Cf's Portal Set Conversion: Wave 5 *11/16*

Confred · #1 August 13th, 2015, 12:12 PM

I took Magic: the Gathering's most basic set "Portal" and converted it as directly best I could to AotP.
In this thread I'll post the entire set, 10 cards at a time and discuss design and balance decisions.
As with all Confred Custom Threads, community involvement is appreciated and may alter the end results of these customs.
Even though this thread isn't getting much traffic, the customs are super fun to play with.

Spoiler Alert!

Confred · #2 August 13th, 2015, 12:22 PM

Alabaster Dragon

The original has you shuffle it into your library when it dies. Since Army Cards aren't placed in the library, (although that would have been cool if summon cards were actual spells), I had the Dragon go to reserve to be resummoned. When placed in reserve like this, all damage will be removed. Due to the strong reaccuring nature of this power, I reduced its Life to 2. I'm still testing this one and this was one of the first figures I made. Had it been later, its points would have been higher as I put most 6cc in the 200 range.
Alluring Scent

The original had all creatures able to block this figure must do so. I translated that to all creatures able to attack it must do so. The allure now extends to movement, forcing figures to enter engagement. In the original, the creature gets to fight back. I answered that here by giving the figure counter strike until end of turn.
Anacondas

The original only has swampwalk, a power that lets it be unblockable if the defending player controls a swamp. Because "walk" is in the name, I wanted to give it Phantom Walk that only works on swamp spaces (and I still might do that), but the spirit of the power is an offensive one, more like a Swamp Ambush. Thus I translated it to the defending figure not being able to roll defense dice if both figures are on a swamp. I then added Slither, because well, it's a snake and Anacondas in particular are known for being water snakes. Finally I converted this from a hero to a squad with 2 Life each figure and a squad count of 3 figures.
Ancestral Memories

The spells turned out to be easy conversions. This was literally copy and paste. The Points cost is (original spell converted mana cost * 5) + (number of colored symbols beyond first * 5). I used this formula for all spells and made some adjustments, such as range limits or needing a Planeswalker to balance the cost/effect. This is first draft, so I'm sure some need to go up and others down. For now it is as close to direct cross over as possible.
Angelic Blessing

Instead of giving the figure +3 attack and calling it a day, I wanted the original card's +3 defense to be reflected and since defense is mostly worthless on your own turn, I made these effects carry into the next opponent's turn (and not next turn because what if playing team game and you're sitting next to your teammate having their turn be the next turn).
Archangel

The original had Vigilance, which allows a creature to both attack and defend, Counter Strike from Heroscape is close in spirit to that. I like Angels and thus wanted this gal to be a thug and not some squad. She probably would be costed closer to Charos if a later figure as the original version costs a whopping 7, but she was one of the first cards I did and I hadn't gone formulaic with the costing. Averages being 1=10; 2=20; 3=50; 4=100; 5=150; 6=200; 7=240; 8=260; 9=280. Extra mana symbols also had an affect on costing in the later figures. Life, figure count, and the other values not represented on Magic cards were adjusted to match the Points.
Ardent Militia

The original was a 5costing creature with vigilance. Vigilance again converted to Counter Strike and 5 converted to around 150. Militias are groups, so it became a squad and the spirit of this card is thuggish so the squad's Life was set to 3. There are only two figures in the original art, but a 2-man militia felt odd so I put them at 3 figures. I didn't make anything Unique, saving that for Legendaries, which Portal doesn't have. Their name "Ardent Militia" did sound specific so I made them Uncommon. Having squads have individual Life opened a whole can for exploration. In my version, Commons, Uncommons, and Uniques all can have multiple Life. Uniques you can only have one of. Uncommon you can have multiple of, but must be ordered individually. Commons you can order freely. Say you have two Ardent Militia squads and lose 1 figure. If you order the squad with 2 figures, only 2 figures may take a turn. If Ardent was common, you'd always be able to order 3 until less than 3 remained on the battlefield.
Armageddon

How do you represent "destroy all lands"? I went with stripping all spaces of any special power they may have. Sand is kind of wastelandy and sand was introduced with AotP, so I went with that. Again, 4 converted to 20.
Assassin's Blade

Assassin's Blade did the same thing as AotP's "Strangling Soot", so I took liberties and changed it from Enchant Unique Squad to Enchant Unique Hero or Planeswalker. The change also justified, perhaps, the 5 Points difference in the two.
Balance of Power

This card was another copy & paste. The points are perhaps way off, but that's what the formula gave me as Portal had some overcosted spells for sure. I've been thinking since only 1 copy of each spell is allowed in a deck, having some cards not be the best costed may still be worth having to have a duplicate or similar effect. For example "Draw 2 cards" one spell is 15 and the other is 25. Clearly the 15 is better, but if you want both, perhaps that 10Point investment will be worth it to you.

These are the first 10 cards in alphabetical order. Tell me what you think!

aquamaniac27 · #3 August 15th, 2015, 03:09 PM

Interesting. Maybe I'll convince my friends to play with the spell decks if we port our favorite MTG cards over.

Although for reference, while Portal was intended to be used as a "basic" set, it remains one of the most complicated and confusing sets and block to date. You're better off using any one of the recent Core Sets, which actually succeed at being a training ground for beginners. No crazy new mechanics, just mostly "evergreen" mechanics and 1 or 2 throwback mechanics.

