(This banner is my own elaboration on the art of the card Urza's Ruinous Blast by Noah Bradley.)
June MCC Round 4 (Finals)
I am Legend
If you notice, two mechanics from Dominaria are still missing: legendary sorceries and kicker. As we only have one round left, let's try to see what happens when we put them together.
Main Challenge - Design a legendary sorcery.
Subchallenge 1 - Your card is multicolored.
Subchallenge 2 - Your card has kicker.
• Remember the rules about legendary sorceries: you must control a legendary creature or planeswalker in order to cast the legendary sorcery in the first place.
• The main challenge requires the card to be a sorcery. You cannot design a legendary instant.
• Subchallenge 1 cares about the colors in the mana cost, NOT the card's color identity. In other words, mana symbols in the rules text do NOT count.
• Hybrid mana is acceptable for subchallenge 1.
• A card that grants kicker to other spells but does not have kicker itself does NOT pass subchallenge 2. The challenge requires the card to have kicker itself.
• A monocolored card that has an off-color kicker passes subchallenge 2 but NOT subchallenge 1.
• If you have any other question that's not covered here, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.
Design - (X/3) Appeal: Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card? (X/3) Elegance: Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development - (X/3) Viability: How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity? (X/3) Balance: Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity - (X/3) Uniqueness: Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel “fresh”? (X/3) Flavor: Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish - (X/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating. (X/2) *Main Challenge: Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge? (X/2) Subchallenges: One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
DEADLINES
Design Deadline: All submissions are to be final and submitted by Saturday, June 30rd 11:59 PM EST Judging Deadline: All judgements are to be final and completed by Wednesday, July 4th 11:59 PM EST
JUDGES
bravelion83
Antiantiserum
void_nothing
PLAYERS
Gerrard's Mom
netn10
Raptorchan
The_Hittite
All judges will judge every entry. The player with the highest total score will be the winner.
A helpful tip for those formatting their cards (I wrote it quite some time ago but it's still totally valid):
A reminder to everyone: In the MCC, putting rarity on cards is mandatory! If you don't put a rarity on your card, expect huge deductions in both Viability AND Quality.
Also, you should format your text cards accordingly to the forum rules (see the "this formatting looks best" spoiler in the linked OP). Again, expect deductions in Quality otherwise.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Aurelia's Last Stand1RW
Legendary Sorcery [M] (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker—Pay life equal to your life total minus 1.
Create three 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste. Aurelia's Last Stand deals 3 damage to target creature. If this spell was kicked, instants, other sorceries, and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Xenagos's Great Revel5RG
Legendary Sorcery (M) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker RG
Each player exiles the top seven cards of their library and puts all creature cards from among them onto the battlefield.
If this spell was kicked, gain control of each creature put onto the battlefield this way until end of turn. Untap those creatures. Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Bolas's Final Scheme4UBBR
Legendary Sorcery (Mythic) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker - Remove four loyalty counters from a Bolas planeswalker you control.
Each opponent exiles half the cards in their hand, then exiles half the permanents they control. Round up each time. If the kicker cost was paid, until end of turn, you may play cards exiled with Bolas's Final Scheme.
Garruk's Big HuntBG
Legendary Sorcery (R) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker 3(You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target legendary permanent an opponent controls. If this spell was kicked, destroy all legendary permanents your opponents control instead.
Submission phase is over. Judging can begin. All judges judge all entries.
Judgments complete, not final until deadline. My scores are really close this round, so I expect other judges' scores to be determinant. That's not intentional on my part, but it's a testament of how good of a job all four of the contestants did.
Aurelia's Last Stand1RW
Legendary Sorcery [M] (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker—Pay life equal to your life total minus 1.
Create three 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste. Aurelia's Last Stand deals 3 damage to target creature. If this spell was kicked, instants, other sorceries, and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Design (2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy is really turned down by the kicker cost, but he likes the effects. Johnny likes the kicker cost and he can do a lot of things with the lifelink to instants and sorceries especially, and the tokens too. Spike likes the effects and has no problem with the kicker cost. If it can win her the game, she will gladly pay all but 1 of her life. (2/3) Elegance - As a 100% Melvin, my eye immediately spots some details that make this card just feel right. For example, this deals 3 damage and creates three tokens. Nice symmetry there. Also, you pay almost all your life to kick this, and the kicker effect can give you some of that life back through lifelink. My only remarks here are wordiness and a little rules things about the kicker cost that might make it less intuitive to some players: if you're already at 1 life I don't think you can kick this for free. Actually, I think you can't kick it at all as you can't pay the cost.
Development (2/3) Viability - A white first effect, a red second effect, and a white kicker effect. The color pie is satisfied. This card looks certainly mythic. The only problem that might affect its printability is one Eli, the current rules manager, explained multiple times in the GDS3: less experienced players will resolve the effect one action at a time, and if a later sentence requires targets, they will choose them only when they get to that part of the effect, having already resolved what comes before, instead of choosing the targets before starting resolving, as the rules require. Eli explained that's the reason behind the so-called "reflexive triggers", which are worded with "When you do" like in Heart-Piercer Manticore from Amonkhet (the first card ever to use this wording technology in rules text). Here, the fix would actually be much more simple: just exchange the first sentence with the second, like the following.
