[MtG] Custom Muraganda Set Spoiler/Story Thread

[Delibirb]

Notes:

Color balance isn't perfect, especially among the rares and mythics, but it's a small set so it's difficult to control that and tell the story/keep the tribes I want.

 

[spoiler=9/16]

The Gatewatch, chilling on Ravnica, are visited by a Viashano planeswalker by the name of Njaar Koral. Njaar has come seeking their help in investigating an illness which is causing damage to the creatures on his home plane of Muraganda, and by extension, damaging the nature there itself. As the Nature Warden for his tribe, his duties include maintaining balance between the hunters and the wilds, but is worried this disease will disrupt it beyond his control. Nissa is visibly empathetic to Koral's pleas, but Jace is wary as there is no evidence of extraplanar activity. However, since there isn't anything else going on right now, he gives the OK so long as Gideon accompanies her.

 

 

Njaar takes the two planeswalker to his tribe's campgrounds in the jungles of Muraganda, showing them their way of life. Here, they meet Gostan, a conceited, overzealous hunter who takes offense to the ancient practice of the Nature Warden on a personal level, believing that he and the other hunters should be allowed to kill freely, natural order be damned. Nissa immediately defends Koral's position, but Gideon can see where Gostan is coming from, even if he doesn't need to be so brutish. Gideon stands between the hunter and Nissa as he spits at her, sending him away, but minor tension rises between the two before Njaar bids them to follow him through the jungle.

 

 

[spoiler=Story-Irrelevant Spoilers]

 

 

 

[spoiler=9/17]
Elspeth Tirel (Having escaped the underworld in an assumed Return to Theros block/story) planeswalks away, finding herself in an open pasture, with two reptilian behemoths racing towards her from either side! She tries to get out of the way, but she's still weak from planeswalking just moments ago, unable to escape the oncoming creatures and their plated heads. But before she can be smashed between their scaly faces, the two beasts stop. Elspeth looks up, and standing beside her, between the monsters, is a heavily robed elf with a staff. He looks confidently at one of the goliaths, before looking down at her with a warm smile. He points his scepter off one direction, and the two majestic creatures follow. The elf helps Elspeth to her feet and introduces himself as Olanti, chief druid in the jungles of Muraganda.

 

Olanti invites strangely-clad traveler to accompany him back to his community. As he guides her out of the pasture, she sees a dead animal. The druid notices her discomfort, as well as confusion with the beast. He finds it strange she's not seen such creatures before, but introduces Muraganda to her, as if to a child learning about nature for the first time. Eventually, they approach his home.

 

Elspeth is introduced to the elves' way of life here in the harsh jungles. She is however more curious in the unique animals living here, and particularly, the lack thereof. Olanti sadly explains that the druids have felt a disturbance in the health of the jungle, and as the creatures have as well, they've begun to leave in search of better conditions. Though the elves are unsure what this upset could be, Olanti shows Elspeth the path they march on, herbivores and carnivores alike and in harmony. Elspeth thinks that perhaps, they are not necessarily migrating towards something, but away. She bids the druid farewell, against his wishes, and walks opposite the great lizards, into the jungle.

 

[spoiler=Story-Irrelevant Spoilers]

 

 

[spoiler=9/18]
Njaar Koral leads Nissa and Gideon into the depths of Muraganda, a space ripe with magnificent life. He explains that he is taking them to seat of the Nature Warden, showing them how the animals of the plane should be behaving, before showing them the afflicted portions of the jungle.

 

Nissa and Gideon have a heated debate regarding natural order. Nissa defends the need to conserve and maintain the balance of wilderness and civilization, while Gideon believes that while nature is important, to expect that anything humans, elves, viashino, or what have you, does within it's bounds to be disruptive to nature is foolish; they are just as much a part of nature and have just as much right to it's resources, and other creatures, as anything else. Nissa attempts to refute him, but Njaar interrupts, or rather, pauses them as he notices what does interrupt them. A thunderous roar and the faint crack of lightning across the sky, coming from the direction they are heading. This was not a good sign.

