Good and evil have always clashed. What isn't clear, however, is what's good and what's evil. Both factions always advance their own agendas, doing what they think is best. But what makes you so sure that you are the hero and that your enemy is the villain?
Path of Mirrodin Pure Main Challenge: Design a card with Metalcraft, Imprint, or Equip in its rules text.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is not an artifact. Subchallenge 2: Your card references an important Mirrain figure from the Scars of Mirrodin block, in name or in flavor text.
Path of New Phyrexia Main Challenge: Design a card with Infect, Living Weapon, or Proliferate in its rules text.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is not an artifact. Subchallenge 2: Your card references an important Phyrexian figure from the Scars of Mirrodin block, in name or in flavor text.
Your choice of path each week is independent of your other choices.
For each main challenge, your card must either have that ability, gain that ability, grant that ability to other cards, or specifically care about cards with those abilities. For example, Bludgeon Brawl would qualify for the main challenge.
Player Deadline: February 20th 11:59 P.M.
Judge Deadline: February 23rd, 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.
Total: X/25
admirableadmiral
doomfish vs PsyOp
IcariiFA vs northprophet
Bravelion83
IcariiFA vs northprophet
Flatline vs Legend
antny223
Flatline vs Legend
Tilwin vs Jimmy Groove
Moss_Elemental
doomfish vs PsyOp
Tilwin vs Jimmy Groove
Design 6/10
Creativity: Necroskitter and Mindslaver, but phrexian.
Elegance: This is very confusing ruleswise. Controlling another player 24/7 is not easy in practice (holding two hands of cards, having twice as many decisions, etc), and most players would simply concede rather than being controlled.
Potential: Johnny likes it. Spike wants to like it, but it takes too much work to get any sort of payoff. Timmy wants to control another player.
Development 8/10
Viability: Black and mythic fit.
Balance: Necroskitter was a 1/4 for 3 mana, and wither is arguable a weaker ability than infect. This should cost one more mana or have a smaller body.
Creative Writing: Name and mechanics convey the flavor. I didn't count it against you, but the flavor text you didn't use is uninspired.
Polish 3.5/5
Challenge:
Quality: The third ability is a replacement effect, and should be worded as such; "If another player you don't control would lose the game for having ten or more poison counters, instead he or she loses all poison counters and you control that player." Also, there should most certainly be reminder text for the third ability.
Total: 17.5/25
Design 9.5/10
Creativity: An equipment lord? That's new.
Elegance: Easy to understand. What I don't get, however, is why this is a Human. Wouldn't a Horror make more sense?
Potential: Spike appreciates the value, but as a build-around-me rare, this is deep in Johnny territory.
Development 9/10
Viability: This hits white/black on a very good note. Rare is fine, but I could easily see mythic rare. However, because the card doesn't do anything without equipment, I think it's fair.
Balance: This feels right on the money. The card is utilitarian and powerful, but only if you build your deck around it.
Creative Writing: The flavor text should be reworked, but it conveys the flavor.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: The quote should use quotation marks. Also, it should be worded "Whenever you cast an Equipment spell, it gains living weapon."
Total: 23/25
Design 8/10
Creativity: Steady Progress, but with a variable payoff.
Elegance: Nothing clunky here.
Potential: Johnny wants to use this to draw a bunch of cards. Spike would be interested if it was reliable, but the mana cost is a big turn off for him.
Development 6/10
Viability: Blue/white and uncommon are correct.
Balance: I feel like this should probably have costed one fewer mana. Because of how the card is very dead if there are one or zero counters among permanents and blue/white isn't a color pair that typically commits to the board or has a lot of counters on its permanents, I feel like too often it will be a blank, which is unacceptable from a five mana gold sorcery.
Creative Writing: The Praetors wouldn't join forces. One of the major plot points of the Phyrexian story arc was how they were fighting; it's part of why Urabrask disappeared.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: It should be "Proliferate. You draw a card and gain 1 life for each counter placed on a permanent this way."
Total: 18/25
Design 10/10
Creativity: Aside from Nahiri's ultimate, this is new. If anything, it feels more like a spin off token makers with a sort of delayed Graft 1.
Elegance: Easy to understand. The only problem I have is representing equipment can be awkward if you don't have the token card, but that's a minor concern.
Potential: This is Spike for sure, but Johnny will get mileage out of it.
Development 7/10
Viability: This is a good red card, but I think white would have been a better fit.
Balance: Even though Mirrodin was a very powerful block, this should probably cost three mana. It can get out of hand, but takes a lot of resources to do so.
Creative Writing: Excellent flavor. I like how it tells a small, but important, part of the story.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: There should be a period after "equip 2", and Phyrexian should be capitalized in the flavor text.
Germ Warfare (Rare) 3(B/P)
Enchantment
Equipment you control have living weapon. (B/P): Put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield and attach target unattached Equipment you control to it. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
(The Phyrexian mana symbol appears grey/generic on my screen, but it's Phyrexian B.
Sheoldred's Will
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature Imprint - When Sheoldred's Will enters the battlefield, exile target creature card from a graveyard.
Enchanted creature is a copy of the exiled creature.
"We must not allow the dark will of these loathsome invaders to overtake our souls."
-Jor Kadeen
(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)
2, T: Put a colorless Equipment artifact
token named Knifecrawler onto the
battlefield. It has living weapon, “Equipped
creature gets +1/+1,” and equip 2
Before Urabrask disappeared, he advised the
refugees to use the phyrexian’s own weapons
against them.
