The card doesn't seem that complex to me. At some point, new players will need to understand that deathtouch works with noncombat damage. Right? It seems like a better design to me than meld. My biggest regret with the card was the flavor text. I wish I went with something like this instead....The hissing of the hidden predator seamlessly flowed into the sound of Hulthan's hissing flesh.....or something like that.
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(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)
I may or may not participate this month, I have yet to decide, but in the OP for August Round 1, among the things that caught my attention, there is this one:
In the first two rounds, entry is available for anyone. (Come join us! We are waiting for you!)
The first TWO rounds? Usually it's three, is this just a typo or am I missing something?
Anyway, congratulations again for the inspiration! You seem to have a gift for finding inspiration in the most unexpected (to me at least) places, and that's a good thing! Also, even if I end up not participating this month, I'm still here for any help you might need.
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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.)
Who says it must be rare or mythic? (Yet another reason to always specify rarity...)
I certainly didn’t pose a specific rarity requirement. I just said it’s unimportant here.
I didn’t explain the why very much as to the reason for not requesting people submit a rarity, but for the challenge this first round it’s more about the design based on the earlier card. Since the earlier card has a rarity, I feel it’s much less important defining the new rarity on it. I also don’t want players to get too hung up on that — the focus is simply a bigger and badder version of the original card.
No problem, I understand. I was even more sensitive than usual about it because I was right in the middle of writing an article about my stance in the debate about rarity, which I'm going to release in a few minutes if anybody cares. EDIT: here it is.
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 question! What was done in the past? What do you think is best?
Please see my post in the voting thread for my opinion on this.
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(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)
I think no, contestants shouldn’t vote. Like you said, Flatline, it would just benefit each person to vote for their self.
It’s a little unusual this time around with three finalists because of the crazy tie; normally it’s just two people. Say if there was a rule you had to vote for another person, well, most of the time it would be the other contestant. (And I would think no one would want to be forced to vote for someone specific.)
Regarding bonus points: I noticed last month there were very few people voting in the final poll, so I figured, alright, how do we get more people voting? Okay, how about giving out bonus points! So sure, if we decided that finalists aren’t voting, then that means they wouldn’t be eligible for those points… but I think that may be a good thing. It at least gives the other people a slightly better chance to get to the finals the next month, and having newer people and a just little more diversity of finalists I think is going to be healthy.
Regardless, I’m excited that participation is up last month and this month. Hopefully the themes have been exciting for people thus far. I’m still rather new to this, so I’m not trying to change everything, but some smart tweaks may very well serve us better.
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I think no, contestants shouldn’t vote. Like you said, Flatline, it would just benefit each person to vote for their self.
D'OH! I only saw this now and I just did it! Well, feel free to manually subtract my vote if you wish, proudawesome. In my months I allowed it because if everybody does is as if nobody did. Also, with the bonus points, this actually hurts the finalists. If they can't vote you're automatically cutting them from being able to get those bonus points for the next month. I don't think that's fair, and not because I'm involved. I'd say the same thing even if I was not.
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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.)
I think no, contestants shouldn’t vote. Like you said, Flatline, it would just benefit each person to vote for their self.
D'OH! I only saw this now and I just did it! Well, feel free to manually subtract my vote if you wish, proudawesome.
I haven’t said no just yet, that’s just the way I’m leaning, especially as, most of the time, it’s just two contestants. (Most judged competitions you aren’t also the judge; obviously the CCL is a bit different as the rounds leading up to the finals you actually are.)
I’d be interested to hear from others on this.
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I'm fine either way, but I think we should decide on an official policy for future CCLs. This question has cropped up many times in the past, and I think having an official policy would help a great deal in alleviating confusion. Contestants not voting seems to make the most sense, though as I understand it the tradition has been for the contestants to vote for themselves.
I strongly believe that allowing people to vote for themselves is the easiest, fairest, most logical way to go about it. That way we aren't reliant on the host keeping on eye on who is voting for whom. As bravelion said, if everyone just voted for themself, the votes would ultimately cancel each other out. It would also be more fair if you want to allocate bonus points for voting in the finals poll. The presidential nominees in the U.S elections are allowed to vote for themself, I see no reason the CCL should be any different. I know the decision isn't up to me entirely, but I just wanted to voice my opinion on the matter again.
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(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)
I was thinking on what card to create for this week's CCL when I realized that there was a notable problem with the following rule for this week.
Create a new creature inspired by the one you chose, sharing at least one creature type
Some legendary creatures could possibly retain no types between their transitions from past to present to future, so there are actually less than 600 possibilities. Some cards that come to mind are:
Brago, King Eternal - Who was probably alive (as a human) before he was a spirit.
Crovax the Cursed - Who was definitely human before he was cursed into being a vampire.
Geth, Lord of the Vault - I am also going to assume this character had to die before they could be turned into a zombie.
