Trivmvirate had to give up judging for December MCC (again, best of luck to him), so I did his bracket myself. You can find the judgings here.
EDIT: Round 2 has been posted. When judging time comes, there will be 4 brackets with 5 players each. The top 2 from each bracket will advance to round 3.
EDIT again to avoid double post: round 2 is now closed and brackets have been posted in that thread's OP.
Trivmvirate had to retire from judging this month because of private reasons. I wish him the best of luck. I'm going to judge his bracket myself, then round 2 will have 4 brackets of 5 players each with the top 2 from each bracket advancing to round 3.
Round 2 will be posted in 2.5 hours (at midnight CET = 6 PM EST).
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in wording, spelling, or grammar; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
Chaos Lasher(B/R)
Creature - Devil (U)
Haste (B/R): Target creature you control gains haste until end of turn. You lose life equal to that creature's converted mana cost. "The sound of the whip making contact with the skin is the Rakdos equivalent of a heavenly choir."
(1/2)
Design (7.5/10) Creativity – The stats and the haste remind much of Monastery Swiftspear. The ability is something new. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may use this if he needs to give a creature haste for some purpose. Spike likes this very much, as it's certainly pushed more than enough.
Development (9/10) Viability – The ability feels more gold than hybrid: giving haste is red and the "losing life" part feels black. Other than that, everything's good here, including rarity (see Monastery Swiftspear, this trades prowess for the activated ability). Balance – Both the mana cost and the ability cost are pushed as low as they can but they don't look broken. Very playable in limited, I think it could easily be a first pick. I can easily see in constructed too, especially in some RDW style decks that are both very aggressive and have a low enough curve, so they can make good use of the haste-granting ability. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (3/3) – All good here.
Nurturing Growth 2{G/W}
Sorcery (U)
Search your library for a Forest or Plains card and put it into play tapped.
Gain 1 life for each land you control. "May your branches shelter us and may your bounties sustain us"
-Setessan prayer
Design (5/10) Creativity – I can't remember them together in a single card, but these effects are nothing new. Elegance – It feels strange that I can pay only green mana to fetch Plains and vice versa (see "Viability"), but other than that everything's fine here. Potential – I can't see a single psychographic that would care for this. Maybe some Timmy that loves lifegain, but that's really stretching.
Development (6/10) Viability – There is some precedent for white cards fetching Plains from the library, but it feels strange to be able to pay only green mana and search for a Plains, or pay only white mana and search for a Forest. Also, with adequate mana cost, this should be common, as most effects like this are. Balance – The mana cost is too low, see Bountiful Harvest or even Joyous Respite, and this card has an additional effect. Playable in limited for sure. I can't see this in constructed. Creative Writing – Nature vs nurture is one of the ways to express the green/blue conflict, so it feels strange to see the word "Nurturing" in the name of a green card. Other than that, no problems here.
Polish Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 NOT met: there is a non-hybrid mana symbol (2) in the mana cost. Subchallenge 2 met. Quality (0/3) – "put it into play" should be "put it onto the battlefield" (this is a particularly serious mistake, as we should be used by now to post M10 wording, so one point deducted). This card has you search your library, but then it doesn't tell you to shuffle it (this is also a very serious mistake, as you know the order of your whole library after this resolves, one point deducted). Finally, it should say "You gain 1 life" (half a point deducted) and a period is missing at the end of the flavor text (half a point deducted). Mana tags are missing from the mana cost.
Swooping Hawk(W/U)(W/U)(W/U)
Creature - Bird (U)
Flash
Flying
When Swooping Hawk enters the battlefield, tap target creature an opponent controls. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step
2/3
Design (6.5/10) Creativity – There has never been a creature with these exact stats, but the effect is nothing new. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may try to find a way to recur the trigger trying to lock a creature out of the game permanently. Spike is excited by this card, as he can cast it at the most convenient times, has evasion and immediately affects the board.
Development (7.5/10) Viability – All looks good here. Balance – Cost looks right, as this costs the same amount of mana as Kor Hookmaster and Frost Lynx but with more colored mana, and one less mana than Dungeon Geists, but that locks the creature for as long as you control it instead of just a single turn. Very high pick in limited. It may be playable in constructed, but only in specific decks. Creative Writing – The name sounds uninspired but it's fine. MSE tells me that one line of flavor text could have fit there.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2.5/3) – A period is missing at the end of the last ability (half a point deducted).
Emrakul’s Reveler(2/R)(2/R)(2/R)
Creature - Eldrazi Satyr {U}
Haste
When Emrakul’s Reveler attacks, you may pay (2/R)(2/R)(2/R)(2/R). If you do, defending player sacrifices a permanent. The age of the god Xenagos’s chaos now seemed like nothing.
4/1
Design (8/10) Creativity – Very innovative use of "twobrid" for Eldrazi, but you weren't the only one to think of that this round. Maybe it was just an easy place to go to. Elegance – All feels good here. Potential – Not all Timmies are interested in this, but the griefers surely are. Johnny may try to find ways to abuse the trigger, but the high mana cost associated with that limits him in his brewing. Spike is very interested as he first reads this, then when he realizes the cost of the trigger loses much of his interest.
Development (7/10) Viability – This makes sense as a monored card, even though making the opponent sacrifice a permanent isn't primary red. It also makes sense as a colorless card, but that's mostly because of the Eldrazi flavor and not because of mechanics. Rarity feels right. Balance – It's surely less oppressive than annihilator, as you have to pay at least 4 mana in a single color to get the same effect. That's probably a good thing after all, but the cost to make the opponent sacrifice something looks too high. Very playable in limited, I don't know if it would be a first pick, but it would be surely a high enough pick. I can see this in constructed too, especially if the sacrifice cost is lowered a bit. Creative Writing – I can't imagine an Eldrazi being a Satyr. The flavor text mentioning Xenagos and there being the word "Reveler" in the name helps with that, but it feels like they are there just to justify the creature types.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (3/3) – All looks good here.
Slithering Amphibeast(G/U)(G/U)
Creature - Fish Lizard (U)
Islandwalk, Forestwalk
Evolve Its ability to thrive in any environment makes it the epitome of Simic innovation.
1/1
Design (6.5/10) Creativity – Stalker Hag but with a Simic touch. New, but not groundbreaking. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy has to wait too long for this to become big enough for him to care, but maybe a creature that grows the more beasts he plays can interest him. Johnny doesn't care. Spike would probably be interested if this had a point more of either base power or toughness. As it is, he just sees a 1/1 for two mana that could be evasive but just sometimes.
Development (9/10) Viability – All good here. Balance – Cost looks right. Playable in limited but I don't see it in constructed. Creative Writing – All good here. Particularly appreciable the choice of creature types, they just scream Simic! It's amazing how sometimes you can express such great flavor with only two words of a mechanical feature.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2/3) – Stalker Hag tells us that multiple instances of landwalk should be ordered like mana symbols are, that is in WUBRG order. In green/blue cards, green comes before blue (remember you take the shortest path cycling around the color pie), so forestwalk should come before islandwalk (half a point deducted). Also, in a list of keywords only the first one is capitalized (half a point deducted). I would have liked the reminder text for evolve to be there, but I'm not penalizing you for that.
Disremember(U/B)(U/B)
Sorcery (U)
You look at each player's hand and may have that player discard a nonland card of your choice. If you do, that player draws a card.
Design (6.5/10) Creativity – Vendilion Clique's ETB ability, but for all players. Never done, but not very original. Elegance – Not immediate, but easy enough to understand. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may use this, but if he does it will be to find the cards he needs from his own library. Spike is excited by this card, as it gives him a lot of strategic choices to make.
