By altering the past, Sarkhan unleashed an entirely new future upon the plane of Tarkir. In this new future, Ugin escaped the battle with Nicol Bolas alive, but what would the cost of such temporal manipulation be?
Path of Ugin Main Challenge: Design a card that gains life, regenerates a creature, or prevents damage.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is colorless. Subchallenge 2: Your card involves a player making a modal choice.
Path of Bolas Main Challenge: Design a card that prevents life from being gained, prevents regeneration, or stops damage from being prevented.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is mono-black. Subchallenge 2: Your card involves a player making a modal choice.
Your choice of path each week is independent of your other choices.
For Ugin, the card must have a colorless color identity, and for Bolas, your card must have a color identity of black and no other colors.
Player Deadline: February 4th 11:59 P.M.
Judge Deadline: February 8th, 11:59 P.M.
Design (X/10) – This reflects the work put into the initial concept of the card.
Creativity – How original or innovative is the card? Does it present an old idea with a new twist? Does it employ an entirely new mechanic?
Elegance – Is the concept easily understood at a glance? Does the design just 'click' with the flavor?
Potential – Will different player demographics (Spike/Johnny/Timmy) find a use for this card? Does it stand out as a card to build a deck around?
Development (X/10) – This reflects the execution of the idea, fleshing it into a playable card.
Viability – How well does this card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it at the appropriate rarity?
Balance – Does the card's cost match its power? How balanced are its interactions with other cards? Can it be played in constructed, limited, or multiplayer without breaking any of those formats?
Creative Writing – Does the name sound like it fits on a card? Does the flavor text feel natural and professional? Does the combination of name, flavor text, and card concept make Vorthos spout poetry?
Polish – This reflects the finishing touches made to the card, polishing it to an end product that could see print.
Challenge (X/2) – One point awarded per satisfied challenge condition.
Quality (X/3) – Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
Design 6/10
Creativity: Nothing new here.
Elegance: Easy to understand, but the first mode feels niche, especially given the overlap with the second mode.
Potential: Nobody's especially excited to play this.
Development 7/10
Viability: None of these modes are particuarly powerful, and this feels like a common.
Balance: This is too weak for an uncommon. I can't see this seeing much play. The third mode should probably make a stronger creature, too.
Creative Writing: Some rudimentary flavor text would have been appreciated.
Polish 4.5/5
Challenge: Both met.
Quality: It should be "Put a 0/3 colorless Hedron..."
Total: 17.5
Design 9/10
Creativity: I like the play the third mode has to it, but dislike the second mode.
Elegance: It's clean.
Potential: Johnny and Spike would play this.
Development 8/10
Viability: Seems fine in colorless.
Balance: It's good, but the fact that it's always at least a Soul Summons with flash makes this a little pushed.
Creative Writing: The name makes absolutely no sense here outside of the connection to Ugin.
Polish 5/5
Challenge:
Quality:
Total: 22
Design 10/10
Creativity: Fusion is very new, even if the other abilities aren't. I could easily see this as a cycle.
Elegance: Clean and simple.
Potential: Everyone sees something here.
Development 9/10
Viability: A good fit.
Balance: It strikes a good mark to me.
Creative Writing: Good name but no room for flavor text.
Polish (4/5)
Challenge:
Quality: It should be "If WUBRG was spent to cast this spell, choose both."
Total: 23/25
Design 7/10
Creativity: It's new-ish.
Elegance: It being colorless makes little mechanical sense. Ghostfire was colorless so it could target creatures with protection from red. While I understand that this is meant to be a mechanic foil to it, there times where this being colorless matters are few and far between.
Potential: It's not powerful to spark interest. This should be worder a la Martyr of Sands, so you don't have to reveal your whole hand, just as many colorless cards as you want to.
Development 4/10
Viability: Nothing feels too out of place.
Balance: This feels like a very weak rare. One mode is essentially "Prevent all damage that would be dealt this turn to target creature", and the other gains you some life.
Creative Writing: Some flavor text would have been nice.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: It should be "...that would be dealt this turn to target creature..."
Total: 15/25
Design 9/10
Creativity: Nothing especially new, but the whole is.
Elegance: Smooth and easily understood.
Potential: Johnny and spike will find use in this.
Development 7/10
Viability: Red isn't represented very well in this card, and the second mode feels more G/W than Grixis to me.
Balance: Good utility is met with a restrictive cost. Each mode feels very underwhelming and even when you take into account the utility, this doesn't even feel significantly better than, say, Snapcaster Mage, which is a mono-colored 2 drop, compared to this tricolored 3 drop. I'd probably make this a 3/2 or make one of the modes stronger.
Creative Writing: The name conveys the flavor well.
Polish 3/5
Challenge: Missed the first subchallenge (which is not a main challenge, my apologies!
Quality: It should be "Target opponent can't gain life this turn" and "You can't lose life this turn." (Skullcrack)
Total: 19/25
Design 4/10
Creativity: I can't say I've seen anything like this before.
Elegance: Your card has way too much going on. It took me several reads to understand what the card did and what it would play out like. Also, this card should definitely have been a legendary, and a mythic rare at that due to flavor reasons.
Potential: This has timmy written all over it.
Development 4/10
Viability: This is most certainly a mythic rare.
Balance: This card has win-more written all over it. After you somehow cast your 12 mana Eldrazi, it rewards you by... putting more eldrazi into play? Not only does this card have a huge mana tag, but in order to utilize it you need to have more eldrazi in your hand or in play already to maximise its power.
Creative Writing: The name ties into the mechanics well.
Polish 3/5
Challenge:
Quality: There were several spelling errors on your card.
Total: 11/25
Design 9/10
Creativity: False Cure, but with a twist.
Elegance: Easily understood.
Potential: Johnny and Spike like this.
Development 4/10
Viability: This is black, but an effect like this should be at mythic rare.
Balance: This punishes creature decks immensely. Attacking becomes a nightmare, and if your opponent is running walls of any sort they lose a bunch of life whenever they attack. This needs some major development tweaks to be printable.
Creative Writing: Flavor text would have been nice, as the name doesn't quite explain the flavor.