Aurelia's Last Stand deals 3 damage to target creature. Create three 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste. If this spell was kicked, instants, other sorceries, and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Now the target choice is immediate even if you parse the text like a less experienced player would.
(2/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. I feel here we have both, so this might be playable if you have enough legends, both in limited and constructed. The kicker part is high risk high reward, and not all players will like that, especially more casual ones. No problems in multiplayer.
Creativity (2.5/3) Uniqueness - The kicker cost is definitely new. Giving lifelink to instants and sorceries has also been done only once before (Soulfire Grand Master). The other effects are nothing new, but the card feels original anyway thanks to the kicker part. (3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. No room for flavor text, so its absence is no problem.
Polish (2.5/3) Quality - Not sure if the wording of the last sentence only gives lifelink to things you control as this spell resolves or if it creates a static effect that gives lifelink also to things you cast after this in the turn. Intuition says you want this to be the latter, but is it in the rules? This is relevant because that ability works on instants and other sorceries and not just creatures, so what happens if you cast one after you've cast and resolved this in the same turn? I'd have to study this more and check the CR, for now I have no definitive answer so I'll give you no deduction for that for now. I might be coming back to this later. Also, you can only leave reminder text out from a non-evergreen keyword, such as kicker, if the card is mythic and there is no room for it, that is if putting it in causes the text in the text box to be over the line limit, or the font to be too small, which are actually two different ways to say the same thing. MSE shows me that there is room here, reaching but not going over the line limit, so it should be there (-0.5). (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 20.5/25
Xenagos's Great Revel5RG
Legendary Sorcery (M) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker RG
Each player exiles the top seven cards of their library and puts all creature cards from among them onto the battlefield.
If this spell was kicked, gain control of each creature put onto the battlefield this way until end of turn. Untap those creatures. Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Design (2/3) Appeal - Timmy just loves this card. I don't see much for Johnny here. Spike likes the effects but the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker just to be able to cast it on top of the already high mana cost are not insignificant to her. (2.5/3) Elegance - No problems here except for wordiness.
Development (2/3) Viability - No problem with this being mythic. I don't like how the colors are both present in the mana cost and the kicker cost here. The main effect is monogreen and something red just doesn't do. The kicker effect is monored (essentially Act of Treason) and doesn't need green. Red can give trample by itself just fine. I would have liked much more a monogreen mana cost with a monored kicker cost for this card. (2/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. In this card, the effect is certainly big even if symmetrical. I might be interested in trying this at a even lower base mana cost, maybe increasing the kicker cost (and adjusting the colors of the costs as previously mentioned). I see a big power difference between when this is kicked and when it's not, and that makes me even more interested in adjusting the costs that way. If you can deal with the high mana cost and the legendary sorcery drawback, this is definitely playable in limited and probably constructed (Standard) too. The cost is just too high for older formats. Casual players will have no problem with this. In multiplayer, the kicker part becomes even stronger with more players to steal creatures from.
Creativity (1.5/3) Uniqueness - Creature tutors and cards that can put creatures straight onto the battlefield in green are nothing new. As I've already mentioned, the kicker part is essentially Act of Treason plus a couple evergreen mechanics. Putting those two things together feels nice, but there is nothing technically new on this card. (3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. No room for flavor text, so its absence is no problem.
Polish (3/3) Quality - You can only leave reminder text out from a non-evergreen keyword, such as kicker, if the card is mythic and there is no room for it, that is if putting it in causes the text in the text box to be over the line limit, or the font to be too small, which are actually two different ways to say the same thing. MSE shows me this is exactly the case here, so you did the right thing leaving it out here and I'm just pointing this out. The rest is all good. (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 20/25
Bolas's Final Scheme4UBBR
Legendary Sorcery (Mythic) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker - Remove four loyalty counters from a Bolas planeswalker you control.
Each opponent exiles half the cards in their hand, then exiles half the permanents they control. Round up each time. If the kicker cost was paid, until end of turn, you may play cards exiled with Bolas's Final Scheme.
Design (2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes how this affects the board. Some Johnnies might be interested. Spike really likes this, but the high mana cost is a concern to her. Controlling a Bolas planeswalker and satisfying both the legendary sorcery requirement and the kicker cost at the same time is something both Johnny and Spike will like. (2.5/3) Elegance - No problems here except for wordiness.
