Vandalia: Haunted Hollers

Set Info

Under Construction

New Mechanics

Vandalia adds a few new mechanics across all colors. Our goal from the start was to make them easy to remember, mesh well with existing Magic mechanics, and not cause too many rules hangups. Cards have reminder text whenever possible, although some are too wordy already.

Embershards
Innervate
Embershine
Possession
Critters

Embershards

"Discovered deep underground, a magical ore known as Ember has irrevocably changed life on Vandalia in many ways. While most use it as fuel to heat homes and power stoves, it also has the unique ability to give life, or 'innervate.' Sometime after the Company began full-scale mining of Embershards, strange creatures began showing up in the deep forests. Disruptions underground led to traces of Ember seeping into the groundwater causing strange effects in wild animals, from growing to enormous sizes to mutating into horrific beasts."

Embershard tokens are a major part of the Red/Black (Miners) archetype, with many cards in each benefitting from both creating and sacrificing them. Some colorless spells also create them to represent how pervasive Embershards have become in typical Vandalian society.

Embershards were one of the first bits of worldbuilding we came up with as a fantasy stand-in for the coal mines Appalachia was built on. We knew from the start the world of Vandalia would need a powerful resource in the vein of Aether or Halo, so we started with what coal does on a conceptual level: provide energy. It helped keep people alive through warmth and cooking, and later brought machines to life via the steam engine. Ember does the same, just in a more literal magical sense.

Innervate

"Innervation is the magical power to grant life found in Ember. It can bring an inanimate object to life, make a living being more powerful, or even revive the dead with the right skill. This power is so unique it has even attracted the attention of other beings from beyond the stars. None are quite sure of the Visitors' intentions, but they have somehow managed to refine the shards' inherint magic into a more focused process."

Apart from being the main purpose of Embershard tokens, Innervation is a major part of the Green/Blue (Aliens) archetype, with cards that either innervate on their own or by "absorbing" the power of other creatures. Other cards benefit creatures with counters or give payoffs for you or your opponents innervating by any means.

Originally the ability didn't have a name and was mechanically bound to Embershards in the style of Food tokens. We soon realized it would open more design space and be a lot cleaner gameplay wise to make it a keyword action. This allowed us to make cards for other factions evoke the same flavor as Embershards, as well as reactive abilites that trigger when a player Innervates.

Embershine

"Embershine sits at the crossroads of magic potion, addictive stimulant, and high proof liquor. Often shortened to just Shine, this powerful drink is distilled from Embershards deep in the backwoods in the dead of night and transported on souped-up cars (that often run on Shine themselves). The distillation process greatly magnifies the Ember's performance-enhancing abilities for living creatures, at the cost of its longevity and animating properties. It also makes the Shine addictive and highly illegal in all Syndicate-controlled territories, thus the Bootleggers' need for stealth and cunning."

Along with vehicles, Shine tokens are central to the Blue/Black (Bootleggers) archetype. Some cards give payoffs to creating or using Shine tokens, and the Shine's buff synergizes well with vehicles and the creatures that crew them.

A core element of Appalachian history that continues to this day is the creation and distribution of moonshine. Not only the was the drink itself influencial, but bootleggers' modified vehicles directly led to the modern sport of stock car racing. We knew we had to portray that in some way while tying it in with the other fantasy elements of the plane. Some cards even pay direct homage to famous historic shiners!

Another, more unfortunate element of our culture is the pervasive effects of opioids and other hard drugs; the most common response when asking others for ideas was "you've gotta include meth!" Of course that would be crass to reference directly, so we tweaked Embershine slightly to have a more narcotic edge.

Possession

"Some say it's the powerful family ties we have with our ancestors, others that it's from being buried close to Ember deposits. Whatever the reason, spirits in Vandalia have much stronger influence over the living, to the point they can fully possess living humans and elves. The Wayfarer University takes full advantage of this, summoning and willingly becoming possessed by the souls of the past for knowledge and guidance. This quickly made them enemies of the Martial Brotherhood, who find the act unnatural and blasphemous, and the rivalry of the two schools continues to this day."

Possession is the core of the White/Blue (Spirits) archetype, with most cards with the ability being one or both colors. There are also a few demons with Possession in black for flavor. Rules-wise, Possession functions much like Mutate with a few key differences:

The possessing creature is always put on top,
it can only target Humans and Elves, and
it allows you to target and take control of your opponents' creatures.

Aside from this, any other rules interactions will be the same as those for Mutate.

