Plane Creation Challenge

I was thinking more along the lines of ancient, trapped tombs with the gatekeeper

I like it! The horror thing was mostly because gatekeeper got errata'd into being one, but I'm entirely down for ancient tombs filled with devious traps.

Might be just a plane fueled by hate and anger. Kinda like a mix between Jund and Grixis with a splash of Esper for the more "civilized" places. Got invaded by Phyrexians, but they couldn't even keep up with how horrible the place was naturally.

I really like the idea of Phyrexia invading a plane, taking one look at it, and just going "NOPE" as the natural landscape and wildlife tore the vanguard apart. Kind of like what happened on Sarpadia, only with less thrulls.

Maybe an incredibly old plane, that's should be burning out towards the end of it's life but is holding on with all it's might. The world is littered with the ruins of civilizations come and gone, the geology is in upheaval, nature and natural magic has gone into fight or die overdrive, and even the sun is dim and hateful as it hangs in the sky. The moon is shattered. The civilization might have at one point been Thran/Kaladesh levels of magitech nonsense but they've since lost everything for a variety of apocalyptic reasons.

>High in the arctic peaks the vestiges of civilization, armies of regimented soldiers lorded over by armor shod artificer-mages, stew and research in iron fortresses.
>In the lowlands, civilization has crumbled. Humans and other sentient races are little more than apocalyptic raiders endlessly fighting each other for what little they can eke out.
>The forests have been replaced by toxic fungal tangles inhabited by the most horrified of creatures.
>Fault lines have grown and expanded, obsidian peaks vomitting fire, smoke and tar into vast wastelands. Here the Phyrexians attempted to make their ingress, but their oil can do little given the lack of stable metal to work on. Instead they have become ruin dwellers, slowly building an army from abandoned automatons.

At least, that's my pitch.

Essentially, a world that by all rights should have stopped existing by now but is just too pissed to die. Even the sun just collapsed into a neutron star instead of exploding.

I never knew how much I wanted this until now.

As far as the Phyrexians go, I figure a decent portion of them have started branching out from their original goal. While conquest is the plan, they've been stuck here so long that a not-insignificant portion have "gone native" in a sense, and started absorbing other colors of mana. They're nowhere near as uniform and organized as they were, scavengers in a world of anger and stubborn hatred.

>ow the edge

I dunno man, I think fantasy post apocalypse would be pretty sweet.

I'll toss in my favorite card.

Ok, so it's a dying plane that is too stubborn to die so it's lashing out with all it has to keep itself going.

Also, filled with old ruins and shit?

Say no more, we need a guide.

Are we counting this one?

I like it.

I wasn't trying to be a dick, that was just my card suggestion

Alas, in these times it can be hard to tell sincerity from sarcasm. Sorry man.

I like the idea of an order of monks preserving sanctity, regardless of the cost, in a world that's so fucked up.

Edge walker is also one of my favorite cards.

Remnants of past eras (Many just as horrible as the current one) still linger in the deep.

Well, if the plane is dying, someone needs to witness it's last breath, right?

In a similar vein; don't go poking around ancient cities unless you really have to. You might just find out why they were abandoned.

Well, since we are putting manlands, might as well add the one that would fit this decaying plane the best.

ALL WILL BE ONE

What's the number of cards we're at?

Another Phyrexian card.

Jund devour Phyrexians?

Eh, what the hell. Let's add the raging ravine too.

Counting the phyrexian dragon as a red card:

>3 reds
>2 blacks
>3 blues
>3 multicolored
>2 greens
>2 artifacts
>1 white
>3 lands

So, 19 cards out of 40.

Counting Apocalypse Dragon as red, we are at
W:1
U: 3
B: 2
R: 3
G: 2
Multicolor :3
Artifact: 2
Land: 2

20 cards now.

...

Get the fuck out of here with you trash OC.

An enchantment that can be paid with madness and turns all your lands into untapped tri-lands.

FUCKING BROKEN.

...

You cannot stop me, I am far to powerful

I spy with my little eye, something that has memory issues.

Also, an attempt at a card.

Bitter Sunrise - [2][W][B]

Enchantment

At the beginning of each players upkeep, that player puts a -1/-1 counter on each creature they control. If at the end of a players upkeep there are no creatures on the battlefield, destroy Bitter Sunrise.

Supposed to represent the kind of solar wind storms that occur now and then, that almost seem like the sun is intentionally trying to kill people.

Patagia Golem is a nice touch. I like the idea of golems and things self-improving in the wake of the world's series of violent almost-ends.

>almost seems like the sun is intentionally trying to kill people
Wouldn't be surprised

Sun trying to kill people you say?

...

Why just the sun?

>Even the heavens want everything else dead
Beautiful.

I was going to post this, good taste

More cleric fun

Its a doomed plane being wiped clean so it can be remade.

Along with some people trading goats apparently.

All 5 black cards. No more black cards needed.

No victors in this I take it.
Only the chance to die last when the end comes.

