Welcome to round 3. After last month's ...issues, this round will be much more ordinary.
I'm totally lying. This may actually be the weirdest round ever. In a way it's an experiment, so don't hesitate to express yourself on what you dislike or like about the round. This week's task is inspired by the Great Designer Search challenge to fill holes from the top-down. Your task is to:
Design a card around provided art.
Now for the weird part. Each pair of opponents will be provided a different piece of art to design around. The bonus points will give the art greater weight than normal.
Bonus:
How well the card as a whole connects to the art - 1 point
Creative interpretation of the art - 1 point
Use Mana Symbols in card (must be in both textcard and render (if submitted) in order to count) - 1 point
Supply rendered card art - 1-2 points (1 for supplying art, 1 discretionary for judges)
Point Breakdown:
Bonus: (x/5): Judge how the card fits the bonus parameters.
Balance: (x/10): Judge how the card is balanced; its power level, and whether or not it could make or break a format.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (x/10): Judge how flavorful, cool, and well-worded the card is. Basically, this is the "slickness" category. (If a card fails to fit the round, points should be deducted from here.)
Players may wish to reference the Players List. If you have questions about the FCC, check out the FAQ. If you have a question about using MSE, find your answer here.
This round will run until midnight EDT Sunday, August 19th (when Sunday becomes Monday).
Player Matchups: (Brought to you courtesy of Random.org )
Judges, please don't begin judging until the round is over. You may start postings at 12:01am EDT, even if we (Moss_Elemental, Avatar of Kokusho, and Kraj) are not online then to close the round. Please try to avoid ties if possible!
Match #6
Spiderboy4 vs. Moss_Elemental
Judge: thefoofish
interesting art choice. Good Luck M_E
Dwarven Smeltsmith 2RR
Creature — Dwarf (rare)
When Dwarven Smeltsmith comes into play, sacrifice any number of artifacts. Then, add X red mana to your mana pool, where X is the total converted mana cost of all artifacts sacrificed this way. The purest ore isn’t created from the hottest furnace. It’s created from a Dwarven furnace.
2/2
illus:: Viktor Titov
P.S — The flavor text hints at my final inspiration.
As an additional cost to play Bloodcult Cardinal, pay X life. Bloodcult Cardinal comes into play with X blood counters on it.
Bushido X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
Frenzy X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
The blood the leaders are baptized in are a symbol of the blood they will shed in the name of The Cult...
Jag Warrior3GG
Creature — Human Warrior Shaman
Remove a +1/+1 counter from a Cat you control: Put a 2/2 green Cat creature token into play.
Infuse G—This creature comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it and is a Cat in addition to its types. (As you play a creature spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay G as an additional cost to play that spell. If you do, as the creature comes into play, it gains the designated text.) 2/3 In his mirror dwells the spirit of the jaguar. To the bold and proud, he will grant the blessing of the cat.
Marid's Grasp2UU
Sorcery (U)
Kicker––Tap an untapped blue creature you control.
Put target creature on top of its owner's library. If the kicker cost was paid, put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead. The cruel marid sometimes release their vicitms, watching with delight as they struggle to reach the surface. Other times they drag them to the ocean floor, never to be seen again.
Clutch of Inspiration1U
Instant (R)
Draw a card. Then target opponent may copy this spell and may choose a new target for the copy. If he or she doesn't, you skip your next turn. Once a wizard thought his magic would prevent him from drowning. Little did he know, he would drown from the knowledge he found below.
Forest ImpGG
Creature - Imp [Uncommon]
Forestwalk
When Forest Imp comes into play, choose one — Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn; or target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn; or Forest Imp has shroud. “If you go into that forest, you better count your belongings when you come out. Then count your appendages.” illus. Igino Giordano
1/2
Jaguar Warrior-Priest (Rare) 3GG
Creature - Human Warrior Wizard
3/4
First strike, vigilance
As long as Jaguar Warrior-Priest is attacking, spells you play during combat cost less to play. The Jaguar are the elite forces of Muraganda, as skilled with scroll and artifact as they are with spear and blade.
So this required some thinking. There we're a number of routes to go despite the fact this art practicaly screams creature. There was the warrior, the huge hammer, the sigil on his chest, the armor, the U/R landmass (Shivan Reef came to mind, Izzet too.) and the art as a whole.
Match 5: The Orange Mage vs. Eliminator Judge: thefoofish
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Yukari, the Flame Dancer - RRR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
RR: Yukari, the Flame Dancer gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever you play a red spell, you may pay R. If you do, Yukari deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
“Spark from fire; fire from spark, woman of flame; lighting the dark.” -Ryota-clan chant
Spiritual Furor :4mana::symw::symw: Enchantment Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, you may remove it from the game. Put X spirit counters on Spiritual Furor, where X is that creature's power. Remove a spirit counter from Spiritual Furor: Target attacking or blocking creature you control gets +2+2 until end of turn.
Match 3: Pseudofate vs Cha0s Finale
Judge: Quazifuji
Pardic Guardian :3mana::symr::symr:
Creature - Human Barbarian (Uncommon)
Defender
Pardic Guardian can block any number of creatures.
Whenever a creature is blocked by Pardic Guardian, that creature gets -2/-0 until end of turn.
4/3
Heart :symb::symr:
Instant
Target player sacrifices the next creature that comes under his or her control. "No one survives my heart attacks." -Brother Grisdal, Psychic Surgeon
// Soul :symu::symb:
Instant
The next spell played by target player is countered. "The eye is the window to the soul." -Brother Grival, Psychic Interrogator
Mattix, Master Blacksmith2RW
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Artificer
Protection from red 1W: Regenerate target artifact. 2RR, :symtap:: Destroy target artifact. Mattix, Master Blacksmith deals 2 damage to that artifact's controller. "I can make it. I can fix it. I can also break it."
Note: You are NOT required to submit the modern style render. As long as it's not TEXTLESS, any render is welcomed. You do not need to PM me to get the permission to only submit a Extended Art Render, as no point will be deducted by doing so.
My standard on copyright&artist : You need the copyright line (could be anything not dumb. Including WOTC in the line is tolerable but definitely not advised.) + known artist to avoid a -.25 penalty.
F/C/Q - 3 points for each of the areas, with the 10th point awarding as the highlight bonus. Flavor, Creativity or Quality wise, the point may be awarded for superior performance.
Note that I will only give a full mark on creativity if you come up with something amazing new.
On the quality part, I'll deduct points as following: -.25 for missing rarity in the text card;
-.25 for minor wording wrong/mismatch;
-.5 for wording wrong/mismatch;
-.5 for minor piss on the pie;
-1 for serious wording wrong that will affect the performance of the card;
-1 for piss on the pie;
-2 for critical wording wrong that is improper/non-executable using the current rule of Magic (unless reminder text's provided saying otherwise)
Cantripmancer
Bonus:
How well the card as a whole connects to the art - You did a good job on it. 1/1
Creative interpretation of the art - An outstanding interpretation to the art! 1/1
Mana symbols in card - 1/1
Supplied Art - 1/1
Quality of the Art - Heh, how could points be deducted from here this round.. 1/1
Balance:
The usage of this card in limited is pretty, well, limited. In most cases this card is useless but, if the environment is token heavy, it could be pushed to the other end, and neither of this is good. For constructed however, I could see it will find the home in its color, since the cost/outcome rate is good enough for the risk. Useful in a niche, not too strong, not too weak. 2G, on the other hand, is probably the better cost for it allowing splash uses by other 7/10
F/C/Q:
Flavor - I don't have much to say here. From the concept to implementation, everything is...
Perfect. 3/3
Creativity - The parallel evolution is not unheard of but the way you twist it is fine I think. 1.75/3
Quality -missing rarity in the text card. 2.75/3
Extra - The card as a single piece is quite good. 0.5/1
Overall: 20/25
L0ong5h0t
Bonus:
How well the card as a whole connects to the art - The second ability is not really on art. It is, though kind of a shadow existence, you need to get your imagine over the little lizard on the right corner:cool:. Not that impressive but still. 0.50.75/1
Creative interpretation of the art - Believe me, I see the type of this card grabbed half a point and running out there! 0.5/1
Mana symbols in card - 1/1
Supplied Art - 1/1
Quality of the Art - Heh, how could points be deducted from here this round.. 1/1
Balance:
A solid creature in limited, it could act as a forestwalker with shroud, as a sorcery speed gg on stick, a one-turn blocker remover or, in some cases, just a chump blocker :rolleyes:. The cost/ratio power is good. It's not that good in constructed, however, as I don't see any deck would be happy to run this card. It's funny to see that you come up with something opposed to your opponent.. 7/10
F/C/Q:
Flavor - A very flavorful card. I failed to find any flaw on this part:D 3/3
Creativity - I don't see many creativity on this card put the art factor apart. Not like your style, my friend.. 1/3
Quality - -3/-0 is not really a green ability these days, no problem otherwise. 2.5/3
Extra - the idea to crop the art is brilliant, the flavor text amuses me to no end. Good job! 1/1
Now for the weird part. Each pair of opponents will be provided a different piece of art to design around. The bonus points will give the art greater weight than normal.
Bonus:
How well the card as a whole connects to the art - 1 point
Creative interpretation of the art - 1 point
Use Mana Symbols in card (must be in both textcard and render (if submitted) in order to count) - 1 point
Supply rendered card art - 1-2 points (1 for supplying art, 1 discretionary for judges)
This round will run until midnight EDT Sunday, August 19th (when Sunday becomes Monday).
Judging Match #10
10. muchsarcasm vs. Shepherd
Good luck to the players.
This should be interesting.
Judgings are now final, unless there are last-minute objections. Please PM me if you have questions/comments/concerns.
Corruption :1mana::symb::symb:
Enchantment
Whenever a nonblack creature attacks you, put a corruption counter on it. If that creature is white, put an additional corruption counter on it.
:1mana::symb::symb:: The next time target creature would deal combat damage to you this turn it deals that damage to its controller instead unless he or she pays :xmana:, where X is the number of corruption counters on it. Those who announce their piety the loudest embrace sin the quickest.
Bonus: 5/5
- I like the creativity of the connection here. For a moment I felt like it might be too much of stretch, as the picture in no way represents any attacking creature, or it dealing damage to its controller, but I can envision this art as a mage casting/using this enchantment.
Balance: 7/10
- I think that this card might actually be a bit overcosted. I think it could stand at 1B to cast and BB to activate without being broken. Since the creatures need to attack several times to build up corruption counters before it is likely to have a real meaningful effect, and a weenie horde can still overpower you at a 3 activation cost, requiring a very heavy black commitment (Urborg aside). The problem here is that this card requires a huge mana investment on each side, and your opponent can essentially keep you from doing anything simply by keeping a moderate number of creatures available to attack. The he or she is free to do whatever they want with their turn. Then, if you spend your mana, they are free to attack. The design is interesting, but I feel like it could have better with a few more revisions to the mechanic.
Flavor/Quality/Creativity: 8/10
- Full marks for flavor and creativity. One point off of quality for a few small issues with wording/render: There should be a comma after "damage to you this turn", i.e. it should read "this turn, it" instead of "this turn it", and there appears to be an error in your copyright line. Also, current preference would be "unless he or she pays 1 for each corruption counter on it" instead "X, where X is..." (EDIT: Note the subtle difference between this "X" and the one your opponent used, in that yours is a payment, easily worded as 1 for each, while your opponent's X is used in a keyword ability, where 1 for each doesn't work). You missed the "spare point" due to a general feeling that this card isn't living up to its potential.
