Guilds

There are ten 3-colour 'guilds':

Neighbours: two enemies and an ally colour
WUB--	Gnagrri	(Steven Irrgang, confirmed)
-UBR-	Ikol	(Loki Patrick, confirmed)
--BRG	Volrak	(David Karlov, confirmed)
W--RG	Ramnagrom	(David Morgan-Mar, confirmed)
WU--G	Iaz	(Darren Zai? probable)
Eclectic: two allies and an enemy colour
WU-R-	Gnik	(Andrew King? Darren Zai?)
-UB-G	Rek-oc	(Andrew Coker? unconfirmed)
W-BR-	Hsi Elcm	(David McLeish, confirmed)
-U-RG	Werdna	(Andrew Shellshear, confirmed)
W-B-G	Snillum	(Sebastian Mullins, probable)

Each inventor only makes cards in the colours of his guild. So Loki will make the blue-black-red guild Ikol, and will only invent blue cards, black cards, red cards, and blue-black-red cards.

Hybrid mana

Casting costs can use the 2-colour hybrid mana symbols, such as which can be mixed to produce 3-colour cards:

• Asymmetrically biased towards one colour. Inevitable with only two split mana symbols. Note, however, it's still possible to cast using either only green, or totally without green.
• Also asymmetrically biased, but forces the 'primary' colour to be used.
• Symmetric, three-colour hybrid card.
• Symmetric, gold card.
• Two primaries, one secondary.

Keyword

Each guild will have one keyword, which epitomises some common feature of that combination of three colours.

In Ravnica, each two-colour guild had a keyword which belonged equally in both colours.

We're aiming to do the same for the three-colour guilds in Thriceborn. (For some guilds, it's actually quite difficult to find a feature or ability which belongs equally in each of the three colours! But that's just part of the fun of the challenge.)

Number of cards

Each player will contribute 45 cards to the draft (equivalent of 3 boosters). But they needn't be 45 unique cards. Instead 18 to 20 unique cards are recommended:

• 11 commons, printed 3 times each, producing 33 printed cards
• 4 to 6 uncommons, some duplicates, producing 9 printed cards
• 3 rares

Possible 10-card cycles

Discussions (2008)

DMc and AS make the point that this [R/G][G/B][B/R] style makes a more interesting restriction, in that you need two out of the three colours of that guild to be able to play it (whereas all [R/G/B] allows any single guild to play it). Unfortunately, [R/G][G/B][B/R] is a trick you can only really pull (symmetrically) for 3+ casting costs.

• rarity is meaningful (other than for complexity),
• those cards are much more likely to see play,
• everyone's job is easier, so it's more likely to actually get done.

• 11 commons x 3 copies of each => 33 commons
• 4-6 uncommons (e.g.) with some duplicates => 9 uncommons
• 3 unique rares

   Guildmage (as per Ravnica) - Uncommon
   [C/D][D/E][E/C]
   Creature
   nC: ability
   nD: ability
   nE: ability
   3/3

   (3/3 for 3 is beefy, but note that you have to pay at least two colours for it.)

   Modal spell (as per Shadowmoor block) - Uncommon?
   n[C/D/E]
   Instant/Sorcery
   Do X if C was spent to play CARDNAME.
   Do Y if D was spent to play CARDNAME.
   Do Z if E was spent to play CARDNAME.

   Guild Leader (as per Ravnica) - Rare
   nCDE
   Legendary Creature
   [Insanely good stats and abilities]

   Multiland - Uncommon
   Land
   [Your choice of abilities capable of producing 3 colours of mana.
    Not necessarily symmetrical in colours - e.g. Homelands multilands.]

   Guild Mascot (as per Shadowmoor scarecrows) - Common?
   3
   Artifact Creature
   CARDNAME has [ability] as long as you control a C creature.
   CARDNAME has [ability] as long as you control a D creature.
   CARDNAME has [ability] as long as you control a E creature.
   2/2

Three-colour hybrid mana... weren't you arguing against this?

In fact, that cycle of spells from Shadowmoor/Eventide (Batwing Brume is the one that comes to mind, because it's AWESOME) would have been functionally the same if they'd had colourless mana costs. There are a few good reasons that they didn't (there's no WotC precedent for colourless instants/sorceries (Ghostfire excluded); Shadowmoor block had lots of triggers from playing coloured spells; the colours on the card are a useful visual cue), but the point is that the ease of paying the mana cost doesn't matter when the effect itself depends on the colours you used.

