Serra Sphinx, taken from the Game Lore Wiki, by Daren Bader and Wizards of the Coast
Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!
Theme
Looks like a good month for "trip through time" themes. This month we're going to be revisiting the ideas and overall feel of Time Spiral block, using the era of Magic between 8th Edition and Magic Origins instead of Alpha through Judgment.
Easily the most infamous and polarizing part of Time Spiral block was Planar Chaos, with its vision of a slightly different, alternate-timeline version of the current color pie. But Planar Chaos also featured "planeshifted" cards, which had a special frame to indicate that they were identical to older cards except for their color, subtypes, and color references in the text; and similar alternate-universe reworking of old legends in new colors, that were better received.
Challenge
Design a card that is a "planeshifted" version of a nonlegendary card first printed in a Modern-legal set,
or a "legendshifted" version of a legendary card first printed in a Modern-legal set.
The card you're planeshifting itself doesn't have to be legal in Modern. The set it was first printed in just has to be eligible for the format.
Make sure to include a rarity.
Stay tuned for April's CCL Final Poll. Anyone who votes will receive 2 bonus points for May's CCL!
Your submissions are due Friday, May 12, 23:59 EST.
Schedule
Round 1 — Open to Everyone (May 1st–6th)
Round 2 — Open to Everyone (May 7th–12th)
Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due May 16th)
Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (May 17th–20th)
Top 8 Critiques (Due May 23rd)
Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers from last round (May 24th–26th)
Top 4 Critiques (Due May 28th)
Final (End of month, winner determined by public poll)
Teysa, Burning-Tree Chieftess1RG
Legendary Creature — Human Shaman (R) T, Tap two other untapped creatures you control: You may put a green creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Whenever a red creature enters the battlefield under your control, Tesya deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
2/3
Sweeeeet. It's an all-flavor round! (Am I understanding correctly? No functional changes, right?)
Puppetize3U
Instant (Uncommon)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a mannequin counter on it. For as long as that creature has a mannequin counter on it, it has "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it." "Everything on Lorwyn is belong to us in one way or another. We are not stealing, we simply take what's ours."
- The Vendilion Clique
Consume the Weak2BB
Instant {R}
As an additional cost to cast Consume the Weak, sacrifice a creature.
You draw cards equal to the sacrificed creature's power, then you gain life equal to its toughness. Vulturous aven find the useless quite useful.
Norin the Courageous
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior (R)
Norin the Courageous costs less to cast for each creature attacking you.
Flash
First strike, vigilance "When the time for battle arises, which way will you run?"
4/4
(22 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019
(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)
Trostani, Simic's MindGGUU
Legendary Creature - Dryad (M)
Evolve (Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever Trostani, Simic’s Mind evolves, you may put a creature card from your hand on the battlefield with converted mana cost equal the number of counters on Trostani, Simic’s Mind.
0/5
Art by
ATTACHMENTS
Trostani Simics Mind
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Over time, all trips end up in the same place, at home."
Jace, Vryn's Demented1R
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M) T, Discard a card: Draw a card. If there are five or more cards in your graveyard, exile Jace, Vryn's Demented, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. "So many thoughts... too many. They don't stop. Make them stop. Make them stop now!"
0/2
------------------------- Jace, Telepath Gone Mad
Planeswalker - Jace (M) •
+1: Up to one target creature gets +2/+0 until your next turn.
−3: You may cast target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard this turn. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.
−9: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, you may untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn."
5
Avacyn, Wretched Silver3BB
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
When Avacyn, Wretched Silver enters the battlefield, destroy each creature that has been dealt damage this turn.
At the beginning of each player end step, if you've dealt 4 or more damage to a player, transform Avacyn, Wretched Silver
4/4
/// Avacyn Exalted [White]
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying, Indestructible
When Avacyn Exalted transform, you may return a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield. Her temporary insanity drove Innistrad to the brink of destruction, Nahiri's voice brought her back for redemption.
5/6
Kiki-Jiki, Oasis Shepherd2RGW
Legendary Creature - Goblin Cleric (M)
Haste
You may exert Kiki-Jiki as it attacks. When you do, populate, populate. "Travelers surmise that he makes powerful elixirs of fertility and healing for the crocodiles and hippos living near his hovel along the Luxa." - Vizier of the Menagerie
3/6
Brimaz the Provoker1GG
Legendary Creature — Cat Warrior (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Brimaz the Provoker attacks, untap any number of target creatures defending player controls. Those creatures block this turn if able. “You were right. You don’t want to fight, and that is your problem.”
—Brimaz, to Ajani
3/4
Rise from the Ashes3R
Sorcery (R)
Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated. Its controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. The player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles all other cards revealed this way into his or her library. Walls and statues crumble to dust. Phoenixes rise from the dust.
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Gaddock the ExiledUW
Legendary Creature - Kithkin Adviser (R)
Creature spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater can't be cast.
Creature spells with X in their mana costs can't be cast. The Great Aurora sometimes only changed a single aspect.
2/2
bravelion83: power level wise i felt its ok hahaha.. 3 mana for 3/4 is a green thing to do, this do kill opponent creature most of the time, i don't really see any of Brimaz previous self in this incarnation other than mana cost and p/t value.. although well, if the creating cat token is consider provoking to fight, then it does feels Brimazy.. nice design overall , very strong in limited
IcariiFA : the closest unflip card available with such ability is Rummaging Goblin at 2R with 1/1 pt, having 0/2 to rummage is not a red thing i believe.. the flipped part, is a red planeswalker that feels like jace with his mind control stuff going on getting creature to rage with +2/+0 and also gaining control of things.. its a powerful overall card
netn10 : i never realize its pretty fun to do a flavor remake with planeshifting card, this surely is among one of my favorite planeshifted card available in this contest! the drawback feels very blue since the beginning, this effect has been seen in a few black cards but appeared in all Phantasmal blue stuff, thus i believe this is a right way to colorshift this card, plus the flavor is just spot on!