That could be the set's villain's motivation actually. They want the plane to finally end, to rest and sink back into the blind eternities to be reborn, and the plane is fighting every step of the way.

Maybe especially if the villain is actively using the heavens to further that goal and wipe out resisters who would fight against it.

It even gives the opportunity for a cool tagline for the set. "Rage Against Heaven"

Also, that looks like 5 black cards, so lets focus some on the other colors.

Hey, people need to eat until the very end. Scavenging and trading would still be going.

Lets continue with the destruction

...

That's it for blue. Pity, I wanted to post Scrapdiver Serpent. Oh well.

What about broken, ruined gargoyles from the desolation of the past?

Maybe they're not just bad for trying to destroy the world, they're actually entirely mistaken.

The world isn't decaying, it's stewing. Mana has only been growing more potent and volatile over the ages. Hence why stuff like manlands is starting to happen more and more. This isn't the apocalypse, this is the new primeval age. Everything that came before now was just a lead up to the plane cooking off. This is the age of myth and savage beasts that will eventually grow into a powerfully magical plane.

Plane of Cyberspace?

More like plane of endless AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

In that case, we definitely need some of these.

Seems like someone left the crucible open.

this would fit with that

Rip in peace

Alright, that's it for the artifacts, and I'm gonna finish up the greens here with an old favorite.

We still have room for a white left?

Yup, that just finished it up. The current count is

W: 5
U: 5
B: 5
G: 5
Artifacts: 5

R:4
Multicolor:3
Land: 3

Fuck I was gonna post Barren Glory because I thought it fit the theme well

Since the worlds in it's primordial stage, makes sense for life to pop up in seemingly random places yeah?

Indeed, life springs from the dead often!

Also that finishes up lands, pity about that Barren Glory.

...

OP here, I'm at work now but I get off in an hour or so, and I'll try and put together a single edited image of all the cards, for quick visual reference then.

And with that we only need one more red card to complete the initial plane.

Were we missing a red? If so here is this.

Seems like a lovely place to live, good work gents

Alright, here we go. Found out while making it that Breeding Pool was one over, so I had to leave it off.

Anyway, here's a big visual list of all of the cards that make up the "core" of this currently nameless plane. We can post more cards if we want, but his is the basis we're working off of.

Maybe just one more ?

Seems like a pretty terrible place to live. Just a plane full of horrors and hellions springing out of the earth, with all of the angels dead or corrupted with people picking at the scraps.

Feels a bit like Jund crossed with Grixis

There's enough civilization to have a trading post at least.

Yeah, there's enough White on the plane for there to be a good amount of people who care about trying to preserve some semblance of civilization.

I think it sounds really cool

>A desolated plane that should just die

>the gods have died of old age so few angels that are left are resorting to hideous acts to resurrect them or are just trying to end it all

>reality it's self is starting to fall apart and magic isn't working like it should

>walkers, phyrexians and even the eldrazi stay the fuck away because even the mana is poisonous

>the only things living left arn't just the winners of the fight for survival but the absolute peak of what it means to endure

>the plane has seen it all, outter crust is just layers of countless civilizations

>Plane is rife with mana
>This feeds the hellions and horrors that infest the plane
>Entire landscapes being torn up by angels and cataclysmic events
>However behind it all is a tightly knit group of people surviving
>Humans, goblins, and elves working together to secure a future in their hellhole
>Scouring ancient ruins for magic that will help protect them
>Hunting down hellions and massive beasts for food

>the heavens have fallen to the ground and hell has literary frozen over
>the forests of the planet grow like a tumor refusing to perish and the mountainous reigns are more like cracks that go deeper than the fading light of the dying suns can reach
>storms of solar winds and the rotation of the planet has stopped
>civilizations more ancient and lost had even jump started the fucking sun ore two
>blue now exists only with the humans, elves and goblins who lock them selves away trying to create a way to escape the plane using long lost technology

>Angels only exist as agents of extinction
>Clerics are apocalyptic doomsayers preaching the end of times

>Escape

Fuck escape. This is a plane defined by defiance. Those that are trying to flee the plane are in a minority while the rest fight tooth and nail against the world. Where the plane pushes back with lethal monsters and solar winds, with phyrexian remnants and apocalyptic angels, the mortal inhabitants of this plane push back even harder.

The plane is on the cusp of a new primeval age, and those that can see the edges of that flourishing future are going to tear their way through anything and everything the death throes of the past can throw at them.

...

I just wanna say this whole thing is metal as fuck.

This. Those who preach of escape are false prophets trying to lure those who follow them to their own deaths. Survival on this plane comes from the desire to reclaim it. Not run from it.

What's the plane's balance mechanic wise?

We have manlands, lots of interesting artifacts, clerics, hellions, horrors.

Would the strategy be just to fill your board with as much board presence as you can and just destroy all the lands in game to lock your opponent out of a comeback?

