It's a brand new year, so everything this month will require you to do something new! Start those resolutions and get ready, because you'll have to wind your gears around for that fresh take on card design!
Challenge
Design a card that uses a new type of counter.
Counter as in +1/+1, -1/-1, Time, Experience, etc... NOT a counterspell.
Make sure to include a rarity.
Stay tuned for Decembers's CCL Final Poll. Anyone who votes will receive 2 bonus points for Januarys's CCL!
PLEASE NOTE: This month will continue the use of the "Mandatory Top 3 Rule." For this month, you must submit a Top 3 during a round's critique period in order to receive any points for the round. Submitting critiques as well will be worth 2 bonus points in the round.
Your submissions are due Thursday, January 18th, 23:59 EST.
Schedule
Round 1 — Open to Everyone (December 31th-January 5th)
Round 2 — Open to Everyone (January 6th–11th)
Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due January 14th)
Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (January 15th–18th)
Top 8 Critiques (Due January 21th)
Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers from last round (January 22st–25th)
Top 4 Critiques (Due January 27th)
Final (End of month, winner determined by public poll)
Ambitious Recruit2GW
Creature — Human Soldier (U)
Vigilance
Mature (At the beginning of your upkeep, put a maturity counter on this creature.)
As long as Ambitious Recruit has a maturity counter on it, other creatures you control get +1/+1. If Ambitious Recruit has four more maturity counters on it, those creatures get +2/+2 instead.
2/4
(22 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019
(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)
Muraganda Ooze4BG
Creature - Ooze (R)
Deathtouch
When Muraganda Ooze enters the battlefield, inoculate up to two target creatures. (Put an amnesia counter on this permanent. It loses all abilities for as long as it has an amnesia counter on it. An inoculated creature with no base power or toughness has base power or toughness 1.)
Creatures you control with no abilities get +2/+2.
4/4
Inoculate is a UBG mechanic, set in Muraganda. I envision Black and Blue as colors that inoculate creatures, and Green as a color that inoculates non-creature permanents.
Blurr of Identities2U Enchantment (Rare)
At the beginning of combat, the attacking player puts a switcheroo counter on a creature he or she controls and one on a creature he or she doesn't control.
Whenever a creature with a switcheroo counter on it attacks, its controler chooses a creature with a switcheroo counter on it an opponent controls. The attacking creature becomes a copy of the chosen creature until end of turn.
Faithful Acolyte - W
Creature - Human Cleric (Rare)
When Faithful Acolyte enters the battlefield, if you control a Planeswalker, put a morale counter on faithful acolyte.
If Faithful Acolyte has a morale counter on it, it gets +2/+0 and has first strike.
2/1 Inspiration can be the most powerful force in the multiverse.
Crane Society Sniper1WR
Creature - Bird Archer (U)
Flying
Focus (When this creature enters the battlefield, put a bullseye counter on target permanent.)
Whenever Crane Society Sniper attacks, for each permanent with a bullseye counter on it, you may have Crane Society Sniper deal 1 damage to that permanent.
2/2
Nurturing Elemental G
Creature-Elemental (U)
When Nurturing Elemental enters the battlefield, put a territory counter on target land.
Lands you control with territory counters on them have "T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool"
1/1
MagmafracturingR
Enchantment (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, distribute two mineral counters among one or two target lands.
At the beginning of your end step, put a mineral counter on each land with one or more mineral counters on it.
Whenever a land with six or more mineral counters on it is tapped for mana, its controller sacrifices it. If it had ten or more mineral counters on it, that land deals X damage to its controller and add X R to that player's mana pool, where X is half the number of mineral counters on it, rounded up. If it had fourteen or more mineral counters on it, exile its controller's hand and that player draws fourteen cards.
Sorry if thete's something odd. I'm in the middle of nowhere with extremely limited internet connection,
King Arno, Lord of War3WR
Legendary Creature - Human Knight
First strike, lifelink
Whenever you cast King Arno, Lord of War, if it is your commander, put an accolade counter on another creature you control. For as long as a creature has an accolade counter on it, it has "Combat damage dealt by this creature counts as commander damage dealt by King Arno"
3/3
kjsharp - I was skeptical at first but that sweet little clause you added at the end of inoculate really sold me; "loses all abilities" is solid design space and since you wrapped up the big rules problem, I like this mechanic and this card. Only thing I don't like is the name, as "inoculate" doesn't really capture the amnesia/memory loss/identity wipe flavor very well. Muraganda Ooze itself is fun - definitely a Limited bomb with much less Constructed application except in wacky Commander decks. Altogether a versatile Timmy/Johnny card, which I appreciate wholeheartedly.
willows - Focus is sweet! I'd like the flavor/aesthetic a little better if the mechanic were called bullseye and it made focus counters, but c'est la vie. A parasitic mechanic, to be sure, but the card works perfectly fine on its own and every set needs a little bit of parasitism at least, in order to have cohesive mechanical themes that people can build around. Crane Society Sniper is interesting, an efficient pinger that can only get one creature or planeswalker, at least on its own - surely a solid Limited beater.