Defense Hedron3
Artifact (U)
Sacrifice Defense Hedron: Choose one -
• Prevent all damage that would be dealt to creatures this turn.
• Exile target creature, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
• Put a 0/3 Hedron artifact creature token with defender onto the battlefield.
(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)
Grim Undertaking (Uncommon) 4B
Sorcery
Choose one -
• Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
• Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated.
Fusion (If WUBRG was spent to cast this spell, do both.)
Question: Indestructible counts for "Design a card that heals a creature or a player."?
Edit: My card:
The Father of All12
Creature - Eldrazi (Rare)
Annihilator X, where X is the number of Eldrazi permanents you control.
At the begining of your upkeep, choose one:
• You may cast an Eldrazi card from your hand without paying it's mana cost. If you do, prevent all damage that would be dealt to Eldrazi creatures your control until the begining of your next turn.
• After the first postcombat main phase this turn, there's an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase. At the beginning of that combat, untap all Eldrazi creatures that attacked this turn.
7/12
Ghostfire Betrayer5
Creature - Specter (R)
Temptation (You may have this enter the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
Flying, lifelink
As long as Ghostfire Specter has a -1/-1 counter on it, it's black and has "Whenever Ghostfire Betrayer would deal combat damage to a player, choose one —
• That player can't gain life for the rest of the game.
• That player discards a card."
3/4
Bolas’s Caress3B
Instant (U)
Choose one —
• The next time an opponent would gain life, he or she loses that much life instead.
• The next time an opponent would gain life, he or she randomly discards that many cards instead.
• Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn.
Bolas' hallmark is his touch, an inborn ability that causes a mind shattering effect with the slightest caress. It makes coherent thought nearly impossible.
This quote is the general inspiration for my card and can be found here
Warden of Bolas2BB
Creature - Zombie Dragon {R}
Flying, deathtouch
When Warden of Bolas enters the battlefield, choose one -
- Creatures your opponents control can’t regenerate.
- Your opponents can’t gain life.
4/3
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A polite player might call my card choices "interesting." At my budget, "interesting" is the only option.
Artifact creature - Construct (rare)
When Scrap Processor enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield. 1, Sacrifice an artifact: Choose one -
๐ You gain 3 life
๐ Target creature gets +1/+2 until end of turn
๐ Draw a card and discard a card.
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in templating, wording, spelling, or grammar, no matter how little they may be; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
@everyone having troubles with bulleted lists: you can use ALT+0149 (that means sequentially typing 0149 on your numeric keypad while holding ALT pressed, if you're in Windows at least) to make a bullet point as an online character (•). I usually do so while doing bulleted lists on text typed cards, just like this (quote this post to see the source code):
CARDNAME (mana cost)
TYPE
Choose one -
• CHOICE 1.
• CHOICE 2.
SOME OTHER TEXT
@everyone having troubles with bulleted lists: you can use ALT+0149 (that means sequentially typing 0149 on your numeric keypad while holding ALT pressed, if you're in Windows at least) to make a bullet point as an online character (•). I usually do so while doing bulleted lists on text typed cards, just like this (quote this post to see the source code)
Alternatively, Alt+7 makes • as well.
It has been brought to my attention that not only modal cards, but any card with the word "choose" involves a player's choice. Examples: Astral Cornucopia, Adaptive Automaton, Cavern of Souls, Swirl the Mists. EDIT: The following post from the discussion thread answers this (emphasis mine):
No, the choice must be modal. Modal choices are a defined term in the rules; basically any spell with bullet points is modal.
Ugin’s Cocoon3
Legendary Artifact — Equipment (M)
Equipped creature can’t attack or block. 3: Choose one —
• Regenerate equipped creature.
• Equipped creature gains hexproof until end of turn.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on equipped creature.
Equip 1
Ghostfire Betrayer5
Creature - Specter (R)
Temptation (You may have this enter the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
Flying, lifelink
As long as Ghostfire Specter has a -1/-1 counter on it, it's black and has "Whenever Ghostfire Betrayer would deal combat damage to a player, choose one —
• That player can't gain life for the rest of the game.
• That player discards a card."
3/4
Design (8/10) Creativity – I can't remember anything like this before. The only thing I'm not that sure about is if temptation defined as you do is worthy of keyword status. You could have had the reminder text without the keyword and the card would literally be the same. I'm going to assume that what makes temptation a keyword is that all cards with it will also have an "As long as CARDNAME has a -1/-1 counter on it" ability. (p.s. I must add after having ended my judgment on your card, that after having talked about it I like very much the fact that I can talk about its "tempted" and "untempted" status. It gives an easy way to reference them while also adding flavor. I didn't see that at first, and this raises your points here.) Elegance – The text box is very crowded. It's still within limits, but it just needs to be very wordy to work. There's a kind of symmetry between the "tempted" mode and the "untempted" mode that's very nice and that somehow migitates the effect of wordiness, but it's not enough to make this card feel like an elegant one. Potential – Timmy is somewhat interested, I think he would almost always play this "untempted", but at least I can't see him that disappointed to open this as his rare in a booster. Johnny is very interested, both for the challenge of choosing if playing this with temptation or not and for the modal triggered ability this gains if tempted. Spike is interested too, as choosing to use temptation or not and the modal choice are both things that can let his superior skill emerge.
Development (7/10) Viability – "can't gain life" is a red effect, but it's also black as lastly seen in Erebos, God of the Dead. It feels strange, though, that I can get the black part playing this with temptation without having to pay any actual black mana at all. I could see this at mythic, but ordinary rare feels fine too. Balance – This looks strong. "Untempted", it's a 3/4 flying lifelink, that will cause 6-life swings when it attacks, for five mana. "Tempted", it's a 2/3 flying lifelink with the modal triggered ability for the same cost. When it connects, it's a 4-life swing and a card lost (as most often you will make the opponent discard, unless playing against a deck that somehow relies heavily on lifegain). In both cases, it looks quite strong but not broken. I can see this as a first pick in limited, as it's a strong card that leaves you open to all colors. That's huge in draft. I can see this having constructed implications too. Creative Writing – Name is fine. No room for flavor text.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. I particularly appreciate the clever way of hitting both paths at once: cast this normally and you're on the Path of Ugin fulfilling both Ugin's main challenge and subchallenge 1, have this enter with a -1/-1 counter and you're on the Path of Bolas fulfilling Bolas's main challenge and subchallenge 1. Very good work. Quality (2.5/3) – The word "would" should not be there, as it's a triggered ability and not a replacement effect. It should be "Whenever Ghostfire Betrayer deals combat damage..." (half a point deducted).