Now that I'm seeing this, lots of land destruction and land saccing.

Get fuck back to your containment general

So far I'm seeing a recurring theme of "self-destruction" in our cards, lots of sacrificing lands and creatures for effects, and then using the graveyard as a raw resource as well. This is a set where everything and anything is used as soon as possible. Need For Speed would probably be a good reprint.

Additionally, I can see the existence of a UB horror tribal thing going, with lots of focus on card draw and hand size, and a BW cleric tribal with focus on large, devastating effects.

Meanwhile Red seems to favor heavily on throwing away cards and creatures as resources, while Green instead focuses on using the death of things as the catalyst for new growth. I can also see the use of manlands and angels-tomb style artifacts as means to escape specific destruction effects, by not being creatures or artifacts when it happens.

Altogether seems like a set heavily favoring graveyard interaction, heavy sacrificial effects, and tossing away cards as fast as you can get them. Aggro as fuck.

Naturally; everything here fights out of tenacity, attrition, and spite.

Alright folks we need a name for this paradoxically cancerous yet infertile hellhole. I'm thinking that it once had a more benevolent name that has been lost to time and is now called something that reflects its violent nature.
Deadstar
Cyst
Spite

The root word of spite is the old french world "despit/despiter" meaning "contempt/to show contempt for". Additionally, a synonym for spite is "Animus", which comes from root word for spirit/mind. Perhaps we could call it Despim or Despimus?

Alternatively, the latin word for "repel, reject, or in some translations explode" is Reicio, so Reikion might be another alternative. Whatever it is, it should sound angry, spiteful, violent, and ancient.

Despim sounds good. What are the five factions?
-White monks
-Blue horrors
-Black zombies
-Red raiders - maybe they could be hellion riders too?
-Green elementals

Despim has my vote.
Green shouldn't have a unified faction here so much as various perils. Elementals that destroy everything in thier path, fungi ever growing from death, predators that have adapted to be brutal and savage. Red would also have survivors raging against the world trying to strangle them.

Despim sounds awesome.

I suggest we don't use custom cards, but instead make this into a sort-of cube. Easier to balance, quicker to make by committee, and more accessible to everyone's suggestions.

That means we'll want to break it down by rarity, then color, then card type, then archetype.

So far we have:

UB: Horror
BW: Cleric
RG: Devour (Suicide)
BG: Graveyard Shenanigans

So we need to figure out the other color pairs. (Or what other archetypes, we don't need to go with how Wizards organizes sets around color pairs.)

Faction-wise, this is what I'm seeing:
>W/B (but probably majority W) clerics, featuring Edgewalker, False Prophet, and Desolation Angel. Focuses on big egalitarian WB effects like "destroy all creatures" or "each player sacrifices a creature" or something like that.

>UB (but mostly U) Horrors, focusing on resource denial and card draw. Maybe bringing back the Nightmare mechanic of "remove these things until this creature leaves play", or maybe just hard resource denial.

>W/R survivors, with graveyard-as-resource shenanigans, possibly also lots of ETB effects using Eerie Interlude. Goblin Guide can be one of a few "get cards out as fast as possible so we can dump them to power stuff" effects.

>G/R "Death as a resource" stuff, featuring lots of effects that ping off of your own cards dying, usually through sacrifice. Features big ol' Devourers like Thromok, probably a lot of hellions.

>Green (maybe green white, who knows) Big Stuff That Stick Around, using things like Primalcrux and Upwelling to show the whole idea of the world stubbornly refusing to die. Maybe Trolls?

>Artifacts that turn into creatures and vice-versa, especially to dodge boardwipes.

>MANDLANDS.

That Green should be GB, using graveyard as a resource now that I think about it. Could even include stuff like Without Weakness and other "black won't die" kinds of cards.

I was thinking Bittersun, kinda the idea that it's like a strong alcohol that's been left to ferment too long, but that's a little close to Darksun.

Bittersun could deffinately be a location within the plane.

>Bittersun, the Last Chapel, is the ancestral seat of the Choir of the Last Light (a branch of WB clerics, possibly ones with more of a spiteful, R focus). Fortified by centuries of protective and warding magic, the crumbling church has none the less slowly decayed through the ages. What once were beautiful frescoes and glittering stained glass murals are now crumbling figures and glittering dust hanging in empty window frames.
>However, what is remarkable about Bittersun is that it still stands. The chapel was founded centuries ago, its original gods and stewards long lost to the ravages of Despim, but through sheer stubborn resilience, Bittersun Chapel refuses to erode as others have before it.
>It's central courtyard, zealously guarded by the monks and pastors of the Last Light, hosts a strange circular design both on its empty once-glass ceiling and below it, inlaid into the floor, around which grow sparse fruit trees. The fruit they produce is bitter, tough, and uniquely suited to the production of both a fortifying liquor, and nutritious and hearty rations.
>Many beasts, scavengers, and would-be conquerors have attempted to take Bittersun Chapel. None have succeeded.