Order of Tyranny3WU
Sorcery (U)
Proliferate, then draw a card and gain 1 life for each counter given this way. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.) Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias were the first to join forces. Seeking true dominion, they were also the first to gain footholds on a new plane.
Norn's Weaponeer3W
Creature - Artificer (R)
Equipment spells cast by all players have Living Weapon. (They enter the battlefield attached to a 0/0 black Germ creature token.)
You control all Germ creatures and all Germ creatures you control get +1/+1. Those who were once Auriok now use their metalworking talents to track down the few Mirran survivors, sending out probes to infect their weaponry.
2/3
Sheoldred’s Enslaver3BB
Legendary Creature - Horror (MR)
Infect
Whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it dies, return that card to the battlefield under your control.
Whenever a player you don’t control would lose the game for having ten or more poison counters, instead he or she loses all poison counters. You control that player.
3/5
Not enough space for flavortext, if it had enough it'd be this: "What do they have left, now that their greatest hope fights for us?" - Sheoldred, Whispering One
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Melira's CureGG
Instant (U) Imprint - When you cast Melira's Cure, exile target permanent you control.
You lose X poison counters, where X is the converted mana cost of the exiled card. If that card was an artifact, you lose twice that many poison counters instead. "The phyrexians are an unholy amalgamation of flesh and metal. We need to renounce one so that the other won't be corrupted." - Melira
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.
Path of Mirrodin Pure:
Melira’s Healing1G
Sorcery (U)
Remove up to three -1/-1 counters from among creatures you control. Metalcraft — Remove all -1/-1 counters from all creatures you control instead if you control three or more artifacts. She chose to not keep her gift all for herself.
For the Path of New Phyrexia, a reworked version of my Infected Rat Pack from last September MCC that costed me the elimination in round 3 as a player:
Sheoldred’s Rats1BB
Creature — Rat (R)
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 black Rat creature token with infect onto the battlefield. “Rats spread phyresis. Phyresis compleats you.”
—Sheoldred, Whispering One
2/2
Order of Tyranny3WU
Sorcery (U)
Proliferate, then draw a card and gain 1 life for each counter given this way. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.) Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias were the first to join forces. Seeking true dominion, they were also the first to gain footholds on a new plane.
Design (8.5/10) Creativity – I can't remember effects scaling with the number of counters produced by a proliferate activation, so full points here. Elegance – All good here. By the way, the wrong wording ("given", see "Quality") is actually more elegant than the right one in this case. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may like the challenge to maximize this. Spike will use this if it proves reliable enough.
Development (7.5/10) Viability – Everything is in color. I could see this at rare too, because it can easily reach Sphinx's Revelation levels of brokenness in the right deck (one that uses a lot of permanents with counters, and in a set with proliferate I guess they abound). Uncommon is probably fine though: being a sorcery helps (you often use the Revelation at the end of your opponent's turn, while to use this you must expose yourself tapping your mana during your turn), and as a rare it would indeed read underwhelming. Obviously, only playtesting this (especially in limited) would give you an idea of whether it would actually be. But that's a luruxy I can't afford now for judging purposes. Balance – The potential of drawing a lot of cards and gaining a lot of life with this requires the cost to be high enough. How many counters do you need to give out to be happy casting this for five mana? Definitely not one, drawing a card and gaining 1 life is just laughable for five mana. Two feels weak too, a Divination and 2 life is not actually want you want for that mana cost. At three we can start talking: Concentrate alone costs four mana and the 3 life can cover the extra mana. Anything above three counters is above the curve, as Tidings only gives you the four cards at sorcery speed for five mana, and here you have the lifegain too. So the answer is: I want this to give at least three counters to get enough value out of it. Will I be able to use proliferate to do that? The balance and playability of this card lies in the answer to this question, which really depends a lot on both the limited and constructed environment that this card is in. I guess it would surely be playable in limited, where you may easily accept that sometimes this will give you less cards and life than you would like it to give you, while in constructed it heavily depends on the fact if you can build a good "counter deck", as in a deck that uses a lot of permanents with counters on them. Creative Writing – Name is fine. The flavor text would be too if it didn't imply that the Phyrexians are jumping planes, while their inability to planeswalk is supposed to be their greatest, if not only, weakness. But maybe they've found a way, and that's part of the story of the block this card hypothetically comes from, so I'm not going to deduct many points here. Some, but not a lot.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2/3) – As lifegain is involved, it should be "then you draw a card and you gain 1 life" (mistake #47 in my "Mark of quality, part 2" article, half a point deducted). Counters are not "given", they are "placed" (see Corpsejack Menace, Hardened Scales, Primal Vigor, and other cards), so it should be "for each counter placed on permanents or players this way" (half a point deducted).
2, T: Put a colorless Equipment artifact
token named Knifecrawler onto the
battlefield. It has living weapon, “Equipped
creature gets +1/+1,” and equip 2
Before Urabrask disappeared, he advised the
refugees to use the phyrexian’s own weapons
against them.
1/1
Design (7/10) Creativity – Equipment tokens have only been seen on Nahiri, the Lithomancer, but that is a mythic in a supplemental product, so it's still original enough. Elegance – The necessary wording of the activated ability is not the most elegant thing that exists, but it's unavoidable. Other than that, everything's fine here. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny can use multiple approaches with this card: use the tokens as 1/1 creatures to somehow swarm the board with, equip all the tokens to a single hopefully evasive creature, use them for metalcraft, etc… Spike will just use this as "4, T: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature".
