I see we're losing more participants to attrition than to the judges' scoring. My guess is the winner is going to be the only one to actually sumbit cards for every single design challenge. Which, of course, means me, since I have no life.
Guys, I'm a stay at home mother of three kids, a 2 year old and a pair of 6 month olds. Therefore, I certainly won't be going far. My computer is my outside world, a lot of the time!
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
Glad to hear that not every round is going to consist of the drops + drop nots.
Progress report: Currently judging. Holiday festivities left less time than I was anticipating to finish up this round. I'll polish off the remainder of the entries and get them posted either this evening or early into tomorrow.
TIBA, since you allowed thisvoid to submit a correction to his entry for last round, please figure in an additional two points from me to his calculated score.
So far I have received PMs from AoK, moogie, Rowsdower, Alx and Ace. If you sent me a PM and aren't one of those five people, I didn't get it so please resend it and/or post in the thread.
Jason Egle
Protected Martyr (U)
:2mana::symw::symw:
Creature - Human Cleric
2/2
Whenever a source would deal damage to ~this~, instead the source deals 1 less damage.
~this~ can block any number of creatures and blocks each turn if able.
Meisan
Origami (Rare)
:1mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment
:symw:: Search your library for a card and remove it form the game. Gain 1 life.
Shirotsuki
Siren (Rare)
:5mana::symu::symu::symu::symu:
Creature - Siren
4/4
You control all creatures.
Todd Lockwood
Lock Out (Common)
Sorcery
Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during it's controller's next upkeep.
Jeremy Jarvis
Ambusher's Armor (Common)
:1mana::symb:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creautre gets +3+1 and has snow-cowered swampwalk.
Frank Frazetta
Bold Wish (Rare)
:xmana::xmana::symb::symb:
Sorcery
Search your library for X cards and put them into your hand. Lose three times X life.
Mariolle Aurore
Smoke Thoughts (C)
Sorcery
Look at the top ten cards of target opponent's library. Remove 7 of them at random from the game, then put the rest on top of his or her library in any order.
Then that opponent looks at the top ten cards of your library. He or she removes 7 cards at random from the game, the puts the rest on top of your library in any order.
Justin Sweet
Foothill Riders (Uncommon)
:3mana::symr:
Creature - Human Rouge
1/3
~this~ get +1/+0 for every basic land type among lands you control.
If you control a land of each basic land type, ~this~ has Haste and First Strike.
Jenny Dolfen
Elven Pirates (uncommon)
:2mana::symg::symg:
Creature - Elf Pirate
2/3
Islandwalk
: Add :symg::symu: to your mana pool.
Anne Stokes
Chameleonism (Rare)
:1mana::symg::symg:
Enchantment
Creatures can't be blocked.
Melissa Uran
Queen's Throne(Common)
Artifact
: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool that a land you control couldn't produce.
Noah-kh
Forbidden Colony (Uncommon)
Land
: Add to your manapool.
, : Remove the top card of target opponent's library from the game. Gain life equal to the converted mana cost of that card.
Ever wanted to know what happens when an Orcish Librarian uses Thangart's Glare? Don't fool around with a Djinn, be careful about your Wishes, don't make them too bold. Enter Queen's Throne, where foreign people come and bring gifts. Meet Pirates with pointy ears. Hear the Siren sing her song. Learn how to fold paper. Evolve Camouflage. Gain life out of your opponent's cards. Play that 5-Color draft deck. And block those Saprolings for eternity.
White uncommon (answer to tokens)
Arbitary Detainment 1WW
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature and creatures with the same name as it doesn't untap during its controller's untap steps unless its controller pay 1.
White rare (Johnny enchantment)
Highlander's Sovereign 1W
Enchantment
Creatures you control are legendary and get +2/+2.
Blue common (Sorcery)
Disinterest 1U
Sorcery
Creatures don't untap during their controllers' next untap steps.
Blue rare (Timmy creature)
Ophidian Subduer X1UU
Creature - Human Wizard
When <this> comes into play, gain control of any number of target creatures with total converted mana cost of X or less.
1/1
Black uncommon (Aura on your creature)
Skeletal Brace B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchanted creature has fear and must attack each turn if possible.
Black rare (Anything)
Grim Warden 1B
Creature - Human Warrior
Whenever <this> attacks and is unblocked, you may sacrifice <this>. If you do, return target creature from your graveyard to play attacking. Remove that creature from the game at end of turn.
1/1
Red common (Instant or sorcery)
Barreling Tactics R
Instant
Creatures with converted mana costs 2 or less can't block until end of turn.
Red uncommon ('Build around me' creature)
Arko Gearmancer 2R
Creature - Human Wizard
Equipment you control have "2, Unattach this equipment: This equipment deals 2 damage to target creature".
2/2
Green common (creature with >=4 converted mana cost)
Canopy Draconoid 3G
Creature - Wurm Mutant
<This> can't be blocked except by creatures with flying.
If you control two or more untapped forests, <this> can't be target of spells or abilities.
2/2
Green rare (noncreature spell)
Verdant Mandate 2GG
Sorcery
Sacrifice a noncreature permanent. Search your library for up to X basic land cards and put them into your hand, where X is the amount of coloured mana in that permanent's mana cost. Then shuffle your library.
Artifact/land common (Mana fixer)
Hazy Landscape
Land
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool.
Tap, Reveal a card from your hand, Sacrifice <this>: Add a mana of any colour of the revealed card to your mana pool.
Artifact/land uncommon (Millstone variant)
Sightless Orb 3
Artifact
2, Tap: Put the top card of target player's library into his or her graveyard. If another nonland card in that graveyard has the same name as it, instead remove it from the game and he or she may play it as though it were in his or her hand until end of turn.
Explanation:
For these cards, I avoid legends and special mechanics for obvious reasons. Usually only one type of token will be found in any given deck. Gearmancer will encourage the drafting of small equipment which is not commonly done. With multiple colours being the usual build, Hazy Landscape should be quite suitable in getting the right mana. Lastly, as it is difficult to draft multiple copies of nonland cards, the orb should not break limited.
White (uncommon) We need an answer to all the token making in the environment. Be subtle.
Todd Lockwood
Jail-Time :1mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may target a creature with a toughness of 1 or less.
Remove targeted creature and all creatures with the same name from the game.
White (rare) We're looking for a weird Johnny-style enchantment
Melissa Uran *Trying to focus on as many members of the picture as possible.
Meeting of the Elders :2mana::symw::symw::symw:
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain X life. Where X is the number of different creature types you control.
Blue (common) We need a sorcery. No card filtering or drawing. No bounce.
Meisan *With Color Correcting making it bluish instead of reddish.
Sudden Flooding :2mana::symu::symu:
Sorcery
Target land your opponent controls is an Island until the end of turn.
Target creature you control gains Islandwalk until the end of turn.
Blue (rare) We need a creature. Something splashy for Timmy.
Matthew D. Wilson *Legs or smokestacks should not be shown.
Rumbling Hoverguard :8mana::symu::symu:
Creature – Drone
Flying.
When Rumbling Hoverguard comes into play, you may return up to 3 target creatures to their owner’s hands.
7/7
Rarely Seen. Rarely Forgotten.
Black (uncommon) Make an aura you want to put on your own creatures.
Jeremy Jarvis
Armor of the Cabal :1mana::symb::symb:
Enchantment – Aura
Enchant Creature
As an additional cost to play Armor of the Cabal, sacrifice a creature.
Enchanted creature gets +2/+1, Fear, and has “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may sacrifice a creature. If you don’t, sacrifice Armor of the Caba at the end of turnl”.
Black (rare) Can be anything.
Frank Frazetta
Demonic Pact :3mana::symb::symb::symb:
Sorcery
You may pay 4 life as an additional cost to play Demonic Pact, if you do then choose two.
Choose one – Return up to two target creatures from your graveyard into play; or put up to two target creatures in any graveyard into your graveyard; or put an X/X Demon Token into play with its power and toughness equal to the number of creatures in your graveyard.
Red (common) Instant or sorcery. No direct damage or destruction (artifact or land).
Justin Sweet *Try to get a panoramic view of the picture.
Incite Action :1mana::symr::symr:
Instant
Creatures target player controls untap and attack this turn if able.
Attacking creatures get -1/-0 until the end of turn.
Red (uncommon) Creature. Want a build around me for draft.
Jason Engle * Focusing more on the creature and less on the barrier. Slight Color Correction to make it redish.
Riftwalker Shaman :1mana::symr::symr:
Creature – Human Shaman
Whenever damage is dealt to a creature or player from one source, put a charge counter on Riftwalker Shaman.
:1mana::symr::symr:, : Battle Trained Shaman deals divided by X 2 damage to each creature target player controls. Where X is the number of charge counters on Riftwalker Shaman.
1/1
Green (common) Creature. Something that costs four or more mana.
Shirotsuki *The person is color corrected to be green, while the rest stays the same.
Riverwater Dryad :3mana::symg::symg:
Creature - Dryad
Lands you control have ":1mana: ,: Add or to your mana pool"
3/3 It is at home, both in the water and in the forest.
Green (rare) Non-creature spell. Green's lacking in "wow" factor.