Flatline - Mature is very bland; feels like a core set mechanic. It's serviceable enough but would be more interesting if it used an established counter type, like level or time counters, although of course that is not in keeping with the challenge. Ambitious Recruit has an odd name since it's never boosting itself... I guess the flavor is supposed to be about ambitions to generalship? Fine card, highly similar to Kabira Vindicator almost to the point of being a ripoff.
Hemlock - A fun card with a commander-only ability. Accolade counter is definitely the right name/flavor, and I like expanding design space for variant format specificity. Could one grief with this? I dunno, the ability seems pretty safe but it's untested space.
Sheoldred - Not your best effort. The name is very bland - "Nurturing Elemental" seems like a playtest name - and the ability is obviously quite minor. I like the idea of a mana dork that's not quite a mana dork, but imo things like Orochi Leafcaller do this same design space better.
TheDrB - That is quite swingy - certainly not to extremes as W for a vanilla 2/1 is "good enough," and the condition is perhaps difficult enough to achieve because there will probably never be a one-mana planeswalker and probably not a playable one at CMC 2, but a 4/1 first strike for one mana is, I dunno... it seems like it would lead to some unfair boards. Giving a pure power boost to a creature that already has power greater than toughness makes the whole thing feel more red than white, too.
Antiantiserum - An interesting wacky chaos card, but the counter type name seems too humorous for normal Magic and this definitely isn't designed like an Un-card.
Great designs guys. Really enjoyed reading these cards.
1) Flatline: I'm not "excited" about this mechanic, but sometimes it's small steps that open up design space and lead to fun experiences. Within 5 years I presume we will see your mechanic printed in roughly the same form - it's basically attaching more minor suspend benefits to a permanent. Like suspend, I think it introduces some interesting tension to gameplay. More exciting to play with than to read, I suspect (kind of like Ascend actually). A nice submission.
An idea: what if the maturity counters, when reaching a certain threshold, made the card flip into something else? I was personally working with a mechanic called "Ascend" for this round in which, upon meeting a certain condition N times, it flipped and you became the Monarch.
-------------
2) Antiantiserum: My hunch is that you took a fun interesting concept that you had created independent of the challenge and jammed it into the challenge. Once you introduce counters to this card and thereby increase its influence on the battlefield turn after turn, tracking and combat become a nightmare (especially in paper. Online I think this could be okay). The card just takes up too much time and mental energy turn after turn after turn. Perhaps consider the following: Blur of IdentitiesU
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of combat on each player's turn, that player may have one of his or her creatures become a copy of a creature an opponent controls.
Or just make it an aura.
-------------------------
3)TheDr.B: Good card. Balanced in my opinion, since aggressive decks usually aren't playing planeswalkers. I like that this is an aggressive card that pushes deck construction in a different direction - in that sense it's very reminiscent of Toolcraft Exemplar. That's a good strategy for balancing Standard environments, and in fact your card looks very printable (Great job!). I don't believe this card should be a card that uses a counter though. It should simply read: "Faithful Acolyte gets +2/+0 and has first strike as long as you control a planeswalker." In a future version of the card I'd hone the flavor a bit - the flavor is more befitting a common or uncommon than a rare. Great submission
------------------
4) Willows: One of the more creative entries, and one that gets my designer juices flowing. Even though I think the flavor is off and would like to see the names of "focus" and "bullseye" rejiggered (snipers target their targets, they don't do incidental damage to them), the mechanic is novel and there's a great mechanic that can be found somewhere in this space. I'm still musing over the mechanic and some cool directions to take it. This is a concept I will for sure add to the design file.