Development (6.5/10) Viability – Red can interact with artifacts by means other than just smashing them, especially in a supposedly artifact-heavy block. The flavor also helps putting this in color, even if I could still see this effect in white too, as that is the color that most interacts with Equipment. But red is still fine. Rarity also feels fine, even though I could see this at uncommon too, after all with two mana you just get a 1/1 token and it costs four mana to use one as a +1/+1 counter on a creature. Yes, a counter that sticks around when the creature dies, but then it costs you more mana to equip again. Using this card effectively can cost a lot of mana. Also, you need to tap the creature, so you cannot abuse this unless you do some untap shenanigans. Balance – I already touched on the cost of the ability in "Viability". Here I'll note that two mana for a 1/1 with an already mana-intensive ability looks a bit underwhelming, especially at rare. I could make it bigger or make it cost less, and between the two options I would probably prefer to raise its power rather than making it cost less. Would this have been really broken as a 2/1? I don't think so. I think this would be playable in limited, but I'm not sure about constructed at all, as there should be better options there. The competition to get into constructed is hard, and I honestly don't think this is enough. Creative Writing – Name is fine. There are two mistakes in one word ("phyrexian") in flavor text, but I will deduct points in "Quality" for them. Here I'm judging the meaning of the flavor text, and that's good. Quite nice, actually.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (1.5/3) – A period is missing at the end of the activated ability (half a point deducted). The word "phyrexian" in flavor text should be capitalized (see the flavor text of Divine Offering in its Mirrodin Besieged printing, Psychic Barrier and other cards, half a point deducted). The same word should be plural, as clarified by the word "them" that follows, so the Saxon genitive should have the apostrophe coming after the plural "s", not before. It should be "the Phyrexians' own weapons" (mistakes #25 and #50 in my "Mark of quality" articles, half a point deducted). Finally, I'm not deducting points for this but I would really like to see cards formatted as specified in the CCC forum rules.
Sheoldred's Will
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature Imprint - When Sheoldred's Will enters the battlefield, exile target creature card from a graveyard.
Enchanted creature is a copy of the exiled creature.
"We must not allow the dark will of these loathsome invaders to overtake our souls."
-Jor Kadeen
Design (7/10) Creativity – Cards copying creatures in graveyards already exist. This is new only in the way it does that. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny likes this very much, as most copy effects. Spike would just use this to get a second use out of a good creature that died, but he would like this much more as a Clone, not so much as an aura, because it requires another creature to "overwrite" the dead one on while also exposing him to the risk of getting two-for-oned.
Development (5.5/10) Viability – Copy effects are blue. In fact, Body Double is blue, and what this card does is effectively turning any creature into a Body Double. The only black effect is that this exiles the card from the graveyard, but honestly that's just not enough to make this monoblack. At the very least, this should be a blue/black gold card (like Dimir Doppelganger), even if I actually think it should just be monoblue. Also, both Body Double and Dimir Doppelganger are rare, and this probably should be too. This is weaker, because if the creature is removed you get two-for-oned, but here too I think that's not enough to bump it down at uncommon. Also, copy effects are usually rare. Balance – Body Double costs five mana, and this costs four. Taking into account the two-for-one risk I was just talking about in "Viability", that sounds reasonable. The double colored cost also helps here. Probably playable in limited. In constructed, as playable as Body Double, which is little unless in very specific decks. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2.5/3) – It should be "is a copy of the exiled card", as there are no "creatures" in the exile zone, but "(creature) cards" (mistake #2 in my first "Mark of quality" article, half a point deducted).
Germ Warfare (Rare) 3(B/P)
Enchantment
Equipment you control have living weapon. (B/P): Put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield and attach target unattached Equipment you control to it. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Design (7.5/10) Creativity – Granting living weapon to Equipment and attaching them to Germs at instant speed are both new things, so full points here. Elegance – The word "unattached" doesn't help here, but the rest is fine. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Both Johnny and Spike can like this card: Johnny because he can do a lot of shenanigans with it, and Spike because he can get free tokens. Yet, they both don't like the word "unattached": Johnny because it limits him in his creativity, and Spike because there usually aren't that many unattached Equipment on a typical battlefield, especially when you also already give living weapon anyway to the ones you play after this.
Development (7/10) Viability – The first ability has never done before, so it's not yet assigned to a color, and black feels like a good chioce as living weapon is a phyrexian keyword and black is the main phyrexian color. Also for the second ability, putting black Germs onto the battlefield would just feel wrong in any color except black itself. Rarity is definitely right, this just has to be at least a rare. Balance – There are no precedents for a card like this, so it's hard to judge costs here. The mana cost feels like it can be right, even if you cast this for three mana and two life it doesn't feel broken. What worries me somehow is the ability cost, as any phyrexian mana cost that can be paid only by paing life is potentially dangerous. For once, here the word "unattached" helps, as it greatly limits this ability's power. Playable only if you have enough Equipment in your deck to get full value out of this card, and that will be easier in constructed, where you can just put a lot of Equipment in your deck and call it a day, rather than in limited, where you need to actually open a lot of Equipment in your boosters. Creative Writing – Name is fine. No flavor text. MSE tells me one line could have fit.