Development (2.5/3) Viability - The Bolas flavor essentially requires this card to be Grixis-colored. I think in a vacuum it could just be monoblack. The kicker part can also be blue with no problem, and maybe red if you see it as a twist on impulsive draw. In the end, I feel this is acceptable in the color pie. This card definitely feels mythic to me. (2/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. Using a legendary planeswalker for the kicker cost is very clever, as it will also count automatically for the legendary sorcery drawback, and I really like that. The mana cost is still very high, but even with the legendary sorcery drawback it might be for the better, as it looks like it can be quite annoying to be on the receiving end of this. Competitive players won't mind, but more casual players will probably not enjoy playing against this. It being "each opponent" makes this card very impactful in multiplayer and I think at least some Commander players in particular might like this.
Creativity (2.5/3) Uniqueness - The kicker cost is definitely new. The main effect of the card reminds me of cards like Smallpox or Torment of Hailfire while not being exactly the same. Overall, good enough in this area even if not great. (3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. No room for flavor text, so its absence is no problem.
Polish (2.5/3) Quality - Technically, the hyphen separating the keyword kicker from its non-mana cost should be an em dash with no space right before and after it (for the most recent examples, see Goblin Barrage and Vicious Offering from Dominaria), but as it's a very minor thing and it doesn't alter the readability or the functionality of the card, I'm deducting no points for that. Kicker is a non-evergreen keyword, despite how close it is, so it needs reminder text. While it's true that it can be left out on a mythic if there is no room in the text box, MSE shows me that there is room here, reaching but not going over the line limit, so it should be there (-0.5). (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 21.5/25
Garruk's Big HuntBG
Legendary Sorcery (R) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker 3(You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target legendary permanent an opponent controls. If this spell was kicked, destroy all legendary permanents your opponents control instead.
Design (2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes destroying his opponents' big things, but he doesn't like when his own big things get destroyed. I don't see much for Johnny here. Spike likes good removal, even if this might be a little too restrictive for her liking. (3/3) Elegance - No problems here. A lot of the text is reminder text. The actual rules text is just four lines long in the M15 frame plus a keyword (kicker), so wordiness is not a real problem here.
Development (3/3) Viability - "Destroy target permanent" is one of a handful of effects that need to be multicolored, either white-black or black-green. Here it's the latter, so no problem with the color pie. I agree that this doesn't feel mythic but just a regular rare. (2.5/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. Here we have both. I'd definitely play this in Dominaria limited if I can support it in my deck. This might also have constructed implications if decks with a high density of legends become relevant there, otherwise it's probably just a sideboard card to bring in against such decks. The destroyed permanent needing to be legendary makes this card very relevant in the intersection of casual and multiplayer, that is Commander. I feel like this card would be heavily played there just to remove opposing Commanders and send them back in the command zone.
Creativity (1/3) Uniqueness - This card feels like a legendary twist on Maelstrom Pulse. Technically new, and the twist makes a lot of sense in Dominaria with the legendary theme, but the inspiration is evident. (3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. Technically, a couple lines of flavor text could fit without having the font be too small, but MSE shows me the card looks much better without it indeed, so no problem.
Polish (3/3) Quality - All good. (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. (2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Aurelia's Last Stand1RW
Legendary Sorcery [M] (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker—Pay life equal to your life total minus 1.
Create three 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste. Aurelia's Last Stand deals 3 damage to target creature. If this spell was kicked, instants, other sorceries, and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Design .:. (2/3) Appeal: The card has enough going on to tickle both Jxnny and Spike. Creating threads and remove a creature is nothing to scoff at. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (2,5/3) Viability: This is a very boros card. Mythic rare seems appropiate. Though, having it deal damage to "up to one" target creature would feel better. As is there could arise situations where you end up with effectively just 2 tokens because your opponent doesn't have a creature, taking a lot of the splash-factor. (3/3) Balance: This card becomes pretty good the lower your life total gets. Give you have at least a few creatures or instants up your sleeve to get back that life. At the same time your extremely vulnerable for a moment, creating a lot of tension but in an exciting way. I can see this as a control card, an aggro card and a combo card.
Creativity .:. (3/3) Uniqueness: It has a slight taste of "fateful hour" but does really feel like something completely new. (3/3) Flavor: This card nicely communicates the flavor of a final act.
Polish .:. (3/3) Quality: No flaws detected! (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 23,5/25
Xenagos's Great Revel5RG
Legendary Sorcery (M) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker RG
Each player exiles the top seven cards of their library and puts all creature cards from among them onto the battlefield.
If this spell was kicked, gain control of each creature put onto the battlefield this way until end of turn. Untap those creatures. Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Design .:. (1/3) Appeal: What a great Txmmy card. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: This card is oozing gruul and mythicness. (3/3) Balance: Power level wise this cards seems appropiate. That there's still the chance that you mostly don't hit creatures makes this a fun 9 mana investment. I mean, if chaos is fun to you.
Creativity .:. (2,5/3) Uniqueness: The poeple who survive it call it See the Unwritten on steroids. (3/3) Flavor: I'm in the mood for a great revel myself now.
Polish .:. (2,5/3) Quality: The order is "trample and haste", e.g. Akoum Stonewaker. No other flaws detected! (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22/25
Bolas's Final Scheme4UBBR
Legendary Sorcery (Mythic) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker - Remove four loyalty counters from a Bolas planeswalker you control.