------------------
5) Sheoldred: I tried working in this space a little bit with some of my brainstorm designs for this round, and I never came up with something I liked. Yours is better than the ones I had come up with. "Building your kingdom" visually with these counters is immersive, and I think there is a reasonable amount of design space to explore here. I'd be excited to see other cards with this mechanic since the card you provided isn't really showing the ability off. Thanks for sharing. This is a mechanic I'll be making a mental note of, one that I'm eager to explore further.
--------------------
6) void_nothing: Interesting card. Good name, good flavor. I don't know if you saw my earlier designs for this round, but I was initially trying to work with "dig" or "tunnel" counters and really failing at it, and I really like how you're applying them here. I think the first step to improving this card will be to center the counters on the enchantment itself rather than the lands. The second step would be to consider the card at different casting costs and doing a cost benefit analysis at the various casting costs (a higher casting cost would allow for a more immediate effect).
To help jumpstart your thinking: Magmafracturing2R
Enchantment (M)
Whenever you spend mana produced by a land you control, place a mineral counter on Magmafracturing.
Sacrifice Magmafracturing: Sacrifice any number of lands. Draw X cards and deal X damage to each creature, where X is the number of lands sacrificed this way. Activate this ability only if there are ten or more mineral counters on Magmafracturing.
------------------- 7)Hemlock: Like void_nothing's entry from the last round, I don't like the mechanic as written but I see a few alternatives that I think would be really great. I definitely want to get the ability off of commanders qua commanders - it's too constraining that way, and I don't think folks would be excited about it. Let's see how we can build on your idea though!
a) Lieutenant (As long as your commander is on the battlefield, damage King Arno deals counts as commander damage.)
b) Lieutenant (You may band King Arno with your Commander)
c) Lieutenant (This creature becomes partnered with your Commander as its Lieutenant. Treat it like a Commander for the rest of the game. If another creature becomes your commander's Lieutenant, this creature is no longer your commander's Lieutenant.)
I was actually playing around a little bit with a similar concept to (c) for this round. Anywho, let me know what you think! I really like the creativity here, and I think the idea has real legs and merit!
Flatline: I guess this is okay. It does not provoke any strong reaction from me.
kjsharp: So I guess to me this feels like a terminology miss (inoculate??? What does vaccination), and on top of that it’s a good solution for a problem that didn’t need solving (vanilla creatures are a bad theme), so on balance, you did a good job with the problem you posed yourself, but I think you’d have made a better showing by attacking a different problem.
Antiantiserum: You met the challenge.
TheDrB: I’m honestly not sure why this uses a tracking counter instead of a static ability that checks if you control a walker right now. Can you walk me through the thought process?
Self:this card is great 10/10
Sheoldred: This is pretty cool. I think a word other than ‘territory’ is called for, since conceptually I feel like “all the lands you control” are your territory.
void_nothing: Voidy did you try a render of this? That card text is breathtakingly long. I assume it’s intended to do something neat but it’s so overwhelming that it’s hard to figure out how to use the card.
Hemlock: Man I hate commander but this is delightful. Great job.
kjsharp - I like the pseudo-removal capacity here (although two creatures nerfed, plus a big body seems a bit pushed). I definitely would push for a rename of the mechanic, as an inoculation giving you amnesia seems bad. Not to mention that Wizards would probably get flack if people saw it as a 'vaccines/autism' analogy.
void_nothing - I got lost a few times reading through this, which is not a good sign. Just so much going on, it seems very prone to confusion/misplays.
willows - This is nice, and very reminiscent of one of the first things I wanted when I learned how to play: the ability to attack creatures directly. That said, the one damage on this example seems underwhelming.
Flatline - Solid overall. I like the concept well enough, but I feel like a better example of the capabilities would have been helpful.
Hemlock - As a pretty compulsive EDH player, I love abilities that expand that space. That said, this is a pretty scary ability that could get out of control very quickly if not tightly controlled.
Sheoldred - This is pretty solid. I would definitely want a rename to evoke the ability. I think the last time I had a similar (much worse) thought was 'blossom' counters.
Antiantiserum - Again, I got a bit lost on this. Definitely confusion inducing to me.
Flatline: Simple and quite usable. Can add some stallbreaker value to stuff. It may overlap a bit in design with cummulative upkerp, but this id cleaner and more simple.
Void_nothing: reminds me to orchish mine. I love how you punish your opponent hard for postponing the inevitable. That saod, I think that the mechanic to place the counters needs some tweaking.
Antiantiserym: Chaos everywhere, I think this should reference the swircheroo card.
Kjsharp: Nice. It can be used on your creatures and on your opponent's, as your card shows. Only thing that removing abilities is a blue-white ability, mostly.