Polish Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 met, as it's not an artifact. Subchallenge 2 NOT met, as there's no reference to a Phyrexian figure from SOM block in the name and there's no flavor text. Quality (3/3) – All good here, no points deducted. We have already talked about formatting.
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.)
Design (7.5/10) – Creativity – A new idea, which combines lots of existing elements in a new way. Elegance – I nearly dqed because I mistook which path you took. This card doesn't feel completely at home with the praetor mentioned. Otherwise I like it. Potential – It's a four mana raise the dead, which is vulnerable to enchantment removable. Oh and you need a creature to use it. Spike and Timmy aren't about to replace their copies of Animate Dead with it, but I think Johnny might have some ideas up his sleeve.
Development (6.5/10) – Viability – This sort of copying shouldn't really exist out of blue, and probably not below rare. Balance – It's fairly costed, and perhaps could even be 1 less. Creative Writing – Neither was a problem.
Polish – Challenge (1/2) – Sorry, but Sheoldred doesn't count as a Mirran character. Quality (3/3) –
Total: 18.5/25
Design (8/10) – Creativity – A new idea, and a quite cool one at that. Elegance – I get how it works and the flavour is clear enough. Potential – Johnny loves a mana free method of creating creatures, even if they die instantly. Probably not much use outside combo decks.
Development (9/10) – Viability – Germ producing is black. Attaching is blue/red if remember correctly (I could be wrong, will check if there's time). Granting living weapon is probably in the correct colour. Balance – Possibly busable, but not too quick so as to be bannable in any eternal formats I sense. Creative Writing – I liked the name, would have loved some flavour text.
Polish – Challenge (1/2) – No mention of a Phyrexian Quality (3/3) –
Total: 21/25
Tilwin vs Jimmy Groove
Design (7/10) – Creativity – It's a planeswalker, whose abilities are all probably new, but nothing really feels groundbreaking here. Elegance – I guess there's some synegy between the first two abilities and the emblem but not enough. You con't really play a -3 and -6 often outside commander and having artifacts designed to be sacrificed feels at odds with the emblem. Potential – Timmy tends to always go for planeswalkers, Johnny not so much but the second ability makes it reasonable inclusion in quite a few decks. Could need to be pushed more for Spike.
Development (8.5/10) – Viability – All effects can work in blue and white, mythic is the only slot for a pw. Balance – I dislike how win-more the emblem is. Otherwise I'm happy with this card. Creative Writing – The name is fine. I can't judge the other stuff.
Polish – Challenge (1/2) – I can't give marks for the Jor Kadeen reference. Quality (2/3) – The emblem doesn't need metalcraft, and I think wizards would omit set specific words from planeswalkers.
Total: 18.5/25
Design (8/10) – Creativity – A lot of original effects. Elegance – It's flavour is nice, and the abilities fit together nicely. Potential – It's definately enough of a powerhouse to appeal to all players.
Development (6/10) – Viability – Feels like the wrong colour for the living weapon effect and it would nicer to have black produce germs. I don't think the germs work. Balance – Probably fair. Creative Writing – I'd put it on a card.
Polish – Challenge (2/2) – Quality (1/3) – I have been back and forth between you and Legend over who has the right version of this effect. I think that because Living Weapon has "When enters the battlefield" as opposed to "this enters" his is probably correct. If I get a better explanation I will change this. The gain all germs is also not correct.
Design:
Creativity – That last ability is interesting.
Elegance – No problems here.
Potential – Johnny loves it. Timmy might like it, too.
9/10.
Development:
Viability – No problems here.
Balance – If it's a multiplayer game, sure. But in a 1v1 game, it's just prolonging the agony. It should just be controlling the player's during his or her next turn.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
8/10
Polish:
Challenges – Both met.
Quality – “If a player you don't control would lose the game for having ten or more poison counters, instead that player loses all counters. You control that player.
4/5
Total: 21/25
Design:
Creativity – Not much in the mechanics that's new, but it's original.
Elegance – No problems here.
Potential – Johnny likes it. Spike will, too, once he sees the broken combo.
8/10.
Development:
Viability – The wording should be similar to the last line on Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, i.e. “Whenever you cast an Equipment spell, it gains living weapon.”
Balance – Giving Germs infect? Sure. Returning your Equipment? Sure. Giving your equipment living weapon? No. The main reason? Skullclamp. It's broken enough as it is, giving it living weapon is ridiculous. For one mana, you get to draw two cards.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
7/10
Polish:
Challenges – You picked an obscure character, but the challenge is met.
Quality – “Equipment” is to be capitalized. It's “have infect”. Also, see Viability.
4/5
Total: 19/25
Design:
Creativity – They're new.
Elegance – No problems here.
Potential – Johnny would love it.
8/10.
Development:
Viability – Activating a planeswalker's ultimate ability is often guaranteed a victory, so it would not make sense to put something like metalcraft to an emblem.
Balance – This is clearly for commander or the next artifact block.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
8/10
Polish:
Challenges – Sorry, but the reference isn't obvious enough.
Quality – Missing the colons for each loyalty ability. They are activated abilities, after all. Also, the artifact token's ability should read “t, Sacrifice this artifact: ...”
3/5
Total: 19/25
Design:
Creativity – It's an interesting way to get free creatures.
Elegance – Despite the wording of the second line, there are no problems.
Potential – Johnny likes it.
8/10.
