Ruin of Seffala – Crumbs

At the tail end of Seffala now, so it's the last of the leftovers to get through, and one more cycle (next post).

Stuff to click on.

A couple of Shamans (one of them a Shaman tribal payoff), a couple of Enchantments, a couple of untappers.

A card that lets you mill, a Mill build-around, and a Mill payoff.

Gluttonous Sugar Gliders is kind of a neat experiment I'd like to revisit. Brambleburst is a nice card that allows you to use it both offensively and defensively, though if I rewrote it I'd make it one line of text. Trance of Healing is an extra lifegain card for the go-wide decks, but also acts as a Toughlink payoff.

All pump spells/combat tricks. Desperate Strike allows you to get through for damage even in the fail case of losing your creature.

A whole mess of Witherkin. Elder Balder is getting up there in years, so it loses P/T as it fights. Rebellious Balder gets around the Wall decks.

Not much to say about these ones, since they're kind of the last dregs. One last cycle to cap off the set coming up, and then it'll be on to the next project.

Ruin of Seffala – Triple Color Mythics

The biggest players in Seffala are the Mythics, naturally. Each Mythic is usually triple color.

Lot o' text on Mythics. Click to embiggen.

The one exception is the Planeswalker, Springstep. I wanted to go for a colorless Planeswalker and see what it would do. Gnomes in Magic are typically colorless, so I decided that Springstep would be a gnomish inventor, trying in his own way to restore nature... unnaturally. Since he is a poor soul who gets his magical abilities from the land, and Seffala is being torn apart, he is fading out of existence. His abilities, unfortunately, a more Blue/Green than colorless. I had been watching too much Command Zone when I designed it, and they always stress how mana ramp and card draw are so important in designing a deck, so I figured they would be good abilities for a Planeswalker to have, especially one that goes in any deck. So the first ability is both mana ramp and card draw. The second ability protects Springstep, as a good Planeswalker should have. The third ability also comes from Command Zone's mantras, one of which is "What's one of the most broken things you can do in all of Magic? Cheating of mana costs."

Roc of Aegis is one of my favorite puns. Besides that, it's a fairly set-specific mechanic, but it nicely turns off Wither and all -1/-1 counter shenanigans your opponents may have going on. Being heavy white, you'l most likely choose Human as your creature type.

I'm nt sure at all where I got the idea for Apocalypse Pup; I think it was during the phase where I was making joke cards like Scourge of Slog Bog and needed to come up with the red Mythic in this cycle. The idea is that when a Djinn makes its own wish, it might want something as simple as a puppy, but it's going to create an all-powerful, destructive force instead, especially with the headspace the Djinni are in, what with being at war.

Chivaask is a brutal card that feeds on the misery of others. No matter how weak the other creatures get, it gets stronger, and it fuels the fire by giving everything Wither. Giving Chivaask -1/-1 counters only keeps it in balance, since it will get +1/+1 for each -1/-1 counter on itself. And it is here, finally, that we get the full cause of Seffala's ruin: Chivaask was birthed from the Slog Bog, creating Parasites as its minions along with it, and it is such a miserable creature that even Witherkin who naturally have Wither would run from it, causing the exodus from the swamps. This resulted in a chain reaction of all the tribes, who were once separate and at peace, to go to war by either defending their homeland or moving on to others. From this demon, all hell broke loose. You can see how the Roc of Aegis appeared to combat Chivaask's power directly.

However, Natalsong, The Antiphon, is also the enemy of Chivaask; it is a beast which has arisen from Mosswood, Mosswood made flesh. Wherever it goes, it heals, and spreads its moss to stop the onslaught spread by Chivaask. It works as both a Green/Black bomb, being that it loves Toughlink, but it can also be a Green/White bomb since it generates tokens. It also has an activated ability that directly counteracts Chivaask's synergies.

Elshaga is the most powerful of all the Djinni, and is basically a lockdown on a stick. You get it down, bounce everything, and then you get to bounce or counter everything else that comes down. Elshaga is basically saying "Y'all done goofed, Imma restart this world in my image."

