TwistedSpoon Studio

      Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! Workshop Wednesday is where we share custom Magic designs and discuss the process behind them. This week, I thought it would be fun to look back at the Workshops that we've done so far! Cost Lands     Lands? With Costs? Witchcraft!      This was the first Workshop Wednesday and the design that inspired the series. Cost lands were extremely divisive, but the response was net positive. If you want to learn more about the design space, you can find the original workshop here . Prophecy     On the other end of the spectrum, prophecy was very  well received. My old college roommate-- the infamous Zuberan, for those in the know-- and I came up with this a while back, but this workshop explored the design space and found some interesting places it could go. You can find the original article here . Backup     These designs demonstrated the power of flavor, elevating a well-received mechan...

    Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! This week in our series on Festival of Urbestia , the custom Magic set about a world of beastfolk, we're continuing Integration design with a new set skeleton-- this time with uncommons! Because the world of Urbestia has changed so much during this stage, this set skeleton is going to look very different from the last one that was shared.     You can find the new set skeleton here . The rest of this article will be explaining the changes that have taken place, but stick around until the end for an important announcement.   Out with the Old     We've already talked Crafting to death, but it bears repeating here. The Equipment-token mechanic has been removed from the set skeleton, but a minor equipment-matters theme has remained. There are common Equipment in white, red, and colorless, with Equipment-matters support at uncommon. This archetype is pretty slim, with the hope that players will mostly i...

    Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! Workshop Wednesday is where we talk custom Magic designs, and this week we're covering Elementals. I've always felt like Elementals should have some sort of special type line-- either as Enchantment creatures ( being made of magic ) or land creatures ( often being living places ). This week, we're tackling an execution that combines the two: Embody!     Embody is an alternate-cost mechanic that allows you to return a land to your hand in order to make the spell cheaper. Early in the game, this allows players to trade tempo for bulk. Later on, this becomes a way to replay lands or even generate extra mana by returning a tapped land to your hand.     In terms of typelines, enchantment creatures need more justification than artifact creatures do. In order to feel more like enchantments, these creatures tend to have an activated, triggered, or static ability. Today's selection shows off one of each to convey this idea. ...

     Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! This week in our series on  Festival of Urbestia , the custom Magic set about a world of beast folk, we're revisiting our draft archetypes. Third times' the charm! White/Blue     This color pair isn't changing much. Blockers on the ground, attackers in the air-- it's a classic. The seasoning that gives it that little extra  oomph  this time around is the artifact theme. While blue had commerce before ( "whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under your control, [effect]" ), now white has it too, allowing for a broader range of effects. We also have the flicker tech from earlier versions of FUR, which can now be used to repeat commerce triggers. Blue/Black     Continuing our "classic archetypes with an artifact theme" trend, blue/black is, of course, control. This time around, the twist is Treasure-- while every color has at least one in this set, black has more than the rest. That means that...

      Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! Every Monday we bring you Musings on game design, and this week, we're talking about resource systems. Every game has them, whether they appear to or not. Resource systems fall into two broad categories: Implicit and explicit.     Consider Yu-Gi-Oh for a moment. Your goal is to reduce your opponent's life points to zero by summoning and attacking with Monsters. You summon Monsters by playing them from your hand onto the field once per turn.     Now consider Magic: the gathering. Your goal is to reduce your opponent's life to zero by casting and attacking with creatures. You cast creature spells by tapping lands to produce mana, which you spend to pay their mana cost.     That's the difference between implicit and explicit resource systems. In an implicit resource system, you have a hard limit to what you can do-- summon one Monster a turn, take four actions per turn, attach one Trainer item per turn,...

      Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! This week in our series on Festival of Urbestia , the custom Magic set about a world of beastfolk, we're kicking of the Integration stage by introducing two new mechanics. We're going to discuss what left and why, and then we'll talk about Vicious and Commerce. Funeral for a Friend     First up, we have to say goodbye to a mechanic. Suit Up, originally Craft, was a keyword action that allowed the player to create one of two equipment tokens. One granted +1/+1, the other +0/+2, and both had equip 2. The idea was that the tokens would have different arts, allowing you to customize your creatures aesthetically and mechanically.      There are three problems with Suit Up. First, the tracking can be a pain-- when you have the tokens, it's fine, but if you don't, you're trying to remember which penny is a Claw and which is a Pelt. On online clients, it can be hard to tell at a glance which is which when they'r...

      Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! It's Workshop Wednesday, which means we're going behind the scenes on custom Magic designs. This week, it's the Tragedy mechanic!     Tragedy is an alternate-cost mechanic that appears on instants and sorceries, allowing them to be cast when they're put into the graveyard from your library. That most often means mill, but it also triggers off of effects like Dark Bargain and Gifts Ungiven.     Tragedy is inspired by Miracle, a similar mechanic from Avacyn Restored that allowed you to cast a spell for a much lower cost if it was the first card you drew in a turn. Interestingly, cards can break their normal timing restrictions when cast with Miracle. The same loophole is intended for Tragedy (and technically, I think it has to work that way to work at all, but don't quote me on that).     Tragedy has some strange balancing concerns. On the one hand, it essentially allows you to draw cards by allow...

      Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! This week in our series on Festival of Urbestia , the custom Magic set about a world of beast folk, it's finally time to start the Integration Stage of design. What is Integration?     The Integration Stage is where we take the vision that we spent the last four months creating, and we figure out how to actually make it happen. That means playtesting, playtesting, and playtesting some more. We're going to stress test the set, find the gaps in our mechanics, and iron out the wrinkles.     We're also going to integrate the story elements more heavily. This means creating cards to represent story moments, adding flavor text to existing designs, and reflavoring cards to fit better with the beats we want to hit. We're also going to craft the uncommons and rares during this stage, so those designs will have the story built-in from the start. About the Story...     Before we do that, I want to address feedb...