Development:
Viability – I think the first ability should read “Whenever a player casts an Equipment spell, it gains living weapon.” Similar to Bloodlord of Vaasgoth's last ability. The part about “You control all Germs” is definitely not correct. You probably meant “Whenever a Germ creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you gain control of it.”
Balance – I have no problems with it.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
8/10
Polish:
Challenges – Both met.
Quality – See Viability.
4/5
Total: 20/25
As always, no complaints.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
I AM NO LONGER ON STAFF.
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Good and evil have always clashed. What isn't clear, however, is what's good and what's evil. Both factions always advance their own agendas, doing what they think is best. But what makes you so sure that you are the hero and that your enemy is the villain?
Path of Mirrodin Pure
Main Challenge: Design a card with Metalcraft, Imprint, or Equip in its rules text.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is not an artifact.
Subchallenge 2: Your card references an important Mirrain figure from the Scars of Mirrodin block, in name or in flavor text.
Path of New Phyrexia
Main Challenge: Design a card with Infect, Living Weapon, or Proliferate in its rules text.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is not an artifact.
Subchallenge 2: Your card references an important Phyrexian figure from the Scars of Mirrodin block, in name or in flavor text.
For each main challenge, your card must either have that ability, gain that ability, grant that ability to other cards, or specifically care about cards with those abilities. For example, Bludgeon Brawl would qualify for the main challenge.
Player Deadline: February 20th 11:59 P.M.
Judge Deadline: February 23rd, 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
admirableadmiral
doomfish vs PsyOp
IcariiFA vs northprophet
Bravelion83
IcariiFA vs northprophet
Flatline vs Legend
antny223
Flatline vs Legend
Tilwin vs Jimmy Groove
Moss_Elemental
doomfish vs PsyOp
Tilwin vs Jimmy Groove
Creativity: Necroskitter and Mindslaver, but phrexian.
Elegance: This is very confusing ruleswise. Controlling another player 24/7 is not easy in practice (holding two hands of cards, having twice as many decisions, etc), and most players would simply concede rather than being controlled.
Potential: Johnny likes it. Spike wants to like it, but it takes too much work to get any sort of payoff. Timmy wants to control another player.
Development 8/10
Viability: Black and mythic fit.
Balance: Necroskitter was a 1/4 for 3 mana, and wither is arguable a weaker ability than infect. This should cost one more mana or have a smaller body.
Creative Writing: Name and mechanics convey the flavor. I didn't count it against you, but the flavor text you didn't use is uninspired.
Polish 3.5/5
Challenge:
Quality: The third ability is a replacement effect, and should be worded as such; "If another player you don't control would lose the game for having ten or more poison counters, instead he or she loses all poison counters and you control that player." Also, there should most certainly be reminder text for the third ability.
Total: 17.5/25
Creativity: An equipment lord? That's new.
Elegance: Easy to understand. What I don't get, however, is why this is a Human. Wouldn't a Horror make more sense?
Potential: Spike appreciates the value, but as a build-around-me rare, this is deep in Johnny territory.
Development 9/10
Viability: This hits white/black on a very good note. Rare is fine, but I could easily see mythic rare. However, because the card doesn't do anything without equipment, I think it's fair.
Balance: This feels right on the money. The card is utilitarian and powerful, but only if you build your deck around it.
Creative Writing: The flavor text should be reworked, but it conveys the flavor.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: The quote should use quotation marks. Also, it should be worded "Whenever you cast an Equipment spell, it gains living weapon."
Total: 23/25
Creativity: Steady Progress, but with a variable payoff.
Elegance: Nothing clunky here.
Potential: Johnny wants to use this to draw a bunch of cards. Spike would be interested if it was reliable, but the mana cost is a big turn off for him.
Development 6/10
Viability: Blue/white and uncommon are correct.
Balance: I feel like this should probably have costed one fewer mana. Because of how the card is very dead if there are one or zero counters among permanents and blue/white isn't a color pair that typically commits to the board or has a lot of counters on its permanents, I feel like too often it will be a blank, which is unacceptable from a five mana gold sorcery.
Creative Writing: The Praetors wouldn't join forces. One of the major plot points of the Phyrexian story arc was how they were fighting; it's part of why Urabrask disappeared.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: It should be "Proliferate. You draw a card and gain 1 life for each counter placed on a permanent this way."
Total: 18/25
Creativity: Aside from Nahiri's ultimate, this is new. If anything, it feels more like a spin off token makers with a sort of delayed Graft 1.
Elegance: Easy to understand. The only problem I have is representing equipment can be awkward if you don't have the token card, but that's a minor concern.
Potential: This is Spike for sure, but Johnny will get mileage out of it.
Development 7/10
Viability: This is a good red card, but I think white would have been a better fit.
Balance: Even though Mirrodin was a very powerful block, this should probably cost three mana. It can get out of hand, but takes a lot of resources to do so.
Creative Writing: Excellent flavor. I like how it tells a small, but important, part of the story.
Polish 4/5
Challenge:
Quality: There should be a period after "equip 2", and Phyrexian should be capitalized in the flavor text.
Total: 21/25
3(B/P)
Enchantment
Equipment you control have living weapon.
(B/P): Put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield and attach target unattached Equipment you control to it. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
(The Phyrexian mana symbol appears grey/generic on my screen, but it's Phyrexian B.
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Imprint - When Sheoldred's Will enters the battlefield, exile target creature card from a graveyard.
Enchanted creature is a copy of the exiled creature.