Total: 20/25
- Overall, I like your card, but I feel like it would be much better after a few more revisions.
As an additional cost to play Bloodcult Cardinal, pay X life. Bloodcult Cardinal comes into play with X blood counters on it.
Bushido X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
Frenzy X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
The blood the leaders are baptized in are a symbol of the blood they will shed in the name of The Cult...
Illustrated by Michael Komarck
Bonus: 4/5
- I like your card idea, but I feel like the connection here isn't quite as creative as it could be.
Balance: 9/10
- This card seems quite well balanced. The fact that it has no evasion (and thus can be endless blocked by token creatures of any kind, or a single regenerating creature) really helps it out, as it would be _way_ too powerful as a flier, shadow creature, or trample creature. Despite that, it is powerful that I think some people would play it. I doubt that it would become a tournament staple, and it is almost certainly too good in limited.
Flavor/Quality/Creativity: 6/10
- This card has a lot of flavor, and fits the artwork quite well, but the one problem I have is that the name "Cardinal" doesn't go with combat, and this is a very combat oriented card. According to my gatherer search, it has never been used on a Magic card, and (having just now looked it up), only has the implication of a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, not in general usage. Some better terms might have been Prelate, Zealot, Confessor, or Deacon, all of which have been used on other cards and aren't specific to a single religion. There are other similar words which haven't been used on cards before, but would still be less troublesome/more appropriate. Your text card is missing the power and toughness. Your flavor text has a grammatical error (the blood is a symbol, not the blood are a symbol). I'm also not sure about the capital "C" in cult, when the cardname is "Bloodcult", not "Blood Cult" or "Blood-Cult". Finally, I feel like you really went keyword-happy with this card, when it would have been much simpler to chose one of these wordings: "Whenever ~ attacks or blocks, it gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of blood counters on ~." or "Whenever this attacks or blocks, it gets +1/+/1 until end of turn for each blood counter on it." I realize that this is very slightly different than what Frenzy does, but I feel like the elegance and ease of reading/interpretation is enough of an improvement to warrant the change.
Total: 19/25
- I like your card design, but you stacked up too many errors to take the round. Spend a little more time checking over your card. Leaving the P/T off the text card is a very common mistake, but it is kind of sad to miss the finals because little issues like that.
Yukika, Wings of the Phoenix - 2RR
Legendary Creature -- Human Shaman (R)
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Yukika is in your graveyard, you may pay 2RRR and discard a card. If you do, return it to play.
Whenever another creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, you may sacrifice Yukika. If you do, return that creature to play.
2/2
Match #8
Me vs. L0ng5h0t
Honorable V0id Presiding
Card: Trichotomize
Gl, L0ng5hot!
Trichotomize 1GG
Instant
Put two copies of target creature token into play. "The gossamer hold these fragment-creatures assert on reality lends an incredible malleability to the Æther around them." –Madser Pilar, vivomancer
Bonus: (x/5): How well the card as a whole connects to the art - 1 point
Creative interpretation of the art - 1 point
Use Mana Symbols in card (must be in both textcard and render (if submitted) in order to count) - 1 point
1 for supplying render
1 for render quality. This means art quality, correct frame, expansion symbol, artist credit, legal text, etc. (This is the 'don't be lazy' point.)
Balance: (x/10): Judged holistically. Just a warning: I'm better at Limited than Constructed, and it will likely show here.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (x/10):
4 for Flavor (Art, text, name, abilties/P/T)
2 for Creativity (Originality)
4 for overall Quality (Templating, any internal synergy, color-pie and other issues go here.)
Match:
Bonus: (3/5): Seems to connect to the art via spiritual assistance. No render, though. :-(
Balance: (7.5/10): This card is quite strong. The fact that you can pump unblocked attackers is quite strong in white. The fact that there is no mana cost turns it into a Jitte-like combat engine. In limited, this breaks creature stalls in half. In constucted, it's best friend is Nantuko Husk. It won't make you win off a topdeck, but if you have any board position at all, this can can win it for you. It's like an easier-to-use, harder-to-kill Twilight Drover. On the downside, it costs six mana and needs at least one corpse provided for it to get going, and can be hard to feed without a friendly sac effect. It'd say it's slightly over the curve, which is ordinarily good. However, I feel that because there is no mana cost on the effect, it has the potential to become degenerate, because the only limit on it once in play is how much power you can send to the bin. By 'degenerate', I mean the ability to deal 20 damage within one turn of playing it. If the pump effect cost 2 or maybe W, the potential for degeneracy is limited, while still allowing for swinging combats. Another option that may have helped is simply granting one counter per creature, regardless of power. As it stands, I have no reason not to pump a creature that is targeted by removal in the combat phase or that I am about to sac, since that nets more counters.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (7/10):
Flavor (3/4): Flavor is solid enough. This enchantment allows the spirits of the dead to hang around and help their living friends in combat. I deduct the point because it meshes poorly witht he art displaying what appears to be the same individual twice. Also 'Furor' means rage or frenzy, which is not typically a white ideal. Also, the spirit is the one that looks calm in this case.
Creativity (1/2): This reminds me a lot of Soulcatcher's Aerie and Spirit Cairn.
Quality (3/4): This card did not want to be white. White does not traditionally get the ability to stick unbounded pump directly into its opponent's face. The traditional white 'attacking of blocking' clause generally is applied to abilities that hurt other's creatures. The only exceptions that I can find are thepseudo-banding creatures. However, with the same title, this card could have easilty been RW, or changing the name could have given you a B/ or even just B card.
Total: 17.5/25
Bonus: (4/5): Mana symbols, render, creative. However, I don't feel that the art connected very well. It doesn't show reverse combat, warding spirits, or bad guys committing Seppoku.
Balance: (9/10): Very strong. On defense, it holds par with Hold the Line, saving your team and virtually insuring death for the other. On the attack, though, is where it really shines. A suicidal attack of early game 2/1's and 2/2's into your opponents mid-late game 3/3's and 4/4's can turn into a Plague Wind. It's not a finisher on it's own, but it can break an opponent's back. It's also a great general purpose combat trick. If this cost a bit more (say 3RW or 1RWW), I could easily imagine it seeing print, on par with Overrun.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (6.5/10):
Flavor (1/4): The flavor of this card is all over the place. The flavor text seems to have little to nothing to do with the card, other than pointing out is it both red and white. The name doesn't fit at all: How exactly is this resistance? Nothing at all in the flavor describes why your own creatures come out of the experience unscathed. Why do opponents kill themselves? Really, what it feels like to me is that this card evolved away from the art, was left with the name that tried to reflect the art, and ended up with bland, bland flavor text because there was no way to repair the gap.
Creativity (2/2): I can honestly say I've never seen this before.
Quality (3.5/4): This card did not need to be red (though it does nicely help explain why it is so good on the offensive), as white can already redirect damage from its friends.
Total: 19.5
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t play spells or activated abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Remove all creatures without islandwalk from the game with three time counters on them. If they don't have suspend, they gain suspend.
The villagers watched in horror as the clouds wrenched open and the ocean poured from the sky.
Remember that not getting a perfect score in a category (other than quality) from me doesn’t mean you did anything wrong, it just means it didn’t really amaze me. If you’re still not sure why you got the score you did, feel free to ask, but if I don’t say anything negative but don’t give a perfect score, it’s because the card failed to wow me enough in that area.
Also, that I was fairly critical on the overall connection and creative interpretation bonus points, but very lenient with the discretionary point with regards to art. I kind of treated them as going together.
Balance (4.25/5): Overall connection to the art (.25/1): The guy in the picture certainly looks intimidating enough to scare anyone away from attacking him, but he looks much more like he’s just inherently scary, not like he’s been enchanted. There’s nothing else to draw attention to the fact that this is an aura and not a creature. Discretionary Point (1/1): Everything’s good here. Full marks here, took off points for it not looking like an aura in the overall connection category. Creative interpretation of the art (1/1): Turning art of a guy with a giant hammer into a defensive aura is certainly creative, even if you only sort of pulled it off. Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here. Balance (7.5/10): General Power Level (4.5/6): This card may as well just have the Blazing Archon ability, considering if you let your opponent’s creatures attack, you’re guaranteed to want them to, which means unless your opponent is really stupid they won’t. You can’t even make any sort of bluff, considering you gain nothing by letting a creature attack that you can’t stop, and you risk getting hit by a creature you can’t defend against. On the other hand, five mana and echo is a pretty good deal to pay for an aura with no defensive ability to stop your opponent from getting a two-for-one with bounce or removal and that requires the enchanted creature to stay untapped. The fact that it’s an aura that requires an untapped creature also makes it pretty easily removable by any color, ensuring that you can’t screw over an opponent who depends on creatures unless they’re really unprepared. I do like the fact that you can play it and stop attackers for one turn if you don’t pay the echo, although I think that would have been cooler if the initial cost was lower and the echo was higher, just to make that stronger (maybe 2R to cast and an echo of 4RR), since five mana is too much to pay for the effect for one turn. The other problem is that this is mainly a white ability (red would force creatures to attack, not stop them from attacking), although red has dabbled in it with Master Warcraft. So I didn’t take of much for this. Deckbuilding (3/4): In draft, this card’s risky, but excellent when it works. You give your opponent the chance to get a two-for-one after having spent ten mana on it, but him not being able to attack is a pretty big upside if he doesn’t have any way of dealing with it fast. In competitive constructed, it would be too slow to ever see play, but casual Timmies would absolutely love this. It’s easy enough to get rid of that it doesn’t ruin the game for other players, but it’s powerful enough that they would still like playing it anyway. The card also could hypothetically be fun in multiplayer, although chances are if the guy doesn’t get killed immediately it’s because no one wanted to attack you anyway. Could be nice if you know the guys with creature destruction want you alive for some reason, though. F/C/Q (7.25/10): Flavor (2.75/3): I know exactly why this card works, and it’s great. Being defensive and stopping attackers may not be very red mechanically, and isn’t normally red flavorfully, but this is definitely an exception. Standing there looking so scary enemies won’t even try attacking you without your permission is very, very red, and works perfectly. I think the flavor text and name could be a bit better. Instead of a name describing the way of instilling fear and the flavor text providing something witty or interesting to go along with it (the flavor’s already there enough that the flavor text wouldn’t need to explain anything), the name describes the disposition as “Keldon,” and the flavor text seems to focus on explaining why a Keldon disposition is scary. Still, this is more personal preference for flavor text (I’m not much of a lore person, so “Keldon” doesn’t have huge implications for me), and the flavor’s excellent overall. Creativity (1.5/3): There isn’t much creativity here, but the creativity that is there is subtle and cool. I don’t think there’s been any auras that works in quite this way before, giving you a general benefit based on the state of the creature they enchant. It’s kind of like a combination of Emblem of the Warmind and Centaur Omenreader. I didn’t recognize this, but once I understood it I thought it was very cool, and the fact that it’s justified perfectly by flavor helps. Quality (2.75/3): I don’t think a card’s had an ability that controlled attackers exactly like this, so I may be wrong, but I don’t think the wording of the ability is quite right. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it should be though, so I’m not taking off points. If someone can correct me either way (it’s more grievously off than I thought, or it’s perfectly correct) then I’ll adjust the score accordingly). Last Point (.25/1): I really like the way you came up with an interesting mechanic for auras, and then perfectly explained it through flavor. I’m only giving a quarter point here because I already gave a lot of points in flavor and creativity for these things. Total (19/25): I wasn’t a huge fan of this card at first, but it’s grown on me as I realized its subtleties.