Senyphine
Gaea's Revenge :5mana::symg::symg:
Legendary Enchantment
:xmana::1mana::symg::symg:: Target land you control becomes an X/X creature with trample that's still a land. (This effect doesn't end at the end of turn) For eons different species fought across her landscape, scarring her, raping her, making her bleed. Now, it was her turn to fight back.
Artifact or Land (Common) Design a non-color alligned mana fixer.
Noah-kh
Ancient Ruins
Land
Ancient Ruins comes into play tapped.
:2mana:, : Add two mana of any one color to your mana pool. You lose one life.
Artifact or Land (Uncommon) Design something that uses the Millstone ability.
Mariolle Aurore
Natural Addictor
Artifact
Cumulative Upkeep -- Discard a card.
:2mana:, : Target player puts the top X cards of his library into his or her graveyard, where X is the number of age counters on Natural Addictor.
Hello everyone. You may have heard of the earthquake in Taiwan two days ago. Since the earthquake has broken quite a few lines, this means I have diffculties to get on Internet for the next few days (they say five days, but it can get longer, you know). But I will still participate, no worry.
question to the judges: how are the judgings coming on? As i've said before, there's certainly no rush. I'm just wondering because soon I may have only sparce internet access and I need to know a timeframe to when i should check to see if there are any scores.
Because of the sheer bulk of cards, it's not possible to give card-by card feedback so I'm not going to do it. If you have a specific question or would like to know my thoughts on a specific card or two, feel free to ask. I'll happily answer. But if you don't ask, then you just get your final score.
This round is worth 14 points. To bring my methods more in line with the other judges, I'm scoring each card out of 14. Here is the breakdown of how I'm assigning points:
How well the card fits the hole description: 4 points
How much innovation the card shows: 4 points
Whether the card has a solid overall design: 2 points
How well the card mechanic and flavor fits the art choice: 2 points
Whether the card makes sense at that rarity: 1 point
Discretionary (ie., do I like this card in general): 1 point
Your total points are added up and then divided by 12 (cards) to arrive at an average score out of 14.
We need an answer to all the token making in the environment. Be subtle.
zu_Faul
Protected Martyr (U)
:2mana::symw::symw:
Creature - Human Cleric
2/2
Whenever a source would deal damage to ~this~, instead the source deals 1 less damage.
~this~ can block any number of creatures and blocks each turn if able.
Jason Egle
Pretty much everyone ahd trouble with the "Be subtle" part of this slot. Lots of people made cards that were very obviously, even specifically, designed to hose tokens. This was one of the only cards that does something useful that just happens to seriously hose tokens. And it's a nice design all-around.
We're looking for a weird Johnny-style enchantment
Avator of Kokusho Deus Ex Machina :3mana::symw::symw: Enchantment (R)
Play with your hand revealed. If a creature would come into play, that creature's controller removes it from the game and put an X/X Construct creature token into play instead, where X was the removed creature's toughness. Sacrifice two Constructs: Gain 3 life. Art: Matthew D. Wilson's art, #1 in first post
Another one that just about everyone had trouble with. It's hard to come up with an effect for this slot and even this card doesn't quite live up to the "Timmy and Spike call this junk while Johnny goes looking for something crazy to do with it" feel it should have. What I felt this had more than the others was a lot of potential for Johnny to do something crazy with it even if TImmy and Spike might like it. Plus it was the only one that I'd call weird.
We need a sorcery. No card filtering or drawing. No bounce (aka returning cards to hand).
Skitsojd
Sudden Flooding :2mana::symu::symu:
Sorcery
Target land your opponent controls is an Island until the end of turn.
Target creature you control gains Islandwalk until the end of turn.
Hands down the most creative and interesting of the blue commons that actually still made sense as a common. So most of the time it just makes a creature unblockable. But sometimes you might be able to do something funky with it.
We need a creature. Something splashy for Timmy.
Jeek
Ophidian Subduer X1UU
Creature - Human Wizard
When <this> comes into play, gain control of any number of target creatures with total converted mana cost of X or less.
1/1
There were lots of cool and solid submissions for this one. Some were complicated, some were simple. This one I especially like because it is interesting and very Timmy without being a fat creature or having a huge mana cost. This card shows how Timmy has fun with smaller effects (though it certainly can be a big effect with a good chunk of mana).
Make an aura you want to put on your own creatures.
Alx
Vexing Imprisonment 1B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.
Enchanted creature has: "2,T: Target opponent loses 2 life." Imprisoned for crimes most heinous, Baron Zorj could still inflict grief on his victims. Only years later, did his jailers think of checking his letters.
Though several cards went for the "positive and negative effect" angle, this one is the most interesting. The Pacifism effect is definitely a bleed in black, but black often gets away with bleeding for a steep cost, so it works.
Can be anything.
Ace Binding Command:3mana::symb::symb:
Sorcery (R)
As an additional cost to play Binding Command, tap a creature you control.
Destroy all tapped creatures unless target opponent pays 5 life.
Simple questions dissected and removed from a creature's brain can leave it praising the very ground you tread.
Not incredible in the innovation area, but a great rare that cleverly tacs on a sacrifice cost.
Instant or sorcery. No direct damage or destruction (artifact or land).
Rowsdower
Static Charge - :1mana::symr:
Instant
The next instant or sorcery spell you play this turn deals 3 damage to each of its targets.
The hardest slot to design for - red commons - predictably produced mostly underwhelming cards. This one doesn't fit the slot - this is clearly direct damage - and I feel like it should be uncommon, but it's still the most interesting card to show even if others scored higher than it.
Creature. Want a build around me for draft (aka something that will encourage players to go down a path or paths he or she wouldn't normally had they not drafted this card early
Jeek
Arko Gearmancer 2R
Creature - Human Wizard
Equipment you control have "2, Unattach this equipment: This equipment deals 2 damage to target creature".
2/2
I really like this. It's interesting, at 2R for a 2/2 it's efficient enough that you'd probably want to draft it if you're playing red, and with this in your deck you might actually want that Rakdos Riteknife. An excellent card for the slot.
Creature. Something that costs four or more mana.
Alx
Oakcrusher Wurm 3GG
Creature - Wurm
Trample Afterlife — As long as Oakcrusher Wurm is the top card of your graveyard, at the beginning of your attack phase you may have target creature gain Trample until end of turn.
4/3
Arguably the easiest slot to design for this round, I like Alx's simple staple creature that featured the round's only (if I remember correctly) abilty/keyword. The abilityword isn't shockingly innovative, but it's solid and I can see a lot of potentially interesting this you can do with it. If WotC did a "graveyard order matters theme" like they toyed with in Coldsnap, this would be a solid addition.
Non-creature spell. Green's lacking in "wow" factor (aka something that will impress the player by how different it is).
moogie
Rebirth of Summer:7mana::symg::symg:
Sorcery (R)
Sacrifice each permanent you control. For each permanent you sacrificed this way, search your library for a permanent card and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.
I also like this one a lot. It's splashy, very powerful, very green and not really been done before. There aren't a lot of ways to cheat out a sorcery, so green would have to ramp up to it. It might actually be too powerful considering how Tooth and Nail turned out, but it's hard to tell that without testing in the environment. It's a lot riskier than green usually is, but again if the flavor of the environment makes sense then it works.
Design a non-color alligned mana fixer to help Limited mana bases.
Ace
Rotting Greenhouse
Land (C)
Imprint - :2mana:,: Search your library for a basic land card and remove it from the game. (The removed card is imprinted on this land)
T: Add one mana that the imprinted land could produce to your mana pool. The decrepit corpse of a once-fertile focal point for Nature
One of the few mana fixers designed that is both interesting and makes sense in common, this one really impressed me.
Design something that uses the Millstone ability in an interesting way, but that isn't too splashy or swingy for limited.
moogie
Hallucinifier
Artifact (U)
Whenever Hallucinifier becomes untapped, put the top card of target player's library in his or her gravyard.
:1mana:: Tap Hallucinifier.
:2mana:: Untap Hallucinifier.
This is possibly my favorite from the round. It's simple, it's elegant, it's innovative, it's interesting, it's flavorful (though it's a bit disturbing how many people who used this art incorporated some sort of drug flavor), it fits the slot description to a T. Just an excellent piece of work.
I've been working at it off and on. Having less experience with just how difficult and somewhat tedious judging is than Kraj, I began with the mistake of judging each card (that's 96). However, I'm too far along now to bother about going back and starting over again. Should be up tomorrow. Christmas, New year, and as of today, birthday activities have slown me down somewhat.
Ten million apologies. I have some more sympathy for why these took so long for Wizards, although more of that was the holidays combined with the beginning of classes, trying to finance said classes, and general school-related stress.
Valiant Hulk- The second ability could have been a bit more subtle, but otherwise this is a hit. I like the flavor, it seems like it has a lot of fun tricks for Limited, it's a perfect complexity/splash level for a seeker uncommon, it hates tokens. I even like the crop.
Prismatic Shield- Giving players protection is a tricky area to move into, especially since it technically doesn't work within the rules of the game (which specifically talk about the rules of Protection on permanents). That aside, the effect of the card is both game breaking and tending towards total non-interaction, the opposite of a Johnny desire. This is much more of what I call a "Dave" card, designed for people who love playing slow and painful decks that punish the opponent for existing and make life miserable.