Roccovsky: this i believe is from the old Teysa from the first Ravnica block, she seems very social with many other creature interaction.. good in both token strategy or big stuff strategy.. it does best with the mix.. i could imagine dropping Siege-Gang Commander is crazy with this card.. dropping the commander deals 4 damage,, more damage will follow through after..
Koopa: Ability wise its just reversed Gaddock Teck with a big creature hate.. but i believe stopping big creatures from being cast will require a much bigger cost than just UW.. it leads to a somewhat not fun gameplay i believe..
Wildbold: black is among the most aggressive color, i believe its somewhat weird to have it have first strike only when defending.. an again, black is known to also hate graveyard with many graveyard removal strategy.. i tried searching ability to give cards in graveyard hexproof or can't be the target but i can't find it, so well since it hasn't been done yet, i can also see black thing protecting what black mage wants to do
Puppetize3U
Instant (Uncommon)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a mannequin counter on it. For as long as that creature has a mannequin counter on it, it has "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it." "Everything on Lorwyn is belong to us in one way or another. We are not stealing, we simply take what's ours."
- The Vendilion Clique
OK, neat! Blue doesn't normally get creature recursion, but this is exactly what blue recursion should feel like. Great name, great flavor text [Grammar Nazi: "Everything on Lorwyn belongs to us. . ."], and a good choice of color to bend this effect into. My only gripe is that this basically makes the creature an illusion. It feels like a missed opportunity to embue more blue flavor by not referencing illusions somehow.
Norin the Courageous
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior (R)
Norin the Courageous costs less to cast for each creature attacking you.
Flash
First strike, vigilance "When the time for battle arises, which way will you run?"
4/4
Excellent re-flavoring of Norin, the Wary. My gut doesn't agree with your choice to give him such a different CMC, even if it will sometimes be reduced, but it IS a very clever way to redesign a 1CMC creature. And even though it seems a bit out-of-theme to slap a bunch of keywords onto a creature that originally had a single ability, the overall effect does feel like an effective reimagining of Norin the First. To me, this is a bit of a stretch, thematically... but I like it so much out of context that it's easily a net positive.
Trostani, Simic's MindGGUU
Legendary Creature - Dryad (M)
Evolve (Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever Trostani, Simic’s Mind evolves, you may put a creature card from your hand on the battlefield with converted mana cost equal the number of counters on Trostani, Simic’s Mind.
0/5
Interesting. Flavorful. I definitely like Trostani as the Simic guild leader. It lends itself well to (G/U) philosophy. The effect is potentially very powerful, and fun as all hell. I do worry that you'd lose out on a lot of value on account of the "same CMC" stipulation. I think it would be fine to not limit the Elvish Piper effect to the exact same CMC as the number of counters. "Equal to or less than" would have been acceptable, methinks.
Thalia, Diregraf Guardian 1B
Legendary Creature - Zombie Soldier (R)
Thalia, Diregraf Guardian has first strike as long as it's blocking.
Cards in your graveyard can't be the targets of spells or abilities your opponents control. Having failed the people she had sworn to protect, she still wanders the haunted streets of the ruins once known as Thraben.
3/1
Thalia the zombie! LOL... Great idea. the parallels with the original Thalia, Guardian of Thraben make sense. Instead of hating on your opponent's game plan, you're taking away their ability to hate on yours. You're turned a Hatebears staple into next-level sideboard tech. Feels like a dramatic switch, but I can dig it. However, black has never had a CMC2, 3/1 creature with first strike. Nor has it ever had a creature get a bonus only when blocking (ie. without also getting it when blocked). Wait... scratch that. Pre-color-pie there was Infernal Medusa, but that doesn't count XD. To sum up, I don't agree with the blocking trigger or the first strike, but I really like the flavor, and the effects are pretty neat, taken out of context.
Fuel the Forge2R
Sorcery {C}
Destroy target artifact. Add RRR to your mana pool. Out with the old, and in with the new.
Well... it's totally fine. Red likes doing bothofthesethings, and neither effect is even really a bend for red. There's nothing at all wrong here, but it doesn't feel "shifted". It's just a normal red card.
Kiki-Jiki, Oasis Shepherd2RGW
Legendary Creature - Goblin Cleric (M)
Haste
You may exert Kiki-Jiki as it attacks. When you do, populate, populate. "Travelers surmise that he makes powerful elixirs of fertility and healing for the crocodiles and hippos living near his hovel along the Luxa." - Vizier of the Menagerie
3/6
Populate isn't a keyword ability like Cascade; it's a keyword action. The correct wording would be, "Populate, then populate again." (See: Contagion Engine). Besides that, I actually quite like this spin on Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Seems a bit cheaty to leave red in the mana cost,
but you've captured the Naya vibe well enough that it doesn't feel "red". The balance is OK here. It's not TOO restrictive, but it does require some stars to align in order to see its full potential. There's potentially something for every deckbuilding style here. it could even make a splash in limited if token production is a thing in that set.
netn10
Puppetize 3U
Instant (Uncommon)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a mannequin counter on it. For as long as that creature has a mannequin counter on it, it has "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
"Everything on Lorwyn is belong to us in one way or another. We are not stealing, we simply take what's ours."
