#Moxtober 13: Guarded

During the month of October is #Inktober! Each day has a single-word prompt, but instead of inking something, I design a Magic: The Gathering mechanic to fit the word. This is called #Moxtober.

(#Moxtober was previously named #Meltober, named after "Mel", the more mechanically-inclined counterpart to "Vorthos" of the aesthetic profile spectrum.)
Day 01: "poisonous"
Day 02: "tranquil"
Day 03: "roasted"
Day 04: "spell"
Day 05: "chicken"
Day 06: "drooling"
Day 07: "exhausted"
Day 08: "star"
Day 09: "precious"
Day 10: "flowing"
Day 11: "cruel"
Day 12: "whale"

Today's prompt is: "guarded"

I'm not sure how prevalent we want this guard ability to be in a Limited environment. There have been mechanics in modern design that only exist at uncommon rarities and higher, and that could be an option for guard, if necessary.

This is basically flash plus. If you're able to make strictly-worse keyworded mechanics (jump-start vs. flashback), then you can also make strictly-better keyword mechanics. (Shroud vs. Hexproof, Hexproof vs. Hexproof from black/white, etc.) Of course, all you gotta do is cost the card as appropriate.

While flash appears most in blue and green second-most - all colors have access to flash. The extra effect of redirecting targeted spell/ability is where some colors might be restricted.

For white, this plays into white's access to protective effects. For blue, this plays into its ability to fight effects while they're on the stack, whether it's manipulation or counter, etc. This changing of targets is also a red thing. For green and black, this changing of targets isn't as appropriate. But since green gets flash secondly, perhaps guard is tertiary green.

So, I'd put this mechanic at primarily white and blue in a set with sprinkles of red, green, and black, probably one cycle of guard where it appears at all colors.

#Moxtober 12: Whale

During the month of October is #Inktober! Each day has a single-word prompt, but instead of inking something, I design a Magic: The Gathering mechanic to fit the word. This is called #Moxtober.

(#Moxtober was previously named #Meltober, named after "Mel", the more mechanically-inclined counterpart to "Vorthos" of the aesthetic profile spectrum.)
Day 01: "poisonous"
Day 02: "tranquil"
Day 03: "roasted"
Day 04: "spell"
Day 05: "chicken"
Day 06: "drooling"
Day 07: "exhausted"
Day 08: "star"
Day 09: "precious"
Day 10: "flowing"
Day 11: "cruel"

Today's prompt is: "whale"

"Whale"? I think of Moby Dick. I never read the book or even really know the story. Something about Captain Ahab and trying to find this one particular whale. So, with that, I think of a mechanic called "hunt."

I made sure you can keep naming a different creature card each turn in case you end up drawing enough cards where the optimal play is to no longer name that creature card. And I worded it so that you didn't have to remember any hunt abilities for cards drawn beyond your first.

I didn't want the processing of a successfully-named creature card to put it into the graveyard (killing it - hunted) because of feel bads of trying to use this mechanic but also maybe wanting to use that creature, too. So, a reveal off the first draw gives you more of that "I was looking for this, and I got it!" And then you can then play with your creature.

Since I want to only have creatures to be able to hunt, I made the reward creature-specific, instead of something like drawing a card. Beside, if you play a hunt deck, wouldn't want TOO much of a swinginess. Imagine drawing a card for a successful hunt, and you have three hunt creatures. You'd draw three cards!

Also, keeping hunt on creatures and then having hunt try to find creatures synergizes very well.

I figured having a small 1/1 at 1 would help give a nice contrast of how small this Captain Ivan is in comparison to the eventual whale that would emerge.

The effect of having a Whale enter the battlefield immediately and then bouncing creatures is like rocking those waters and crashing waves suddenly, upturning everything with its immediate and somewhat unexpected arrival.

Also, this legendary means you can get things started right away with your Whale Commander deck! ...even though there's very few Whales right now. :/

#Moxtober 11: Cruel

During the month of October is #Inktober! Each day has a single-word prompt, but instead of inking something, I design a Magic: The Gathering mechanic to fit the word. This is called #Moxtober.

