Magic the Gathering - a return to the game 18 years after (Part 2)

(PART 2)

This isn't the place i left before, WTF is Ravnica?

So 10+ years after i sundered from the world of Dominaria, i found myself in Neutral Grounds, quite litterally...LOL. I was looking for a particular board game when i saw an Ad of what is to be War of the Sparks.
Its been such a surprise for me to know that MtG has finally had some amazing advertisement, something that L5R has been doing before with their promotions a decade before with moving images, a "real" storyline and cast of characters that the Legend of the Five Rings gave me and the fans, something to identify myself with.
For the months ahead, i was engulfed in ceaseless promotions and information as my curiosity again grew for the game. It was not the same when i started, i knew what the game is about but the cards, the format, the environment itself was utterly new that it was a new game altogether.

It was that time also that i opened my long forgotten relic of card boxes to check and see what i can sell out to kickstart my return back to this expensive hobby.
I knew i had some good expensive cards left but imagine my surprise to know that some cards i own that was never really a thing was actually now a piece of expensive cardboard realty.

Its 2019 and let me introduce back - these gems of cards



In between these four cards (i have three Grim Monolith and two Lions Eyes)- that's a 700 $ worth of money to get from selling these, and sold them i did.
It was enough to get me a box of War of the Sparks Booster Box, two Planeswalkers Decks, two PR Packs, a Core 2019 box, a box of Amonketh (yeah...silly me) and a slew of different packs.

I intended to start with Standard again, because realizing that trying to get all relevant card information from 18 years of expansion is a futile effort.
Having my affinity to Blue, i focused my card pooling and deck construction with the blue cards in mind.

It was also this period that i realized how vast "Dojo" decks has become.  Its a term we use back then for what is called "Net-Decking" today.

[FLASHBACK]
The Dojo refers to the site that first introduced deck listing in the internet for every MtG players to see. It was all an uproar back then, and players like me are split between heaven and hell as we wanted to know ahead of any speculation the kind of decks and cards that are making the rounds, as well as possible deck constructions we have overlooked using some cards we deemed potential or duds.
It is actually where i found my favorite all time decklist - the TIME AND TIDE deck by Kai Budde.
It was also the site that helped propel Five (5) astounding decks to the tournament levels that a massive turnout of similar decks bagan those days. Those were Mono Red "Sligh", Tolarian Academy, the first successful iteration of delve with Recurring Nightmare,  the MonoGreen Oath/Survival and the R/G Flametounge Kavu led R/G Mid-Range.
It is because of that, that a lot of players petitioned (or somehow) the closing of the "Dojo.net" page - and so it did, but the can of worms has already been opened, like a Pandoras box, we have seen it began and we know too well that its the new normal for the game.

Fast Forward again....

So in all, it was an uphill climb for a come-backing player like me. It wasn't easy as someone could tell. I felt that my own history has had a VOID century of sorts. I've missed great expansions in Lorwyn, Innistrad, Alara and the Eldrazi.
Imagine the slight surprise also of seeing Urzas lands now called TRON lands taking up the limelight. We only have them in fun decks for artifacts based decks and FIREBALL/DISINTEGRATE/PROSPERITY heavy decks...LOL.

For anyone wishing to go back into the game, do so, at your pace. Do not thread on like you own the game like you used to. Its a different game altogether now, a different community, and a lot more toxicity between players (now that's the one negative thing i need to let out).

Find your own community, accept that your an "oldie" not a "veteran" because that's a big difference.
Play Standard first, and from there slide into Commander with 100 card construct and card pieces you may well be very familiar with mostly. In actuality, Commander is probably the format that helped Magic: the Gathering survive the decline most TCG has had. And at that note i'll be probably making another entry about my Commander (EDH) experience as well.

So with that, this has been a great return to the game. Not a great start but a good one still.

So until L5R makes a legit comeback (the LCG concept is not really for me, they should revive the old concept that works).... I'll see you somewhere soon in Dominaria.

THE WORLD OF ROMUS - an EPILOGUE

Here are the rule Sets of the cards and abilities, card types and erratas on the cards that was created for this world building:

Also included are the visuals cards of the lands of Romus and how they have existed (concept wise) in that reality.