Each opponent exiles half the cards in their hand, then exiles half the permanents they control. Round up each time. If the kicker cost was paid, until end of turn, you may play cards exiled with Bolas's Final Scheme.
Design .:. (1/3) Appeal: Definately a Txmmy card. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: This is a mythic, no questions asked. The combination of effects is indeed very grixis. (3/3) Balance: I find it hilarious, that in a situation where you already have out a Bolas planeswalker, you again cast something that's incredibly expensive and ridiculous. A great win-more card.
Creativity .:. (2/3) Uniqueness: It's probably not just a coincidence that this card combines words from cards that will be released with Magic 2019, namely Frickin' Omnipotence and Apex of Power. I wish they had made this up instead. (3/3) Flavor: After Arelia's Last Stand here we have a nice final act card again. Poor Bolas.
Polish .:. (3/3) Quality: No flaws detected! (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 23/25
Garruk's Big HuntBG
Legendary Sorcery (R) (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker 3(You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target legendary permanent an opponent controls. If this spell was kicked, destroy all legendary permanents your opponents control instead.
Design .:. (1/3) Appeal: A cool card for social commander Txmmy. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: Golgari likes its permanents destroyed. A nice rare effect. (3/3) Balance: A legendary hoser will not break anything. But its an awesome addition to any BGx commander deck.
Creativity .:. (2/3) Uniqueness: A weird combinaion of Abrupt Decay and Gaze of Granite. (3/3) Flavor: But with the flavorful twist of only hitting legendaries.
Polish .:. (3/3) Quality: No flaws detected! (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Design - (2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy obviously loves the storytelling going on here. Definitely tons of moving parts for Johnny to work with. Spike likes the sheer range of utility here, especially just as removal-plus-weenies in the non-kicked version, but it being legendary limits the usability and thus the appeal. (2/3) Elegance: The kicker is quite clunkily worded, as is the kicked effect. Also, the card is doing a lot.
Development - (2.5/3) Viability: Colors are right, but this just does not feel like a mythic to me. I wouldn't blink if this was a rare. (3/3) Balance: Seems alright - you can maybe gain dumb amounts of life off it, but only with setup.
Creativity - (2/3) Uniqueness: A unique remix of very familiar parts. In one sense it's like a big Lightning Helix when kicked. Also, what's up Soulgorger Orgg. (2/3) Flavor: I get "Boros" and I get "last stand" but "Aurelia" is missing - she's missing from her own big moment? Creating just some Soldier tokens and not an Angel token feels wrong for the name, I would have gone with a reference to Tajic or something.
Design - (2/3) Appeal: Timmy absolutely, Johnny as well - Spike perhaps not? Sure it's a gamewin in a box, but it has a relatively random nature and the kicked version costs nine mana in addition to the casting restriction. (2/3) Elegance: Elegant concept but a lotta
Development - (3/3) Viability: Colors and rarity wholly appropriate. (3/3) Balance: See comment on Spike appeal.
Creativity - (2.5/3) Uniqueness: Obviously draws from a lot of precedents but I think both the "modes" are pretty unique. (3/3) Flavor: Excellent. Very true to the character and represents an "actual" moment.
Design - (2/3) Appeal: Timmy likes the sheer scale of this even if it didn't feel like Bolas pulling off a huge plan, which it does. Johnny sees a lot to do, including just... copying the spell. Spike sees something with a huge amount of color weight and too much setup to be really worth anything outside of Commander. (1.5/3) Elegance: A very wordy spell on its own, and even the kicker cost is wordy, not to mention parasitic to fewer currently-existing cards than the fingers on one hand.
Development - (3/3) Viability: Rarity right, colors obviously right. (3/3) Balance: Game-winning, yes, but maybe not that game-winning, considering your opponents can choose what to exile and you still have to pay for the stuff you cast off it.
Creativity - (2.5/3) Uniqueness: Unique, but clearly taking inspiration from other "Bolas stuff." (2.5/3) Flavor: Strong Bolas connection, name a bit generic.
Design - (2/3) Appeal: Timmy does love mass removal, Spike salivates at mass removal that also has a cheaper spot removal mode, but there's not much for Johnny to work with here. (3/3) Elegance: The simplest card in the round!
Development - (3/3) Viability: Black-green are the colors of destroy any permanent type (along with white-black), and rare is perfect. (3/3) Balance: Pretty solid - a simple and pushed effect balanced out by the legendary requirement.
Creativity - (2.5/3) Uniqueness: No card to date contains the phrase "Destroy target legendary permanent." Really! Obviously a simple removal effect can't be counted as that unique (and the kicker is essentially just overload), but this is what's called un-mined design space. (3/3) Flavor: Pretty good. I'd probably name it "Garruk's Great Hunt", but it sort of fits his degeneration of mind to use extremely simple words, and the card does feel like him with his feral grudge against planeswalkers.