Ruin of Seffala – Misc. Themes

Here are a few cards of each color that fill out some of the themes or subthemes of each.

Some day I want to make a Wendigo-themed deck.

A few more -1/-1 counter synergy cards. Rotting Wendigo doesn't have any way of putting a -1/-1 counter on it by itself, but you can do it yourself with something like Spot Plague, or Giera from earlier. I bet Heaving Slug needs rewording, since you don't attack creatures, but you know what I mean.

A few more Djinni in Red. I like the mechanic of Ferocious Dimmer, being that you can either over pay for the effect, or you can tap the creature for the effect. This allows you to squeeze out one last activation, or choose to use the ability on itself and not have to tap the card before attacks. Unbound Brighter is a fun modal ETB effect, because it lets your opponent choose, but likely all of the options hurt no matter what the state of the game is.

Also, I'd like a Unicorn/Pegasus theme sometime.

A few more lifegain cards for White. White doesn't often get discard abilities, so Trash Herbalist is a way to turn junk cards like extra lands into life. For Mated Unicorns, I expect there has to be a better way to word that.

If I had to do it all over, I'd skip Shamans and make 'Witch' be the subtype.

Extra miscellaneous Shaman in Blue. Not much to say about these, apart from Smokebomb Herbalist is a heck of a cheap counterspell.

Ok, this one is hardly a proper theme...

Green gets a bit of card advantage with these cards. Ripen, as a sorcery, means you likely would use this in a lifegain deck and will never use the first mode. I suppose I should make it Instant or reqord it. Tend the Garden is useful card selection, and all you have to do is what Green always wants to do: have a creature around. This is especially easy with all the Moss Wall tokens around.

Ruin of Seffala – The Gold Uncommons

Another nostalgic pseudo-memory I had of old Magic is that gold cards were particularly rare. It was amazing to see a card that wasn't one of the base five colors, just like artifacts. These days, I know there is a gold uncommon cycle in near every set that acts as a 'signpost' for each color pair, giving the draft archetype. Some of that I tried to capture here. In other cases, I struggled to come up with the draft archetype, or forgot about it alt/-1ogether while designing these cards. Each of these cards costs exactly two mana, and I tried working within that restriction, with varying success.

Fancy.

Frenetic Notions simply combines a loot with a rummage, which I think is cute, but if I was going to do it over again, I would make this a Djinn, since Blue/Red is the Djinni tribal colors.

Likewise, Dangerous Journey, while Witherkin-flavored, is not Witherkin Tribal. This card represents the Witherkin leaving their home of Slog Bog and journeying to the new terrain of the mountains and forests. In this case, I might like the flavor, but the mechanics don't hit the theme.

Countersong is the mechanics of Blue with the flavor of Green. Blue naturally provides the counterspell, while Green's theme of music in this set provides the flavor, with the bonus of the healing effect here. Ultimately, though, once more, it doesn't quite tell you what the archetype is (which is really nothing).

Grinding Parasite helps a lot more with the Blue/Black theme, which is Mill, and a sub-theme of Parasites (though that's more of a mono-Black take). Still, so far this is the closest we get to a true signpost uncommon. The problem here is the incredible amount of text on these Parasites. Oof!

With Faith in Flames, once more, I didn't have a tribal idea to work with, so I just combined what I thought of as the mechanics of White and Red together. I used a lot of the Magic wiki in designing cards, researching what each color does well and what each color pair does. Boros is aggro, so I just threw together red's direct damage and white's combat trickery. The flavor of the name is that when White Shamans come in contact with something unfamiliar (like Red) their faith is strongly tested.

Now we get to quite a few more proper signpost uncommons. Bewitcher is pure Shaman tribal, and includes the untap shenanigans the color pair is known for. We did it!

Provoking Balder is a Witherkin, as Black/Red should be. The flowstone activated ability is nice in that it allows you to pump up a Witherkin's damage if you know it's going to die anyway to tear down an opponent's creature with the Wither. Or, of course, you can pick off opponent's creatures since you can target any creature with the ability.

