Starcraft 2 Magic: The Gathering Cards

Duncan

Canada19 Posts

December 12 2013 02:09 GMT

Hello, everyone.

I like Starcraft, and I like Magic: The Gathering, so a few months ago I had the idea to make a set of MTG cards based on Starcraft. This post describes how I went about it.

The first decision I had to make was choosing which Starcraft game the cards should be based on: Starcraft, Brood War, Wings of Liberty or Heart of the Swarm. I decided that it would be best to choose the most recent Starcraft release so that updating the cards would be as easy as possible, should I ever decide to do so. I’m also more familiar with Starcraft 2 than the original, so the choice was clear.

I had seen a few cards that others made, but many of them were about players, not the units and abilities of the game. Also, I never encountered a full, playable set, and most of the cards didn't really make sense. I believed that the cards should conform to the MTG rules and conventions, but also accurately represent the concepts and functions of Starcraft 2. Here’s an example of a card that I feel doesn't meet these criteria:

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In Starcraft, the Zealot is the cheapest, weakest ground unit available to Protoss. This Zealot card is 4/4, which is far too strong if we’re going to implement creature cards like the Immortal and Colossus. It’s also worth noting that this Zealot has first strike, which probably represents the Charge upgrade. But by granting the Zealot first strike at no cost, it means that the Zealot will always attack before most ranged units, which doesn't usually happen in Starcraft. The Charge upgrade is probably better represented by haste or by an activated ability.

Also, there is an inclination to implement new concepts and mechanics when creating MTG cards, which usually ends up producing cards that don’t work well with existing MTG sets or that don’t even play like MTG at all. The card above introduces a new ability called Shield that prevents the creature from being destroyed. This ability could cause unforeseen complications, such as imbalance or conflicting rules and also doesn’t really represent how shields function in Starcraft. It’s tempting to make cards complex and powerful, especially the legendary cards, but most existing MTG cards are fairly basic.

Another issue with this card is the color. I know that this is rather subjective, but Protoss doesn’t feel green. With telepathic abilities and a number of flying units, Protoss seems kind of blue. Taking color into consideration is important, since Starcraft allows players to choose one of three races, which suggests that the Starcraft MTG cards should have three main colors or color combinations, which I will discuss later.

Here's another card that does a better job, but still falls short in a few important ways:

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This Phoenix has more accurate power and toughness than the Zealot example, but the wording in the block restriction is not consistent with MTG, and the Graviton Beam ability of this card allows it to tap (lift) any card on the table, including lands, enchantments and other non-creature cards. This is not how Graviton Beam works in Starcraft 2.

Even small mistakes such as these can cause the unit, or even the entire game, to function improperly, so when I set out to make my MTG set, I decided to adhere as best I could to the following rules:

1. The set should follow established MTG rules and conventions.

2. The cards should accurately represent concepts in Starcraft 2.

3. The races should be divided by color and also be relatively balanced.

The first thing I did was make a spreadsheet with all of the units, structures and abilities in Starcraft 2 (view it by clicking here). I then tweaked power, toughness, cost and abilities in order to meet the criteria above. While doing so, I was forced to answer several serious questions:

1. In Starcraft 2, a player defeats an opponent by eliminating all of their buildings. How do I deal with structures?

2. What card and creature types will I use?

3. Since all abilities in Starcraft 2 are attached to units, how do I decide which, if any, are represented by instants or sorcery cards?

4. The economy of Starcraft 2 is based on minerals and vespene gas, and the abilities are based on energy. Is it possible to incorporate these concepts into MTG cards?

5. How do I translate abilities and mechanics in Starcraft 2 that have no direct equivalent in MTG, such as cloaking, shields and larva?

To answer the first issue, I came up with a few possible solutions:

The first would be to implement a new mechanic for structures, where a player loses the game when he or she no longer controls any structures. This has several problems, the most obvious being that players don’t begin the game with any structures. I felt that this route deviated too far from traditional MTG and would end up producing a completely different game.

The second option I considered was introducing a new card type called Structure that functioned like a planeswalker. Buildings could be placed on the board, but wouldn’t be a creature or an enchantment. This would allow players to target each other's structures. However, I don’t think planeswalkers fit well in MTG as it is, so constructing a set around a similar concept would probably make the game more ridiculous than planeswalkers already make it.

The third option would be to implement structures as enchantments, but attacking structures with units is a huge part of Starcraft 2, so I decided against it.