- The Vendilion Clique
Clever flavor text and a useful card that totally feels blue.
Roccovsky
Teysa, Burning-Tree Chieftess 1RG
Legendary Creature — Human Shaman (R)
T, Tap two other untapped creatures you control: You may put a green creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Whenever a red creature enters the battlefield under your control, Tesya deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
2/3
I love your spin on Teysa shifting guilds. I'd be building this with abusing that tap ability.
Koopa
Gaddock the Exiled UW
Legendary Creature - Kithkin Adviser (R)
Creature spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater can't be cast.
Creature spells with X in their mana costs can't be cast.
The Great Aurora sometimes only changed a single aspect.
2/2
Fitting flavor text to go with the shift. A thoughtful design
bravelion83
Brimaz the Provoker 1GG
Legendary Creature — Cat Warrior (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Brimaz the Provoker attacks, untap any number of target creatures defending player controls. Those creatures block this turn if able.
“You were right. You don’t want to fight, and that is your problem.”
—Brimaz, to Ajani
3/4
Awesome! Digging this so much.
iphanx
Avacyn, Wretched Silver 3BB
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
When Avacyn, Wretched Silver enters the battlefield, destroy each creature that has been dealt damage this turn.
At the beginning of each player end step, if you've dealt 4 or more damage to a player, transform Avacyn, Wretched Silver
4/4
///
Avacyn Exalted [White]
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying, Indestructible
When Avacyn Exalted transform, you may return a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield.
Her temporary insanity drove Innistrad to the brink of destruction, Nahiri's voice brought her back for redemption.
5/6
A neat idea and I wonder what this would look like on a card. I'm not sure about her etc but overall the concept is enjoyable
IcariiFA
Jace, Vryn's Demented 1R
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
T, Discard a card: Draw a card. If there are five or more cards in your graveyard, exile Jace, Vryn's Demented, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
"So many thoughts... too many. They don't stop. Make them stop. Make them stop now!"
0/2
Jace, Telepath Gone Mad
Planeswalker - Jace (M)
+1: Up to one target creature gets +2/+0 until your next turn.
-3: You may cast target instant or sorcery spell card from your graveyard this turn. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.
-9: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, you may untapped target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn."
5
The emblem is my favorite part about this card. I know the art for this card would be amazing! Nice job.
bravelion83 with Brimaz the Provoker
netn10 with Puppetize
Koopa with Gaddock the Exiled
Fuel the Forge2R
Sorcery {C}
Destroy target artifact. Add RRR to your mana pool. Out with the old, and in with the new.
Excellent! Deconstruct is perfectly fine in green, but it actually makes even more sense in red to me. Red is the color that's supposed to get one-shot mana production, while green gets repeatable one. The flavor is very good too. I really like this card.
Wildbold
Thalia, Diregraf Guardian 1B
Legendary Creature - Zombie Soldier (R)
Thalia, Diregraf Guardian has first strike as long as it's blocking.
Cards in your graveyard can't be the targets of spells or abilities your opponents control. Having failed the people she had sworn to protect, she still wanders the haunted streets of the ruins once known as Thraben.
3/1
So now Thalia guards the cards in your graveyard in a destroyed Thraben feeling guilty. This is a very good execution of the "shifted legend" part of the challenge. I can really only say two things against this card: first strike is only tertiary in black and usually only used on knights (at least this has it conditionally), and the name is not bolded as it should be. Overall, good but not perfect.
netn10
Puppetize3U
Instant (Uncommon)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a mannequin counter on it. For as long as that creature has a mannequin counter on it, it has "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it." "Everything on Lorwyn is belong to us in one way or another. We are not stealing, we simply take what's ours."
- The Vendilion Clique
I'm sorry, but reanimation is just not supposed to be blue outside of what little unearth it gets. I understand that you meant to exploit the illusion ability, but the first part of the card makes no sense in blue. If I had to colorshift Makeshift Mannequin I would have probably made it either monowhite or white-blue (white for the reanimation and blue for the illusion ability). As is, I feel that this is not acceptable in the color pie. Again, I'm sorry.
Roccovsky
Teysa, Burning-Tree Chieftess1RG
Legendary Creature — Human Shaman (R) T, Tap two other untapped creatures you control: You may put a green creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Whenever a red creature enters the battlefield under your control, Tesya deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
2/3
So Teysa has abandoned the Orzhov and joined the Gruul now. I'd be really interested in reading about this shift in flavor text, but there is none here. Not much to say on the mechanical side, the mechanics are fine and in color. I just really feel like some flavor text is supposed to be here, it feels like a missed opportunity to me.
Koopa
Gaddock the ExiledUW
Legendary Creature - Kithkin Adviser (R)
Creature spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater can't be cast.
Creature spells with X in their mana costs can't be cast. The Great Aurora sometimes only changed a single aspect.
2/2
Wow, I really really like this! This makes sense in a lot of ways. I like that Kithkin indeed shift from GW to WU going from Lorwyn to Shadowmoor. I actually like everything about this card, but what I probably like the most is the flavor text. You went really meta here, and I absolutely love that! A typo: "Advisor" is spelled with an "o" (see the original Gaddock Teeg for example).
IcariiFA
Jace, Vryn's Demented1R
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M) T, Discard a card: Draw a card. If there are five or more cards in your graveyard, exile Jace, Vryn's Demented, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. "So many thoughts... too many. They don't stop. Make them stop. Make them stop now!"
