Bloomburrow: Seasons' Heralds - Core Mechanics and Structure, Part 1
Hi everyone! I'm very happy with how the first two parts of this blog series have been received so far. I've gotten some really great feedback on some of the structural elements of the set which I'm still considering. This consideration may result in some (relatively minor) changes to some of the mechanics I previously described. In particular, I received some compelling feedback on Hibernate and Equinox which I found very useful. If I decide to act on any of this, I'll do a small post going over those changes. Again, any changes will be contained in scope, so I can continue going through the set for now since the majority of anything I cover will remain relevant.
Today we'll kick off discussing one of my personal favorite elements of a set, its cycles! In particular, I'll be focusing on signpost uncommons for the most part here. At the end, I'll also discuss a cycle of mythic rares which represent the seasonal archetypes as a whole, which is quite exciting as I haven't focused on any higher rarity stuff just yet. So let's get right into the signpost uncommons and how they relate to the previously discussed Limited archetypes!
Signpost Uncommons - Spring
For those who aren't aware, signpost uncommons are a frequent cycles of multicolored cards featured in contemporary Magic sets which are meant to represent the play patterns of the various Limited archetypes. You can sort of think of them like "mascots" for each archetype. They both give players drafting that archetype a solid pick once they've committed and act as signals for high-skill drafters about which colors might be open.
As such, these are some of the earliest cards I designed after settling on my intended archetypes as they give a good indications for depth, novelty, and feasibility for the Limited design. Of course, these designs alone are not a sufficient condition for such important metrics, but they are vital nonetheless.
The signpost uncommons for the Spring archetypes, (which are Bloom Tempo and Flower Spellslinger in case you forgot) are:
As always, the typical caveats on balance still apply here; I've done my best to balance these reasonably well, but there are myriad factors which make that difficult. I'll point out risks in the design (balance or otherwise) and potential knobs as I go through my thought process.
Starting with Pollination Hymn, I want to say first off that I'm quite happy with how this card turned out visually. This art (from as USPS stamp interestingly enough) just really fits Bloomburrow so, so well which is always a joy when scouring for art online for custom cards. Design wise, I think it's pretty clear, this card is very loudly telling you to go wide and swing. The second ability helps end games and also calls back to the original archetype from original Bloomburrow in a way I like. The big risk here is this is a two mana "do nothing" enchantment, which always a bit risky in modern Limited environments. My hope is this set is slow enough to support taking turn two "off" to set up (in fact, if it isn't that's a good indication something's wrong). Plus the cost reduction is very feasibly relevant by turn three with double two-drops, which is obviously great.
Next up is Fireworks Display, which I think came together well, flavor-wise. Balance-wise, it's more debatable as I can't tell if it's too strong or too weak. Historically, spellslinger decks have struggled to close out games in Limited. It looks Magic's designers have tried to fix this recently by making "big spells matter" the dominant theme over true spellsling. I've decided to go a different route here to see if a more traditional spellslinger shell can work. So, Fireworks Display is my attempt to give the archetype a clear path to victory. By slapping this on a creature and casting a bunch of spells, that creature (and hopefully a few other good creatures that trigger of noncreature spells) can pop off and win the game in a dazzling fashion. I think this is modestly balanced, if not a bit conservative, in Limited. The problem is I can imagine this being absurd when really built around (I can see Vivi
commander players salivating over this as I speak). That is to say, this is a fairly polarized card by its design, and doesn't have as many knobs to tune as I would like. Luckily, it can be fizzled by creature removal, which I think is pretty important. Despite the obvious risks, I think it's pretty fun and want to try it out, but I'm willing to be wrong here.
Signpost Uncommons - Summer
Moving on to summer (which as a reminder are 4-power Midrange and Untap Value), the signposts are:
Clearly, both of these play very nicely with the Summer mechanic, Sunbathe
. The archetype is more focused on building up a lot of guys to exactly 4 power, which Beachside Brutes clearly rewards you for. It also plays nicely with big mana dorks and stuff like Vehicles (which I've included at least of in the set so far, and might add more of). The burn potential is clearly very high, but I think there are enough hoops that it's acceptable. I love the art and flavor text I put on this one as well, just really feels right for the design.
Sunshade Cleric is just a great value engine in the archetype which ideally wants the game to go long. Notice that it triggers regardless of how many creatures got +1/+1 counters, so it supports the "go-tall" strategy of this archetype quite well. Small note, I tried my absolute best to track down the true source of this art, as I suspect that Pinterest user is not it, but had no luck. If any internet sleuths figure that out, please let me know and I will fix it!
Overall, not as much to say about these. I think they serve their purpose and drive forward a Sunbathe-centric game plan in a way I like.
Signpost Uncommons - Autumn
Next up is Autumn (with Recursion Midrange and Go Wide Tokens) and the signposts for these archetypes are:
Love that I was able to make a low rarity callback to Cruelclaw on the uncommon, as he was one of the original set's most memorable characters (who you can certainly expect to see more of). Cruelclaw's Cadre itself is a pretty rock solid evasive beater that also lets you trade out your lower value material for more attractive stuff you've lost. It has a fairly similar shape to stuff we've seen on cards before (such as Interceptor Mechan
). Making it a repeatable recursion engine carries some risks, of course, but I think there are real enough costs to doing it a lot that it won't get repetitive or overbearing.
I think Passionate Laborer is just a really fun card that I kind of wish was real. I just love "toolboxy" cards like this which reward proactivity. It's not hard to see how this works really well with Harvest, but it also rewards stuff like trading off or playing a fetch land. I also like the "get two, choose one" aspect as I believe it adds some nice, interesting tension to the design. And it plays well with "cast from exile synergy" within the set, which already plays well with Flower tokens