Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!
Theme
First of all, my sincerest thanks go out to everyone who participated this month - this, my first, CCL was made particularly special by you all embracing my challenges and sharing in the ups and downs that come from riffing off of our favorite non-Magic games. I hope these challenges were fun or at the most, well, challenging and I am so excited to see what each of you come up with next! Finally, a particularly strong callout goes to our Top 3 (due to a tie in second place) competitors:
IcariiFA
Raptorchan
Void_nothing
You are all incredible designers who have quite a doozy of a challenge ahead of you left - since only one of you can be crowned this month’s champion.
Games are actually one of the most interesting phenomenons to look at from a perspective of evolutionary biology. While some games like chess, etc. largely have staying power in their rules set, many of them are constantly fluid and evolving as the game shifts and morphs to meet an ever changing demand. Simultaneously, games are struggling to maintain interest relative to one another - as time spent on one game takes away from time you can spend on another. All in all, the goal then of a designer is to (1) innovate and (2) immerse. Make it so your players are so in love with what you do by being fresh and exciting, that they are drawn to it and never want to leave.
We’ve definitely done rule alterations last round, changing preexisting conceptions of fundamental rules, and this challenge is a slightly different take, but one that I think is an important - and often difficult - distinction. Here you are not going to be changing a fundamental rule, but rather you are going to follow in the footsteps of a card like Time Stop - a card which did something entirely unprecedented. This is the definition of elegance, and I challenge you to embrace it as your model for design over the course of this final challenge.
PLEASE NOTE: that the choices you make in the first two rounds will softly determine some of your design stipulations if you advance to the Top 8 and beyond. This will not be a hard constraint, but should keep your challenges focused on the task at hand.
Good luck!
Challenge
Design a card (of any type) whose flavor is aligned with your game of choice that uses a sentence or concept (e.g. “End the turn” on Time Stop) never before seen on a card.
For some clarity on what this means, if you designed a card that say creates tokens using life, we have seen that in Bitterblossom. We have not, however, seen a card that reverses turn orders.
PLEASE NOTE: This month we will continue with the mandatory Top 3 rule. Your card will receive NO POINTS in any round you fail to submit a Top 3 by the judging deadline. Submitting critiques will still be optional (but encouraged!), and will be worth 2 bonus points per round on its own.
Your Top 3
1. IcariiFA
2. Raptorchan
3. Void_nothing
Your final round submissions are due before Sunday, October 1, 23:59 EST.
Schedule Round 1 – Open to Everyone (August 27th – Sept 4th) Round 2 – Open to Everyone (Sept 5th – Sept 10th) Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due Sept 14th) Top 8 – Open to Top 8 finishers (Sept 15th – Sept 19th) Top 8 Critiques (Due Sept 22nd) Top 4 – Open to Top 4 finishers from last round (Sept 23rd – Sept 26th) Top 4 Critiques (Due Sept 28th) Final (End of month, winner determined by public poll)
Sultai Quads1BGU
Enchantment (M)
When Sultai Quads enters the battlefield, each player separates all permanents he or she controls to clusters (Whenever one or more permanents in a cluster leaves the cluster, its controller sacrifices all other permanents of this cluster). Each cluster formed this way should consist of four permanents if able.
Metamagic MasterWU
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Whenever a player casts a spell, if it would damage or destroy all creatures, you may have it damage or destroy any number of target creatures of your choice instead. (You can't target the same creature more than once.) "Only an amateur deals collateral damage."
2/2
Revered RunURW
Enchantment (M)
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, untap that creature. Until the beginning of your next turn, that creature gains indestructible and other effects you control apply twice to it. (For example, if you control a permanent with "Creatures you control get +2/+2," that effect causes that creature to get +4/+4.) "By the glaciers of Sejiri, I've never seen such a blow struck so illustriously!" - Rhen Sholos
First of all, my sincerest thanks go out to everyone who participated this month - this, my first, CCL was made particularly special by you all embracing my challenges and sharing in the ups and downs that come from riffing off of our favorite non-Magic games. I hope these challenges were fun or at the most, well, challenging and I am so excited to see what each of you come up with next! Finally, a particularly strong callout goes to our Top 3 (due to a tie in second place) competitors:
IcariiFA
Raptorchan
Void_nothing
You are all incredible designers who have quite a doozy of a challenge ahead of you left - since only one of you can be crowned this month’s champion.
Games are actually one of the most interesting phenomenons to look at from a perspective of evolutionary biology. While some games like chess, etc. largely have staying power in their rules set, many of them are constantly fluid and evolving as the game shifts and morphs to meet an ever changing demand. Simultaneously, games are struggling to maintain interest relative to one another - as time spent on one game takes away from time you can spend on another. All in all, the goal then of a designer is to (1) innovate and (2) immerse. Make it so your players are so in love with what you do by being fresh and exciting, that they are drawn to it and never want to leave.
We’ve definitely done rule alterations last round, changing preexisting conceptions of fundamental rules, and this challenge is a slightly different take, but one that I think is an important - and often difficult - distinction. Here you are not going to be changing a fundamental rule, but rather you are going to follow in the footsteps of a card like Time Stop - a card which did something entirely unprecedented. This is the definition of elegance, and I challenge you to embrace it as your model for design over the course of this final challenge.
PLEASE NOTE: that the choices you make in the first two rounds will softly determine some of your design stipulations if you advance to the Top 8 and beyond. This will not be a hard constraint, but should keep your challenges focused on the task at hand.
PLEASE NOTE: This month we will continue with the mandatory Top 3 rule. Your card will receive NO POINTS in any round you fail to submit a Top 3 by the judging deadline. Submitting critiques will still be optional (but encouraged!), and will be worth 2 bonus points per round on its own.
Your Top 3
1. IcariiFA
2. Raptorchan
3. Void_nothing
Round 1 – Open to Everyone (August 27th – Sept 4th)
Round 2 – Open to Everyone (Sept 5th – Sept 10th)
Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due Sept 14th)
Top 8 – Open to Top 8 finishers (Sept 15th – Sept 19th)
Top 8 Critiques (Due Sept 22nd)
Top 4 – Open to Top 4 finishers from last round (Sept 23rd – Sept 26th)
Top 4 Critiques (Due Sept 28th)
Final (End of month, winner determined by public poll)
Enchantment (M)
When Sultai Quads enters the battlefield, each player separates all permanents he or she controls to clusters (Whenever one or more permanents in a cluster leaves the cluster, its controller sacrifices all other permanents of this cluster). Each cluster formed this way should consist of four permanents if able.
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Whenever a player casts a spell, if it would damage or destroy all creatures, you may have it damage or destroy any number of target creatures of your choice instead. (You can't target the same creature more than once.)
"Only an amateur deals collateral damage."
2/2
Revered Run URW
Enchantment (M)
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, untap that creature. Until the beginning of your next turn, that creature gains indestructible and other effects you control apply twice to it. (For example, if you control a permanent with "Creatures you control get +2/+2," that effect causes that creature to get +4/+4.)
"By the glaciers of Sejiri, I've never seen such a blow struck so illustriously!" - Rhen Sholos
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