Congratulations to Raptorchan for a very close victory! Many thanks to all the judges and players this month.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
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(This banner is my own elaboration on the art of the card Urza's Ruinous Blast by Noah Bradley.)
June MCC Round 4 (Finals)
I am Legend
If you notice, two mechanics from Dominaria are still missing: legendary sorceries and kicker. As we only have one round left, let's try to see what happens when we put them together.
Main Challenge - Design a legendary sorcery.
Subchallenge 1 - Your card is multicolored.
Subchallenge 2 - Your card has kicker.
• Remember the rules about legendary sorceries: you must control a legendary creature or planeswalker in order to cast the legendary sorcery in the first place.
• The main challenge requires the card to be a sorcery. You cannot design a legendary instant.
• Subchallenge 1 cares about the colors in the mana cost, NOT the card's color identity. In other words, mana symbols in the rules text do NOT count.
• Hybrid mana is acceptable for subchallenge 1.
• A card that grants kicker to other spells but does not have kicker itself does NOT pass subchallenge 2. The challenge requires the card to have kicker itself.
• A monocolored card that has an off-color kicker passes subchallenge 2 but NOT subchallenge 1.
• If you have any other question that's not covered here, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.
(X/3) Appeal: Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance: Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development -
(X/3) Viability: How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity?
(X/3) Balance: Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity -
(X/3) Uniqueness: Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel “fresh”?
(X/3) Flavor: Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish -
(X/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) *Main Challenge: Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges: One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
DEADLINES
Design Deadline: All submissions are to be final and submitted by Saturday, June 30rd 11:59 PM EST
Judging Deadline: All judgements are to be final and completed by Wednesday, July 4th 11:59 PM EST
JUDGES
bravelion83
Antiantiserum
void_nothing
PLAYERS
Gerrard's Mom
netn10
Raptorchan
The_Hittite
All judges will judge every entry. The player with the highest total score will be the winner.
A helpful tip for those formatting their cards (I wrote it quite some time ago but it's still totally valid):
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Legendary Sorcery [M]
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker—Pay life equal to your life total minus 1.
Create three 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste. Aurelia's Last Stand deals 3 damage to target creature. If this spell was kicked, instants, other sorceries, and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Legendary Sorcery (M)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker RG
Each player exiles the top seven cards of their library and puts all creature cards from among them onto the battlefield.
If this spell was kicked, gain control of each creature put onto the battlefield this way until end of turn. Untap those creatures. Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Legendary Sorcery (Mythic)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker - Remove four loyalty counters from a Bolas planeswalker you control.
Each opponent exiles half the cards in their hand, then exiles half the permanents they control. Round up each time. If the kicker cost was paid, until end of turn, you may play cards exiled with Bolas's Final Scheme.
Legendary Sorcery (R)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker 3 (You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target legendary permanent an opponent controls. If this spell was kicked, destroy all legendary permanents your opponents control instead.
For what, exactly?
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
For me of course. Because I am Legend. ;D
Judgments complete, not final until deadline. My scores are really close this round, so I expect other judges' scores to be determinant. That's not intentional on my part, but it's a testament of how good of a job all four of the contestants did.
Aurelia's Last Stand 1RW
Legendary Sorcery [M]
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker—Pay life equal to your life total minus 1.
Create three 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste. Aurelia's Last Stand deals 3 damage to target creature. If this spell was kicked, instants, other sorceries, and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy is really turned down by the kicker cost, but he likes the effects. Johnny likes the kicker cost and he can do a lot of things with the lifelink to instants and sorceries especially, and the tokens too. Spike likes the effects and has no problem with the kicker cost. If it can win her the game, she will gladly pay all but 1 of her life.
(2/3) Elegance - As a 100% Melvin, my eye immediately spots some details that make this card just feel right. For example, this deals 3 damage and creates three tokens. Nice symmetry there. Also, you pay almost all your life to kick this, and the kicker effect can give you some of that life back through lifelink. My only remarks here are wordiness and a little rules things about the kicker cost that might make it less intuitive to some players: if you're already at 1 life I don't think you can kick this for free. Actually, I think you can't kick it at all as you can't pay the cost.
Development
(2/3) Viability - A white first effect, a red second effect, and a white kicker effect. The color pie is satisfied. This card looks certainly mythic. The only problem that might affect its printability is one Eli, the current rules manager, explained multiple times in the GDS3: less experienced players will resolve the effect one action at a time, and if a later sentence requires targets, they will choose them only when they get to that part of the effect, having already resolved what comes before, instead of choosing the targets before starting resolving, as the rules require. Eli explained that's the reason behind the so-called "reflexive triggers", which are worded with "When you do" like in Heart-Piercer Manticore from Amonkhet (the first card ever to use this wording technology in rules text). Here, the fix would actually be much more simple: just exchange the first sentence with the second, like the following.
Now the target choice is immediate even if you parse the text like a less experienced player would.
