I always hate this brief period of waiting before an expansion reveal. While in some ways it's nice to be able to prepare for the onslaught of new cards, it's also quite frustrating to know just a little about what we'll be seeing, but not anywhere near the whole picture. Basically, I'm an impatient little shit sometimes and I want my new content now, damn it! Ah well - there's always a plethora of fan content to tide us over in the meantime.

This week's Conversation is scripted. I mean, they all are, but this one even more so!

Shovel Talk

First up, we need to congratulate the winner of the latest WCDC - R and their Trusty Shovel!

We look forward to their ideas for next week's theme!

Scene Two

The Fan Community Spotlight has never been more appropriately named, as Lokao's "Movie Night in Booty Bay" custom set takes center stage! As you might imagine, this set is chock-full of cinematic tropes and references.

Apart from the theming, one of the more interesting aspects of this set is its Keyword(s), Script and Scene. They're really functionally one Keyword split into two parts, and are very reminiscent of Quests and their Rewards. While the re-flavouring of the mechanic could be seen as just a way of fitting better into the set, I think it's a fairly neat way of delineating the two; Quests (and Sidequests) appear on spells and can't be interacted with by the opponent, while Scripts go on minions and can thus be balanced differently.

Sometimes it can be difficult to know how much you want to differentiate yourself from previous mechanics. Should your custom set just bring back Overkill, or are you imagining something a little more (or less) nuanced? Look to something like Frenzy and Enrage (RIP) - both start from a very similar line of thought, rewarding you when a minion is damaged but survives, but they take it in different directions with one being a one-time effect and the other an ongoing one.

There's a joke in Magic the Gathering that many mechanics are either Kicker or Split Cards. Kicker allows you to pay a little more as you cast a spell to get an extra effect; Split Cards are two different cards (with different costs and all) that only take up one slot in your deck. There are a lot of mechanics that you could conceivably template as one of these two effects and still get a card that's mostly the same thing - though it's also fun to try and see how far you have to twist a mechanic to end up in the right place sometimes. 

Don't think yourself into knots trying to come up with the next great mechanic for your custom set. If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't then there's still so much to work with. Some of the ideas presented here in Script Scene - hell, even just Idea Thief above - are so fun, despite how much the mechanic resembles Quests.

Make sure you click the link to check out the full interview, which contains a link to the full set of cards.

Mount Up!

It's time to take the reins in the WCDC! Click the banner below to find out how to tame your card.