Bolas’s Caress3B
Instant (U)
Choose one —
• The next time an opponent would gain life, he or she loses that much life instead.
• The next time an opponent would gain life, he or she randomly discards that many cards instead.
• Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn.
Design (6/10) Creativity – The first mode is essentially Rain of Gore, and the last one is nothing new. The second mode is quite original instead, and I can't remember something like that before. Elegance – Wordy but clear. There's a nice symmetry between the first two modes that's broken with the presence of the third one. That mode being there really hurts the elegance of the card. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny is very interested, the first two modes are very exciting to him. Spike is interested too, as he always is in flexible cards.
Development (6.5/10) Viability – The random discard feels a little more red than black, but it can also be in black with no problems. Everything is on color. Rarity is the very least it can be, I could easily see this at rare. Balance – The first mode alone costs two mana, as Rain of Gore shows; I don't know about the second one, but played in response to a lifegain spell it's brutal, so it needs to cost enough; the last mode is Cower in Fear and that costs three mana. Given all of this, costing this at four mana looks right, keeping the flexibility of the modal choice into account. The last mode also is the one that makes this playable in limited, as it's far from a given that the opponents you're going to play against play lifegain spells (in fact, they most often will not). I can't see this in constructed, other than in the sideboard against hypothetical lifegain decks. Creative Writing – Name is fine. No room for flavor text.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2.5/3) – It should say "he or she discards that many cards at random instead" (half a point deducted).
Warden of Bolas2BB
Creature - Zombie Dragon {R}
Flying, deathtouch
When Warden of Bolas enters the battlefield, choose one -
- Creatures your opponents control can’t regenerate.
- Your opponents can’t gain life.
4/3
Design (7/10) Creativity – The most original part of this card is the first mode, and something similar has been done multiple times (all the cards that say "it can't be regenerated"). The rest is nothing new. Elegance – Very clear, except for the duration of the effects (see "Quality"). Potential – Timmy likes this. Johnny may try to do something with the ETB trigger, especially is those abilities last indefinitely (see "Quality"). Spike like this for the same reason as Johnny and also because it's a quite efficient body on its own.
Development (7/10) Viability – "can't gain life" is a red effect, but it's also black as lastly seen in Erebos, God of the Dead. Everything is on color. Rarity is fine. Balance – Not knowing the duration of the effects affects this point quite a lot. It's already strong enough as a 4/3 flying deathtouch for four mana, even though it's not broken, so I'm going to assume they last until end of turn. In that case, this card is strong but, as I said, it doesn't look broken. If they last for the rest of the game, I wouldn't be sure we don't cross the line. Must play in limited if you're in black and I could also see this in constructed. Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me there is room for up to a couple lines of flavor text, but there is none.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (1.5/3) – Creatures don't regenerate, they are regenerated (passive form, see it on Dark Banishing and in general all cards that prevent regeneration), so this should say "Creatures your opponents control can't be regenerated" (half a point deducted). Also, "creatures ... can't be regenerated" and "your opponents can't gain life" until when? Just this turn? For the rest of the game? It should be specified in both modes (half a point deducted). The modes should have bullet points instead of hyphens (half a point deducted).
Artifact creature - Construct (rare)
When Scrap Processor enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield. 1, Sacrifice an artifact: Choose one -
๐ You gain 3 life
๐ Target creature gets +1/+2 until end of turn
๐ Draw a card and discard a card.
3/3
Design (7/10) Creativity – The two tokens and the three modes somehow vaguely remind me of Umezawa's Jitte, but it's just the overall structure, the card is actually quite different, and that's a good thing. Anyway, all single parts on this card are something very common. There's nothing outstanding for its originality. Elegance – A bit wordy, but other than that all good here. Potential – Timmy won't like this at first, maybe he will when he realizes that this actually puts five points of power and toughness on the battlefield. Johnny may use the modal ability to gain a ton of life if he finds a way to repeatedly activate it, or to dig into his deck to find combo pieces with the last mode. Spike likes versatile effects.
Development (6/10) Viability – It feels a little strange letting every color have access to looting. This could be said for lifegain too, but it was requested by thre challenge and is thematically tied to Ugin. There's a nice symmetry of lifegain being out of place in blue and red, which are the exact colors the looting abilities is, but this doesn't change the fact the a little color bleeding is going on here. Rarity is fine. Balance – Putting five power and five toughness on the battlefield for five mana in colorless with an additional upside ability feels a bit much. Colorless creatures need to be weaker than their colored counterparts, otherwise there's no reason to play the colored ones. I think this should cost one mana more, that should be enough to be much more balanced. As it is, must play in limited and it may also see a little play in constructed. Creative Writing – Name is fine. No room for flavor text.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (0/3) – There should be no double break between card name and type line (half a point deducted). The word "creature" in the type line should be capitalized (half a point deducted). The word "token" should be plural as they are two (half a point deducted). Periods are missing at the end of the first two modes (half a point deducted). The last mode should say "Draw a card, then discard a card" (half a point deducted). The bullet points should be filled black (half a point deducted).
~ is colorless if it targets a colorless creature.
(I can't seem to get rid of the break between the modal choices and the colorless clause, but you get the idea...)
That's because you formatted it with [list] tags. See my clarifications spoiler above. I won't penalize you for that as you brought it up yourself that you were having troubles with it. I'm sorry, but there are worse problems here.
Design (5.5/10) Creativity – This is essentially Balm of Restoration (see its Oracle text) without the ability to prevent damage from players and with a new implementation. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may try to recur it, but nothing more. Way too weak for Spike to care.