(#Moxtober was previously named #Meltober, named after "Mel", the more mechanically-inclined counterpart to "Vorthos" of the aesthetic profile spectrum.)
Day 01: "poisonous"
Day 02: "tranquil"
Day 03: "roasted"
Day 04: "spell"
Day 05: "chicken"
Day 06: "drooling"
Day 07: "exhausted"
Day 08: "star"
Day 09: "precious"
Day 10: "flowing"

Today's prompt is: "cruel"

The complicate mechanic comes with its own set of cards, Complications and Compliments, sort of like how Contraption decks are cards in a deck that are "off to the side" - except, they don't come in a deck. They're all utilized as directed by this ability. There would also be one instructional card that helps explain in detail the rules of complicate that comes with the complicate cards - which is fine because this mechanic only shines best in a multiplayer environment. So, some kind of multiplayer supplemental product would be best to bundle with complicate cards

The complicate mechanic is always on multicolor cards (like with cascade in Alara Reborn) because the Complications and Compliments come in a variety of effects that no one color alone would be able to provide. There are number cards provided with the bundle of complicate cards to help make easier the secret choosing of numbers - which only up to 5 are printed (you'll have to handle the logistics of your 7+ player multiplayer games).

So, here's how it goes when you complicate things.
1) Your opponents are Alice, Betty, and Carl.
2) You target Betty to secretly choose numbers, starting from 1; for Alice, Betty, and Carl (each opponent, as worded)
3) Betty secretly chooses 2 for Alice, 1 for Betty, and 3 for Carl
4) You secretly choose the Complication card "From Whenceforth" for Alice, the Complication card "Vampire Kiss" for Betty, and the Compliment card "Plant Prize" for Carl
5) All secret choices are revealed. Then resolve in any order (the effects won't matter for what order you resolve them in). The following Complication and Compliment cards read as, in combination with the secret numbers:

From Whenceforth
This player returns N target creatures they control to their hand. If they have less than N creatures, they return all creatures they control to their hand.

Alice had 2 chosen for them, so Alice returns 2 creatures they control to their hand.

Vampire Kiss
This player loses N life, and you gain N life.

Betty had 1 chosen for them, so Betty loses 1 life, and you gain 1 life.

Plant Prize
This player creates N 0/1 green Plant creature tokens.

Carl had 3 chosen for them, so Carl creates 3 Plant tokens.

The Complication cards and one Compliment card are quick examples and don't reflect the final version nor full variety of effects available as part of the complicate cards bundle. :)

All this is suppose to instill in the targeted opponent of a complicate effect a feeling of making a cruel choice for others at the table.

#Moxtober 10: Flowing

During the month of October is #Inktober! Each day has a single-word prompt, but instead of inking something, I design a Magic: The Gathering mechanic to fit the word. This is called #Moxtober.

(This was previously named #Meltober, named after "Mel", the more mechanically-inclined counterpart to "Vorthos" of the aesthetic profile spectrum.)
Day 01: "poisonous"
Day 02: "tranquil"
Day 03: "roasted"
Day 04: "spell"
Day 05: "chicken"
Day 06: "drooling"
Day 07: "exhausted"
Day 08: "star"
Day 09: "precious"

Today's prompt is: "flowing"

"Flowing" reminded me of "river," and then I imagined a river on the battlefield. Establishing a river divides everyone's permanents into two sides. Which impacts everyone's ability to get to planeswalkers and players with their attacking creatures or block those said attacking creatures.

I tried to get the wording correct on this - it was crucial to not mention "left" or "right" of the river. Instead "either side" or "other side" is used. This is because, when your creature is on the left of the river from your perspective, the creature your opponent controls that is on the same side looks like it's to the left for you but is actually on the right side for them. To avoid confusion, just mention "same side", "other side", etc.

It doesn't make sense for the most prominent creature keyword ability to be restricted by a river - so it still had to make sense without increase wordiness. Solution was granting the "Cross the river" ability but also gave a way for sides to actually matter for flying creatures. They're not omnipresent on a river battlefield and requires some beating of the wings to get to the other side.

For visuals and logistics, players would be able to obtain somehow a way to have an unfoldable paper river that is placed in the middle of their side of the battlefield (or perhaps flexible enough to either place on just your side or on both sides). It'd also have the rules printed on it for helpfulness (and point out that players are always on both sides - or neither sides, whichever language).

For multiplayer, this still works fine. Just compare your opponent and you as if you were facing each other in a one-on-one game. Sure, this means the river looks like some kind of star or three-point or 'X', etc. - but that's all right. Real life has crazy, sprawling rivers.

I'm excited for this meaning Vehicle boat cards that can help to cross rivers. :)

#Moxtober 09: Precious

During the month of October is #Inktober! Each day has a single-word prompt, but instead of inking something, I design a Magic: The Gathering mechanic to fit the word. This is called #Moxtober.