Unpoison Frog has the theme of Toughlink, which is the Golgari named mechanic of the set, and screwing around with -1/-1 counters, which is the unnamed mechanic for Abzan.

Survivor's Vigil combines the two Green/White themes of this set: life gain and tokens. The untap clause is there just for a bonus.

Occult Armor is mostly a Black card, in that -1/-1 counters are Black's wheelhouse, and Black is big on Voltron in this set. It just has a bit of the flavor of White to go with it. Oh, well. Can't win them all. How about 50%?

Ruin of Seffala – White & Green Removal

Click to see.

Burst of Ferocity is a simple fight spell that gives an enormous P/T boost, making sure whatever you target is almost certainly going to survive combat. And, if you just removed the only blocker, you can then swing in hard.

Pillory is a take on the Pacifism spells, but the creature must be untapped simply for funny flavor reasons—in a pillory, you're stuck standing up. However, since it includes the clause that the enchanted creature can't tap or be tapped, it turns off all activated abilities that require tapping, yet keep the activated abilities that don't.

Dutiful Constable is the Banisher Priest of the set, and, like other non-shaman humans, it fills out the flavor of the world of humans who decided not to join the Drove. The Dutiful Constable wants to maintain the order of the old world, whether the power structure is in place to enforce it or not.

The flavor of Crazed Moose Pack is that it is so rabid that if you want it to attack something outside of combat, it has to go crashing through the forest so hard it destroys the trees on its way.

Drover's Salvation is enchantment hate, but it's also enchantment love if you built your deck to have many enchantments and your opponent isn't playing any threatening ones.

Volanti Jinx is another enchantment hate card, while also being a Shaman tribal card to boot.

Restless Predator is the only card that untaps itself, a mechanic I'd like to revisit some time. (You can see, of course, that it can be locked in the Pillory and can't untap itself.)

I count Dizzying Canopy as a bit of a removal card, because the opponent might think they can freely attack with their fliers, like Shaman or Djinni, and then after attacks, you can play this and knock them all out of the sky so you can block and kill their creatures.

Ruin of Seffala – The Rare Legendary Cycle

Here are some of the big players in the world of Seffala. Each costs double color, each is legendary, and each is rare.

X, Y of the Z is a pretty long name. Text squish! Click to embiggen.

Hanne Volant has been mentioned a lot. She's the founder of the Drove/Volanti. Once the human farms and villages were destroyed by other warring tribes, she learned magic, created a post-apocalyptic religion, and taught her followers to fight back. Therefore, being a leader of her Shaman pack, she is a Shaman lord. She bestows upon them both a morality (P/T) boost, and the magic of healing (likely something she discovered in Mosswood).

While there is no leader of the Djinni quite like there is the Drove, there are still some notable Djinni with an awful lot of power. In this case, Sivan's magic is powerful enough to summon other Djinni to aid (and at a reduced cost for you).

Nettuun is the leader of the Nettlers, the primarily Red faction of the Witherkin that already moved once out of the swamps of Slog Bog, and will now move no further. His fortress is the Nettler Holdout, and his ferocity in battle is enough to give all who follow him his cunning (doublestrike). Therefore, while not the unquestionable leader of all Witherkin (and therefore not a lord), he does provide a great benefit to all who are on his side.

Giera has finally made an appearance, like Hanne Volant, after being in so much flavor text. Giera is a Witherkin who tried his best to learn from the Volantile, to become one, but, though Hanne might welcome anyone, the humans of the Drove did not like what they saw, and drove him away. He went back to his swamps to defend his homeland, and can now be found leading the Balder faction of Witherkin. He learned how to heal from the Drove (remove -1/-1 counters), but now he uses this knowledge in a backwards way, removing poisons from one creature only to inject another. Because he is so full of malice and is out to get his revenge, he cares less about his own tribe, so he is also not a lord, either. But since he learned the magic of the Drove, he has activated abilities instead.