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SINGULAR

1. Singular type cards are limited only to one - per deck construction (including Sideboard count)

2. Once a card with the Singular type is put into a graveyard at any time, it is automatically removed from the game

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DUAL spells

<these spells are only limited to one per deck costruction (see Singular type) only that once cast it is reshuffled to its owners library and once re-cast(played a second time) is automatically removed from play - regardless of who plays it the first or the second time.>

<Anytime a Dual spell is put into any graveyard, it is automatically removed from the game entirely.>


 ---------------
SCRIPTURES

<The one who used the Scripture card for its effect is the only one who uses that effect regardless of who owns it or played it first>

for example: Bill used Malefic Knowledge(Shuffle this card into target players library./As long as this card is in your opponents hand or library,he or she losses one life at the beginning of each players turn./Scripture BBB (You may pay the Scripture cost of this card as you cast a black spell to use this cards effect. )).

Cindy shuffles it in her Library. But Cindy is also Using Black and on her next turn she draws the Malefic knowledge and managed to use it also. Billy then shuffles the card this time on his library. Untill he draws it and plays it again or untill it is put into the graveyard, in which it will be removed from the game (see Singular Rules), he will lose 1 life a turn, even if he owns the card and he played it first

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Event

<Event cards are used for one time only>

<Effects last for the duration of the game or up untill the  span of time stated in the cards text is achieved.>

<Event cards are removed entirely from the game once resolved>

<At any time an Event card is put in any graveyard, remove it entirely from the game>

<An Event card in the play area is not considered a permanent > unless stated as such <

< Event effects are not considerred as a spell effects>

<Per game- an Event card once resolved cannot be played a second time.>

<Event cards can be played only when they appear in your hand or more particularly, when drawn from your library. Unless played on that time it was drawn, the Event card will be useless untill either it is played, used for its Cycling cost or reshuffled back into the library by an effect so that it can be drawn again.>

<All players at the beginning of the game must reveal his or her EVENT card drawn if he or she wishes to resolve it before the first turn commencing the game is played. Beginning with the active player(PRIORITY), he or she may play the EVENT from his hand or passes then the next player (Clockwise) takes priority and plays his own EVENT.

<In the event that 2 or more players draw an event card (in their opening hand or through a card effect like 'Prosperity"), the player who has the active turn (during the game) or the player who has the first initiative (start of the game, after determining who goes first), has the advantage of resolving his or her Event card first.>

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 Enchantment - LOCATION

<Locations are to be considered as both Global Enchantment and a Non-Basic, Legendary Land>

<Effects that will target or affect Global Enchantments and Non-Basic and/or Legendary lands will also affect LOCATION Cards>

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 PARASITES:

1. Parasites are Creature cum Aura enchantments. Any effects that targets or affects 'creatures' and  'aura enchantments' also affects a Parasite card.

2. The Parasite cards abilities can only be used if it is attached to a creature card. Otherwise, if the creature it is attached to leaves play that did not also sent the Parasite card to the graveyard, it becomes a creature card with its printed Power/Tougness and retains the Creature - Parasite keywords.

3. Unless re-attached to a creature in play or as stated in the card itself, a parasite card can only be attached to a creature as it comes into play

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 Retrofit:

Artifact and/or Creature cards that enhances a Creature or another artifact in play.

<Retrofit cards comes into play 'un-attached' unless indicated on the card itself, therefore its Equip (x) cost must be payed to use its effects>

< Retrofit cards are also considered as Aura Enchantments (once attached) for effect and thus can be targetted and/or affected by spells and effects that normaly affects Aura Enchantment cards>

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 <Shism> .card - Errata and Clarification

<Each player can only play a spell or batch of spells of only one color>

<Only one color of your creatures can be declarred as attackers and blockers for a turn, this color must be the same as the color of the spells you will cast or have used.>

<Only one mana type can be played every turn. Special Lands that produces multiple colors (e.g. Tap to add B or 1 to your mana pool/ or Tap to add B1 to your mana pool) are considerred as "Gold" for clarification. Special lands that produce colorless mana (only!) is considered as one color(Artifact color or "colorless")>

<Mana producing permanents- Creatures Artifacts and enchantments - are considerd as their basic color and con only be used if they are of the same color or mana type used all throughout the turn.>