I was thinking on what card to create for this week's CCL when I realized that there was a notable problem with the following rule for this week.
Create a new creature inspired by the one you chose, sharing at least one creature type
Some legendary creatures could possibly retain no types between their transitions from past to present to future, so there are actually less than 600 possibilities. Some cards that come to mind are:
Brago, King Eternal - Who was probably alive (as a human) before he was a spirit.
Crovax the Cursed - Who was definitely human before he was cursed into being a vampire.
Geth, Lord of the Vault - I am also going to assume this character had to die before they could be turned into a zombie.
Xenagos, God of Revels - This character was definitely a Satyr before becoming a God (although, admittedly, he was a planeswalker in between).
I feel as though a bit of an oversight has been made in this regard for this week's contest as a result.
I see what you’re getting at.
The intention here was to keep people linked more closely with the original card. Of course, not everyone maintains their creature type when they advance through life (or death).
I guess it partially depends how Vorthos you are… but you don’t have to feel limited here. It doesn’t have to be from a previous lifetime; it could just be that character from a year or two before. (And it doesn’t have to strictly be that character, either, but represent a general role the character used to employ.)
Or you could create an alternate timeline — Magic is full of changing history (Planar Chaos, Khans block, etc.) and that’s absolutely fine.
Anyway, I hope you find something that works that doesn’t feel forced. Maybe there aren’t 600 good cards to choose from, but even if there were only 100 really good cards I would hope that still provides enough choices
Congratulations go to bothbravelion83 and Flatline for being joint winners in July’s CCL! (It’s only fitting — you guys really couldn’t avoid ties this month!) That being said, August is winding down soon. If someone would like to run September, I will pass the torch. However, I’m totally cool with finding a fun topic and running this another month (assuming you guys are enjoying it!)
You have until Saturday, August 28th, 23:59 CDT for all critiques in all three rounds.
The 28th is Sunday. Did you mean Saturday 27th or Sunday 28th?
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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.)
Giving out 2 bonus points to people who voted for the last month’s poll appears to be very well received! We had 18 people cast votes, which is just plain awesome — the most I can find of any final poll! (All this even with three participants in the final, too!) This might be worth doing again.
I’m debating about if the formula needs changing. If someone has a great Round 1, mathematically it makes sense for them to sit out both the next rounds. I don’t think anyone is doing this, but technically, since the formula is an average, there is no penalty for missing a round. If people got a penalty for missing a round, or others got bonus points for participating, this would help mitigate that risk.
Since the beginning of the year, from my count, only one person has entered Round 3 without participating in Rounds 1 or 2. Many months, Round 3 looks exactly like what the Top 8 would be. Most participants either drop out after Round 1 as they lose interest, or realize they probably don’t stand a chance after a few bad critiques. I’m strongly considering changing Round 3 to a Top 8, as I feel it will give more people an incentive to submit better cards, since they know they’ll be in the running. (This would also help solve the previous bullet point.)
That being said, this month I’m experimenting with a Top 8 after the first three rounds… which may have been a bad idea in retrospect, if anything because of time. I have been intentionally vague, but should I have a Top 4, or jump straight to a 2-person finals?
Lastly, seeing no one else has expressed interest in hosting September, I am happy and excited to run it another month
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My thoughts on the ideas contained in the last post, in order.
• Totally agree with the first point. I was skeptic at first about both the bonus points and keeping the results hidden, but it looks like it worked wonderfully, with the highest participation in voting that I ever remember in recent times at least. I'd be ready to implement this immediately, the only two things I think it requires are:
- good communication between hosts: if, for example, I am hosting next month and you hosted this month, I need you to tell me (via pm is probably best) the full list of people who voted in your final poll.
- your final poll being over before I compile the results from the first rounds to make the cut, which requires the contest to be run with not too much delay. The CCL is already long (more on this later), so this is definitely something to keep an eye on.
• I can't remember anyone sitting out after doing well in the first round, also because you're not losing anything if you have a great first round and bad rounds 2-3, at least with the formula I used every time I hosted until now. I don't think anything needs to be done about this, it looks like something you could do in theory but that does not happen in practice, and I'd also be wary of introducing penalties.
• I'm putting the last two points together. I don't know how far back you get to know about the history of the CCL, but long ago the standard way to run a CCL was: rounds 1-3 as they are now, a top 8 round, a top 4 round, the final round, public poll. Six rounds total, which sounds exactly like what you want to do this month. I have two things to say about this:
- there was a reason that structure was modified to begin with, and that reason is that it's way too long. It required almost two full months to fully run, at the point that there was no real reason to call it, say, the August CCL rather than the August/September CCL. With five rounds, you already run longer than a month, you just saw that with the July CCL which I and Flatline won only a few days ago, and we're already at the end of August. We just can't add another round. If at all, I'd say we have the opposite problem: we'd need a way to make sure the contest does not run too long. As it is, a month can't really consist of more than five rounds, and with five rounds you're usually already going into the following month anyway.