The DrB: I think that you should have provided an extra card or two to showcase what can be done wuth morale, because in one hand it feels very flavorful, but in the other the card alone lacks shine.
Willows: A bit like rhe new dinosaur that uses prry counters, but this is better. I might tweak the names a bit to show that the creature has been marked and will get attacked.
Sheoldref: I guess territory counters are to +1/+1 counters what fortifications are yo equipments. This needs some heavy support as a mechanic, and as a one-of is fine, too. Not super exciting but usable.
As other have said, inoculate does not mean what you seem to think it does. That said, this card s quite interesting, and takes the Muragand Petroglyphs thing, which has been riffed on by many amateur designers in a direction I haven't seen before. This cards main failing is in power level, as it acts as an anthem for your tokens, soft removal for two creatures and a solid body.
Your card is interesting, and could lead to cool gameplay, but loses itself in complexity. In addition, it forces you to make a gamble that could turn out rather badly; you want to play it as soon as you can, but it can punish you if you get mana screwed.
A simple, flavorful Hunter of Eyeblights variant. I in particular like how it expands on Red and White in a new direction,
allowing them to accrue long game advantage outside of spamming tokens.
A solid card, but the mechanic feels far too close to Level Up for me.
A cool twist on a commander mechanic that hasn't been played with much so far. However, Arno's colors seem rather off, as the RW commander damage gameplan is centered on voltron. If he were green or blue, he would lead to far more interesting deckbuilding, whether centered on the former's plethora of fatties or the latter's evasion.
A simple and powerful card; it is rare to see, even among official cards, a planewalkers matter card that works well in limited.
Interesting and clever, but seems like the kind of card that everyone hates in EDH, and never plays anywhere else.
I ended up writing "cool flavour" on each entry. To put that up front: I liked all new counters a lot.
Flatline, maturity counter: Cool new take on level up, without further investment.
kjsharp, amnesia counter: Muraganda probably is difficult to design, as cards with now abilites are ... bland. This is a nice idea to solve this problem. However, I don't fully understand the color selection. Blue yes, green maybe, but black? There's no precedent for that, is there? Also, is it necessary to expand "no abilities" to noncreatures? I'd like to learn more about the design process. Oh, and "put an amnesia counter on this permanent" in the flavour text, wouldn't that apply to the Ooze?
TheDrB, morale counter: First I think of Glory-Bound Initiate here. Your card is okey in limited, even without a planeswalker and can be quite powerful in constructed.
willows, bullseye counter: If this was just an ETB ping creature, it, as a single card, would feel the same to me on the first look. But besides the 1 thoughness creatures, this actually influences each following combat step and makes blocking math for the opponent more challenging. You could say they have to focus more.
Sheoldred, territory counter: Do all territory counters lead to lands that make all the colors? Or is this more like a sliver ability and lands receive more abilites in the course of a game? The latter could be pretty interesting.
void_nothing, mineral counter: What this card does with opposing lands has a blue vibe to it, players can't use their mana in a timeframe if they want to get the benefits one can read about at the far end of the card. If you only use it on one of your lands however, it takes you 5 turns to get 14 extra cards? In a red deck that now also has all the manas. A very complex but also funny card.
Hemlock, accolade counter: The idea of an additional source of commander damage was sitting in my head for a while. This concept resonates with me.
kjsharp - Good job getting around the inherent rules issue that comes with eliminating a creature's abilities. Inoculate seemes like a pretty cool ability. The lord ability seems like it is intended to combo with inoculate, but I don't see a lot of instances in which you would want to inoculate your own creatures, although I suppose it isn't beyond the realm of possibility. It's interesting that the lord ability counters inoculate to some degree if your opponent is also runninf it. At first I didn't really like that, but the idea has grown on me the more I've thought about it. I'd like to see what a vanilla creature themed set would like. I think it could be fun if done correctly.
Antiantiserum - This card is very confusing, and the first ability isn't worded correctly. I'm wondering if this is the only card intended to use switcharoo counters?
