At some point, Magic will do a return block for Theros.
If you were in charge of such a block, what would you do to make it better than the original?
>>47442479
Have a mechanic akin to Investigate that creates Worship tokens, that are enchantment tokens.
Each Worship token has 'sacrifice 5 worship tokens, search your library for a God card and put it onto the battlefield.'
In addition to passive bonuses, each God has an ability that interacts with Worship tokens, such as spending them to deal damage or spending them to return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield until end of turn.
Have the set be about all of the shit having gone down with Xenagos somehow fucking up the connection between Theros and Nyx, so the gods are gaining less and less power from the faith of their followers and are all in a mad scramble to gather all of the belief they can before they starve to death.
Bring back Elspeth as a planeswalker in order to convince her to fix the problem for them, since it was a planeswalker that messed everything up in the first place. Elspeth agrees, but bitchstabs Heliod first before returning the rest of the gods to full power.
>>47442479
Make it less under powered, and have some more creative mechanics. Otherwise, I think Theros block was a flavor home run and had solid art direction. So it doesn't need much work there.
Story wise, Elspeth comes back as an Angel Planeswalker.
make it an actual enchantment block
make the enchantments not 50% garbage
tada!also leave elspeth dead. not even a returned, just regular dead. never mentioned again
>>47442691
I actually really like this
>>47442479Actually, I liked it as it was - just add more diversity of abillities in heroic
>Elspeth and Xenagos need to work together to break out of the Underworld, realizing that their enemy is Heliod, not each other
I NEED IT
>>47442737
this. Theros's problems were in it's mechanics. The setting for the plane was fine.
It's not that surprising that they have miss with mechanics sometimes, given that they create like 12 a year.
>>47442755
better they don't try for an 'enchantments block' the last time they tried that we got Urza's saga. Which made powerful cards, but was broken as all fuck, and no one remembers the enchants from anyways.
Remember that each set going forward has to have at least one of the Origins Five in it. Which one is Theros 2 stuck with?
It might be fun to see Gideon come home, but if Elspeth comes back to life than we're stuck with two monowhite walkers.
Recost bestow to not be overcost, or allow bestow to do something else, like the ability to switch equipped target or interact with other enchantments in some way. Maybe something that makes bestow matter?
>>47442479
Voltron style Enchantment creatures. They would only be able to enchant other enchantment creatures, and it wouldn't cost anything extra to do so.
>>47442816
>no one remembers the enchants from anyways.
sneak attack, mind over matter, yawgmoth's bargain, defense of the heart, glorious anthem
and thats just one for each color. the free spells and yawg will stole the show but it had really good enchantments too.
>>47442823
gideon comes home, comiserates with ajani and/or elspeth (somehow) about bant, go team white walkers! this kinda makes the most sense but is the least likely just because planeswalker color balancing in the set. at least two of the three would warrant a cardso i guess monoblack elspth and no ajani could work too
alternately, kiora comes back to pick a new fight with thassa after her theological differences with the eldrazi and literally any of the gatewatch are dragged along because reasons.
>>47442479
After Xenogos proves that mortals can obtain Godhood, Theros is filled with charismatic, smart, or brutal motherfuckers all trying to do their own rituals.
In game this is Ascend. Creatures with Ascend come in like normal with an ability that targets one permanent. Pay their Ascend cost, and they become Enchantments as well as their normal types, and their ability changes from "target" to "each"
Eg.
Monowhite Guy
1W
During the start of your combat phase, target creature gains +1/+1 until end of turn
Ascend 3W
>>47443936
let out "you control". and that sounds like overload, plus monsterous, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
>>47443958
That was more or less the idea; make Monstrous not terrible
>>47442691
I like this too. Any way they can be made to interact with Devotion?
>>47442908
Is there an aura with 'enchant enchantment'?
(Checked just now. There is! Multiple!
http://magiccards.info/query?q=o%3A%22enchant+enchantment%22+t%3A%22aura%22&v=card&s=cname)
>>47443996
monstrous as an idea wasn't terrible, it just wasn't well implemented on most of the cards.