Development (6/10) Viability – Between the Clique in blue and all the discard effects black has, this feels good as a blue/black hybrid card, even though I'm not sure this effect belongs in monoblue. Rarity looks fine. Balance – Vendilion Clique does this for a single player, leaves a body behind, and costs three mana. This doesn't give you a creature, but is extended to all players, so it feels like it wants to have the same cost of the Clique. If this just targeted a single player, it would have been surely fine at two mana. It may be playable in limited if you have room for a noncreature spell like this in your deck. Not playable in constructed. Creative Writing – The name sounds too similar to Dismember, but the card is not a nod to it as the name would have you expect. No flavor text, even though MSE tells me there would have been room for three lines of it.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2.5/3) – The wording should be that of Vendilion Clique's ability, but with "each player's hand" instead of "target player's hand" (half a point deducted).
Votes:
Flatline (for the elegance and simplicity of the card, even thought I think it should cost more)
GG Crono
Bird of Brain3(U/B)
Creature — Zombie Bird (C)
Flying
Recycle 2(2, Exile this card from your graveyard: Draw a card.) It’s a bird of prey that preys on minds.
2/2
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Rewrite HistoryWWUUBB
Sorcery (M)
Shuffle your graveyard into your library. Search your library for any number of cards, then exile the rest. You may put any number of the cards you searched for into your graveyard. Put the rest on top of your library in any order. Your life total becomes equal to the number of cards exiled this way minus the number of cards in your library.
Rakshasa's Bargain4BB
Instant (R)
Delve (You may exile any number of cards in your graveyard as you cast this spell. It costs 1 less to cast for each card exiled this way.)
Until end of turn, spells you cast gain delve. You lose 2 life. A single deal with a demon forged an era of ruthlessness.
Cookies to whoever gets the reference (and why it no longer has pro black).
True Patronus4WWW
Creature - Human Avatar
Effects opponents control can't cause you to sacrifice permanents.
Creatures you control have power and toughness each equal to the number of creatures you control.
Creatures you control gain indestructible.
Death is a childish thing which humanity will outgrow.
Battlesworn Avenger(B/R)(B/R)(B/R)
Creature - Human Berserker {C}
When Battlesworn Avenger would enter the battlefield, if two or more black mana was used to pay for it, it enters the battlefield transformed.
First Strike
3/2 Fights to the last breath.
============================ Flesh of Familiar Faces
Creature - Zombie Berserker
Deathtouch
2/3 Fight after the last breath.
Retake the Land
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target nonbasic land. Natural - If you spent only mana produced by basic lands to cast Retake the Land, search your library for a basic land card and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Mimeomancy3UU
Enchantment (M)
Whenever an opponent plays a card, reveal the top card of your library, if those cards share a card type, you may play the revealed card without paying its mana cost.
Self-Improving Construct3
Artifact Creature - Construct (R)
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield with greater power than this creature, put a number of +1/+1 counters on this creature equal to the difference. It builds itself as fast as we out-build it.
1/1
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If a red card is revealed this way, Infernal Tormentor gets +1/+0 and gains flying until end of turn.
Flamewhirl Phoenix3RR
Creature - Phoenix (R)
Flying, undying
When Flamewhirl Phoenix enters the battlefield from a graveyard, it deals 2 damage to each other creature.
3/3
Winter Curse5WUU
Enchantment — Aura Curse (M)
Enchant player
Creatures enchanted player controls don’t untap during that player’s untap step.
Creatures enchanted player’s opponents control get +1/+1. When it’s winter in one location, it’s summer at the antipodes.
Above As Below1(W/U)(W/U)
Enchantment (U)
Whenever a creature without flying enters the battlefield under an opponent’s control, you may put a 1/1 blue and white spirit creature token with flying onto the battlefield. What happens on the earth is mirrored in the Heavens above.
— Grand Hegemon Lucas
Moss_Elemental is right. Your card has 1 in its mana cost, which is not an hybrid symbol. To pass subchallenge 1, ALL the symbols in both mana cost and rules text must be hybrid. I actually put an example about that in the clarifications, see the fourth example of cards that do NOT pass the challenge:
The following examples would NOT pass this challenge:
(...)
• A card that costs 1(W/U), regardless of what's in the text box. (It has a non-hybrid mana symbol in its mana cost.)
(...)
I recommend everyone to always read very carefully both what the challenges say and the clarifications, also in future rounds.
Votes: Rudyard, Indighost (There are a lot of cards I would have liked to vote today, it was hard to only choose two.)
Artificial Invader5
Artifact Creature — Construct (R)
When Artificial Invader deals combat damage to a player, you win the game. When you feel it penetrating within your flesh, it’s already too late.
0/3
Hekston, Scourge of the Kingdom3BB
Legendary Creature — Horror (M) R, T: Destroy target Equipment.
Hekston, Scourge of the Kingdom can't have +1/+1 counters placed on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove up to X +1/+1 counters from each creature your opponents control, where X is Hekston’s toughness.
3/3
Scorching Kill1BB
Instant (U)
Kicker R(You may pay an additional R as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target creature. If Scorching Kill was kicked, it can’t be countered by spells or abilities and that creature can’t be regenerated. “The weakness of your flesh is what kills you. The heat of the fire is just a catalyst.”
Collective Effort3GG
Sorcery (R)
Draw X cards, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control. "A group is always stronger than the sum of its parts."
Artorius, King of All3WW
Legendary Creature — Human (M)
Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may attach it to Artorius, King of All.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put X +1/+1 counters on each other creature you control, where X is Artorius’s power.
3/3
Rightful Banishment1WW
Instant (U)
Exile target creature with no +1/+1 counters on it. “War in our kingdom follows a code of honor. One of the rules is that a warrior without an armor is unworthy to fight.”
—King Artorius
@bravelion83: Not everyone penalizes for using the British spelling. I don't.
I just like when the submitted card looks as much as possible as Wizards would print it. In the end, I think this just falls under the personal judging style of each judge.
Brackets for December round 1 are posted. You can find them here in the OP.
The round is closed. Let the judging begin! Brackets are in the OP.
Judgment is final.
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in wording, spelling, or grammar; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
Sultai Pit Viper(B/G)
Creature - Snake (U)
Deathtouch
Morph 2BG(You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Sultai Pit Viper is turned face-up, you may destroy target non-land permanent.
1/1
Design (8/10) Creativity – A morph with a "turned face up" trigger is nothing new, but there's never been one with this particular effect. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny can maybe try to do something with the trigger. Spike absolutely loves this card, as he sees this as double removal: a kind of Maelstrom Pulse when turned face up, and then there's deathtouch. He can get a lot of value out of this.
Development (8.5/10) Viability – Perfectly within the color pie. I could see this at rare nowadays, with the new R&D policy on removal. But I like this very much as a pushed uncommon too. Balance – Costs look right. A 1/1 deathtouch can easily cost (B/G). To get the removal effect you have to pay seven mana (three to cast the morph and four to turn it face up), and that feels about right, even considered the fact that you can spread that costs over two turns. Turning this face up on the fourth turn is certainly strong but doesn't look broken, as it also mean you probably did nothing else on your third and fourth turns. A "must play" in limited if you are in its colors. If you haven't decided your colors yet, this will absolutely push you towards BG. In that, this remembers me of the famous cycles of uncommons R&D started putting in recent sets to push themes for the color pairs in limited. I feel this is very playable in constructed too. Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me a single line of flavor text can fit here while still including reminder text for morph, but there is none.
Polish Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 NOT met: there are non-hybrid mana symbols in the rules text. Subchallenge 2 met. Quality (2/3) – The numeral 3 in reminder text should be a mana symbol 3 (half a point deducted). The hyphens shouldn't be there, it should be "turned face up" and "nonland permanent" (half a point deducted).