A Gatherer search for the phrase "was spent" brings up the similar Ravnica and Shadowmoor cycles in all their glory. There are some nice ideas there that we could reuse in structure without the individual cards feeling unoriginal:

http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/index.aspx?term=was%20spent&Field_Name=on&Field_Rules=on&Field_Type=on&setfilter=All%20sets&output=Spoiler

Instead, I feel we should be strict about using only one-colour and three-colour card backgrounds. E.g. only allow costs like:

• Mono: nC (with or without abilities that rely on D and/or E)
• Three: nC[D/E] (one colour always required)
• Three: n[C/D][D/E] (four ways to cast, including a mono way)
• Three: n[C/D][D/E][E/C] (symmetric)
• Gold: nCDE (symmetric)
• Gold: nCDDE (biased towards one colour)

The "and/or" should probably be an "and" to avoid Ravnica guilds. There's a lot of design space in the area of:

   nC
   Creature
   Ability native to C
   D: CARDNAME gains [ability native to D]
   E: CARDNAME gains [ability native to E]

   nC
   Creature
   D,Tap: ability native to D
   E,Tap: ability native to E

http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/index.aspx?term=battlemage&Field_Name=on&Field_Rules=on&Field_Type=on&setfilter=All%20sets&output=Spoiler

Meh. Nothing new under the sun and all that. :)

Does this make Thriceborn still-born? I reckon it's still a rich design space to play in, and the purpose of "Inventica 2" is to have some fun group invention happening, so I personally don't care if Wizards are exploring the same space at the same time, because the guild format is just a convenient and interesting way to divide up the design space so that each player only designs for the 3 colours he most often plays. I also doubt that Wizards will do mixed [C/D][D/E] casting costs, but who knows, maybe they will?

Currently, Ikol Guildmage is this:

   Card Name: Ikol Guildmage (working title)
   Color: Blue/Black/Red
   Cost: [U/B][B/R][R/U]
   Type: Creature --
   Pow/Tgh: 3/3
   Rules Text: 3U: Counter target activated or triggered ability.
                   (Mana abilities can't be countered.)
               3B: Target creature loses all abilities until end of turn.
               3R: Copy target activated or triggered ability.
                   You may choose new targets for the copy.
   Flavor Text:
   Rarity: Thriceborn Uncommon

The 3R ability is costed above the Izzet Guildmage's 2U/2R copy instant/sorcery ability. But Izzet's ability is even narrower: you must control the spell, and it must cost 2 or less. This makes me think copying is considered more powerful than countering...

If I've costed these abilities too cheaply, I could:

• Narrow to just triggered abilities. (Attractive because it's then quite distinct from any Guildmage ability in Ravnica.)
• Narrow to just activated abilities, and maybe limit to a maximum converted activation cost.
• Narrow the blue to triggered (to differ from Ravnica) and the red to activated. (But then they're not mirror opposites, but maybe that's OK.)
• Narrow black to remove only static abilities, completing the trinity.
• Add secondary costs, such as discard a card, sac a creature, etc.
• I'd rather not go up to 4U/4B/4R, I think that's getting too costly to be useful, and makes it too hard to do the 3U+3R combo which effectively redirects an effect. Even 3U/3R is a bit too costly; I'd prefer to get it down to 2U/2R if possible.

Interestingly, both Ravnica and Mirage peg all Guildmage abilities on the one Guildmage at the same converted cost. That's why I've made the costs here 3U/3B/3R. Conceptually, a Guildmage is evenly split between the colours, and doesn't favour one or the other, which is why the power and converted cost of each ability should be the same.

Here's a copy-and-paste of all the Ravnica and Mirage Guildmage abilities, by colour and cost:

   W, T: Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.
   1W: Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.
   2W: Tap target creature.
   2W: Target player gains 1 life.
   3W: Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.

   U, T: Put target creature you control on top of its owner's library.
   1U: Attach target Aura enchanting a permanent to another permanent with
   the same controller.
   2U: Counter target activated ability. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)
   2U: Copy target instant spell you control with converted mana cost 2 or
   less. You may choose new targets for the copy.
   3U: Target player draws a card. Play this ability only any time you
   could play a sorcery.

   B, T: Target creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
   2B: Each player loses 1 life.
   3B, Discard a card: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
   3B: Target player discards a card. Play this ability only any time you
   could play a sorcery.
   4B, Sacrifice a creature: Return target creature card from your
   graveyard to your hand.

   R, T: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target creature or player and 1 damage
   to you.
   1R: Target creature gains haste until end of turn.
   2R: Copy target sorcery spell you control with converted mana cost 2 or
   less. You may choose new targets for the copy.
   3R: Put a 2/1 red Goblin creature token with haste into play. Remove it
   from the game at end of turn.
   3R, Sacrifice a land: CARDNAME deals 2 damage to target player.

   G, T: Target creature gets +0/+1 until end of turn.
   1G: Move a +1/+1 counter from target creature onto another target
   creature with the same controller.
   3G: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
   3G: Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play.
   4G: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.