Bestow was more of a problem, and heroic could have been good but was trickier as you have to be careful in designing cards that trigger it in addition to the heroic cards.
Tribute was just bad. Devotion wasn't that good either.
>>47444180
I don't even remember what tribute was.
I thought devotion was great though.
>>47444204
devotion is a bit of a problem because it effects the color spread of decks, so it's effects can spill over in weird ways.
Not necessarily a bad mechanic, but one that it's harder to shape and control, especially when you start throwing other sets into the mix.
>>47444347
That's part of the reason I liked it. It required smart deckbuilding skills, and I still feel like it can be expanded on.
I'm surprised. I expected way more spite, like in those 'what if you ran MTG for a day?' threads.
>>47444681
Most of the spite is in the Eternal Masters thread
>>47443936
This would be really neat in a return to Theros set: enchantments matter, its flavor is spot-on for what you're talking about, and it's like a god-aligned monstrous, which is really cool.
Lots of Constellation, cheap Bestow costs and cards from Scars of Mirrodin block with the word "artifact" replaced with "enchantment"
>>47442823
>each set going forward has to have at least one of the Origins Five
Ugh. I'm sick of this shit.
>>47445398
Did he say specifically the origins 5 or did he say a member of the jacetice league
>>47445398
Meh I don't really mind
>>47445707
Technically its just Jacetice members
>>47445777
Isn't the point of the thing to get a lot of planeswalkers into the group and help across the multiverse. A justice league of 4 is a pretty shitty justice league.
>>47445801
It's implied more of them are going to be added later
>>47442479
theros is garbage, torch the setting.
i'd rather kamigawa desu.
>>47445993
Yea, and hopefully some of those will have more character than some dry pasta
>>47446006
Why not both?
>>47442479
>we will get Theros 2 before Kamigawa 2
Good thing Theros was already a return to Kamigawa in terms of terrible mechanics and silly lore, at least.
>>47442479
I would have a War of the Gods.
Being in new Gods and Older Gods to battle the Current Gods to take their places.
I would have Ajani and Daxos traverse the Underworld to bring Elspeth back.
I would have Elspeth take Heliod's place as the mono-white God.
I would some new badass enchantment artifact weapons. Especially ones of the dual colored Gods.
>>47446111
I liked the Devotion mechanic and the creation of enchantment creatures and enchantment artifacts.
>>47442479
Have it evolve from greek to roman
All the gods have gone missing, and the Forsaken are being used as "death" match gladiators
Elsepeth has lost her memories but is back and about
Ajanis Euphoric crusade to kill the gods by not believing in them. Heliod is already dead and the first block is a humans against gods kind of deal.
In the second block he gets to comunicate with elspeth and reffer to her as m'lady
>>47443936
Fuckin' love it m8, maybe have something like Heroic that activates whenever it's hit by an ability rather than a spell to play off of it.
>>47449537
Maybe something like Phalanx? As the Gods began to become mistrusted, mortals made pacts with each other to provide mutual protection in times of hardship. These pacts were named after common military practices and are part of the reason why mortals began to usurp the Gods
Eg.
MonoGreen Dude
2G
Phalanx-When this creature is targeted by another creature you control's ability, it gains trample until end of turn
3/3
Probably worded horribly but whatever
>>47442479
Literally just increase the power level, take the focus off of limited and remove all the pointless cards that have no reason to exist at all. I could say the same for most Magic expansions though, they really know how to waste cardstock.
In terms of mechanics and flavor Theros was perfect, even things like tribute and inspired are solid. They just need to be printed on more interesting cards.
>>47442479
make theros bankrupt like the real greece, then elspeth comes back, kills the gods and turns them into magic gold to solve economy
>>47442691
sounds parasitic as fuck
>>47442479
Include demigods
A legend for each colour and colour combination that starts off as a Small creature but becomes an indestructible enchantment when you have enough devotion
>>47442479
Erebos god of death deserves a strong presence. I would love to see a strong focus on the 2 for 1 side.