Mosswood's Hold breaks the cycle of legendary creatures in favor of a legendary enchantment. Since Mosswood has no leader, no tribe, it has no humanoid creature at the helm. The forest of Mosswood itself is the magic, and it is out to bring peace and to heal the land. So all you get from the enchantment, instead of a significant creature, is another Moss Wall token. However, like the rest of the Defender theme of Mosswood, the enchantment turns off all kinds of combat keywords to ensure a more equal (or perhaps just more peaceful) playing field.

Ruin of Seffala – Blue Followthrough, More Black & Red Removal

Lots o' text. Click.

I notice here the inconsistency with the wording of Followthrough, so I think if I make a Seffala version 2, I will most certainly strive for a more consistent version of it. It should probably be a cast trigger at all times, rather than an ETB trigger for permanents. Other than that, these are all your basic bonuses for Followthrough. In some cases, the bonus just amplifies the effect (lie Swept in the Current), while in others it provides an additional effect (like Drover's Deliverance). Inveigle was definitely another word of the day from dictionary.com.

I like the flavor of Fading Dimmer; it's suggestive of an old Djinn who can finally spend the last of its essence for a final effect. Little Brighter, meanwhile, is like a baby Djinn that's just learning the ropes. (I also like the number of Brighter/Dimmer puns I have managed.) Skyquake is anti-Shaman tech. Normally red only hurts ground creatures when it comes to mass damage spells, but it's not unprecedented to get a flyer-only spell in Red. Hack Through is a Green-hate card, especially with all the Moss Wall tokens Green gets.

I have a feeling that both 'Vitiators' and 'Gorgonops' may have been more words of the day that I managed to find a place for. Quiet Violence is restrictive removal, but not restrictive in Black's normal way, but rather in White's, I think, so I think in the future one of the things I need to keep in check is cards that bend the color pie just a tad too much. I like how Disease worked, in that you can get rid of near anything in the format, but you have to take a big hit to do so. And for the very few creatures with toughness greater than five, you can shut them down for a turn without having to take the damage quite yet. Perhaps, however, it could be a cheaper mana cost.

Ruin of Seffala – Lands

For Seffala, I created five Legendary mono-colored lands that help tell the story of the world. All enter the battlefield tapped (for something resembling balance reasons, perhaps).

'Mosswood' toootally not originally 'Knotwood'. Click to read.

The Church of the Drove is the white land, headquarters for the Volanti (and of Hanne Volant herself). In the flavor text, you see the church was built where a farm used to be, and it represents growth and life amidst ruin. Hanne Volant is trying, in her own way, to heal the world by combating and defeating the Djinni, Parasites, and Witherkin run amok, though this just causes more chaos. For her part, she is helping her tribe, which is why you can tap the Church of the Drove to gain one life.

Slog Bog is where the Witherkin come from, and although the Witherkin once kept to themselves, they were driven out of Slog Bog by something worse. As such, their power comes from the Slog Bog itself, so Slog Bog is able to generate -1/-1 counters on command... for a price.

The Church of the Drove and Slog Bog form a pair, in that they both have activated abilities, while the other three lands don't, but instead do something upon entering the battlefield.

The Vast Djinnwar Sea is where the Djinni come from, so when you play Vast Djinnwar Sea, you get to have a free wish (draw a card).

The Nettler Holdout is where Witherkin have gone to make a stand after being driven from Slog Bog into the mountains. Though some stayed in Slog Bog (and were consumed by darker powers), and some continued farther into Knotwood, many decided to try to live in the mountains of Seffala. The land gives you a one-time ramp boost when it enters the battlefield. I don't recall my story reason for this, but perhaps it is the Witherkins' determination to become one with the land and grow from it.

Mosswood is the name of the forest of Seffala, and the forest itself is the thing that is alive, with no particular leader, simply the wood itself providing power, regrowing itself to stop the invasion of Witherkin and Shamans. Therefore, when it enters the battlefield, you get a defensive plant token.

Ruin of Seffala – Payoffs & Misc.

A few random cards. There are still many cards with themes to consider, but these are a few that don't quite fit anywhere else.

A bunch of random stuff!