Garungi Brushguard
Creature - Human Warrior (U)
First strike
If you control a Forest you may cast Garungi Brushguard as though it had flash. Legends say that the trees of the Garungi forests are alive. No one has lived long enough to correct them.
3/1
Design (8/10) Creativity – Somewhat reminiscent of cards like Qasali Ambusher, but more than different enough to be new. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Not big enough for Timmy to care. Johnny may try to do something with the flash ability. Spike loves that ability, as it lets him get a lot of value out of the surprise factor, for example using this as a surprise blocker in a Selesnya, Gruul or Naya deck.
Development (7.5/10) Viability – Flash is neither red nor white, but as it requires a Forest, it's fine. First strike on a hybrid RW card is perfect. Rarity looks perfect too: this would be too strong as a common but underwhelming as a rare. Qasali Ambusher is conveniently uncommon too. Balance – A 3/1 first strike alone costs at least three mana (see Porcelain Legionnaire), when not four (see Halberdier or Viashino Shanktail, that is more recent but has an additional ability). This can sometimes be cast with flash in addition to that, so it's surely undercosted by at least one mana, maybe even two. Very playable in limited, especially at that cost. I don't think this is enough for constructed, though. Creative Writing – Name is fine. The flavor text is also fine, but to me it almost makes this feel like a druid, but that's just a minor point.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2.5/3) – A comma is missing after "If you control a Forest" (half a point deducted).
Dream Maze2(W/U)
Enchantment (U)
When Dream Maze enters the battlefield, untap all creatures.
Creatures don’t untap during each players untap step.
All creatures have vigilance. The Champion and her companions couldn’t rest as they passed the Sphinx’s temple garden, as they knew closed eyes would never open again.
—The Theriad
Design (7.5/10) Creativity – Very original and innovative idea. Full points here. Elegance – Not immediate, but it takes little time to get a good grasp of this. Potential – This is a Johnny card at heart. Timmy obviously doesn't care. Spike doesn't like to give vigilance to the opponent's creatures too.
Development (6/10) Viability – I think you went the "build-around-me" uncommon route, but this totally feels like a rare to me. It just changes too much the normal flow of the game. Angel's Trumpet is indeed uncommon, but that was many years ago. I think today this would surely be rare. About the color pie, vigilance was blue only in Planar Chaos, and that set is the one set you should almost never take as a precedent of the modern color pie. A little amount of bleed is allowed sometimes in hybrid cards, but vigilance feels out of place on an hybrid WU card. Balance – Cost looks right. I don't think I would normally play this in my limited deck, unless under very specific circumstances. Playable in constructed provided that you built your deck around it, otherwise I don't see this played there. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 NOT met: there is a non-hybrid mana symbol in the mana cost (1). Subchallenge 2 met. Quality (2.5/3) – It should be "during their controllers' untap steps" (see Intruder Alarm, half a point deducted).
Undead Champion(W/B)(W/B)(W/B)
Creature-Zombie{c}
Whenever Undead Champion would be put into the graveyard from the battlefield, put it onto the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it instead His failure to live brought him great pain, his failure to die brought him great triumph.
1/1
Design (6/10) Creativity – You took undying and turned it into a replacement effect. Indeed new, but not very original. Elegance – The concept is clear once you understand that this never leaves the battlefield at all if it would die (more on that later), so the "put it onto the battlefield" part is a bit misleading. Potential – Maybe Timmy could be interested in the "unkillability" of this (if that's a word). Johnny would surely play this with sacrifice outlets. I don't think Spike would be interested much.
Development (7/10) Viability – Reanimation is white and black so no problems there. This is probably simple enough to be at common under NWO, provided that the wording is corrected. Balance – This isn't undying, but it's a replacement effect (the word "instead" gives it away). It isn't a triggered ability either, as the word "whenever" implies. As it is, its ability has the trigger of a triggered ability with the effect of a replacement effect. Something just doesn't add up here. Let's suppose it's a replacement effect, which I think is the intent. In that case, this doesn't leave the battlefield at all if it would die, because its death is replaced by another event, so it never actually happens. This also implies that there's no need to "put it onto the battlefield", as it's always been there and it never moved from there at all. All this can easily be corrected via wording (see "Quality"), but I'm also putting this here because it both gives way to a lot of confusion and, most of all, it directly affects the balance of the card: if this gets a +1/+1 counter every time it would die, the cost can be right, but maybe it's borderline uncommon. Otherwise, if this doesn't get bigger than 2/2, 3 mana can be a little bit much. In both cases, it would be playable in limited but certainly not in constructed. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (1/3) – If that ability is supposed to be a replacement effect, as I guess, "Whenever" should be "If" (half a point deducted). Also, about "the graveyard": which graveyard? If it's your graveyard, it should be specified. If it's any graveyard, it should simply be "dies". In both cases, the wording is not correct (half a point deducted). "Put it onto the battlefield" isn't needed, as this never leaves the battlefield at all if it would die (half a point deducted). A period is missing at the end of the ability (half a point deducted).
Season of Rain (G/U)(G/U)(G/U)
Enchantment (U) (G/U)(G/U): Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a creature, add one mana
of that creature's color to your mana pool.
Design (7/10) Creativity – I can't find an effect like that already existing. It feels like one of those effects that makes you go "How come this isn't already printed?", so full points here. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny could maybe play this in some strange combo I can't think of right now. Spike doesn't like this both because it consumes mana instead of generating it and because you have to hit a creature so it's not reliable enough.
Development (5.5/10) Viability – The effect feels more green than blue, but sometimes blue has had cards that add mana, even though often restricted for use on artifact spells. Rarity can be fine, it's certainly not a rare as not only it doesn't ramp your mana, but you actually have to spend more mana than you generate (more on that in "Balance"). Balance – The cost of the ability feels too high. As it is, you spend more mana than the amount you generate from the ability, and that's quite weak. I can see using that ability if you're playing a 3+ colored deck and you're color screwed, hoping to reveal a card of one of the colors you're missing. But in all other cases, this ability doesn't ramp your mana, but it costs you mana. The mana cost looks high too: Rampant Growth costs two mana, for three mana I expect at least a repeatable one, but this is worse than it, both because it's only one shot, while Rampant Growth gives you the land permanently, and because you have to hit a creature, which you won't do every time. I probably wouldn't play this in limited, and I surely wouldn't in constructed. Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me there's room for multiple lines of flavor text, but there is none.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2/3) – I add one mana of which color if the card I reveal is multicolored? If I can choose one of the colors, the ability should say it (half a point deducted). Also, while the card is revealed it's still on the top of my library and not on the battlefield, so it's a "creature card" or simply a "card" and not a "creature". Alternatively, you could refer to it with "revealed card". The ability should say so in both instances (see Chrome Mox for a similar wording, half a point deducted). Putting it all together, this should say "If it's a creature card, add one mana of any of the revealed card's colors to your mana pool". "any of that card's colors" and "any of its colors" would have been acceptable too.
Shadowfire Imp(B/R)(B/R)(B/R)(B/R)
Creature - Imp {U}
When Shadowfire Imp or another creature you control with (B/R) in it's mana cost enters the battlefield, Shadowfire Imp deals damage to target creature equal to the amount of red mana used to pay that creature's mana cost, and target player loses life equal to the amount of black mana used to pay that creature's mana cost.
2/2 "Beware the shadow that shirks not from the flame."
Design (8.5/10) Creativity – I can't remember any card explicitly looking for hybrid mana symbols like this, so full points here. Elegance – A bit wordy, but very clear. Potential – This is a card for Spike, as it gives you a whole lot of value, and it's repeatable too. Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may try to recur this and use it as a win condition abusing the "target player loses life" part.