Deep Freeze- Interesting card. Not very powerful, but a good, almost coresettish effect to show a bit of variety in blue. I like the use of the art, too.
Enticing Dominator- I like the idea behind this, I just think it needs to be done better. I'm okay with stretching Lure into Blue when it's flavorful enough, but the activated cost should be lower, and I'm not entirely sure that we need the CMC cap on a six mana 3/3 at rare.
Vexing Imprisonment- While a valiant effort, closer consideration should be paid to the rules. This is an aura that you sometimes want to put on your own creature, but when an opposing 5/5 or other hulking monstrosity is on the board, it becomes a temptation to slap on someone else's creature.
Spirestop Stalker- I like the art and the flavor here. The effect is powerful while not consistent enough to be backbreaking in any format. Possibly Vintage-caliber, I guess. Point for flavor text! People don't try flavor text enough.
Funeral Pyre- This is a very clean, neat, much wanted effect.
Courtesan Adept- Love it, love it, love it, love it. 13 out of 10. I want it printed tomorrow. Perfect fit to the art, and the flavor makes it far better than if it had simply given creatures you control Pro-Red. Flavor text is a bit camp, I suppose.
Oakcrusher Wurm- My, this art caught some people off guard. For a 4/3 Trampler, those had better be some mighty impressive acorns. And the memory issue of it being dead doesn't seem worthwhile for such a minimal effect.
Stittlewood Curse- Huh. That's an effect I had not seen before. A very different take on that artwork, too. I like it quite a bit, though.
Secluded Dale- Very powerful in aggro decks. Too powerful, perhaps. But to be fair, probably no more so than Gemstone Mine. But for Limited purpose, very reasonably balanced.
Avelina's Hookah Pipe- Major stumble, I'm afraid. This ability is both too swingy for Limited games, and then it's not new or interesting. A poor cap off to an otherwise pretty impressive entry.
Very nicely done. Elegant designs pretty much all through. Most of these I wouldn't be surprised at all to see on actual, finished cards. 12/14
Riot Queller- The picture matches the card very well indeed, and it is an answer to token making. It's less subtle than it could be, although not blunt, but my biggest complaint is the double white. It doesn't feel right for a Limited effect; smaller stats or 2W as a cost so as not to obsolete Master Decoy would be better. Still.
Eternal Servitude- The picture is a loose fit, but it'll work. I quite like the card itself, it's a simple, clean variant on existing White cards that I actually like a good bit better than the existing versions of this card.
Viceral Calm- It's a good effect for that sort of abstract artwork. While this would be terribly inappropriate as an instant, as a sorcery I think it's a good common-level temporal effect, even if it does infringe upon White's territory a bit.
Stasis Void- Interesting name for a creature. I like that in the context of this card, it's unclear whether the creature in question is the girl at the center of the picture, or the blue ectoplasm itself and the girl as one of it's victims. I also quite like the effect itself. It's a very splashy, clean big Timmy effect that would draw more than one "oooooh" at a prerelease.
Skeletal Graft- It fits the art flavorwise, and I like the card itself. It seems like a sort of obvious, fun, flavorful effect of the sort we haven't seen as much of since Ice Age and Mirage. For a card that's so Limited-based, however, 2B would really be much better than BB. I think you're a little too fond of the CC casting cost.
Cruel Harvest- The art is a bit of a stretch. This card also really doesn't feel like a Rare at all. It would be a powerful Uncommon for limited, but a few of those are alright, and it's a much better fit for the ability.
Abandonment- I don't think we need this card. It's almost strictly worse than a hundred Panic Attack variants. While there are some subtle uses to such a card over simply "target creature can't block until end of turn", such as a set with many creatures or effects that sacrifice your own creatures, it still feels weak to me. And I don't think the flavor really fits the art at all.
Travelling Pillager- Ooooh. I really like this card. LD players don't get enough toys tossed their way in general. Putting this at the CC just where you begin casting LD spells is an interesting choice- if nothing else, it puts an inherent powercap on such strategies as their spells jam each other up, and prevents the strategy from being too strong. And someone somewhere is going to try a multiplayer deck based around this card and Armageddon. The art works pretty damn well with it too.
Chameleonic Wurm- This isn't the first time I'm going to say this in this contest; that 'wurm' has a head that's roughly the same size as the acorn next to it. The body should reflect that. A 3/4 doesn't.
Rebirth of Summer- It really fits the artwork and it's splashy as all Hell.
Prismatic Hallway- Interesting use of tinting. I like the effect of the card, and the Comes into Play tapped ability actually feels like it ties the card together in this case, instead of simply being a random drawback. Downside: This is a bit complicated for common and would probably be moved to uncommon. It could work, I suppose.
Hallucinifier- The abilities on this are quite cute. They also give the card a very large degree of flexibility.
Really, really solid designs this week. I'm impressed. Overall- 12/14
Barrier to Entry- The art is a decent enough fit here, but the main problem is the card itself. White doesn't tend to have rules-changing effects that only hit the opponent, as white is usually, superficially at least, the "fair play" color. The basic effect itself is also more Black than anything. As a reasonably subtle token answer it's a good submission, but it's not a strong fit for it's color or it's rarity.
Capitalize- The artwork doesn't really fit here. I'm also not sure what this enchantment is supposed to do. As worded, after you get hit by creatures on your opponent's combat phase, you get some colorless mana that you need an instant to play with before it goes away. Giving white mana generation is out of place, but could work on a spell similar to this if you did enough to justify it, but this card really doesn't do anything.
Dispossess- Now here, the artwork fits nicely and the effect is very clean, highly grokkable, and does something that hasn't quite been attempted before. Almost perfect, except for two things; it would probably be an instant, and it would almost certainly be an uncommon, as the effect is narrow and swingy
Bandari Seductress- I like the effect here, as it's very powerful and swingy. My objection is to a seven mana 1/1 Indestructible. It feels like a bit of a gag- a creature that's not really a creature. A 3/3 or some such that can't be the target of spells or abilities would feel more like an actual creature. Close, but a misstep.
Static Change- I really like this effect. It fits the artwork very well, too. Combo with Ground Rift? My only problem is that it very much skirts the rule about not doing direct damage. I can forgive it in this case though.
Unrepentant Traitor- It ought to be undercosted rather than over with it's drawback, but I suppose that's more development than design. I like the flavor of the card- sending in infiltrators that damage the opponent from within- but it seems much less of a "build around me" card than we're looking for. Unless you pick up a ton of Wall of Blossoms or some such...
Fetishistic Armor- I like the use of Imprint here. It was a damned useful mechanic from a design perspective, and I'd like to see it around again. Despite that, you don't actually make that much use of the Imprint itself. I like the basic flavor of the card as much as I did in Moogie's version, however.
Blighted Blackguard- The ability addendum here is confusing, and while not useless, probably not worth the extra text. Otherwise, the ability is far too swingy on a Trained Armodon. Combat-indestructibility should cost at least one or two mana.
Wurm Whelp- I like that the size and the name both reference the actual art, tying that in neatly. This feels very green. The losing trample clause is a little bit clunky, but it also sort of works for the creature. The problem is that this is far too powerful in Limited to be a common. It would make a good casual rare, but even at Uncommon it'd probably have to cost 1 more.
Naked Power- Overcosted, but with a strange but powerful casual-player effect that seems almost a bonus. It seems well designed as a teacher rare, ala the function of the Demon's Horn/Ivory Cup cycles at common, helping players learn at a basic level when something costs too damn much, while initially appealing to them. Definitely something different.
Realm of Possibilities- I really, really like this name, incidentally. Interesting fixer. Possible memory issues, but it's clean and hasn't really been done before.
Milling Machine- While I understand that a hefty drawback is good on an uncommon creature with such efficent stats in colorless, I'd be happier with the aesthetics of the card if there were a way to untap the creature again if it failed to hit a land once. On the other hand, it'd definitely be a tempting card to tinker around with in Limited, and the risk vs. reward is high, in a good way. Downside: It ought to be Grinding machine, as it's ability is more remniscent of Grindstone. Also, Grinding Machine would make some sense outside of the Magic vernacular.
Retribution of Guilt- Subtle in this case did not mean, "Only does anything relevant when your opponent has the card you're answering".
Invigorating Vapors- It's a decent enough take on the Enduring Renewal mechanic, but it desperately needs to change from graveyard to play into from graveyard to hand, in order to not be a ludicrously easy infinite combo engine in addition to a casual and limited powerhouse. That should've been fairly obvious, really.
Kii-ny Reality Weaver- While a very cool card, this is so brutally a rare that it's not even funny. It also doesn't particularly encourage you to build a deck differently than you would otherwise- instants are already highly valued, as is going into two or three colors.
Besiege- I don't connect the art here that much, given that the spell puts a bunch of guys into play and the art only features one. There's also a flavor gap here- the card should represent nature's wrath, as we've seen in other non-basic land punishers, but it's creating a bunch of artifical beings. And why do they blow up end of turn? The basic idea is cool, but the connection to the art seems slapped together.
Binding Command- This is Homelands worthy. A bad card should at least look good, which this doesn't really accomplish. The drawbacks needs to be more subtle. I don't think the Black Rare factor and the art are going to be enough to sway a lot of people with this one.