Sly Compromise is meant to be one of White's "fairness"-style cards which you can use to your advantage. On your combat, you'll turn off your weakest attacker and their strongest blocker (probably). On their turn, you'll probably turn off their strongest attacker and your weakest blocker (assuming you don't want to use it to chump).

Swift-Tongue Lizard is a form of anti-Shaman tech for green, where it can pick off Shaman tokens and other nuisances, but is otherwise a mediocre ground creature.

Parasitic Grip is a Parasite-tribal payoff.

Since Jeskai has Followthrough abilities, often on Instants and Sorceries, Rememberance Djinn is a bit of a Followthrough payoff or helper.

Droning Mosquitos is another kind of Followthrough payoff that doesn't mention Followthrough.

Fallen Noble is a bit of worldbuilding flavor, where the human nobility has been usurped by the Drove.

Rend the Future is another form of temporary or pseudo-carddraw/card selection in Red. It is a powerful card for being at common, but in a limited format, you don't want to play too many of these or you are in danger of exiling all the cards in your library and you'll lose from a variant of self-mill.

Isopolity is one of those cards that came very late in design when I was stuck for cards and was looking at Dictionary.com's word of the day. I have a few of those kinds of cards, all told. Inspiration from the strangest sources!

Intimidating Roar is useful to get that last little bit of damage in to end the game, and works for you whether you have small or big creatures.

Thieving Scoundrel is more of a sideboard card for when you see a player with an artifact. Previously I showed off all the artifacts (except for one token artifact that comes later), and five of the six artifacts I showed were at rare (the common artifact was a bear). See a scary artifact, and you can take it for your own.

The flavor of Delirious Wolfpack (rather than another descriptive word) is that they've been corrupted by the influence of Parasites or Witherkin. Of course, this is another card for the G/W token deck.

Immortal Pain is a black take on a fog effect.

Ruin of Seffala – Green -1/1 Counter Synergy, Red Witherkin Tribal

Now comes a few of the kookier experiments, I think.

Click to embiggen.

The flavor of Cult Escapee is that it's a Shaman (White or Blue) that has seen the darker side of the Volantile, and has the scars to prove it (a -1/-1 counter). A card such as this would act like a 2/2 under ordinary circumstances, but with the W/G theme being interaction with -1/-1 counters, there is the possibility you'l find a way to remove the counter on your own.

Similarly, Tree Ants' ability is of no consequence at all at first, since it has no -1/-1 counters to start, but if you're up against a Wither deck, you can remove the -1/-1 counters that Tree Ants receives and have your deathtoucher back.

Bloomsong has the flavor of the forest healing, while Carcinogenic Wurm has the flavor of a forest creature having been altered by the influence of the Witherkin or perhaps parasites.

Witherkin Barrage and Nettler Ambush are Witherkin Tribal payoffs in Red, turning your Witherkin into direct damage.

Ruin of Seffala – Parasites, Good and Bad

So far, the only parasites I've shown have been those that pump one's own creatures, but I also came up with a few that can go on an opponent's creatures.

Parasites in other colors!

They still all have the Parasite clause, which gives the opponent an extra 1/1. Depending on the 'bonus' mechanic of the parasite, it can make them a chump blocker, or can be even more insignificant. Not the greatest mechanic; perhaps if I remake this mechanic later the parasite will give a +1/+1 boost in addition to other text. I didn't do that for the sake of putting the Parasite on opponent's creatures, but I think that was probably a failure of design.

These last two are more positive parasites that you would cast on your own creatures. Being much simpler and being the kind that pump rather than hurt, they work a lot better.

Ruin of Seffala – Gargoyles & Witherkin Tribal

Someday I'll revisit a Gargoyle Tribal theme. Until then, this is it...

I always felt like gargoyles were more interesting than dragons, and never really got their time in the limelight. So I came up with a few gargoyles for Seffala, though as you can see these aren't quite as powerful (or rare) as I had wanted them to be. I do like the flavor of Abominable Guardian being a Witherkin tribal card, and it's a bit of a protector of Witherkin, getting reveng against those that would do them harm.