Development (7.5/10) Viability – The "damage to a creature" part is mandatory, so I wouldn't advise casting this in an empty board, as this would have to kill itself. That's a limiting factor, but I don't feel like it's enough to prevent this to be a rare. The color pie is perfectly satisfied. Balance – This looks very strong, only counting itself it already deals 4 damage to a creature and makes a player lose 4 life. Talk about a card that immediately affects the battlefield as it enters! Very probably a first pick in limited. Surely playable in constructed too. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (1.5/3) – "it's mana cost" should be "its mana cost" without apostrophe, as it's possessive and not a contraction of "it is" (half a point deducted). "amount of red mana" should be "amount of R" and the same for black mana (see Karametra's Acolyte and the Oracle text of some very old cards like Sacrifice, half a point deducted). Conveniently, this wouldn't have let you satisfy subchallenge 1, by the way. Finally, mana isn't "used" but "spent" (see Firespout for mana spent on a spell and the Oracle text of Ice Cauldron for mana spent on abilities, half a point deducted).
The intent of the card was what you figured it out to be - the card is meant to tutor for a single, 5-colored card. Having the activated ability be Conflux is way too cheap for only 7 mana.
I agree it would be too good. Thanks for clarifying what your intent was, I'm going to edit my judgment in the light of this clarification.
I always lose points for speaking British english, and I guess I always will.
It's certainly not your fault if Wizards is American! Just try to remember that when you post your cards. In fact, I always specify that both spellings are acceptable in real life right because of the difference between British English and American English, but I think that the cards we submit here should be submitted as they would be if they saw print for real.
On an unrelated note, there's only one hour left before December round 1 is closed. Brackets will be posted then.
Votes:
Koopa
Indighost (because I like the effect, even though I would like that card even more if the buyback cost included "an untapped Mountain". As it is, you can pay the 1 and sacrifice the same land you just tapped for mana. Also, rarity is missing.)
The following is a double-faced card.
Anger-Driven Warrior1GG
Creature — Human Warrior (R)
When Anger-Driven Warrior’s power is 4 or greater, transform it. Anger grew within him, little bit by little bit. At last, that little bit was too much.
2/3
// Anger-Driven Beast
Color indicator: green
Vigilance, trample
At the beginning of each end step, if Anger-Driven Beast attacked or blocked this turn, transform it. After he let all his anger out, he had none left within.
4/4
The design deadline has passed, I assume we can start judging.
Judgment is final.
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in wording, spelling, or grammar; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
Edge of the World
Land (M) T: Add two mana of any colour to your mana pool. If that mana is spent on a spell, for the rest of the game, you can't cast spells with the same name as that spell.
Design (9/10) Creativity – The only similarity between this and Ancient Tomb is that both add two mana. Everything else is new, so full points here. Elegance – All feels good here. Potential – Timmy doesn't like this as it prevents him to cast more copies of his big beasts. Johnny and Spike both like this much, as this creates interesting challenges both in deckbuilding (if you play a singleton deck you can effectively deny the drawback) and gameplay ("Do I want to cast my threat earlier but without being able to play another copy? Do I want to use this mana to activate abilities instead?").
Development (8.5/10) Viability – All feels good here. Balance – Lands that add more than one mana to your mana pool are always dangerous and hard to balance well. This doesn't immediately look broken, so playtest would be needed to see if it's balanced enough. On top of that these are two mana "of any color", even if it's not clear if this means "of any one color" or "in any combination of colors". Of course, the former is safer but the latter is stronger. In both cases, I think this is very playable in every format. It would probably be a staple in many formats, at least in Commander and every other singleton format for sure. Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me there would have been room for a couple lines of flavor text, but there is none.
Polish Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 met. Subchallenge 2 NOT met: there is only a mana ability with no nonmana ability. Quality (2/3) – First and most of all, the wording is unclear about the colors of mana added: it should be either "of any one color" or "in any combination of colors", depending on the intent (half a point deducted). In any case, "colour" should be "color" (both spellings are acceptable in real life but not on a Magic card, half a point deducted).
Heart of the Maelstrom
Legendary Land (MR) 4, T: Add WUBRG to your mana pool. 2WUBRG, T, Sacrifice Heart of the Maelstrom: Search your library for a white, blue, black, red, and green card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Once the shards merged, chaos ruled over Alara.
Design (7/10) Creativity – This looks similar to Crystal Quarry, but there's never been a land with an activated ability costing all five colors of mana. Not the most of originality, but indeed it's never been done. Elegance – I see no problems here. Potential – This is a Johnny card at heart, he's surely excited to play this. I don't think either Timmy or Spike would care.
Development (8/10) Viability – All good here. Balance – This is the most difficult thing to evaluate about this card. This fetches you one card and that card must be five-colored. That's alright, but that means this can only find 21 cards in the whole game (just do a quick Gatherer search and you'll see). Paying 8 mana, because you also have to tap this, to fetch one card among just a handful in the game doesn't look like the strongest of abilities at first. But on the other hand, it's also true that those 21 cards are very strong. Also, not only you are already playing all five colors anyway, so you'll surely be able to cast the card you looked for, but you have all five colors of mana available right now, otherwise you wouldn't be able to activate the ability, so you'll be able to cast it right now (or more realistically, as soon as you untap). R&D doesn't have a high consideration of tutors because they can lead to repetitive gameplay, and in fact the scenario where you search for, say, Progenitus with this and the next turn you immediately cast it, and this happens almost every game, can be frightening. One thing is good: you put that card into your hand, so you can't circumvent the mana cost of the card you looked for with this. Beside that, this is a tutor on a land, so it doesn't even figure in your spell count in deckbuilding. Overall, while you first can be perplex looking at the ability's cost, when you think about it you see the reason why it's 7 mana.
About playability, I don't think you would play this in limited unless under very specific circumstances. In constructed, this requires that you build your whole deck around it. If you do, it's playable, but it's certainly not a card you can throw in any deck. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (3/3) – All good here.
Planar Beacon
Land (M) T: Add 1 to your mana pool. 5, T, Exile Planar Beacon: Search target player’s library for a planeswalker card and put it onto the battlefield under your control. Then that player shuffles his or her library. At the beginning of your next upkeep, put that card on the bottom of its owner’s library unless you pay its mana cost. Its light outshines every sun in every sky.
Design (8.5/10) Creativity – I can't remember anything like that already existing. Full points here. Elegance – A little bit on the wordy side, but everything's clear and immediately understandable. Potential – Timmy likes this, as he gets to fetch his most powerful planeswalker and then he also has a way to keep it. Johnny also likes this: if he plays a combo involving a planeswalker, this is a tutor to him. I don't think Spike would like this: he goes like "if I have to pay five mana now and the mana cost next turn, I may as well pay the mana cost now to cast my planeswalker right away while saving mana".
Development (8.5/10) Viability – All feels good here. Balance – This looks very powerful as it can also steal an opponent's planeswalker, but it requires the payment of a lot of mana. Most of all, you still have to pay the planeswalker's mana cost next turn, and that is surely the balancing factor of this card. Given the high amount of mana needed to maximize this, it can be fine. Playtest would be needed to be sure. Only playable in limited if you open a planeswalker too, but that requires having two mythics at the same time. That's a very rare occurrence in limited. Surely playable in any constructed format if you play any planeswalker in your deck. It's not reliable enough to count on your opponent having planeswalkers in his or her deck if you have none. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (3/3) – All good here.
Miraculous Mistwoods
Land (M) T: Add G to your mana pool. 2GG, Tap untapped creature you control: Target land you control becomes copy of creature tapped this way until end of turn, except it's a land in addition to its other types. "This ancient forest can show you its magic if you can stand still and watch."