TheDrB - Unless you intend to use morale counters as a recurring mechanic in a set, I would recommend just making this a static ability. That said, I don't recommend trying to use morale counters as a recurring mechanic. There just aren't enough planeswalkers in a typical set for the ability to be relevant in limited, unless you started making uncommon planeswalkers, which I definitely don't recommend. There are situations in which this card is more powerful the way you have it (ie. - when the planewalker leaves the battlefield after playing this), but there are also situations in which it is more powerful as a static ability (ie - when you want to play this early, before you control a planewalker). In summation, this isn't bad as a one-off in set, but I wouldn't make it a recurring mechanic.
willows - Focus is pretty neat. I've done soemthing somewhat similar with an ability called watch, except that watch is just soulbond, but with an opponent's creature. I would've liked to see a more interesting card with the ability, but it certainly isn't bad.
Sheoldred - This is another entry that I feel like the ability would just be a one-off, particularly becuase it really only makes sense in green. This card is fine, but nothing very exciting.
void_nothing - Whuh? Does this even fit on a card? There is just too much going on here.
Hemlock - I despise commander damage, but it is a thing, and I can see this sort of ability be printed, so good work. I think it would be fine to remove the clause about Arno being you commander though. I think it would be fine to drop this as long as there aren't a lot of creatures with the ability, which I assume there wouldn't be more than a few in each combination of colors. Last but not least, your card has no rarity. I assume it would be a mythic or rare? I'm not sure it seems powerful enough to be a mythic though.
1st: kjsharp
2nd: Hemlock
3rd: willows
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
(22 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019
(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)
January CCL 2018 Top 8 - The Annual Counter
Welcome to the Card Creation League! This round is for the top 8 only! Feel free to watch and comment in the CCL discussion thread!
Out Top 8:
kjsharp
void_nothing
willows
Flatline
Hemlock
Sheoldred
TheDrB
Antiantiserum
Theme
It's a brand new year, so everything this month will require you to do something new! Start those resolutions and get ready, because you'll have to wind your gears around for that fresh take on card design!
Challenge
Stay tuned for Decembers's CCL Final Poll. Anyone who votes will receive 2 bonus points for Januarys's CCL!
PLEASE NOTE: This month will continue the use of the "Mandatory Top 3 Rule." For this month, you must submit a Top 3 during a round's critique period in order to receive any points for the round. Submitting critiques as well will be worth 2 bonus points in the round.
Schedule
Creature — Human Soldier (U)
Vigilance
Mature (At the beginning of your upkeep, put a maturity counter on this creature.)
As long as Ambitious Recruit has a maturity counter on it, other creatures you control get +1/+1. If Ambitious Recruit has four more maturity counters on it, those creatures get +2/+2 instead.
2/4
Creature - Ooze (R)
Deathtouch
When Muraganda Ooze enters the battlefield, inoculate up to two target creatures. (Put an amnesia counter on this permanent. It loses all abilities for as long as it has an amnesia counter on it. An inoculated creature with no base power or toughness has base power or toughness 1.)
Creatures you control with no abilities get +2/+2.
4/4
Enchantment (Rare)
At the beginning of combat, the attacking player puts a switcheroo counter on a creature he or she controls and one on a creature he or she doesn't control.
Whenever a creature with a switcheroo counter on it attacks, its controler chooses a creature with a switcheroo counter on it an opponent controls. The attacking creature becomes a copy of the chosen creature until end of turn.
Creature - Human Cleric (Rare)
When Faithful Acolyte enters the battlefield, if you control a Planeswalker, put a morale counter on faithful acolyte.
If Faithful Acolyte has a morale counter on it, it gets +2/+0 and has first strike.
2/1
Inspiration can be the most powerful force in the multiverse.
Creature - Bird Archer (U)
Flying
Focus (When this creature enters the battlefield, put a bullseye counter on target permanent.)
Whenever Crane Society Sniper attacks, for each permanent with a bullseye counter on it, you may have Crane Society Sniper deal 1 damage to that permanent.
2/2
Creature-Elemental (U)
When Nurturing Elemental enters the battlefield, put a territory counter on target land.
Lands you control with territory counters on them have "T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool"
1/1
WBGGhave Sisters
BUG Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Reanimator
BBBSheoldred, Whispering One Swamps-matter ramp
Standard
UR Drake
Pauper
GW Bogle
Enchantment (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, distribute two mineral counters among one or two target lands.
At the beginning of your end step, put a mineral counter on each land with one or more mineral counters on it.