- you can't change the rules while the month is in progress. The way to make changes should be: they are proposed here in the discussion thread in advance, they are discussed, and only then if there is a large enough consensus the following month's host applies them in the following month, while the current month goes on with the unchanged structure. I'd strongly advise you to run August in the same way you ran July, then if you want to try some changes (which should have been discussed here before anyway) do that in September, saying it explicitly since round 1 and repeating it in every round's OP. In any given month, as round 1 begins, the rules for that month should be clear and locked in.
A final thought: just like R&D solved the "third set problem" by cutting the third set, what if we solve the "third round problem" by cutting round 3, substituting it with a top 8 round calculated from the scores of rounds 1-2, which are open to everyone? This way we're both solving the problem of scarce participation in round 3 and we're keeping five rounds to avoid running too long. I'm proposing a structure like the following:
Rounds 1-2: the same as they are now. Open to everyone. The cut is anticipated to after round 2. Scores are compiled exactly as they are now, only with two rounds instead of three, and the top 8 advance.
Round 3 is the Top 8 after the cut. A single card is required by the challenge, and everyone critiques everyone else and makes a top 3. Scores from only this round are compiled and the top 4 advance.
Round 4 is the Top 4, running exactly how the Top 4 round is run now.
Round 5 is the final round, again run just like it is now, with the public poll afterwards.
Final Poll: with hidden votes and bonus points. The poll has to be closed before the following month's cut after round 2, which also helps with the delay problem. As soon as the poll is closed, the host communicates to the next month's host (via pm) the list of people who voted in the poll so that they can add the bonus points.
In every round, normalization might be required if people receive different numbers of critiques (we would also need to do something to incourage people to always make their critiques and do them on time...).
I'm open to thoughts about this formula. What I'd really like is for any changes to be discussed here before being implemented, and thanks to you, proudawesome, for doing that with your last post.
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.)
I'm all for streamlining the rules, as long as the concept behind the contest remains the same, i.e. everyone makes cards and judges other players' cards.
Anyway, did anyone volunteer for next month?
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
I'm all for streamlining the rules, as long as the concept behind the contest remains the same, i.e. everyone makes cards and judges other players' cards.
I totally agree. This was implied in my proposal above.
Lastly, seeing no one else has expressed interest in hosting September, I am happy and excited to run it another month
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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.)
I may or may not participate this month, I have yet to decide, but in the OP for August Round 1, among the things that caught my attention, there is this one:
The first TWO rounds? Usually it's three, is this just a typo or am I missing something?
Anyway, congratulations again for the inspiration! You seem to have a gift for finding inspiration in the most unexpected (to me at least) places, and that's a good thing! Also, even if I end up not participating this month, I'm still here for any help you might need.
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.)
I’ll revert it back to three rounds and we’ll see how it plays out this month.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
I didn’t explain the why very much as to the reason for not requesting people submit a rarity, but for the challenge this first round it’s more about the design based on the earlier card. Since the earlier card has a rarity, I feel it’s much less important defining the new rarity on it. I also don’t want players to get too hung up on that — the focus is simply a bigger and badder version of the original card.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
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.)
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
It’s a little unusual this time around with three finalists because of the crazy tie; normally it’s just two people. Say if there was a rule you had to vote for another person, well, most of the time it would be the other contestant. (And I would think no one would want to be forced to vote for someone specific.)
Regarding bonus points: I noticed last month there were very few people voting in the final poll, so I figured, alright, how do we get more people voting? Okay, how about giving out bonus points! So sure, if we decided that finalists aren’t voting, then that means they wouldn’t be eligible for those points… but I think that may be a good thing. It at least gives the other people a slightly better chance to get to the finals the next month, and having newer people and a just little more diversity of finalists I think is going to be healthy.
Regardless, I’m excited that participation is up last month and this month. Hopefully the themes have been exciting for people thus far. I’m still rather new to this, so I’m not trying to change everything, but some smart tweaks may very well serve us better.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
D'OH! I only saw this now and I just did it! Well, feel free to manually subtract my vote if you wish, proudawesome. In my months I allowed it because if everybody does is as if nobody did. Also, with the bonus points, this actually hurts the finalists. If they can't vote you're automatically cutting them from being able to get those bonus points for the next month. I don't think that's fair, and not because I'm involved. I'd say the same thing even if I was not.
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.)
I’d be interested to hear from others on this.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
bravelion83, Flatline, theazurespirit, go ahead and vote for July and I’ll also count the bonus points for August.
Thanks for the discussion, and good luck to you all!
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
Some legendary creatures could possibly retain no types between their transitions from past to present to future, so there are actually less than 600 possibilities. Some cards that come to mind are:
The intention here was to keep people linked more closely with the original card. Of course, not everyone maintains their creature type when they advance through life (or death).