"We must not allow the dark will of these loathsome invaders to overtake our souls."
-Jor Kadeen
Creature - Human Artificer {R}
2, T: Put a colorless Equipment artifact
token named Knifecrawler onto the
battlefield. It has living weapon, “Equipped
creature gets +1/+1,” and equip 2
Before Urabrask disappeared, he advised the
refugees to use the phyrexian’s own weapons
against them.
1/1
Sorcery (U)
Proliferate, then draw a card and gain 1 life for each counter given this way. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)
Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias were the first to join forces. Seeking true dominion, they were also the first to gain footholds on a new plane.
Creature - Artificer (R)
Equipment spells cast by all players have Living Weapon. (They enter the battlefield attached to a 0/0 black Germ creature token.)
You control all Germ creatures and all Germ creatures you control get +1/+1.
Those who were once Auriok now use their metalworking talents to track down the few Mirran survivors, sending out probes to infect their weaponry.
2/3
Legendary Creature - Horror (MR)
Infect
Whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it dies, return that card to the battlefield under your control.
Whenever a player you don’t control would lose the game for having ten or more poison counters, instead he or she loses all poison counters. You control that player.
3/5
Not enough space for flavortext, if it had enough it'd be this: "What do they have left, now that their greatest hope fights for us?" - Sheoldred, Whispering One
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Instant (U)
Imprint - When you cast Melira's Cure, exile target permanent you control.
You lose X poison counters, where X is the converted mana cost of the exiled card. If that card was an artifact, you lose twice that many poison counters instead.
"The phyrexians are an unholy amalgamation of flesh and metal. We need to renounce one so that the other won't be corrupted." - Melira
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:
#7 - "Name dropping" (A custom card design guide: psychographics)
#6 - "Mark of quality, part 2" (A custom card design guide: templating)
#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.
Path of Mirrodin Pure:
Melira’s Healing 1G
Sorcery (U)
Remove up to three -1/-1 counters from among creatures you control.
Metalcraft — Remove all -1/-1 counters from all creatures you control instead if you control three or more artifacts.
She chose to not keep her gift all for herself.
For the Path of New Phyrexia, a reworked version of my Infected Rat Pack from last September MCC that costed me the elimination in round 3 as a player:
Sheoldred’s Rats 1BB
Creature — Rat (R)
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 black Rat creature token with infect onto the battlefield.
“Rats spread phyresis. Phyresis compleats you.”
—Sheoldred, Whispering One
2/2
IcariiFA vs northprophet
IcariiFA
Design (8.5/10)
Creativity – I can't remember effects scaling with the number of counters produced by a proliferate activation, so full points here.
Elegance – All good here. By the way, the wrong wording ("given", see "Quality") is actually more elegant than the right one in this case.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may like the challenge to maximize this. Spike will use this if it proves reliable enough.
Development (7.5/10)
Viability – Everything is in color. I could see this at rare too, because it can easily reach Sphinx's Revelation levels of brokenness in the right deck (one that uses a lot of permanents with counters, and in a set with proliferate I guess they abound). Uncommon is probably fine though: being a sorcery helps (you often use the Revelation at the end of your opponent's turn, while to use this you must expose yourself tapping your mana during your turn), and as a rare it would indeed read underwhelming. Obviously, only playtesting this (especially in limited) would give you an idea of whether it would actually be. But that's a luruxy I can't afford now for judging purposes.
Balance – The potential of drawing a lot of cards and gaining a lot of life with this requires the cost to be high enough. How many counters do you need to give out to be happy casting this for five mana? Definitely not one, drawing a card and gaining 1 life is just laughable for five mana. Two feels weak too, a Divination and 2 life is not actually want you want for that mana cost. At three we can start talking: Concentrate alone costs four mana and the 3 life can cover the extra mana. Anything above three counters is above the curve, as Tidings only gives you the four cards at sorcery speed for five mana, and here you have the lifegain too. So the answer is: I want this to give at least three counters to get enough value out of it. Will I be able to use proliferate to do that? The balance and playability of this card lies in the answer to this question, which really depends a lot on both the limited and constructed environment that this card is in. I guess it would surely be playable in limited, where you may easily accept that sometimes this will give you less cards and life than you would like it to give you, while in constructed it heavily depends on the fact if you can build a good "counter deck", as in a deck that uses a lot of permanents with counters on them.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. The flavor text would be too if it didn't imply that the Phyrexians are jumping planes, while their inability to planeswalk is supposed to be their greatest, if not only, weakness. But maybe they've found a way, and that's part of the story of the block this card hypothetically comes from, so I'm not going to deduct many points here. Some, but not a lot.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2/3) – As lifegain is involved, it should be "then you draw a card and you gain 1 life" (mistake #47 in my "Mark of quality, part 2" article, half a point deducted). Counters are not "given", they are "placed" (see Corpsejack Menace, Hardened Scales, Primal Vigor, and other cards), so it should be "for each counter placed on permanents or players this way" (half a point deducted).
Total: 20/25
Design (7/10)
Creativity – Equipment tokens have only been seen on Nahiri, the Lithomancer, but that is a mythic in a supplemental product, so it's still original enough.
Elegance – The necessary wording of the activated ability is not the most elegant thing that exists, but it's unavoidable. Other than that, everything's fine here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny can use multiple approaches with this card: use the tokens as 1/1 creatures to somehow swarm the board with, equip all the tokens to a single hopefully evasive creature, use them for metalcraft, etc… Spike will just use this as "4, T: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature".