Cultists Bindings- The templating needs desperate work, but there's a good idea buried in here. The picture cropping here is a little shady, but it could probably pass.
Sinister Shrinkings- The name is kind of laughable. The effect was interesting until you added the last line, and then you had just gotten greedy. It shouldn't take one turn to turn your saporlings into 8/8's.
Exoskeletal Parasite- Seal of Control Magic in Green?
Dangerous Secrets- Too splashy and generally too useless to be cluttering up common slots.
Ikuna, Dragon Duchess- Casual players are going to wonder why you gave Blue a five mana 16/16. Green players are going to wonder why you stole their abilities.
Rotting Greenhouse- I like it. Don't want this in the same block as Sensei's Diviing Top, though.
Torturous Barricade- What does this effect have to do with torturing or barricades?
Final- 7/14. Some good ideas in need of polish, and a few really good cards that don't fit the parameters of the contest well at all.
Soul Essence- This is notably less subtle than Vindictive Mob, which is saying something. Even more is that there seems to be no actual connection between the art and the card.
Deus Ex Machina- I like the name. This ability is a bit of a stretch in White, but using the toughness rather than anything else helps justify it a bit. I can see some confusion amongst players as to whether or not token works with this, so it ought to have simply been worded to non-token creature. And the life gain ability definitely feels tacked on.
Alleigance- I like this quite a bit. I think it's as reasonable a variation on this effect as you'd be able to see at common. Good use of art.
Draining Spirit- I don't like the non-land modifier on the first ability. It turns it into a drawback instead of a benefit, and it's not costed really well for that. Do I have to, that aside, really get into the irony of putting a mill ability on a 6/6? This card is very internally inconsistent.
Deathwatch- This card is almost strictly worse than Blessing of Leeches. Where it's not it's because it can be used as an offensive weapon, and that sort of violates the principle of the card, which was something you wanted to put on your own guys.
Imprisonment- This feels a bit too powerful as is. That aside, it's a good concept, although I'd like to see a bigger drawback- something along the lines of Solitary Confinement, making it more appropriate for it's power level and also adding some flavorful mirror imagery there.
Metacreativity- Fixed (maybe) Tinker. Meh...
Man of the Mountain- I think you misunderstood. The assignment wasn't a "good draft guy", which I'm not really sure this is anyway. The assignment called for a card that could be built around for limited. If this card read something like, "Whenever a card an opponent controls is sacrificed" or, "Whenever a land is put into a graveyard from play", or, "Whenever a human comes into play under your control", etc... You're trying to encourage a theme.
Treeslither Wurm- Those must be some huge acorns. Art mismatch aside, this card is reasonable but not very impressive, almost being vanilla.
Worldtree- The power level is a bit low, for an expensive rare enchantment, but the basic idea is a viable one, in need of some polish.
Deathspire- The art doesn't hugely make sense for the card, but it's not a total mismatch. As an effect of this nature I quite like it. We've seen variations on this before, but never quite in a simple talisman effect and usually only in Black. It would certainly work a bit differently in Limited than another Prismatic Lens.
Sorceress's Enclave- This breaks a pretty important rule about lands. I kind of like it anyway just because the connection of abilities makes it feel very much like an old school card that would be appropriate in a set like Coldsnap or Time Spiral.
Final- Almost half and half, but your interesting cards are more so than your boring ones. 9/14
Arbitrary Detainment- The art is appropriate, but the effect itself is poorly designed. Why add the "Unless they pay 1 modifier", which only makes it useful against a large token army (and even then if they're already tapped, which probably means trouble anyway) and ruins the subtlety? Why use the Dehydration mechanic over [cardPacifism[/card]? And why arbitrary, which is something white is not supposed to be? There was a very good card concept here more likely called Guilt By Association, but you missed it.
Highlander's Sovereign- Interesting drawback with some potentially powerful payoffs. Of course, it's almost strictly better than Day of Destiny, but I suppose we can forgive that.
Ophidian Subduer- I didn't imagine this art on a blue card, but it fits in this case, and I really, really like this effect. Very fun casual/draft effect.
Skeletal Brace- It's a Fear that almost doesn't suck. Cute little aura. Not amazing, but it could conceivably be useful and would probably be more enjoyable to learning players. Conceivably useful as an offensive weapon, but most of the time this would land on your creatures.
Grim Warden- That's... interesting. I can't tell if it's good or not, but more importantly, it's interesting. I like the flavor of necromantic assassin who uses his body as a brief portal to unspeakable horrors when he finally reaches his target.
Barreling Tactics- Good tie in with the art, and as Panic Attacks go it's acceptable. Making it an instant is pushing the rarity level a bit, but adds some more versatility to the card, especially in multiplayer.
Arko Gearmancer- This would've been right at home in Mirrodin block. Perhaps even in Kamigawa.
Canopy Draconoid- Perfect flavor. The size and abilities really match a canopy-top slithering pygmy dragon.
Verdant Mandate- You missed the "reveal them" clause, but it's not a huge issue. The effect is interesting at lower rarity levels, but I don't think players would be amazingly happy with this as a rare- basic lands are only basic lands, after all.
Hazy Landscape- On the weaker side as these goes, but an appropriate soft fixer in an enviroment where you really want to charge players highly for going two colors, such as Kamigawa block.
Sightless Orb- I'm a bit torn. It's kind of crappy as a millstone variant, although I can see the options it leaves open to build around it with, probably, Blue and use it on yourself. But not really dead on for the assignment.
Final- Some good designs, especially at tweaking staple-type effects to be more interesting. 11/14
Jail Time- I associate this with farming more than jail, and it's pretty blunt as token-answers go. When would you use this against a non-token card, really? How often is it going to come up?
Meeting of the Elders- This card is internally inconsistent. Consider that in the picture, all the figures are clearly human. Consider also that with triple white in the cost, a lot of elves and dwarves and rat zombies are unlikely to show up this meeting. And this is before having to figure out how much life you gain with Mistform Ultimus. On the plus side, it's an actual use for Mistform Ultimus, but still...
Sudden Flooding- This card would be under-powered in Homeland Homeland Homeland draft. That should tell you something. When your card is worse than Fishliver Oil, perhaps it's just too weak. By any standards.
Rumbling Hoverguard- Cropping out the legs makes the creature look stupid, not like it's flying. You have to work within the art. The card itself is splashy and neat, but again, off assignment.
Armor of the Cabal- I guess this was more of a natural jump than I thought. I still like the idea of the card, but this particular variation is weighed down unnecessarily. It's already expensive enough at three mana and a creature, for not that much effect, without adding a ridiculously burdensome upkeep.
Demonic Pact- One of the few over-riding rules of Magic is that if a card would put a card into any player's hand, graveyard, or library other than it's owner's, it instead puts that card into it's owners. As such, your card doesn't work. This card is also, frankly, trying to do too much. Charms are cool because they're a bunch of tiny little effects tied together to make them useful. This is two rares stapled together.
Incite Action- I suppose the art could be seen as scouts mapping the terrain for a trap. The basic idea of inciting a "failed charge" is very flavorful and potentially powerful in limited.
Riftwalker Shaman- "From one source" is superfluous on this rules text. I can't tell exactly what this card does, but it seems overpowered and less a "build around me" card than a "do what you're drafting red for anyway" card.
Riverwater Dryad- Mana fixers should usually cost a lot less, as they won't usually be relevant at this point in the game. The basic idea is acceptable, but the art is definitely a stretch.
Gaea's Revenge- I like the concept here, although the costing is horribly overpriced. The art is an imperfect fit here, but stretchable.
Ancient Ruins- The life loss seems completely unnecessary here, as does the CiPT drawback. Overburdened.
Natural Addictor- This drawback is far too burdensome, killing the card before it even gets started. I don't think any player would be happy with this card, and a card has to make someone happy.
Final- You're too fond of burdensome and convoluted drawbacks, and the connections between the art and the card, the heart of the assignment, were very weak throughout. 5/14
Protected Martyr- I'm not a huge fan of this name. It seems a bit overly meek for a vicious picture. White has a mean side that's underexplored. Nonetheless, the actual card itself is very good for this slot, being suitably subtle, with relevant abilities against random creatures, but being particularly good against 1/1 tokens.
Origami- I think this could be cheaper and cost less colored mana. You also forgot a shuffle effect. That aside, it's an interesting effect to tinker around with, providing deck thinning and a cheap, repeatable shuffle effect. Good late game card.
Lock Out- I want to see this as a cantrip to make it much much better in limited, but I'm sure some players would like it as it is, and it seems a very good staple, skill-testing effect for learning players.
Siren- I'm tempted to say that this is too powerful without some sort of reanimation clause. I'm not entirely sure that this would work as a state-based effect, but if that doesn't tear the rules asunder it's a damned powerful effect. If I understand correctly you couldn't even Duplicant or Nekrataal her as an answer. On the other hand, the stats aren't that beefy- it's only just outside of Lightning Helix range, and even BDW can throw in a Lava Dart. I would like to see a death-clause in here where all players gain control of creatures they own after it leaves play for clarification, but the rules probably work that way anyway, and it's hard to argue with the simplicity of four words. This is one of my favorite cards so far.
Ambusher's Armor- I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that art felt Ice Age.