Whenever a land with six or more mineral counters on it is tapped for mana, its controller sacrifices it. If it had ten or more mineral counters on it, that land deals X damage to its controller and add X R to that player's mana pool, where X is half the number of mineral counters on it, rounded up. If it had fourteen or more mineral counters on it, exile its controller's hand and that player draws fourteen cards.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
King Arno, Lord of War 3WR
Legendary Creature - Human Knight
First strike, lifelink
Whenever you cast King Arno, Lord of War, if it is your commander, put an accolade counter on another creature you control. For as long as a creature has an accolade counter on it, it has "Combat damage dealt by this creature counts as commander damage dealt by King Arno"
3/3
kjsharp - I was skeptical at first but that sweet little clause you added at the end of inoculate really sold me; "loses all abilities" is solid design space and since you wrapped up the big rules problem, I like this mechanic and this card. Only thing I don't like is the name, as "inoculate" doesn't really capture the amnesia/memory loss/identity wipe flavor very well. Muraganda Ooze itself is fun - definitely a Limited bomb with much less Constructed application except in wacky Commander decks. Altogether a versatile Timmy/Johnny card, which I appreciate wholeheartedly.
willows - Focus is sweet! I'd like the flavor/aesthetic a little better if the mechanic were called bullseye and it made focus counters, but c'est la vie. A parasitic mechanic, to be sure, but the card works perfectly fine on its own and every set needs a little bit of parasitism at least, in order to have cohesive mechanical themes that people can build around. Crane Society Sniper is interesting, an efficient pinger that can only get one creature or planeswalker, at least on its own - surely a solid Limited beater.
Flatline - Mature is very bland; feels like a core set mechanic. It's serviceable enough but would be more interesting if it used an established counter type, like level or time counters, although of course that is not in keeping with the challenge. Ambitious Recruit has an odd name since it's never boosting itself... I guess the flavor is supposed to be about ambitions to generalship? Fine card, highly similar to Kabira Vindicator almost to the point of being a ripoff.
Hemlock - A fun card with a commander-only ability. Accolade counter is definitely the right name/flavor, and I like expanding design space for variant format specificity. Could one grief with this? I dunno, the ability seems pretty safe but it's untested space.
Sheoldred - Not your best effort. The name is very bland - "Nurturing Elemental" seems like a playtest name - and the ability is obviously quite minor. I like the idea of a mana dork that's not quite a mana dork, but imo things like Orochi Leafcaller do this same design space better.
TheDrB - That is quite swingy - certainly not to extremes as W for a vanilla 2/1 is "good enough," and the condition is perhaps difficult enough to achieve because there will probably never be a one-mana planeswalker and probably not a playable one at CMC 2, but a 4/1 first strike for one mana is, I dunno... it seems like it would lead to some unfair boards. Giving a pure power boost to a creature that already has power greater than toughness makes the whole thing feel more red than white, too.
Antiantiserum - An interesting wacky chaos card, but the counter type name seems too humorous for normal Magic and this definitely isn't designed like an Un-card.
1. kjsharp
2. willows
3. Hemlock
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
An idea: what if the maturity counters, when reaching a certain threshold, made the card flip into something else? I was personally working with a mechanic called "Ascend" for this round in which, upon meeting a certain condition N times, it flipped and you became the Monarch.
-------------
2) Antiantiserum: My hunch is that you took a fun interesting concept that you had created independent of the challenge and jammed it into the challenge. Once you introduce counters to this card and thereby increase its influence on the battlefield turn after turn, tracking and combat become a nightmare (especially in paper. Online I think this could be okay). The card just takes up too much time and mental energy turn after turn after turn. Perhaps consider the following:
Blur of Identities U
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of combat on each player's turn, that player may have one of his or her creatures become a copy of a creature an opponent controls.
Or just make it an aura.
-------------------------
3)TheDr.B: Good card. Balanced in my opinion, since aggressive decks usually aren't playing planeswalkers. I like that this is an aggressive card that pushes deck construction in a different direction - in that sense it's very reminiscent of Toolcraft Exemplar. That's a good strategy for balancing Standard environments, and in fact your card looks very printable (Great job!). I don't believe this card should be a card that uses a counter though. It should simply read: "Faithful Acolyte gets +2/+0 and has first strike as long as you control a planeswalker." In a future version of the card I'd hone the flavor a bit - the flavor is more befitting a common or uncommon than a rare. Great submission
------------------
4) Willows: One of the more creative entries, and one that gets my designer juices flowing. Even though I think the flavor is off and would like to see the names of "focus" and "bullseye" rejiggered (snipers target their targets, they don't do incidental damage to them), the mechanic is novel and there's a great mechanic that can be found somewhere in this space. I'm still musing over the mechanic and some cool directions to take it. This is a concept I will for sure add to the design file.