- Elvish druid
Design (8.5/10) Creativity – Never before a land copied a creature. That ability is certainly new. Full points here. Elegance – All good here. Potential – Timmy can copy his big beasts, but he wouldn't want to tap them to do so. Johnny can easily find some good creatures to copy, so he happily goes brewing. Spike either sees no point in using that ability or sees it as win more.
Development (7/10) Viability – I think the last ability should be at least partly blue. Yes, it involves lands, but I don't think that's enough to make it monogreen when copying creatures is mostly a blue effect. I can see this as a green/blue dual land that adds either G or U to your mana pool and that has the same last ability but costing 2GU. Balance – I think you would only activate the last ability when you have a big creature already out. I don't know if that happens often enough, it probably depends on the format you're playing this in. Also, maybe this could have copied your opponent's creatures too. You would probably have to raise the cost, but that would give this card a much greater flexibility. As it is, it's certainly fine but it reads a little on the weak side. Maybe it plays better than it reads, but playtest would be needed to evaluate that. Always playable in limited. The effect isn't one to be universally played in constructed, but the fact that this is better than a basic Forest (not strictly because this is not basic and has no land type, but almost) means it would probably be played in any constructed green deck. Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Both met. Quality (2/3) – Articles are missing: "AN untapped creature", "becomes A copy of THE creature tapped" (half a point deducted). The "except" clause should simply be "It's still a land." because you're not turning something else into a land, it was already a land to begin with (half a point deducted).
Votes: Koopa, Indighost
Honorable mention: Rudyard. That card made me laugh. It's hilarious! It totally feels like an un-card and it would feel at home both in the third un-set, whenever it will be, and in this month's first round of the CCL. I didn't give you a vote just because it doesn't make any sense in black border.
Aging Leonin3W
Creature — Cat (C) Consumption — Put a -1/-1 counter on Aging Leonin: Aging Leonin gains vigilance until end of turn. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery and only once each turn. He no longer has the force he had in his youth.
3/3
"Consumption" is an ability word that identifies activated abilities that only cost "Put a -1/-1 counter on this" and that can be activated only as a sorcery and only once each turn. It obviously is in an hypothetical set featuring -1/-1 counters. It will be on a few more cards I'll post this month and the next.
EDIT: Round 2 has been posted. When judging time comes, there will be 4 brackets with 5 players each. The top 2 from each bracket will advance to round 3.
EDIT again to avoid double post: round 2 is now closed and brackets have been posted in that thread's OP.
Trivmvirate had to retire from judging this month because of private reasons. I wish him the best of luck. I'm going to judge his bracket myself, then round 2 will have 4 brackets of 5 players each with the top 2 from each bracket advancing to round 3.
Round 2 will be posted in 2.5 hours (at midnight CET = 6 PM EST).
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in wording, spelling, or grammar; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
Design (7.5/10)
Creativity – The stats and the haste remind much of Monastery Swiftspear. The ability is something new.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may use this if he needs to give a creature haste for some purpose. Spike likes this very much, as it's certainly pushed more than enough.
Development (9/10)
Viability – The ability feels more gold than hybrid: giving haste is red and the "losing life" part feels black. Other than that, everything's good here, including rarity (see Monastery Swiftspear, this trades prowess for the activated ability).
Balance – Both the mana cost and the ability cost are pushed as low as they can but they don't look broken. Very playable in limited, I think it could easily be a first pick. I can easily see in constructed too, especially in some RDW style decks that are both very aggressive and have a low enough curve, so they can make good use of the haste-granting ability.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (3/3) – All good here.
Total: 21.5/25
Design (5/10)
Creativity – I can't remember them together in a single card, but these effects are nothing new.
Elegance – It feels strange that I can pay only green mana to fetch Plains and vice versa (see "Viability"), but other than that everything's fine here.
Potential – I can't see a single psychographic that would care for this. Maybe some Timmy that loves lifegain, but that's really stretching.
Development (6/10)
Viability – There is some precedent for white cards fetching Plains from the library, but it feels strange to be able to pay only green mana and search for a Plains, or pay only white mana and search for a Forest. Also, with adequate mana cost, this should be common, as most effects like this are.
Balance – The mana cost is too low, see Bountiful Harvest or even Joyous Respite, and this card has an additional effect. Playable in limited for sure. I can't see this in constructed.
Creative Writing – Nature vs nurture is one of the ways to express the green/blue conflict, so it feels strange to see the word "Nurturing" in the name of a green card. Other than that, no problems here.
Polish
Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 NOT met: there is a non-hybrid mana symbol (2) in the mana cost. Subchallenge 2 met.
Quality (0/3) – "put it into play" should be "put it onto the battlefield" (this is a particularly serious mistake, as we should be used by now to post M10 wording, so one point deducted). This card has you search your library, but then it doesn't tell you to shuffle it (this is also a very serious mistake, as you know the order of your whole library after this resolves, one point deducted). Finally, it should say "You gain 1 life" (half a point deducted) and a period is missing at the end of the flavor text (half a point deducted). Mana tags are missing from the mana cost.
Total: 12/25
Design (6.5/10)
Creativity – There has never been a creature with these exact stats, but the effect is nothing new.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may try to find a way to recur the trigger trying to lock a creature out of the game permanently. Spike is excited by this card, as he can cast it at the most convenient times, has evasion and immediately affects the board.
Development (7.5/10)
Viability – All looks good here.
Balance – Cost looks right, as this costs the same amount of mana as Kor Hookmaster and Frost Lynx but with more colored mana, and one less mana than Dungeon Geists, but that locks the creature for as long as you control it instead of just a single turn. Very high pick in limited. It may be playable in constructed, but only in specific decks.
Creative Writing – The name sounds uninspired but it's fine. MSE tells me that one line of flavor text could have fit there.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2.5/3) – A period is missing at the end of the last ability (half a point deducted).
Total: 18.5/25
Design (8/10)
Creativity – Very innovative use of "twobrid" for Eldrazi, but you weren't the only one to think of that this round. Maybe it was just an easy place to go to.
Elegance – All feels good here.
Potential – Not all Timmies are interested in this, but the griefers surely are. Johnny may try to find ways to abuse the trigger, but the high mana cost associated with that limits him in his brewing. Spike is very interested as he first reads this, then when he realizes the cost of the trigger loses much of his interest.
Development (7/10)
Viability – This makes sense as a monored card, even though making the opponent sacrifice a permanent isn't primary red. It also makes sense as a colorless card, but that's mostly because of the Eldrazi flavor and not because of mechanics. Rarity feels right.
Balance – It's surely less oppressive than annihilator, as you have to pay at least 4 mana in a single color to get the same effect. That's probably a good thing after all, but the cost to make the opponent sacrifice something looks too high. Very playable in limited, I don't know if it would be a first pick, but it would be surely a high enough pick. I can see this in constructed too, especially if the sacrifice cost is lowered a bit.
Creative Writing – I can't imagine an Eldrazi being a Satyr. The flavor text mentioning Xenagos and there being the word "Reveler" in the name helps with that, but it feels like they are there just to justify the creature types.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (3/3) – All looks good here.
Total: 20/25
Design (6.5/10)
Creativity – Stalker Hag but with a Simic touch. New, but not groundbreaking.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy has to wait too long for this to become big enough for him to care, but maybe a creature that grows the more beasts he plays can interest him. Johnny doesn't care. Spike would probably be interested if this had a point more of either base power or toughness. As it is, he just sees a 1/1 for two mana that could be evasive but just sometimes.
Development (9/10)
Viability – All good here.
Balance – Cost looks right. Playable in limited but I don't see it in constructed.