Bold Wish- I really dislike the third instance of X. The same X shouldn't really be three seperate things on the same card. Two is my limit. Fix the lifegain and it's a powerful, fun tutor. The name Wish seems poor here, as it'll confuse players who think of grabbing cards removed from the game.
Smoke Thoughts- This card is interesting, but not in ten thousand years is it a common. It's not that hard to play around the drawback simply by playing one or two more cards in your deck, and even if it were the effect is just too swingy. It's only even barely Red.
Foothill Riders- Very Invasion block appropriate. I can definitely see this making it to print as is. It could even make a splash in Constructed. I'm sure someone'll be tempted by a 6/3 Haste First Striker, at least.
Elven Pirates- That name is awful. Also, I'm pretty sure most competent pirates don't burn their own ships.
Chameleonism- The basic way this works is a little off color, but the idea is neat and works well with the art. Better would be, "Creatures have landwalk of the basic land type of each basic land type their owner controls." or similar wording. It's not that far off from the same effect, but it's more grokkable.
Queen's Throne- This made me laugh. In a good way. I like this quite a bit. I don't think I've ever seen that line on a card or fake card before.
Forbidden Colony- Duskmantle, House of Shadow wants a word with you. The phrase, "strictly worse my ass" came up. Seriously, a little too good to be on an uncounterable card that gives you mana anyway. The activation cost needs to be closer to five. I like the use of the artwork, though.
Final- Good ideas, some unpolished execution, but that's to be expected. 10/14.
TIBA - I thought flavour texts are disallowed in this competition (except the unglued round) like the real designer's search? One of the judge did deduct marks for cards having flavour text last round...
Thanks for the comments. I really appreciate the kind words and the good score. One thing though:
I have to disagree with you that cruel harvest should be uncommon. Almost every black card that can zombify your opponents creatures is rare (ashen powder, beacon of unrest, bone dancer, chainer, dementia master, crime//punishment, debtor's knell, etc.). And this one can zombify Two of them.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
I didn't actually bump anyone points for flavor text. I find it entertaining, however. It's neither rewarded or punished as far as I'm concerned, it's just a bit of amusement. And yes, Round 4 is up in about.... two minutes.
Alx - Nah, you still have competition. For instance, I don't have much of a life either.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
Progress report: Currently judging. Holiday festivities left less time than I was anticipating to finish up this round. I'll polish off the remainder of the entries and get them posted either this evening or early into tomorrow.
Jason Egle
Protected Martyr (U)
:2mana::symw::symw:
Creature - Human Cleric
2/2
Whenever a source would deal damage to ~this~, instead the source deals 1 less damage.
~this~ can block any number of creatures and blocks each turn if able.
Meisan
Origami (Rare)
:1mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment
:symw:: Search your library for a card and remove it form the game. Gain 1 life.
Shirotsuki
Siren (Rare)
:5mana::symu::symu::symu::symu:
Creature - Siren
4/4
You control all creatures.
Todd Lockwood
Lock Out (Common)
Sorcery
Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during it's controller's next upkeep.
Jeremy Jarvis
Ambusher's Armor (Common)
:1mana::symb:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creautre gets +3+1 and has snow-cowered swampwalk.
Frank Frazetta
Bold Wish (Rare)
:xmana::xmana::symb::symb:
Sorcery
Search your library for X cards and put them into your hand. Lose three times X life.
Mariolle Aurore
Smoke Thoughts (C)
Sorcery
Look at the top ten cards of target opponent's library. Remove 7 of them at random from the game, then put the rest on top of his or her library in any order.
Then that opponent looks at the top ten cards of your library. He or she removes 7 cards at random from the game, the puts the rest on top of your library in any order.
Justin Sweet
Foothill Riders (Uncommon)
:3mana::symr:
Creature - Human Rouge
1/3
~this~ get +1/+0 for every basic land type among lands you control.
If you control a land of each basic land type, ~this~ has Haste and First Strike.
Jenny Dolfen
Elven Pirates (uncommon)
:2mana::symg::symg:
Creature - Elf Pirate
2/3
Islandwalk
: Add :symg::symu: to your mana pool.
Anne Stokes
Chameleonism (Rare)
:1mana::symg::symg:
Enchantment
Creatures can't be blocked.
Melissa Uran
Queen's Throne(Common)
Artifact
: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool that a land you control couldn't produce.
Noah-kh
Forbidden Colony (Uncommon)
Land
: Add to your manapool.
, : Remove the top card of target opponent's library from the game. Gain life equal to the converted mana cost of that card.
Ever wanted to know what happens when an Orcish Librarian uses Thangart's Glare? Don't fool around with a Djinn, be careful about your Wishes, don't make them too bold. Enter Queen's Throne, where foreign people come and bring gifts. Meet Pirates with pointy ears. Hear the Siren sing her song. Learn how to fold paper. Evolve Camouflage. Gain life out of your opponent's cards. Play that 5-Color draft deck. And block those Saprolings for eternity.
Arbitary Detainment 1WW
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature and creatures with the same name as it doesn't untap during its controller's untap steps unless its controller pay 1.
White rare (Johnny enchantment)
Highlander's Sovereign 1W
Enchantment
Creatures you control are legendary and get +2/+2.
Blue common (Sorcery)
Disinterest 1U
Sorcery
Creatures don't untap during their controllers' next untap steps.
Blue rare (Timmy creature)
Ophidian Subduer X1UU
Creature - Human Wizard
When <this> comes into play, gain control of any number of target creatures with total converted mana cost of X or less.
1/1
Black uncommon (Aura on your creature)
Skeletal Brace B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchanted creature has fear and must attack each turn if possible.
Black rare (Anything)
Grim Warden 1B
Creature - Human Warrior
Whenever <this> attacks and is unblocked, you may sacrifice <this>. If you do, return target creature from your graveyard to play attacking. Remove that creature from the game at end of turn.
1/1
Red common (Instant or sorcery)
Barreling Tactics R
Instant
Creatures with converted mana costs 2 or less can't block until end of turn.
Red uncommon ('Build around me' creature)
Arko Gearmancer 2R
Creature - Human Wizard
Equipment you control have "2, Unattach this equipment: This equipment deals 2 damage to target creature".
2/2
Green common (creature with >=4 converted mana cost)
Canopy Draconoid 3G
Creature - Wurm Mutant
<This> can't be blocked except by creatures with flying.
If you control two or more untapped forests, <this> can't be target of spells or abilities.
2/2
Green rare (noncreature spell)
Verdant Mandate 2GG
Sorcery
Sacrifice a noncreature permanent. Search your library for up to X basic land cards and put them into your hand, where X is the amount of coloured mana in that permanent's mana cost. Then shuffle your library.
Artifact/land common (Mana fixer)
Hazy Landscape
Land
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool.
Tap, Reveal a card from your hand, Sacrifice <this>: Add a mana of any colour of the revealed card to your mana pool.
Artifact/land uncommon (Millstone variant)
Sightless Orb 3
Artifact
2, Tap: Put the top card of target player's library into his or her graveyard. If another nonland card in that graveyard has the same name as it, instead remove it from the game and he or she may play it as though it were in his or her hand until end of turn.
Explanation:
For these cards, I avoid legends and special mechanics for obvious reasons. Usually only one type of token will be found in any given deck. Gearmancer will encourage the drafting of small equipment which is not commonly done. With multiple colours being the usual build, Hazy Landscape should be quite suitable in getting the right mana. Lastly, as it is difficult to draft multiple copies of nonland cards, the orb should not break limited.
Todd Lockwood
Jail-Time :1mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may target a creature with a toughness of 1 or less.
Remove targeted creature and all creatures with the same name from the game.
White (rare) We're looking for a weird Johnny-style enchantment
Melissa Uran *Trying to focus on as many members of the picture as possible.
Meeting of the Elders :2mana::symw::symw::symw:
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain X life. Where X is the number of different creature types you control.
Blue (common) We need a sorcery. No card filtering or drawing. No bounce.
Meisan *With Color Correcting making it bluish instead of reddish.
Sudden Flooding :2mana::symu::symu:
Sorcery
Target land your opponent controls is an Island until the end of turn.
Target creature you control gains Islandwalk until the end of turn.
Blue (rare) We need a creature. Something splashy for Timmy.
Matthew D. Wilson *Legs or smokestacks should not be shown.
Rumbling Hoverguard :8mana::symu::symu:
Creature – Drone
Flying.
When Rumbling Hoverguard comes into play, you may return up to 3 target creatures to their owner’s hands.
7/7
Rarely Seen. Rarely Forgotten.
Black (uncommon) Make an aura you want to put on your own creatures.
Jeremy Jarvis
Armor of the Cabal :1mana::symb::symb:
Enchantment – Aura
Enchant Creature
As an additional cost to play Armor of the Cabal, sacrifice a creature.
Enchanted creature gets +2/+1, Fear, and has “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may sacrifice a creature. If you don’t, sacrifice Armor of the Caba at the end of turnl”.
Black (rare) Can be anything.
Frank Frazetta
Demonic Pact :3mana::symb::symb::symb:
Sorcery
You may pay 4 life as an additional cost to play Demonic Pact, if you do then choose two.
Choose one – Return up to two target creatures from your graveyard into play; or put up to two target creatures in any graveyard into your graveyard; or put an X/X Demon Token into play with its power and toughness equal to the number of creatures in your graveyard.