The fourth option is the one I ended up choosing. I decided that structures should function like walls — creatures that can’t attack. This allows them to enhance creatures while still allowing them to be attacked by units. This also permits players to use structures defensively, which is something players often do in Starcraft 2. Here are some examples of structure cards:

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Notice that the structures are various types in addition to being structures. This leads to the second difficulty: card types.

Every card in MTG has at least one type. Even a Forest has two types: Basic Land and Forest. The ever-useful Llanowar Elves has three types: Creature, Elf and Druid. These types are used to modify mechanics and interactions between cards. The Dauntless Dourbark and Nightmare derive their power and toughness from the number of a Forests or Swamps you control, respectively, while other cards, like the Elvish Archduid, enhance other creatures. These mechanics are an integral part of MTG, so I felt it important to choose card types carefully.

There are several interactions between units in Starcraft 2 that affect the game in a significant way. In addition to structures, which we already discussed, there’s the light, armored and massive unit type dynamic, which alters the amount of damage units deal to each other. I really wanted to include these types, but this would make combat extremely complex, and the damage that creatures deal in MTG is generally much lower than in Starcraft 2, so it would likely need to be greatly modified in order to avoid breaking the game.

Additional unit types found in Starcraft 2 are Mechanical, Biological and Psionic. The first two are already represented in MTG by similar types called artifact and nonartifact. The third is unique to Starcraft 2 and fairly easy to implement, so I incorporated it into the cards.

Yet another interaction of unit types is found in the Flying and Ground types. These are present in both MTG and Starcraft 2 and function in an almost identical way in both games. However, in Starcraft 2, many more units are only able to attack either Flying or Ground units only. I decided that incorporating these types and restricting unit attacks in the same way they are in Starcraft 2 would not make the game too dissimilar to conventional MTG.

Here are the types I ended up choosing:

Terran
Protoss
Zerg
Structure
Psionic
Artifact (Mechanical)
Non-Artifact (Biological)
Flying
Nonflying (Ground)

The issue of abilities, instants and sorcery cards was one that was more arbitrary. Here’s how I worked through it:

Since, as I mentioned, abilities in Starcraft 2 are attached to units, having no instants or sorcery cards would most accurately represent the concepts of Starcraft 2 (the second rule), but it wouldn’t follow MTG rules and conventions (the first rule). I decided that for the sake of making the game more like MTG, I would remove abilities from units and make them instants or sorcery cards. This also simplified many of the creatures, since it would be quite overwhelming to have a Ghost creature card with Cloak, Snipe, EMP and Nuke.

In order to decide which abilities would be attached to creatures, I relied on what I believed to be the defining abilities of each Starcraft 2 unit. The High Templar, for example, is best known for the Psionic Storm ability, so it would make sense to give this ability to the MTG card, rather than the alternative, Feedback.

Another general rule I followed was to give creatures the ability (or abilities) that would make them most useful and balanced and which were more combat-oriented. The Queen, for example, could have been given Spawn Larva or Spawn Creep Tumor, but Transfuse would seem to function more like a traditional MTG creature ability.

As for the third issue, economy, energy and mana, I decided that meddling with the economy of MTG would be too drastic a change, so I assigned each race a different primary, secondary and tertiary mana color. I chose multiple colors for each race for two reasons: because each race has a diverse set of units and spells and to increase variety and deck creativity. This also helps to keep the races divided, so that it's easy to play as only a single race with this Starcraft 2 MTG set. Here are the color assignments I chose:

1. Terran
I. White: Soldiers, healing and defense are features associated with white in MTG.
II. Red: Units like the Hellion and Reaper are quick and fairly weak, making them seem red.
III. Black: Cloaking and nukes definitely seem like black abilities.

2. Protoss
I. Blue: Telepathic abilities and flying creatures are features associated with blue in MTG.
II. Black: Dark Templar and cloaking seem to be best represented by black mana.
III. White: The Immortal’s strong defense and the Zealot and High Templar’s religious nature seem white.

3. Zerg
I. Red: The Zerg is characterized in Starcraft as swift and numerous, which are features associated with red in MTG.
II. Green: The physical strength of units like the Roach and Ultralisk are best represented by green.
III. Black: A malevolent and a mindless nature are marks of black mana.