Bonus (4.25/5): Overall connection to the art (.75/1): The guy in the art looks red, and his stance looks like he could be defending something, although there doesn’t seem to be much to defend in the background. Discretionary Point (1/1): Everything’s good here. Creative interpretation of the art (.5/1): There’s a bit of creativity in giving a guy with a giant hammer defender, but not too much. Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here. Balance (7.25/10): General Power Level (4.25/6): Five mana is a lot to pay for a purely defensive creature, but on the other hand, this guy’s a pretty good defending. Being able to hold off an infinite number of two power creatures and even a couple of three power or a four power forever while killing four toughness worth each time is nice, and you can sacrifice him for a fog in a pinch against bigger creatures, although the fact that he can’t do anything about evasions limits his capabilities. The other big hit against him is that this is something that red normally just doesn’t do. White can sit there blocking tons of creatures, but red? Red smashes its opponent in the face. None of this guys abilities are red at all, even if his 4/3 body is (Two-Headed Giant of Foriys can block two creatures for flavor reasons, not color pie reasons). Giving red a five mana defender won’t break anything balance wise, so I didn’t take much off for this, but he still does something that red, in general, doesn’t get to do, and he doesn’t do it in an especially red way either. I do admire the fact that you made a five mana creature with defender and no activated abilities that’s not horribly overcosted, though. Deckbuilding (3/4): In limited, this guy’s a nice defender, although he’ll probably come later than you’d need him. The fact that he specializes in holding off two power creatures but can’t come out until turn five limits his usefulness there, but his ability to hold off large numbers of attackers could nonetheless come in handy. He wouldn’t be a bomb, but he’s not unplayable either, and fine for an uncommon. In tournament constructed, a five mana creature that can’t do anything to actually win the game will probably never see play, unless you had some weird deck in the metagame involving giant armies of tokens that doesn’t have any other way of killing a 4/3, but that doesn’t happen too often, and if it does the deck would probably just add some incinerates or terrors. Casual players would enjoy this, though. Timmies love hypothetically insanely powerful cards, so the ability to hold off an infinite number of 2/2s is appealing to them, even if his lack of ability to then smash his opponents themselves with his giant hammer isn’t. The card also has a lot of potential in multiplayer. It discourages attackers, but because it’s not actually threatening at all, your opponents are less likely to kill it immediately and more likelier to just find an easier target. F/C/Q (4.25/10): Flavor (.5/3): The word “Pardic” (along with the art) explains why it’s a 4/3 red barbarian, and the word “Guardian” sort of explains its abilities, but that’s it. He’s a guardian, so he specializes in defending, that works. But why can this guy block infinitely many creatures? Plenty of defenders can still only block one creature, and creatures that can block more than one usually have two heads, or some other flavor explanation that explains how one creature can get in the way of a whole army. Creativity (.75/3): Blocking lots of creatures isn’t done often, but it has been done before and isn’t very original. The second ability is a bit more unusual and has some nice synergy with the first, but it’s still not overwhelmingly creative, and very similar to Absorb. Quality (3/3): Everything’s fine here. Last Point (0/1) Total (15.75/25):The first problem with this guy is that his rules text is white from a mechanical standpoint, and very little flavor is given to justify those abilities appearing on a red creature, a barbarian no less. Besides that, there’s nothing too wrong with the card, just nothing that great about it either. I do think this score might be a bit low, but there isn’t really anywhere to give the extra points (I don’t want to use the last point to swing a score when there’s nothing special to earn it).
Bonus (4/5): Overall connection to the art (1/1): Everything’s fine here. Discretionary Point (1/1): Same. Creative interpretation of the art (0/1): Turning the card into a land isn’t too creative, as it looks as much, if not more, like a land than a creature. And once you’re making a land, having it produce golem tokens is about as obvious as it gets here. Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here. Balance (5.75/10): General Power Level (4.25/6): The obvious comparison here for power level would be Urza’s Factory. Taking the abilities one at a time, the first ability gives you colored mana, in but you can only get it if you have at least as many creatures as your opponent. It’s an interesting tradeoff, but I think the ability is a bit too conditional overall for the exchange, since you usually want to depend on the amount of mana you can get. This does have the advantage of working better as a turn one land drop, but only if you’re playing first. The second ability gives you an extra power and toughness on the creature, but requires you to have a forest and less creatures than your opponent. I think this is a slightly better exchange, considering getting repeated 3/3s out of a land is a pretty good deal, but seven mana is still a lot, green needs those creatures less than other colors do, and the fact that you can really only use them defensively and never overwhelm your opponent by stalling while the build up an army of golems also hurts it. The abilities do have a cool synergy when taken together that helps a bit, but not quite enough. The problem with the synergy is that there’s too different ways in which they work in different situations. The first is that the mana ability is good when you’re ahead on creatures, and the creature ability is good when you’re behind, but there’s also the fact the mana ability is best early in the game, and the creature ability is better later in the game when you have plenty of mana. So really, the card will be a dead card half the time: it’s worthless early game if you’re behind on creatures, and bad late game if you’re ahead on creatures. Instead of it always being that you can use one or the other ability (similar to how Edge of Autumn works), you may find yourself behind early game and then the land’s just useless. Deckbuilding (1.5/4): That synergy issue really hurts the card here. In limited, I think the card would be tempting, but the mana production would be swingy early in the game, and that’s something you really don’t want. I think too often you’d find yourself screwed over with a land that can’t produce mana instead of a more powerful Urza’s Factory. In competitive constructed, I’m not sure what place this card has. Urza’s Factory sees play in control decks where it works as a win condition for late game that can still produce mana early game, and is also nice because the tokens can be produced at instant speed and are uncounterable against other control decks. This card is terrible in control decks because they’ll rarely get mana out of it, and the restriction on the second ability means it can almost never be used to actually kill your opponent, since they have to still have creatures left in order to for you to get any. In aggro decks with a solid mana curve, the one type of deck that might be able to depend on getting mana from this card, you’re almost never going to want to be able to use the second ability: If you have both seven mana available with nothing better to spend in on but a 3/3 and you’re behind in creatures, you’re probably struggling enough that producing a few tokens won’t save you. In casual, this card could appeal to players at first, but chances are they’d soon get too frustrate by a land that can’t produce mana half the time to get the chance to enjoy the tokens. The card’s redeeming use is multiplayer, where the presence of more opponents means it will more often be able to use either, or even both, abilities, but even there it’s not going to be stellar, just dependable enough to be potentially playable. F/C/Q (7/10): Flavor (1.5/3): The flavor is fine for the most part, but has a few issues. The name works, but it’s kind of generic and could almost be taken as a pun (what’s the nationality of Guardia?). The flavor text is good and explains the abilities well, but has some issues. In general, you’re pretty much always at war in a game of Magic. Refering to having more creatures as peace and less as war is iffy, although not terrible and the fact that the first ability is more peaceful and the second is warlike helps. The bigger problem is that the flavor text sounds like it belongs on a creature, not a land. It’s a land that produces tokens, but nonetheless, it’s a land. Using a pronoun without specifically saying what it is only works if it’s referring to the card the flavor text is on. Creativity (2.5/3): I loved the idea of conditional mana on River of Tears, although I wasn’t a huge fan of how they did it before. I like your idea of combining that idea with the situationalness of Edge of Autumn, and from a grokkability standpoint, you pulled it off very well. The creativity isn’t mindblowing, but the ideas here are cool, and they’re done very well conceptually. Quality (2.5/3): It would be much neater to just make the second ability have green mana in its cost instead of requiring you to have a forest. Basic land requirements are usually only used to add color restrictions to abilities with no mana cost. As long as there is mana involved, if you’re going to restrict what color, just require that color mana. Last Point (.5/1): Pretty much for the same reasons I mentioned in creativity. I like the elegance and grokkability of the concept here. Total (16.75/25):Great concept, flawed execution.
Bonus (4/5): Overall connection to the art (1/1): A golem with a connection to forests works perfectly here. Lifegain and higher toughness than power reflects the friendliness in the picture. Discretionary Point (1/1): Everything’s good here. Creative interpretation of the art (0/1): A golem with a connection to forests fits the art perfectly, but it’s not too creative. Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here. Balance (7/10): General Power Level (4.25/6): This guy’s a bit too expensive for what he does. Scarwood Treefolk shows that green can’t get a 3/5 with no drawbacks for 3G, at least at common (since limited is the main place that would be used), but on the other hand, [card]Sporesower Thallid[/mana] is definitely better than a vanilla 3/5 and it’s 2GG at uncommon, so I’d say a vanilla 3/5 for 2GG would be perfectly fine. The question, then, is how much is this card’s ability worth, and I really don’t think it’s worth a full two mana extra, especially considering it’s an artifact creature, making it more vulnerable to removal, and the ability demands that you be fairly heavily invested in green. At best, I’d say this guy will give you 5 or 6 life when he dies in a mono green deck, which, while nice, is pretty week for a cost of GGGGGG, especially since you get the life when he dies, and not when he comes into play. I don’t think he’s drastically overcosted, but he’s definitely on the slow side, and considering he doesn’t do anything weird enough to appeal to Johnnies, and he’s rare so limited power isn’t a huge concern, it would be better to cost him more aggressively at five mana. Another thing that doesn’t really affect balance too much but is relevant to the casting cost is that you could probably remove the green from his cost. He already encourages playing green quite clearly, and artifacts with colored mana in their costs feel kind of gimmicky. The gimmick was done once by Wizards, and now that it’s been done I feel like artifacts should really need a strong mechanical justification for colored mana. That itself is not a balance issue, and I’m not sure exactly how you’d balance it as an artifact (6 would be the same as it is now, sicne it’s worthless out of green anyway, 5 feels low, but it wouldn’t be broken outside of green as a vanilla 3/5, and in order to get a nice ability out of it you’d have to be playing enough green that getting him with the ability for 5 wouldn’t be unreasonable). Deckbuilding (2.75/5): In sealed, it’s hard to make a deck committed enough to draft to make this guy worthwhile. In draft, if you have a deck that has enough green already, this guy could be playable, although not spectacular. In competitive constructed, this guy would be a great tool against aggro once in play, but he costs way too much and pales in comparison to more efficient creatures like Loxodon Hierach or Ravenous Baloth. In casual, players could enjoy it, as lifegain’s always popular there, and expensive defensive creatures are more useful in multiplayer than duels, but he’s still nothing spectacular. F/C/Q (7.5/10): Flavor (1.75/3): The name applies very well to the art, and has the feel of a defensive green artifact creature, although it doesn’t really have anything to do with life gain. The flavor text works nicely, and it connects to both the art and the ability, but in different ways: in the art, the creature looks to be bonding with the little girl (although I guess she could represent the forest), while the mechanic has it bonding with the forest itself. Still, the link between the flavor text and the life gain is very well done. Creativity (2/3): Well, this category obviously centers much more around the keyword here than the card itself. The keyword is nicely done and has a lot of potential. Keywords that create counters with no inherent purpose but can be defined on the card are an area with a huge amount of design space that Wizards has spent very little time exploring (the only one that I can think of is Sunburst on noncreature artifacts). It’s done a lot on custom cards, but it hasn’t been done much on real cards, so I still have to give credit for creativity. As to this particular way of giving the counters, it’s fairly simple, but also very grokkable and elegant, and it’s incredibly open-ended (as you mention) without having the kicker problem where it would invade the design space of other keywords. The actual way that this guy uses the counters isn’t too creative, but the mechanic itself is done well. Quality (3/3): Everything’s fine here. Last Point (.75/1): I think Familiar is a really well done mechanic. Total (18.5/25): A solid, all around card. The underpoweredness is made up for by the well-executed, elegant concept.
