Thread by @zefferal

If I were designing Ravnica 3: An ongoing thread about magic design

It's a topic I've been thinking about for a long time. It's no secret that Ravnica was my 2nd favorite block design, after time spiral

It was a masterclass in 4th age design, w/ its focus on block structure. Rav's structure challenged the audience to think like a designer

There was enough structural consistency with that 1st set to give you a lot to work with when speculating about guildpact and dissention

It's a whole other discussion, but Rav1 was a beautiful design. Rav2 was also great, but it was trying too hard to serve too many masters

It was trying very hard to recapture the greatness of 1 while neglecting to innovate in any real way. In that regard it failed as a sequel.

It also regressed in a way from a design perspective. It was designed during 5th age, which was focused on designing to emotional reaction

That was something that scars, innistrad, and to a lesser extent theros did well. RtR just ignored it and was designed​ like a 4th age block

Anyway. Enough preamble. Like I said, I've been thinking about the topic for a while. I've started writing this for GA half a dozen times

But it will only ever get published if I do it in first and bursts rather than wait to have time for essays.

So what would I do if I was designing Rav3? For starters I'd lay out my goals for the block.

(aside 1: I first started this project before today's announcement of the elimination of the block in favor of all triple sealed large sets.

I'll discuss that a little more in detail later, but for now, I'm still treating this as a 2 set block)

(aside 2: I'm talking about my approach to designing Rav3, but I'll have a lot of broader discussion that's applicable to designing any set)

So, goal 1: make it a sequel to Ravnica in the way that RtR failed to do. Advance the design instead of treating it.

This also includes using modern sixth age design sensibilities (to the degree were able without knowing story points and developments)

Goal 2: across the two sets, make sure there's something for T/J/S each to find in each guild. Guilds shouldn't be divided by psychographic

Repeating it*

Goal 3: Each guild has a draft archetype it pushes towards, but those aren't the only feasible decks to draft. Leave room for exploration.

Let my inner lawyer out for a minute. This list is not intended to limit the # of goals this set may contain. Goals are subject to change.

Onward! Next up, some structural considerations.

While I've been writing this in my head the last few months, I've been wondering how Ravnica would work in the new 2-set block model.

Then yesterday they chucked the entire concept of blocks out the window (I'm excited for this change, but apprehensive...

... development was already having trouble keeping standard balanced with 4 blocks in it. I can't imagine 8 effective blocks will be easier)

Based on 2 set block structure, I came up with the following. I'm still considering how metamorphosis 2 impacts this project.

Ravnica has 10 factions which need equal exposure. This is the fundamental to the set identity. Any other consideration has to yield to that

This requires a significantly higher than usual volume of cycles, which themselves take up twice as much space as your normal cycle.

Consequently, I came up with these three guidelines for this project. First, all guilds will have cards in both sets. No division by set.

An offshoot of this guideline is that ten card cycles may be divided between two sets. Riots of Ravnica (RoR) could have 6 cards of a cycle

while Guildpact Dissolved (GPD) would have the other 4. Split could be any way between the 2, including 10/0 2/8 7/3 etc.

Second guideline is that guilds do not get their own unique keyword mechanic.

It was a cool gimick in 2005, but pledging fealty to that restriction would not serve the set well.

It chews up design space fast, is anti-NWO and unenfranchised players in general, and fights against my goal of make a sequel, not imitation

That said, each guild will still have a mechanical hook that it cares about that is unique to it. It just won't be an ability word/keyword

Third guideline: The two sets will be designed initially as one large set. Once there's a stable set of 433 cards we'll peel off 184 for GPD

(Numbers subject to change as I consider metamorphosis 2's impact.) Then the two will go through later design seperately.

This will help the cycle integrity between the sets, and really highlight what is necessary and what isn't.

This is the kind of weird design stuff you can get away with when fan-designing.

I'm almost done with the high-level discussion stuff. The last structural things I need to tackle have to do w/ 6th age considerations

Then I'll be diving into some more designy stuff. But before I get there, I want to abstract what I discussed for magic design a little.

Ideas for a set can start anywhere. A flavorful hook (Pirate-Dinosaur world!), a home for legend you created, a novel mechanic you made...

It doesn't matter where the seed for the set comes from. Once it has percolated enough to summarize what the set is about...

It really pays to take a step back from nitty-gritty design and consider what your idea means from a structural perspective.

This guides so much of what comes down the line. It inspires mechanics, provides you restrictions to design around.

So. The sixth age of design. The emotional response we're seeking to evoke in players is as informed by study needs as it is by planar tone

That means we need something resembling a plot. Here's the result of a five minute brainstorm.