0/2
------------------------- Jace, Telepath Gone Mad
Planeswalker - Jace (M) •
+1: Up to one target creature gets +2/+0 until your next turn.
−3: You may cast target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard this turn. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.
−9: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, you may untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn."
5
Wow, talk about a bold design! Actually too bold in my opinion. While all the mechanics make sense in red and are a very nice mirror to the actual Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Jace, Telepath Unbound, I feel that a monored Jace is not realistic from a flavor and story standpoint. You justify it with him going mad, and it works in a vacuum, but I'm convinced that as a character Jace is much more likely to add white or black to his color identity rather than red. This is a very nice attempt and I know shifting characters is kind of the point of the round, but you went just a bit too far for my taste. Again, the card is perfectly fine in a vacuum.
1st place: RaikouRider
2nd place: Koopa (I love both cards, the tiebreaker was the typo)
3rd place: Wildbold
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Great submissions guys. This round took a lot of creative energy, and I think y'all did a great job!
- oddly, every time I try to quote your card I get the error message "Non Latin Unicode characters are temporarily not allowed". Sorry about that!
- Obviously, given that you tasked yourself with a direct color-shift of a Planeswalker, so direct that you directly color-shift down to the level of individual abilities, there isn't a whole lot of room for me to offer ways to improve completing that task. I see only one alternative I can propose for you to mull over - Instead of giving target creature +2/+0, I think you could have done: "whenever a creature attacks you or Jace, Jace deals one damage to that creature."
- I like the non-change regarding the minus ability. I think Snapcaster Mage should have been Red, and I like this ability much more in Red than in Blue.
- I think you should tinker with the plus ability more, as the plus ability doesn't jive with the rest of the card. Except for the plus ability, this card doesn't feel all that proactive. One interesting path I could have seen you take with this design is to make a Jace that was decidedly proactive in nature, but that would recall a complete overhaul, which I don't think is what you wanted to do.
- This card doesn't sell its flavor as well as I would like, for this particular challenge. Some of the submissions utilize story to re-imagine its color and flavor (e.g. iphanx, Wildbold), while others utilize mechanics (mirrodin71). This card does not seem to be a re-imagining of a card or character, at least not obviously so, but is predominantly a color-shifting of a card into another color, like Ob Nixilis, Reignited into Jace, Unraveller of Secrets. I would have appreciated deviating a little more from the original's template, which would have afforded you a bit more creative freedom. What sort of red Jace can evoke the character Jace?
- Despite my desire to see a stronger divergence between your card and Jace,Vryn's Prodigy, I appreciate the subdued nature of the design. I think you deserve credit for identifying a card that didn't need much to convert it over to red. For being opposites on the color pie wheel, red and blue sure do seem to have a lot of mechanical overlap!
- Overall, mechanically, a successful color-shift and a submission I enjoyed thinking about. You should get others' opinions and feedback regarding the flavor before deciding what direction to take the card.
- I wonder whether this version would also make its way into Vintage and Legacy? You'll have to let me know since I don't play those formats. I'm considering building Sultai or Temur Delver for Legacy on MTGO, but it is still really expensive.
Brimaz the Provoker1GG
Legendary Creature — Cat Warrior (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Brimaz the Provoker attacks, untap any number of target creatures defending player controls. Those creatures block this turn if able. “You were right. You don’t want to fight, and that is your problem.”
—Brimaz, to Ajani
3/4
- I think that ability is too much of a nuisance - it strikes me as both immensely powerful and immensely annoying. I know it is worse than the ability of Brutal Hordechief, but you also don't have to pay any mana for it either. I'm trying to think of alternate renditions of a similar style of effect, but one difficulty I'm facing that I'm sure you were grappling with is that this is an effect that can occur every turn. The one that I came up with that I liked best was a simple Peema Aether-Seer effect that triggers when Brimaz attacks. That still feels powerful, yet more balanced for a card that is already a 3/4 Vigilance for 3 mana.
- I appreciate the lore here, using color to show a difference in perspective between Brimaz and Ajani. I also think that G or GR are fine choices for this card, and overall am satisfied that you went for a 1GG mana cost instead of 1RG.
Avacyn, Wretched Silver3BB
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
When Avacyn, Wretched Silver enters the battlefield, destroy each creature that has been dealt damage this turn.
At the beginning of each player end step, if you've dealt 4 or more damage to a player, transform Avacyn, Wretched Silver
4/4
/// Avacyn Exalted [White]
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying, Indestructible
When Avacyn Exalted transform, you may return a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield. Her temporary insanity drove Innistrad to the brink of destruction, Nahiri's voice brought her back for redemption.
5/6
- the bane of every man's MTGO SOI PTQ! At least this version isn't as obnoxiously oppressive as the one currently alive in Standard. I appreciate the intentional tweaking of her power level.
- There is something eminently satisfying about the back half of the card - I think it is perfect from a flavor perspective. A perfect inverse of Archangel Avacyn's Sweltering Suns ability, and one that feels wholly angelic. Even the subtle power-toughness swap was a nice finishing touch. The only thing I worry about is the indestructibility, especially given how easy it is to flip.
- The front half doesn't evoke quite the same sense of satisfaction, and doesn't have the same level of honed polish in my eyes. Mainly I think this is due to the card feeling Red, not Black. "Creatures dealt damage this turn" feels retributive, and therefore white/red, not black. Further, the last clause would feel more black if it were: "Transform Avacyn if an opponent lost 4 life last turn". I'm not sure that the card screams red because of either one of these aspects individually, but in tandem they make the card feel more Red than Black.