 

He fears the implications of such an event, and whether it is related to the plague has has witnessed or not. Either way, they must continue. Koral's home is not far, but it is protected. He motions the to planeswalkers to crouch behind him, and proceed slowly, and delicately. They move through the jungle brush carefully. Njaar takes this opportunity to show his guests, particularly Gideon, the answer to their dilemma. He instructs them to carefully look over, across from them, to see the beauty of nature.

 

 

Gideon and Nissa can hardly believe it! Such a massive, terrifying, yet also humbling beast, patrolling it's territory with pride and dominance. Njaar explains quietly that though it is true that intelligent creatures like them may be entitled by nature to exert their will upon the world, they are not alone. Animals like the Titus Territorius protect and maintain their habitats, and though they may not speak, their connection to nature can be communicated, as can their willingness to fight for it. Preserving the balance of nature is just as much to protect the hunters as to protect the prey.

 

 

Finally, the trio reach the home of the Nature Warden. From here, the life of the plane can be felt by those that are attuned to such things. Nissa explains she can sense a connection, though small. She joyfully feels around the world from within the fortress, before wincing in fear and pain. Gideon goes to help her, and as she trembles, she explains terrified that she can feel the void, the wake left behind by this illness, and the pain it is inflicting upon those in it's path. A vision of death crosses through her mind, then of undeath. Njaar confirms this is what he has been fearing, though the effect was not so extreme before. Things have been getting much worse. Together, they move on towards the void, Nissa staying quite close to Gideon, now.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Elspeth also proceeds down the heavily tread path taken by the beasts, towards whatever it is they are running from, if anything. Sounds of a storm could be heard in front of her not long ago, so she lifts her hood as she treks onward.

 

[spoiler=Story-Irrelevant Spoilers]

 

 

 

[spoiler=9/19]
As night begins to fall, Njaar, Gideon, and Nissa enter a much more frightening portion of the jungle. Here, vines from the canopies are many, and rotting. Trunks bend with unnatural angles and sway menacingly against one another. Njaar's breathing can be heard, mortified by the state of his world, here. Nissa attempts to comfort him, but the trio's journey is stopped short by several creatures suddenly revealing their ambush.

 

 

Gideon leaps into action, striking the screeching monsters with his sural. As they attempt to fight back against the indestructible planeswalker, he falls backwards in pain as the corrosion burns his flesh. Nissa twists the plants around them forming a barrier to protect her companion from the attackers, and Njaar swipes at the tainted beasts with his spear. A roar of superiority from the viashino sends the animals into a lull, and they go on their way, though watchful.

