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Set Themes

What are set themes anyway, and why are they so important?

Set themes give you a context by which most synergy in the set is designed to happen. I word this carefully because, as any player can tell you, its the synergy that -isn't- specifically designed to occur that is usually the most intriguing and exciting.

In this set I had a few goals and wanted to put that into the cards. Let's go over them.

"Targeting Matters"

First, the most important theme to the set is "targeting matters." This is drilled in with creature cycles and spells, but also the new mechanics such as Shred, and new creature abilities which alter or specifically focus on targeting.

The first creatures I came up with were an uncommon cycle that could redirect targeting as they saw fit (via activation cost, of course). The first was Lurking Insectoid, setting the stage for the other four:

Soon after I began with the Looming Cycle, some enchantments which keyed off targeting:

I then began creating lands which would interact with targeting, "Lairs" which would be represented for each race:

Bleeding Colors

In this, the final set, I wanted a much greater multicolor presence, not in as many cards, but rather how different the multicolor cards are to the previous sets, not to mention the introduction of hybrid mana.

Firstly I created a series of Hybrid Auras:

Legendary Might

Then I began with a series of Legendary Creatures that would represent the people and their representitive races and culture:

The colors bleed in other ways, such as a cycle of off-color activation costs:

Elegance

A few of the creations were simply powerful, simple spells that I had been wanting to create for awhile.

As you can see this is only the beginning to the themes and ideas woven into the set. Feel free to explore it further and see how the pieces fit.

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