Red (common) Instant or sorcery. No direct damage or destruction (artifact or land).
Justin Sweet *Try to get a panoramic view of the picture.
Incite Action :1mana::symr::symr:
Instant
Creatures target player controls untap and attack this turn if able.
Attacking creatures get -1/-0 until the end of turn.
Red (uncommon) Creature. Want a build around me for draft.
Jason Engle * Focusing more on the creature and less on the barrier. Slight Color Correction to make it redish.
Riftwalker Shaman :1mana::symr::symr:
Creature – Human Shaman
Whenever damage is dealt to a creature or player from one source, put a charge counter on Riftwalker Shaman.
:1mana::symr::symr:, : Battle Trained Shaman deals divided by X 2 damage to each creature target player controls. Where X is the number of charge counters on Riftwalker Shaman.
1/1
Green (common) Creature. Something that costs four or more mana.
Shirotsuki *The person is color corrected to be green, while the rest stays the same.
Riverwater Dryad :3mana::symg::symg:
Creature - Dryad
Lands you control have ":1mana: ,: Add or to your mana pool"
3/3
It is at home, both in the water and in the forest.
Green (rare) Non-creature spell. Green's lacking in "wow" factor.
Senyphine
Gaea's Revenge :5mana::symg::symg:
Legendary Enchantment
:xmana::1mana::symg::symg:: Target land you control becomes an X/X creature with trample that's still a land. (This effect doesn't end at the end of turn)
For eons different species fought across her landscape, scarring her, raping her, making her bleed. Now, it was her turn to fight back.
Artifact or Land (Common) Design a non-color alligned mana fixer.
Noah-kh
Ancient Ruins
Land
Ancient Ruins comes into play tapped.
:2mana:, : Add two mana of any one color to your mana pool. You lose one life.
Artifact or Land (Uncommon) Design something that uses the Millstone ability.
Mariolle Aurore
Natural Addictor
Artifact
Cumulative Upkeep -- Discard a card.
:2mana:, : Target player puts the top X cards of his library into his or her graveyard, where X is the number of age counters on Natural Addictor.
So we are down to the final 8, it seems.
moogie: 9.1
Ace: 9.1
Alx: 10.6
Avator of Kokusho: 9.2
Jeek: 9.5
zu_Faul: 7.4
Skitsojd: 7.1
Because of the sheer bulk of cards, it's not possible to give card-by card feedback so I'm not going to do it. If you have a specific question or would like to know my thoughts on a specific card or two, feel free to ask. I'll happily answer. But if you don't ask, then you just get your final score.
This round is worth 14 points. To bring my methods more in line with the other judges, I'm scoring each card out of 14. Here is the breakdown of how I'm assigning points:
How well the card fits the hole description: 4 points
How much innovation the card shows: 4 points
Whether the card has a solid overall design: 2 points
How well the card mechanic and flavor fits the art choice: 2 points
Whether the card makes sense at that rarity: 1 point
Discretionary (ie., do I like this card in general): 1 point
Your total points are added up and then divided by 12 (cards) to arrive at an average score out of 14.
zu_Faul
Protected Martyr (U)
:2mana::symw::symw:
Creature - Human Cleric
2/2
Whenever a source would deal damage to ~this~, instead the source deals 1 less damage.
~this~ can block any number of creatures and blocks each turn if able.
Jason Egle
Pretty much everyone ahd trouble with the "Be subtle" part of this slot. Lots of people made cards that were very obviously, even specifically, designed to hose tokens. This was one of the only cards that does something useful that just happens to seriously hose tokens. And it's a nice design all-around.
Avator of Kokusho
Deus Ex Machina :3mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment (R)
Play with your hand revealed.
If a creature would come into play, that creature's controller removes it from the game and put an X/X Construct creature token into play instead, where X was the removed creature's toughness.
Sacrifice two Constructs: Gain 3 life.
Art: Matthew D. Wilson's art, #1 in first post
Another one that just about everyone had trouble with. It's hard to come up with an effect for this slot and even this card doesn't quite live up to the "Timmy and Spike call this junk while Johnny goes looking for something crazy to do with it" feel it should have. What I felt this had more than the others was a lot of potential for Johnny to do something crazy with it even if TImmy and Spike might like it. Plus it was the only one that I'd call weird.
Skitsojd
Sudden Flooding :2mana::symu::symu:
Sorcery
Target land your opponent controls is an Island until the end of turn.
Target creature you control gains Islandwalk until the end of turn.
Hands down the most creative and interesting of the blue commons that actually still made sense as a common. So most of the time it just makes a creature unblockable. But sometimes you might be able to do something funky with it.
Jeek
Ophidian Subduer X1UU
Creature - Human Wizard
When <this> comes into play, gain control of any number of target creatures with total converted mana cost of X or less.
1/1
There were lots of cool and solid submissions for this one. Some were complicated, some were simple. This one I especially like because it is interesting and very Timmy without being a fat creature or having a huge mana cost. This card shows how Timmy has fun with smaller effects (though it certainly can be a big effect with a good chunk of mana).
Alx
Vexing Imprisonment 1B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.
Enchanted creature has: "2,T: Target opponent loses 2 life."
Imprisoned for crimes most heinous, Baron Zorj could still inflict grief on his victims. Only years later, did his jailers think of checking his letters.
Though several cards went for the "positive and negative effect" angle, this one is the most interesting. The Pacifism effect is definitely a bleed in black, but black often gets away with bleeding for a steep cost, so it works.
Ace
Binding Command:3mana::symb::symb:
Sorcery (R)
As an additional cost to play Binding Command, tap a creature you control.
Destroy all tapped creatures unless target opponent pays 5 life.
Simple questions dissected and removed from a creature's brain can leave it praising the very ground you tread.
Not incredible in the innovation area, but a great rare that cleverly tacs on a sacrifice cost.
Rowsdower
Static Charge - :1mana::symr:
Instant
The next instant or sorcery spell you play this turn deals 3 damage to each of its targets.
The hardest slot to design for - red commons - predictably produced mostly underwhelming cards. This one doesn't fit the slot - this is clearly direct damage - and I feel like it should be uncommon, but it's still the most interesting card to show even if others scored higher than it.
Jeek
Arko Gearmancer 2R
Creature - Human Wizard
Equipment you control have "2, Unattach this equipment: This equipment deals 2 damage to target creature".
2/2
I really like this. It's interesting, at 2R for a 2/2 it's efficient enough that you'd probably want to draft it if you're playing red, and with this in your deck you might actually want that Rakdos Riteknife. An excellent card for the slot.
Alx
Oakcrusher Wurm 3GG
Creature - Wurm
Trample
Afterlife — As long as Oakcrusher Wurm is the top card of your graveyard, at the beginning of your attack phase you may have target creature gain Trample until end of turn.
4/3
Arguably the easiest slot to design for this round, I like Alx's simple staple creature that featured the round's only (if I remember correctly) abilty/keyword. The abilityword isn't shockingly innovative, but it's solid and I can see a lot of potentially interesting this you can do with it. If WotC did a "graveyard order matters theme" like they toyed with in Coldsnap, this would be a solid addition.
moogie
Rebirth of Summer:7mana::symg::symg:
Sorcery (R)
Sacrifice each permanent you control. For each permanent you sacrificed this way, search your library for a permanent card and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.
I also like this one a lot. It's splashy, very powerful, very green and not really been done before. There aren't a lot of ways to cheat out a sorcery, so green would have to ramp up to it. It might actually be too powerful considering how Tooth and Nail turned out, but it's hard to tell that without testing in the environment. It's a lot riskier than green usually is, but again if the flavor of the environment makes sense then it works.
Ace
Rotting Greenhouse
Land (C)
Imprint - :2mana:,: Search your library for a basic land card and remove it from the game. (The removed card is imprinted on this land)
T: Add one mana that the imprinted land could produce to your mana pool.
The decrepit corpse of a once-fertile focal point for Nature
One of the few mana fixers designed that is both interesting and makes sense in common, this one really impressed me.
moogie
Hallucinifier
Artifact (U)
Whenever Hallucinifier becomes untapped, put the top card of target player's library in his or her gravyard.
:1mana:: Tap Hallucinifier.
:2mana:: Untap Hallucinifier.
This is possibly my favorite from the round. It's simple, it's elegant, it's innovative, it's interesting, it's flavorful (though it's a bit disturbing how many people who used this art incorporated some sort of drug flavor), it fits the slot description to a T. Just an excellent piece of work.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
Alx's Entries
Prismatic Shield- Giving players protection is a tricky area to move into, especially since it technically doesn't work within the rules of the game (which specifically talk about the rules of Protection on permanents). That aside, the effect of the card is both game breaking and tending towards total non-interaction, the opposite of a Johnny desire. This is much more of what I call a "Dave" card, designed for people who love playing slow and painful decks that punish the opponent for existing and make life miserable.
Deep Freeze- Interesting card. Not very powerful, but a good, almost coresettish effect to show a bit of variety in blue. I like the use of the art, too.
Enticing Dominator- I like the idea behind this, I just think it needs to be done better. I'm okay with stretching Lure into Blue when it's flavorful enough, but the activated cost should be lower, and I'm not entirely sure that we need the CMC cap on a six mana 3/3 at rare.