<Sample Turn.
Cindy is playing a W & U deck. Her opponent Billy uses R & B cards.She attacks with her Serra Angel and a White Knight (all white cards) leaving her Air Elemental(blue). For the Rest of the turn, she can only tap her Plains for W, leaving her Islands untapped even if a spell only requires colorless mana.Also, she can only play White spells for the remainder of the turn.
Billy Blocks her Serra with his Sengir Vampire(black) leaving Cindys' white knight unblocked even if Billy has a Fire Elemental in play. Also since he blocked with a black card, for the remainder of the tutn, billy can only tap Swamp lands, produce B mana, and play only Black spells, leaving his red cards untouched.>

---------------
 Event Horizon

Additional Rules

Beginning with the active player, he or she declares "high" or "low". All players puts down a card of his choice from his or her hand. As the cards are Put down and simultaneously flipped over, the one with the "high" or "low" casting cost wins a point. After which the next player going counterclockwise declares the "high" or "low", then the next player and so on untill all cards are Put Down and revealed.

The player with the most points after 7 tries or the first to get 4 points wins the match and the game.

---------------
 RULES FOR "REMOVED CARDS"

"...entirely removed from the game"

<If a card text explicitly says to 'remove ENTIRELY from the game, these cards can never be used to facilitate effects that uses cards "removed from the game" ...e.g.-'Wish cards/>

<If a card only says remove from the game, it can still be used with "wish" effects>

N.B: "Wish" - cards from the Judgement set (Oddysey BlocK) that utilizes the effect of being able to take and use cards from outside the game (e.g. - Sideboards and "removed from the game" cards) to be played in the current game.

---------------
 Thinning the Knowledge - Errata and Clarification< All libraries are shuffled and then turned over.>
<The normal draw is the same as when drawing from the library in its "normal-face down" position - where the top card is drawn, but in this case, the cards in the library are already revealed(face up) rather than hidden (face-down).>


---------------
 Remwels Vault. Errata and clarification

I`ve made two(2) versions of this one. The first being my initial creation-(Remove your library from the game, but you can still draw from it, and returns it ito play when this enchantment leaves play)

and the other, a crazy idea which i have yet to play test. It removes your library from the game (Your library will still be considered in play, mark it with a token if you like.), protecting it from library manipulation, and you can play those cards in your library as if they were in your hand!... Radical aint it? now heres the catch - since the rule says that any cards or permanents including the library, once removed from play and unless returned to play by an effect- from a the permanent that removed it or by other such effects - it will remain outside of the game. Get the point? So if Remwel's vault is disenchanted or removed from play, unless you protect it, you will now loose the game since you have no more cards in your library to draw from the next time you need to draw a card./


And here are the Lands of Romus

The Basic Lands:

  The Non-Basic Lands

 ...and the rest of the Lands

THE END OF THE DREAMING


















 

THE WORLD OF ROMUS - PART 3, the Nightmare, the TimeSpiral Event, and the Event Horizon

So the Nightmare came and thrown the world of Romus and the Dreaming asunder. Conflicts and old tensions stirrd anew all while around them, the stuff of nightmares came to ife and started to devour memories and anything that has a physical manifestation.

As a final, acceptance, the high ruling minds of the five races has came to a conclusion, one they have been too long to accept as it spells the doom of the dreaming and the memories that has been vested on their history from eons past. It is time that the world will have to wake for a new dreaming to occur. Everything is as it is, and only accepting this fate can the survivors of the races can hope to save the only thing they canfor the next dreaming....their History, their Memories.

In an effort to counter the effects that will happen as the orbs reunite again to mend time and reality once more, everything will disappear, to give way to a new plane, its like melting an old metal construct to be made into a new purpose.

Thus it was, the last vestige. To pool the History of Romus in a time bauble, that will be put in a state of unreality as the Event Horizon occurs, that will only unravel as the wave of effect recedes and settles in in the new plane of existence, hoping that the next ones who will exist in this new plane, will find them and understand, that in order for the cycle to be tended and be prepared for the next Time Spiral event in the eons to come, for them to know that their forebearers have existed long before theirs and be remembered for all eternity.