Here are the last of the green Witherkin, with Witherkin Caravan being another Witherkin tribal payoff. Overgrown Nettler has the flavor of Mosswood taking over the creature and melding with it, though in a different way than a Parasite might. Obscured Jarren is one of my many experiments to create a "Camoflauge" mechanic that I still haven't quite figured out.

Ruin of Seffala – Blue Card Draw & White Tappers

Oh boy, here we go. Now we get to clearly see, beyond a shadow of a doubt, just how dumbly broken by first outing with a full Magic set is.

I weep.

You can see here how ridiculously undercosted any card is that says "draw three cards" on it, even if they're rare. I do like a few of the cards though, though they should be better balanced. I like the flavor of Wishwar, being that you deny someone their wish and then you get to make a wish of your own. Also, Prowisher is kind of a combination of the words Prowess and Wish. Eager Djinn was partly intended to allow you to have the opponent draw three cards if you wanted, securing a mill win if it was at that point on the game, but of course that's such an edge case it's silly.

Better?

When I was making this set, I was watching a ton of The Mana Leek on Youtube (I still do), and taking far too much of his playstyle in mind when making cards. With many life gain cards, the lifegain is overpowered, since he was so 'meh' on lifegain. Likewise, he is such a fan of tappers, I included quite a few tapping spells.

I find it so interesting (and cringey) that I'm posting these old cards, and the lessons learned from this set in making my new set. My new set, as well, has many mistakes in it, so I'm learning yet more from that. Growth! I like it!

Ruin of Seffala – Nostalgia and Artifacts

One of the themes is this set has been nostalgia: trying to make a set from the bits and pieces of memories from the early days of Magic when I was in middle school. I previously introduced walls as being a nostalgic item for me, but now here are a few Seffala-flavored takes on specific cards I remember.

Some of my favorite cards, if only for nostalgic reasons.

Hunger is a black take on the blue card Thirst from Mirage. However, instead of having an Upkeep cost like Thirst, Hunger requires the creature's controller to pay 2 life to untap the creature. Perhaps for a few turns, this may not be a big deal, but soon enough the opponent will have to let that creature remain tapped.

Enveloping Grass is a play on Elephant Grass from Visions. It's similar, though it only knocks out one creature at a time, and doesn't have Cumulative Upkeep or the black-hosing aspect.

Vermivorous Plant is a take on Carnivorous Plant from Fourth Edition. Carnivorous plant itself is just a vanilla 4/5, but it is the earliest memory I have of purposefully buying an individual card, rather than a pack, so it is vivid in my memory. Of course, one's memory plays tricks sometimes, since my memory is of it being a 6/3 or a 3/6. With Vermivorous plant, for the sake of not having yet another vanilla creature, I made it useful with black's Parasite theme, and works as a nice Voltron target.

Vile Growth is a take on Wild Growth from all the way back in Alpha, though I probably knew it myself from Fourth Edition. I liked the idea of turning the card into a Parasite, but is otherwise quite similar. Also, like Homesick Herbalist is helpful to Simic, Vile Growth is helpful to Golgari.

My memories of artifacts from back in the day were that they were rare and powerful. The first time I saw one, I was amazed that it was colorless. I believe a friend must have shown me an artifact like Glasses of Urza or Ankh of Mishra, because my memory of artifacts is that they were small objects with what felt like simple but wild abilities. These are my takes on trying to capture the feeling I had back then upon looking at my first artifact. As such, each of these are rare, and these are all of the artifacts in the set, apart from the one bear as previously shown.

Drover's Broomstick and Crown of Horns are fairly simple equipments, as far as they go. Mortar and Pestle is the name of the card I swore I saw for the first time, or something like it (though I cannot say what the real card was I first viewed). Being a fan of modal spells and abilities, I like that you can use this as ramp or as -1/-1 counter hate, which is certainly useful for all colors but green (since green can do both of those things already).

Strange Cocktail is a fun one, because its abilities change based on what colors you are playing. You are limited in its effect to what your colors are already capable of, but its versatility still means it like goes in every deck.