Vexing Imprisonment- While a valiant effort, closer consideration should be paid to the rules. This is an aura that you sometimes want to put on your own creature, but when an opposing 5/5 or other hulking monstrosity is on the board, it becomes a temptation to slap on someone else's creature.
Spirestop Stalker- I like the art and the flavor here. The effect is powerful while not consistent enough to be backbreaking in any format. Possibly Vintage-caliber, I guess. Point for flavor text! People don't try flavor text enough.
Funeral Pyre- This is a very clean, neat, much wanted effect.
Courtesan Adept- Love it, love it, love it, love it. 13 out of 10. I want it printed tomorrow. Perfect fit to the art, and the flavor makes it far better than if it had simply given creatures you control Pro-Red. Flavor text is a bit camp, I suppose.
Oakcrusher Wurm- My, this art caught some people off guard. For a 4/3 Trampler, those had better be some mighty impressive acorns. And the memory issue of it being dead doesn't seem worthwhile for such a minimal effect.
Stittlewood Curse- Huh. That's an effect I had not seen before. A very different take on that artwork, too. I like it quite a bit, though.
Secluded Dale- Very powerful in aggro decks. Too powerful, perhaps. But to be fair, probably no more so than Gemstone Mine. But for Limited purpose, very reasonably balanced.
Avelina's Hookah Pipe- Major stumble, I'm afraid. This ability is both too swingy for Limited games, and then it's not new or interesting. A poor cap off to an otherwise pretty impressive entry.
Very nicely done. Elegant designs pretty much all through. Most of these I wouldn't be surprised at all to see on actual, finished cards. 12/14
Moogie's Entries
Eternal Servitude- The picture is a loose fit, but it'll work. I quite like the card itself, it's a simple, clean variant on existing White cards that I actually like a good bit better than the existing versions of this card.
Viceral Calm- It's a good effect for that sort of abstract artwork. While this would be terribly inappropriate as an instant, as a sorcery I think it's a good common-level temporal effect, even if it does infringe upon White's territory a bit.
Stasis Void- Interesting name for a creature. I like that in the context of this card, it's unclear whether the creature in question is the girl at the center of the picture, or the blue ectoplasm itself and the girl as one of it's victims. I also quite like the effect itself. It's a very splashy, clean big Timmy effect that would draw more than one "oooooh" at a prerelease.
Skeletal Graft- It fits the art flavorwise, and I like the card itself. It seems like a sort of obvious, fun, flavorful effect of the sort we haven't seen as much of since Ice Age and Mirage. For a card that's so Limited-based, however, 2B would really be much better than BB. I think you're a little too fond of the CC casting cost.
Cruel Harvest- The art is a bit of a stretch. This card also really doesn't feel like a Rare at all. It would be a powerful Uncommon for limited, but a few of those are alright, and it's a much better fit for the ability.
Abandonment- I don't think we need this card. It's almost strictly worse than a hundred Panic Attack variants. While there are some subtle uses to such a card over simply "target creature can't block until end of turn", such as a set with many creatures or effects that sacrifice your own creatures, it still feels weak to me. And I don't think the flavor really fits the art at all.
Travelling Pillager- Ooooh. I really like this card. LD players don't get enough toys tossed their way in general. Putting this at the CC just where you begin casting LD spells is an interesting choice- if nothing else, it puts an inherent powercap on such strategies as their spells jam each other up, and prevents the strategy from being too strong. And someone somewhere is going to try a multiplayer deck based around this card and Armageddon. The art works pretty damn well with it too.
Chameleonic Wurm- This isn't the first time I'm going to say this in this contest; that 'wurm' has a head that's roughly the same size as the acorn next to it. The body should reflect that. A 3/4 doesn't.
Rebirth of Summer- It really fits the artwork and it's splashy as all Hell.
Prismatic Hallway- Interesting use of tinting. I like the effect of the card, and the Comes into Play tapped ability actually feels like it ties the card together in this case, instead of simply being a random drawback. Downside: This is a bit complicated for common and would probably be moved to uncommon. It could work, I suppose.
Hallucinifier- The abilities on this are quite cute. They also give the card a very large degree of flexibility.
Really, really solid designs this week. I'm impressed. Overall- 12/14
rowsdowser's cards
Capitalize- The artwork doesn't really fit here. I'm also not sure what this enchantment is supposed to do. As worded, after you get hit by creatures on your opponent's combat phase, you get some colorless mana that you need an instant to play with before it goes away. Giving white mana generation is out of place, but could work on a spell similar to this if you did enough to justify it, but this card really doesn't do anything.
Dispossess- Now here, the artwork fits nicely and the effect is very clean, highly grokkable, and does something that hasn't quite been attempted before. Almost perfect, except for two things; it would probably be an instant, and it would almost certainly be an uncommon, as the effect is narrow and swingy
Bandari Seductress- I like the effect here, as it's very powerful and swingy. My objection is to a seven mana 1/1 Indestructible. It feels like a bit of a gag- a creature that's not really a creature. A 3/3 or some such that can't be the target of spells or abilities would feel more like an actual creature. Close, but a misstep.
Static Change- I really like this effect. It fits the artwork very well, too. Combo with Ground Rift? My only problem is that it very much skirts the rule about not doing direct damage. I can forgive it in this case though.
Unrepentant Traitor- It ought to be undercosted rather than over with it's drawback, but I suppose that's more development than design. I like the flavor of the card- sending in infiltrators that damage the opponent from within- but it seems much less of a "build around me" card than we're looking for. Unless you pick up a ton of Wall of Blossoms or some such...
Fetishistic Armor- I like the use of Imprint here. It was a damned useful mechanic from a design perspective, and I'd like to see it around again. Despite that, you don't actually make that much use of the Imprint itself. I like the basic flavor of the card as much as I did in Moogie's version, however.
Blighted Blackguard- The ability addendum here is confusing, and while not useless, probably not worth the extra text. Otherwise, the ability is far too swingy on a Trained Armodon. Combat-indestructibility should cost at least one or two mana.
Wurm Whelp- I like that the size and the name both reference the actual art, tying that in neatly. This feels very green. The losing trample clause is a little bit clunky, but it also sort of works for the creature. The problem is that this is far too powerful in Limited to be a common. It would make a good casual rare, but even at Uncommon it'd probably have to cost 1 more.
Naked Power- Overcosted, but with a strange but powerful casual-player effect that seems almost a bonus. It seems well designed as a teacher rare, ala the function of the Demon's Horn/Ivory Cup cycles at common, helping players learn at a basic level when something costs too damn much, while initially appealing to them. Definitely something different.
Realm of Possibilities- I really, really like this name, incidentally. Interesting fixer. Possible memory issues, but it's clean and hasn't really been done before.
Milling Machine- While I understand that a hefty drawback is good on an uncommon creature with such efficent stats in colorless, I'd be happier with the aesthetics of the card if there were a way to untap the creature again if it failed to hit a land once. On the other hand, it'd definitely be a tempting card to tinker around with in Limited, and the risk vs. reward is high, in a good way. Downside: It ought to be Grinding machine, as it's ability is more remniscent of Grindstone. Also, Grinding Machine would make some sense outside of the Magic vernacular.
Final- 10/14
Ace's Entries
Invigorating Vapors- It's a decent enough take on the Enduring Renewal mechanic, but it desperately needs to change from graveyard to play into from graveyard to hand, in order to not be a ludicrously easy infinite combo engine in addition to a casual and limited powerhouse. That should've been fairly obvious, really.
Kii-ny Reality Weaver- While a very cool card, this is so brutally a rare that it's not even funny. It also doesn't particularly encourage you to build a deck differently than you would otherwise- instants are already highly valued, as is going into two or three colors.
Besiege- I don't connect the art here that much, given that the spell puts a bunch of guys into play and the art only features one. There's also a flavor gap here- the card should represent nature's wrath, as we've seen in other non-basic land punishers, but it's creating a bunch of artifical beings. And why do they blow up end of turn? The basic idea is cool, but the connection to the art seems slapped together.
Binding Command- This is Homelands worthy. A bad card should at least look good, which this doesn't really accomplish. The drawbacks needs to be more subtle. I don't think the Black Rare factor and the art are going to be enough to sway a lot of people with this one.
Cultists Bindings- The templating needs desperate work, but there's a good idea buried in here. The picture cropping here is a little shady, but it could probably pass.
Sinister Shrinkings- The name is kind of laughable. The effect was interesting until you added the last line, and then you had just gotten greedy. It shouldn't take one turn to turn your saporlings into 8/8's.
Exoskeletal Parasite- Seal of Control Magic in Green?
Dangerous Secrets- Too splashy and generally too useless to be cluttering up common slots.
Ikuna, Dragon Duchess- Casual players are going to wonder why you gave Blue a five mana 16/16. Green players are going to wonder why you stole their abilities.
Rotting Greenhouse- I like it. Don't want this in the same block as Sensei's Diviing Top, though.
Torturous Barricade- What does this effect have to do with torturing or barricades?
Final- 7/14. Some good ideas in need of polish, and a few really good cards that don't fit the parameters of the contest well at all.
