Check out "The Lion's Lair", the article series where I specifically talk about custom card design with the intent to help new custom card designers get better at it. The article index is always updated with the latest content. Being able to wander the Multiverse has changed Jeff quite a bit. He still is a free spirit, but he developed an even stronger hate for authority, which he saw as always oppressing people, while keeping his strong sense of morality. His long solitary walks on Theros have turned into long walks between the planes, but they still were his favorite chance to reflect about himself and what happened around him. On Theros, he walked just to think, without any particular other purpose, while now his walks acquired a new one: he was looking for something. He was looking for meaning. Why was he born? Why was he gifted with the spark? He knew, he felt he had a mission to be carried out, but what was it? Maybe he just had to accept that nobody will ever be able to give him the answers he seeks. Maybe he was born to defend the meek of all planes against the authorities oppressing them. Maybe... too many "maybe"s and no certainty. His search was becoming increasingly within himself instead of out of himself. He still won't give up helping those in need, but pure altruism was no longer his main way. On the other side, his inner one, he had a new quest. But will that quest ever be over? Could it even be over someday? Maybe...
Jeff, Soul Explorer2RGW
Planeswalker - Jeff (M)
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this planeswalker also causes you to gain that much life.)
+2: Until your next turn, whenever Jeff, Soul Explorer is dealt damage by a source, he deals that much damage to that source’s controller.
-3: Draw a card, then Jeff deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of cards you’ve drawn this turn.
-9: You draw X cards and gain X life, where X is the number of creatures you control.
4
(The example card is only meant for clarity of this round's requirements, not for balance.)
Art: http://koutanagamori.deviantart.com/art/Lion-Warrior-201583062 Main challenge: keeping the same character you used in the previous rounds, design a classic non-DFC planeswalker card that shows your character as an experienced planeswalker. Please include a link to or a quote of your round 3 entry in your submission.
Please don't include any notes. Posting any card-related notes will be cause of disqualification this month. Use only the flavor elements on the card itself to tell your character's story. Those are: card name, art (if you choose to make a render, in which case remember to give credit to the artist), subtypes, flavor text (listing this for completeness, even though planeswalker cards don't have it), mechanical flavor (telling flavor through the card's mechanics).
Subchallenge 1: Your planeswalker card has exactly four abilities.
Subchallenge 2: Your planeswalker card has at least one non-loyalty ability that affects the game, NOT like "CARDNAME can be your commander", that function outside the game, see clarifications.
• For subchallenge 1, the abilities have to be four, but they don't have to be all loyalty abilities. If they had, it would be impossible to meet both subchallenges at the same time.
• For subchallenge 2, the non-loyalty ability can be any kind of ability: static, triggered, even activated, as long as it doesn't have a loyalty cost (aka the + and - arrows in the planeswalker card frame) and as long as it actually affects the gameplay.
• From a PM about subchallenge 2:
Would "CARDNAME can be your commander." be an acceptable non-loyalty ability?
My answer:
While that text is an ability, it doesn't actually affect the gameplay. In fact, in the CR it's specified that:
112.6m An ability that modifies the rules for deck construction functions before the game begins.
My intent was to force you to come up with an ability that's working in the game. Also, the card is supposed to see print in a Standard-legal ordinary expansion set. For both reasons I'm ruling that "CARDNAME can be your commander" is NOT acceptable for subchallenge 2. Thanks for posing the question though, I didn't think of that. Adding this to the clarifications.
Design -
(X/3) Appeal: Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card? (X/3) Elegance: Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development - (X/3) Viability: How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity? (X/3) Balance: Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity - (X/3) Uniqueness: Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel “fresh”? (X/3) Flavor: Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish - (X/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating. (X/2) *Main Challenge: Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge? (X/2) Subchallenges: One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
Player deadline: Friday, July 31th 23:59 EDT
Judge deadline: Thursday, August 6th 23:59 EDT
JUDGES
bravelion83
Piar Ryder052 (unfortunately, he's leaving the exact day of the player deadline, so he won't be able to judge this final round)
Tilwin
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.)
Zeria, the Exiled SquireW
Legendary Creature - Spirit Soldier (Mythic) W, T: Target creature you control with converted mana cost 2 or more gains your choice of flying, first strike, vigilance or lifelink until end of turn. When that creature deals combat damage to a player this turn, exile Zeria, then return him to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. "I seek redemption, Thalia. Show me the path to glory, and I will aid you in everything that you need."
1/1
////////////////
Zeria, Glory-Born
Planeswaker (Color identity - White)
+1: Creatures you control with converted mana cost 1 or less gains your choice of flying, first strike, vigilance or lifelink until end of turn.
-X: Put X 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
-1: Put a creature card with converted mana cost 1 or less from your hand or your graveyard onto the battlefield.
{3}
Zeria, the Beacon of Salvation4WW
Planeswalker - Zeria (Mythic)
Tap an untapped creature you control: Put a loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control for each loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Creatures you control are indestructible until your next turn.
-30: You win the game.
{3}
Gruul Brawler1RG
Creature - Human Warrior (U)
At the beginning of each end step, if Gruul Brawler fought another creature this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Gruul Brawler. "In the Gruul, you grow up fast or you don't grow at all."
- Feralt, Brawler Champion
3/2
Veltar, Brawling Mentor3RG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (R)
Creatures you control have "1R, t: This creature fights another target creature." 2G: Put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control that fought this turn.
4/4
Veltar, Wandering Fighter2RG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M) RG: Veltar, Wandering Fighter fights target creature you don't control. If Veltar has dealt damage to two or more creatures this turn, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed and under his owner's control.
4/4
// Veltar, Fists of Fury
((R/G)) Planeswalker - Veltar (M)
[+1]: Veltar, Fists of Stone deals 3 damage to target creature.
[-2]: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. That creature fights target creature you don't control.
[-6]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Fury becomes a 6/6 Human Warrior creature with indestructible and "2: Veltar, Fists of Fury fights target creature." (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[3]
Veltar, Fists of Death2BR
Planeswalker - Veltar (M) 3: Veltar, Fists of Death deals 1 damage to target creature.
[+1]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Death becomes a 5/5 Human Warrior creature with deathtouch and indestructible. (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[-1]: Fighting creatures you control gain deathtouch until your next turn.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste and 't: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.'"
[4]
Deckhand RascalR
Creature - Human Pirate (Uncommon)
Haste Unity - If you control two or more creatures that share a type with ~, it gets +1/+1 and has menace. "Someday I'll be captain of this ship! I will be the great terror of the skies!"
1/1
Art Direction: A young bandanna-ed pirate hanging from the riggings of an Airship, looking towards the horizon.
Anara, Pirate Queen4RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate (Rare)
First strike, menace
Whenever Anara, Pirate Queen enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 red Pirate creature tokens with menace onto the battlefield.
Whenever a Pirate you control deals combat damage to a player, gain control of target artifact that player controls. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)
4/4
Anara, Dauntless Captain1RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate (Mythic)
Menace
Whenever a nontoken Pirate creature you control attacks, put a red 1/1 red Pirate creature token with menace onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
Whenever another Pirate creature you control dies, exile Anara, Dauntless Captain, then return her to the battlefield transformed.
3/3
----
Anara, Vengeant Queen
( ) Planeswalker - Anara (Mythic)
+1 Until your next turn, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain first strike
-2 Put two 1/1 black and red Skeleton Pirate creature tokens with haste and menace onto the battlefield.
-8 Untap and gain control of all nonland permanents. They gain haste until end of turn. Sacrifice all permanents you don't own at the beginning of your next end step.
4
Anara, Pirate Dreadlord 3UBR
Planeswalker — Anara (M)
Whenever a creature you control dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
+2 Put two 1/1 blue, black, and red Skeleton Pirate creature tokens with menace onto the battlefield.
-3 Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.
-10 You gain an emblem with "Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, gain control of target permanent that opponent controls."
4
Deadline is well passed, so judging can begin. I apologize for being late, but it's not easy to manage two MCCs at once while also watching as much Pro Tour Origins coverage as I can.
Status: judging complete, not final until deadline. Very high scores this round, good work everybody! I extended the deadline to give judges more breathing room, especially those involved in both July and August (myself, also as host for both months, and Tilwin).