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection
1 pt. for creative art interpretation
1 pt. for mana symbols
1 pt. for having a render
1 pt. for render being pretty
Balance (for Rares):
8 pt. various constructed balance
2 pt. limited balance
Balance (for Commons and Uncommons):
4 pt. various constructed balance
6 pt. limited balance
FCQ:
1 pt. flavor detail
1 pt. holistic flavor
1 pt. flavor awesomeness
1 pt. specific mechanical creativity
1 pt. holistic mechanical freshness
1 pt. creative awesomeness
3 pt. quality
1 pt. grokability (general cohesiveness, simplicity, elegance, and understandability)
Judgings:
5. The Orange Mage (18.25/25) vs. Eliminator (20.25/25)
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection - Name is appropriate. She looks like the fire could be letting her fly and also looks like she could burn things. She also looks fairly powerful, but not very tough, so P/T is good.
.5 pt. for creative art interpretation - The interpretation was solid, but not extremely creative. Some points here for the flying ability, though.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Check.
1 pt. for having a render - Check.
1 pt. for render being pretty - Good render, no issues.
**Bonus Total - 4.5 pt.
Balance:
6 pt. constructed balance - Obviously, this is only being played in a monored deck. The flying ability will only occaisionally be relevent and/or worth the cost, but the second ability is powerful. If you have a deck based around lots of quick and cheap damage, this really could help get those last points in. The cost in the second ability is also well priced to keep it powerful, while preventing any real chance of being abused in a good combo deck.
1.25 pt. limited balance - Evasion and repeatable removal/direct damage? Sign me up. Sure it's difficult to cast, impossible to splash, and dies to everything; but, it's still something I'd always rather see on MY side of the table.
**Balance Total - 7.25 pt.
FCQ:
1 pt. flavor detail - Name works okay with type and abilities. Mechanics are in color. FT works with abilities, name, and color. No issues.
.5 pt. holistic flavor - I can see these abilities representing a flame dancer, but the mechanics really don't mesh with each other at all. It feels a bit disjunct.
.25 pt. flavor awesomeness - The poetic FT is very nice, but nothing amazing otherwise.
.25 pt. specific mechanical creativity - Overpriced red flying and wide spread burn: not exactly innovative. The trigger off of red spells is a little interesting, but nothing exciting otherwise.
.5 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - This card is cheaper and more narrow than most cards with similar effects; but while playtesting, it didn't feel too exciting or new.
0 pt. creative awesomeness - Jaw is undropped.
3 pt. quality - No real issues. Though, I'd really prefer rarity to be noted on text card.
1 pt. grokability - It's nice and simple.
**FCQ Total - 6.5 pt.
Overall, a fairly balanced card with a good interpretation of the art, but not really amazing. There is no internal synergy, and it's very bland and uncreative mechanically. Though, top down design can be hard.
Bonus:
.75 pt. holistic art connection - I love the name, and most of the abilities seem appropriate. But, I see no indication of her ability to revive other creatures.
1 pt. for creative art interpretation - I like where you went with the Phoenix interpretation: it's certainly not the obvious route.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Okay.
1 pt. for having a render - Yep.
1 pt. for render being pretty - No issues.
**Bonus Total - 4.75 pt.
Balance:
6.75 pt. constructed balance - An interesting unsolvable creature, who makes your other creatures mostly unsolvable. Very powerful, and well priced, especially with the discard.
1 pt. limited balance - Yikes. This is not something I'd ever want to stare down, as Wrath effects are slightly less common in limited. Though, I'd love to have one, myself. Atleast it's hard to splash.
**Balance Total - 7.75 pt.
FCQ:
.75 pt. flavor detail - Name works very nicely with rest of card. Mechanics are mostly in color, though the creature saving ability is stretching the pie a bit (-.25).
1 pt. holistic flavor - This all works beautifully together, even without FT.
.5 pt. flavor awesomeness - A nice use of the phoenix ability.
0 pt. specific mechanical creativity - The phoenix ability isn't new. And sacrificing a creature to save another has been done before as well.
1 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - I love how these mechanics mesh. They may not be new, but they are awesome together, and very interesting.
.5 pt. creative awesomeness - Having a discard in the phoenix cost to keep it fair was brilliant, as was putting these mechanics together. Still, it was only tweaking and mixing, without real innovation.
3 pt. quality - No issues.
1 pt. grokability - Beautifully elegant and easy to understand.
**FCQ Total - 7.75 pt.
Overall, a beautiful card and a great interpretation of the art. Very nice.
***Total total - 20.25 pt.
6. spiderboy4 (17.75/25) vs. Moss Elemental (17/25)
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection - It's a dwarf that does something with artifacts. Good job.
.5 pt. for creative art interpretation - Wow. You interpretted it as a smith. At least it's not a simple blacksmith; the smelting is fairly creative.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Okay.
1 pt. for having a render - It's there.
1 pt. for render being pretty - It's all in order.
**Bonus Total - 4.5 pt.
Balance:
5 pt. constructed balance - This could work nicely with mana producing artifacts to generate huge heaps of mana fairly quickly. I'm not sure it's the best card ever, but it's fairly costed and is interestingly build-aroundable.
.5 pt. limited balance
- Umm... Unless I'm playing a Mirrodin-esque environment, I'm probably not going to have the tools to do anything with this.
**Balance Total - 5.5 pt.
FCQ:
.5 pt. flavor detail - Name meshes. Ability is favorful and in color. FT is great. But, why no class type? (-.5)
.75 pt. holistic flavor - Beautiful. Clearly a smeltsmith. But why can he only do one massive smelting? If he is a smeltsmith, he should be able to repeatedly apply his craft.
1 pt. flavor awesomeness - I loooove the smelting idea. Awesome.
.75 pt. specific mechanical creativity - This is a creative ability, that does something fairly new and interesting. Though it is only producing mana.
.5 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - While it is only making mana, it's still a mostly new experience when it really works and does something flashy.
.5 pt. creative awesomeness - Not quite brilliant, but very good.
3 pt. quality - No issues.
.75 pt. grokability - That is a lot to read to do not very much. Still, it's elegant and easy enough to understand.
**FCQ Total - 7.75 pt.
It's interesting and flavorful, but it could have done a little more. Sure, narrow rares are needed in real Magic for the health of the game, but I'd prefer something flashier or more overall useful here in the contest.
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection - It's a dwarf that does something with artifacts. Good job.
.5 pt. for creative art interpretation - Interpretting the art as having both red and white aspects was nice. Otherwise, fairly straight forward.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Fine.
1 pt. for having a render - Okay.
1 pt. for render being pretty - Looks good.
**Bonus Total - 4.5 pt.
Balance:
5 pt. constructed balance - 2RW seems to be a fair cost for a 3/2 with pro red and extra abilities (though I'd prefer if those were useful extra abilities). 1W for the first ability is okay, though just W should have been safe (it's not really a dangerous ability). The last ability is probably fairly costed, though it feels expensive since I'd usually rather just play Shatterstorm (or Shock as needed). In testing, I found that combining the abilities into "3WRR, T: ~ deals 2 damage to a player who controls an artifact" was amusing the one time it came up, though I also found that I couldn't come up with a deck where there weren't at least a handful of cards I'd rather include than this. It's probably technically balanced as costed, but it's not something I could ever see myself playing.
1.25 pt. limited balance - Not something I'd firstpick, but something I could see finding it's way into a deck. It's a solid body at a good cost with an often relevant ability (pro red, not the other ones).
**Balance Total - 6.25 pt.
FCQ:
1 pt. flavor detail - Name is nice and works with all the types, abilities, and colors. Abilites work in color and with types. FT is okay. No issues.
.5 pt. holistic flavor - Here, the flavor text is actually counterproductive: "I can make it." Really? I don't see his ability to make anything.
.5 pt. flavor awesomeness - Okay, it seems like a blacksmith: lots of artifact interaction. Though, it would have been great if a "Master Blacksmith" who is an "Artificer" had some way of, you know, putting artifacts into play.
.75 pt. specific mechanical creativity - As far as I can tell, there are currently no cards that let you repeatedly regenerate noncreature artifacts. Though the second ability just makes him a bad Viashino Heretic.
.5 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - This is certainly a well rounded blacksmith. Though with so many abilities, I'd be more impressed if they worked together better.
.25 pt. creative awesomeness - The repeatable regeneration is okay, but nothing really groundbreaking here.
2 pt. quality - P/T? Those were pretty important numbers on a creature, the last time I checked. (-1)
.75 pt. grokability - It's simple and straight forward; though, I wonder why one ability taps and the other doesn't. Consistency is nice.
**FCQ Total - 6.25 pt.
Not bad. A decent representation of a blacksmith, though I'm not sure I'd consider him a master. With an artifact creation ability, some more internal synergy, or just a P/T this could have been much better. As is, I think this falls just short of advancing.
***Total total - 17 pt.
Advancing:
5. Eliminator
6. spiderboy4
Nice topdown efforts from all participants. Congratulations to those advancing, and better luck next time for those who aren't.
Corruption :1mana::symb::symb:
Enchantment
Whenever a nonblack creature attacks you, put a corruption counter on it. If that creature is white, put an additional corruption counter on it.
:1mana::symb::symb:: The next time target creature would deal combat damage to you this turn it deals that damage to its controller instead unless he or she pays :xmana:, where X is the number of corruption counters on it. Those who announce their piety the loudest embrace sin the quickest.
Spirited Resistance 2RW
Instant (Rare)
Until end of turn, if a creature would deal damage to a creature you control, it deals that much damage to itself instead. Where fury and justice converge.
Rules Issue: This card has a high potential to replace itself. In case you don't know: Replacement Effects only apply ONCE per effect, so if you ping a creature with a creature, the pinging creatures will just suffer the damage and thats it.
Wording: There are quite some options to word redirection effects, but I think this was the most understandable (you know, not like "if a creature you control would be dealt damage by a creature, it is dealt to *that creature*" and other)
Art: I changed the field viewed, because the art sized to Magic Render looked awful.
I'm totally lying. This may actually be the weirdest round ever. In a way it's an experiment, so don't hesitate to express yourself on what you dislike or like about the round. This week's task is inspired by the Great Designer Search challenge to fill holes from the top-down. Your task is to:
Design a card around provided art.
Now for the weird part. Each pair of opponents will be provided a different piece of art to design around. The bonus points will give the art greater weight than normal.
Bonus:
How well the card as a whole connects to the art - 1 point
Creative interpretation of the art - 1 point
Use Mana Symbols in card (must be in both textcard and render (if submitted) in order to count) - 1 point
Supply rendered card art - 1-2 points (1 for supplying art, 1 discretionary for judges)
Point Breakdown:
Bonus: (x/5): Judge how the card fits the bonus parameters.
Balance: (x/10): Judge how the card is balanced; its power level, and whether or not it could make or break a format.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (x/10): Judge how flavorful, cool, and well-worded the card is. Basically, this is the "slickness" category. (If a card fails to fit the round, points should be deducted from here.)
