[Free Article] So Many Insane Plays -- Designing for Eternal

[Smmenen]

http://www.eternalcentral.com/?p=3889

Blurb:

In this article, I explore what YMTC may mean for Eternal formats, attempt to resolve some tensions in designing cards for Eternal, suggest why design matters for Eternal, set out a framework for designing cards for Eternal, suggest three especially fruitful approaches to designing for Eternal, and apply those principles to possible card submissions for this YMTC process. While YMTC offers a ready context for these ideas, the design approaches and frameworks I explore are applicable far beyond this narrow, but exciting, process.

[TraxDaMax]

Ancestral Darkness would be bonkers..

[Smmenen]

Ancestral Darkness would be bonkers..

Would you play a larger deck size to accommodate it? How many times would you expect to cast it per game?

[(nameless one)]

Dear Stephen Menendian,

You and Kevin Cron make the best MtG Podcast. I never play Vintage but I still listen to SMIP Podcasts.

I wish you guys would also make podcast episodes on such topic (I know this particular one was kinda covered) and other Legacy oriented topic (I know your set reviews cover this and the Doomsday Scenario one).

Sincerely yours,
-(nameless one)

[TraxDaMax]

Would you play a larger deck size to accommodate it? How many times would you expect to cast it per game?

I misread the text pretty badly on my cellphone..

UB
Sorcery

As an additional cost to cast Ancestral Darkness, exile the top 20 cards of your library.
Draw three cards and lose 3 life

I read: pay UB draw three, pay three life, or exile top 20 instead of pay UB. No idea how I came up with that. In that case, it would probably still be a solid card though, in a deck like U/B Death's Shadow or something with Shelldock Isle.

[Smmenen]

Dear Stephen Menendian,

You and Kevin Cron make the best MtG Podcast. I never play Vintage but I still listen to SMIP Podcasts.

I wish you guys would also make podcast episodes on such topic (I know this particular one was kinda covered) and other Legacy oriented topic (I know your set reviews cover this and the Doomsday Scenario one).

Sincerely yours,
-(nameless one)

I appreciate it.

I hope you enjoy this article. I really try to break down the elements of design for Eternal formats and dispel some myths.

[Barook]

Lesser Void is pretty cool at first glance, but if you think about it, isn't it just a more conditional, worse CotV?

Leyline of Mephistopheles sounds interesting, but what decks has so powerful draw that needs to be negated on T1?

I do like the Leyline idea, though.

I would love to see something like this:

Leyline of Insanity
Enchantment
If Leyline of Insanity is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
Players can’t search libraries.

Black does have search jamming (see Shadow of Doubt). Other cards like Mindlock Orb prove that this effect is currently costed at 4 and stuff like Leyline of Sanctity prove that cards can be Leyline can exist at equal CC range as their normal counterpart. At the very least, it would wreak fetchlands.

[(nameless one)]

Lesser Void is pretty cool at first glance, but if you think about it, isn't it just a more conditional, worse CotV?

Leyline of Mephistopheles sounds interesting, but what decks has so powerful draw that needs to be negated on T1?

I do like the Leyline idea, though.

I would love to see something like this:

Leyline of Insanity
Enchantment
If Leyline of Insanity is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
Players can’t search libraries.

Black does have search jamming (see Shadow of Doubt). Other cards like Mindlock Orb prove that this effect is currently costed at 4 and stuff like Leyline of Sanctity prove that cards can be Leyline can exist at equal CC range as their normal counterpart. At the very least, it would wreak fetchlands.

Thats more of a red card. See Stranglehold.

[Smmenen]

None of the cards in YMTC were as interesting for Eternal as the ideas/approaches discussed in this article.

This article sets out how to design cards for Eternal without ruining other formats.

[Gheizen64]

None of the cards in YMTC were as interesting for Eternal as the ideas/approaches discussed in this article.

This article sets out how to design cards for Eternal without ruining other formats.

The X enchantment spell is pretty interesting if they drop the X aspect and just make it a fixed number as a fixed mana cost. Sorta like

Ancestral Darkness B
Enchantment
3 counters
Upkeep: remove 1 , draw
No counters, opponent get 5/5 flying trample indestructible demon

I don't think it would be broken, drawing 3 isn't that good when it's delayed and you give them a free demon afterward. It feel more like a black brainstorm than a recall, give 3 but only in specific situations and have a drawback to it.
The design is really interesting but as an X is just so much worse than anything already existing i don't care.