Note - When I say "#N in MOQX", it means: this is the mistake number N in my "Mark of Quality, part X" article.
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.
Deckhand RascalR
Creature - Human Pirate (Uncommon)
Haste Unity - If you control two or more creatures that share a type with ~, it gets +1/+1 and has menace. "Someday I'll be captain of this ship! I will be the great terror of the skies!"
1/1
Art Direction: A young bandanna-ed pirate hanging from the riggings of an Airship, looking towards the horizon.
Anara, Pirate Queen4RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate (Rare)
First strike, menace
Whenever Anara, Pirate Queen enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 red Pirate creature tokens with menace onto the battlefield.
Whenever a Pirate you control deals combat damage to a player, gain control of target artifact that player controls. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)
4/4
Anara, Dauntless Captain1RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate (Mythic)
Menace
Whenever a nontoken Pirate creature you control attacks, put a red 1/1 red Pirate creature token with menace onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
Whenever another Pirate creature you control dies, exile Anara, Dauntless Captain, then return her to the battlefield transformed.
3/3
----
Anara, Vengeant Queen
( ) Planeswalker - Anara (Mythic)
+1 Until your next turn, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain first strike
-2 Put two 1/1 black and red Skeleton Pirate creature tokens with haste and menace onto the battlefield.
-8 Untap and gain control of all nonland permanents. They gain haste until end of turn. Sacrifice all permanents you don't own at the beginning of your next end step.
4
Anara, Pirate Dreadlord 3UBR
Planeswalker — Anara (M)
Whenever a creature you control dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
+2 Put two 1/1 blue, black, and red Skeleton Pirate creature tokens with menace onto the battlefield.
-3 Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.
-10 You gain an emblem with "Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, gain control of target permanent that opponent controls."
4
Design (2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes very much the flavor of a Pirate planeswalker, but except for the tokens, this particular one doesn't affect the board as much as he'd like. Johnny will try to put the ultimate to good use. Spike sees a planeswalker that can protect himself with a + ability, which is very good to him, and a potential source of card advantage in the -3 ability. (2.5/3) Elegance - A slight ambiguity in the triggered ability: some players might interpret the "it" as Anara instead of the dying creature. Other than that, a bit wordy like most planeswalkers but easy enough to understand.
Development (3/3) Viability - The first two abilities are black/red, the last two are blue, so everything's fine here. Rarity is obviously right. I would have expected the ultimate to say "nonland permanent", but after all it costs -10. (2/3) Balance - If you can pay her mana cost in limited, you have to play her there, but you're not always able to pay a three-colored mana cost in any limited environment. Some for sure (especially multicolored ones, lastly KTK), but not all. In constructed she's certainly playable, especially as she protects herself while also gaining loyalty (she reminds me of Elspeth, Sun's Champion in that regard, and we all know how much that card is played in Standard), but the hard to pay mana cost could restrict how many decks are able to play her. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer, except for the ultimate being potentially unfun in that it's never fun to see your permanents (lands too) getting repeatedly stolen.
Creativity (2/3) Uniqueness - The required non-loyalty ability and the menacing tokens are the only new things here. (3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish (2.5/3) Quality - You "get" emblems, not "gain" them (half a point deducted). (2/2) Main Challenge - All good here. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Fallen RemnantB
Creature — Spirit (C)
Fallen Remnant enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each other creature you control named Fallen Remnant and each card named Fallen Remnant in your graveyard. Legends tell of the hero Artas, who slew the Fallen King and cut his soul into a thousand pieces so he may never rise again.
1/1
Morghul, the Risen King4BB
Legendary Creature — Spirit (M)
When Morghul, the Risen King enters the battlefield, exile all creature cards from your graveyard, then sacrifice all other creatures you control. Put all cards exiled this way onto the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may reveal Morghul from your hand. If you do, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.
4/4
Morghul, Eater of Souls2BB
Legendary Creature — Spirit (M)
Sacrifice another creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on Morghul, Eater of Souls. Then, you may remove all +1/+1 counters from Morghul. If you do, transform him if he's not a planeswalker, then put that many loyalty counters on him. His hunger will not be sated until he consumes the source of the power that once felled him, and makes that power his own.
3/3
//
Morghul, Spark Devourer
(B) Planeswalker — Morghul (M)
-1: Each player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker. If a player can’t, that player loses 4 life.
-2: Until your next turn, whenever one or more creature cards are put into a graveyard from anywhere for the first time each turn, put up to one of those cards onto the battlefield under your control.
-8: Destroy all creatures, then return each card put into a graveyard this way to the battlefield under your control.
0
Morghul, the Damned King1BB
Planeswalker — Morghul (M)
Whenever a creature dies, put a loyalty counter on Morghul, the Damned King.
0: Target player loses life equal to the number of loyalty counters on Morghul.
-X: Each player sacrifices all creatures he or she controls with toughness X or less.
-3: Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard, then put a 1/1 black Spirit creature token onto the battlefield for each card exiled this way.
2
Design (2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes flavorful planeswalkers but he isn't totally impressed by the abilities. Johnny can try some sacrifice loop to have this gain a ton of loyalty counters and then use the 0 ability to immediately win the game. Spike sees a lot of value here, but he'd probably like to pay a bit more mana to have more starting loyalty. (3/3) Elegance - A bit wordy, but that's inherently tied to the nature of planeswalkers, but the abilities are all very easy to understand.
Development (2.5/3) Viability - Everything is in color and rarity is obviously right. It looks a bit strange that those Spirit tokens don't fly, but that's not a big problem. (2/3) Balance - Must play in limited, but in constructed the low starting loyalty hurts a bit. It would probably be better there at 2BB with 3 starting loyalty and -4 for the "ultimate". In multiplayer, the -X gets better because it scales with the number of players, while the 0 ability targeting a single player will certainly turn that player against you. I see no particular problems in casual.
Creativity (2.5/3) Uniqueness - A triggered ability to gain loyalty, a 0 ability that cares about the number of loyalty counters together with a -X: these all put together give the card enough of a fresh feeling. (3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish (3/3) Quality - All good here. (2/2) Main Challenge - All good here. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Gruul Brawler1RG
Creature - Human Warrior (U)
At the beginning of each end step, if Gruul Brawler fought another creature this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Gruul Brawler. "In the Gruul, you grow up fast or you don't grow at all."
- Feralt, Brawler Champion
3/2
Veltar, Brawling Mentor3RG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (R)
Creatures you control have "1R, t: This creature fights another target creature." 2G: Put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control that fought this turn.
4/4
Veltar, Wandering Fighter2RG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M) RG: Veltar, Wandering Fighter fights target creature you don't control. If Veltar has dealt damage to two or more creatures this turn, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed and under his owner's control.
4/4
// Veltar, Fists of Fury
((R/G)) Planeswalker - Veltar (M)
[+1]: Veltar, Fists of Stone deals 3 damage to target creature.
[-2]: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. That creature fights target creature you don't control.
[-6]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Fury becomes a 6/6 Human Warrior creature with indestructible and "2: Veltar, Fists of Fury fights target creature." (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[3]
Veltar, Fists of Death2BR
Planeswalker - Veltar (M) 3: Veltar, Fists of Death deals 1 damage to target creature.
[+1]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Death becomes a 5/5 Human Warrior creature with deathtouch and indestructible. (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[-1]: Fighting creatures you control gain deathtouch until your next turn.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste and 't: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.'"
[4]
Design (2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy loves this for many reasons: the flavor, how it hugely affects the board, the ability to turn into a big lethal monster that's also indestructible, the focus on fighting, the emblem that lets you deal potentially huge amounts of damage when coupled with his other big monsters... he loves everything about this card. There's not that much for Johnny to do, maybe trying to use the mana-activated ability repeatedly, possibly with infinite mana to wipe the opposing board. He appreciates, though, the synergy between that ability and the +1: let Veltar gain deathtouch and then use the mana-activated ability to instantly kill any targetable creature. Spike likes that synergy too, and he sees quite a lot a value in this card. (3/3) Elegance - A bit wordy, but that's inherently tied to the nature of planeswalkers, but the abilities are all very easy to understand. The real complexity here is strategic, and that's the good kind of complexity.