Development (4/10) Viability – I don't see why the first mode couldn't simply be "prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn", but removing damage feels very white anyway. Lifegain is also clearly white, so no problems as far as the color pie is concerned. Rarity feels way too high, I can't see any reason for this to be uncommon. In my opinion, this should totally be a common these days. Balance – Way too weak for today's standards. Preventing 2 damage costs less than one mana (see Orim's Touch that does that with upside, while Swift Maneuver also draws you a card), and gaining 2 life is just used as a rider in modern design because it's quite underwhelming by itself. I probably wouldn't play this card in my limited deck, let alone constructed. Creative Writing – Name is fine. It's a nice mirror to Ghostfire, that is also clearly associated with Ugin. MSE tells me there is surely room for one line of flavor text, maybe even two.
Polish Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 for the Path of Ugin NOT met, as even though this card can be colorless, it does not have a colorless color identity (its color identity is monowhite). Subchallenge 2 met. Quality (2/3) – Card name should be in bold (half a point deducted). No hyphen should be there between card type and rarity (half a point deducted).
I'm not sure at all about the wording of the first mode; there have never been cards that explicitly removed damage from creatures, the only card ever that could be kind of a precedent is Pyramids (look at its Oracle wording) and it uses the word "marked", but it's not exactly the same. As there's no real precedent to compare this with, I can't deduct any point for this.
I'm also not sure if the last ability works as intended within the rules. Anyway, the "if it targets" wording is certainly right, as Ghostfire Blade demonstrates. No points deducted here too, just pointing it out.
Hate-Fuel Juggernaught2BB
Artifact Creature - Juggernaught
Trample, Hate-Fuel Juggernaught must attack each turn
Whenever Hate-Fuel Juggernaught attacks choose one -
• Damage can't be prevented this turn
• Target player can't gain life this turn
5/4
Design (6/10) Creativity – The inspiration from Juggernaut is too obvious to get points here. Also, the abilities you added are nothing new. Everything on this card has been done before multiple times, except the fact that it's a noncolorless Juggernaut, and it's not enough to get a lot of points here. Elegance – A bit wordy, but clear enough. Potential – Timmy is very excited by this. Johnny may try to use the attack trigger to protect his combo. Spike likes the quite efficient body.
Development (4.5/10) Viability – "can't gain life" is a red effect, but it's also black as lastly seen in Erebos, God of the Dead. At the contrary, the only (partially) black card with "damage can't be prevented" is Everlasting Torment, so there is indeed a little color bleed there. "CARDNAME attacks each turn" has been on a black card the grand total of three times: Urborg Drake and Dauthi Slayer, which aren't exactly modern design, and Monstrous Carabid, which is a gold card in a set that had "all gold cards" as its gimmick. But it's true that it's an ability often seen on Juggernauts, none of which are black colored artifacts by the way. Trample is tertiary in black, but if this is at least rare (as it should be) that's fine. I'm saying this because rarity is completely missing from this card, and that's a big hit here. Balance – Again, the most obvious comparison is to Juggernaut. This has a more restrictive mana cost, and to make up for that it gains trample, a point of toughness and a modal ability with minor effects (in order of importance). That's a lot, especially trample, but it's not broken at first sight. Or course, playtest would be needed to see if it is too strong for its cost. It may be, but it's not a given. Must play in limited if you're in black, the body may be efficient enough to see some play in constructed too. Creative Writing – I really feel the name should have been "Hate-Fueled Juggernaut". The first word just feels like it should be an adjective to me. See "Quality" for the repeated misspelling of the word "Juggernaut". No room for flavor text.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (0/3) – In all its instances on the card, the word "Juggernaut" is misspelled (see the card Juggernaut, half a point deducted). Trample and the "must attack" ability should be on separate lines (half a point deducted). Also, the word "must" should not be there in that ability (half a point deducted) and "if able" is missing (it should say "Hate-Fuel Juggernaut attacks each turn if able." on its own line, again see Juggernaut, half a point deducted). A comma is missing after the trigger condition ("...attacks, choose...", half a point deducted). Periods are missing at the end of both modes (half a point deducted). Rarity is missing, and this is a serious mistake, for which I would deduct a whole point, but I'm out of points to deduct. In the end, that was the worst mistake and it already costed you a lot of points in other areas.
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.)
Manafused Sentry3
Artifact Creature - Golem (U)
Hexproof
Sacrifice Manafused Sentry: You gain hexproof until end of turn or target creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn. They surround the towers of grand wizards, ever vigilant in their watch for unwelcome arcane.
1/4
Hate-Fuel Juggernaught2BB
Artifact Creature - Juggernaught
Trample, Hate-Fuel Juggernaught must attack each turn
Whenever Hate-Fuel Juggernaught attacks choose one -
• Damage can't be prevented this turn
• Target player can't gain life this turn
5/4
@admirableadmiral: you made me four years older than I actually am! I've been born in '83, not '79! Not a problem, anyway, just pointing it out! Also, and much more importantly, copying and pasting what I wrote in the discussion thread:
@admirableadmiral: I think both players and judges would really benefit from a clarification on what counts as "healing", as that's not a rules term. Is it lifegain? Damage prevention? Damage redirection? Protection? Hexproof? etc... For the record, as it is now, I, as a judge, would judge healing based on flavor and not mechanics.
@everyone having troubles with bulleted lists: you can use ALT+0149 (that means sequentially typing 0149 on your numeric keypad while holding ALT pressed, if you're in Windows at least) to make a bullet point as an online character (•). I usually do so while doing bulleted lists on text typed cards, just like this (quote this post to see the source code):
CARDNAME (mana cost)
TYPE
Choose one -
• CHOICE 1.
• CHOICE 2.
SOME OTHER TEXT
My bad on getting your name wrong! And I'll add a clarification.
@everyone having troubles with bulleted lists: you can use ALT+0149 (that means sequentially typing 0149 on your numeric keypad while holding ALT pressed, if you're in Windows at least) to make a bullet point as an online character (•). I usually do so while doing bulleted lists on text typed cards, just like this (quote this post to see the source code)
Alternatively, Alt+7 makes • as well.
Hedron Sieve
Land (U) X, t: Choose one -
• Add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.
• Prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to you this turn. The hedrons were constructed for countless purposes, thanks to Ugin's foresight.