-------------------

“In the End, One Mans’ Sacrifice will be the beginning of Rebirth” – Sor Ventri Scribe of Dreams – on His Journal during the “End of the Nightmare”

CHAPTER 3

“The New Pattern”

Years of struggle have passed in Romus, to the rest of Dominia; it could have been just a passing of a second, or a Century gone. Whatever the difference is, the rest of the worlds are very much unaware of the occurrence that is taking place in this Dream world. An event that unbeknownst to them, heralds the beginning of a new Age, as the New Pattern now unravels to replace the Old one that is slowly dissipating.

Whatever will come about in the end, the waves of magic and unreality will begin to be felt reverberating across the known and unknown worlds in the periods to come. For it is the time of Change, when the old will be replaced with the new, as histories are forgotten and a new history is re-written.

Welcome my Friends, as we bear witness to the coming Change.     Be Strong

The Dragons have come; they have felt the imbalance in the planes. They have come, for they are themselves born of magic, an existence coinciding with the birth of the Age, and ultimately its demise. They are the Last Signs that all are changing, all are not meant to be, as the citizens and magical creatures of Romus struggle to find the balance they need to validate their existence. As a world existing within the boundary of the real and the imagined, they will be the first to be unmade, and the first to be remade to the image of what the “New Pattern” will be on the coming Age.

“The NIGHTMARE”

The Change is known by another name in Romus, and rightfully so that it will be called as such.

“The World of Romus… Locked within the bounds of time and unreality… … It is where dreams are real and exists with the visions we call reality. Welcome to the world of the Dreaming…” – Here in the world of Dreams, it is but natural to find unimaginable things, things that can only be had in a dream. Things so beautiful and things unspeakable co-exist in the physical reality of the land they call home.

But not everything created can exist forever, with the consummation of Time, all things created will cease to be… but that is not an end. As long as Time continues to flow, the cycle of Life, Death and Rebirth will go on… for that is the enigma of the Pattern – the Paradox of Creation. With the coming of the Nightmare, that cycle will be completed.

“In everything, there is always balance. As dark is to light and death is to life, so is the nightmare to the dream.” – Tethian Minister Koson`tors’ address to the Gathering of the Races.

Not entirely unknown to the Dream Wizards, they just refuse to acknowledge its existence; they have always believed that the nightmare is just part of the dream, and not the anti-thesis to it. Now it has come, and so they seek to rectify the folly of their pride. Venturing outside of their vaunted haven that is Sephatys to rid the land of the puppets of nightmare, deep within themselves they turn a blind eye to a glaring realization that however much they shun the deluge of nightmare, the end result will still be the same. Everything made will be unmade to be remade once again.

“As the Old Age draws to its close, will the land of the Dreams cease to exist?”

The answer has always been there, and the Tethian Prelates are the ones who hold the very truth to it.

“Romus will endure, if we wish it to be, we are the pivot of the cosmos, of existence and non-existence. The world will prevail even if we do not, for she abide by the rules that define the making and unmaking of the universe, something we all have been playing with for incalculable time.

After this age passes, after Romus is unmade, the land will grow fertile once more and the natural balance of everything will once again be felt. The people might call Romus then by another name, they will again circle the life-cycle of what we have achieved, they may surpass what we had or not, but the end will be the same. Everything will return to the basic again, to prepare it for the next one.

Our task now is to prepare the next season of lives to the history they are willing to make as they begin anew, and to give them hope that even if it all has to end again, one never need to wait for it but live on as best as they can and who knows, maybe in that other Age, they will learn of the answer to the questions we have prepared for them, and find the final piece of enlightenment we all have for so long sought for.

What I don’t know now is whether the Dreaming will endure, or if it will pass along with the cloud of history that is now slowly vanishing before our eyes. All I believe now is that if we wish a part of our Now to be remembered, we will have to fight it out against the thing that wishes to erase it from us. If there never was a clearer reason to fight before the Nightmare arrived, there is one now… and a fitting answer to the dilemma of all the Dream Wizards who are now reverting to surrendering their fate and  existence to their despair.

We need their magic, and the power of the Artificers.

If we wish to salvage a part of our existence, it is now…or let it forever be lost in the obscurity of time.

Come my fellow liege, let us draw the power of the Dreaming as we have never done before, and evoke the chants that have been forbidden since we relegated ourselves as the Keepers of All Histories. There is one final and definite purpose left for us to fight for, the volume of histories we have written needs a new home and guardian, let us protect it with our last strand of life, for if it is lost, so are we all, and we will be forgotten.”