Development (2.5/3) Viability - The only color pie bend here is indestructible, that neither black nor red naturally have, but in this case it's necessary for the correct funcionality of the card (you certainly don't want a planeswalker to be vulnerable to any creature removal spell when animated), so it's not a big problem. Rarity is obviously right. (2.5/3) Balance - I've already mentioned the good synergies going on with this card. Absolute limited bomb, I'm almost certain this would see play in constructed, I'd really be surprised if it doesn't, at least in Standard. Having the potential of being a "one shot one kill" machine does create the possibilities of unfun experiences, especially in casual, where your board is suddenly wiped out as most creatures you'd play from that moment on, but that's where the strength of this card lies. In that, it reminds me the combo of any pinger with Basilisk Collar I used to play in original Zendikar Standard (getting used to say this...). I see no particular additional problems in multiplayer.
Creativity (3/3) Uniqueness - The -1 is a totally new effect, as is a planeswalker having an activated ability that costs mana instead of loyalty. While the other abilities are nothing new, put together this way they make a card that feels very fresh and still quite original. (3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish (3/3) Quality - I think the -1 should say "have deathtouch" and not "gain", but I'm deducting no points for this as the "fighting creatures..." is a completely new template with no existing precedent. (2/2) Main Challenge - All good here. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Fresh Corpse2B
Creature - Zombie (C) Morbid - Fresh Corpse costs 1 less to cast if a creature died this turn. "Result of necromancy depends mainly on your talent. But condition of material is also important." - Sina, necromancer
3/2
Marimas, the Fallen King4BB
Legendary Creature - Zombie (R)
Zombie spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each creature that died this turn. B, Sacrifice another creature: Regenerate Marimas, the Fallen King. "The higher you were, the lower you fall." - Sina, necromancer queen
5/4
Marimas, Ghoul King3BB
Legendary Creature - Zombie (M)
Whenever Marimas, Ghoul King attacks, defending player sacrifice a creature. 1B: Exile Marimas, Ghoul King, then return it to the battlefield transformed. Activate this ability only if three or more creatures died this turn.
2/4
// Marimas, Endbringer
(B)Planeswalker - Marimas (M)
/+2\ : Each player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
\-4/ : Put target creature card from graveyard onto battlefield. It becomes black Zombie in addition to its other types.
\-X/ : Search target player's library for X cards and put them into his or her graveyard. That player loses X life.
< 4 >
Marimas, Endless Despair3BB
Planeswalker (M) Hellbent — As long as you have no cards in hand, you may cast Marimas from your graveyard.
/+2\ : If you have no cards in hand, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto battlefield.
\-2/ : Target player draws a card and another target player discards a card.
\-6/ : Each player discards his or her hand, then he or she loses 2 life and sacrifices a permanent for each card discarded this way.
<3>
Design (2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes flavorful planeswalkers, but I don't think he'd be a big fan of the abilities Johnny likes this, getting hellbent might be a challenge in and of itself, he can use the -2 to dig into his library for combo pieces and breaking the symmetry of the ultimate is another challenge he'll be glad to face. Spike loves the -2, as it's pure card advantage, but doesn't like that much a planeswalker that can only protect himself if you're hellbent. (3/3) Elegance - A bit wordy, but that's inherently tied to the nature of planeswalkers, but the abilities are all very easy to understand.
Development (2.5/3) Viability - Everything on this card is something black can do in the color pie, even though usually black's card draw is tied to life loss or sacrifice, but that's only a bend and not certainly a break. Rarity is obviously right. (3/3) Balance - There are interesting synergies here: the -2 can make you discard cards to get hellbent, the -6 too can make you get hellbent so that you cast recast Marimas from your graveyard, or you can use the -2 to get card advantage instead even if it comes at the cost of getting no tokens from the +2. As a whole, it looks reasonable. It also looks to be interesting both in psuedo-aggro (five mana is not exactly a cost a pure aggro deck is happy to pay) and control: in the former, you'll naturally get hellbent in the late game, so the first two abilities will matter the most, in the latter you'd probably use this more for card advantage. This flexibility also looks good. Must play in limited, where you'll often also get naturally hellbent in the late game. It's not a given this would see play in constructed, but I wouldn't be surprised. I see no problems in casual, at the contrary, this may turn the unfun of having no cards in hand into a potential positive. In multiplayer, the -2 can have very interesting political implications, as it can target any two different players. You could even have an opponent draw and another opponent discard, and this may help if you want, for example, to make an alliance with the first opponent against the second opponent.
Creativity (2.5/3) Uniqueness - The hellbent ability is very original on a planeswalker, the rest is nothing new. (3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish (1/3) Quality - The subtype is missing in the type line (it should be "Planeswalker - Marimas", one point deducted as it's a functional mistake). In the +2, a "the" is missing in "onto battlefield" (half a point deducted). In the -2, there should be two distinct sentences with no "and" between them: it should be "...draws a card. Another target player...". You can see this searching the phrase "and another target" on Gatherer: you find only four cards, none of which is remotely similar to this (Coastal Wizard, Lady Sun, Legerdemain, and Phyrexian Splicer, half a point deducted). (2/2) Main Challenge - All good here. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Zeria, the Exiled SquireW
Legendary Creature - Spirit Soldier (Mythic) W, T: Target creature you control with converted mana cost 2 or more gains your choice of flying, first strike, vigilance or lifelink until end of turn. When that creature deals combat damage to a player this turn, exile Zeria, then return him to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. "I seek redemption, Thalia. Show me the path to glory, and I will aid you in everything that you need."
1/1
////////////////
Zeria, Glory-Born
Planeswaker (Color identity - White)
+1: Creatures you control with converted mana cost 1 or less gains your choice of flying, first strike, vigilance or lifelink until end of turn.
-X: Put X 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
-1: Put a creature card with converted mana cost 1 or less from your hand or your graveyard onto the battlefield.
{3}
Zeria, the Beacon of Salvation4WW
Planeswalker - Zeria (Mythic)
Tap an untapped creature you control: Put a loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control for each loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Creatures you control are indestructible until your next turn.
-30: You win the game.
{3}
Design (2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy already likes flavorful planeswalker, but the ultimate here is so splashy that it puts this over the top for him (Ajani, Mentor of Heroes is the only existing card I can remember with a similar ultimate: just four words, but oh so splashy!). Johnny will try to find ways to give this as many loyalty counters as possible as fast as possible. Spike knows that the ultime will be very hard to pull off, but he still use the other abilities profitably. (2.5/3) Elegance - The second ability (the first -3) can be confusing to some players, who might think they can distribute the +1/+1 counters among multiple creatures, which can't be done because there is a single instance of the word "target", so you have to put all +1/+1 counters on the same creature. Also, some players might think you can activate the first time only once each turn and only as a sorcery, while actually you can use it any time and how many times you want in a turn because it's not a loyalty ability and the restrictions are tied only to loyalty abilites. Other than those two points, everything else is fine here and the other abilites are all very easy to understand and not too wordy, which is definitely a plus for a planeswalker and gains you back at least some of the points lost for the potential confusion.
Development (3/3) Viability - Everything is in color and rarity is obviously right. I remember having read in an old article on the mothership an article from the time planeswalkers were still a recent introduction to the game saying that they didn't want to outright say "you win the game" as a planeswalker's ultimate, but they would rather have effects that just heavily swing the game in your favor. Now I can't find the source, and anyway many years have passed so I don't know if that is still valid, but here that is actually the main selling point for this card, and it gives you a challenge to solve with that -30 that looks like it would be quite fun. This card definitely wouldn't be the same without that ultimate, and all of that actually turns this into a positive point to me. (2.5/3) Balance - Absolute limited bomb and I think it may easily see some constructed play too. At least some players (mainly Johnnies) will certainly try to make this work there, and I think they might succeed. Still, -30 is a huge cost to play, that will certainly require multiple turns to get there unless you have some sort of infinite engine (yet another reason why Johnny will try this). In some ways, that reminds me of Helix Pinnacle: it will take time to get there, and you will have to control the game in the meantime (luckily this is in a color that has the means to do that, and often gets played with blue in control decks), but if and when you get there, the reward is big! The biggest reward ever possible in the game! It would take playtest to be sure, but I think this card is fairly balanced in the end. In multiplayer, playing this will put a giant target on your head for sure, and you will have to prepare to face a huge alliance of all other players against you while you try to build up to the ultimate, but that may also generate interesting political dynamics. For example, say there are four players at the table: A, B, C, D. You are player A and you cast this. Players B and C were enemies before, while D was your friend. Now everything changes: B and C make peace and D betrays you, and suddenly B, C, and D are all allies against you. Dynamics like these are exactly why I don't like multiplayer that much but also why some players absolutely love it. Most of this applies to casual too.