Chronogate6
Artifact (R)
Chronogate enters the battlefield tapped. T, Exile Chronogate: Choose one -
• Your life total becomes equal to your starting life total.
• You may take an extra turn after this one. The future, or the past. A new life, or a new shot at the last one. The choice is yours.
Phial of Dragonblood4
Legendary Artifact [R]
At the beginning of your upkeep manifest the top card of your library.
Whenever a colorless permanent enters the battlefield under your control, choose one —
Target opponent loses two life and you gain two life.
Phial of Dragonblood deals two damage to target creature that is one or more colors.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from "SALAd aka Jack Power" »
|_0|\|65407 (There; now you're fully l33t)
CCL Winner- July '08, Aug '08 Sept '08, Oct '08 Survivor- CCS: Lost in Takenuma, CCS: Stranded In Tolaria
I don't always play Jank, but when I do, I play Saffronolive.
By altering the past, Sarkhan unleashed an entirely new future upon the plane of Tarkir. In this new future, Ugin escaped the battle with Nicol Bolas alive, but what would the cost of such temporal manipulation be?
Path of Ugin
Main Challenge: Design a card that gains life, regenerates a creature, or prevents damage.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is colorless.
Subchallenge 2: Your card involves a player making a modal choice.
Path of Bolas
Main Challenge: Design a card that prevents life from being gained, prevents regeneration, or stops damage from being prevented.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is mono-black.
Subchallenge 2: Your card involves a player making a modal choice.
A 'healing' effect is anything that gains life, prevents damage, or regenerates a creature; Shieldmate's Blessing, Angel's Mercy, and Wrap in Vigor would qualify as healing, but Turn Aside would not.
For Ugin, the card must have a colorless color identity, and for Bolas, your card must have a color identity of black and no other colors.
Player Deadline: February 4th 11:59 P.M.
Judge Deadline: February 8th, 11:59 P.M.
Creativity – How original or innovative is the card? Does it present an old idea with a new twist? Does it employ an entirely new mechanic?
Elegance – Is the concept easily understood at a glance? Does the design just 'click' with the flavor?
Potential – Will different player demographics (Spike/Johnny/Timmy) find a use for this card? Does it stand out as a card to build a deck around?
Development (X/10) – This reflects the execution of the idea, fleshing it into a playable card.
Viability – How well does this card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it at the appropriate rarity?
Balance – Does the card's cost match its power? How balanced are its interactions with other cards? Can it be played in constructed, limited, or multiplayer without breaking any of those formats?
Creative Writing – Does the name sound like it fits on a card? Does the flavor text feel natural and professional? Does the combination of name, flavor text, and card concept make Vorthos spout poetry?
Polish – This reflects the finishing touches made to the card, polishing it to an end product that could see print.
Challenge (X/2) – One point awarded per satisfied challenge condition.
Quality (X/3) – Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
Total: X/25
Brackets:
admirableadmiral
riliss
Flatline
Legend
Sagharri
Trivmvirate
netn10
Vertain
Bravelion83
IcariiFA
FindingNico
northprophet
Tesco(black)lotus
Advent
NVRBLND
antny223
Piar
Jimmy Groove
PsyOp
Tilwin
L0ng5h0t
Ninja Caterpie
Moss_Elemental
thenoodler
scrad_the_wanderer
Charm_Master3125
doomfish
SelesnyaNewLife
Figurative
Design 6/10
Creativity: Nothing new here.
Elegance: Easy to understand, but the first mode feels niche, especially given the overlap with the second mode.
Potential: Nobody's especially excited to play this.
Development 7/10
Viability: None of these modes are particuarly powerful, and this feels like a common.
Balance: This is too weak for an uncommon. I can't see this seeing much play. The third mode should probably make a stronger creature, too.
Creative Writing: Some rudimentary flavor text would have been appreciated.
Polish 4.5/5
Challenge: Both met.
Quality: It should be "Put a 0/3 colorless Hedron..."
Total: 17.5
Design 9/10
Creativity: I like the play the third mode has to it, but dislike the second mode.
Elegance: It's clean.
Potential: Johnny and Spike would play this.
Development 8/10
Viability: Seems fine in colorless.
Balance: It's good, but the fact that it's always at least a Soul Summons with flash makes this a little pushed.
Creative Writing: The name makes absolutely no sense here outside of the connection to Ugin.
Polish 5/5
Challenge:
Quality:
Total: 22
Design 10/10
Creativity: Fusion is very new, even if the other abilities aren't. I could easily see this as a cycle.
Elegance: Clean and simple.
Potential: Everyone sees something here.
Development 9/10
Viability: A good fit.
Balance: It strikes a good mark to me.
Creative Writing: Good name but no room for flavor text.
Polish (4/5)
Challenge:
Quality: It should be "If WUBRG was spent to cast this spell, choose both."
Total: 23/25
Design 7/10
Creativity: It's new-ish.
Elegance: It being colorless makes little mechanical sense. Ghostfire was colorless so it could target creatures with protection from red. While I understand that this is meant to be a mechanic foil to it, there times where this being colorless matters are few and far between.
Potential: It's not powerful to spark interest. This should be worder a la Martyr of Sands, so you don't have to reveal your whole hand, just as many colorless cards as you want to.
Development 4/10
Viability: Nothing feels too out of place.
Balance: This feels like a very weak rare. One mode is essentially "Prevent all damage that would be dealt this turn to target creature", and the other gains you some life.
Creative Writing: Some flavor text would have been nice.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: It should be "...that would be dealt this turn to target creature..."
Total: 15/25
Creativity: Nothing especially new, but the whole is.
Elegance: Smooth and easily understood.
Potential: Johnny and spike will find use in this.
Development 7/10
Viability: Red isn't represented very well in this card, and the second mode feels more G/W than Grixis to me.
Balance: Good utility is met with a restrictive cost. Each mode feels very underwhelming and even when you take into account the utility, this doesn't even feel significantly better than, say, Snapcaster Mage, which is a mono-colored 2 drop, compared to this tricolored 3 drop. I'd probably make this a 3/2 or make one of the modes stronger.
Creative Writing: The name conveys the flavor well.
Polish 3/5
Challenge: Missed the first subchallenge (which is not a main challenge, my apologies!