Confred · #4 August 15th, 2015, 10:42 PM

I dunno. I've already completed Portal and it's super basic, and over costed

aquamaniac27 · #5 August 15th, 2015, 11:43 PM

Oh, Ancestral Memories is bad. It's essentially, "draw 2, mill discard the top 5 cards of your deck" in a max 20 card deck.

So

If you draw AM your first draw >>> 19 Cards in Library
Play AM, draw 7 cards, discard 5 >>> 12 Cards in Library, 6 in grave.

Being as that right now having no library is nothing but a bad thing (until we see something that manages to abuse an empty library or filled graveyard), Ancestral Memories is not worth 35 points. In MTG the effect is good. Not so much here.

Confred · #6 August 16th, 2015, 12:42 AM

It's even worse actually because decks are 12 cards.
As I said, the first round is direct port
Ancestral Memories is 2UUU
5*5+(2*5)=35

Some of the cards felt disgusting as I converted them, but weird balancing is part of the fun for things like this I think.
Monday I'm off from work, so I'll play test these 10 cards. And play with the base stuff I haven't even touched yet also.

I've already changed the three spoiled creatures, but they're on my computer and not phone.
The process has been immensely entertaining to me and I do hope you stick around to see more

Can you imagine Eldrazi? Omg

aquamaniac27 · #7 August 16th, 2015, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Confred

Can you imagine Eldrazi? Omg

Straight up unplayable? Like literally, as far as we know, they cannot be destroyed. The common theory is that Nicol Bolas planes on taking control of the Phyrexians so he can corrupt the Eldrazi, and therefore control them and banish them back to the Eternities.

Which really, is not far-fetched for a Magic plot.

Confred · #8 August 16th, 2015, 02:44 PM

It absolutely sounds like a Magic plot, and sounds awesome

Know what would be cool? Return of Weatherlight

aquamaniac27 · #9 August 16th, 2015, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Confred

It absolutely sounds like a Magic plot, and sounds awesome

Know what would be cool? Return of Weatherlight

Brothers War! Return to Urza block! None of that will probably happen, since they push "Neo Planeswalkers" harder than anything else nowadays, although Dominaria is the #1 plane that people want to return to (and Innistrad is the #1 request for a "Return to X" block).

Confred · #10 August 17th, 2015, 09:37 AM

Innistrad still feels too new. I felt we just left it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Confred

It's even worse actually because decks are 12 cards.
As I said, the first round is direct port
Ancestral Memories is 2UUU
5*5+(2*5)=35

I was thinking of this card and our thoughts on it, and I'm thinking this card is better than we first gave its due.
12 card deck with 200 Point cap. We could have a bunch of cheap spells, this spell, and two absolute OP bombs. This card guarantees we get them. Starting hand is 3 cards, dropping the library to 9. This card drops the library to 2 cards.
That consistency is perhaps worth 35 Points.

Confred · #11 August 19th, 2015, 02:31 PM

Three of the above creatures have had their Points adjusted to more closely match the mana conversion points of all other figures in the set and figures moving forward.
Values have been adjusted to better fit theme and new Point values. Cards with *Before their names are WIP/Customs, listed that way for easier accounting purposes on the back end.
Alabaster Dragon

The Alabaster Dragon is setup to be comparable to Charos. The Alabaster flies in and locks up some troops, if it dies it can be resummoned. It is designed to be a beast, but not beast enough to be fatiguing. In the play test game, greens forces simply outran its 6 move and having it be a hero was a significant disadvantage as squads can spread out and cover more ground.
I'm considering giving it a Range value, but since none of the art shows its breath weapon, I'm leaning to keep it Charos-esque with range 1.
80% Approval
Anacondas

Original Swampwalk is a nasty attack ability, but when converted to Heroscape, it's name alone didn't feel right so much so that it was changed. It is now a limited Phantom Walk, as such it also has a space between Swamp and Walk.
The unit feels like a cavalry unit. It just didn't feel right and I ended up summoning base Elf Rangers instead for the win. They are basically poor, but more expensive, yet common,and two-spaced, Leyline Phantoms. Their life has been upped to 3, and considering on up to 4. I don't want the snakes to feel like a scout unit. They are supposed to feel like hitters. I added Coil Crush, because anacondas are constrictors.
50% Approval
Archangel

I first tested the Alabaster Dragon, the Archangel is even more expensive. It is a white Charos that's a little faster but lower in Life. I'm considering upgrading her Flying to Stealth Flying.
Approval 50%

In my play test, none of the spells came up and no spell changes have been yet made.

Confred · #12 August 21st, 2015, 09:54 PM

I had an epic play test. It's incomplete because as it neared the end, RL called. The full report will come at that time.
Gideon & Archangel (Stealth Flying) vs Nissa & Anacondas (Coil Crush) x2.
Counter Strike is nasty and white's Army has it.
Armageddon now also turns trees and shrubbery to ruin, and countered Anacondas' swamp walk swimmingly.
Coil Crush was tested and while the Archangel never got constricted, each attempt was exciting.
Archangel tested with Stealth Flying and it felt good, and take up less space than adding Coward's Reward, which was another idea. She is a force to be reckoned with and at 240 points, she should be. She is perhaps too fast. Even though she is 30pts higher than than Alabaster Dragon she is way better. Perhaps I will add to the dragon's range value.

Debating if Alluring Scent forces orders also. In fact, that is where the game has paused. Nissa has allured her snake to get the Archangel the heck off her so that she can expedition off to safety, for at least a turn

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