Creativity (3/3) Uniqueness - There are a lot of original things here, almost every ability has one: an activated ability with a non-loyalty cost that adds loyalty counters, a loyalty ability that does something for each loyalty counter the planeswalker has, and the huge splashy ultimate with an absurd cost that makes you go "WTF?!?!". Full points is the minimum this can get here. (3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish (2.5/3) Quality - In the -3, now that indestructible is a keyword ability, the word "are" should be "gain" (half a point deducted). (2/2) Main Challenge - All good here. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
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.)
Zeria, the Exiled SquireW
Legendary Creature - Spirit Soldier (Mythic) W, T: Target creature you control with converted mana cost 2 or more gains your choice of flying, first strike, vigilance or lifelink until end of turn. When that creature deals combat damage to a player this turn, exile Zeria, then return him to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. "I seek redemption, Thalia. Show me the path to glory, and I will aid you in everything that you need."
1/1
////////////////
Zeria, Glory-Born
Planeswaker (Color identity - White)
+1: Creatures you control with converted mana cost 1 or less gains your choice of flying, first strike, vigilance or lifelink until end of turn.
-X: Put X 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
-1: Put a creature card with converted mana cost 1 or less from your hand or your graveyard onto the battlefield.
{3}
Zeria, the Beacon of Salvation4WW
Planeswalker - Zeria (Mythic)
Tap an untapped creature you control: Put a loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control for each loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Creatures you control are indestructible until your next turn.
-30: You win the game.
{3}
Design -
(2/3) Appeal: There's a ton of Johnny appeal here (Devoted Druid?!), which is the hardest of the three psychographs to nail. Timmy gets some cool experiences out of this card too, though he would have been happier with a more subtle ultimate (he doesn't know it though). Spike is the one that questions whether it is efficient enough for him; he could be playing Elspeth Sun's Champion at that cost, and not have to sink any more resources into her before she's useful.
(2/3) Elegance: As far as ease of understanding goes, Zeria is about as grokkable as a planeswalker can get. Unfortunately, the card isn't quite as obviously a representation of Zeria - who has cared about size quite a bit in the past. The interplay between the first two abilities is great, and I wish it had been extended a bit further into the others.
Development -
(2/3) Viability: Only the first ability is questionable as a white ability. White tends to not go big on just one creature, instead spreading the love equally to its army. Lots of +1/+1 counters on a single creature is more green. Everything else is certainly white. I also wonder about "you win the game" being a viable ultimate ability (in any color) - seems like it breaks the rules of planeswalker design, but maybe not. At the very least it bends them.
(2.5/3) Balance: This card seems like it was made for EDH or kitchen table magic moreso than competitive environments. It would be pretty underpowered in standard/modern, and only be good in a slower limited environment. I don't see it making waves, but I suppose that's better than being oppressive for a format.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: We haven't seen a planeswalker that uses creatures to build loyalty like this, which you executed in a nice way. We also haven't even seen a planeswalker ultimate so... final, though I suppose Karn comes close.
(2/3) Flavor: This is a tricky category, since planeswalker design doesn't have many pure flavor fields to judge on. Instead with planeswalkers we have to consider whether the abilities fit the character's flavor based on what we know of the character. The precedent is giving creatures keywords and caring about whether a creature is big or small (and is from Innistrad). The Beacon of Salvation doesn't quite meet up with what we expect of his/her character. Even if we expect some level of growth/maturity between versions, this feels just a little too far gone.
Polish -
(2.5/3) Quality: Since indestructible is now a keyword, you want "Creatures you control gain indestructible" rather than "are".
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Fresh Corpse2B
Creature - Zombie (C) Morbid - Fresh Corpse costs 1 less to cast if a creature died this turn. "Result of necromancy depends mainly on your talent. But condition of material is also important." - Sina, necromancer
3/2
Marimas, the Fallen King4BB
Legendary Creature - Zombie (R)
Zombie spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each creature that died this turn. B, Sacrifice another creature: Regenerate Marimas, the Fallen King. "The higher you were, the lower you fall." - Sina, necromancer queen
5/4
Marimas, Ghoul King3BB
Legendary Creature - Zombie (M)
Whenever Marimas, Ghoul King attacks, defending player sacrifice a creature. 1B: Exile Marimas, Ghoul King, then return it to the battlefield transformed. Activate this ability only if three or more creatures died this turn.
2/4
// Marimas, Endbringer
(B)Planeswalker - Marimas (M)
/+2\ : Each player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
\-4/ : Put target creature card from graveyard onto battlefield. It becomes black Zombie in addition to its other types.
\-X/ : Search target player's library for X cards and put them into his or her graveyard. That player loses X life.
< 4 >
Marimas, Endless Despair3BB
Planeswalker (M) Hellbent — As long as you have no cards in hand, you may cast Marimas from your graveyard.
/+2\ : If you have no cards in hand, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto battlefield.
\-2/ : Target player draws a card and another target player discards a card.
\-6/ : Each player discards his or her hand, then he or she loses 2 life and sacrifices a permanent for each card discarded this way.
<3>
Design -
(1.5/3) Appeal: Timmy loathes this card - and Hellbent in general - and Spike is skeptical. Getting no value for your (+) ability if you have no cards in hand is hard for him to stomach. Johnny is ready to jump in with both feet, since he's always open to coming at the game from a different angle.
(2.5/3) Elegance: The abilities all focus on the same idea and feel cohesive because of it. That said, this is something we haven't seen from Marimas before, and it feels a bit out of his traditional purview.
Development -
(2.5/3) Viability: No color breaks or game rules violations. It does break one of the guidelines of planeswalker design: a do-nothing (+) ability hasn't been done before for good reason. It is mitigated as a goal to work toward, even if the reward isn't all that spectacular.
(2/3) Balance: I could certainly see this being played in some fringe standard decks in some formats. I don't think it breaks anything. It might see kitchen table play, and EDH players will try to make it work, though I'm pretty sure Hellbent is a bad idea in a multiplayer formats. The problem I see is that if it's good, it's really good because of the recursion it can pull off. Late game it's just a problem players can't ever totally deal with, which could be oppressive.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: We haven't seen Hellbent remixed this way before, and the combination of effects is new as well. The ult is a neat twist on Pox.
(2.5/3) Flavor: This is a very thematic way to pull off the "Zombie King" planeswalker concept. The only issue I have is linking it to the original Marimas character. I can envision a scenario where he grows/matures to become Endless Despair, but it seems a stretch that this is the same guy.
Polish -
(1.5/3) Quality: The type line is missing the name subtype. In the +2 tokens are put "onto the battlefield." The ultimate is a bit ambiguous whether it cares about how many cards were discarded in total or if it counts each player's discards individually. I'd expect it to care individually.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Gruul Brawler1RG
Creature - Human Warrior (U)
At the beginning of each end step, if Gruul Brawler fought another creature this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Gruul Brawler. "In the Gruul, you grow up fast or you don't grow at all."
- Feralt, Brawler Champion
3/2
Veltar, Brawling Mentor3RG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (R)
Creatures you control have "1R, t: This creature fights another target creature." 2G: Put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control that fought this turn.
4/4
Veltar, Wandering Fighter2RG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M) RG: Veltar, Wandering Fighter fights target creature you don't control. If Veltar has dealt damage to two or more creatures this turn, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed and under his owner's control.
4/4
// Veltar, Fists of Fury
((R/G)) Planeswalker - Veltar (M)
[+1]: Veltar, Fists of Stone deals 3 damage to target creature.
[-2]: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. That creature fights target creature you don't control.
[-6]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Fury becomes a 6/6 Human Warrior creature with indestructible and "2: Veltar, Fists of Fury fights target creature." (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[3]
Veltar, Fists of Death2BR
Planeswalker - Veltar (M) 3: Veltar, Fists of Death deals 1 damage to target creature.