Quality: It should be "Target opponent can't gain life this turn" and "You can't lose life this turn." (Skullcrack)
Total: 19/25
Design 4/10
Creativity: I can't say I've seen anything like this before.
Elegance: Your card has way too much going on. It took me several reads to understand what the card did and what it would play out like. Also, this card should definitely have been a legendary, and a mythic rare at that due to flavor reasons.
Potential: This has timmy written all over it.
Development 4/10
Viability: This is most certainly a mythic rare.
Balance: This card has win-more written all over it. After you somehow cast your 12 mana Eldrazi, it rewards you by... putting more eldrazi into play? Not only does this card have a huge mana tag, but in order to utilize it you need to have more eldrazi in your hand or in play already to maximise its power.
Creative Writing: The name ties into the mechanics well.
Polish 3/5
Challenge:
Quality: There were several spelling errors on your card.
Total: 11/25
Design 9/10
Creativity: False Cure, but with a twist.
Elegance: Easily understood.
Potential: Johnny and Spike like this.
Development 4/10
Viability: This is black, but an effect like this should be at mythic rare.
Balance: This punishes creature decks immensely. Attacking becomes a nightmare, and if your opponent is running walls of any sort they lose a bunch of life whenever they attack. This needs some major development tweaks to be printable.
Creative Writing: Flavor text would have been nice, as the name doesn't quite explain the flavor.
Polish 5/5
Challenge:
Quality:
Total: 18/25
Artifact (U)
Sacrifice Defense Hedron: Choose one -
• Prevent all damage that would be dealt to creatures this turn.
• Exile target creature, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
• Put a 0/3 Hedron artifact creature token with defender onto the battlefield.
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Instant (U)
Choose one -
Grim Undertaking (Uncommon)
4B
Sorcery
Choose one -
• Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
• Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated.
Fusion (If WUBRG was spent to cast this spell, do both.)
Edit: My card:
The Father of All 12
Creature - Eldrazi (Rare)
Annihilator X, where X is the number of Eldrazi permanents you control.
At the begining of your upkeep, choose one:
• You may cast an Eldrazi card from your hand without paying it's mana cost. If you do, prevent all damage that would be dealt to Eldrazi creatures your control until the begining of your next turn.
• After the first postcombat main phase this turn, there's an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase. At the beginning of that combat, untap all Eldrazi creatures that attacked this turn.
7/12
It does not.
Creature - Horror (R)
All creatures have lifelink.
If a player would gain life, he or she
loses that much life instead.
4/4
Creature - Specter (R)
Temptation (You may have this enter the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
Flying, lifelink
As long as Ghostfire Specter has a -1/-1 counter on it, it's black and has "Whenever Ghostfire Betrayer would deal combat damage to a player, choose one —
• That player can't gain life for the rest of the game.
• That player discards a card."
3/4
Bolas’s Caress 3B
Instant (U)
Choose one —
• The next time an opponent would gain life, he or she loses that much life instead.
• The next time an opponent would gain life, he or she randomly discards that many cards instead.
• Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn.
This quote is the general inspiration for my card and can be found here
Creature - Zombie Dragon {R}
Flying, deathtouch
When Warden of Bolas enters the battlefield, choose one -
- Creatures your opponents control can’t regenerate.
- Your opponents can’t gain life.
4/3
Scrap Processor 5
Artifact creature - Construct (rare)
When Scrap Processor enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield.
1, Sacrifice an artifact: Choose one -
๐ You gain 3 life
๐ Target creature gets +1/+2 until end of turn
๐ Draw a card and discard a card.
3/3
Instant - (U)
Choose one -
(I can't seem to get rid of the break between the modal choices and the colorless clause, but you get the idea...)
My custom sets:
Caeia Block (Released - Beta)
Generals of Dareth (In Design)
This is The Lion's Lair, the article series where I specifically talk about custom card design with the intent to help you get better at it. You can check out the articles right here:
#5 - "Mark of quality" (A custom card design guide: templating)
#4 - "The price is right" (A custom card design guide: mana and mana costs)
#3 - "As simple as that" (A custom card design guide: complexity and elegance)
#2 - "A slice of pie" (A custom card design guide: the color pie)
#1 - "Welcome home!" (A custom card design guide: introduction)
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in templating, wording, spelling, or grammar, no matter how little they may be; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
@everyone having troubles with bulleted lists: you can use ALT+0149 (that means sequentially typing 0149 on your numeric keypad while holding ALT pressed, if you're in Windows at least) to make a bullet point as an online character (•). I usually do so while doing bulleted lists on text typed cards, just like this (quote this post to see the source code):
CARDNAME (mana cost)
TYPE
Choose one -
• CHOICE 1.
• CHOICE 2.
SOME OTHER TEXT
Alternatively, you can do this (thanks to Piar):
It has been brought to my attention that not only modal cards, but any card with the word "choose" involves a player's choice. Examples: Astral Cornucopia, Adaptive Automaton, Cavern of Souls, Swirl the Mists. EDIT: The following post from the discussion thread answers this (emphasis mine):
Ugin’s Cocoon 3
Legendary Artifact — Equipment (M)
Equipped creature can’t attack or block.
3: Choose one —
• Regenerate equipped creature.
• Equipped creature gains hexproof until end of turn.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on equipped creature.
Equip 1
I imagine the art being a close up on the hedrons in Crucible of the Spirit Dragon from a different angle.
IcariiFA
Design (8/10)
Creativity – I can't remember anything like this before. The only thing I'm not that sure about is if temptation defined as you do is worthy of keyword status. You could have had the reminder text without the keyword and the card would literally be the same. I'm going to assume that what makes temptation a keyword is that all cards with it will also have an "As long as CARDNAME has a -1/-1 counter on it" ability.
(p.s. I must add after having ended my judgment on your card, that after having talked about it I like very much the fact that I can talk about its "tempted" and "untempted" status. It gives an easy way to reference them while also adding flavor. I didn't see that at first, and this raises your points here.)
Elegance – The text box is very crowded. It's still within limits, but it just needs to be very wordy to work. There's a kind of symmetry between the "tempted" mode and the "untempted" mode that's very nice and that somehow migitates the effect of wordiness, but it's not enough to make this card feel like an elegant one.