The fourth issue I dealt with was determining how to translate abilities from Starcraft 2 that seemed to have no equivalent in MTG. Psionic Storm is an example of an ability that translates well, since it simply deals damage to a number of target creatures. Force Field, on the other hand, cannot easily perform the same roll in MTG that it does in Starcraft 2. In order to bring these abilities into the Starcraft 2 MTG set, I decided that to merely keep the spirit of the abilities the same.

In Starcraft 2, Force Field is used to temporarily trap units in a location, usually making them ineffective by doing so. In MTG, there is a mechanic that does something similar. Some spells, generally white in color, tap a target, making it basically useless for the remainder of the turn. By using this concept, we can make an ability that functions like the Force Field Starcraft 2.

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By causing attacking creatures to become remain tapped, the defending player is essentially preventing them from retreating from battle, just like in Starcraft 2.

Another set of abilities that doesn’t translate from Starcraft 2 to MTG is Cloak, Burrow and Detection. In Starcraft 2, a cloaked unit cannot be attacked unless a unit with detection or a Scanner Sweep reveals it. In MTG there are two similar mechanics: unblockable and shadow. Unblockable allows units to attack without ever worrying about being blocked by another unit, and shadow allows units to do the same, except they can be blocked by other creatures with shadow. Neither of these mechanics functions exactly like cloak in Starcraft 2, so I decided that in this case I would create a new mechanic.

I was very apprehensive about proceeding down this path, but I felt like the cloak and detection dynamic was significant and unique enough to warrant its own mechanic. Here’s how I defined these abilities:

Cloak: This creature is unblockable and can’t be the target of opponent’s spells or abilities, other than detection.

Burrow: Zerg creatures you control without flying have “Tap: Gain cloak (This creature is unblockable and can’t be the target of opponent’s spells or abilities, other than detection.) until end of turn.”

Detection: As long as this permanent is on the battlefield, creatures your opponents control no longer have cloak.

While this may cause the Starcraft 2 MTG set to behave strangely with other sets, it seemed important to me that units with cloak, burrow and detection function in a way that accurately reflects their roll in Starcraft 2. If I were to choose Unblockable, then there would be far too many unblockable units, since most Zerg units can burrow. If I chose Shadow, then cloaked units could be detected, but there would be even more units with Shadow than would otherwise be unblockable, since detecting a cloaked unit would require the detecting unit to also have shadow. In addition, neither unblockable nor shadow prevent units from being the target of spells or abilities — an important feature of cloak. Here are some examples of units with cloak and detection:

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Here are some more examples of cards that reflect my attempt to capture the spirit of a Starcraft 2 abilities and mechanics in MTG cards:

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There are many more issues that I dealt with while putting together this set. I’ll briefly mention a few of them in the hope that my decisions will make sense.

1. Protoss Shields: This mechanic is designed for a real-time strategy game and doesn’t adapt well to turn-based games, especially ones in which units do not retain damage, so I went with a flat +0/+1 upgrade to all Protoss creatures and structures.

2. Nuclear Strike: The best way to implement this card is probably to make it similar to Wrath of God, but I hate that card and what it does to MTG, so I made Nuclear Strike a black card that destroys multiple creatures or structures, as it does in Starcraft 2.

3. Stimpack: I originally had Stimpack as an ability of Terran nonartifact creatures, but it makes more sense as an instant. I also wrestled with the specific effects. I knew that it had to decrease toughness, but how would it modify a creature's attack? It made sense to have Stimpack increase power, but I decided on haste and double strike, since stimming a unit in Starcraft 2 increases its movement and attack speed.

4. Workers: There were a lot of options for how to do the workers. I originally gave them “Tap: add 1 colorless mana to your mana pool,” since workers harvest crystals, but I noticed a lack of card-drawing abilities in my set, so I went in that direction. I also gave the worker of each race an ability that I thought reflected the its unique function in Starcraft 2.
I. SCV: Prevent damage dealt to artifacts (repair).
II. Probe: Play structure spells with flash (warp in buildings).
III. Drone: Sacrifice Drone to search library for a structure card (morph into structure).

5. Upgrades:
I. Structures: I originally had players spend mana to use the abilities of structures like the Engineering Bay, Forge or Spire to enhance units, but capping the upgrades at +3/+3 proved annoying and complicated. In order to prevent upgrading at more than one structure, they would have to be legendary or the upgrades would have to be restricted by an additional mechanic. I went with a flat +1/+1 upgrade to all Terran, Protoss or Zerg creatures for each of the upgrade structures a player controls.
II. Enchantments: In Starcraft 2, all upgrades are researched at structures. I could have done this in the card game, but I felt as though this would make structures too complicated and the decks more difficult to customize. Also, I felt that it was important to strive for an orthodox distribution of card types, so I made some upgrades into enchantments.