------------------
5) Sheoldred: I tried working in this space a little bit with some of my brainstorm designs for this round, and I never came up with something I liked. Yours is better than the ones I had come up with. "Building your kingdom" visually with these counters is immersive, and I think there is a reasonable amount of design space to explore here. I'd be excited to see other cards with this mechanic since the card you provided isn't really showing the ability off. Thanks for sharing. This is a mechanic I'll be making a mental note of, one that I'm eager to explore further.
--------------------
6) void_nothing: Interesting card. Good name, good flavor. I don't know if you saw my earlier designs for this round, but I was initially trying to work with "dig" or "tunnel" counters and really failing at it, and I really like how you're applying them here. I think the first step to improving this card will be to center the counters on the enchantment itself rather than the lands. The second step would be to consider the card at different casting costs and doing a cost benefit analysis at the various casting costs (a higher casting cost would allow for a more immediate effect).
To help jumpstart your thinking:
Magmafracturing 2R
Enchantment (M)
Whenever you spend mana produced by a land you control, place a mineral counter on Magmafracturing.
Sacrifice Magmafracturing: Sacrifice any number of lands. Draw X cards and deal X damage to each creature, where X is the number of lands sacrificed this way. Activate this ability only if there are ten or more mineral counters on Magmafracturing.
-------------------
7)Hemlock: Like void_nothing's entry from the last round, I don't like the mechanic as written but I see a few alternatives that I think would be really great. I definitely want to get the ability off of commanders qua commanders - it's too constraining that way, and I don't think folks would be excited about it. Let's see how we can build on your idea though!
a) Lieutenant (As long as your commander is on the battlefield, damage King Arno deals counts as commander damage.)
b) Lieutenant (You may band King Arno with your Commander)
c) Lieutenant (This creature becomes partnered with your Commander as its Lieutenant. Treat it like a Commander for the rest of the game. If another creature becomes your commander's Lieutenant, this creature is no longer your commander's Lieutenant.)
I was actually playing around a little bit with a similar concept to (c) for this round. Anywho, let me know what you think! I really like the creativity here, and I think the idea has real legs and merit!
2) Flatline
3) Willows
kjsharp: So I guess to me this feels like a terminology miss (inoculate??? What does vaccination), and on top of that it’s a good solution for a problem that didn’t need solving (vanilla creatures are a bad theme), so on balance, you did a good job with the problem you posed yourself, but I think you’d have made a better showing by attacking a different problem.
Antiantiserum: You met the challenge.
TheDrB: I’m honestly not sure why this uses a tracking counter instead of a static ability that checks if you control a walker right now. Can you walk me through the thought process?
Self: this card is great 10/10
Sheoldred: This is pretty cool. I think a word other than ‘territory’ is called for, since conceptually I feel like “all the lands you control” are your territory.
void_nothing: Voidy did you try a render of this? That card text is breathtakingly long. I assume it’s intended to do something neat but it’s so overwhelming that it’s hard to figure out how to use the card.
Hemlock: Man I hate commander but this is delightful. Great job.
2. Sheoldred
3. TheDrB
kjsharp - I like the pseudo-removal capacity here (although two creatures nerfed, plus a big body seems a bit pushed). I definitely would push for a rename of the mechanic, as an inoculation giving you amnesia seems bad. Not to mention that Wizards would probably get flack if people saw it as a 'vaccines/autism' analogy.
void_nothing - I got lost a few times reading through this, which is not a good sign. Just so much going on, it seems very prone to confusion/misplays.
willows - This is nice, and very reminiscent of one of the first things I wanted when I learned how to play: the ability to attack creatures directly. That said, the one damage on this example seems underwhelming.
Flatline - Solid overall. I like the concept well enough, but I feel like a better example of the capabilities would have been helpful.
Hemlock - As a pretty compulsive EDH player, I love abilities that expand that space. That said, this is a pretty scary ability that could get out of control very quickly if not tightly controlled.
Sheoldred - This is pretty solid. I would definitely want a rename to evoke the ability. I think the last time I had a similar (much worse) thought was 'blossom' counters.
Antiantiserum - Again, I got a bit lost on this. Definitely confusion inducing to me.
1. Flatline
2. willows
3. Sheoldred
Void_nothing: reminds me to orchish mine. I love how you punish your opponent hard for postponing the inevitable. That saod, I think that the mechanic to place the counters needs some tweaking.