[+1]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Death becomes a 5/5 Human Warrior creature with deathtouch and indestructible. (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[-1]: Fighting creatures you control gain deathtouch until your next turn.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste and 't: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.'"
[4]
Design -
(2/3) Appeal: Timmy is all about it, Veltar is a fun, powerful experience to smash faces with. Spike likes how efficient Veltar is, and will probably have him in creature mode most of the time. Johnny feels like his work has been done for him, since Veltar already gives himself deathtouch.
(2/3) Elegance: There are some "ah-ha" moments with this card, when a player sees how the first two abilities interact. The third ability (the minus ability) is a head scratcher - I think there might be too much elegance of wording there, to the point where the ability becomes difficult to grok. (For the record, I do understand what it's doing and it's cute but complicated.)
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Everything is color-appropriate. Although we've never seen abilities that grant abilities only during the resolution of other abilities, I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't work rules-wise. That said, I'm sure there are clearer ways to make the third ability happen.
(1/3) Balance: This card will be a standard powerhouse and unbeatable in draft. It seems pretty oppressive to me, it's better than the two card combo of Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar that ran rampant for a while. Even in multiplayer, keeping a creature on the board against Veltar is a frustrating challenge.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: Veltar does several things we've never seen before. The boundaries he's pushing are pretty exciting, but they're really new territory.
(3/3) Flavor: Not sure what events took place that made Veltar turn away from the Gruul and consort with Rakdos instead, but it's certainly a believable twist for the character. He's kept his fighter status intact, albeit in an unorthodox way.
Polish -
(2.5/3) Quality: The wording of the third ability is ambiguous - it should probably start out with the time limit, ie "Until your next turn, fighting creatures you control gain deathtouch." Of course, that's if you stick to the "fighting creatures" wording at all.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Fallen RemnantB
Creature — Spirit (C)
Fallen Remnant enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each other creature you control named Fallen Remnant and each card named Fallen Remnant in your graveyard. Legends tell of the hero Artas, who slew the Fallen King and cut his soul into a thousand pieces so he may never rise again.
1/1
Morghul, the Risen King4BB
Legendary Creature — Spirit (M)
When Morghul, the Risen King enters the battlefield, exile all creature cards from your graveyard, then sacrifice all other creatures you control. Put all cards exiled this way onto the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may reveal Morghul from your hand. If you do, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.
4/4
Morghul, Eater of Souls2BB
Legendary Creature — Spirit (M)
Sacrifice another creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on Morghul, Eater of Souls. Then, you may remove all +1/+1 counters from Morghul. If you do, transform him if he's not a planeswalker, then put that many loyalty counters on him. His hunger will not be sated until he consumes the source of the power that once felled him, and makes that power his own.
3/3
//
Morghul, Spark Devourer
(B) Planeswalker — Morghul (M)
-1: Each player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker. If a player can’t, that player loses 4 life.
-2: Until your next turn, whenever one or more creature cards are put into a graveyard from anywhere for the first time each turn, put up to one of those cards onto the battlefield under your control.
-8: Destroy all creatures, then return each card put into a graveyard this way to the battlefield under your control.
0
Morghul, the Damned King1BB
Planeswalker — Morghul (M)
Whenever a creature dies, put a loyalty counter on Morghul, the Damned King.
0: Target player loses life equal to the number of loyalty counters on Morghul.
-X: Each player sacrifices all creatures he or she controls with toughness X or less.
-3: Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard, then put a 1/1 black Spirit creature token onto the battlefield for each card exiled this way.
2
Design -
(2.5/3) Appeal: Johnny likes to jump through the loyalty hoop and wants to find ways to make it go infinite/very large. Spike appreciates the options he has to prove his skill with Morghul - knowing when to make trades in combat etc. I don't see Timmy liking this any more than another random 3cmc planeswalker. Timmy would probably rather see a larger ultimate ability that creates a more memorable experience.
(2.5/3) Elegance: All the elements of the card are on-theme, but the anti-synergy between the -X and the -3 is concerning. Cute that he makes a bunch of Fallen Remnants, but that flavor has a mechanical cost.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Everything is on color; no breaking of rules. Appropriate rarity.
(2.5/3) Balance: Unless Johnny is too good at breaking it, I don't see this being too oppressive in any environments. Johnny certainly could break it with the right pieces, maybe they exist in modern. It's certainly strong enough to see play in constructed, and planeswalkers will always be played in limited. It has the potential to get crazy in multiplayer formats, but I suppose that's part of the fun. Smart to have this start small and early, since you want to have it down before creatures start to die off.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: We've seen black planeswalkers demand sacrifices and perform necromancy before, but the loyalty trigger and the overall package still make the card feel fresh & unique overall.
(3/3) Flavor: Each ability is something we expect of Morghul, and the Remnants are a nice, if subtle, touch.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: All good here.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Deckhand RascalR
Creature - Human Pirate (Uncommon)
Haste Unity - If you control two or more creatures that share a type with ~, it gets +1/+1 and has menace. "Someday I'll be captain of this ship! I will be the great terror of the skies!"
1/1
Art Direction: A young bandanna-ed pirate hanging from the riggings of an Airship, looking towards the horizon.
Anara, Pirate Queen4RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate (Rare)
First strike, menace
Whenever Anara, Pirate Queen enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 red Pirate creature tokens with menace onto the battlefield.
Whenever a Pirate you control deals combat damage to a player, gain control of target artifact that player controls. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)
4/4
Anara, Dauntless Captain1RR
Legendary Creature - Human Pirate (Mythic)
Menace
Whenever a nontoken Pirate creature you control attacks, put a red 1/1 red Pirate creature token with menace onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
Whenever another Pirate creature you control dies, exile Anara, Dauntless Captain, then return her to the battlefield transformed.
3/3
----
Anara, Vengeant Queen
( ) Planeswalker - Anara (Mythic)
+1 Until your next turn, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain first strike
-2 Put two 1/1 black and red Skeleton Pirate creature tokens with haste and menace onto the battlefield.
-8 Untap and gain control of all nonland permanents. They gain haste until end of turn. Sacrifice all permanents you don't own at the beginning of your next end step.
4
Anara, Pirate Dreadlord 3UBR
Planeswalker — Anara (M)
Whenever a creature you control dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
+2 Put two 1/1 blue, black, and red Skeleton Pirate creature tokens with menace onto the battlefield.
-3 Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.
-10 You gain an emblem with "Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, gain control of target permanent that opponent controls."
4
Design -
(3/3) Appeal: Timmy is excited to experience the ultimate - and to play with a Pirate planeswalker in general. Spike is a bit apprehensive about a six mana planeswalker, but that hasn't stopped him before, and he certainly sees some parallels to Elspeth, Sun's Champion here. Johnny is excited to try to break her triggered ability, and is tickled by the other abilities too.
(3/3) Elegance: Anara is about as readable as a four-ability planeswalker can be. I can understand wanting the tokens to be all the colors of the planeswalker, but three color tokens have never seen print and there's nothing about them that is explicitly blue. In my opinion it'd make more sense to keep them two-color and let the other abilities handle the blue-ness of Anara, but there's nothing explicitly wrong with them as-is.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Everything is color appropriate. Nothing breaks any game or design rules. Rarity is correct.
(3/3) Balance: You get a lot of leeway with a three color, six CMC planeswalker, but Anara impresses nonetheless. Constructed environments will play her, limited will splash to play her, EDH will play her, kitchen table will play her. Funny thing is, as powerful as she is, and as much as she'll create new archtypes, it's hard to say she'd actually be oppressive in any way.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: Each of the abilities is something we've seen before, but the total package still feels relatively fresh.
(3/3) Flavor: Although Anara has gained another color, she's still very much Anara. The abilities all evoke the flavor of a Dread Pirate.
Polish -
(2/3) Quality: Loyalty abilities are missing colons, which lets us know that they are activated abilities. You "get" emblems, rather than "gain"ing them.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
We have all the scores. Many thanks to all the judges, this month has been quite hard from our point of view but it was worth it.
I'll still allow time until August Round 1's player deadline for score adjustments and eventual discussion about the judgments, then I'll officially declare the winner.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.)
And with this the July MCC comes to an end! Thanks to everyone, players and judges!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.)