Potential – Timmy is somewhat interested, I think he would almost always play this "untempted", but at least I can't see him that disappointed to open this as his rare in a booster. Johnny is very interested, both for the challenge of choosing if playing this with temptation or not and for the modal triggered ability this gains if tempted. Spike is interested too, as choosing to use temptation or not and the modal choice are both things that can let his superior skill emerge.
Development (7/10)
Viability – "can't gain life" is a red effect, but it's also black as lastly seen in Erebos, God of the Dead. It feels strange, though, that I can get the black part playing this with temptation without having to pay any actual black mana at all. I could see this at mythic, but ordinary rare feels fine too.
Balance – This looks strong. "Untempted", it's a 3/4 flying lifelink, that will cause 6-life swings when it attacks, for five mana. "Tempted", it's a 2/3 flying lifelink with the modal triggered ability for the same cost. When it connects, it's a 4-life swing and a card lost (as most often you will make the opponent discard, unless playing against a deck that somehow relies heavily on lifegain). In both cases, it looks quite strong but not broken. I can see this as a first pick in limited, as it's a strong card that leaves you open to all colors. That's huge in draft. I can see this having constructed implications too.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. No room for flavor text.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met. I particularly appreciate the clever way of hitting both paths at once: cast this normally and you're on the Path of Ugin fulfilling both Ugin's main challenge and subchallenge 1, have this enter with a -1/-1 counter and you're on the Path of Bolas fulfilling Bolas's main challenge and subchallenge 1. Very good work.
Quality (2.5/3) – The word "would" should not be there, as it's a triggered ability and not a replacement effect. It should be "Whenever Ghostfire Betrayer deals combat damage..." (half a point deducted).
Total: 19.5/25
Design (6/10)
Creativity – The first mode is essentially Rain of Gore, and the last one is nothing new. The second mode is quite original instead, and I can't remember something like that before.
Elegance – Wordy but clear. There's a nice symmetry between the first two modes that's broken with the presence of the third one. That mode being there really hurts the elegance of the card.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny is very interested, the first two modes are very exciting to him. Spike is interested too, as he always is in flexible cards.
Development (6.5/10)
Viability – The random discard feels a little more red than black, but it can also be in black with no problems. Everything is on color. Rarity is the very least it can be, I could easily see this at rare.
Balance – The first mode alone costs two mana, as Rain of Gore shows; I don't know about the second one, but played in response to a lifegain spell it's brutal, so it needs to cost enough; the last mode is Cower in Fear and that costs three mana. Given all of this, costing this at four mana looks right, keeping the flexibility of the modal choice into account. The last mode also is the one that makes this playable in limited, as it's far from a given that the opponents you're going to play against play lifegain spells (in fact, they most often will not). I can't see this in constructed, other than in the sideboard against hypothetical lifegain decks.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. No room for flavor text.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2.5/3) – It should say "he or she discards that many cards at random instead" (half a point deducted).
Total: 17/25
Design (7/10)
Creativity – The most original part of this card is the first mode, and something similar has been done multiple times (all the cards that say "it can't be regenerated"). The rest is nothing new.
Elegance – Very clear, except for the duration of the effects (see "Quality").
Potential – Timmy likes this. Johnny may try to do something with the ETB trigger, especially is those abilities last indefinitely (see "Quality"). Spike like this for the same reason as Johnny and also because it's a quite efficient body on its own.
Development (7/10)
Viability – "can't gain life" is a red effect, but it's also black as lastly seen in Erebos, God of the Dead. Everything is on color. Rarity is fine.
Balance – Not knowing the duration of the effects affects this point quite a lot. It's already strong enough as a 4/3 flying deathtouch for four mana, even though it's not broken, so I'm going to assume they last until end of turn. In that case, this card is strong but, as I said, it doesn't look broken. If they last for the rest of the game, I wouldn't be sure we don't cross the line. Must play in limited if you're in black and I could also see this in constructed.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me there is room for up to a couple lines of flavor text, but there is none.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (1.5/3) – Creatures don't regenerate, they are regenerated (passive form, see it on Dark Banishing and in general all cards that prevent regeneration), so this should say "Creatures your opponents control can't be regenerated" (half a point deducted). Also, "creatures ... can't be regenerated" and "your opponents can't gain life" until when? Just this turn? For the rest of the game? It should be specified in both modes (half a point deducted). The modes should have bullet points instead of hyphens (half a point deducted).
Total: 17.5/25
Design (7/10)
Creativity – The two tokens and the three modes somehow vaguely remind me of Umezawa's Jitte, but it's just the overall structure, the card is actually quite different, and that's a good thing. Anyway, all single parts on this card are something very common. There's nothing outstanding for its originality.
Elegance – A bit wordy, but other than that all good here.
Potential – Timmy won't like this at first, maybe he will when he realizes that this actually puts five points of power and toughness on the battlefield. Johnny may use the modal ability to gain a ton of life if he finds a way to repeatedly activate it, or to dig into his deck to find combo pieces with the last mode. Spike likes versatile effects.
Development (6/10)
Viability – It feels a little strange letting every color have access to looting. This could be said for lifegain too, but it was requested by thre challenge and is thematically tied to Ugin. There's a nice symmetry of lifegain being out of place in blue and red, which are the exact colors the looting abilities is, but this doesn't change the fact the a little color bleeding is going on here. Rarity is fine.
Balance – Putting five power and five toughness on the battlefield for five mana in colorless with an additional upside ability feels a bit much. Colorless creatures need to be weaker than their colored counterparts, otherwise there's no reason to play the colored ones. I think this should cost one mana more, that should be enough to be much more balanced. As it is, must play in limited and it may also see a little play in constructed.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. No room for flavor text.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (0/3) – There should be no double break between card name and type line (half a point deducted). The word "creature" in the type line should be capitalized (half a point deducted). The word "token" should be plural as they are two (half a point deducted). Periods are missing at the end of the first two modes (half a point deducted). The last mode should say "Draw a card, then discard a card" (half a point deducted). The bullet points should be filled black (half a point deducted).