- One thing I think you encountered, and one that I found myself encountering as I went through various designs for the exercise of this round, is that you wanted to match all of the original's abilities one for one. This can lead to things feeling clunky sometimes, and I think the front-side of your card suffers from this. As complex as Archangel Avacyn is, one thing that helps hold the glue together and helps reduce the complexity of the card and helps etch the card's many abilities and triggers into one's mind, is that the Flash + giving your creatures indestructible + flipping when a creature you control dies all easily go together in one's mind. They themselves create a story arc of sorts. The card's identity as a "creature-protector" governs all of its abilities. The same is not true of your card - the first ability deals with creatures, the second ability has nothing to do with creatures, and the flipped 3rd ability deals with creatures again. Aesthetically and mechanically, I think something needs to change here.
- For example, consider if the front half of your card read: "Flying. When Avacyn enters the battlefield, each opponent loses one life for each creature that died this turn. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. At the beginning of each upkeep, if an opponent lost four or more life last turn, transform Avacyn." Here the abilities do a better job at lining up with each other and thus help them "make sense together" and give the card an identity. This cohesion is simply more satisfying, but also is needed to offset the intrinsic complexity built into a card with so much text and so many abilities and triggers.
- Hopefully you found the above thought-provoking and helpful. I liked your card, and think it can be even better. Good work
Consume the Weak2BB
Instant {R}
As an additional cost to cast Consume the Weak, sacrifice a creature.
You draw cards equal to the sacrificed creature's power, then you gain life equal to its toughness. Vulturous aven find the useless quite useful.
- I'm a big fan of this color-shift. I think the effect feels quite good in both green and black, so good for you for bringing that to light for everyone participating to see.
- This goes for both your and StonerofKruphix's designs: only after exercising my mental muscle did I realize how difficult it was to identify cards that could easily slot into another color. I thought it would be easier turning Lightning Bolts into Sun Lances, but it turns out that that takes some creative perceptivity, so kudos to both of you.
- Were you partly inspired by the evolutionary Darwinism of Amonkhet? What led you to make this identification? Or was this something you had thought of before?
- a small note: I like the flavor text because it references a set where this effect would have fit well mechanically for limited play.
ArborificationG
Instant (R)
Exile target creature. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle his or her library. Many realize too late that the dryads' song merges their essence with nature.
- This is hard for me to critique because I think the design is both (i) ingenious and (ii) should never ever be done. I agree with you that allowing the opponent to go fetch a basic land out of his library as a recompense for having one of his creatures killed unconditionally for a single mana feels more green. It definitely took a lot of imagination and creative perception to see that. Your design opened my eyes, that's for sure, and in a way unique among those who opted to do the color-shift challenge instead of the legend-shift challenge.
- see my note on Ruggley's feedback.
- I like your flavor text.
- I can imagine a world in which green had good removal, though that would require a change in its strengths and weaknesses.
Trostani, Simic's MindGGUU
Legendary Creature - Dryad (M)
Evolve (Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever Trostani, Simic’s Mind evolves, you may put a creature card from your hand on the battlefield with converted mana cost equal the number of counters on Trostani, Simic’s Mind.
0/5
- I like this design a lot. You opted to re-imagine Trostani in different colors instead of designing an opposite. I think this design works very well. An As Foretold for creatures that, like As Foretold, needs to be built around in order to maximize its potential (and the design is deep - there are multiple angles and avenues to augment her power and build around her. The card feels powerful without being busted.
- I think the use of +1/+1 counters as a blue-green metric for an alternate "populate" condition was ingenious. Very creative and flavorful.
- I'm not sure I have any suggestions to offer. It could be tested at 3 mana, but I like your choice to make it UUGG. Overall just a really nicely designed card befitting the spirit of the round's challenge.
netn10 I get that the sacrifice clause feels quite blue, but returning things straight from the graveyard seems so strictly black. I don't think color shifted cards crossed the line so blatantly. Roccovsky: Most likely would be played for her red ability. I dont feel shift her to a grull card makes much sense. It feels like a totally different character as opposed to one that was either exposed to different variables or made altered choices. Flatline: This is more in line with what I'd expect from a color shifted legend. Change a critical thing about the character and see what they would be like. That said, this is probably too strong/splashable. Add more white to it. RaikouRider: This works. Seems fair for a refund your mana card since destroying a single artifact is situational. The flavor is quite good, flows perfectly with the mechanics. Wildbold: The flavor here works quite well, particularly on innistrad. I do think requiring it to block to have first strike doesn't feel black. They have a history of penalties for blocking. Balances out the extra point of power though. Koopa:I like the cards mechanics a fair amount, but I have an issue with it. I think it breaks the challenge since it's still white. You can justify it with flavor text, and I don't disagree your flavor works, but that doesn't suddenly mean it wasn't completely shifted out of its original colors. The way I interpret legendshifting, this fails.
1: Flatline
2: RaikouRider
3: Wildbold
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“Through the Rifts”
Serra Sphinx, taken from the Game Lore Wiki, by Daren Bader and Wizards of the Coast
Theme
Looks like a good month for "trip through time" themes. This month we're going to be revisiting the ideas and overall feel of Time Spiral block, using the era of Magic between 8th Edition and Magic Origins instead of Alpha through Judgment.