   1W: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
   1W: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
   2W: Untap target creature you control and remove it from combat.
   2W: The next time this turn target player would flip a coin, instead he
   or she flips two coins and ignores one.
   3W: Target creature gains lifelink until end of turn.
   3W: Target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until
   end of turn.
   4W: Target player sacrifices an attacking creature.

   1U: Target creature gains flying until end of turn.
   1U: Untap target creature.
   2U: Counter target triggered ability. (Mana abilities can't be countered.)
   2U: Counter target activated ability. (Mana abilities can't be
   countered.) RAVNICA DID THIS
   2U: Copy target activated ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
   2U: Target player scries 2.
   2U: Target creature gains all abilities of target creature until end of
   turn.
   3U: Return target creature to its owner's hand.
   4U: Counter target instant or sorcery spell.

   B: Remove target card in a graveyard from the game.
   1B: Target creature gains deathtouch until end of turn.
   2B: Target creature gains fear until end of turn.
   2B: Target creature loses all abilities until end of turn.
   2B: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
   3B: Target creature becomes 0/2 until end of turn.
   3B: Target creature attacks this turn if able.
   4B: Target creature becomes 0/2 and loses all abilities until end of turn.

   1R: Target creature gains "R: This creature gets +1/+0 until end of
   turn." until end of turn.
   2R: Copy target triggered ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
   2R: Copy target activated ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
   2R: Target player shuffles his or her library.
   3R, Sacrifice a land: Deal 2 damage to target creature.
   3R: Target creature attacks this turn if able.
   3R: The next time this turn target player would choose from two choices,
   he or she flips a coin to decide.
   4R: Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
   4R: Copy target instant or sorcery spell.

   1G: Target creature gains reach until end of turn.
   1G: Target creature gains "G: Regenerate this creature." until end of turn.
   1G: Target creature gains trample until end of turn.
   2G: Target creature loses all abilities until end of turn.
   3G: Target creature blocks this turn if able.
   3G: Target player puts a creature card from his or her hand into play.

If you look specifically at cards with 'Guildmage' in the name, there are 15, five from Mirage, and ten from Ravnica.

The Mirage guildmages are all 1/1, cost 1 mana, and have two tap abilities costing 1 in the allied colours. E.g:

   R 1/1 Creature - Human Wizard "Armorer Guildmage" Common
   B, T: Target creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
   G, T: Target creature gets +0/+1 until end of turn.

   (R/G)(R/G) 2/2 Creature - Human Shaman "Gruul Guildmage" Uncommon
   3R, Sacrifice a land: CARDNAME deals 2 damage to target player.
   3G: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

   UBR 3/3 "Ikol Guildmage" Rare
   3U: ...
   3B: ...
   3R: ...

Of course, maybe we shouldn't feel constrained to call these things 'Guildmages', or 'Battlemages', or try to fit in with what has gone before at all. At 3/3 I still think they are not an instant win-the-game kind of card, and also given our history with Inventica I think there'll be plenty of removal about and these guys will be obvious targets, so I don't think the pow/tgh is a big issue. Still, a third turn 3/3 creature (second turn if playing green), which can pump itself in some way could put very early pressure on...

But then look at Gruul Guildmage, it can attack as a 4/4 on turn 3 if you drop a Llanowar on turn 1. Overpowered? Or just doing what green/red should be doing?

Personally I think the "must use two of these three colours" aspect of these cards makes Thriceborn interesting and these proposed guildmages playable and draftable (you may only be able to play 2 of the 3 abilities if you're not exactly in that guild, but at least you get 2). I think if we make them gold cards, it pushes their time-to-play back from turn 3 to maybe turn 5 or 6 in practice, and means they'll matter in fewer games. Yeah, they're beefy as far as mages go, but I think the removal in the set will compensate.

I think the way to get a successful invented draft is mostly just to let people do what they want. A cycle of 10, however, appeals to the "group designer" in me, mostly because Ravnica's guildmages were such a neat cycle, but also because each would hint at what that guild is all about without really giving it away, and also because designing in the open means we avoid duplication and gain variety. I don't want to see six of the ten guildmages all having "2R: Deal 2 damage to target creature."

A 3/3 for 3 mana is excellent value, 3 colours to cast or not. Still, the original guildmages at 2/2 for 2 hybrid mana were even better value if anything. Although in some ways, having a whole lot of cheap 2/2s around (and I guess it's only 'cheap' for some colours) won't break the format in a way that cheap 3/3s possibly might.

I'd say it makes sense for them to be either 3/3 or 2/2. If they were 2/2 we'd just have to give them some decent abilities is all. Which is probably what I'd rather do.

Could also go for 2/3 as a middle ground on the stats. Given they're mages, I don't think it makes sense for them to be beefy.