Niiv mizzet, centuries-old portmanteau-ing dracogenius, is 100% aware that Planeswalkers exist, and that zarek and Jace have a spark

He's basically a less global and less ambitious bolas. Zarek has served his purpose, and niv starts experimenting to science his spark

Jace is compelled to intervene for a number of reasons. This ends up backfiring as he's directly intervening in intra-guild affairs

Niv knows this will happen. Jace u becomes the guildpact, leading into set 2

War between the guilds

Through the convenience of plot devices, a new guildpact is established at the end of the block, in a simple vedalken belonging to no guild

This basic story line gives us a lot to work with. Ravnicas theme wants to be centered around what it means to be (or not be) in a guild

I really liked how, in scars design, r&d used single word descriptors of phyrexians to inspire the mechanics. I'm doing something similar

What does being in a guild mean? Theme 1: Loyalty. Pledging allegiance to your guild, even when your personal interests may conflict.

theme 2: Politicking. Advancing your way up the ranks of the guild. Leveraging power against other guilds.

Theme 3: Access. You have resources and knowledge at your disposal purposefully excluded from outsiders.

What about not being in a guild? Theme 4: disenfranchisement. The struggle to be seen and heard in a system that sees you as lesser.

Theme 5: ambition. Wanting to join that system, join that guild. What sacrifices are you willing to make to wear the badge of a boros?

Let's also remember that big City Life carries its own themes. #6: cosmopolitanism. Arts and culture should be in the design where possible

Theme 7: renewal and decay. Buildings fall apart. Communities migrate. New communities form and rejuvenate.

Theme 8. Anonymity. When you're​ a tiny cog in the giant machinery of the megalopolis, the insignificance can be crushing. Or liberating.

These themes play back to the story. Jace is trapped by the demands the city makes in him. His loyalty is divided between Ravnica and the GW

In the meantime, we follow our future living guildpact navigate guildlessness and city life

Niv mizzets plans demonstrate the politics of guild life. Zarek, thoroughly loyal to the izzet, is betrayed by them

And to a degree, he is sympathetic to niv even as he's being experimented on by him

The science of Sparks is fascinating

So now we have plot and theme feeding each other, the major pillars of sixth age design. That ends the really high level setup

Next up, mechanics for the set inspired by our themes, as well as an early stab at skeleton

story needs*

unbecomes*

OK. I'll be doing these in drips and drabs, especially as I prefer to have proof of concept renders when doing a mechanic.

Theme 1 was guild loyalty. This was a major one, since from a structural standpoint, Ravnica will require better-than-average mana fixing

This means in draft it will be easier to assemble 3+ color decks. That was a major failing of Rav Draft, where decks lost the planes' flavor

Guildsworn -- As long as among all permanents you control there are exactly two colors, [bonus].

We should reward dedicating your deck to a guild. The language is a little difficult to parse, but it hits a lot of my themes

Loyalty to a guild, ambition, politicking, access

Alternatively, devotion. Hits the same chords.

Theme 2 was politicking. I'll post these now and comment later today.

Backtracking to the last two mechanics: I like devotion a lot for the set. It's cool to see that devotion can be more than faith-based

Biggest concern is that, in order to push 2-color, it really wants to be on 2-color cards. On mono color it doesn't push 2 color as much...

Unless the mono-color card specifically calls out what guild it's devoted to. Guildsworn pushes 2-guilds, but can be a flexible mono-C card

used with whatever guild you've drafted. You can draft guildsworn dragon first pick and still easily draft into four different guilds.

Guildsworn doesn't read particularly well, but I think is pretty grokable in the context of the set.

Also, after giving it some thought, I think I'll be designing RoR and GPD as back to back 3x draft large sets in line with metamorphosis 2

Which means that 2 mechanics fighting for the same space aren't necessarily exclusive as of now.

I'll be looking for a total of 7 named mechanics across the 2 sets, so both can and should be playtested.

Back to politicking. When I think politics, it makes me think of using leverage to push an agenda. Carrot and stick type ultimatums.

The Punisher mechanic captures that nicely. It's not named and doesn't need to be, so I can use it on as few/many cards as I want

It's somewhat finicky, as giving opponents the choice means it either has to be very strong or spikes will ignore them.

Also historically red, and occasionally black. I can push into other colors, but flavor will have to carry a lot of weight there.

And since politicking wants to be white and blue mostly, Punisher isn't doing fully what I want it to

More Politics mechanics. Filibuster lets me shut down your scariest creature each turn, but it's only ever going to get more scary.

Sometimes I can take advantage of that, but more often than not, I'm just pushing off some inevitability. This doesn't seem that fun to me.

(Sidenote - I think exert should be an evergreen action word that means tap target creature and it doesn't untap next untap step.)

Anyway, the cleaner version of filibuster is just detain, which was already a guild keyword and shouldn't be brought for RoR in my vision.

It captures politics well, but I just don't think it's that interesting or fun.

I'm finding that politics ends up evoking more non-keyword type mechanics. Advocating for your position. I came up with this cycle.

Do the thing your guild is meant to do, cash in.

Theme 3 was access. By belonging to a guild, you get access to certain goodies others don't.

