Tuesday, May 09, 2006
I Love Drafting Two!
Wow, designing this set was fun. First, I love making cards up, thinking about ideas in different ways, and then applying them into a designed card. Secondly, this is my set, so I am free to bend the rules to my liking. I loved making this set, so I am looking forward to any other opportunity to design more cards. Maybe I will have another set of my own, say… October 2007?
Anyway, it wasn’t as easy at the beginning of the design process. There were many fundamental questions I had to answer – what kind of set is this? What’s the intent? Should something matter more? Should the game be simpler, or more hectic, or more confusing, or just weird?
So in my quest to make my set, I had to see what kind of set I wanted. I had to know how I wanted to change the game of Magic – how you draft it, how you play it, the whole aspect, the whole metagame. I had to see what was right, what was wrong, and what needed fixing.
The first thing I knew was that this was a fake set. So, my first job was to see what was wrong with the Super Lightning Blade and Unknown fake sets, and fix that. I think I had already fixed the primary problem when I decided to make my own set, with the reasoning was that everyone who was playing didn’t know a lot about my set, and thus there would be no bias in any direction. So that problem was solved.
Next, I had to look at the game of Magic and see what I liked, didn’t like, and what I could change. This was pretty hard, because Magic is quite an awesome game. One thing that I didn’t like, in a draft setting, are cards (mainly rares) that can be amazing in constructed but total crap in limited. Seeing how my set will only be used in limited, that’s one of the changes I put on my checklist.
After all that, the next step was to see what I could change. It is, after all, my set. Since it is a fake set, there are automatically some advantages – we could make very broken cards, we can make cards that are very “Unhinged” in nature, and we could do this freely because it wouldn’t have an effect on the real world.
Let’s take a break. So what do we have so far?
Cards that are playable.
Cards that are draftable.
Cards that can’t exist in real magic.
Lovedraft will be your best friend. I’m sure you’ve wished at some point in some draft that you were playing _____ (insert color here) so you can draft that awesome card that you just passed.
Take Two is quite impressive too. And it’s totally reusable! Well, until the end of the last booster, at which point you’re probably getting garbage anyway. It certainly changes the way you think about drafting. Watchwolf? Or Chord of Calling? How’bout both!
So these are draft options. They change the way you draft, they make things more playable and draftable, and they go beyond the normal rules of magic. Since I’m using fake cards, which are pieces of paper in plastics, it’s totally okay to “put a sticker” on a card without hurting it.
Stay tuned, when I continue talking about balance, colours, critters, and combos. Oh, and some more stuff about playability.
Until then, may you dream of owning your own little lovedraft.
::edit:: - I just thought of how horrible it would be if you guys wouldn’t open “Take Two” early in the draft, or if you didn’t open it at all. What if “Take Two” (or some other draft option) was a Pre-release-card, that is, before you start drafting you each get a copy of “Take Two”? Ooh… or I can design other Pre-release cards… ::/end edit::
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Wow, designing this set was fun. First, I love making cards up, thinking about ideas in different ways, and then applying them into a designed card. Secondly, this is my set, so I am free to bend the rules to my liking. I loved making this set, so I am looking forward to any other opportunity to design more cards. Maybe I will have another set of my own, say… October 2007? Anyway, it wasn’t as easy at the beginning of the design process. There were many fundamental questions I had to answer – what kind of set is this? What’s the intent? Should something matter more? Should the game be simpler, or more hectic, or more confusing, or just weird? So in my quest to make my set, I had to see what kind of set I wanted. I had to know how I wanted to change the game of Magic – how you draft it, how you play it, the whole aspect, the whole metagame. I had to see what was right, what was wrong, and what needed fixing. The first thing I knew was that this was a fake set. So, my first job was to see what was wrong with the Super Lightning Blade and Unknown fake sets, and fix that. I think I had already fixed the primary problem when I decided to make my own set, with the reasoning was that everyone who was playing didn’t know a lot about my set, and thus there would be no bias in any direction. So that problem was solved. Next, I had to look at the game of Magic and see what I liked, didn’t like, and what I could change. This was pretty hard, because Magic is quite an awesome game. One thing that I didn’t like, in a draft setting, are cards (mainly rares) that can be amazing in constructed but total crap in limited. Seeing how my set will only be used in limited, that’s one of the changes I put on my checklist. After all that, the next step was to see what I could change. It is, after all, my set. Since it is a fake set, there are automatically some advantages – we could make very broken cards, we can make cards that are very “Unhinged” in nature, and we could do this freely because it wouldn’t have an effect on the real world. Let’s take a break. So what do we have so far? Cards that are playable. Cards that are draftable. Cards that can’t exist in real magic. Lovedraft will be your best friend. I’m sure you’ve wished at some point in some draft that you were playing _____ (insert color here) so you can draft that awesome card that you just passed. Take Two is quite impressive too. And it’s totally reusable! Well, until the end of the last booster, at which point you’re probably getting garbage anyway. It certainly changes the way you think about drafting. Watchwolf? Or Chord of Calling? How’bout both! So these are draft options. They change the way you draft, they make things more playable and draftable, and they go beyond the normal rules of magic. Since I’m using fake cards, which are pieces of paper in plastics, it’s totally okay to “put a sticker” on a card without hurting it. Stay tuned, when I continue talking about balance, colours, critters, and combos. Oh, and some more stuff about playability. Until then, may you dream of owning your own little lovedraft. ::edit:: - I just thought of how horrible it would be if you guys wouldn’t open “Take Two” early in the draft, or if you didn’t open it at all. What if “Take Two” (or some other draft option) was a Pre-release-card, that is, before you start drafting you each get a copy of “Take Two”? Ooh… or I can design other Pre-release cards… ::/end edit:: |