All-red draft set
Now that Legend Story Studios has started to pull back the veil a little and shown us a few cards from the upcoming set Part the Mistveil, initial speculation saw people wondering if this would be a set containing exclusively blue (3-pitch) cards. This rhetoric came about due to the first revealed cards of the new talent, Mystic, being blue and referring to blue cards. Whilst the unclassed Mystic cards could still be exclusively blue, similarly to how pure Draconic cards are all red, the latest reveals (at the time of writing) feature a red strip. And thus the blue dream is dead. However, this blog is not bound by the perimeters set out by LSS, so we are diving into this discussion anyway!
Single colour sets
Now that we have had 12 main booster sets, I feel confident enough to use the word “traditional” and say that, traditionally, we have seen most common and rare cards appear in cycles. By this, I mean that they have a red, yellow, and blue version, which share a name and are identical mechanics-wise, but differ in their pitch, attack, and/or defence values. However, majestic cards only appear in a single colour and we have seen lower rarity cards with only a single version, like most items or the unclassed Draconic cards. However, most (if not all) draft formats that we have experienced so far have dealt with the notion that you draft reds as your power cards and blues as resource cards, with yellow cards often wheeling around the table because they are not particularly good in either role. However, there is nothing really stopping the designers from creating a single colour set.
As we have discussed before on this blog, most attack cards adhere to a numerical mold, so to speak. To reiterate, a card that pitches for 1 (red) and has a cost of 0, attacks for 4 (assuming it does not have go again). For any additional resource it costs, it deals one more point of damage, whilst it deals 1 point of damage less for each additional point in pitch. Additionally, the basic block value for an action is 3. This is exemplified by Wounding Blow and Raging Onslaught.
No matter the draft set, this implies that you can tweak the values to ensure damage is regularly leaking through by balancing the average defence value of the cards against the average damage players are presenting each turn. If you want to design a single colour draft set, and assume that players are ideally spending two cards on offence and two on defence, trading back and forth, you can adjust the defensive values based on how much damage the average card deals to ensure that someone loses some health every turn. What does this look like for each colour?
Red
Assuming all cards are red, there are two approaches that come to mind for the “block with 2 cards, use 2 cards” pattern. The first option is that all cards are free to play: in this case, a two-card play of an attack for 3 with go again (or non-attack action/attack reaction for +3) followed by an attack for 4 without go again gives you a damage output of 7. Considering such 4-attacks are expected to block for 3 and such 3-attacks block for 2 or 3 (go again is usually valued at 2 points), in this play pattern a player is expected to deal 1 or 2 damage and take the same amount each turn cycle.
The other option for the 2-2 play pattern is to have 1-cost cards, meaning that you are only playing a single card each turn and pitching the second one. Since a red, 1-cost card should deal 5 damage, cards should probably have an average blocking value smaller than 2.5, or no damage will be leaking through. This may be feasible in a talented set, since generally unclassed talent cards appear to trade 1 point of defence for their talent type.
Yellow and blue
In non-red sets, similar math holds due to this “formula”. Whilst cards can be costed higher, they are effectively dealing the same amounts of damage because the point of damage they gain for increased cost, they lose again for increased pitch value. A blue 3-cost attack should deal 5 damage (4 baseline + 3 for its cost - 2 for its blue pitch), meaning that this effectively feels identical to the 1-cost, all-red set. However, these sets can attack from a different angle. With low-costed weapons that have access to go again, like Kodachi, that same amount of damage can be spread across e.g. two attacks for 1 damage and a 1-cost attack for 3 (4 baseline + 1 for its cost - 2 for its blue pitch). This is much harder to block though because it requires one card for each attack whereas a 3-for-5 attack can be covered up efficiently with 2 cards.
Breaking the formula’s chokehold
Considering an all-red set lacks some of the flexibility that an all-blue set offers, the question we need to answer is how we can overcome the limitations set out by the formula and create a more interesting experience. A few ways stand out to me: working with additional/alternative costs, cost reductions and leveraging arena permanents.
Non-resource costs
The prime example of a card that gets around the pitch value of the other card in your hand is Enlightened Strike, an all-star from the very first set. Rather than featuring a resource cost, it has an additional cost of putting a card from your hand on the bottom of your deck. Consequently, it does not care about the pitch value of the card you use to pay this cost. Note that the card is valued at a cost of 3 resources, meaning that you get to circumvent the formula if you only have a red or yellow card to bottom.
Similarly, Soul Reaping features a resource cost, but is so expensive that its alternative cost is a much better proposition. Instead of paying the resource cost, you banish a card and benefit further from it in the form of resources and the fact that most blood debt cards can be played from the banished zone. In Monarch’s limited format, it even presented a whopping 2-card 10 damage play combined with Ghostly Visit, which is quite above rate.
Cost reductions
Though additional or alternative costs are a great way to go, another route to take is to reward play patterns with cost reductions, like those featured on e.g. Amplify the Arknight or Bolting Blade. In an all-red set, a 3-cost card will definitely be below rate if the card has to be balanced for constructed as well. However, if their cost is reduced for performing actions that are feasible under the set’s restrictions, they do become playable. A card may e.g. feature a clause like “[This card]’s cost is reduced by 1 for each red card you have played this turn.” In a constructed deck that balances pitch values this might fix an all-red hand, but in the limited environment of an all-red set it may line up perfectly if you have several 0-cost reds with go again.
Weapons and other permanents
Finally, a prime opportunity to break out of regular play patterns is by introducing specialised weapons and equipment. So far, we have seen a limited amount of weapons that are free to swing if you have performed certain game actions, like Raydn, Duskbane and Hanabi Blaster. What has not been explored extensively in the weapon design space, are (again) non-resource costs, be it discarding for Brutes, banishing for Shadow heroes, or destroying one of your items for Mechanologists.
At the same time, a set’s equipment contributes a lot to the limited feel. In Heavy Hitters, we have seen specialization head pieces for all heroes for the first time, which add a lot to your limited deck for that hero. Hence, powerful (common or rare) equipment that interact with red cards seem like a strong tool to flesh out an all-red set, as Flamescale Furnace proves in the red line Dromai decks.
Conclusion
Legend Story Studios has shown with various set designs that they are not afraid to experiment. In this article, we explored aspects of an experimental set design that completely scraps two of the three pitch colours and features only red cards. Due to the “formula” that determines card values, creating a set with a single colour poses a few challenges and in particular, how to overcome the feeling of the generally dreaded all-red hand. However, in pondering this, I have concluded there are workarounds and I would be very interested to see how a set like this, be it red (next Draconic set, please!), yellow, or blue, would play out.
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