Players may wish to reference the Players List. If you have questions about the FCC, check out the FAQ. If you have a question about using MSE, find your answer here.
This round will run until midnight EDT Sunday, August 19th (when Sunday becomes Monday).
Player Matchups: (Brought to you courtesy of Random.org )
1. Nemcon vs. The_Mad_Tapper
D. Palumbo
Andrea Contu
Michael Komarck
Jason Chan
Michael Komarck
Viktor Titov
Michael Komarck
Igino Giordano
Michael Komarck
Michael Komarck
Bjorn Hurn
Judges:
1T4 (Matches 1-2)
Quazifuji (Matches 3-4)
thefoofish (Matches 5-6)
Jaxal1 (Match 7)
VOiD (Match 8)
Kraj (Match 9)
qqpq (Match 10)
thisvoid (Match 11)
Judges, please don't begin judging until the round is over. You may start postings at 12:01am EDT, even if we (Moss_Elemental, Avatar of Kokusho, and Kraj) are not online then to close the round. Please try to avoid ties if possible!
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
Match #6
Spiderboy4 vs. Moss_Elemental
Judge: thefoofish
interesting art choice. Good Luck M_E
Dwarven Smeltsmith 2RR
Creature — Dwarf (rare)
When Dwarven Smeltsmith comes into play, sacrifice any number of artifacts. Then, add X red mana to your mana pool, where X is the total converted mana cost of all artifacts sacrificed this way.
The purest ore isn’t created from the hottest furnace. It’s created from a Dwarven furnace.
2/2
illus:: Viktor Titov
P.S — The flavor text hints at my final inspiration.
Bloodcult Cardinal
3BB
Creature - Vampire Cleric (r)
As an additional cost to play Bloodcult Cardinal, pay X life. Bloodcult Cardinal comes into play with X blood counters on it.
Bushido X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
Frenzy X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
The blood the leaders are baptized in are a symbol of the blood they will shed in the name of The Cult...
Illustrated by Michael Komarck
To muchsarcasm, best of luck...
Link to current contents of Cube here.
SSC 8-Way Forum Draft
Current Pick: 1-6
Link to team assignments here.
SSC Forum Draft
Current Pick: 2-5
Link to pick here.
Jag Warrior 3GG
Creature — Human Warrior Shaman
Remove a +1/+1 counter from a Cat you control: Put a 2/2 green Cat creature token into play.
Infuse G—This creature comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it and is a Cat in addition to its types. (As you play a creature spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay G as an additional cost to play that spell. If you do, as the creature comes into play, it gains the designated text.)
2/3
In his mirror dwells the spirit of the jaguar. To the bold and proud, he will grant the blessing of the cat.
~ fissionessence
Sorcery (U)
Kicker––Tap an untapped blue creature you control.
Put target creature on top of its owner's library. If the kicker cost was paid, put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead.
The cruel marid sometimes release their vicitms, watching with delight as they struggle to reach the surface. Other times they drag them to the ocean floor, never to be seen again.
Record: 3-2
Simpsons Mafia (Newbie) - Vanilla Mafia - Win
The Fiasco Corporation - Town Reporter - Loss
Doomsday Mafia - Mafia Roleblocker - Win
Battle Royale Mafia - Serial Daykiller - Loss
Danger City Mafia - Vanilla Town - Win
Match 1: Nemcon vs. The_Mad_Tapper
Judge: 1T4
Clutch of Inspiration 1U
Instant (R)
Draw a card. Then target opponent may copy this spell and may choose a new target for the copy. If he or she doesn't, you skip your next turn.
Once a wizard thought his magic would prevent him from drowning. Little did he know, he would drown from the knowledge he found below.
VOiD judging.
Build a card around this:
Good Luck Cantripmancer!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forest Imp GG
Creature - Imp [Uncommon]
Forestwalk
When Forest Imp comes into play, choose one — Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn; or target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn; or Forest Imp has shroud.
“If you go into that forest, you better count your belongings when you come out. Then count your appendages.”
illus. Igino Giordano
1/2
CCL Winner- July '08, Aug '08 Sept '08, Oct '08
Survivor- CCS: Lost in Takenuma, CCS: Stranded In Tolaria
Judge: The Kraj
Jaguar Warrior-Priest (Rare)
3GG
Creature - Human Warrior Wizard
3/4
First strike, vigilance
As long as Jaguar Warrior-Priest is attacking, spells you play during combat cost less to play.
The Jaguar are the elite forces of Muraganda, as skilled with scroll and artifact as they are with spear and blade.
Had to think deeper.....
Attitude.
Text
Keldon Disposition
:3mana::symr::symr:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
As long as enchanted creature is untapped, you choose which creatures your opponents control may attack you each turn.
Echo :3mana::symr::symr:
Radha never failed to instill fear in her enemies. That ability never failed to make an impression on her warhost.
Card justifications that generally don't make a difference in the judging anyway.
Echo: Why? Because either you're seriously serious about scaring people with your burly muscles and giant hammer, or you're a phake azz chump.
The expansion symbol is an Ulak. Which, in Everquest anyway, was a H2H weapon.
GL Chaos.
How you should approach every game of Magic.
Mod Helpdesk (defunct)
My Flawless Score MCC Card | My Other One | # Three!
Judge: thefoofish
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Yukari, the Flame Dancer - RRR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
RR: Yukari, the Flame Dancer gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever you play a red spell, you may pay R. If you do, Yukari deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
“Spark from fire; fire from spark, woman of flame; lighting the dark.” -Ryota-clan chant
3/1
This round is INSANE.
Spiritual Furor :4mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, you may remove it from the game. Put X spirit counters on Spiritual Furor, where X is that creature's power.
Remove a spirit counter from Spiritual Furor: Target attacking or blocking creature you control gets +2+2 until end of turn.
Judge: Quazifuji
Pardic Guardian :3mana::symr::symr:
Creature - Human Barbarian (Uncommon)
Defender
Pardic Guardian can block any number of creatures.
Whenever a creature is blocked by Pardic Guardian, that creature gets -2/-0 until end of turn.
4/3
No flavor text this time around.
Good luck Pseudofate.
Instant
Target player sacrifices the next creature that comes under his or her control.
"No one survives my heart attacks." -Brother Grisdal, Psychic Surgeon
//
Soul :symu::symb:
Instant
The next spell played by target player is countered.
"The eye is the window to the soul." -Brother Grival, Psychic Interrogator
GL, spiderboy
Mattix, Master Blacksmith 2RW
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Artificer
Protection from red
1W: Regenerate target artifact.
2RR, :symtap:: Destroy target artifact. Mattix, Master Blacksmith deals 2 damage to that artifact's controller.
"I can make it. I can fix it. I can also break it."
Note: You are NOT required to submit the modern style render. As long as it's not TEXTLESS, any render is welcomed. You do not need to PM me to get the permission to only submit a Extended Art Render, as no point will be deducted by doing so.
My standard on copyright&artist : You need the copyright line (could be anything not dumb. Including WOTC in the line is tolerable but definitely not advised.) + known artist to avoid a -.25 penalty.
F/C/Q - 3 points for each of the areas, with the 10th point awarding as the highlight bonus. Flavor, Creativity or Quality wise, the point may be awarded for superior performance.
Note that I will only give a full mark on creativity if you come up with something amazing new.
On the quality part, I'll deduct points as following: -.25 for missing rarity in the text card;
-.25 for minor wording wrong/mismatch;
-.5 for wording wrong/mismatch;
-.5 for minor piss on the pie;
-1 for serious wording wrong that will affect the performance of the card;
-1 for piss on the pie;
-2 for critical wording wrong that is improper/non-executable using the current rule of Magic (unless reminder text's provided saying otherwise)
Cantripmancer
Bonus:
How well the card as a whole connects to the art - You did a good job on it. 1/1
Creative interpretation of the art - An outstanding interpretation to the art! 1/1
Mana symbols in card - 1/1
Supplied Art - 1/1
Quality of the Art - Heh, how could points be deducted from here this round.. 1/1
Balance:
The usage of this card in limited is pretty, well, limited. In most cases this card is useless but, if the environment is token heavy, it could be pushed to the other end, and neither of this is good. For constructed however, I could see it will find the home in its color, since the cost/outcome rate is good enough for the risk. Useful in a niche, not too strong, not too weak. 2G, on the other hand, is probably the better cost for it allowing splash uses by other
7/10
F/C/Q:
Flavor - I don't have much to say here. From the concept to implementation, everything is...
Perfect. 3/3
Creativity - The parallel evolution is not unheard of but the way you twist it is fine I think. 1.75/3
Quality -missing rarity in the text card. 2.75/3
Extra - The card as a single piece is quite good. 0.5/1
Overall: 20/25
L0ong5h0t
Bonus:
How well the card as a whole connects to the art -
The second ability is not really on art. It is, though kind of a shadow existence, you need to get your imagine over the little lizard on the right corner:cool:. Not that impressive but still.0.50.75/1Creative interpretation of the art - Believe me, I see the type of this card grabbed half a point and running out there! 0.5/1
Mana symbols in card - 1/1
Supplied Art - 1/1
Quality of the Art - Heh, how could points be deducted from here this round.. 1/1
Balance:
A solid creature in limited, it could act as a forestwalker with shroud, as a sorcery speed gg on stick, a one-turn blocker remover or, in some cases, just a chump blocker :rolleyes:. The cost/ratio power is good. It's not that good in constructed, however, as I don't see any deck would be happy to run this card. It's funny to see that you come up with something opposed to your opponent.. 7/10
F/C/Q:
Flavor - A very flavorful card. I failed to find any flaw on this part:D 3/3
Creativity - I don't see many creativity on this card put the art factor apart. Not like your style, my friend.. 1/3
Quality - -3/-0 is not really a green ability these days, no problem otherwise. 2.5/3
Extra - the idea to crop the art is brilliant, the flavor text amuses me to no end. Good job! 1/1
Overall:
18.518.75/25Advanced:
Cantripmancer 20/25
L0ong5h0t
18.518.75/25♪~~~♫~~~~
(\ /)
(♥.♥)
(> <)
Music, Love, Magic and Bunny.
Life is so beautiful...
10. muchsarcasm vs. Shepherd
Good luck to the players.
This should be interesting.
Judgings are now final, unless there are last-minute objections. Please PM me if you have questions/comments/concerns.
Corruption :1mana::symb::symb:
Enchantment
Whenever a nonblack creature attacks you, put a corruption counter on it. If that creature is white, put an additional corruption counter on it.
:1mana::symb::symb:: The next time target creature would deal combat damage to you this turn it deals that damage to its controller instead unless he or she pays :xmana:, where X is the number of corruption counters on it.
Those who announce their piety the loudest embrace sin the quickest.
Bonus: 5/5
- I like the creativity of the connection here. For a moment I felt like it might be too much of stretch, as the picture in no way represents any attacking creature, or it dealing damage to its controller, but I can envision this art as a mage casting/using this enchantment.
Balance: 7/10
- I think that this card might actually be a bit overcosted. I think it could stand at 1B to cast and BB to activate without being broken. Since the creatures need to attack several times to build up corruption counters before it is likely to have a real meaningful effect, and a weenie horde can still overpower you at a 3 activation cost, requiring a very heavy black commitment (Urborg aside). The problem here is that this card requires a huge mana investment on each side, and your opponent can essentially keep you from doing anything simply by keeping a moderate number of creatures available to attack. The he or she is free to do whatever they want with their turn. Then, if you spend your mana, they are free to attack. The design is interesting, but I feel like it could have better with a few more revisions to the mechanic.