The idea for Possession arose when designing Wind Dancer, Soul of Depravity. We wanted a way to convey the descent into cannibalistic madness of the original wendigo myth without just making it another creature, so instead the Wind Dancer spirit has to possess an existing creature and cannot be cast on its own.

Critters

"What is and isn't a 'critter' is somewhat open to interpretation and can't be too well defined. Mostly it's any wild animal that can fit in a milk crate but is bigger than a mouse, and isn't a bird, lizard, or fish. Usually good eatin' too."

"Critter" is a batching term in the style of Outlaw. Critters are permanents with the creature type Possum, Rabbit, Raccoon, Squirrel, or Weasel. Cards that care about or classify as critters are in all colors but primarily in green.

For all its faults, I personally really like Outlaws of Thunder Junction's introduction of the Outlaw grouping. Until there are more official batching terms like it, we created Critters to fill a similar niche of applying to related creature types. While there are many existing creature types that could be considered "critters," we went with five both to copy Outlaw and so we could have one type more fitting to each color.

World Lore

An endless expanse of rolling mountains is blanketed in lush forests and cut by winding rivers. Beneath the soil lies a network of caves and tunnels, some natural and some manmade. Densly wooded hollers separate most human settlements, while secluded clans of elves and strange creatures call them home. Some mountains are tall enough to be capped in permafrost, and some valleys seemingly descend straight into hell.

Welcome to the plane of Vandalia.

Factions

Wayfarer University

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Syndicate

The defacto governing body of Vandalia. Many towns live under their protection and are in turn subject to their demands and taxes. Hellbent on maintaining order and supreme power by any means necessary, they hire mercenaries to do their dirty work, typically conscripted from towns under their control. Though corrupt and near-tyrannical, its citizens often agree they're better off as part of the Syndicate than not.

Bootleggers

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Engineers

Ember Miners

When you sign up to mine shards with the Company, you're in for more than just life. If you die on the job, the higher ups will innervate your body, and your shambling skeleton will keep mining until it literally falls apart. Generations of cruel treatment have led many of the workers to rise up against their contract-holders, leading to The Syndicate to step in and try to stop the rebellion.

Deepwoods Cryptids

Far into the thick forests, where the canopy grows so thick the sun can barely pierce through, something stirs. Company mining operations have disturbed the aquifer, casing traces of Ember to leech into the water table and up through the food chain. This led to profound effects on anything living in the densest woods, from growing to enormous sizes to mutating into fearsome beasts. Those most affected were also set upon by an unceasing hunger, drawing them out from the thicket towards human civilization. While the Hunters do their best to keep their towns safe at night, the Elves seem to live in relative harmony with this twisted new side of nature.

Holler Elves

Martial Brotherhood

Hunters

A militia led by Silas Puckett, a renowned hunter, warrior, and monster slayer. Towns and villages not under the Syndicate's umbrella rely on the Hunters for protection and support. They are dedicated to not only securing food and supplies, but also protecting the people of Vandalia from the horrors that lurk in the woods. Although life is considerably harder, most agree it's better than putting up with the Syndicate's iron fist.

Kepler Foundation

Everyone has an uncle who claims to have been abducted, but not all of them are just shine-induced hallucinations. Attracted from somewhere beyond by the strange abilities of Embershards, alien entities have made contact with certain people and shared powerful new technologies. Members of the Kepler Foundation research the nature of Innervation to deepen their understanding of the multiverse, and possibly to use for technological advancement.

Major Characters

Dr. Stephen Kepler

When the house of Kepler burned, only two survived. Orphaned brothers Stephen and Johnny were both naturally gifted, with Stephen having the better knack for book-smarts. After his brother began running shine, Stephen left to persue his own research in his mountain laboratory.

One night, Stephen began receiving strange radio signals warning of approaching "visitors." Soon after, an incredible machine fell from the sky, crashing in the woods near his home. Kepler aided its occupants, giving what technical assistance he could to such an advanced civilization, greatest of all being an amount of Embershards to power their engine.

Fascinated by this utterly unique power source and thankful for the gift, the visitors shared incredible technologies with Kepler far beyond anything else on Vandalia. This led Stephen to form the Kepler Foundation, an underground research organization working hand-in-appendage with those from beyond the stars.

Johnny K

When their childhood home went up in flames, Johnny and Stephen Kepler were cast into the world alone. Eventually Johnny got mixed up with a bad crowd and eventually started running whisky, claiming he was just doing what he could to provide for himself and his younger brother. Naturally a bright boy, he experimented with new methods and ingredients until he stumbled upon Embershine, distilled from Embershards and incredibly strong. Having more of a knack for street-smarts, it didn't take long for Johnny to build up his underground empire, alienating his brother in the process.

Henry Gunn

Ophelia Gunn

General Stier

Silas Puckett

Planeswalkers

and the rest

Angrath

Garruk

Indrid Cold

Archetypes

From the very beginning, we intended for Vandalia: Haunted Hollers to be a draft-focused set with a balanced limited environment. While not a strictly "guild" type set like Ravnica or Bloomburrow, each of the 2-color pairs has its own archetype. There's also enough crossover between them to easily support a 3-color deck.

	Archetype	Description
	Possession Tempo	WU is a semi-aggressive strategy looking to play a mix of creatures and instant speed interaction to keep your opponent on their toes. It utilizes the Possession mechanic to power up your own creatures or to gain control of your opponent's creatures. Key Cards: Willing Host, Wayfarer Acolyte, Alexander, Guiding Voice, Wayfarer Ascension Finisher: Ophelia, Mournful Matriarch
	Control through Brutality	The Syndicate is a brutal governing body that rules with absolute power. Thus, WB is a grindy, midrangey control deck. Draft as many removal spells as you can and use artifacts and enchantments to acquire incremental value throughout the game, then finish off your opponent with creatures when you inevitably win the war of attrition. Key Cards: Treed by Hounds, Act of Darkness, Mandatory Conscription, Ted Sinkerton, Lawman for Hire Finisher: Overpower
	Vehicles & Shine	UB is a midrange deck that uses various means to accumulate value and play a long game. This is done through acquiring Shine tokens, utilizing the graveyard to power Threshold effects, and using powerful vehicles. Key Cards: Shiner's Charm, Defensive Driver, Resourceful Shine-Runner, Bootlegger's Buggy Finisher: Johnny K, Master Distiller
	Equipment Voltron	UR utilizes artifacts differently to the other artifact decks. In this color pair, you want as many equipment as you can get to suit up your creatures. Create Rifle tokens to ping off weak creatures and create alternate methods of dealing damage. Creatures with Valiant are of high value in this strategy, as it can trigger from your equip abilities. Key Cards: Artisan Rifle Carver, Rebel's Charm, Welding Goggles, Armament Aficionado Finisher: Henry Gunn, Munitions Magnate
	Artifact Sacrifice	BR is about creating Embershard tokens and sacrificing them for various effects. Use the Embershards' inherent ability to pump your own creatures, or sacrifice them to fuel other powerful burn and removal. Key Cards: Prepared Ember-Digger, Overexert, Striking Instigator, Incendiary Upstart Finisher: Mine Explosion
	Horror Tribal	While Horrors are represented across all colors, they're predominantly in BG with several kindred and horror-synergizing cards to get the most out of them. There's also a graveyard subtheme for self-mill and recursion, since monsters aren't known for staying dead for long. Key Cards: Not a Deer, Vegetall, Elusive Machinations, Wampus Polecat Finisher: Eclipse of Moths
	Offspring and Stomp	RG is an aggressive strategy that utilizes the Offspring mechanic, mostly for ramping or reducing costs to play big, impactful creatures that threaten to run away with the game if left unchecked. Key Cards: Ramp Farmers, Holler Brute, Holler Hollarer, Marauding Mink Rider Finisher: Ballad of the Lovers' Holler
	Valiant Spellslinging	RW makes use of several different sources to get value from its Valiant creatures. Use embershards, equipment, and combat tricks to trigger Valiant. Overwhelm your opponent with quick bursts of damage. Key Cards: Taurean Bolt, Taurean Rage, Traveling Exorcist, Brotherhood Ascension Finisher: Thunder of the Herd
	Food Stockpile	GW is a go wide aggro deck that uses Food to power up your creatures. It relies on cards that care about how many you have or give payoffs to sacrificing them through other means. Key Cards: Golden Delicacy, Militia Quartermaster, Camp Chef, Veteran Hunter Finisher: Silas, Hunter General
	Innovate and Innervate	GU is all about improving your creatures with Innervate. Improve your creatures with different types of counters, or go wide and turn your artifacts and enchantments into creatures. Key Cards: Energy Repurposing, Otherworldly Emergence, Transmutation Specialist, Energize Finisher: Thaumaturge’s Talent
	Critter Storm	Overrun your opponents with critters of all shapes and sizes, and bring glory to the woods! Although primarily in green, all colors have cards that create or synergize with critters in some way to go wide, tall, or both. Key Cards: Snacking Rabbits, Alcoholic Opossum, Jackalope, Trash Bandit Finisher: Critterstorm

Cards

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