Creative Writing – All good here. Particularly appreciable the choice of creature types, they just scream Simic! It's amazing how sometimes you can express such great flavor with only two words of a mechanical feature.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2/3) – Stalker Hag tells us that multiple instances of landwalk should be ordered like mana symbols are, that is in WUBRG order. In green/blue cards, green comes before blue (remember you take the shortest path cycling around the color pie), so forestwalk should come before islandwalk (half a point deducted). Also, in a list of keywords only the first one is capitalized (half a point deducted). I would have liked the reminder text for evolve to be there, but I'm not penalizing you for that.
Total: 19.5/25
Design (6.5/10)
Creativity – Vendilion Clique's ETB ability, but for all players. Never done, but not very original.
Elegance – Not immediate, but easy enough to understand.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may use this, but if he does it will be to find the cards he needs from his own library. Spike is excited by this card, as it gives him a lot of strategic choices to make.
Development (6/10)
Viability – Between the Clique in blue and all the discard effects black has, this feels good as a blue/black hybrid card, even though I'm not sure this effect belongs in monoblue. Rarity looks fine.
Balance – Vendilion Clique does this for a single player, leaves a body behind, and costs three mana. This doesn't give you a creature, but is extended to all players, so it feels like it wants to have the same cost of the Clique. If this just targeted a single player, it would have been surely fine at two mana. It may be playable in limited if you have room for a noncreature spell like this in your deck. Not playable in constructed.
Creative Writing – The name sounds too similar to Dismember, but the card is not a nod to it as the name would have you expect. No flavor text, even though MSE tells me there would have been room for three lines of it.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2.5/3) – The wording should be that of Vendilion Clique's ability, but with "each player's hand" instead of "target player's hand" (half a point deducted).
Total: 17/25
hopefulhawkeye 21.5/25
J.Do 12/25
Koopa 18.5/25
northprophet 20/25
NVRBLND 19.5/25
Rudyard 17/25
Flatline (for the elegance and simplicity of the card, even thought I think it should cost more)
GG Crono
Bird of Brain 3(U/B)
Creature — Zombie Bird (C)
Flying
Recycle 2 (2, Exile this card from your graveyard: Draw a card.)
It’s a bird of prey that preys on minds.
2/2
Welcome to the DCC!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post in the All-New DCC Discussion Thread.
How does this card-making game work? It's simple! Whenever your card receives a vote in the day's poll, you receive [1] point for the month. If your card ends up with the most votes for that day, you will receive [2] additional points for the month. In the event of a tie, each person who tied receives [1] additional point. At the end of each month, the person with the most points on the scoreboard wins that month, then the scoreboard is cleared for the next month. You can participate in as many or as few days as you want in any month.
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(An easy way to post the new thread is to hit the multiquote button on every post in the previous day's thread, then click Post Reply. Select everything in this post, copy it, and then paste it into the first post for a new thread. You'll have to clean up a few small things, like quote tags around the opening post and the previous day's cards.)a pollthe thread as long as your card didn't get disqualified - see the next point for more details. If you post more than one card in a DCC thread, only the first card you post will be taken.You have a poll in the thread;You include everyone's cards (excluding cards that have been disqualified);The poll is marked as public and multiple choice with a one-day time limit; andHere we go again!
Koopa 21 (+1)
Indighost 16
Rush_Clasic 12 (+3)
bravelion83 11 (+3)
Rudyard 11
Flatline 10 (+2)
GG Crono 10 (+5)
CryoZenith 9
Groovelord 5
MDenham 4 (+1)
Sir Karn 1
Wearth 1 (+1)
Enchantment — Aura Curse (M)
Enchant player
Creatures enchanted player controls don’t untap during that player’s untap step.
Creatures enchanted player’s opponents control get +1/+1.
When it’s winter in one location, it’s summer at the antipodes.
Moss_Elemental is right. Your card has 1 in its mana cost, which is not an hybrid symbol. To pass subchallenge 1, ALL the symbols in both mana cost and rules text must be hybrid. I actually put an example about that in the clarifications, see the fourth example of cards that do NOT pass the challenge:
I recommend everyone to always read very carefully both what the challenges say and the clarifications, also in future rounds.
Auraphile W
Creature — Human (C)
Auraphile gets +1/+1 as long as it’s enchanted.
A master of everything aethereal.
1/1
Artificial Invader 5
Artifact Creature — Construct (R)
When Artificial Invader deals combat damage to a player, you win the game.
When you feel it penetrating within your flesh, it’s already too late.
0/3
Hekston, Scourge of the Kingdom 3BB
Legendary Creature — Horror (M)
R, T: Destroy target Equipment.
Hekston, Scourge of the Kingdom can't have +1/+1 counters placed on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove up to X +1/+1 counters from each creature your opponents control, where X is Hekston’s toughness.
3/3
Scorching Kill 1BB
Instant (U)
Kicker R (You may pay an additional R as you cast this spell.)
Destroy target creature. If Scorching Kill was kicked, it can’t be countered by spells or abilities and that creature can’t be regenerated.
“The weakness of your flesh is what kills you. The heat of the fire is just a catalyst.”
Collective Effort 3GG
Sorcery (R)
Draw X cards, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control.
"A group is always stronger than the sum of its parts."
Artorius, King of All 3WW
Legendary Creature — Human (M)
Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may attach it to Artorius, King of All.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put X +1/+1 counters on each other creature you control, where X is Artorius’s power.
3/3
Rightful Banishment 1WW
Instant (U)
Exile target creature with no +1/+1 counters on it.
“War in our kingdom follows a code of honor. One of the rules is that a warrior without an armor is unworthy to fight.”
—King Artorius
I just like when the submitted card looks as much as possible as Wizards would print it. In the end, I think this just falls under the personal judging style of each judge.
Brackets for December round 1 are posted. You can find them here in the OP.
Judgment is final.
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in wording, spelling, or grammar; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
Design (8/10)
Creativity – A morph with a "turned face up" trigger is nothing new, but there's never been one with this particular effect.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny can maybe try to do something with the trigger. Spike absolutely loves this card, as he sees this as double removal: a kind of Maelstrom Pulse when turned face up, and then there's deathtouch. He can get a lot of value out of this.
Development (8.5/10)
Viability – Perfectly within the color pie. I could see this at rare nowadays, with the new R&D policy on removal. But I like this very much as a pushed uncommon too.
Balance – Costs look right. A 1/1 deathtouch can easily cost (B/G). To get the removal effect you have to pay seven mana (three to cast the morph and four to turn it face up), and that feels about right, even considered the fact that you can spread that costs over two turns. Turning this face up on the fourth turn is certainly strong but doesn't look broken, as it also mean you probably did nothing else on your third and fourth turns. A "must play" in limited if you are in its colors. If you haven't decided your colors yet, this will absolutely push you towards BG. In that, this remembers me of the famous cycles of uncommons R&D started putting in recent sets to push themes for the color pairs in limited. I feel this is very playable in constructed too.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me a single line of flavor text can fit here while still including reminder text for morph, but there is none.
Polish
Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 NOT met: there are non-hybrid mana symbols in the rules text. Subchallenge 2 met.
Quality (2/3) – The numeral 3 in reminder text should be a mana symbol 3 (half a point deducted). The hyphens shouldn't be there, it should be "turned face up" and "nonland permanent" (half a point deducted).
Total: 19.5/25
Design (8/10)
Creativity – Somewhat reminiscent of cards like Qasali Ambusher, but more than different enough to be new.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Not big enough for Timmy to care. Johnny may try to do something with the flash ability. Spike loves that ability, as it lets him get a lot of value out of the surprise factor, for example using this as a surprise blocker in a Selesnya, Gruul or Naya deck.