Flavor/Quality/Creativity: 8/10
- Full marks for flavor and creativity. One point off of quality for a few small issues with wording/render: There should be a comma after "damage to you this turn", i.e. it should read "this turn, it" instead of "this turn it", and there appears to be an error in your copyright line. Also, current preference would be "unless he or she pays 1 for each corruption counter on it" instead "X, where X is..." (EDIT: Note the subtle difference between this "X" and the one your opponent used, in that yours is a payment, easily worded as 1 for each, while your opponent's X is used in a keyword ability, where 1 for each doesn't work). You missed the "spare point" due to a general feeling that this card isn't living up to its potential.
Total: 20/25
- Overall, I like your card, but I feel like it would be much better after a few more revisions.
Bloodcult Cardinal
:3mana::symb::symb:
Creature - Vampire Cleric (r)
As an additional cost to play Bloodcult Cardinal, pay X life. Bloodcult Cardinal comes into play with X blood counters on it.
Bushido X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
Frenzy X, where X is the number of blood counters on Bloodcult Cardinal.
The blood the leaders are baptized in are a symbol of the blood they will shed in the name of The Cult...
Illustrated by Michael Komarck
Bonus: 4/5
- I like your card idea, but I feel like the connection here isn't quite as creative as it could be.
Balance: 9/10
- This card seems quite well balanced. The fact that it has no evasion (and thus can be endless blocked by token creatures of any kind, or a single regenerating creature) really helps it out, as it would be _way_ too powerful as a flier, shadow creature, or trample creature. Despite that, it is powerful that I think some people would play it. I doubt that it would become a tournament staple, and it is almost certainly too good in limited.
Flavor/Quality/Creativity: 6/10
- This card has a lot of flavor, and fits the artwork quite well, but the one problem I have is that the name "Cardinal" doesn't go with combat, and this is a very combat oriented card. According to my gatherer search, it has never been used on a Magic card, and (having just now looked it up), only has the implication of a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, not in general usage. Some better terms might have been Prelate, Zealot, Confessor, or Deacon, all of which have been used on other cards and aren't specific to a single religion. There are other similar words which haven't been used on cards before, but would still be less troublesome/more appropriate. Your text card is missing the power and toughness. Your flavor text has a grammatical error (the blood is a symbol, not the blood are a symbol). I'm also not sure about the capital "C" in cult, when the cardname is "Bloodcult", not "Blood Cult" or "Blood-Cult". Finally, I feel like you really went keyword-happy with this card, when it would have been much simpler to chose one of these wordings: "Whenever ~ attacks or blocks, it gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of blood counters on ~." or "Whenever this attacks or blocks, it gets +1/+/1 until end of turn for each blood counter on it." I realize that this is very slightly different than what Frenzy does, but I feel like the elegance and ease of reading/interpretation is enough of an improvement to warrant the change.
Total: 19/25
- I like your card design, but you stacked up too many errors to take the round. Spend a little more time checking over your card. Leaving the P/T off the text card is a very common mistake, but it is kind of sad to miss the finals because little issues like that.
The winner is muchsarcasm.
Congratulations. Welcome to the final round.
To Shepherd, I hope to see you next month.
Judgeholder.
Legendary Creature -- Human Shaman (R)
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Yukika is in your graveyard, you may pay 2RRR and discard a card. If you do, return it to play.
Whenever another creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, you may sacrifice Yukika. If you do, return that creature to play.
2/2
Me vs. L0ng5h0t
Honorable V0id Presiding
Card: Trichotomize
Gl, L0ng5hot!
Trichotomize 1GG
Instant
Put two copies of target creature token into play.
"The gossamer hold these fragment-creatures assert on reality lends an incredible malleability to the Æther around them."
–Madser Pilar, vivomancer
Art: Igino Giordano
Creative interpretation of the art - 1 point
Use Mana Symbols in card (must be in both textcard and render (if submitted) in order to count) - 1 point
1 for supplying render
1 for render quality. This means art quality, correct frame, expansion symbol, artist credit, legal text, etc. (This is the 'don't be lazy' point.)
Balance: (x/10): Judged holistically. Just a warning: I'm better at Limited than Constructed, and it will likely show here.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (x/10):
4 for Flavor (Art, text, name, abilties/P/T)
2 for Creativity (Originality)
4 for overall Quality (Templating, any internal synergy, color-pie and other issues go here.)
Balance: (7.5/10): This card is quite strong. The fact that you can pump unblocked attackers is quite strong in white. The fact that there is no mana cost turns it into a Jitte-like combat engine. In limited, this breaks creature stalls in half. In constucted, it's best friend is Nantuko Husk. It won't make you win off a topdeck, but if you have any board position at all, this can can win it for you. It's like an easier-to-use, harder-to-kill Twilight Drover. On the downside, it costs six mana and needs at least one corpse provided for it to get going, and can be hard to feed without a friendly sac effect. It'd say it's slightly over the curve, which is ordinarily good. However, I feel that because there is no mana cost on the effect, it has the potential to become degenerate, because the only limit on it once in play is how much power you can send to the bin. By 'degenerate', I mean the ability to deal 20 damage within one turn of playing it. If the pump effect cost 2 or maybe W, the potential for degeneracy is limited, while still allowing for swinging combats. Another option that may have helped is simply granting one counter per creature, regardless of power. As it stands, I have no reason not to pump a creature that is targeted by removal in the combat phase or that I am about to sac, since that nets more counters.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (7/10):
Flavor (3/4): Flavor is solid enough. This enchantment allows the spirits of the dead to hang around and help their living friends in combat. I deduct the point because it meshes poorly witht he art displaying what appears to be the same individual twice. Also 'Furor' means rage or frenzy, which is not typically a white ideal. Also, the spirit is the one that looks calm in this case.
Creativity (1/2): This reminds me a lot of Soulcatcher's Aerie and Spirit Cairn.
Quality (3/4): This card did not want to be white. White does not traditionally get the ability to stick unbounded pump directly into its opponent's face. The traditional white 'attacking of blocking' clause generally is applied to abilities that hurt other's creatures. The only exceptions that I can find are the pseudo-banding creatures. However, with the same title, this card could have easilty been RW, or changing the name could have given you a B/ or even just B card.
Total: 17.5/25
Balance: (9/10): Very strong. On defense, it holds par with Hold the Line, saving your team and virtually insuring death for the other. On the attack, though, is where it really shines. A suicidal attack of early game 2/1's and 2/2's into your opponents mid-late game 3/3's and 4/4's can turn into a Plague Wind. It's not a finisher on it's own, but it can break an opponent's back. It's also a great general purpose combat trick. If this cost a bit more (say 3RW or 1RWW), I could easily imagine it seeing print, on par with Overrun.
Flavor/Creativity/Quality: (6.5/10):
Flavor (1/4): The flavor of this card is all over the place. The flavor text seems to have little to nothing to do with the card, other than pointing out is it both red and white. The name doesn't fit at all: How exactly is this resistance? Nothing at all in the flavor describes why your own creatures come out of the experience unscathed. Why do opponents kill themselves? Really, what it feels like to me is that this card evolved away from the art, was left with the name that tried to reflect the art, and ended up with bland, bland flavor text because there was no way to repair the gap.
Creativity (2/2): I can honestly say I've never seen this before.
Quality (3.5/4): This card did not need to be red (though it does nicely help explain why it is so good on the offensive), as white can already redirect damage from its friends.
Total: 19.5
'Bad Spirit' banner by Hot Pizza at Ye Olde Sig and Avatar Shoppe
I was a Top 32 Contestant for RPG Superstar 2008!
Come take a look at my custom set, Lost Relics. (To be finished...eventually)
Check out the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Flash Flood 2UU
Sorcery
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t play spells or activated abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Remove all creatures without islandwalk from the game with three time counters on them. If they don't have suspend, they gain suspend.
The villagers watched in horror as the clouds wrenched open and the ocean poured from the sky.
Art Page
Alters for sale
Also, that I was fairly critical on the overall connection and creative interpretation bonus points, but very lenient with the discretionary point with regards to art. I kind of treated them as going together.
Pseudofate:
Balance (4.25/5):
Overall connection to the art (.25/1): The guy in the picture certainly looks intimidating enough to scare anyone away from attacking him, but he looks much more like he’s just inherently scary, not like he’s been enchanted. There’s nothing else to draw attention to the fact that this is an aura and not a creature.
Discretionary Point (1/1): Everything’s good here. Full marks here, took off points for it not looking like an aura in the overall connection category.
Creative interpretation of the art (1/1): Turning art of a guy with a giant hammer into a defensive aura is certainly creative, even if you only sort of pulled it off.
Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here.
Balance (7.5/10):
General Power Level (4.5/6): This card may as well just have the Blazing Archon ability, considering if you let your opponent’s creatures attack, you’re guaranteed to want them to, which means unless your opponent is really stupid they won’t. You can’t even make any sort of bluff, considering you gain nothing by letting a creature attack that you can’t stop, and you risk getting hit by a creature you can’t defend against. On the other hand, five mana and echo is a pretty good deal to pay for an aura with no defensive ability to stop your opponent from getting a two-for-one with bounce or removal and that requires the enchanted creature to stay untapped. The fact that it’s an aura that requires an untapped creature also makes it pretty easily removable by any color, ensuring that you can’t screw over an opponent who depends on creatures unless they’re really unprepared. I do like the fact that you can play it and stop attackers for one turn if you don’t pay the echo, although I think that would have been cooler if the initial cost was lower and the echo was higher, just to make that stronger (maybe 2R to cast and an echo of 4RR), since five mana is too much to pay for the effect for one turn. The other problem is that this is mainly a white ability (red would force creatures to attack, not stop them from attacking), although red has dabbled in it with Master Warcraft. So I didn’t take of much for this.
Deckbuilding (3/4): In draft, this card’s risky, but excellent when it works. You give your opponent the chance to get a two-for-one after having spent ten mana on it, but him not being able to attack is a pretty big upside if he doesn’t have any way of dealing with it fast. In competitive constructed, it would be too slow to ever see play, but casual Timmies would absolutely love this. It’s easy enough to get rid of that it doesn’t ruin the game for other players, but it’s powerful enough that they would still like playing it anyway. The card also could hypothetically be fun in multiplayer, although chances are if the guy doesn’t get killed immediately it’s because no one wanted to attack you anyway. Could be nice if you know the guys with creature destruction want you alive for some reason, though.
F/C/Q (7.25/10):
Flavor (2.75/3): I know exactly why this card works, and it’s great. Being defensive and stopping attackers may not be very red mechanically, and isn’t normally red flavorfully, but this is definitely an exception. Standing there looking so scary enemies won’t even try attacking you without your permission is very, very red, and works perfectly. I think the flavor text and name could be a bit better. Instead of a name describing the way of instilling fear and the flavor text providing something witty or interesting to go along with it (the flavor’s already there enough that the flavor text wouldn’t need to explain anything), the name describes the disposition as “Keldon,” and the flavor text seems to focus on explaining why a Keldon disposition is scary. Still, this is more personal preference for flavor text (I’m not much of a lore person, so “Keldon” doesn’t have huge implications for me), and the flavor’s excellent overall.