(This was previously named #Meltober, named after "Mel", the more mechanically-inclined counterpart to "Vorthos" of the aesthetic profile spectrum.)
Day 01: "poisonous"
Day 02: "tranquil"
Day 03: "roasted"
Day 04: "spell"
Day 05: "chicken"
Day 06: "drooling"
Day 07: "exhausted"
Day 08: "star"

Today's prompt is: "precious"

When I saw "precious", I thought of Gollum and The One Ring, from Lords of the Rings. I became focused on the wondrous discovery one can make when putting on a magical ring for the first time, to discover what its ability is.

This mechanic requires an explanation of imbue and the wonder die.

The wonder die is a D6 - similar to how the planar die is a D6 that does stuff. While the wonder die doesn't have blank sides, it has a creature keyword ability written on each side of it.

The idea here is that "rolling the wonder die for a permanent" means you're imbuing it with whatever random magical powers (creature keyword). Once you roll the die, you then place that die on top of the permanent, and it's considered imbued.

There'd be special D6 created for this mechanic, but it can also be used with any 1 through 6 D6.

Here's a quick stab at a table:

1: Vigilance
2: Flying
3: Deathtouch
4: First strike
5: Trample
6: Hexproof

The Limited environment containing this mechanic probably can't use +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters, to help track for the imbued magic from the wonder die.

Forge is an extra layer on top of the wonder die mechanic, so it's like we have two mechanics for one today. :)

#Moxtober 08: Star

During the month of October is #Inktober! Each day has a single-word prompt, but instead of inking something, I design a Magic: The Gathering mechanic to fit the word. This is called #Moxtober.

(This was previously named #Meltober, named after "Mel", the more mechanically-inclined counterpart to "Vorthos" of the aesthetic profile spectrum.)

Today's prompt is: "star"

The prompt this time reminded me of the star format. So I designed a mechanic for that format.

For those unfamiliar with the star format, five players play in a game together. The goal for each player is to eliminate both the players that aren't their neighbors. Once both those players lose, you win. This creates the situation where the player to your left and right each share one (different) opponent with you. But one of your opponents for each of them is actually their ally. An interesting tension.

For this design, I wanted to create a mechanic that makes a lot of sense in star but can be used in other multiplayer formats like two-headed giant and Commander.

In Star, this card will draw you and another player two cards each.
In 2HG, this card will draw both you and your teammate two cards each.
In Commander, this card will draw everyone except one player two cards each.

Originally, I was going to word this mechanic as "Opponents of your opponents each draw two cards." However, while that would have enabled you and BOTH your neighbors to draw two cards, it would have made EVERYONE in a Commander game each draw cards. It's not as interesting, except for group-hug purposes, to just benefit everyone equally.

Thus, all cards with this mechanic will say "Choose an opponent." And then benefit everyone that is an opponent of that player, however that bonus will look.

#Meltober 07: Exhausted

During the month of October is #Inktober! Each day has a single-word prompt, but instead of inking something, I design a Magic: The Gathering mechanic to fit the word. This is called #Meltober, named after "Mel", the more mechanically-inclined counterpart to "Vorthos" of the aesthetic profile spectrum.

Keep in mind that these mechanics aren't playtested! These are more off-the-cuff brainstorms. :)

Today's prompt is: "exhausted."

Ah, yes. Even more bent than hellbent. Hellerbent?

Being exhausted. It could mean tired - your body's energy resources being run out. I decided to focus on specifically being out of resources. What does that mean? Cards and mana. You can still be ahead and exhausted. Out of gas but winning. Just look at burn. :)

For the mana part, mana is often empty in mana pool. And I didn't want to focus on there being "less lands" as part of being exhausted since that promotes a pro-land destruction environment (sorry, April).

So, instead, focused on tapped lands. But because folks can just tap out and save their mana in their mana pool to cast multiple spells in a turn, I needed to write in that there's no mana in the mana pool as well, exposing the term "mana pool" written at common. Heliod help us.

Is it interesting to essentially ensure a deck playing style that's in topdeck mode, in Limited? Maybe, maybe not. (I realize that outside of whatever set this mechanic appears in, you can still use your graveyard as a resource, like casting flashback and friends, in lieu of having a hand.) If it's not fun to try to force yourself to be exhausted, perhaps the correct approach is to focus card designs on trying to get your opponent to be exhausted and your opponent avoiding being exhausted.