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
July MCC Round 4 (Finals)
"Master of the Eternities"
Check out "The Lion's Lair", the article series where I specifically talk about custom card design with the intent to help new custom card designers get better at it. The article index is always updated with the latest content.
Being able to wander the Multiverse has changed Jeff quite a bit. He still is a free spirit, but he developed an even stronger hate for authority, which he saw as always oppressing people, while keeping his strong sense of morality. His long solitary walks on Theros have turned into long walks between the planes, but they still were his favorite chance to reflect about himself and what happened around him. On Theros, he walked just to think, without any particular other purpose, while now his walks acquired a new one: he was looking for something. He was looking for meaning. Why was he born? Why was he gifted with the spark? He knew, he felt he had a mission to be carried out, but what was it? Maybe he just had to accept that nobody will ever be able to give him the answers he seeks. Maybe he was born to defend the meek of all planes against the authorities oppressing them. Maybe... too many "maybe"s and no certainty. His search was becoming increasingly within himself instead of out of himself. He still won't give up helping those in need, but pure altruism was no longer his main way. On the other side, his inner one, he had a new quest. But will that quest ever be over? Could it even be over someday? Maybe...
Jeff, Soul Explorer 2RGW
Planeswalker - Jeff (M)
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this planeswalker also causes you to gain that much life.)
+2: Until your next turn, whenever Jeff, Soul Explorer is dealt damage by a source, he deals that much damage to that source’s controller.
-3: Draw a card, then Jeff deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of cards you’ve drawn this turn.
-9: You draw X cards and gain X life, where X is the number of creatures you control.
4
(The example card is only meant for clarity of this round's requirements, not for balance.)
Art: http://koutanagamori.deviantart.com/art/Lion-Warrior-201583062
Main challenge: keeping the same character you used in the previous rounds, design a classic non-DFC planeswalker card that shows your character as an experienced planeswalker. Please include a link to or a quote of your round 3 entry in your submission.
Please don't include any notes. Posting any card-related notes will be cause of disqualification this month. Use only the flavor elements on the card itself to tell your character's story. Those are: card name, art (if you choose to make a render, in which case remember to give credit to the artist), subtypes, flavor text (listing this for completeness, even though planeswalker cards don't have it), mechanical flavor (telling flavor through the card's mechanics).
Subchallenge 1: Your planeswalker card has exactly four abilities.
Subchallenge 2: Your planeswalker card has at least one non-loyalty ability that affects the game, NOT like "CARDNAME can be your commander", that function outside the game, see clarifications.
• For subchallenge 1, the abilities have to be four, but they don't have to be all loyalty abilities. If they had, it would be impossible to meet both subchallenges at the same time.
• For subchallenge 2, the non-loyalty ability can be any kind of ability: static, triggered, even activated, as long as it doesn't have a loyalty cost (aka the + and - arrows in the planeswalker card frame) and as long as it actually affects the gameplay.
• From a PM about subchallenge 2:
My answer:
(X/3) Appeal: Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance: Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development -
(X/3) Viability: How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity?
(X/3) Balance: Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity -
(X/3) Uniqueness: Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel “fresh”?
(X/3) Flavor: Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish -
(X/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) *Main Challenge: Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges: One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
Player deadline: Friday, July 31th 23:59 EDT
Judge deadline: Thursday, August 6th 23:59 EDT
JUDGES
bravelion83
Piar
Ryder052(unfortunately, he's leaving the exact day of the player deadline, so he won't be able to judge this final round)Tilwin
PLAYERS
Awkward Squirtle
CasualR
Moss_Elemental
netn10
Sagharri
Good luck everyone! Show us the best of your characters! And always remember to check your card for Quality.
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.)
Zeria, the Beacon of Salvation 4WW
Planeswalker - Zeria (Mythic)
Tap an untapped creature you control: Put a loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control for each loyalty counter on Zeria.
-3: Creatures you control are indestructible until your next turn.
-30: You win the game.
{3}
Gruul Brawler 1RG
Creature - Human Warrior (U)
At the beginning of each end step, if Gruul Brawler fought another creature this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Gruul Brawler.
"In the Gruul, you grow up fast or you don't grow at all."
- Feralt, Brawler Champion
3/2
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (R)
Creatures you control have "1R, t: This creature fights another target creature."
2G: Put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control that fought this turn.
4/4
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
RG: Veltar, Wandering Fighter fights target creature you don't control. If Veltar has dealt damage to two or more creatures this turn, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed and under his owner's control.
4/4
//
Veltar, Fists of Fury
((R/G)) Planeswalker - Veltar (M)
[+1]: Veltar, Fists of Stone deals 3 damage to target creature.
[-2]: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. That creature fights target creature you don't control.
[-6]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Fury becomes a 6/6 Human Warrior creature with indestructible and "2: Veltar, Fists of Fury fights target creature." (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[3]
Veltar, Fists of Death 2BR
Planeswalker - Veltar (M)
3: Veltar, Fists of Death deals 1 damage to target creature.
[+1]: Until your next turn, Veltar, Fists of Death becomes a 5/5 Human Warrior creature with deathtouch and indestructible. (He doesn't lose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
[-1]: Fighting creatures you control gain deathtouch until your next turn.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste and 't: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.'"
[4]
Anara, Pirate Dreadlord 3UBR
Planeswalker — Anara (M)
Whenever a creature you control dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
+2 Put two 1/1 blue, black, and red Skeleton Pirate creature tokens with menace onto the battlefield.
-3 Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.
-10 You gain an emblem with "Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, gain control of target permanent that opponent controls."
4
Status: judging complete, not final until deadline. Very high scores this round, good work everybody! I extended the deadline to give judges more breathing room, especially those involved in both July and August (myself, also as host for both months, and Tilwin).
Note - When I say "#N in MOQX", it means: this is the mistake number N in my "Mark of Quality, part X" article.
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.
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes very much the flavor of a Pirate planeswalker, but except for the tokens, this particular one doesn't affect the board as much as he'd like. Johnny will try to put the ultimate to good use. Spike sees a planeswalker that can protect himself with a + ability, which is very good to him, and a potential source of card advantage in the -3 ability.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A slight ambiguity in the triggered ability: some players might interpret the "it" as Anara instead of the dying creature. Other than that, a bit wordy like most planeswalkers but easy enough to understand.
Development
(3/3) Viability - The first two abilities are black/red, the last two are blue, so everything's fine here. Rarity is obviously right. I would have expected the ultimate to say "nonland permanent", but after all it costs -10.
(2/3) Balance - If you can pay her mana cost in limited, you have to play her there, but you're not always able to pay a three-colored mana cost in any limited environment. Some for sure (especially multicolored ones, lastly KTK), but not all. In constructed she's certainly playable, especially as she protects herself while also gaining loyalty (she reminds me of Elspeth, Sun's Champion in that regard, and we all know how much that card is played in Standard), but the hard to pay mana cost could restrict how many decks are able to play her. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer, except for the ultimate being potentially unfun in that it's never fun to see your permanents (lands too) getting repeatedly stolen.
Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - The required non-loyalty ability and the menacing tokens are the only new things here.
(3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - You "get" emblems, not "gain" them (half a point deducted).
(2/2) Main Challenge - All good here.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 21/25
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes flavorful planeswalkers but he isn't totally impressed by the abilities. Johnny can try some sacrifice loop to have this gain a ton of loyalty counters and then use the 0 ability to immediately win the game. Spike sees a lot of value here, but he'd probably like to pay a bit more mana to have more starting loyalty.
(3/3) Elegance - A bit wordy, but that's inherently tied to the nature of planeswalkers, but the abilities are all very easy to understand.
Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Everything is in color and rarity is obviously right. It looks a bit strange that those Spirit tokens don't fly, but that's not a big problem.
(2/3) Balance - Must play in limited, but in constructed the low starting loyalty hurts a bit. It would probably be better there at 2BB with 3 starting loyalty and -4 for the "ultimate". In multiplayer, the -X gets better because it scales with the number of players, while the 0 ability targeting a single player will certainly turn that player against you. I see no particular problems in casual.
Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - A triggered ability to gain loyalty, a 0 ability that cares about the number of loyalty counters together with a -X: these all put together give the card enough of a fresh feeling.
(3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish
(3/3) Quality - All good here.
