly non-mana-producing) so in this model, you get the 4 dimensional planes, the twelves shards of existence, the 20 archetypal lands from which the energy of the mana is drawn directly, the 40 isotropic vector artifacts and the 24 boundary artifacts which is 4+12+20+40+24 = 100.
It should be noted that this forms Urza and Urza is symbolized via a 10-fold nature... the eyes of Urza are present in the drawn powerstones and the glasses are present to reflect Urza's dimensional observance.
The twelve shards and planes are 54 mana,
The Jupiter rocks are 54 mana
The June rocks are 54 mana
The boundary rocks are also 54 mana, each comprising exactly 1/4th of the deck's vector points.