Development (7.5/10)
Viability – Flash is neither red nor white, but as it requires a Forest, it's fine. First strike on a hybrid RW card is perfect. Rarity looks perfect too: this would be too strong as a common but underwhelming as a rare. Qasali Ambusher is conveniently uncommon too.
Balance – A 3/1 first strike alone costs at least three mana (see Porcelain Legionnaire), when not four (see Halberdier or Viashino Shanktail, that is more recent but has an additional ability). This can sometimes be cast with flash in addition to that, so it's surely undercosted by at least one mana, maybe even two. Very playable in limited, especially at that cost. I don't think this is enough for constructed, though.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. The flavor text is also fine, but to me it almost makes this feel like a druid, but that's just a minor point.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2.5/3) – A comma is missing after "If you control a Forest" (half a point deducted).
Total: 20/25
Design (7.5/10)
Creativity – Very original and innovative idea. Full points here.
Elegance – Not immediate, but it takes little time to get a good grasp of this.
Potential – This is a Johnny card at heart. Timmy obviously doesn't care. Spike doesn't like to give vigilance to the opponent's creatures too.
Development (6/10)
Viability – I think you went the "build-around-me" uncommon route, but this totally feels like a rare to me. It just changes too much the normal flow of the game. Angel's Trumpet is indeed uncommon, but that was many years ago. I think today this would surely be rare. About the color pie, vigilance was blue only in Planar Chaos, and that set is the one set you should almost never take as a precedent of the modern color pie. A little amount of bleed is allowed sometimes in hybrid cards, but vigilance feels out of place on an hybrid WU card.
Balance – Cost looks right. I don't think I would normally play this in my limited deck, unless under very specific circumstances. Playable in constructed provided that you built your deck around it, otherwise I don't see this played there.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 NOT met: there is a non-hybrid mana symbol in the mana cost (1). Subchallenge 2 met.
Quality (2.5/3) – It should be "during their controllers' untap steps" (see Intruder Alarm, half a point deducted).
Total: 17/25
Design (6/10)
Creativity – You took undying and turned it into a replacement effect. Indeed new, but not very original.
Elegance – The concept is clear once you understand that this never leaves the battlefield at all if it would die (more on that later), so the "put it onto the battlefield" part is a bit misleading.
Potential – Maybe Timmy could be interested in the "unkillability" of this (if that's a word). Johnny would surely play this with sacrifice outlets. I don't think Spike would be interested much.
Development (7/10)
Viability – Reanimation is white and black so no problems there. This is probably simple enough to be at common under NWO, provided that the wording is corrected.
Balance – This isn't undying, but it's a replacement effect (the word "instead" gives it away). It isn't a triggered ability either, as the word "whenever" implies. As it is, its ability has the trigger of a triggered ability with the effect of a replacement effect. Something just doesn't add up here. Let's suppose it's a replacement effect, which I think is the intent. In that case, this doesn't leave the battlefield at all if it would die, because its death is replaced by another event, so it never actually happens. This also implies that there's no need to "put it onto the battlefield", as it's always been there and it never moved from there at all. All this can easily be corrected via wording (see "Quality"), but I'm also putting this here because it both gives way to a lot of confusion and, most of all, it directly affects the balance of the card: if this gets a +1/+1 counter every time it would die, the cost can be right, but maybe it's borderline uncommon. Otherwise, if this doesn't get bigger than 2/2, 3 mana can be a little bit much. In both cases, it would be playable in limited but certainly not in constructed.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (1/3) – If that ability is supposed to be a replacement effect, as I guess, "Whenever" should be "If" (half a point deducted). Also, about "the graveyard": which graveyard? If it's your graveyard, it should be specified. If it's any graveyard, it should simply be "dies". In both cases, the wording is not correct (half a point deducted). "Put it onto the battlefield" isn't needed, as this never leaves the battlefield at all if it would die (half a point deducted). A period is missing at the end of the ability (half a point deducted).
Total: 16/25
Design (7/10)
Creativity – I can't find an effect like that already existing. It feels like one of those effects that makes you go "How come this isn't already printed?", so full points here.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't care. Johnny could maybe play this in some strange combo I can't think of right now. Spike doesn't like this both because it consumes mana instead of generating it and because you have to hit a creature so it's not reliable enough.
Development (5.5/10)
Viability – The effect feels more green than blue, but sometimes blue has had cards that add mana, even though often restricted for use on artifact spells. Rarity can be fine, it's certainly not a rare as not only it doesn't ramp your mana, but you actually have to spend more mana than you generate (more on that in "Balance").
Balance – The cost of the ability feels too high. As it is, you spend more mana than the amount you generate from the ability, and that's quite weak. I can see using that ability if you're playing a 3+ colored deck and you're color screwed, hoping to reveal a card of one of the colors you're missing. But in all other cases, this ability doesn't ramp your mana, but it costs you mana. The mana cost looks high too: Rampant Growth costs two mana, for three mana I expect at least a repeatable one, but this is worse than it, both because it's only one shot, while Rampant Growth gives you the land permanently, and because you have to hit a creature, which you won't do every time. I probably wouldn't play this in limited, and I surely wouldn't in constructed.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me there's room for multiple lines of flavor text, but there is none.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2/3) – I add one mana of which color if the card I reveal is multicolored? If I can choose one of the colors, the ability should say it (half a point deducted). Also, while the card is revealed it's still on the top of my library and not on the battlefield, so it's a "creature card" or simply a "card" and not a "creature". Alternatively, you could refer to it with "revealed card". The ability should say so in both instances (see Chrome Mox for a similar wording, half a point deducted). Putting it all together, this should say "If it's a creature card, add one mana of any of the revealed card's colors to your mana pool". "any of that card's colors" and "any of its colors" would have been acceptable too.
Total: 16.5/25
Design (8.5/10)
Creativity – I can't remember any card explicitly looking for hybrid mana symbols like this, so full points here.
Elegance – A bit wordy, but very clear.
Potential – This is a card for Spike, as it gives you a whole lot of value, and it's repeatable too. Timmy doesn't care. Johnny may try to recur this and use it as a win condition abusing the "target player loses life" part.
Development (7.5/10)
Viability – The "damage to a creature" part is mandatory, so I wouldn't advise casting this in an empty board, as this would have to kill itself. That's a limiting factor, but I don't feel like it's enough to prevent this to be a rare. The color pie is perfectly satisfied.
Balance – This looks very strong, only counting itself it already deals 4 damage to a creature and makes a player lose 4 life. Talk about a card that immediately affects the battlefield as it enters! Very probably a first pick in limited. Surely playable in constructed too.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (1.5/3) – "it's mana cost" should be "its mana cost" without apostrophe, as it's possessive and not a contraction of "it is" (half a point deducted). "amount of red mana" should be "amount of R" and the same for black mana (see Karametra's Acolyte and the Oracle text of some very old cards like Sacrifice, half a point deducted). Conveniently, this wouldn't have let you satisfy subchallenge 1, by the way. Finally, mana isn't "used" but "spent" (see Firespout for mana spent on a spell and the Oracle text of Ice Cauldron for mana spent on abilities, half a point deducted).
Total: 19.5/25
AliasBot 19.5/25
Cardz5000 20/25
doomfish 17/25
niko52301 16/25
VeiledAssassin 16.5/25
Wearth 19.5/25
I agree it would be too good. Thanks for clarifying what your intent was, I'm going to edit my judgment in the light of this clarification.
It's certainly not your fault if Wizards is American! Just try to remember that when you post your cards. In fact, I always specify that both spellings are acceptable in real life right because of the difference between British English and American English, but I think that the cards we submit here should be submitted as they would be if they saw print for real.
On an unrelated note, there's only one hour left before December round 1 is closed. Brackets will be posted then.