(2/2) Main Challenge - All good here.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 22/25
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy loves this for many reasons: the flavor, how it hugely affects the board, the ability to turn into a big lethal monster that's also indestructible, the focus on fighting, the emblem that lets you deal potentially huge amounts of damage when coupled with his other big monsters... he loves everything about this card. There's not that much for Johnny to do, maybe trying to use the mana-activated ability repeatedly, possibly with infinite mana to wipe the opposing board. He appreciates, though, the synergy between that ability and the +1: let Veltar gain deathtouch and then use the mana-activated ability to instantly kill any targetable creature. Spike likes that synergy too, and he sees quite a lot a value in this card.
(3/3) Elegance - A bit wordy, but that's inherently tied to the nature of planeswalkers, but the abilities are all very easy to understand. The real complexity here is strategic, and that's the good kind of complexity.
Development
(2.5/3) Viability - The only color pie bend here is indestructible, that neither black nor red naturally have, but in this case it's necessary for the correct funcionality of the card (you certainly don't want a planeswalker to be vulnerable to any creature removal spell when animated), so it's not a big problem. Rarity is obviously right.
(2.5/3) Balance - I've already mentioned the good synergies going on with this card. Absolute limited bomb, I'm almost certain this would see play in constructed, I'd really be surprised if it doesn't, at least in Standard. Having the potential of being a "one shot one kill" machine does create the possibilities of unfun experiences, especially in casual, where your board is suddenly wiped out as most creatures you'd play from that moment on, but that's where the strength of this card lies. In that, it reminds me the combo of any pinger with Basilisk Collar I used to play in original Zendikar Standard (getting used to say this...). I see no particular additional problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - The -1 is a totally new effect, as is a planeswalker having an activated ability that costs mana instead of loyalty. While the other abilities are nothing new, put together this way they make a card that feels very fresh and still quite original.
(3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish
(3/3) Quality - I think the -1 should say "have deathtouch" and not "gain", but I'm deducting no points for this as the "fighting creatures..." is a completely new template with no existing precedent.
(2/2) Main Challenge - All good here.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 23.5/25
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes flavorful planeswalkers, but I don't think he'd be a big fan of the abilities Johnny likes this, getting hellbent might be a challenge in and of itself, he can use the -2 to dig into his library for combo pieces and breaking the symmetry of the ultimate is another challenge he'll be glad to face. Spike loves the -2, as it's pure card advantage, but doesn't like that much a planeswalker that can only protect himself if you're hellbent.
(3/3) Elegance - A bit wordy, but that's inherently tied to the nature of planeswalkers, but the abilities are all very easy to understand.
Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Everything on this card is something black can do in the color pie, even though usually black's card draw is tied to life loss or sacrifice, but that's only a bend and not certainly a break. Rarity is obviously right.
(3/3) Balance - There are interesting synergies here: the -2 can make you discard cards to get hellbent, the -6 too can make you get hellbent so that you cast recast Marimas from your graveyard, or you can use the -2 to get card advantage instead even if it comes at the cost of getting no tokens from the +2. As a whole, it looks reasonable. It also looks to be interesting both in psuedo-aggro (five mana is not exactly a cost a pure aggro deck is happy to pay) and control: in the former, you'll naturally get hellbent in the late game, so the first two abilities will matter the most, in the latter you'd probably use this more for card advantage. This flexibility also looks good. Must play in limited, where you'll often also get naturally hellbent in the late game. It's not a given this would see play in constructed, but I wouldn't be surprised. I see no problems in casual, at the contrary, this may turn the unfun of having no cards in hand into a potential positive. In multiplayer, the -2 can have very interesting political implications, as it can target any two different players. You could even have an opponent draw and another opponent discard, and this may help if you want, for example, to make an alliance with the first opponent against the second opponent.
Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - The hellbent ability is very original on a planeswalker, the rest is nothing new.
(3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish
(1/3) Quality - The subtype is missing in the type line (it should be "Planeswalker - Marimas", one point deducted as it's a functional mistake). In the +2, a "the" is missing in "onto battlefield" (half a point deducted). In the -2, there should be two distinct sentences with no "and" between them: it should be "...draws a card. Another target player...". You can see this searching the phrase "and another target" on Gatherer: you find only four cards, none of which is remotely similar to this (Coastal Wizard, Lady Sun, Legerdemain, and Phyrexian Splicer, half a point deducted).
(2/2) Main Challenge - All good here.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 21/25
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy already likes flavorful planeswalker, but the ultimate here is so splashy that it puts this over the top for him (Ajani, Mentor of Heroes is the only existing card I can remember with a similar ultimate: just four words, but oh so splashy!). Johnny will try to find ways to give this as many loyalty counters as possible as fast as possible. Spike knows that the ultime will be very hard to pull off, but he still use the other abilities profitably.
(2.5/3) Elegance - The second ability (the first -3) can be confusing to some players, who might think they can distribute the +1/+1 counters among multiple creatures, which can't be done because there is a single instance of the word "target", so you have to put all +1/+1 counters on the same creature. Also, some players might think you can activate the first time only once each turn and only as a sorcery, while actually you can use it any time and how many times you want in a turn because it's not a loyalty ability and the restrictions are tied only to loyalty abilites. Other than those two points, everything else is fine here and the other abilites are all very easy to understand and not too wordy, which is definitely a plus for a planeswalker and gains you back at least some of the points lost for the potential confusion.
Development
(3/3) Viability - Everything is in color and rarity is obviously right. I remember having read in an old article on the mothership an article from the time planeswalkers were still a recent introduction to the game saying that they didn't want to outright say "you win the game" as a planeswalker's ultimate, but they would rather have effects that just heavily swing the game in your favor. Now I can't find the source, and anyway many years have passed so I don't know if that is still valid, but here that is actually the main selling point for this card, and it gives you a challenge to solve with that -30 that looks like it would be quite fun. This card definitely wouldn't be the same without that ultimate, and all of that actually turns this into a positive point to me.
(2.5/3) Balance - Absolute limited bomb and I think it may easily see some constructed play too. At least some players (mainly Johnnies) will certainly try to make this work there, and I think they might succeed. Still, -30 is a huge cost to play, that will certainly require multiple turns to get there unless you have some sort of infinite engine (yet another reason why Johnny will try this). In some ways, that reminds me of Helix Pinnacle: it will take time to get there, and you will have to control the game in the meantime (luckily this is in a color that has the means to do that, and often gets played with blue in control decks), but if and when you get there, the reward is big! The biggest reward ever possible in the game! It would take playtest to be sure, but I think this card is fairly balanced in the end. In multiplayer, playing this will put a giant target on your head for sure, and you will have to prepare to face a huge alliance of all other players against you while you try to build up to the ultimate, but that may also generate interesting political dynamics. For example, say there are four players at the table: A, B, C, D. You are player A and you cast this. Players B and C were enemies before, while D was your friend. Now everything changes: B and C make peace and D betrays you, and suddenly B, C, and D are all allies against you. Dynamics like these are exactly why I don't like multiplayer that much but also why some players absolutely love it. Most of this applies to casual too.
Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - There are a lot of original things here, almost every ability has one: an activated ability with a non-loyalty cost that adds loyalty counters, a loyalty ability that does something for each loyalty counter the planeswalker has, and the huge splashy ultimate with an absurd cost that makes you go "WTF?!?!". Full points is the minimum this can get here.
(3/3) Flavor - All good here.
Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - In the -3, now that indestructible is a keyword ability, the word "are" should be "gain" (half a point deducted).
(2/2) Main Challenge - All good here.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 23/25
Awkward Squirtle: 22
Moss_Elemental: 23.5
Sagharri: 21
netn10: 23
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 -
(2/3) Appeal: There's a ton of Johnny appeal here (Devoted Druid?!), which is the hardest of the three psychographs to nail. Timmy gets some cool experiences out of this card too, though he would have been happier with a more subtle ultimate (he doesn't know it though). Spike is the one that questions whether it is efficient enough for him; he could be playing Elspeth Sun's Champion at that cost, and not have to sink any more resources into her before she's useful.
(2/3) Elegance: As far as ease of understanding goes, Zeria is about as grokkable as a planeswalker can get. Unfortunately, the card isn't quite as obviously a representation of Zeria - who has cared about size quite a bit in the past. The interplay between the first two abilities is great, and I wish it had been extended a bit further into the others.