Avatar of Kokusho's Entries
Deus Ex Machina- I like the name. This ability is a bit of a stretch in White, but using the toughness rather than anything else helps justify it a bit. I can see some confusion amongst players as to whether or not token works with this, so it ought to have simply been worded to non-token creature. And the life gain ability definitely feels tacked on.
Alleigance- I like this quite a bit. I think it's as reasonable a variation on this effect as you'd be able to see at common. Good use of art.
Draining Spirit- I don't like the non-land modifier on the first ability. It turns it into a drawback instead of a benefit, and it's not costed really well for that. Do I have to, that aside, really get into the irony of putting a mill ability on a 6/6? This card is very internally inconsistent.
Deathwatch- This card is almost strictly worse than Blessing of Leeches. Where it's not it's because it can be used as an offensive weapon, and that sort of violates the principle of the card, which was something you wanted to put on your own guys.
Imprisonment- This feels a bit too powerful as is. That aside, it's a good concept, although I'd like to see a bigger drawback- something along the lines of Solitary Confinement, making it more appropriate for it's power level and also adding some flavorful mirror imagery there.
Metacreativity- Fixed (maybe) Tinker. Meh...
Man of the Mountain- I think you misunderstood. The assignment wasn't a "good draft guy", which I'm not really sure this is anyway. The assignment called for a card that could be built around for limited. If this card read something like, "Whenever a card an opponent controls is sacrificed" or, "Whenever a land is put into a graveyard from play", or, "Whenever a human comes into play under your control", etc... You're trying to encourage a theme.
Treeslither Wurm- Those must be some huge acorns. Art mismatch aside, this card is reasonable but not very impressive, almost being vanilla.
Worldtree- The power level is a bit low, for an expensive rare enchantment, but the basic idea is a viable one, in need of some polish.
Deathspire- The art doesn't hugely make sense for the card, but it's not a total mismatch. As an effect of this nature I quite like it. We've seen variations on this before, but never quite in a simple talisman effect and usually only in Black. It would certainly work a bit differently in Limited than another Prismatic Lens.
Sorceress's Enclave- This breaks a pretty important rule about lands. I kind of like it anyway just because the connection of abilities makes it feel very much like an old school card that would be appropriate in a set like Coldsnap or Time Spiral.
Final- Almost half and half, but your interesting cards are more so than your boring ones. 9/14
Jeek's Entries
Highlander's Sovereign- Interesting drawback with some potentially powerful payoffs. Of course, it's almost strictly better than Day of Destiny, but I suppose we can forgive that.
Disinterest- Cute flavor, Exhaustion variant. S'okay.
Ophidian Subduer- I didn't imagine this art on a blue card, but it fits in this case, and I really, really like this effect. Very fun casual/draft effect.
Skeletal Brace- It's a Fear that almost doesn't suck. Cute little aura. Not amazing, but it could conceivably be useful and would probably be more enjoyable to learning players. Conceivably useful as an offensive weapon, but most of the time this would land on your creatures.
Grim Warden- That's... interesting. I can't tell if it's good or not, but more importantly, it's interesting. I like the flavor of necromantic assassin who uses his body as a brief portal to unspeakable horrors when he finally reaches his target.
Barreling Tactics- Good tie in with the art, and as Panic Attacks go it's acceptable. Making it an instant is pushing the rarity level a bit, but adds some more versatility to the card, especially in multiplayer.
Arko Gearmancer- This would've been right at home in Mirrodin block. Perhaps even in Kamigawa.
Canopy Draconoid- Perfect flavor. The size and abilities really match a canopy-top slithering pygmy dragon.
Verdant Mandate- You missed the "reveal them" clause, but it's not a huge issue. The effect is interesting at lower rarity levels, but I don't think players would be amazingly happy with this as a rare- basic lands are only basic lands, after all.
Hazy Landscape- On the weaker side as these goes, but an appropriate soft fixer in an enviroment where you really want to charge players highly for going two colors, such as Kamigawa block.
Sightless Orb- I'm a bit torn. It's kind of crappy as a millstone variant, although I can see the options it leaves open to build around it with, probably, Blue and use it on yourself. But not really dead on for the assignment.
Final- Some good designs, especially at tweaking staple-type effects to be more interesting. 11/14
Skitsojd's Submissions
Meeting of the Elders- This card is internally inconsistent. Consider that in the picture, all the figures are clearly human. Consider also that with triple white in the cost, a lot of elves and dwarves and rat zombies are unlikely to show up this meeting. And this is before having to figure out how much life you gain with Mistform Ultimus. On the plus side, it's an actual use for Mistform Ultimus, but still...
Sudden Flooding- This card would be under-powered in Homeland Homeland Homeland draft. That should tell you something. When your card is worse than Fishliver Oil, perhaps it's just too weak. By any standards.
Rumbling Hoverguard- Cropping out the legs makes the creature look stupid, not like it's flying. You have to work within the art. The card itself is splashy and neat, but again, off assignment.
Armor of the Cabal- I guess this was more of a natural jump than I thought. I still like the idea of the card, but this particular variation is weighed down unnecessarily. It's already expensive enough at three mana and a creature, for not that much effect, without adding a ridiculously burdensome upkeep.
Demonic Pact- One of the few over-riding rules of Magic is that if a card would put a card into any player's hand, graveyard, or library other than it's owner's, it instead puts that card into it's owners. As such, your card doesn't work. This card is also, frankly, trying to do too much. Charms are cool because they're a bunch of tiny little effects tied together to make them useful. This is two rares stapled together.
Incite Action- I suppose the art could be seen as scouts mapping the terrain for a trap. The basic idea of inciting a "failed charge" is very flavorful and potentially powerful in limited.
Riftwalker Shaman- "From one source" is superfluous on this rules text. I can't tell exactly what this card does, but it seems overpowered and less a "build around me" card than a "do what you're drafting red for anyway" card.
Riverwater Dryad- Mana fixers should usually cost a lot less, as they won't usually be relevant at this point in the game. The basic idea is acceptable, but the art is definitely a stretch.
Gaea's Revenge- I like the concept here, although the costing is horribly overpriced. The art is an imperfect fit here, but stretchable.
Ancient Ruins- The life loss seems completely unnecessary here, as does the CiPT drawback. Overburdened.
Natural Addictor- This drawback is far too burdensome, killing the card before it even gets started. I don't think any player would be happy with this card, and a card has to make someone happy.
Final- You're too fond of burdensome and convoluted drawbacks, and the connections between the art and the card, the heart of the assignment, were very weak throughout. 5/14
Zu Faul's Entries
Origami- I think this could be cheaper and cost less colored mana. You also forgot a shuffle effect. That aside, it's an interesting effect to tinker around with, providing deck thinning and a cheap, repeatable shuffle effect. Good late game card.
Lock Out- I want to see this as a cantrip to make it much much better in limited, but I'm sure some players would like it as it is, and it seems a very good staple, skill-testing effect for learning players.
Siren- I'm tempted to say that this is too powerful without some sort of reanimation clause. I'm not entirely sure that this would work as a state-based effect, but if that doesn't tear the rules asunder it's a damned powerful effect. If I understand correctly you couldn't even Duplicant or Nekrataal her as an answer. On the other hand, the stats aren't that beefy- it's only just outside of Lightning Helix range, and even BDW can throw in a Lava Dart. I would like to see a death-clause in here where all players gain control of creatures they own after it leaves play for clarification, but the rules probably work that way anyway, and it's hard to argue with the simplicity of four words. This is one of my favorite cards so far.
Ambusher's Armor- I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that art felt Ice Age.
Bold Wish- I really dislike the third instance of X. The same X shouldn't really be three seperate things on the same card. Two is my limit. Fix the lifegain and it's a powerful, fun tutor. The name Wish seems poor here, as it'll confuse players who think of grabbing cards removed from the game.
Smoke Thoughts- This card is interesting, but not in ten thousand years is it a common. It's not that hard to play around the drawback simply by playing one or two more cards in your deck, and even if it were the effect is just too swingy. It's only even barely Red.
Foothill Riders- Very Invasion block appropriate. I can definitely see this making it to print as is. It could even make a splash in Constructed. I'm sure someone'll be tempted by a 6/3 Haste First Striker, at least.
Elven Pirates- That name is awful. Also, I'm pretty sure most competent pirates don't burn their own ships.
Chameleonism- The basic way this works is a little off color, but the idea is neat and works well with the art. Better would be, "Creatures have landwalk of the basic land type of each basic land type their owner controls." or similar wording. It's not that far off from the same effect, but it's more grokkable.
Queen's Throne- This made me laugh. In a good way. I like this quite a bit. I don't think I've ever seen that line on a card or fake card before.
Forbidden Colony- Duskmantle, House of Shadow wants a word with you. The phrase, "strictly worse my ass" came up. Seriously, a little too good to be on an uncounterable card that gives you mana anyway. The activation cost needs to be closer to five. I like the use of the artwork, though.
Final- Good ideas, some unpolished execution, but that's to be expected. 10/14.
I have to disagree with you that cruel harvest should be uncommon. Almost every black card that can zombify your opponents creatures is rare (ashen powder, beacon of unrest, bone dancer, chainer, dementia master, crime//punishment, debtor's knell, etc.). And this one can zombify Two of them.
At any rate, I know I could have done better...maybe we will see if I got booted or not relatively soon.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
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Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.