IE:
3 CMC (Body + Draw Card)
3 CMC (Body + Token Buddy)
1 CMC (Bring Back Innocent Blood)
3 CMC (A PW who can resurrect Snap casters, Delvers, DRS, ETC... from the graveyard back onto your board)
>>47443936
Maybe tie this in with the Worship counters earlier, where you can burn one Worship counter to put +1/+1 counters on your Ascend creatures, OR save them to sac five, get a God. Maybe when a creature Ascends it gains a new subtype like how God cards don't gain the creature type until certain devotion levels?
That would mechanically represent the flavour of mortals stealing the power of the gods and starving them out.
>>47442691
Your worship token could work for Theros-themed commander precons, but not as a block mechanic.
Theros has 15 gods, so that gets us about 7 per set. In limited/casual they would be terrible, due to how hard it'd be to get Gods
(extremely rare in limited and expensive for the kitchen table) and I doubt constructed players would waste their time with a gimmick keyword.
You compared it to investigate, but in this case investigate says:
>"Put a colorless Clue artifact token onto the battlefield. It does nothing unless you pulled a mythic rare."
>>47452475
I think that's where >>47452129 comes in.
Ascend would work as an Uncommon level ability, Rare at most, and Worship would have something to do as its primary (triggering Ascend) with the god-pull mechanic being it's ult/secondary.
>>47442479
I'd include constellation in the first set like it should have been, as well as a sort of monstrous lord type effect like, "reduce all monsterous costs by 2 generic"
Speaking of monsterous, the added effects need to be heightened to match the mana costs. Monsterous was a good late game mana sink but a lot of the abilities tied to the creature weren't all that great. If i remember right the only creatures that saw play with monsterous were valued because they were decent without, and arbor giant was just good ramp for devotion decks.
I'd say fleecemane was the best monsterous activation.
>>47452701
>>47452475
Maybe each Worship enchantment (?) token could have "T, sacrifice this token: Place a +1/+1 counter on target enchantment creature or Spirit" with all the abilities triggering off current power or "When ~ gains a +1/+1 counter...", and there could be Temples that let you sacrifice 5 Worship tokens to summon a specific card.
Temples would all be similar, and would look something like this:
Temple to Kruphix U/G (hybrid)
Artifact (Land?) - Temple
T: Gain U or G
T: Place a Worship enchantment token on your side of the field (Maybe only for the mono-colored ones?)
T, sacrifice 5 Worship tokens: Search your library, hand, and/or graveyard for a creature card with Kruphix in its name, then place that card on the battlefield. If you searched your library, shuffle it.
There could be Temples to each of the 15 dieties, and to a few of the more special usurpers.
Then they could release a new set of God cards with different titles and abilities, a set of rare Spirits named "Servant of [deity]", and some uncommon Worshippers and Usurpers of [deity] to help the people who are unlucky with draws, don't have the devotion yet, or already have the deity out.
>>47442479
Add long as it ends with Elspeth escaping nix just in time to witness a phyrexian invasion I'll be happy. Suffering Elspeth is my drug
>>47453841
>unlucky with draws
Pulls, rather.
Dammnation reprint.
Bestow cards that target other permanents.
>>47453841
I would just give Gods:
>You may sacrifice X worship tokens rather than pay ~'s mana cost.
Having lands with so much is.. well, too much. Having a land for a specific God would suck. Maybe I am blinded by being an often draft player, but pulling one of those as a rare would suck, if you didn't get the exact God you needed.
Maybe something like this?
>TEMPLE
>Legendary Land - Temple
>Doesn't tap for mana
>T, Sacrifice X Worship tokens and TEMPLE: Search your library for a God card and put it into you hand.
>>47455252
>Maybe I am blinded by being an often draft player, but pulling one of those as a rare would suck, if you didn't get the exact God you needed
That's why there would ideally be corresponding "Servant/Worshipper/Usurper of [God]" you could also summon, just as a booby prize.
Maybe sacrifice X tokens to summon something with CMC X?