Development -
(2/3) Viability: Only the first ability is questionable as a white ability. White tends to not go big on just one creature, instead spreading the love equally to its army. Lots of +1/+1 counters on a single creature is more green. Everything else is certainly white. I also wonder about "you win the game" being a viable ultimate ability (in any color) - seems like it breaks the rules of planeswalker design, but maybe not. At the very least it bends them.
(2.5/3) Balance: This card seems like it was made for EDH or kitchen table magic moreso than competitive environments. It would be pretty underpowered in standard/modern, and only be good in a slower limited environment. I don't see it making waves, but I suppose that's better than being oppressive for a format.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: We haven't seen a planeswalker that uses creatures to build loyalty like this, which you executed in a nice way. We also haven't even seen a planeswalker ultimate so... final, though I suppose Karn comes close.
(2/3) Flavor: This is a tricky category, since planeswalker design doesn't have many pure flavor fields to judge on. Instead with planeswalkers we have to consider whether the abilities fit the character's flavor based on what we know of the character. The precedent is giving creatures keywords and caring about whether a creature is big or small (and is from Innistrad). The Beacon of Salvation doesn't quite meet up with what we expect of his/her character. Even if we expect some level of growth/maturity between versions, this feels just a little too far gone.
Polish -
(2.5/3) Quality: Since indestructible is now a keyword, you want "Creatures you control gain indestructible" rather than "are".
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Total: 20.0/25
(1.5/3) Appeal: Timmy loathes this card - and Hellbent in general - and Spike is skeptical. Getting no value for your (+) ability if you have no cards in hand is hard for him to stomach. Johnny is ready to jump in with both feet, since he's always open to coming at the game from a different angle.
(2.5/3) Elegance: The abilities all focus on the same idea and feel cohesive because of it. That said, this is something we haven't seen from Marimas before, and it feels a bit out of his traditional purview.
Development -
(2.5/3) Viability: No color breaks or game rules violations. It does break one of the guidelines of planeswalker design: a do-nothing (+) ability hasn't been done before for good reason. It is mitigated as a goal to work toward, even if the reward isn't all that spectacular.
(2/3) Balance: I could certainly see this being played in some fringe standard decks in some formats. I don't think it breaks anything. It might see kitchen table play, and EDH players will try to make it work, though I'm pretty sure Hellbent is a bad idea in a multiplayer formats. The problem I see is that if it's good, it's really good because of the recursion it can pull off. Late game it's just a problem players can't ever totally deal with, which could be oppressive.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: We haven't seen Hellbent remixed this way before, and the combination of effects is new as well. The ult is a neat twist on Pox.
(2.5/3) Flavor: This is a very thematic way to pull off the "Zombie King" planeswalker concept. The only issue I have is linking it to the original Marimas character. I can envision a scenario where he grows/matures to become Endless Despair, but it seems a stretch that this is the same guy.
Polish -
(1.5/3) Quality: The type line is missing the name subtype. In the +2 tokens are put "onto the battlefield." The ultimate is a bit ambiguous whether it cares about how many cards were discarded in total or if it counts each player's discards individually. I'd expect it to care individually.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Total: 19.0/25
(2/3) Appeal: Timmy is all about it, Veltar is a fun, powerful experience to smash faces with. Spike likes how efficient Veltar is, and will probably have him in creature mode most of the time. Johnny feels like his work has been done for him, since Veltar already gives himself deathtouch.
(2/3) Elegance: There are some "ah-ha" moments with this card, when a player sees how the first two abilities interact. The third ability (the minus ability) is a head scratcher - I think there might be too much elegance of wording there, to the point where the ability becomes difficult to grok. (For the record, I do understand what it's doing and it's cute but complicated.)
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Everything is color-appropriate. Although we've never seen abilities that grant abilities only during the resolution of other abilities, I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't work rules-wise. That said, I'm sure there are clearer ways to make the third ability happen.
(1/3) Balance: This card will be a standard powerhouse and unbeatable in draft. It seems pretty oppressive to me, it's better than the two card combo of Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar that ran rampant for a while. Even in multiplayer, keeping a creature on the board against Veltar is a frustrating challenge.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: Veltar does several things we've never seen before. The boundaries he's pushing are pretty exciting, but they're really new territory.
(3/3) Flavor: Not sure what events took place that made Veltar turn away from the Gruul and consort with Rakdos instead, but it's certainly a believable twist for the character. He's kept his fighter status intact, albeit in an unorthodox way.
Polish -
(2.5/3) Quality: The wording of the third ability is ambiguous - it should probably start out with the time limit, ie "Until your next turn, fighting creatures you control gain deathtouch." Of course, that's if you stick to the "fighting creatures" wording at all.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Total: 20.5/25
(2.5/3) Appeal: Johnny likes to jump through the loyalty hoop and wants to find ways to make it go infinite/very large. Spike appreciates the options he has to prove his skill with Morghul - knowing when to make trades in combat etc. I don't see Timmy liking this any more than another random 3cmc planeswalker. Timmy would probably rather see a larger ultimate ability that creates a more memorable experience.
(2.5/3) Elegance: All the elements of the card are on-theme, but the anti-synergy between the -X and the -3 is concerning. Cute that he makes a bunch of Fallen Remnants, but that flavor has a mechanical cost.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Everything is on color; no breaking of rules. Appropriate rarity.
(2.5/3) Balance: Unless Johnny is too good at breaking it, I don't see this being too oppressive in any environments. Johnny certainly could break it with the right pieces, maybe they exist in modern. It's certainly strong enough to see play in constructed, and planeswalkers will always be played in limited. It has the potential to get crazy in multiplayer formats, but I suppose that's part of the fun. Smart to have this start small and early, since you want to have it down before creatures start to die off.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: We've seen black planeswalkers demand sacrifices and perform necromancy before, but the loyalty trigger and the overall package still make the card feel fresh & unique overall.
(3/3) Flavor: Each ability is something we expect of Morghul, and the Remnants are a nice, if subtle, touch.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: All good here.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Total: 22.5/25
(3/3) Appeal: Timmy is excited to experience the ultimate - and to play with a Pirate planeswalker in general. Spike is a bit apprehensive about a six mana planeswalker, but that hasn't stopped him before, and he certainly sees some parallels to Elspeth, Sun's Champion here. Johnny is excited to try to break her triggered ability, and is tickled by the other abilities too.
(3/3) Elegance: Anara is about as readable as a four-ability planeswalker can be. I can understand wanting the tokens to be all the colors of the planeswalker, but three color tokens have never seen print and there's nothing about them that is explicitly blue. In my opinion it'd make more sense to keep them two-color and let the other abilities handle the blue-ness of Anara, but there's nothing explicitly wrong with them as-is.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Everything is color appropriate. Nothing breaks any game or design rules. Rarity is correct.
(3/3) Balance: You get a lot of leeway with a three color, six CMC planeswalker, but Anara impresses nonetheless. Constructed environments will play her, limited will splash to play her, EDH will play her, kitchen table will play her. Funny thing is, as powerful as she is, and as much as she'll create new archtypes, it's hard to say she'd actually be oppressive in any way.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: Each of the abilities is something we've seen before, but the total package still feels relatively fresh.
(3/3) Flavor: Although Anara has gained another color, she's still very much Anara. The abilities all evoke the flavor of a Dread Pirate.
Polish -
(2/3) Quality: Loyalty abilities are missing colons, which lets us know that they are activated abilities. You "get" emblems, rather than "gain"ing them.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Check and check.
Total: 23.0/25
netn10: 20.0/25
Sagharri: 19.0/25
Moss_Elemental: 20.5/25
Awkward Squirtle 22.5/25
CasualR 23.0/25
I'll still allow time until August Round 1's player deadline for score adjustments and eventual discussion about the judgments, then I'll officially declare the winner.
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.)
Awkward Squirtle
Congratulations!
Here are the final scores:
Awkward Squirtle: 22 + 22.5 + 21.5 = 66
CasualR: 21 + 23 + 20 = 64
Moss_Elemental: 23.5 + 20.5 + 20 = 64
Sagharri: 21 + 19 + 21 = 61
netn10: 23 + 20 + 16 = 59
And with this the July MCC comes to an end! Thanks to everyone, players and judges!
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.)