Prelate Nomu`Tai, Tethian High Magus Priest, Dream Wizard of the First Order

The Tethians gave the rest of the People of Romus the hope that has been lost with the coming of the Nightmare. Even the most powerful of the still living Dream Wizards have fallen into despair, sending the rest of the vanguards of Dreaming to accept the fate that has befallen them. With their understanding of Death and its relation to life, they gave the Wizards the episteme that the end does no necessarily mean as the finality of everything. It is an end but it’s just an end, and as a beginning is defined with its end, as life is with death, it also holds true that it should be defined the other way around – without beginning…… what is an End?

And so it held true to the heart of the people of Romus, they began to see that the new Age is a start of everything, a righting of all the wrongs, a new beginning. All they have to defend now, is the reason of their existence… a reality of the unreal world, written in the strange hands of magic, that tells the History of all Dominia, and the existence of the land they call Home… the Land of the Dream… the Land of Romus. 

1)      I wanted to add all of the existing dragons, legends and all, to the list of the creatures that will appear in the land of Romus during the Change, from Nicol Bolas to the Shivan Dragon and such. But ultimately, I felt that this is not their war, they came not as a participant but as an observer, a spectator to the outcome of the change. They are the ‘children of magic’, born to it that they can feel the sudden changes in the balance of power. They felt the shift in the plane of Romus so they came, but they can never put a hand in the destiny to come, for they are themselves subject to the threads of the Pattern & the Law of Creation. They only came to witness the change, and decipher the role that they will partake in the coming new Age.

2)      However, I still want to add some of my own, and I have to find a way to integrate them and their role in the story so that the coming of the dragons will ultimately show and have an effect in the outcome of the struggle. Fortunately, the question of the nature of the Nightmare gave me just the outlet.

Images – a disparate actuality of the real, an altered entity of the real thing and able to effect the world around them. They appeared as a balance to the dream creatures that they are, and in so doing, they appear for a time, flickering for brief periods of time.

3)      Wondrous places abound Romus, and it is reflected on the many lands that exists in it. Heras, the cradle of Romusian culture is populated with an amalgam of all the races that exist in Romus. The Great forest of the Essuros elves - Kratin Essuros and Kratin Gurmon-the rainforest habitat of the half-elves. Sephatys`- home of the Dream Wizards. Ravhinol Keep-the towering bastion of the Venturians, a city in itself and one great artifact. Georadicas – up in the mountain, home to the Artificers. Then there are the cities, grand vistas of art and magical creation. Avena - a city of learning, Fuyre`Van-merchant city, Nobusa, Segundu`sa, Namelio, Pa`ad – all great cities.Asmudin A`Rahl- a city in tribute to the Greatest Dream Wizard, Georadica a`Rahl. The Harbor cities of Asmadam, Koreo`s and Kakhnar. Others exist but are quite small compared to these great ones.

4)      In the Cards, the lands are in greater number than what a normal MTCG Expansion has. But true to the story (seen the lands in the LoTR movies?), a Dream Land must have this wondrous places. And being where dream do exist, I felt that just 3 or 4 magical lands will not do justice in defining the World of Romus. I’ve wanted to add the colossal and wondrous plains, bodice of water and gargantuan waterfalls… but that’s pushing it already.

5)      Summing up the 3 Chapters:

Chapter 1: The Orbs and Romus-the land of Dreaming

Chapter 2: The coming of the Nightmare

Chapter 3: The New Age

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The EVENTS

 THE TIME SPIRAL EVENT - The End and Birth of a new Dreaming

 Here ends the story of the DREAMING and the world of ROMUS.

Thank you for taking the time to read with me on this journey. As it is, this is a fictional world for a TCG called Magic: The gathering (as if its not so obvious by now...lol). The cards are in no way intended to be printed and sold, but was done so as a fan of the game playing with the thought of a Card Designer for WotC who owns the game.

Ive tested most of these cards in solitaire and some friends who agreed to have them played. Some have seen revisions already and been fun in some ways as those who've used in play. Thank you guys.

So thats it. Hope you have enjoyed the journey to Romus.

its been fun. Remember them.......