Easily the most infamous and polarizing part of Time Spiral block was Planar Chaos, with its vision of a slightly different, alternate-timeline version of the current color pie. But Planar Chaos also featured "planeshifted" cards, which had a special frame to indicate that they were identical to older cards except for their color, subtypes, and color references in the text; and similar alternate-universe reworking of old legends in new colors, that were better received.
Challenge
Stay tuned for April's CCL Final Poll. Anyone who votes will receive 2 bonus points for May's CCL!
Schedule
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Legendary Creature — Human Shaman (R)
T, Tap two other untapped creatures you control: You may put a green creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Whenever a red creature enters the battlefield under your control, Tesya deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
2/3
Sweeeeet. It's an all-flavor round! (Am I understanding correctly? No functional changes, right?)Well you have two options: A functionally unchanged nomlegendary or a functionally changed legendary.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Instant (Uncommon)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a mannequin counter on it. For as long as that creature has a mannequin counter on it, it has "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
"Everything on Lorwyn is belong to us in one way or another. We are not stealing, we simply take what's ours."
- The Vendilion Clique
Instant {R}
As an additional cost to cast Consume the Weak, sacrifice a creature.
You draw cards equal to the sacrificed creature's power, then you gain life equal to its toughness.
Vulturous aven find the useless quite useful.
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior (R)
Norin the Courageous costs less to cast for each creature attacking you.
Flash
First strike, vigilance
"When the time for battle arises, which way will you run?"
4/4
Legendary Creature - Dryad (M)
Evolve (Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever Trostani, Simic’s Mind evolves, you may put a creature card from your hand on the battlefield with converted mana cost equal the number of counters on Trostani, Simic’s Mind.
0/5
Art by
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
T, Discard a card: Draw a card. If there are five or more cards in your graveyard, exile Jace, Vryn's Demented, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
"So many thoughts... too many. They don't stop. Make them stop. Make them stop now!"
0/2
-------------------------
Jace, Telepath Gone Mad
Planeswalker - Jace (M) •
+1: Up to one target creature gets +2/+0 until your next turn.
−3: You may cast target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard this turn. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.
−9: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, you may untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn."
5
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
When Avacyn, Wretched Silver enters the battlefield, destroy each creature that has been dealt damage this turn.
At the beginning of each player end step, if you've dealt 4 or more damage to a player, transform Avacyn, Wretched Silver
4/4
///
Avacyn Exalted [White]
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying, Indestructible
When Avacyn Exalted transform, you may return a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield.
Her temporary insanity drove Innistrad to the brink of destruction, Nahiri's voice brought her back for redemption.
5/6
Legendary Creature - Goblin Cleric (M)
Haste
You may exert Kiki-Jiki as it attacks. When you do, populate, populate.
"Travelers surmise that he makes powerful elixirs of fertility and healing for the crocodiles and hippos living near his hovel along the Luxa." - Vizier of the Menagerie
3/6
Legendary Creature — Cat Warrior (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Brimaz the Provoker attacks, untap any number of target creatures defending player controls. Those creatures block this turn if able.
“You were right. You don’t want to fight, and that is your problem.”
—Brimaz, to Ajani
3/4
Sorcery (R)
Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated. Its controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. The player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles all other cards revealed this way into his or her library.
Walls and statues crumble to dust. Phoenixes rise from the dust.
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Sorcery {C}
Destroy target artifact. Add RRR to your mana pool.
Out with the old, and in with the new.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Legendary Creature - Kithkin Adviser (R)
Creature spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater can't be cast.
Creature spells with X in their mana costs can't be cast.
The Great Aurora sometimes only changed a single aspect.
2/2
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
netn10
Roccovsky
Koopa
IcariiFA
bravelion83
iphanx
Ruggley
StonerOfKruphix
mirrodin71
kjsharp
Flatline
RaikouRider
Wildbold
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
IcariiFA : the closest unflip card available with such ability is Rummaging Goblin at 2R with 1/1 pt, having 0/2 to rummage is not a red thing i believe.. the flipped part, is a red planeswalker that feels like jace with his mind control stuff going on getting creature to rage with +2/+0 and also gaining control of things.. its a powerful overall card
netn10 : i never realize its pretty fun to do a flavor remake with planeshifting card, this surely is among one of my favorite planeshifted card available in this contest! the drawback feels very blue since the beginning, this effect has been seen in a few black cards but appeared in all Phantasmal blue stuff, thus i believe this is a right way to colorshift this card, plus the flavor is just spot on!
Roccovsky: this i believe is from the old Teysa from the first Ravnica block, she seems very social with many other creature interaction.. good in both token strategy or big stuff strategy.. it does best with the mix.. i could imagine dropping Siege-Gang Commander is crazy with this card.. dropping the commander deals 4 damage,, more damage will follow through after..
Koopa: Ability wise its just reversed Gaddock Teck with a big creature hate.. but i believe stopping big creatures from being cast will require a much bigger cost than just UW.. it leads to a somewhat not fun gameplay i believe..
Wildbold: black is among the most aggressive color, i believe its somewhat weird to have it have first strike only when defending.. an again, black is known to also hate graveyard with many graveyard removal strategy.. i tried searching ability to give cards in graveyard hexproof or can't be the target but i can't find it, so well since it hasn't been done yet, i can also see black thing protecting what black mage wants to do
1.netn10
2.Roccovsky
3.Bravelion83
but you've captured the Naya vibe well enough that it doesn't feel "red". The balance is OK here. It's not TOO restrictive, but it does require some stars to align in order to see its full potential. There's potentially something for every deckbuilding style here. it could even make a splash in limited if token production is a thing in that set.
netn10 with Puppetize
Koopa with Gaddock the Exiled
RaikouRider
Fuel the Forge 2R
Sorcery {C}
Destroy target artifact. Add RRR to your mana pool.
Out with the old, and in with the new.
Excellent! Deconstruct is perfectly fine in green, but it actually makes even more sense in red to me. Red is the color that's supposed to get one-shot mana production, while green gets repeatable one. The flavor is very good too. I really like this card.
Wildbold
Thalia, Diregraf Guardian 1B
Legendary Creature - Zombie Soldier (R)
Thalia, Diregraf Guardian has first strike as long as it's blocking.
Cards in your graveyard can't be the targets of spells or abilities your opponents control.
Having failed the people she had sworn to protect, she still wanders the haunted streets of the ruins once known as Thraben.
3/1
So now Thalia guards the cards in your graveyard in a destroyed Thraben feeling guilty. This is a very good execution of the "shifted legend" part of the challenge. I can really only say two things against this card: first strike is only tertiary in black and usually only used on knights (at least this has it conditionally), and the name is not bolded as it should be. Overall, good but not perfect.
netn10
Puppetize 3U
Instant (Uncommon)
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a mannequin counter on it. For as long as that creature has a mannequin counter on it, it has "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
"Everything on Lorwyn is belong to us in one way or another. We are not stealing, we simply take what's ours."
- The Vendilion Clique
I'm sorry, but reanimation is just not supposed to be blue outside of what little unearth it gets. I understand that you meant to exploit the illusion ability, but the first part of the card makes no sense in blue. If I had to colorshift Makeshift Mannequin I would have probably made it either monowhite or white-blue (white for the reanimation and blue for the illusion ability). As is, I feel that this is not acceptable in the color pie. Again, I'm sorry.
Roccovsky
Teysa, Burning-Tree Chieftess 1RG
Legendary Creature — Human Shaman (R)
T, Tap two other untapped creatures you control: You may put a green creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Whenever a red creature enters the battlefield under your control, Tesya deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
2/3
So Teysa has abandoned the Orzhov and joined the Gruul now. I'd be really interested in reading about this shift in flavor text, but there is none here. Not much to say on the mechanical side, the mechanics are fine and in color. I just really feel like some flavor text is supposed to be here, it feels like a missed opportunity to me.
Koopa
Gaddock the Exiled UW
Legendary Creature - Kithkin Adviser (R)
Creature spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater can't be cast.
Creature spells with X in their mana costs can't be cast.
The Great Aurora sometimes only changed a single aspect.
2/2
Wow, I really really like this! This makes sense in a lot of ways. I like that Kithkin indeed shift from GW to WU going from Lorwyn to Shadowmoor. I actually like everything about this card, but what I probably like the most is the flavor text. You went really meta here, and I absolutely love that! A typo: "Advisor" is spelled with an "o" (see the original Gaddock Teeg for example).
IcariiFA
Jace, Vryn's Demented 1R
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
T, Discard a card: Draw a card. If there are five or more cards in your graveyard, exile Jace, Vryn's Demented, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
"So many thoughts... too many. They don't stop. Make them stop. Make them stop now!"
0/2
-------------------------
Jace, Telepath Gone Mad
Planeswalker - Jace (M) •
+1: Up to one target creature gets +2/+0 until your next turn.
−3: You may cast target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard this turn. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.
−9: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, you may untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn."
5
Wow, talk about a bold design! Actually too bold in my opinion. While all the mechanics make sense in red and are a very nice mirror to the actual Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Jace, Telepath Unbound, I feel that a monored Jace is not realistic from a flavor and story standpoint. You justify it with him going mad, and it works in a vacuum, but I'm convinced that as a character Jace is much more likely to add white or black to his color identity rather than red. This is a very nice attempt and I know shifting characters is kind of the point of the round, but you went just a bit too far for my taste. Again, the card is perfectly fine in a vacuum.
1st place: RaikouRider
2nd place: Koopa (I love both cards, the tiebreaker was the typo)
3rd place: Wildbold
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
- Obviously, given that you tasked yourself with a direct color-shift of a Planeswalker, so direct that you directly color-shift down to the level of individual abilities, there isn't a whole lot of room for me to offer ways to improve completing that task. I see only one alternative I can propose for you to mull over - Instead of giving target creature +2/+0, I think you could have done: "whenever a creature attacks you or Jace, Jace deals one damage to that creature."
- I like the non-change regarding the minus ability. I think Snapcaster Mage should have been Red, and I like this ability much more in Red than in Blue.
- I think you should tinker with the plus ability more, as the plus ability doesn't jive with the rest of the card. Except for the plus ability, this card doesn't feel all that proactive. One interesting path I could have seen you take with this design is to make a Jace that was decidedly proactive in nature, but that would recall a complete overhaul, which I don't think is what you wanted to do.
- This card doesn't sell its flavor as well as I would like, for this particular challenge. Some of the submissions utilize story to re-imagine its color and flavor (e.g. iphanx, Wildbold), while others utilize mechanics (mirrodin71). This card does not seem to be a re-imagining of a card or character, at least not obviously so, but is predominantly a color-shifting of a card into another color, like Ob Nixilis, Reignited into Jace, Unraveller of Secrets. I would have appreciated deviating a little more from the original's template, which would have afforded you a bit more creative freedom. What sort of red Jace can evoke the character Jace?