(2/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. I feel here we have both, so this might be playable if you have enough legends, both in limited and constructed. The kicker part is high risk high reward, and not all players will like that, especially more casual ones. No problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - The kicker cost is definitely new. Giving lifelink to instants and sorceries has also been done only once before (Soulfire Grand Master). The other effects are nothing new, but the card feels original anyway thanks to the kicker part.
(3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. No room for flavor text, so its absence is no problem.
Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Not sure if the wording of the last sentence only gives lifelink to things you control as this spell resolves or if it creates a static effect that gives lifelink also to things you cast after this in the turn. Intuition says you want this to be the latter, but is it in the rules? This is relevant because that ability works on instants and other sorceries and not just creatures, so what happens if you cast one after you've cast and resolved this in the same turn? I'd have to study this more and check the CR, for now I have no definitive answer so I'll give you no deduction for that for now. I might be coming back to this later. Also, you can only leave reminder text out from a non-evergreen keyword, such as kicker, if the card is mythic and there is no room for it, that is if putting it in causes the text in the text box to be over the line limit, or the font to be too small, which are actually two different ways to say the same thing. MSE shows me that there is room here, reaching but not going over the line limit, so it should be there (-0.5).
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 20.5/25
Xenagos's Great Revel 5RG
Legendary Sorcery (M)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker RG
Each player exiles the top seven cards of their library and puts all creature cards from among them onto the battlefield.
If this spell was kicked, gain control of each creature put onto the battlefield this way until end of turn. Untap those creatures. Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy just loves this card. I don't see much for Johnny here. Spike likes the effects but the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker just to be able to cast it on top of the already high mana cost are not insignificant to her.
(2.5/3) Elegance - No problems here except for wordiness.
Development
(2/3) Viability - No problem with this being mythic. I don't like how the colors are both present in the mana cost and the kicker cost here. The main effect is monogreen and something red just doesn't do. The kicker effect is monored (essentially Act of Treason) and doesn't need green. Red can give trample by itself just fine. I would have liked much more a monogreen mana cost with a monored kicker cost for this card.
(2/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. In this card, the effect is certainly big even if symmetrical. I might be interested in trying this at a even lower base mana cost, maybe increasing the kicker cost (and adjusting the colors of the costs as previously mentioned). I see a big power difference between when this is kicked and when it's not, and that makes me even more interested in adjusting the costs that way. If you can deal with the high mana cost and the legendary sorcery drawback, this is definitely playable in limited and probably constructed (Standard) too. The cost is just too high for older formats. Casual players will have no problem with this. In multiplayer, the kicker part becomes even stronger with more players to steal creatures from.
Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Creature tutors and cards that can put creatures straight onto the battlefield in green are nothing new. As I've already mentioned, the kicker part is essentially Act of Treason plus a couple evergreen mechanics. Putting those two things together feels nice, but there is nothing technically new on this card.
(3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. No room for flavor text, so its absence is no problem.
Polish
(3/3) Quality - You can only leave reminder text out from a non-evergreen keyword, such as kicker, if the card is mythic and there is no room for it, that is if putting it in causes the text in the text box to be over the line limit, or the font to be too small, which are actually two different ways to say the same thing. MSE shows me this is exactly the case here, so you did the right thing leaving it out here and I'm just pointing this out. The rest is all good.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 20/25
Bolas's Final Scheme 4UBBR
Legendary Sorcery (Mythic)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker - Remove four loyalty counters from a Bolas planeswalker you control.
Each opponent exiles half the cards in their hand, then exiles half the permanents they control. Round up each time. If the kicker cost was paid, until end of turn, you may play cards exiled with Bolas's Final Scheme.
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes how this affects the board. Some Johnnies might be interested. Spike really likes this, but the high mana cost is a concern to her. Controlling a Bolas planeswalker and satisfying both the legendary sorcery requirement and the kicker cost at the same time is something both Johnny and Spike will like.
(2.5/3) Elegance - No problems here except for wordiness.
Development
(2.5/3) Viability - The Bolas flavor essentially requires this card to be Grixis-colored. I think in a vacuum it could just be monoblack. The kicker part can also be blue with no problem, and maybe red if you see it as a twist on impulsive draw. In the end, I feel this is acceptable in the color pie. This card definitely feels mythic to me.
(2/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. Using a legendary planeswalker for the kicker cost is very clever, as it will also count automatically for the legendary sorcery drawback, and I really like that. The mana cost is still very high, but even with the legendary sorcery drawback it might be for the better, as it looks like it can be quite annoying to be on the receiving end of this. Competitive players won't mind, but more casual players will probably not enjoy playing against this. It being "each opponent" makes this card very impactful in multiplayer and I think at least some Commander players in particular might like this.
Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - The kicker cost is definitely new. The main effect of the card reminds me of cards like Smallpox or Torment of Hailfire while not being exactly the same. Overall, good enough in this area even if not great.
(3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. No room for flavor text, so its absence is no problem.
Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Technically, the hyphen separating the keyword kicker from its non-mana cost should be an em dash with no space right before and after it (for the most recent examples, see Goblin Barrage and Vicious Offering from Dominaria), but as it's a very minor thing and it doesn't alter the readability or the functionality of the card, I'm deducting no points for that. Kicker is a non-evergreen keyword, despite how close it is, so it needs reminder text. While it's true that it can be left out on a mythic if there is no room in the text box, MSE shows me that there is room here, reaching but not going over the line limit, so it should be there (-0.5).
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 21.5/25
Garruk's Big Hunt BG
Legendary Sorcery (R)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker 3 (You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target legendary permanent an opponent controls. If this spell was kicked, destroy all legendary permanents your opponents control instead.
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes destroying his opponents' big things, but he doesn't like when his own big things get destroyed. I don't see much for Johnny here. Spike likes good removal, even if this might be a little too restrictive for her liking.
(3/3) Elegance - No problems here. A lot of the text is reminder text. The actual rules text is just four lines long in the M15 frame plus a keyword (kicker), so wordiness is not a real problem here.
Development
(3/3) Viability - "Destroy target permanent" is one of a handful of effects that need to be multicolored, either white-black or black-green. Here it's the latter, so no problem with the color pie. I agree that this doesn't feel mythic but just a regular rare.
(2.5/3) Balance - Playing Dominaria limited, I've seen that even in a set with as high as a density of legends as Dominaria, the drawback of having to control a legendary creature or planeswalker is still quite relevant, so the card has to have a big effect and/or a discount in the mana cost. Here we have both. I'd definitely play this in Dominaria limited if I can support it in my deck. This might also have constructed implications if decks with a high density of legends become relevant there, otherwise it's probably just a sideboard card to bring in against such decks. The destroyed permanent needing to be legendary makes this card very relevant in the intersection of casual and multiplayer, that is Commander. I feel like this card would be heavily played there just to remove opposing Commanders and send them back in the command zone.
Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - This card feels like a legendary twist on Maelstrom Pulse. Technically new, and the twist makes a lot of sense in Dominaria with the legendary theme, but the inspiration is evident.
(3/3) Flavor - The name is good and makes sense with the mechanics, the card concept and the color identity. Technically, a couple lines of flavor text could fit without having the font be too small, but MSE shows me the card looks much better without it indeed, so no problem.
Polish
(3/3) Quality - All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.
Total: 21.5/25
netn10: 21.5
Raptorchan: 21.5
The_Hittite: 20.5
Gerrard's Mom: 20
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Legendary Sorcery [M]
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker—Pay life equal to your life total minus 1.
Create three 1/1 red and white Soldier creature tokens with haste. Aurelia's Last Stand deals 3 damage to target creature. If this spell was kicked, instants, other sorceries, and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Design .:.
(2/3) Appeal: The card has enough going on to tickle both Jxnny and Spike. Creating threads and remove a creature is nothing to scoff at.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(2,5/3) Viability: This is a very boros card. Mythic rare seems appropiate. Though, having it deal damage to "up to one" target creature would feel better. As is there could arise situations where you end up with effectively just 2 tokens because your opponent doesn't have a creature, taking a lot of the splash-factor.
(3/3) Balance: This card becomes pretty good the lower your life total gets. Give you have at least a few creatures or instants up your sleeve to get back that life. At the same time your extremely vulnerable for a moment, creating a lot of tension but in an exciting way. I can see this as a control card, an aggro card and a combo card.
Creativity .:.
(3/3) Uniqueness: It has a slight taste of "fateful hour" but does really feel like something completely new.
(3/3) Flavor: This card nicely communicates the flavor of a final act.
Polish .:.
(3/3) Quality: No flaws detected!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 23,5/25
Legendary Sorcery (M)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker RG
Each player exiles the top seven cards of their library and puts all creature cards from among them onto the battlefield.
If this spell was kicked, gain control of each creature put onto the battlefield this way until end of turn. Untap those creatures. Creatures you control gain haste and trample until end of turn.
Design .:.
(1/3) Appeal: What a great Txmmy card.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: This card is oozing gruul and mythicness.
(3/3) Balance: Power level wise this cards seems appropiate. That there's still the chance that you mostly don't hit creatures makes this a fun 9 mana investment. I mean, if chaos is fun to you.
Creativity .:.
(2,5/3) Uniqueness: The poeple who survive it call it See the Unwritten on steroids.
(3/3) Flavor: I'm in the mood for a great revel myself now.
Polish .:.
(2,5/3) Quality: The order is "trample and haste", e.g. Akoum Stonewaker. No other flaws detected!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22/25
Legendary Sorcery (Mythic)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker - Remove four loyalty counters from a Bolas planeswalker you control.
Each opponent exiles half the cards in their hand, then exiles half the permanents they control. Round up each time. If the kicker cost was paid, until end of turn, you may play cards exiled with Bolas's Final Scheme.
Design .:.
(1/3) Appeal: Definately a Txmmy card.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: This is a mythic, no questions asked. The combination of effects is indeed very grixis.