Porcelain Icon is another card that pushes closer to the style of what I used to believe an artifact was and did. I also like the versatility of this card: you can give a -1/-1 counter to every creature on an opponent's board (punishing go-wide strategies), or you can bulk up and remove a big threat (supposing there are a few more creatures on the opponent's board that you don't care about).

Ruin of Seffala – Blue Scry, Red Ramp

Ok, out of the vanilla and back to more complicated rules.

Actual stuff to look at! Click to embiggen.

Blue, of course, is the primary scry color, so like Red's rummaging, I included a few scriers (above the few I've already posted). Shape the Future is a massive amount of scry, but it comes with a flavorful warning: you may like the idea of stacking your deck so much, but so much can change by the time you'd draw those cards you scried that you've ended up possibly making bad decisions. Saltwater Djinn is a Scry payoff, so whenever you bottom a card with scry, your Saltwater Djinn becomes unblockable. I also included here Freshwater Djinn, which has nothing to do with scry but is Saltwater Djinn's partner is some ways.

Red's version of ramp tends to be momentary and impulsive, so each of these cards give a temporary boost of mana. Mana Burn in particular is a fun one, since the term is an old rule and I wanted to give a new take on it. For the most part, you're storing up the two mana you spent to cast the aura onto a creature, but it has a possible Followthrough upside. Mana Burn and Perfect the Offensive are very tricky about when to have their mana ability matter, since, if you do them at instant speed, they're not going to carry over between steps or phases so you better use that mana immediately. Perfect the Offensive also gives you the temporary card draw Red is now known for, should you desire that instead.

Ruin of Seffala - Worldbuilding with Vanilla, French Vanilla, and Creme Brulee Creatures

To clear these out of the way, let's discuss some very simple creatures. Every set needs a few vanilla creatures, which are creatures with no rules text. French Vanilla creatures are those with just an evergreen keyword or two. What I'll call Creme Brulee creatures are simple creatures with set-specific keywords.

These creatures not only fill out the commons (literally called 'filler'), but also provide room for some worldbuilding and storytelling.

You may need to click to enlarge, though there's not much to look at.

In white, Homestead Survivor is one of the few humans who did not opt to join the Drove. We will see more of these kinds of characters, primarily in white, that refuse to join sides and want to just live off the land, just how some Witherkin (the Jarren faction) refuse to make war like the Nettlers and Balders, and escape the mountains and swamps to live in the forest (those come later). Ceremonial Escort is filler for Shaman tribal. The Blue, Black, Red, and Green vanilla creatures here fill out the menagerie of life in Seffala. Springstep's Grizzly is an allusion to Springstep, a legendary character which we will come across later. (Giera and Hanne Volant have also aready been mentioned, and we will see many of these characters later.)

Like Homestead Survivor, Farm Guard, Farm Yak, and Friendly Neighbor fill out the last of the White farmers trying to keep to their land. Brother & Sister Volant are simple Shamans in Volant's cult, while Lofty Dimmer is a simple Djinn. Once more, the rest of the creatures simply fill out some of the animals of the land.

Here, now, we see the Witherkin being our first set of Creme Brulee creatures (as all Witherkin must be, since they all have Wither and it is a set-specific keyword). In the creature subtypes and names, you can start to learn the story of the world. Balders are sticking to their native swamps, fighting against the Parasites, Nettlers have settled in the mountains, and fight for their right to live there against the Djinni, and Jarren continue to explore to the forests to live in peace away from both enemies. Mushrooming Moss is part of the forest of Seffala's defense mechanism to ensure the forest can survive and heal. Scourge of Slog Bog is a bit of a joke card, an early card I came up with when I was still taking this set unseriously. I still find it funny (I even considered making it legendary). Once more that last few cards fill out more of the beasts that live on the plane.

Okay, that's a heck of a lot of (mechanically) boring cards, but now that that dump is over with, we'll be able to focus on more interesting cards and mechanics.

Ruin of Seffala – U/B Mill, W Counter Hate, G Ramp, R Card Advantage

Ok, let's blast through these.

We'll get through a slew of these yet.

One of the themes of Blue/Black is Mill, so here is a suite of cards that help with that. I like how the variety of options actually cross through the tribes, so no one tribe or theme is exclusively Mill. Feasting Maggots has a parasite flavor, Powdermaker is a shaman, Concussive Nettler is a Witherkin, and Lunatic Dimmer is a Djinn.

Like Green from before, White gets a bit of -1/-1 counter hate. In this case, however, I'd think that these are all Shaman-related.

I've always been a fan of ramp, and I like to experiment with different ways to achieve it. Homesick Herbalist is like Avacyn's Pilgrim, but taps for blue; I had the flavor of a Shaman that's naturally a Blue creature get lost in the forest. Nature's Return was made before "Return to Nature" came up in real Magic sets, I swear. However the flavor is also that, while Shamans and Witherkin and Djinni are fighting amongst themselves, the forest is quietly regrowing, healing itself, to prepare to stop the wars and bring peace back to the land. Meanwhile Starving Tuskrats give more of the flavor of how sick the land currently is.

A few instances here of Red's psuedo-card advantage of the rummaging type. Frantic Advantage was inspired by Frantic Search. Both Witherkin and Djinni are represented here as options, should you need one over the other for tribal reasons.

Ruin of Seffala – Red & Black Removal

Click for larger image.

The black removal here takes on the flavor of the set. Merciful Edict has the leader of the Witherkin rebels in its flavor text, and Parasitic Siphon uses the black theme of parasites.

Flickering Flames is a little off-color, in that it has more of a Shaman flavor (which is primarily white/blue), though its effect is direct damage. Magma Geyser takes its cue from the land formations of the world.

New Year's Resolutions

Gonna retool this blog a little bit.

My old "About" section mentioned my 'perpetual alpha' philosophy: games aren't finished, only abandoned. Well, seems that philosophy doesn't get me far. I end up abandoning too many projects without even reaching a base level of completion. Most of my projects are rather large tasks for a single person to complete, e.g. Magic sets, FissureVerse, Latchkey. I am always a grandiose thinker with a lot of ambition but when I new idea hits me I put one large project on hold to start another large project.

But I found that I have been able to complete small projects that made me happy to finish them: Dominion sets, HeroQuest levels, Doom levels. So I'm going to make an effort to focus on more small one-offs. My 'Monthathons' worked out well, to give me a sense of accomplishment, so I will start giving myself achievable deadlines, like making one small project a month, like a single Doom level.

This blog was also originally kind of a 'developer's blog', taking it's cue from the Dwarf Fortress blog, with weekly updates on projects, but I think my wavering interest in some projects and lack of progress shows itself when posts have almost nothing to offer each week (thinking of Latchkey, for instance). On top of that, I was kind of cheating, not even showing off development as I go with the Magic set, since I was only posting cards when I had drawn some art for them. Which, by the way, I know is not my strong suit, and I do not have the patience to get better at. So I'm going to focus on projects where art is not something that is required. Therefore I won't be making any more art for Magic sets, and won't be slogging my way through finding art for FissureVerse. I am very grateful to all the artists who have allowed me to use art for FissureVerse for free, but I feel that it's now a project that, if I pick it up again, will be altered in enough fundamental ways I may as well consider it a new game.

2020 will be the year of Monthathons. I will attempt to make 12 projects, one for each month, each one small and doable, like a Doom level. I am currently working on three major non-game projects so this blog has taken a back seat and dried up this last year. My hope is that these mini-project Monthathons will reinvigorate me.

I am not positive about posting schedule. I will have at least one post a month, when the project is done. I'm thinking anything else is a bonus. I may finish off the current Magic set, sans art, since the Magic set is actually done, and has been for quite some time, since before I even started posting it (in fact I've been working on a second Magic set). Without making anymore art for it, the set can actually be posted very quickly. Perhaps I'll pop those out to keep me remembering that I have a blog and that I should be working on stuff.

Anyway, 2020 has begun.