6. Morphing or transforming units: In Starcraft 2, players can morph or transform units from one into another. For Protoss and Zerg, that means sacrificing units like the Zergling or High Templar in order to create a more powerful unit. To implement this mechanic, I simply named the original creature as an additional cost to play the new one. For Terran’s transforming units, like the Hellion and Siege tank, I made reversible cards. The Terran simply taps the creature card to flip it around, representing the time it takes to shift forms.

7. Land: I created special lands that benefit each races. These lands represent a world of significance to each race, such as Korhal for Terran, Aiur for Protoss and Char for Zerg.

8. Mixed-race Units: I implemented some units that have more than one race type. These include the Infested Terran, Hybrid and Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. I wanted to have more mixed-race units to allow for more interesting deck creation, but the Starcraft 2 units didn't justify it.

9. Legendary Units: There are a number of important characters in the Starcraft universe, many of which deserve their own legendary card, but I wanted to limit them to only a few per race, so I only used the most important characters. I was more liberal with translating the abilities of legendary creatures, since they are difficult to quantify.

10. Builds: I created some instant and sorcery cards that represent certain tactics in Starcraft 2. These include the infamous Proxy Barracks, Four Gate and Six Pool.

11. Vespene Gas: I incorporated the Refinery, Assimilator and Extractor as mana-generating structures. They can be tapped for one mana of any color.

12. Supply: There isn’t really a reasonable way to implement such a foreign concept to MTG, so I just had Supply Depots, Overseers and Pylons add colorless mana in order to loosely represent their roll in the player’s economy in Starcraft 2.

13. Burrow: Burrow functions a lot like cloak, but once the Burrowing Claws enchantment is in play, all Zerg ground units a player controls can burrow. I made burrow only require tapping the creature, which could make for interesting untap mechanics.

14. Larva: I dabbled with using larva to draw Zerg creature cards and cast Zerg creature spells, but it ended up making Zerg extremely different from the other two races and violating my first rule. The larva mechanic now exists only as an ability of the Hatchery structure.

15. Automatic Upgrades: I had to decide whether or not creature cards would come with their upgraded abilities. The Psionic Storm ability, for example, must be researched before High Templar can use it in Starcraft 2. Although this could easily work in MTG, I felt as though the defining abilities should be an innate part of the creature, but activated at a cost. This is the route I chose for abilities like Charge and Fungal Growth and also those that don't require an upgrade in Starcraft 2, like Boost and Prismatic Alignment.

16. Number of Cards: Another challenge was deciding how many Starcraft 2 units, structures and abilities should be incorporated into the set. After all, most structures in Starcraft 2 that don't perform any function other than generating units or advancing the tech path. I decided to include all of the units and unit abilities, all of the upgrade and defensive buildings, but only a few of the unit-producing or tech buildings. This is definitely an area that could use improvement, as I'm sure there are many interesting uses for the Starport, Robotics Bay and Hive.

Here are some more examples of cards that I made:

Reaper
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Widow Mine
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Viking
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Thor
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Battlecruiser
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Jim Raynor
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Tech Lab
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EMP
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Korhal
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Stalker
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Oracle
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Immortal
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Carrier
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Mothership
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Zeratul
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Templar Archives
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Hallucination
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Shakuras
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Zergling
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Mutalisk
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Swarm Host
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Ultralisk
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Brood Lord
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Kerrigan, Queen of Blades
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Creep
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Neural Parasite
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Zerus
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Xel'naga Tower
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Xel'naga Artifact
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You can download the entire set of card images by clicking here.

Edit: The link above includes the latest version of my cards, which may differ from those in this post.

If you have any comments or questions about my cards, please feel free to share them. But before you do, please ensure that your post doesn't do one of the following two things:

1. Criticize the Zealot or Phoenix cards displayed in the post. These are examples of cards that I feel need improvement.

2. Raise an issue that I already addressed in this post.

If you found this post an overly-complicated waste of time, please visit http://www.dailyduncan.com for more.

I made all of these cards using MSE Development’s Magic Set Editor version 2.0.0. I’d like to thank them for making such an awesome program.