(3/3) Balance: I find it hilarious, that in a situation where you already have out a Bolas planeswalker, you again cast something that's incredibly expensive and ridiculous. A great win-more card.
Creativity .:.
(2/3) Uniqueness: It's probably not just a coincidence that this card combines words from cards that will be released with Magic 2019, namely Frickin' Omnipotence and Apex of Power. I wish they had made this up instead.
(3/3) Flavor: After Arelia's Last Stand here we have a nice final act card again. Poor Bolas.
Polish .:.
(3/3) Quality: No flaws detected!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 23/25
Legendary Sorcery (R)
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Kicker 3 (You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target legendary permanent an opponent controls. If this spell was kicked, destroy all legendary permanents your opponents control instead.
Design .:.
(1/3) Appeal: A cool card for social commander Txmmy.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: Golgari likes its permanents destroyed. A nice rare effect.
(3/3) Balance: A legendary hoser will not break anything. But its an awesome addition to any BGx commander deck.
Creativity .:.
(2/3) Uniqueness: A weird combinaion of Abrupt Decay and Gaze of Granite.
(3/3) Flavor: But with the flavorful twist of only hitting legendaries.
Polish .:.
(3/3) Quality: No flaws detected!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22/25
netn10 23,0
Gerrard's Mom 22,0
Raptorchan 22,0
Elegance 1/1
(2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy obviously loves the storytelling going on here. Definitely tons of moving parts for Johnny to work with. Spike likes the sheer range of utility here, especially just as removal-plus-weenies in the non-kicked version, but it being legendary limits the usability and thus the appeal.
(2/3) Elegance: The kicker is quite clunkily worded, as is the kicked effect. Also, the card is doing a lot.
Development -
(2.5/3) Viability: Colors are right, but this just does not feel like a mythic to me. I wouldn't blink if this was a rare.
(3/3) Balance: Seems alright - you can maybe gain dumb amounts of life off it, but only with setup.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: A unique remix of very familiar parts. In one sense it's like a big Lightning Helix when kicked. Also, what's up Soulgorger Orgg.
(2/3) Flavor: I get "Boros" and I get "last stand" but "Aurelia" is missing - she's missing from her own big moment? Creating just some Soldier tokens and not an Angel token feels wrong for the name, I would have gone with a reference to Tajic or something.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Looks okay.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges: And done.
Total: 21/25
(2/3) Appeal: Timmy absolutely, Johnny as well - Spike perhaps not? Sure it's a gamewin in a box, but it has a relatively random nature and the kicked version costs nine mana in addition to the casting restriction.
(2/3) Elegance: Elegant concept but a lotta
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Colors and rarity wholly appropriate.
(3/3) Balance: See comment on Spike appeal.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: Obviously draws from a lot of precedents but I think both the "modes" are pretty unique.
(3/3) Flavor: Excellent. Very true to the character and represents an "actual" moment.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Fine.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges: And done.
Total: 22.5/25
(2/3) Appeal: Timmy likes the sheer scale of this even if it didn't feel like Bolas pulling off a huge plan, which it does. Johnny sees a lot to do, including just... copying the spell. Spike sees something with a huge amount of color weight and too much setup to be really worth anything outside of Commander.
(1.5/3) Elegance: A very wordy spell on its own, and even the kicker cost is wordy, not to mention parasitic to fewer currently-existing cards than the fingers on one hand.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Rarity right, colors obviously right.
(3/3) Balance: Game-winning, yes, but maybe not that game-winning, considering your opponents can choose what to exile and you still have to pay for the stuff you cast off it.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: Unique, but clearly taking inspiration from other "Bolas stuff."
(2.5/3) Flavor: Strong Bolas connection, name a bit generic.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Fine.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges: And done.
Total: 21.5/25
(2/3) Appeal: Timmy does love mass removal, Spike salivates at mass removal that also has a cheaper spot removal mode, but there's not much for Johnny to work with here.
(3/3) Elegance: The simplest card in the round!
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Black-green are the colors of destroy any permanent type (along with white-black), and rare is perfect.
(3/3) Balance: Pretty solid - a simple and pushed effect balanced out by the legendary requirement.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: No card to date contains the phrase "Destroy target legendary permanent." Really! Obviously a simple removal effect can't be counted as that unique (and the kicker is essentially just overload), but this is what's called un-mined design space.
(3/3) Flavor: Pretty good. I'd probably name it "Garruk's Great Hunt", but it sort of fits his degeneration of mind to use extremely simple words, and the card does feel like him with his feral grudge against planeswalkers.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Good.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges: And done.
Total: 23.5/25
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Raptorchan: 22 + 21.5 + 23.5 = 67
netn10: 23 + 21.5 + 21.5 = 66
The_Hittite: 23.5 + 20.5 + 21 = 65
Gerrard's Mom: 22 + 20 + 22.5 = 64.5
Congratulations to Raptorchan for a very close victory! Many thanks to all the judges and players this month.
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)