We still don't have a returning mechanic. I think this is a bad thing. Other people may disagree.

You have two options in this thread:

Vote Yay!

If you vote Yay, you must design a card featuring the returning mechanic of your choice.

Vote Nay

If you choose to vote Nay, please explain why you do not think Starstill should have a returning mechanic.

If the Nays get 50% of the vote or more (winning ties), then we won't do a returning mechanic.

If at least half of the votes are Yay (losing ties), then all the returning mechanics that have been proposed will advance to the poll thread.

Sound OK?

Yay!

We're missing a mechanic for lands. is low on design space and has cared about lands in its own way before.

I present: Swampfall and Forestfall.

Plagueroot Treefolk –
Creature – Zombie Treefolk Shaman (R)
Swampfall—Whenever a Swamp enters the battlefield under your control, target opponent loses 3 life.
Forestfall—Whenever a Forest enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 3 life.
5/7

Yay!

A draw smoothing mechanic like scry or cycling would be nice. Parad pointed out that we have no land mechanic, so let's make it basic landcycling.

Surging Land Wurm

Creature – Wurm (C)
5/5

Basic landcycling (, Discard this card: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.)

"Tread lightly. Touch nothing. The land wurm is still near the surface."
–Zabin, caravan guide

@CKY - If we bring back basic landcycling I think we may as well bring back cycling in general. We can still put focus on basic landcycling, but it seems weird to only bring back one small faucet of cycling.

We already have enough mechanics. If we add too many, we lose the ability to focus on any of them.

Yea

It occurs to me, we have a plane separated between day and night...

Chosen of the Sun

Creature - Human Cleric
First Strike
As Chosen of the Sun enters the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, it enters the battlefield transformed.
2/1
//
Chosen of the Dark
[] Creature - Human Cleric
Deathtouch
2/3

I don't think we need more mechanics but basic landcycling is unobtrusive enough that I wouldn't be too upset. I'd rather have colorless typecycling for basic land types, though. Like Noble Templar.

Also, Fire // Ice has been brought up before. A cycle of enemy-colored split cards would be enough to make me happy.

That'd be a bunch of cards that are probably lost as setting-specific flavor resources though...

@Keeper - I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Are you talking about a Fire // Ice type cycle?

I mean I assume that's what I'm talking about since that's what Parad is talking about. Unless she's not in which case I guess I don't know what I'm talking about.

I mean, if we had Fire // Ice and four other cards that evocatively expressed the difference between Frostwynd and Illpyre, I don't think that would be a waste of flavor at all... Is that what you mean what you say "lost as setting-specific flavor resources"? That they'd be a waste of flavor? I still don't see what you're getting at.

Eh, I don't think Fire and Ice is a really strong evocation of the setting. And beyond that, what would the other four be?

They're lost to us as far as specific placenames and flavor text go certainly because they can't use specific placenames and they usually don't have room for flavor text. The art is usually small to the point of incoherence and the most heavy attempts to tie split cards to a specific setting, in Ravnica, often resulted in concepts that didn't really make a whole lot of sense. In fact, the Fuse two-guild cards were of pretty dubious flavorful standing given the actual storyline. Orzhov and Boros makes sense but only because they actually working together...

Not to mention that on the whole duality as a theme doesn't make any sense, as much as people keep trying to push it, because the PRIMARY MECHANICAL FOCUS OF THE SET is based on a PLURALITY of alternative options! And for that matter we don't actually have a binary anyway, because we've got three sides of the world--Illpyre, Frostwynd, and Maraka--and we've got a number of different factions with different aims.

Split cards are best at silly puns and broad stroke concepts, not evoking specific planes.

It'd be another mechanic (and landcycling fits into this too, really) that's a flavor neutral zone in an already heavily mechanics-driven set, basically.

CKY's post got me thinking... card-type cycling could be interesting.

Search Golem –
Creature – Golem Scout (U)
Artifactcycling
2/2

Not every mechanic has to tie into the set's flavor, and not every piece of flavor has to tie into the sets mechanics.

So you want to turn everything into Idyllic Tutor/Mystic Tutor etc look-alikes?
I think not.

I am actually with story for this one. Something like transmute would be better but pretty sure that wouldn't fit.

Personally, I do like a cycle of split cards representing both sides. Kinda like Fire // Ice or if we meshed Hand of Honor and Hand of Cruelty together.

I actually used that as an entry for a contest once back in the Wizard forums. "Split" permanent cards. You treat them like split cards, where you can cast one side or the other, search one side or the other, etc. except you print them like double-faced cards. Provide the little checklist card like they did in Innistrad and it actually sort of works.

I'm not sure how feasible it would be to apply it at this stage in the set. Are we too far along to be suddenly adding something like that, or would we just save it for the next set in the block? Regular split cards could probably be implemented without too much fuss, though I'd be all for trying something like permanent split cards if we decided it could work in the set. Could make for some pretty cool cards with the whole duality theme of the story.

Edit: Crazy idea, but Glacinorak and Anjomeddon would make a crazy awesome split card, even if they mesh a little weird.

I actually like this. It could be our new twist on cycling. It would probably only show up on a few cards and cost a fair bit, but it works.

I vote against card-type cycling. It will warp the format to such a degree that all the cards we have designed to date have to be reworked. I only envisioned cycling for basic lands to help players cast their spells.