I was a little stumped on finding a mechanic for this, but then I was inspired to make something a little weird.

What if you could wish for a specific subset of cards? Like specifically named cards for the guild? And what some weren't even in the set?

This is just proof of concept, but there are so many knobs to work with. I figured it could wish for 1 card from Rav, 1 from RtR, + 2 in-set

Theme 4: Disenfranchisement. How do unguilded Ravnicans react to a goverment structure that systematically excludes them?

Dethrone is a great mechanic, but it seems more balanced for multiplayer than standard. I like a more variable temp bonus instead.

Topple can also be an ability word with a completely variable bonus. Draw a card, gain trample, etc.

These are abilities that flavorfully want to be on mono-C cards. I'm not sure how much space for a keyword exists in that subset.

Back to the Wish, if we allow them to search for rares (and cost appropriately) we can include those named rares on the masterpiece sheet.

orzhov wish for a masterpiece debtor's knell...

I'm just gonna leave these here for now, discussion to come shortly.
Theme 5: Ambition

Elephant in the room: yes, I'm aware that split cards can't be permanents. That's a rule that can change without making to many waves

These split dfcs are highly context dependant, making tracking issues not a bad.

There's still a tapped/untapped board state problem, but players are smart. They'll figure it out.

Next up, I love these designs. Dfcs are great for telling stories, and the story if joining a guild is one that needs to be told.

If the split permanent problem is insurmountable (it's not), the cards can tutor, wish, or even use a unique single side frame treatment

All of which are not as clean or interesting as the dfc route.

This is a cycle with a lot of knobs, so highly developable. I like the 1 ally, 1 enemy choice. I also think it would only be a 5 card cycle.

Dfcs raise some logistics issues. Let's assume that we have the clearance to use them in one of our to sets. This begs some questions:

Do we go the origins route and only do them for a single cycle? Or go all out with a full sheet (or 2) like innistrad/soi?

Single cycle does some weird things to our collation and set size, particularly since I want them at uncommon, but there are worse fates

Soi model gives us a lot more cards and space to work with, and lets us dive deeper into some of our themes.

I could go either way, although I'm leaning towards single cycle, as I don't want dfcs to be the major hook of the set.

Forgot to include my other Theme 4: Disenfranchisement mechanic. It's the philosophical opposite of Guildsworn.

alternative is the actual opposite of guildsworn, requiring only having a color of permanents, but I like this way better.

Back to Theme 5: Ambition, there are other ambitions the people of a megalopolis have beyond joining and belonging to a guild.

The story of city life is all about confidence in the face of adversity. If you can make it here, you can yada yada yada.

Both Renown and Monstrosity capture the theme of Ambition well (although monstrosity is a bit of a flavor fail.) Straight-up DFCs work too.

Theme 6: Cosmopolitanism. Culture and arts in the city. Mechanically I think this needs to hit the overlap between lands and enchantments

Those are two things with a high profile in prior Ravnica sets (for the same reasons I want to highlight them).

Fortifications kind of make sense, as do pursuing the idea of civic buildings as a new permanent type or subtype of either lands/artifacts

But all of that requires a very high volume instead of being a subtle theme, and frankly, there's too much stuff competing for loudest theme

Even though the city-plane flavor of Rav is as cool/interesting as the guilds themselves, it's always going to take a backseat mechanically

Another way to show cosmopolitanism is to emphasize nonbasic lands. We could revisit gates, or just nonbasics in general.

None of those mechanics is especially interesting to me, but it lets me get away with this incredibly stupid design.

My renewal and decay (Theme 7) mechanics include the DFCs and land based mechanics already discussed with previous themes. Plus Flashback

Flashback is great here. It dramatically expands the group of multicolor but secretly monocolor cards

It can be flavored well to different guilds. Iterative experimentation, Ravnica's storied history with its ghosts, Golgari life/death cycle

Plus it's one of the regular recurring (ie kicker, cycling) mechanics due for a revisit

Last theme (8) is anonymity. There's a lot of people in this great big city plane. After a while, people just sort of start to look alike.

Kindle is one way to handle anonymity. Grandeur for commons is another.

You could also hashtag mechanic it to make it a little more open in draft environments.

Of course, the ultimate way to do anonymity is the morph route, these sets really have way too much going on for Morph to make any sense

And that's it for mechanics. I'll revisit those soon, but my next steps are to identify tentative draft archetypes for my guilds.

After that I'll be considering some more structural concerns for my skeleton, then coming up with my first design skeleton.

(First Skeleton for RoR, not first skeleton I've made)

::Dusts this thing off:: Nothing since July, huh? Alright then.

I'm full of 🦃 and bad ideas about magic design. Let's get this ball rolling.

We last left off with draft archetypes, so that's where we'll be starting.

Azorius. Tried and proven WU archetypes include flyers and flickering, but the azorius are all about slow control. Detain was a perfect mechanic for them. I think their draft archetype will rely on neutralizing threats.