- Despite my desire to see a stronger divergence between your card and Jace,Vryn's Prodigy, I appreciate the subdued nature of the design. I think you deserve credit for identifying a card that didn't need much to convert it over to red. For being opposites on the color pie wheel, red and blue sure do seem to have a lot of mechanical overlap!
- Overall, mechanically, a successful color-shift and a submission I enjoyed thinking about. You should get others' opinions and feedback regarding the flavor before deciding what direction to take the card.
- I wonder whether this version would also make its way into Vintage and Legacy? You'll have to let me know since I don't play those formats. I'm considering building Sultai or Temur Delver for Legacy on MTGO, but it is still really expensive.
- I appreciate the lore here, using color to show a difference in perspective between Brimaz and Ajani. I also think that G or GR are fine choices for this card, and overall am satisfied that you went for a 1GG mana cost instead of 1RG.
- the bane of every man's MTGO SOI PTQ! At least this version isn't as obnoxiously oppressive as the one currently alive in Standard. I appreciate the intentional tweaking of her power level.
- There is something eminently satisfying about the back half of the card - I think it is perfect from a flavor perspective. A perfect inverse of Archangel Avacyn's Sweltering Suns ability, and one that feels wholly angelic. Even the subtle power-toughness swap was a nice finishing touch. The only thing I worry about is the indestructibility, especially given how easy it is to flip.
- The front half doesn't evoke quite the same sense of satisfaction, and doesn't have the same level of honed polish in my eyes. Mainly I think this is due to the card feeling Red, not Black. "Creatures dealt damage this turn" feels retributive, and therefore white/red, not black. Further, the last clause would feel more black if it were: "Transform Avacyn if an opponent lost 4 life last turn". I'm not sure that the card screams red because of either one of these aspects individually, but in tandem they make the card feel more Red than Black.
- One thing I think you encountered, and one that I found myself encountering as I went through various designs for the exercise of this round, is that you wanted to match all of the original's abilities one for one. This can lead to things feeling clunky sometimes, and I think the front-side of your card suffers from this. As complex as Archangel Avacyn is, one thing that helps hold the glue together and helps reduce the complexity of the card and helps etch the card's many abilities and triggers into one's mind, is that the Flash + giving your creatures indestructible + flipping when a creature you control dies all easily go together in one's mind. They themselves create a story arc of sorts. The card's identity as a "creature-protector" governs all of its abilities. The same is not true of your card - the first ability deals with creatures, the second ability has nothing to do with creatures, and the flipped 3rd ability deals with creatures again. Aesthetically and mechanically, I think something needs to change here.
- For example, consider if the front half of your card read: "Flying. When Avacyn enters the battlefield, each opponent loses one life for each creature that died this turn. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. At the beginning of each upkeep, if an opponent lost four or more life last turn, transform Avacyn." Here the abilities do a better job at lining up with each other and thus help them "make sense together" and give the card an identity. This cohesion is simply more satisfying, but also is needed to offset the intrinsic complexity built into a card with so much text and so many abilities and triggers.
- Hopefully you found the above thought-provoking and helpful. I liked your card, and think it can be even better. Good work
- This goes for both your and StonerofKruphix's designs: only after exercising my mental muscle did I realize how difficult it was to identify cards that could easily slot into another color. I thought it would be easier turning Lightning Bolts into Sun Lances, but it turns out that that takes some creative perceptivity, so kudos to both of you.
- Were you partly inspired by the evolutionary Darwinism of Amonkhet? What led you to make this identification? Or was this something you had thought of before?
- a small note: I like the flavor text because it references a set where this effect would have fit well mechanically for limited play.
- This is hard for me to critique because I think the design is both (i) ingenious and (ii) should never ever be done. I agree with you that allowing the opponent to go fetch a basic land out of his library as a recompense for having one of his creatures killed unconditionally for a single mana feels more green. It definitely took a lot of imagination and creative perception to see that. Your design opened my eyes, that's for sure, and in a way unique among those who opted to do the color-shift challenge instead of the legend-shift challenge.
- see my note on Ruggley's feedback.
- I like your flavor text.
- I can imagine a world in which green had good removal, though that would require a change in its strengths and weaknesses.
- I think the use of +1/+1 counters as a blue-green metric for an alternate "populate" condition was ingenious. Very creative and flavorful.
- I'm not sure I have any suggestions to offer. It could be tested at 3 mana, but I like your choice to make it UUGG. Overall just a really nicely designed card befitting the spirit of the round's challenge.
2) Ruggley
3) IcariiFA
Roccovsky: Most likely would be played for her red ability. I dont feel shift her to a grull card makes much sense. It feels like a totally different character as opposed to one that was either exposed to different variables or made altered choices.
Flatline: This is more in line with what I'd expect from a color shifted legend. Change a critical thing about the character and see what they would be like. That said, this is probably too strong/splashable. Add more white to it.
RaikouRider: This works. Seems fair for a refund your mana card since destroying a single artifact is situational. The flavor is quite good, flows perfectly with the mechanics.
Wildbold: The flavor here works quite well, particularly on innistrad. I do think requiring it to block to have first strike doesn't feel black. They have a history of penalties for blocking. Balances out the extra point of power though.
Koopa:I like the cards mechanics a fair amount, but I have an issue with it. I think it breaks the challenge since it's still white. You can justify it with flavor text, and I don't disagree your flavor works, but that doesn't suddenly mean it wasn't completely shifted out of its original colors. The way I interpret legendshifting, this fails.
2: RaikouRider
3: Wildbold