Creativity (1.5/3): There isn’t much creativity here, but the creativity that is there is subtle and cool. I don’t think there’s been any auras that works in quite this way before, giving you a general benefit based on the state of the creature they enchant. It’s kind of like a combination of Emblem of the Warmind and Centaur Omenreader. I didn’t recognize this, but once I understood it I thought it was very cool, and the fact that it’s justified perfectly by flavor helps.
Quality (2.75/3): I don’t think a card’s had an ability that controlled attackers exactly like this, so I may be wrong, but I don’t think the wording of the ability is quite right. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it should be though, so I’m not taking off points. If someone can correct me either way (it’s more grievously off than I thought, or it’s perfectly correct) then I’ll adjust the score accordingly).
Last Point (.25/1): I really like the way you came up with an interesting mechanic for auras, and then perfectly explained it through flavor. I’m only giving a quarter point here because I already gave a lot of points in flavor and creativity for these things.
Total (19/25): I wasn’t a huge fan of this card at first, but it’s grown on me as I realized its subtleties.
Bonus (4.25/5):
Overall connection to the art (.75/1): The guy in the art looks red, and his stance looks like he could be defending something, although there doesn’t seem to be much to defend in the background.
Discretionary Point (1/1): Everything’s good here.
Creative interpretation of the art (.5/1): There’s a bit of creativity in giving a guy with a giant hammer defender, but not too much.
Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here.
Balance (7.25/10):
General Power Level (4.25/6): Five mana is a lot to pay for a purely defensive creature, but on the other hand, this guy’s a pretty good defending. Being able to hold off an infinite number of two power creatures and even a couple of three power or a four power forever while killing four toughness worth each time is nice, and you can sacrifice him for a fog in a pinch against bigger creatures, although the fact that he can’t do anything about evasions limits his capabilities. The other big hit against him is that this is something that red normally just doesn’t do. White can sit there blocking tons of creatures, but red? Red smashes its opponent in the face. None of this guys abilities are red at all, even if his 4/3 body is (Two-Headed Giant of Foriys can block two creatures for flavor reasons, not color pie reasons). Giving red a five mana defender won’t break anything balance wise, so I didn’t take much off for this, but he still does something that red, in general, doesn’t get to do, and he doesn’t do it in an especially red way either. I do admire the fact that you made a five mana creature with defender and no activated abilities that’s not horribly overcosted, though.
Deckbuilding (3/4): In limited, this guy’s a nice defender, although he’ll probably come later than you’d need him. The fact that he specializes in holding off two power creatures but can’t come out until turn five limits his usefulness there, but his ability to hold off large numbers of attackers could nonetheless come in handy. He wouldn’t be a bomb, but he’s not unplayable either, and fine for an uncommon. In tournament constructed, a five mana creature that can’t do anything to actually win the game will probably never see play, unless you had some weird deck in the metagame involving giant armies of tokens that doesn’t have any other way of killing a 4/3, but that doesn’t happen too often, and if it does the deck would probably just add some incinerates or terrors. Casual players would enjoy this, though. Timmies love hypothetically insanely powerful cards, so the ability to hold off an infinite number of 2/2s is appealing to them, even if his lack of ability to then smash his opponents themselves with his giant hammer isn’t. The card also has a lot of potential in multiplayer. It discourages attackers, but because it’s not actually threatening at all, your opponents are less likely to kill it immediately and more likelier to just find an easier target.
F/C/Q (4.25/10):
Flavor (.5/3): The word “Pardic” (along with the art) explains why it’s a 4/3 red barbarian, and the word “Guardian” sort of explains its abilities, but that’s it. He’s a guardian, so he specializes in defending, that works. But why can this guy block infinitely many creatures? Plenty of defenders can still only block one creature, and creatures that can block more than one usually have two heads, or some other flavor explanation that explains how one creature can get in the way of a whole army.
Creativity (.75/3): Blocking lots of creatures isn’t done often, but it has been done before and isn’t very original. The second ability is a bit more unusual and has some nice synergy with the first, but it’s still not overwhelmingly creative, and very similar to Absorb.
Quality (3/3): Everything’s fine here.
Last Point (0/1)
Total (15.75/25): The first problem with this guy is that his rules text is white from a mechanical standpoint, and very little flavor is given to justify those abilities appearing on a red creature, a barbarian no less. Besides that, there’s nothing too wrong with the card, just nothing that great about it either. I do think this score might be a bit low, but there isn’t really anywhere to give the extra points (I don’t want to use the last point to swing a score when there’s nothing special to earn it).
Winner: Pseudofate
Azhur:
Bonus (4/5):
Overall connection to the art (1/1): Everything’s fine here.
Discretionary Point (1/1): Same.
Creative interpretation of the art (0/1): Turning the card into a land isn’t too creative, as it looks as much, if not more, like a land than a creature. And once you’re making a land, having it produce golem tokens is about as obvious as it gets here.
Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here.
Balance (5.75/10):
General Power Level (4.25/6): The obvious comparison here for power level would be Urza’s Factory. Taking the abilities one at a time, the first ability gives you colored mana, in but you can only get it if you have at least as many creatures as your opponent. It’s an interesting tradeoff, but I think the ability is a bit too conditional overall for the exchange, since you usually want to depend on the amount of mana you can get. This does have the advantage of working better as a turn one land drop, but only if you’re playing first. The second ability gives you an extra power and toughness on the creature, but requires you to have a forest and less creatures than your opponent. I think this is a slightly better exchange, considering getting repeated 3/3s out of a land is a pretty good deal, but seven mana is still a lot, green needs those creatures less than other colors do, and the fact that you can really only use them defensively and never overwhelm your opponent by stalling while the build up an army of golems also hurts it. The abilities do have a cool synergy when taken together that helps a bit, but not quite enough. The problem with the synergy is that there’s too different ways in which they work in different situations. The first is that the mana ability is good when you’re ahead on creatures, and the creature ability is good when you’re behind, but there’s also the fact the mana ability is best early in the game, and the creature ability is better later in the game when you have plenty of mana. So really, the card will be a dead card half the time: it’s worthless early game if you’re behind on creatures, and bad late game if you’re ahead on creatures. Instead of it always being that you can use one or the other ability (similar to how Edge of Autumn works), you may find yourself behind early game and then the land’s just useless.
Deckbuilding (1.5/4): That synergy issue really hurts the card here. In limited, I think the card would be tempting, but the mana production would be swingy early in the game, and that’s something you really don’t want. I think too often you’d find yourself screwed over with a land that can’t produce mana instead of a more powerful Urza’s Factory. In competitive constructed, I’m not sure what place this card has. Urza’s Factory sees play in control decks where it works as a win condition for late game that can still produce mana early game, and is also nice because the tokens can be produced at instant speed and are uncounterable against other control decks. This card is terrible in control decks because they’ll rarely get mana out of it, and the restriction on the second ability means it can almost never be used to actually kill your opponent, since they have to still have creatures left in order to for you to get any. In aggro decks with a solid mana curve, the one type of deck that might be able to depend on getting mana from this card, you’re almost never going to want to be able to use the second ability: If you have both seven mana available with nothing better to spend in on but a 3/3 and you’re behind in creatures, you’re probably struggling enough that producing a few tokens won’t save you. In casual, this card could appeal to players at first, but chances are they’d soon get too frustrate by a land that can’t produce mana half the time to get the chance to enjoy the tokens. The card’s redeeming use is multiplayer, where the presence of more opponents means it will more often be able to use either, or even both, abilities, but even there it’s not going to be stellar, just dependable enough to be potentially playable.
F/C/Q (7/10):
Flavor (1.5/3): The flavor is fine for the most part, but has a few issues. The name works, but it’s kind of generic and could almost be taken as a pun (what’s the nationality of Guardia?). The flavor text is good and explains the abilities well, but has some issues. In general, you’re pretty much always at war in a game of Magic. Refering to having more creatures as peace and less as war is iffy, although not terrible and the fact that the first ability is more peaceful and the second is warlike helps. The bigger problem is that the flavor text sounds like it belongs on a creature, not a land. It’s a land that produces tokens, but nonetheless, it’s a land. Using a pronoun without specifically saying what it is only works if it’s referring to the card the flavor text is on.
Creativity (2.5/3): I loved the idea of conditional mana on River of Tears, although I wasn’t a huge fan of how they did it before. I like your idea of combining that idea with the situationalness of Edge of Autumn, and from a grokkability standpoint, you pulled it off very well. The creativity isn’t mindblowing, but the ideas here are cool, and they’re done very well conceptually.
Quality (2.5/3): It would be much neater to just make the second ability have green mana in its cost instead of requiring you to have a forest. Basic land requirements are usually only used to add color restrictions to abilities with no mana cost. As long as there is mana involved, if you’re going to restrict what color, just require that color mana.
Last Point (.5/1): Pretty much for the same reasons I mentioned in creativity. I like the elegance and grokkability of the concept here.
Total (16.75/25): Great concept, flawed execution.
Bonus (4/5):
Overall connection to the art (1/1): A golem with a connection to forests works perfectly here. Lifegain and higher toughness than power reflects the friendliness in the picture.
Discretionary Point (1/1): Everything’s good here.
Creative interpretation of the art (0/1): A golem with a connection to forests fits the art perfectly, but it’s not too creative.
Mana Symbols and Render (2/2): Fine here.
Balance (7/10):
General Power Level (4.25/6): This guy’s a bit too expensive for what he does. Scarwood Treefolk shows that green can’t get a 3/5 with no drawbacks for 3G, at least at common (since limited is the main place that would be used), but on the other hand, [card]Sporesower Thallid[/mana] is definitely better than a vanilla 3/5 and it’s 2GG at uncommon, so I’d say a vanilla 3/5 for 2GG would be perfectly fine. The question, then, is how much is this card’s ability worth, and I really don’t think it’s worth a full two mana extra, especially considering it’s an artifact creature, making it more vulnerable to removal, and the ability demands that you be fairly heavily invested in green. At best, I’d say this guy will give you 5 or 6 life when he dies in a mono green deck, which, while nice, is pretty week for a cost of GGGGGG, especially since you get the life when he dies, and not when he comes into play. I don’t think he’s drastically overcosted, but he’s definitely on the slow side, and considering he doesn’t do anything weird enough to appeal to Johnnies, and he’s rare so limited power isn’t a huge concern, it would be better to cost him more aggressively at five mana. Another thing that doesn’t really affect balance too much but is relevant to the casting cost is that you could probably remove the green from his cost. He already encourages playing green quite clearly, and artifacts with colored mana in their costs feel kind of gimmicky. The gimmick was done once by Wizards, and now that it’s been done I feel like artifacts should really need a strong mechanical justification for colored mana. That itself is not a balance issue, and I’m not sure exactly how you’d balance it as an artifact (6 would be the same as it is now, sicne it’s worthless out of green anyway, 5 feels low, but it wouldn’t be broken outside of green as a vanilla 3/5, and in order to get a nice ability out of it you’d have to be playing enough green that getting him with the ability for 5 wouldn’t be unreasonable).
Deckbuilding (2.75/5): In sealed, it’s hard to make a deck committed enough to draft to make this guy worthwhile. In draft, if you have a deck that has enough green already, this guy could be playable, although not spectacular. In competitive constructed, this guy would be a great tool against aggro once in play, but he costs way too much and pales in comparison to more efficient creatures like Loxodon Hierach or Ravenous Baloth. In casual, players could enjoy it, as lifegain’s always popular there, and expensive defensive creatures are more useful in multiplayer than duels, but he’s still nothing spectacular.