Antiantiserym: Chaos everywhere, I think this should reference the swircheroo card.
Kjsharp: Nice. It can be used on your creatures and on your opponent's, as your card shows. Only thing that removing abilities is a blue-white ability, mostly.
The DrB: I think that you should have provided an extra card or two to showcase what can be done wuth morale, because in one hand it feels very flavorful, but in the other the card alone lacks shine.
Willows: A bit like rhe new dinosaur that uses prry counters, but this is better. I might tweak the names a bit to show that the creature has been marked and will get attacked.
Sheoldref: I guess territory counters are to +1/+1 counters what fortifications are yo equipments. This needs some heavy support as a mechanic, and as a one-of is fine, too. Not super exciting but usable.
Top 3
Kjsharp
Flatline
Willows
allowing them to accrue long game advantage outside of spamming tokens.
1 Willows
2 TheDrB
3 Flatline
WBGGhave Sisters
BUG Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Reanimator
BBBSheoldred, Whispering One Swamps-matter ramp
Standard
UR Drake
Pauper
GW Bogle
I ended up writing "cool flavour" on each entry. To put that up front: I liked all new counters a lot.
Flatline, maturity counter: Cool new take on level up, without further investment.
kjsharp, amnesia counter: Muraganda probably is difficult to design, as cards with now abilites are ... bland. This is a nice idea to solve this problem. However, I don't fully understand the color selection. Blue yes, green maybe, but black? There's no precedent for that, is there? Also, is it necessary to expand "no abilities" to noncreatures? I'd like to learn more about the design process. Oh, and "put an amnesia counter on this permanent" in the flavour text, wouldn't that apply to the Ooze?
TheDrB, morale counter: First I think of Glory-Bound Initiate here. Your card is okey in limited, even without a planeswalker and can be quite powerful in constructed.
willows, bullseye counter: If this was just an ETB ping creature, it, as a single card, would feel the same to me on the first look. But besides the 1 thoughness creatures, this actually influences each following combat step and makes blocking math for the opponent more challenging. You could say they have to focus more.
Sheoldred, territory counter: Do all territory counters lead to lands that make all the colors? Or is this more like a sliver ability and lands receive more abilites in the course of a game? The latter could be pretty interesting.
void_nothing, mineral counter: What this card does with opposing lands has a blue vibe to it, players can't use their mana in a timeframe if they want to get the benefits one can read about at the far end of the card. If you only use it on one of your lands however, it takes you 5 turns to get 14 extra cards? In a red deck that now also has all the manas. A very complex but also funny card.
Hemlock, accolade counter: The idea of an additional source of commander damage was sitting in my head for a while. This concept resonates with me.
1. Hemlock
2. kjsharp
3. void_nothing
Antiantiserum - This card is very confusing, and the first ability isn't worded correctly. I'm wondering if this is the only card intended to use switcharoo counters?
TheDrB - Unless you intend to use morale counters as a recurring mechanic in a set, I would recommend just making this a static ability. That said, I don't recommend trying to use morale counters as a recurring mechanic. There just aren't enough planeswalkers in a typical set for the ability to be relevant in limited, unless you started making uncommon planeswalkers, which I definitely don't recommend. There are situations in which this card is more powerful the way you have it (ie. - when the planewalker leaves the battlefield after playing this), but there are also situations in which it is more powerful as a static ability (ie - when you want to play this early, before you control a planewalker). In summation, this isn't bad as a one-off in set, but I wouldn't make it a recurring mechanic.
willows - Focus is pretty neat. I've done soemthing somewhat similar with an ability called watch, except that watch is just soulbond, but with an opponent's creature. I would've liked to see a more interesting card with the ability, but it certainly isn't bad.
Sheoldred - This is another entry that I feel like the ability would just be a one-off, particularly becuase it really only makes sense in green. This card is fine, but nothing very exciting.
void_nothing - Whuh? Does this even fit on a card? There is just too much going on here.
Hemlock - I despise commander damage, but it is a thing, and I can see this sort of ability be printed, so good work. I think it would be fine to remove the clause about Arno being you commander though. I think it would be fine to drop this as long as there aren't a lot of creatures with the ability, which I assume there wouldn't be more than a few in each combination of colors. Last but not least, your card has no rarity. I assume it would be a mythic or rare? I'm not sure it seems powerful enough to be a mythic though.
2nd: Hemlock
3rd: willows
kjsharp
willows
Flatline
Hemlock