Development (6.5/10)
Viability – Red can interact with artifacts by means other than just smashing them, especially in a supposedly artifact-heavy block. The flavor also helps putting this in color, even if I could still see this effect in white too, as that is the color that most interacts with Equipment. But red is still fine. Rarity also feels fine, even though I could see this at uncommon too, after all with two mana you just get a 1/1 token and it costs four mana to use one as a +1/+1 counter on a creature. Yes, a counter that sticks around when the creature dies, but then it costs you more mana to equip again. Using this card effectively can cost a lot of mana. Also, you need to tap the creature, so you cannot abuse this unless you do some untap shenanigans.
Balance – I already touched on the cost of the ability in "Viability". Here I'll note that two mana for a 1/1 with an already mana-intensive ability looks a bit underwhelming, especially at rare. I could make it bigger or make it cost less, and between the two options I would probably prefer to raise its power rather than making it cost less. Would this have been really broken as a 2/1? I don't think so. I think this would be playable in limited, but I'm not sure about constructed at all, as there should be better options there. The competition to get into constructed is hard, and I honestly don't think this is enough.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. There are two mistakes in one word ("phyrexian") in flavor text, but I will deduct points in "Quality" for them. Here I'm judging the meaning of the flavor text, and that's good. Quite nice, actually.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (1.5/3) – A period is missing at the end of the activated ability (half a point deducted). The word "phyrexian" in flavor text should be capitalized (see the flavor text of Divine Offering in its Mirrodin Besieged printing, Psychic Barrier and other cards, half a point deducted). The same word should be plural, as clarified by the word "them" that follows, so the Saxon genitive should have the apostrophe coming after the plural "s", not before. It should be "the Phyrexians' own weapons" (mistakes #25 and #50 in my "Mark of quality" articles, half a point deducted). Finally, I'm not deducting points for this but I would really like to see cards formatted as specified in the CCC forum rules.
Total: 17/25
Flatline vs Legend
Flatline
Design (7/10)
Creativity – Cards copying creatures in graveyards already exist. This is new only in the way it does that.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny likes this very much, as most copy effects. Spike would just use this to get a second use out of a good creature that died, but he would like this much more as a Clone, not so much as an aura, because it requires another creature to "overwrite" the dead one on while also exposing him to the risk of getting two-for-oned.
Development (5.5/10)
Viability – Copy effects are blue. In fact, Body Double is blue, and what this card does is effectively turning any creature into a Body Double. The only black effect is that this exiles the card from the graveyard, but honestly that's just not enough to make this monoblack. At the very least, this should be a blue/black gold card (like Dimir Doppelganger), even if I actually think it should just be monoblue. Also, both Body Double and Dimir Doppelganger are rare, and this probably should be too. This is weaker, because if the creature is removed you get two-for-oned, but here too I think that's not enough to bump it down at uncommon. Also, copy effects are usually rare.
Balance – Body Double costs five mana, and this costs four. Taking into account the two-for-one risk I was just talking about in "Viability", that sounds reasonable. The double colored cost also helps here. Probably playable in limited. In constructed, as playable as Body Double, which is little unless in very specific decks.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2.5/3) – It should be "is a copy of the exiled card", as there are no "creatures" in the exile zone, but "(creature) cards" (mistake #2 in my first "Mark of quality" article, half a point deducted).
Total: 17/25
Design (7.5/10)
Creativity – Granting living weapon to Equipment and attaching them to Germs at instant speed are both new things, so full points here.
Elegance – The word "unattached" doesn't help here, but the rest is fine.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Both Johnny and Spike can like this card: Johnny because he can do a lot of shenanigans with it, and Spike because he can get free tokens. Yet, they both don't like the word "unattached": Johnny because it limits him in his creativity, and Spike because there usually aren't that many unattached Equipment on a typical battlefield, especially when you also already give living weapon anyway to the ones you play after this.
Development (7/10)
Viability – The first ability has never done before, so it's not yet assigned to a color, and black feels like a good chioce as living weapon is a phyrexian keyword and black is the main phyrexian color. Also for the second ability, putting black Germs onto the battlefield would just feel wrong in any color except black itself. Rarity is definitely right, this just has to be at least a rare.
Balance – There are no precedents for a card like this, so it's hard to judge costs here. The mana cost feels like it can be right, even if you cast this for three mana and two life it doesn't feel broken. What worries me somehow is the ability cost, as any phyrexian mana cost that can be paid only by paing life is potentially dangerous. For once, here the word "unattached" helps, as it greatly limits this ability's power. Playable only if you have enough Equipment in your deck to get full value out of this card, and that will be easier in constructed, where you can just put a lot of Equipment in your deck and call it a day, rather than in limited, where you need to actually open a lot of Equipment in your boosters.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. No flavor text. MSE tells me one line could have fit.
Polish
Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 met, as it's not an artifact. Subchallenge 2 NOT met, as there's no reference to a Phyrexian figure from SOM block in the name and there's no flavor text.
Quality (3/3) – All good here, no points deducted. We have already talked about formatting.
Total: 18.5/25
IcariiFA: 20
northprophet: 17
Flatline: 17
Legend: 18.5
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.)
Creativity – A new idea, which combines lots of existing elements in a new way.
Elegance – I nearly dqed because I mistook which path you took. This card doesn't feel completely at home with the praetor mentioned. Otherwise I like it.