Koopa
Indighost (because I like the effect, even though I would like that card even more if the buyback cost included "an untapped Mountain". As it is, you can pay the 1 and sacrifice the same land you just tapped for mana. Also, rarity is missing.)
The following is a double-faced card.
Anger-Driven Warrior 1GG
Creature — Human Warrior (R)
When Anger-Driven Warrior’s power is 4 or greater, transform it.
Anger grew within him, little bit by little bit. At last, that little bit was too much.
2/3
//
Anger-Driven Beast
Color indicator: green
Vigilance, trample
At the beginning of each end step, if Anger-Driven Beast attacked or blocked this turn, transform it.
After he let all his anger out, he had none left within.
4/4
Judgment is final.
Design/development: I mentally divide points equally among subsections, assign them, then add them up.
Challenges: what counts is always the letter of the law.
Quality: half a point deducted for any error in wording, spelling, or grammar; a whole point for particularly serious errors.
No complaints unless I got something objectively wrong.
Design (9/10)
Creativity – The only similarity between this and Ancient Tomb is that both add two mana. Everything else is new, so full points here.
Elegance – All feels good here.
Potential – Timmy doesn't like this as it prevents him to cast more copies of his big beasts. Johnny and Spike both like this much, as this creates interesting challenges both in deckbuilding (if you play a singleton deck you can effectively deny the drawback) and gameplay ("Do I want to cast my threat earlier but without being able to play another copy? Do I want to use this mana to activate abilities instead?").
Development (8.5/10)
Viability – All feels good here.
Balance – Lands that add more than one mana to your mana pool are always dangerous and hard to balance well. This doesn't immediately look broken, so playtest would be needed to see if it's balanced enough. On top of that these are two mana "of any color", even if it's not clear if this means "of any one color" or "in any combination of colors". Of course, the former is safer but the latter is stronger. In both cases, I think this is very playable in every format. It would probably be a staple in many formats, at least in Commander and every other singleton format for sure.
Creative Writing – Name is fine. MSE tells me there would have been room for a couple lines of flavor text, but there is none.
Polish
Challenge (1/2) – Subchallenge 1 met. Subchallenge 2 NOT met: there is only a mana ability with no nonmana ability.
Quality (2/3) – First and most of all, the wording is unclear about the colors of mana added: it should be either "of any one color" or "in any combination of colors", depending on the intent (half a point deducted). In any case, "colour" should be "color" (both spellings are acceptable in real life but not on a Magic card, half a point deducted).
Total: 20.5/25
Design (7/10)
Creativity – This looks similar to Crystal Quarry, but there's never been a land with an activated ability costing all five colors of mana. Not the most of originality, but indeed it's never been done.
Elegance – I see no problems here.
Potential – This is a Johnny card at heart, he's surely excited to play this. I don't think either Timmy or Spike would care.
Development (8/10)
Viability – All good here.
Balance – This is the most difficult thing to evaluate about this card. This fetches you one card and that card must be five-colored. That's alright, but that means this can only find 21 cards in the whole game (just do a quick Gatherer search and you'll see). Paying 8 mana, because you also have to tap this, to fetch one card among just a handful in the game doesn't look like the strongest of abilities at first. But on the other hand, it's also true that those 21 cards are very strong. Also, not only you are already playing all five colors anyway, so you'll surely be able to cast the card you looked for, but you have all five colors of mana available right now, otherwise you wouldn't be able to activate the ability, so you'll be able to cast it right now (or more realistically, as soon as you untap). R&D doesn't have a high consideration of tutors because they can lead to repetitive gameplay, and in fact the scenario where you search for, say, Progenitus with this and the next turn you immediately cast it, and this happens almost every game, can be frightening. One thing is good: you put that card into your hand, so you can't circumvent the mana cost of the card you looked for with this. Beside that, this is a tutor on a land, so it doesn't even figure in your spell count in deckbuilding. Overall, while you first can be perplex looking at the ability's cost, when you think about it you see the reason why it's 7 mana.
About playability, I don't think you would play this in limited unless under very specific circumstances. In constructed, this requires that you build your whole deck around it. If you do, it's playable, but it's certainly not a card you can throw in any deck.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (3/3) – All good here.
Total: 20/25
Design (8.5/10)
Creativity – I can't remember anything like that already existing. Full points here.
Elegance – A little bit on the wordy side, but everything's clear and immediately understandable.
Potential – Timmy likes this, as he gets to fetch his most powerful planeswalker and then he also has a way to keep it. Johnny also likes this: if he plays a combo involving a planeswalker, this is a tutor to him. I don't think Spike would like this: he goes like "if I have to pay five mana now and the mana cost next turn, I may as well pay the mana cost now to cast my planeswalker right away while saving mana".
Development (8.5/10)
Viability – All feels good here.
Balance – This looks very powerful as it can also steal an opponent's planeswalker, but it requires the payment of a lot of mana. Most of all, you still have to pay the planeswalker's mana cost next turn, and that is surely the balancing factor of this card. Given the high amount of mana needed to maximize this, it can be fine. Playtest would be needed to be sure. Only playable in limited if you open a planeswalker too, but that requires having two mythics at the same time. That's a very rare occurrence in limited. Surely playable in any constructed format if you play any planeswalker in your deck. It's not reliable enough to count on your opponent having planeswalkers in his or her deck if you have none.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (3/3) – All good here.
Total: 22/25
Design (8.5/10)
Creativity – Never before a land copied a creature. That ability is certainly new. Full points here.
Elegance – All good here.
Potential – Timmy can copy his big beasts, but he wouldn't want to tap them to do so. Johnny can easily find some good creatures to copy, so he happily goes brewing. Spike either sees no point in using that ability or sees it as win more.
Development (7/10)
Viability – I think the last ability should be at least partly blue. Yes, it involves lands, but I don't think that's enough to make it monogreen when copying creatures is mostly a blue effect. I can see this as a green/blue dual land that adds either G or U to your mana pool and that has the same last ability but costing 2GU.
Balance – I think you would only activate the last ability when you have a big creature already out. I don't know if that happens often enough, it probably depends on the format you're playing this in. Also, maybe this could have copied your opponent's creatures too. You would probably have to raise the cost, but that would give this card a much greater flexibility. As it is, it's certainly fine but it reads a little on the weak side. Maybe it plays better than it reads, but playtest would be needed to evaluate that. Always playable in limited. The effect isn't one to be universally played in constructed, but the fact that this is better than a basic Forest (not strictly because this is not basic and has no land type, but almost) means it would probably be played in any constructed green deck.
Creative Writing – All good here.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Both met.
Quality (2/3) – Articles are missing: "AN untapped creature", "becomes A copy of THE creature tapped" (half a point deducted). The "except" clause should simply be "It's still a land." because you're not turning something else into a land, it was already a land to begin with (half a point deducted).
Total: 19.5/25
Trivmvirate 20.5/25
Ogonomany 20/25
palanthas 22/25
Sagharri 19.5/25
Honorable mention: Rudyard. That card made me laugh. It's hilarious! It totally feels like an un-card and it would feel at home both in the third un-set, whenever it will be, and in this month's first round of the CCL. I didn't give you a vote just because it doesn't make any sense in black border.
Aging Leonin 3W
Creature — Cat (C)
Consumption — Put a -1/-1 counter on Aging Leonin: Aging Leonin gains vigilance until end of turn. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery and only once each turn.
He no longer has the force he had in his youth.
3/3
"Consumption" is an ability word that identifies activated abilities that only cost "Put a -1/-1 counter on this" and that can be activated only as a sorcery and only once each turn. It obviously is in an hypothetical set featuring -1/-1 counters. It will be on a few more cards I'll post this month and the next.