Total: 15/25
That's because you formatted it with [list] tags. See my clarifications spoiler above. I won't penalize you for that as you brought it up yourself that you were having troubles with it. I'm sorry, but there are worse problems here.
Design (5.5/10)
Creativity – This is essentially Balm of Restoration (see its Oracle text) without the ability to prevent damage from players and with a new implementation.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may try to recur it, but nothing more. Way too weak for Spike to care.
Development (4/10)
Viability – I don't see why the first mode couldn't simply be "prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn", but removing damage feels very white anyway. Lifegain is also clearly white, so no problems as far as the color pie is concerned. Rarity feels way too high, I can't see any reason for this to be uncommon. In my opinion, this should totally be a common these days.
Balance – Way too weak for today's standards. Preventing 2 damage costs less than one mana (see Orim's Touch that does that with upside, while Swift Maneuver also draws you a card), and gaining 2 life is just used as a rider in modern design because it's quite underwhelming by itself. I probably wouldn't play this card in my limited deck, let alone constructed.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. It's a nice mirror to Ghostfire, that is also clearly associated with Ugin. MSE tells me there is surely room for one line of flavor text, maybe even two.
Polish
Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 for the Path of Ugin NOT met, as even though this card can be colorless, it does not have a colorless color identity (its color identity is monowhite). Subchallenge 2 met.
Quality (2/3) – Card name should be in bold (half a point deducted). No hyphen should be there between card type and rarity (half a point deducted).
I'm not sure at all about the wording of the first mode; there have never been cards that explicitly removed damage from creatures, the only card ever that could be kind of a precedent is Pyramids (look at its Oracle wording) and it uses the word "marked", but it's not exactly the same. As there's no real precedent to compare this with, I can't deduct any point for this.
I'm also not sure if the last ability works as intended within the rules. Anyway, the "if it targets" wording is certainly right, as Ghostfire Blade demonstrates. No points deducted here too, just pointing it out.
Total: 12.5/25
Design (6/10)
Creativity – The inspiration from Juggernaut is too obvious to get points here. Also, the abilities you added are nothing new. Everything on this card has been done before multiple times, except the fact that it's a noncolorless Juggernaut, and it's not enough to get a lot of points here.
Elegance – A bit wordy, but clear enough.
Potential – Timmy is very excited by this. Johnny may try to use the attack trigger to protect his combo. Spike likes the quite efficient body.
Development (4.5/10)
Viability – "can't gain life" is a red effect, but it's also black as lastly seen in Erebos, God of the Dead. At the contrary, the only (partially) black card with "damage can't be prevented" is Everlasting Torment, so there is indeed a little color bleed there. "CARDNAME attacks each turn" has been on a black card the grand total of three times: Urborg Drake and Dauthi Slayer, which aren't exactly modern design, and Monstrous Carabid, which is a gold card in a set that had "all gold cards" as its gimmick. But it's true that it's an ability often seen on Juggernauts, none of which are black colored artifacts by the way. Trample is tertiary in black, but if this is at least rare (as it should be) that's fine. I'm saying this because rarity is completely missing from this card, and that's a big hit here.
Balance – Again, the most obvious comparison is to Juggernaut. This has a more restrictive mana cost, and to make up for that it gains trample, a point of toughness and a modal ability with minor effects (in order of importance). That's a lot, especially trample, but it's not broken at first sight. Or course, playtest would be needed to see if it is too strong for its cost. It may be, but it's not a given. Must play in limited if you're in black, the body may be efficient enough to see some play in constructed too.
Creative Writing – I really feel the name should have been "Hate-Fueled Juggernaut". The first word just feels like it should be an adjective to me. See "Quality" for the repeated misspelling of the word "Juggernaut". No room for flavor text.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (0/3) – In all its instances on the card, the word "Juggernaut" is misspelled (see the card Juggernaut, half a point deducted). Trample and the "must attack" ability should be on separate lines (half a point deducted). Also, the word "must" should not be there in that ability (half a point deducted) and "if able" is missing (it should say "Hate-Fuel Juggernaut attacks each turn if able." on its own line, again see Juggernaut, half a point deducted). A comma is missing after the trigger condition ("...attacks, choose...", half a point deducted). Periods are missing at the end of both modes (half a point deducted). Rarity is missing, and this is a serious mistake, for which I would deduct a whole point, but I'm out of points to deduct. In the end, that was the worst mistake and it already costed you a lot of points in other areas.
Total: 12.5/25
IcariiFA: 19.5
FindingNico: 17
northprophet: 17.5
Tesco(black)lotus: 15
Advent: 12.5
NVRBLND: 12.5
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.)
Artifact Creature - Golem (U)
Hexproof
Sacrifice Manafused Sentry: You gain hexproof until end of turn or target creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn.
They surround the towers of grand wizards, ever vigilant in their watch for unwelcome arcane.
1/4
Hate-Fuel Juggernaught 2BB
Artifact Creature - Juggernaught
Trample, Hate-Fuel Juggernaught must attack each turn
Whenever Hate-Fuel Juggernaught attacks choose one -
• Damage can't be prevented this turn
• Target player can't gain life this turn
5/4
Signature by DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
My bad on getting your name wrong! And I'll add a clarification.
Hedron Sieve
Land (U)
X, t: Choose one -
• Add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.
• Prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to you this turn.
The hedrons were constructed for countless purposes, thanks to Ugin's foresight.
Artifact (R)
Chronogate enters the battlefield tapped.
T, Exile Chronogate: Choose one -
• Your life total becomes equal to your starting life total.
• You may take an extra turn after this one.
The future, or the past. A new life, or a new shot at the last one. The choice is yours.
Legendary Artifact [R]
At the beginning of your upkeep manifest the top card of your library.
Whenever a colorless permanent enters the battlefield under your control, choose one —
CCL Winner- July '08, Aug '08 Sept '08, Oct '08
Survivor- CCS: Lost in Takenuma, CCS: Stranded In Tolaria
Artifact (U)
2, Sacrifice Ghostfire Flask: Choose one -
You got 99 attackers but I'm blocking with 1.
The Winner is Judge | 7
This Winner is Also Judge | 6
Club Flamingo | Lots