I'd also like to thank my brother, Shebuha, for helping me make some crucial decisions in the making of these cards.

The card art was taken without permission by searching Google images. Many of them are simply screen captures, but I appreciate that there are people out there who devote themselves to making amazing fan art. I apologize to anyone who I offended by borrowing their art. It was not my intent to offend or to profit from this endeavor.

ZigguratOfUr

Iraq16955 Posts

December 12 2013 03:03 GMT

Really interesting read. You need to add power/toughness to ghost, and the wording of the rule text is a bit weird for stimpack, since I don't think it targets.

Shebuha

Canada1335 Posts

December 12 2013 05:03 GMT

So. Sick. I wanted you to post this months ago when I was giving feedback, but I'm glad you waited and added more stuff.

HOLLA HOLLA GET DOLLAAAAAAA

Onekobold

244 Posts

December 12 2013 05:10 GMT

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MarlieChurphy

United States2063 Posts

December 14 2013 01:06 GMT

I skimmed through a bit of the cards. Pylon looks really imbalanced. Especially since it's artifact and very good for blue.
Zealot is way too strong for it's cost. Should be like 1GG 3/3 or maybe UGG 4/4
Yamato should be 5 damage, not destroy.
I think carrier would be better if the cost was lowered (maybe 2UUUU or 3UUU) and the interceptors cost UUU each time you attacked or blocked (and have banding).
Mutalisk should also heal 1 damage (add +0/+1 counter til end of turn if targeted by a spell or ability?) or prevent one damage to itself somehow.

Great work, cool idea.

I'll try my hand with a unit. Hellion/Hellbat

1RR
haste, first strike?, trample
tap itself (and R?) to morph into hellbat. Hell bat is 2/3 (maybe 2/4?) but if target by a spell or ability is destroyed.
3/1

This could also be one of those 2 in 1 cards, or evoke cost (no haste though). Where it can be played outright as the hellbat for a cost of RRR or like 2RR. And still retains it's ability to morph back into to hellion.

The tapping itself seems like a big drawback though (you would probably have to do end at the of opponents turn after not attacking), maybe find another way to represent the morphing delay? And also apply that to other mech like viking and tank.

slowbacontron

United States7722 Posts

December 14 2013 02:21 GMT

Wow, this looks like you put a ton of work into it! Nice job. I'm a MTG noob--why would an ultralisk have haste? Also, the Broodlord description seems to have spacing issues.

Nice work!

Advantageous

China1350 Posts

December 14 2013 02:24 GMT

This is pretty amazing. I like all the work the creator has put into these "cards", especially the artwork on it. The images really portray the "effects" of those units ingame.

Duncan

Canada19 Posts

December 14 2013 03:03 GMT

On December 14 2013 10:06 MarlieChurphy wrote:
I skimmed through a bit of the cards. Pylon looks really imbalanced. Especially since it's artifact and very good for blue.

First of all, thanks for the feedback, but if you're concerned that the Pylon's imbalanced, you should check out Palladium Myr.

On December 14 2013 10:06 MarlieChurphy wrote:
Zealot is way too strong for it's cost. Should be like 1GG 3/3 or maybe UGG 4/4

Perhaps if you hadn't skimmed the post, you would have realized that I used the Zealot as an example of a poorly made card.

On December 14 2013 10:06 MarlieChurphy wrote:
Yamato should be 5 damage, not destroy.

There's definitely a lot of different directions to take with each of the cards. The reason why I chose to have Yamato destroy the target was to make it distinct from the Thor's 250mm Cannons ability.

On December 14 2013 10:06 MarlieChurphy wrote:
I think carrier would be better if the cost was lowered (maybe 2UUUU or 3UUU) and the interceptors cost UUU each time you attacked or blocked (and have banding).
Mutalisk should also heal 1 damage (add +0/+1 counter til end of turn if targeted by a spell or ability?) or prevent one damage to itself somehow.

Great work, cool idea.

I'll try my hand with a unit. Hellion/Hellbat

1RR
haste, first strike?, trample
tap itself (and R?) to morph into hellbat. Hell bat is 2/3 (maybe 2/4?) but if target by a spell or ability is destroyed.
3/1

This could also be one of those 2 in 1 cards, or evoke cost (no haste though). Where it can be played outright as the hellbat for a cost of RRR or like 2RR. And still retains it's ability to morph back into to hellion.

The tapping itself seems like a big drawback though (you would probably have to do end at the of opponents turn after not attacking), maybe find another way to represent the morphing delay? And also apply that to other mech like viking and tank.

I also considered using morph cards, but according to the MTG rules, a face-down morph card is just a 2/2 creature with no specific types, so I didn't take that route.

On December 14 2013 11:21 slowbacontron wrote:
Wow, this looks like you put a ton of work into it! Nice job. I'm a MTG noob--why would an ultralisk have haste? Also, the Broodlord description seems to have spacing issues.

Nice work!

Thanks, and I'm not also sure why the Ultralisk has haste. Perhaps I made that card back when the Ultralisk had burrow-charge and never updated it.

On December 14 2013 11:24 Advantageous wrote:
This is pretty amazing. I like all the work the creator has put into these "cards", especially the artwork on it. The images really portray the "effects" of those units ingame.

Thank you. I'd like to remind everyone that I didn't create any of this art. I did, however, spend a lot of time scanning Google to find images that I thought worked well with the cards.

I'd also like to note that I may alter this post and the card set as corrections are pointed out. As you may have noticed, I added power and toughness to the Ghost as ZigguratOfUr suggested, and I'll likely remove haste from the Ultralisk soon after posting this reply.

Shyndashu

United States136 Posts

December 14 2013 05:32 GMT

I like this way this is assembled. I think some people are being too harsh upon the concept and overemphasizing the imbalances of the cards. I don't play magic anymore but I was top 100 in florida back in high school 10 years ago so seeing magic again after a long while based on something of a current hobby is quite fulfilling. Kudos, comrade. GL HF GGs.

BisuDagger

Bisutopia19152 Posts

December 14 2013 05:36 GMT

#10

yokohama

United States1116 Posts

December 14 2013 07:09 GMT

#11

On December 14 2013 14:36 BisuDagger wrote:
GG

[image loading]

Before I even read the moves I thought about him having a move to do with retiring, sure enough you hit the nail on the head. Well done BisuDagger, well done.

Duncan

Canada19 Posts

December 14 2013 07:23 GMT

#12

On December 14 2013 14:36 BisuDagger wrote:
GG

[image loading]

On December 12 2013 11:09 Duncan wrote:
I had seen a few cards that others made, but many of them were about players, not the units and abilities of the game.

On December 12 2013 11:09 Duncan wrote:
It’s tempting to make cards complex and powerful, especially the legendary cards, but most existing MTG cards are fairly basic.

Why is this card 8/8? Why is is it green and blue? Why is it a Foreigner type and not a creature? Why is there grammatical errors, and why is the wording inconsistent with traditional MTG? This card is the antithesis of everything I spoke about in the original post.

Congratulations on winning the thread.

Onekobold

244 Posts

December 14 2013 07:28 GMT

#13

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goody153

44020 Posts

December 14 2013 07:35 GMT

#14

tech lab and templar archives should be rares .

Zergling should be 2/1 since there is no reason to cast one if it deals 1 damage or make it double damage.
Carriers interceptor spawn per attacking/blocking should be based upon interceptor counters which you can purchase with one colorlessmana. And the carrier should start with 8 interceptor counters so that at the beggining its not that useless. And the interceptor counter cannot be higher than 8.

Just my two cents.

Shebuha

Canada1335 Posts

December 14 2013 07:44 GMT

#15

On December 14 2013 16:28 Onekobold wrote:

Show nested quote +

Why is that the case for most of the cards in the OP as well?

If you're referring to the weird comma placement and periods inside of brackets, that's how the program used to make these cards does it. It's kinda weird, but a good program overall and fun to use!

The wording is pretty consistent with actual MTG cards though.

Duncan

Canada19 Posts

December 14 2013 07:56 GMT

#16

On December 14 2013 16:35 goody153 wrote:
tech lab and templar archives should be rares .

The rarity of the cards is something I considered, but I spend a lot less time on it than other issues.

On December 14 2013 16:35 goody153 wrote:
Zergling should be 2/1 since there is no reason to cast one if it deals 1 damage or make it double damage.

If the Zergling isn't worth using, then why are there so many 1/1 creatures that cost one mana? This Zergling card is basically just a Raging Goblin. Also, had you looked at all of the cards in the set, you would have noticed that Adrenal Glands grants Zerglings double strike.

On December 14 2013 16:35 goody153 wrote:
Carriers interceptor spawn per attacking/blocking should be based upon interceptor counters which you can purchase with one colorlessmana. And the carrier should start with 8 interceptor counters so that at the beggining its not that useless. And the interceptor counter cannot be higher than 8.

Just my two cents.

I like the idea of representing interceptors with counters, but I think the Carrier in its current form more accurately represents how the unit functions in Starcraft, since interceptors only enter the battlefield when the Carrier is attacking or blocking. Also, as I mentioned in the original post, it's difficult to describe complicated abilities.

ThrowLikeEG

1 Post

December 14 2013 08:02 GMT

#17

My comments are going to be all over the place, as I'm just going to do this on the fly as I read.

For someone who complains about their example of a card not conforming to MTG standards and templating, you seem to be absolutely annihilating the color pie and not templating your own cards correctly.

You should definitely not allocate colors to races the way that you do. That's not how MTG design works. The reason you see certain tribes affiliated with certain colors is because the colors represent the mechanics of the cards in that tribe, then there's post-hoc flavor justification.

Cloaking isn't remotely black, making permanents untargetable is historically divided between blue and green (see: Shroud/Hexproof) and unblockability is primary in blue.

With regards to the "blockers", like the ebay and pylon, if you want them to be able to block, they have to be creatures. Non-creature permanents also cannot have power and toughness, as you have placed onto those cards.

Malevolence and mindlessness are not even slightly black. Black isn't intrinsically evil, and black's flavor backing is all about ambition. Something mindless cannot express ambition.

Red's the color that gets flying the second least, with an exception being made for dragons and wacky limited crap like Goblin Balloon Brigade.

Phoenix: No comma separating the mana component and the tap component of the cost, and tap target card makes no sense. Do you intend to tap cards on the stack? Tap target permanent might be what you're looking for.

Stimpack: it seems like you chose the colors for this completely at random. Haste and double strike are both very red abilites. Also, the card doesn't target, so that last clause is meaningless. A more correct clause would be "If this effect would reduce a creature's toughness below 1, that creature is not affected by stimpack". Admittedly that's still probably not right, there aren't any effects I can think of to name that I can compare it to. The alternative is to surround it in an if clause, like the errata on blood lust.

Carrier doesn't work the way you think it should. by the time you've declared it as either an attacker or blocker, it's too late for you to use those tokens that are created, because you've passed your declare attackers or declare blockers step.

I could probably address each card individually but that's pretty time consuming. These were amongst the biggest things I could point out.

BoX

United States214 Posts

December 14 2013 08:17 GMT

#18

I think the amount of thought and effort you've invested is commendable.. If you polish it, you could really have something to be proud of!

For the Zergling.. It's cool how it is because it's like any 1/1 basic creature. But lings have a swarming feel to them in SC2 that is intrinsic to the Zerg. So to address that, maybe have a spawning pool that like a multiple ability artifact. For example (and this may be massively stupid or imbalanced, but anyways)

Spawning Pool 2R
RRR: All Zerglings gain double strike until end of turn (cracklings)
RR: All zerglings gain haste until end of turn (adrenalings)
RR, destroy this card: Place 6 Zergling tokens on the field. These tokens have haste and banding?

Edit: So I was thinking, destroying the pool would kill the upgrade-ability of the lings. So maybe instead, the pool can be tapped to create 1 Zergling token? Or, it could be like (X)mana, tap: place (X) 1/1 zergling tokens on the field, where X is the amount of mana spent? So that the more mana you have at your disposal, the more ling tokens you could crank out?

On the Battlecruiser, I think it's a little wicked as it stands.. Why would anyone ever attack normally? Two mana and I can kill anything I want!

Maybe, instead, you require two Yamato counters in order to use the Yamato ability? Or, you require the card be tapped in addition to the mana cost in order to place a Yamato counter. That way there's a penalty for using Yamato, and ordinary attacking has a purpose and could be use more strategically. For example, if you went the tap + mana cost route, you could use some kind of "untap target creature" ability to spit out yamato blasts in the same turn. Then, you could limit yamato counters to allow only 1 yamato blast per turn, so it's not abused.. Stuff like that! Make the card interesting!

figq

12519 Posts

December 14 2013 08:39 GMT

#19

In order to assign completely unique colors to each race, I'd go this way:
Zerg: chaos and death - Red and Black
Protoss: order and interdependence - White and Green
Terran: logic and tech - Blue