 

~~~~~~~

Elspeth struggles to feel her way through the dimming jungle now, but by the condition of the trees here, she suspects she was nearing her destination. The path she was following, though much lighter, was still evident enough. She'd not been walking terribly long, fortunately, but was growing inexplicably tired, as if her body didn't want her to proceed. Yet she persevered through this feeling. The monotony is broken by a terrible sight just off the path. The corpse of a recently dead creature, with a sickly color and blotched, deformed skin, bubbled before rising back to life, shrieking before leaping onto Elspeth.

 

 

She pulls for her sword, but the creature's deceased skin somehow deflects her attacks. It's mouth grows ever closer to her face, before she gathers just enough strength to push the monster off and away. Fearing her weapon is now use against the unnatural beast, she runs through the jungle and away, further down the path. If her body did have any hesitation of continuing, it was not showing them now. But, as she proceeds, she hears a roar ahead of her, and what sounds like a scream. Behind her, rustling confirms that the beast that was chasing her is running away, now. Yet the scream; she feels she must go see what is happening. She finds a rather tall elf woman, a heavily muscled man, and a lizard man all facing a massive creature.

 

Elspeth jumps into battle, swiping her sword on the monster's feet as it bellows in rage. The man, who Elspeth gathers from the elf is named Gideon, uses some whip-like weapon to attempt to choke the beast, though he gets swung around before being flung into a tree. The elf's eyes glow green, and with apparent focus, she commands the plantlife around them to barricade the creature behind a wall of trees. As Gideon gets up, he walks over to the elf, apparently called Nissa, and congratulates her on her work. Elspeth joins them and proper introductions are made between the three as the lizard man inspects the imprisoned animal. He introduces himself as Njaar Koral, a viashino planeswalker from here, and the Nature Warden, protector of balance on the plane. He looks upon the larger, mutated version of himself in the wooden cage and sorrow, explaining that something is killing these creatures, or so it was. Now, it is doing something much worse than he could even have imagined. And it all points further into the jungle. The group of planeswalkers now journey together onwards. They can see what appears to be a clearing up ahead, but before they can reach it, another creature stalks by, apparently oblivious to them. This one's skin is rotten and bloody, and its bones show through, yet it slowly walks along as though it was unharmed. It's eyes were cold and dead, and the stench was awful.

 

Nissa and Njaar were the most affected by this sight. This was not even a zombie, Elspeth had seen those. This creature was something else entirely, a totally new order of sick and twisted. Finally, the tour met it's end, as the planeswalkers entered the clearing.

 

 

A light rain had started, and through the sprinkles of water droplets, standing high in the middle of what was now clearly a crater of dead foliage, was what could only be described as a portal. Tall, menacing, mechanical. The interior of the portal glowed with a light-blue hue, which against the dim, grey, stormy world they were in, looked sickly. But the portal was not what anyone was looking at, for in front of the portal stood something even more troubling.

 

A huge monster of an animal unprecedented in size and shape bellowed into the sky with a sharp, resonating roar. This creature shone against the blue from the portal; mechanical parts were grafted all over it, plates and razors and all sorts of bone-like parts adorning it's hide, such that it was more machine, more dead, than alive. Upon seeing such horror, such an amalgamation, Elspeth froze. A tear escaped her eye as she silently mouthed the name of the creature, of the approaching creatures. She was jealous of Gideon and Nissa, of their ignorance.

 

The Phyrexians had come.

 

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

I assume that land is supposed to enter tapped.

[Delibirb]

I assume that land is supposed to enter tapped.

Actually no. It and the rest of its cycle are meant to be untapped. Slight bit of built-in mana ramping for the turn they're played, as there isn't a lot of design space for a cycle of ramp artifacts.

 

Trivia: Gostan is named after Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. His personality as a self-entitled hunter and position against the main characters are representative of Gaston, as well.

[CuriousHeartless]

Yeah, no. Even the Forsaken Sanctuary cycle, the weakest and most basic form of dual lands, enter the battlefield tapped. A version that grants you an extra mana definitely has to. Remember the Shocklands are powerful and cost you 2 life to get one mana first turn. If you want to keep it as entering untapped it will probably need to cost 1 to activate its normal mana ability.

[Delibirb]

I'd rather not do something so bland at making them enter tapped, but I'll concede they need something to limit them. I'll brainstorm some restrictions and update when I've got them.

 

EDIT: Hunting Camp's land cycle now can only tap for mana during their controller's postcombat main phase. This slows them and the cards they're used to cast down quite a bit, but still allows them to be used the turn they're played.

[.Rai]

I mean, the land cycle is still broken. They need to enter tapped, or return a land you control to your hand, or something, because the tempo advantage is just disgusting.

 

Other stuff is fine, although Return to Infancy is not something that Wizards would print. They don't allow cards that reset abilities without defining a new P/T because things like Tarmogoyf exist. It's otherwise incredibly unintuitive.

[Delibirb]

Ah, I didn't think about interactions with Tarmogoyf and such, that's fair. I'll fix that when I get the chance then.

 

I will figure something out for the lands. I just want them to be their own, ya know? Taplands and bouncelands exist, I want something new.

 

What are people's thoughts on the story elements, and the relative flavor of the cards and abilities? Obviously there isn't a ton going on just yet, but is the character selection OK? Their motivations and choices in-character?