Potential – It's a four mana raise the dead, which is vulnerable to enchantment removable. Oh and you need a creature to use it. Spike and Timmy aren't about to replace their copies of Animate Dead with it, but I think Johnny might have some ideas up his sleeve.
Development (6.5/10) –
Viability – This sort of copying shouldn't really exist out of blue, and probably not below rare.
Balance – It's fairly costed, and perhaps could even be 1 less.
Creative Writing – Neither was a problem.
Polish –
Challenge (1/2) – Sorry, but Sheoldred doesn't count as a Mirran character.
Quality (3/3) –
Total: 18.5/25
Creativity – A new idea, and a quite cool one at that.
Elegance – I get how it works and the flavour is clear enough.
Potential – Johnny loves a mana free method of creating creatures, even if they die instantly. Probably not much use outside combo decks.
Development (9/10) –
Viability – Germ producing is black. Attaching is blue/red if remember correctly (I could be wrong, will check if there's time). Granting living weapon is probably in the correct colour.
Balance – Possibly busable, but not too quick so as to be bannable in any eternal formats I sense.
Creative Writing – I liked the name, would have loved some flavour text.
Polish –
Challenge (1/2) – No mention of a Phyrexian
Quality (3/3) –
Total: 21/25
Tilwin vs Jimmy Groove
Creativity – It's a planeswalker, whose abilities are all probably new, but nothing really feels groundbreaking here.
Elegance – I guess there's some synegy between the first two abilities and the emblem but not enough. You con't really play a -3 and -6 often outside commander and having artifacts designed to be sacrificed feels at odds with the emblem.
Potential – Timmy tends to always go for planeswalkers, Johnny not so much but the second ability makes it reasonable inclusion in quite a few decks. Could need to be pushed more for Spike.
Development (8.5/10) –
Viability – All effects can work in blue and white, mythic is the only slot for a pw.
Balance – I dislike how win-more the emblem is. Otherwise I'm happy with this card.
Creative Writing – The name is fine. I can't judge the other stuff.
Polish –
Challenge (1/2) – I can't give marks for the Jor Kadeen reference.
Quality (2/3) – The emblem doesn't need metalcraft, and I think wizards would omit set specific words from planeswalkers.
Total: 18.5/25
Creativity – A lot of original effects.
Elegance – It's flavour is nice, and the abilities fit together nicely.
Potential – It's definately enough of a powerhouse to appeal to all players.
Development (6/10) –
Viability – Feels like the wrong colour for the living weapon effect and it would nicer to have black produce germs. I don't think the germs work.
Balance – Probably fair.
Creative Writing – I'd put it on a card.
Polish –
Challenge (2/2) –
Quality (1/3) – I have been back and forth between you and Legend over who has the right version of this effect. I think that because Living Weapon has "When enters the battlefield" as opposed to "this enters" his is probably correct. If I get a better explanation I will change this. The gain all germs is also not correct.
Total: 17/25
Creativity – That last ability is interesting.
Elegance – No problems here.
Potential – Johnny loves it. Timmy might like it, too.
9/10.
Development:
Viability – No problems here.
Balance – If it's a multiplayer game, sure. But in a 1v1 game, it's just prolonging the agony. It should just be controlling the player's during his or her next turn.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
8/10
Polish:
Challenges – Both met.
Quality – “If a player you don't control would lose the game for having ten or more poison counters, instead that player loses all counters. You control that player.
4/5
Total: 21/25
Creativity – Not much in the mechanics that's new, but it's original.
Elegance – No problems here.
Potential – Johnny likes it. Spike will, too, once he sees the broken combo.
8/10.
Development:
Viability – The wording should be similar to the last line on Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, i.e. “Whenever you cast an Equipment spell, it gains living weapon.”
Balance – Giving Germs infect? Sure. Returning your Equipment? Sure. Giving your equipment living weapon? No. The main reason? Skullclamp. It's broken enough as it is, giving it living weapon is ridiculous. For one mana, you get to draw two cards.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
7/10
Polish:
Challenges – You picked an obscure character, but the challenge is met.
Quality – “Equipment” is to be capitalized. It's “have infect”. Also, see Viability.
4/5
Total: 19/25
Creativity – They're new.
Elegance – No problems here.
Potential – Johnny would love it.
8/10.
Development:
Viability – Activating a planeswalker's ultimate ability is often guaranteed a victory, so it would not make sense to put something like metalcraft to an emblem.
Balance – This is clearly for commander or the next artifact block.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
8/10
Polish:
Challenges – Sorry, but the reference isn't obvious enough.
Quality – Missing the colons for each loyalty ability. They are activated abilities, after all. Also, the artifact token's ability should read “t, Sacrifice this artifact: ...”
3/5
Total: 19/25
Creativity – It's an interesting way to get free creatures.
Elegance – Despite the wording of the second line, there are no problems.
Potential – Johnny likes it.
8/10.
Development:
Viability – I think the first ability should read “Whenever a player casts an Equipment spell, it gains living weapon.” Similar to Bloodlord of Vaasgoth's last ability. The part about “You control all Germs” is definitely not correct. You probably meant “Whenever a Germ creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you gain control of it.”
Balance – I have no problems with it.
Creative Writing – No problems here.
8/10
Polish:
Challenges – Both met.
Quality – See Viability.
4/5
Total: 20/25
As always, no complaints.