F/C/Q (7.5/10):
Flavor (1.75/3): The name applies very well to the art, and has the feel of a defensive green artifact creature, although it doesn’t really have anything to do with life gain. The flavor text works nicely, and it connects to both the art and the ability, but in different ways: in the art, the creature looks to be bonding with the little girl (although I guess she could represent the forest), while the mechanic has it bonding with the forest itself. Still, the link between the flavor text and the life gain is very well done.
Creativity (2/3): Well, this category obviously centers much more around the keyword here than the card itself. The keyword is nicely done and has a lot of potential. Keywords that create counters with no inherent purpose but can be defined on the card are an area with a huge amount of design space that Wizards has spent very little time exploring (the only one that I can think of is Sunburst on noncreature artifacts). It’s done a lot on custom cards, but it hasn’t been done much on real cards, so I still have to give credit for creativity. As to this particular way of giving the counters, it’s fairly simple, but also very grokkable and elegant, and it’s incredibly open-ended (as you mention) without having the kicker problem where it would invade the design space of other keywords. The actual way that this guy uses the counters isn’t too creative, but the mechanic itself is done well.
Quality (3/3): Everything’s fine here.
Last Point (.75/1): I think Familiar is a really well done mechanic.
Total (18.5/25): A solid, all around card. The underpoweredness is made up for by the well-executed, elegant concept.
Winner: Itinerant Soldier
-Douglas Adams
Judging Guidelines:
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection
1 pt. for creative art interpretation
1 pt. for mana symbols
1 pt. for having a render
1 pt. for render being pretty
Balance (for Rares):
8 pt. various constructed balance
2 pt. limited balance
Balance (for Commons and Uncommons):
4 pt. various constructed balance
6 pt. limited balance
FCQ:
1 pt. flavor detail
1 pt. holistic flavor
1 pt. flavor awesomeness
1 pt. specific mechanical creativity
1 pt. holistic mechanical freshness
1 pt. creative awesomeness
3 pt. quality
1 pt. grokability (general cohesiveness, simplicity, elegance, and understandability)
Judgings:
5. The Orange Mage (18.25/25) vs. Eliminator (20.25/25)
The Orange Mage
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection - Name is appropriate. She looks like the fire could be letting her fly and also looks like she could burn things. She also looks fairly powerful, but not very tough, so P/T is good.
.5 pt. for creative art interpretation - The interpretation was solid, but not extremely creative. Some points here for the flying ability, though.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Check.
1 pt. for having a render - Check.
1 pt. for render being pretty - Good render, no issues.
**Bonus Total - 4.5 pt.
Balance:
6 pt. constructed balance - Obviously, this is only being played in a monored deck. The flying ability will only occaisionally be relevent and/or worth the cost, but the second ability is powerful. If you have a deck based around lots of quick and cheap damage, this really could help get those last points in. The cost in the second ability is also well priced to keep it powerful, while preventing any real chance of being abused in a good combo deck.
1.25 pt. limited balance - Evasion and repeatable removal/direct damage? Sign me up. Sure it's difficult to cast, impossible to splash, and dies to everything; but, it's still something I'd always rather see on MY side of the table.
**Balance Total - 7.25 pt.
FCQ:
1 pt. flavor detail - Name works okay with type and abilities. Mechanics are in color. FT works with abilities, name, and color. No issues.
.5 pt. holistic flavor - I can see these abilities representing a flame dancer, but the mechanics really don't mesh with each other at all. It feels a bit disjunct.
.25 pt. flavor awesomeness - The poetic FT is very nice, but nothing amazing otherwise.
.25 pt. specific mechanical creativity - Overpriced red flying and wide spread burn: not exactly innovative. The trigger off of red spells is a little interesting, but nothing exciting otherwise.
.5 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - This card is cheaper and more narrow than most cards with similar effects; but while playtesting, it didn't feel too exciting or new.
0 pt. creative awesomeness - Jaw is undropped.
3 pt. quality - No real issues. Though, I'd really prefer rarity to be noted on text card.
1 pt. grokability - It's nice and simple.
**FCQ Total - 6.5 pt.
Overall, a fairly balanced card with a good interpretation of the art, but not really amazing. There is no internal synergy, and it's very bland and uncreative mechanically. Though, top down design can be hard.
***Total total - 18.25 pt.
Eliminator
Bonus:
.75 pt. holistic art connection - I love the name, and most of the abilities seem appropriate. But, I see no indication of her ability to revive other creatures.
1 pt. for creative art interpretation - I like where you went with the Phoenix interpretation: it's certainly not the obvious route.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Okay.
1 pt. for having a render - Yep.
1 pt. for render being pretty - No issues.
**Bonus Total - 4.75 pt.
Balance:
6.75 pt. constructed balance - An interesting unsolvable creature, who makes your other creatures mostly unsolvable. Very powerful, and well priced, especially with the discard.
1 pt. limited balance - Yikes. This is not something I'd ever want to stare down, as Wrath effects are slightly less common in limited. Though, I'd love to have one, myself. Atleast it's hard to splash.
**Balance Total - 7.75 pt.
FCQ:
.75 pt. flavor detail - Name works very nicely with rest of card. Mechanics are mostly in color, though the creature saving ability is stretching the pie a bit (-.25).
1 pt. holistic flavor - This all works beautifully together, even without FT.
.5 pt. flavor awesomeness - A nice use of the phoenix ability.
0 pt. specific mechanical creativity - The phoenix ability isn't new. And sacrificing a creature to save another has been done before as well.
1 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - I love how these mechanics mesh. They may not be new, but they are awesome together, and very interesting.
.5 pt. creative awesomeness - Having a discard in the phoenix cost to keep it fair was brilliant, as was putting these mechanics together. Still, it was only tweaking and mixing, without real innovation.
3 pt. quality - No issues.
1 pt. grokability - Beautifully elegant and easy to understand.
**FCQ Total - 7.75 pt.
Overall, a beautiful card and a great interpretation of the art. Very nice.
***Total total - 20.25 pt.
6. spiderboy4 (17.75/25) vs. Moss Elemental (17/25)
spiderboy4
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection - It's a dwarf that does something with artifacts. Good job.
.5 pt. for creative art interpretation - Wow. You interpretted it as a smith. At least it's not a simple blacksmith; the smelting is fairly creative.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Okay.
1 pt. for having a render - It's there.
1 pt. for render being pretty - It's all in order.
**Bonus Total - 4.5 pt.
Balance:
5 pt. constructed balance - This could work nicely with mana producing artifacts to generate huge heaps of mana fairly quickly. I'm not sure it's the best card ever, but it's fairly costed and is interestingly build-aroundable.
.5 pt. limited balance
- Umm... Unless I'm playing a Mirrodin-esque environment, I'm probably not going to have the tools to do anything with this.
**Balance Total - 5.5 pt.
FCQ:
.5 pt. flavor detail - Name meshes. Ability is favorful and in color. FT is great. But, why no class type? (-.5)
.75 pt. holistic flavor - Beautiful. Clearly a smeltsmith. But why can he only do one massive smelting? If he is a smeltsmith, he should be able to repeatedly apply his craft.
1 pt. flavor awesomeness - I loooove the smelting idea. Awesome.
.75 pt. specific mechanical creativity - This is a creative ability, that does something fairly new and interesting. Though it is only producing mana.
.5 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - While it is only making mana, it's still a mostly new experience when it really works and does something flashy.
.5 pt. creative awesomeness - Not quite brilliant, but very good.
3 pt. quality - No issues.
.75 pt. grokability - That is a lot to read to do not very much. Still, it's elegant and easy enough to understand.
**FCQ Total - 7.75 pt.
It's interesting and flavorful, but it could have done a little more. Sure, narrow rares are needed in real Magic for the health of the game, but I'd prefer something flashier or more overall useful here in the contest.
***Total total - 17.75 pt.
Moss_Elemental
Bonus:
1 pt. holistic art connection - It's a dwarf that does something with artifacts. Good job.
.5 pt. for creative art interpretation - Interpretting the art as having both red and white aspects was nice. Otherwise, fairly straight forward.
1 pt. for mana symbols - Fine.
1 pt. for having a render - Okay.
1 pt. for render being pretty - Looks good.
**Bonus Total - 4.5 pt.
Balance:
5 pt. constructed balance - 2RW seems to be a fair cost for a 3/2 with pro red and extra abilities (though I'd prefer if those were useful extra abilities). 1W for the first ability is okay, though just W should have been safe (it's not really a dangerous ability). The last ability is probably fairly costed, though it feels expensive since I'd usually rather just play Shatterstorm (or Shock as needed). In testing, I found that combining the abilities into "3WRR, T: ~ deals 2 damage to a player who controls an artifact" was amusing the one time it came up, though I also found that I couldn't come up with a deck where there weren't at least a handful of cards I'd rather include than this. It's probably technically balanced as costed, but it's not something I could ever see myself playing.
1.25 pt. limited balance - Not something I'd firstpick, but something I could see finding it's way into a deck. It's a solid body at a good cost with an often relevant ability (pro red, not the other ones).
**Balance Total - 6.25 pt.
FCQ:
1 pt. flavor detail - Name is nice and works with all the types, abilities, and colors. Abilites work in color and with types. FT is okay. No issues.
.5 pt. holistic flavor - Here, the flavor text is actually counterproductive: "I can make it." Really? I don't see his ability to make anything.
.5 pt. flavor awesomeness - Okay, it seems like a blacksmith: lots of artifact interaction. Though, it would have been great if a "Master Blacksmith" who is an "Artificer" had some way of, you know, putting artifacts into play.
.75 pt. specific mechanical creativity - As far as I can tell, there are currently no cards that let you repeatedly regenerate noncreature artifacts. Though the second ability just makes him a bad Viashino Heretic.
.5 pt. holistic mechanical freshness - This is certainly a well rounded blacksmith. Though with so many abilities, I'd be more impressed if they worked together better.
.25 pt. creative awesomeness - The repeatable regeneration is okay, but nothing really groundbreaking here.
2 pt. quality - P/T? Those were pretty important numbers on a creature, the last time I checked. (-1)
.75 pt. grokability - It's simple and straight forward; though, I wonder why one ability taps and the other doesn't. Consistency is nice.
**FCQ Total - 6.25 pt.
Not bad. A decent representation of a blacksmith, though I'm not sure I'd consider him a master. With an artifact creation ability, some more internal synergy, or just a P/T this could have been much better. As is, I think this falls just short of advancing.
***Total total - 17 pt.
Advancing:
5. Eliminator
6. spiderboy4
Nice topdown efforts from all participants. Congratulations to those advancing, and better luck next time for those who aren't.
Good luck, Shepherd!
Judge: qqpq
Corruption :1mana::symb::symb:
Enchantment
Whenever a nonblack creature attacks you, put a corruption counter on it. If that creature is white, put an additional corruption counter on it.
:1mana::symb::symb:: The next time target creature would deal combat damage to you this turn it deals that damage to its controller instead unless he or she pays :xmana:, where X is the number of corruption counters on it.
Those who announce their piety the loudest embrace sin the quickest.
Spirited Resistance 2RW
Instant (Rare)
Until end of turn, if a creature would deal damage to a creature you control, it deals that much damage to itself instead.
Where fury and justice converge.
Wording: There are quite some options to word redirection effects, but I think this was the most understandable (you know, not like "if a creature you control would be dealt damage by a creature, it is dealt to *that creature*" and other)
Art: I changed the field viewed, because the art sized to Magic Render looked awful.