I guess it partially depends how Vorthos you are… but you don’t have to feel limited here. It doesn’t have to be from a previous lifetime; it could just be that character from a year or two before. (And it doesn’t have to strictly be that character, either, but represent a general role the character used to employ.)
Or you could create an alternate timeline — Magic is full of changing history (Planar Chaos, Khans block, etc.) and that’s absolutely fine.
Anyway, I hope you find something that works that doesn’t feel forced. Maybe there aren’t 600 good cards to choose from, but even if there were only 100 really good cards I would hope that still provides enough choices
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
Congratulations go to both bravelion83 and Flatline for being joint winners in July’s CCL! (It’s only fitting — you guys really couldn’t avoid ties this month!)
That being said, August is winding down soon. If someone would like to run September, I will pass the torch. However, I’m totally cool with finding a fun topic and running this another month (assuming you guys are enjoying it!)
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
The 28th is Sunday. Did you mean Saturday 27th or Sunday 28th?
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.)
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
• Totally agree with the first point. I was skeptic at first about both the bonus points and keeping the results hidden, but it looks like it worked wonderfully, with the highest participation in voting that I ever remember in recent times at least. I'd be ready to implement this immediately, the only two things I think it requires are:
- good communication between hosts: if, for example, I am hosting next month and you hosted this month, I need you to tell me (via pm is probably best) the full list of people who voted in your final poll.
- your final poll being over before I compile the results from the first rounds to make the cut, which requires the contest to be run with not too much delay. The CCL is already long (more on this later), so this is definitely something to keep an eye on.
• I can't remember anyone sitting out after doing well in the first round, also because you're not losing anything if you have a great first round and bad rounds 2-3, at least with the formula I used every time I hosted until now. I don't think anything needs to be done about this, it looks like something you could do in theory but that does not happen in practice, and I'd also be wary of introducing penalties.
• I'm putting the last two points together. I don't know how far back you get to know about the history of the CCL, but long ago the standard way to run a CCL was: rounds 1-3 as they are now, a top 8 round, a top 4 round, the final round, public poll. Six rounds total, which sounds exactly like what you want to do this month. I have two things to say about this:
- there was a reason that structure was modified to begin with, and that reason is that it's way too long. It required almost two full months to fully run, at the point that there was no real reason to call it, say, the August CCL rather than the August/September CCL. With five rounds, you already run longer than a month, you just saw that with the July CCL which I and Flatline won only a few days ago, and we're already at the end of August. We just can't add another round. If at all, I'd say we have the opposite problem: we'd need a way to make sure the contest does not run too long. As it is, a month can't really consist of more than five rounds, and with five rounds you're usually already going into the following month anyway.
- you can't change the rules while the month is in progress. The way to make changes should be: they are proposed here in the discussion thread in advance, they are discussed, and only then if there is a large enough consensus the following month's host applies them in the following month, while the current month goes on with the unchanged structure. I'd strongly advise you to run August in the same way you ran July, then if you want to try some changes (which should have been discussed here before anyway) do that in September, saying it explicitly since round 1 and repeating it in every round's OP. In any given month, as round 1 begins, the rules for that month should be clear and locked in.
A final thought: just like R&D solved the "third set problem" by cutting the third set, what if we solve the "third round problem" by cutting round 3, substituting it with a top 8 round calculated from the scores of rounds 1-2, which are open to everyone? This way we're both solving the problem of scarce participation in round 3 and we're keeping five rounds to avoid running too long. I'm proposing a structure like the following:
Rounds 1-2: the same as they are now. Open to everyone. The cut is anticipated to after round 2. Scores are compiled exactly as they are now, only with two rounds instead of three, and the top 8 advance.
Round 3 is the Top 8 after the cut. A single card is required by the challenge, and everyone critiques everyone else and makes a top 3. Scores from only this round are compiled and the top 4 advance.
Round 4 is the Top 4, running exactly how the Top 4 round is run now.
Round 5 is the final round, again run just like it is now, with the public poll afterwards.
Final Poll: with hidden votes and bonus points. The poll has to be closed before the following month's cut after round 2, which also helps with the delay problem. As soon as the poll is closed, the host communicates to the next month's host (via pm) the list of people who voted in the poll so that they can add the bonus points.
In every round, normalization might be required if people receive different numbers of critiques (we would also need to do something to incourage people to always make their critiques and do them on time...).
I'm open to thoughts about this formula. What I'd really like is for any changes to be discussed here before being implemented, and thanks to you, proudawesome, for doing that with your last post.
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.)
Anyway, did anyone volunteer for next month?
I totally agree. This was implied in my proposal above.
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.)
If someone else wants to host I’ll pass the torch. However, I’m more than happy to continue another month.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )