Squadron Pilot2RWU
Creature - Viashino Knight (C)
Skyknight (You may pair this creature with an unpaired creature with flying you control. They remain paired for as long as you control both.)
As long as Squadron Pilot is paired with a creature with flying, it gets +2/+2 and has flying. 3/3
Volcano Patrol 1W
Creature - Human Knight (C)
Skyknight (You may pair this creature with an unpaired creature with flying when either enters the battlefield. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Volcano Patrol is paired with a creature with flying, it gains flying and first strike. 2/2
Steampeak Lookout2U
Creature - Human Knight (C)
Skyknight (You may pair this creature with an unpaired creature with flying when either enters the battlefield. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Steampeak Lookout is paired with a creature with flying, it has flying and “1U: Untap Steampeak Lookout and the creature it’s paired with.” 2/2
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Ok Proph: A few questions and comments. 1) I'm loving this, perhaps a bit too much for my growing pile of homework 2) Can we make slight edits to our mechanics based on feedback (I've worked a better thematic name and flavor) 3) How are we supposed to judge this.. I'm worried. Will I get a judge who can see insight and try to show variety? Or will I get a judge who focuses on the negative and kill my whole entry if they view a single card as broken. I also don't want to worry about overwhelming Judges: Shall we just make a 'set of three' for short judging?
1. Thanks! This is a fairly complex project for me too because I'm not that experienced in running a CCL, and I hope that I can continue this throughout the month.
2. Yes.
3. Yeah, this month will be difficult to judge because I want to focus on holistic design. I will probably find a way to do this, maybe individual judgings.
Targleam Gnasher2B
Creature - Zombie Crocodile (C) Rejuvenated - Targleam Gnasher gets +3/+0 as long as you've gained life this turn.
1/3
Brightsorrow Cultist
Creature - Human Cleric (C) Rejuvenated - Brightsorrow Cultist gets +1/+1 and has flying as long as you've gained life this turn. "I swear that Jerhenvu will not pass judgment on me until all have heard word of his truth."
1/1
Gladeborne Stormer3GG
Creature - Bear Archer Shaman (C) Rejuvenated - When Gladeborne Stormer enters the battlefield, if you've gained life this turn, you may destroy target creature with flying.
4/3
Into the Glade5G
Sorcery (U)
Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and draw a card. Rejuvenated - Put two +1/+1 counters on each creature you control and draw two cards instead if you gained life this turn. Strangers who go among the Unction Clans are not strangers for long - they are swiftly either honored guests or dead.
/in.
A bit experimental, but I want to try a set focused on the mind. In the vein of Legions, there will be no creature cards in my set.
Themes:
Stack interaction - every colour, obviously blue primary.
Cap effects - Black primary, blue secondary.
"Making rules" - White primary, green secondary.
Tokens - Some combat should be involved, even without creature cards. Primary green, secondary white, tertiary all colours.
Random effects (including random discard) - Red primary, black... well, more tertiary than secondary.
My mechanic is somewhat of a returning mechanic: I am fixing Splice.
Rules (changes in bold):
702.45. Splice
702.45a Splice is a static ability that functions while a card is in your hand. "Splice onto [[B]quality[/B]] [cost]" means "You may reveal this card from your hand as you cast a [[B]quality[/B]] spell. If you do, copy this card's text box onto that spell and pay [cost] as an additional cost to cast that spell." Paying a card's splice cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e-g.
Example: Since the card with splice remains in the player's hand, it can later be cast normally or spliced onto another spell. It can even be discarded to pay a "discard a card" cost of the spell it's spliced onto.
[B]702.45b "Splice onto anything [cost]" means "You may reveal this card from your hand as you cast a spell. If you do, copy this card's text box onto that spell and pay [cost] as an additional cost to cast that spell." In all other respects, this splice functions identically to that of 702.45a.[/B]
702.45c You can't choose to use a splice ability if you can't make the required choices (targets, etc.) for that card's instructions. You can't splice any one card onto the same spell more than once. If you're splicing more than one card onto a spell, reveal them all at once and choose the order in which their instructions will be followed. The instructions on the main spell have to be followed first.
702.45d The spell has the characteristics of the main spell, plus the text boxes of each of the spliced cards. The spell doesn't gain any other characteristics (name, mana cost, color, supertypes, card types, subtypes, etc.) of the spliced cards. Text copied onto the spell that refers to a card by name refers to the spell on the stack, not the card from which the text was copied.
Example: Glacial Ray is a red card with splice onto Arcane that reads, "Glacial Ray deals 2 damage to target creature or player." Suppose Glacial Ray is spliced onto Reach Through Mists, a blue spell. The spell is still blue, and Reach Through Mists deals the damage. This means that the ability can target a creature with protection from red and deal 2 damage to that creature.
702.45e Choose targets for the added text normally (see rule 601.2c). Note that a spell with one or more targets will be countered if all of its targets are illegal on resolution.
702.45f The spell loses any splice changes once it leaves the stack [B]except if it moves from the stack to the battlefield.[/B] (for example, when it's countered, it's exiled, or [B]an instant or sorcery spell[/B] resolves).
Intensify
Red Sorcery (R)
Splice onto anything 1RR(As you cast a spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
If Intensify would deal damage, it deals double that damage to that creature or player instead.
Rules FAQ
This card has no mana cost.
Nonexistent mana costs can't be paid.
This means that you normally can't cast this card.
If you somehow cast this card, it normally won't do anything.
If you splice this card onto another card, substitute all instances of this card's name for that card's name.
If you splice this card onto another card or another card onto this card, any damage dealt by the effects of the other card will be doubled.
You can splice this card onto a permanent spell. The permanent that spell becomes as it resolves will retain the rules text gained through the splice.
This card is red.
This card's converted mana cost is 0.
Multiple instances of "If Intensify would deal damage, it deals double that damage to that creature or player instead." stack. That is, a spell with four copies of Intensify spliced onto it will deal sixteen times the normal damage.
Design Notes
The reason I am bringing back Splice is that I want another way to make cards persistent threats, ideally not just buyback. Splice is significantly harder to deal with than Buyback, but the gameplay it creates is also less repetitive in most cases, as cards must be cast each time.
On this card:
The intent of this card was to find an effect that was meaningful on every card type. This card should enable a mostly-weenie/burn deck to get to the endgame alone - note that two copies of Intensify will allow you to quadruple the damage, as mentioned in the FAQ above. The play situations should be sufficiently interesting to satisfy players looking for more options in gameplay (including many Spikes), the combination opportunities should be interesting for Johnny, Melvin will likely enjoy being able to splice onto both permanents and spells, and Timmy likes doubling things.
On an earlier design (when I thought the task was "noncreature mechanics") and memory issues:
Earlier design below.
Spinning the Ghostly Web2W
Enchantment (R)
Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 1 for each creature he or she controls that's attacking you.
Splice onto permanent 2WW(As you cast a permanent spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
The intent of "splice onto permanent" is to do a single loose horizontal cycle (at rare) - one card per colour should not cause major memory issues, it will not come up often in Limited, and in the event that a Constructed deck plays two of these two different counters of token will suffice.
On this earlier card in Limited: This card is not as useless as it would appear in Limited - green (and sometimes white) can pursue a creature token strategy that this is very strong against, and some cards can also animate themselves or other objects.
On other uses of splice: The most common splice conditions will be "splice onto instant" or "splice onto sorcery". Narrower conditions may exist, and design space is left for later sets ("splice onto enchantment", "splice onto blue", though the latter would be difficult in most cases to template effects that work on both nonpermanent and permanent spells.)
Ancient Lore1U
Sorcery (C)
Return target sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
Splice onto instant 1UU(As you cast an instant, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.) Repetition brings mastery.
Simplicity2G
Sorcery (C)
Put target artifact or enchantment on top of its owner's library.
Splice onto instant or sorcery - Return an artifact or enchantment you control to its owner's hand. (As you cast a sorcery, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.) Progress is a double-edged sword.
Psychological WarfareBB
Instant (U)
Name a nonland card. Target player discards a card with that name. If he or she can't, that player reveals his or her hand.
Splice onto sorcery 2BB(As you cast a sorcery, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.) None can resist forever.
Resound {N} — {Condition} (As this resolves exile it with N chime counters on it. Whenever {condition,} remove a chime counter from this, copy it, and cast the copy without paying its mana cost. Then, if there are no chime counters on this, put it into your graveyard.)
Excommunication Litany4W
Sorcery (R)
Exile target creature.
Resound 4 — A creature deals combat damage to you.
When you remove the last chime counter from Excommunication Litany, return all creature cards exiled by it to the battlefield under their owners' control.
In response to critiques, I simplified Resound significantly — it recurs only once, and triggers upon the casting of instants and sorceries only. I also changed the name so it’s less similar to Rebound.
The mechanic:
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
The background:
Chime is a RWU mechanic that represents the highly community-based magic of the Tsem Empire. Their rites and songs echo through the sandstone halls of Tsem’s palaces and temples, providing a constant musical counterpoint to life in the Empire.
First, a revision of Round 1’s card:
Litany of the Scorned4W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
A couple of commons:
Whispers in the Rain2U
Sorcery (C)
Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.
Draw a card.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Battlefield Planting2W
Instant (C)
Whenever a creature you control attacks or blocks this turn, gain 2 life.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.) Let the dead be shrouded in sacred grain. This field of war will bring plenty to our tables.
— Sacrament for fallen soldiers
Searing Glance1R
Instant (C)
Searing Glance deals 3 damage to target creature.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
And a bonus rare:
Cracklegraft2RR
Instant (R)
Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy. Cracklegraft deals 2 damage to the copied spell’s controller.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
So this is how it's going to work. See the number next to your name? You are going to critique or top 3 the other three players with the same number as you. For example, if I was Legend, then I would be critiquing aurorasparrow, Profani, and TacticalCelebrant.
Parasitic
1. herbert west
2. Legend
3. Raikou Rider
4. Asrama
5. Oculus
6. void_nothing
Modular
1. Link
2. aurorasparrow
3. yewlas
4. drewdagreek
5. Solestico
6. Jimmy Groove
Firstly I want to say that without Emanate, I like a lot of these cards a great deal. You can see the thought that went into them — for instance, I appreciate that Abrade the Occult is aware of the set’s use of the yard as resource and does setup work for that, along with Cerebral Maceration.
Emerging Game’s tapped Beast token is sort of bizarre. I assume that is an effort to control the creeping effect of Emanating a Beast out of another spell that might happen at a weird time.
It’s cool that you get to have spells piggybacking off other spells.
All that said, I’m still not in love with emanate, and I’ll try to explain why.
- “The converted mana cost” means that the color of your spells doesn’t matter once they are in the yard. I can imagine a yard-happy set like this one creating decks that just drop off-color spells into the yard so they can colorlessly emanate them off of on-color ones.
- Since they are repeatable (as currently written), each time you cast an emanate spell, you complicate the board state exponentially for both players.
- NWO doesn’t like repeatable removal at common, which means you can’t have any emanate removal at all.
- The fact that you can emanate your opponent’s spells and vice versa means that you will want to avoid any emanate spells that can be useful to your opponent, which is probably most of them.
- Since it creates a brand-new resource that either player can tap into, it’ll warp the format around itself — every deck will need an emanate/ramp toolkit to take advantage of the spell cache that’s building in everyone’s yard, which creates homogeneity.
I think you can make this work, but the repeatability and “any graveyard” need to go, and I reiterate that I think it needs a cost parameter like Splice does (which gets you the side benefit of letting you make low cast/high emanate costs, like Flashback, so you can see emanate cards in the early game).
Link
Okay, holistic thoughts first:
Overall I think persecute has good potential but I don’t love how it’s being implemented here; there is some baggage surrounding it that weighs it down.
The targeting restriction is complex and frustrating; I see that you’re trying to avoid ugly words like “non-monoblack”, but “nonblack” or “multicolored” (btw Guardian of the Guildpact says *colored takes an -ed) would have been more elegant. “That doesn’t share every color with CARDNAME,” would work okay too, permit colorless targets, and unify the restriction across cards.
Lastly, I don’t get how persecute is supposed to fit in pie; persecute does so many things (Aura removal, at least one case of instant-speed creature removal, temporary though it is, crippling, outright destroying creatures with 1 toughness, reupping ETBs) that I feel like it should be obligatorily multicolored like Cascade, but it seems like you want to make it point at “different from us,” which is an attitude that belongs on monocolors.
- Drag Through the Streets is a little confusing, hot-gluey. I don’t get how its flavor relates to “draw a card,” which reads as the card’s main function here, even though persecute is a large and complex effect. (I suspect you meant it to be a cantrip.)
- Tainted Law is interesting, but I think maybe too fast for a potentially one-sided board sweeper even if it puts the dudes back at eot; maybe 2WW.
- Willing Martyr looks like a good “show the ability” common to me. Since it’s almost always going to die when it does its thing, though, maybe it doesn’t need the color restriction clause.
- Forgo Thought looks like it wants to be black.
Saagn
I like Ensnare; it’s not precisely treading brand-new ground (I see this hurt you last round) but it’s a good ability. I’d consider saving two letters and calling it Snare.
I like that you gave us a French vanilla. Sentinel Vine’s ability bums me out — I can only kill an attacker with it if I double-block? Nangan Paralytic is pleasing.
I do wish you hadn’t put Ensnare on a red creature. The mechanic has solidly established precursors in non-red contents, and its aggressive use is a little too slow to feel right for red or on a Goblin. It would have been nice if any of these designs had abilities that showed synergy with Ensnare. Nonetheless, good show.
Solestico - Apart from the white and black ones, the common spells are too strong. I'm especially worried about the blue one, which lets you filter an absurd amount of times a turn, and the red one, which is solid, repeatable removal. The green one may also be too good.
Enchanted Fortune is neat. Not much else to say about it.
MirrorEntity - No show
Thelas - Ancient Lore makes a solid uncommon and a decent build-around splice enabler. At common, it would be way too grindy. Hana Kami comes to mind. Simplicity is okay, if somewhat weak. Its splice cost is a bit bizarre in green - it doesn't usually encourage you to play artifacts and enchantments. Psychological Warfare, assuming it works the way you want it to, is a really cool Distress/Cabal Therapy variant.
Is just me or this doesn't make sense? Why should someone be penalized/awarded by comparison with players from other teams? I'm judging Oculus, ME and Thelas it seems. Just because Oculus has better cards than ME and Thelas (suppose), that doesn't mean he has better cards than any other in his team. Actually, it can also happen that Legend (from Oculus Team), is unfortunate and, despite having better cards than Oculus, the players aurorasparrow, Profani, and/or Tactical Cerebrant have better cards than Legend. So Legend would be scored last and Oculus first (in theirs parings), despite the scoring should give Legend > Oculus.
I know that judging is subjective, but this scoring method seems to be mixing it all and seems to not allow comparing the scores directly.
We could judge the top3 or last3, depending of our number, of the other team. For example, I'm 5, so I'd judge 4. Eskimo_Rage, 5. Thelas and 6. Ninja Caterpie. A 1-3 guy would judge the 1-3 players. It still messes up a bit by splitting the team in two, but seems better.
My 2 cents.
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Trophyless guy.
Thought of the Month: I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
I'm ignoring the formating entirely, but next time the cards look cleaner with some capital letters.
I think the idea of resonating for a basic land of the same color is redundant, unless your set is chockful of non-basics.
-Shiny Chaperone, interesting creature, but the drawback is seeming small fo a 6/4 vigilience at colorless.
-Mountainous WIlds: a bit of a weird card, i don't see it linking thematically at all
-Home Heart Might: I can't imagine this having GG in the cost and being reasonably played with a forest in play
- Talina: Interesting, but she seems like a pile of abilities. Why Reach? Honeslty.. without reach.. that would be very interesting if it was threshold
- Inovator: Not sure it needs to be blue at all.
-Impassible Terrain is just incoherant. A single flying creature gives all your guys vigilience? That effect owuld be confusing enough, but tacked onto the other effect its just dissonant.
- THe assassin's backlash also dissonant. How does one half of the card (bareley green) affect life totals, yet if you are more black, then its also an artifact-wrath?
I think the mechanic can have some potential, but the conditions you've set are either too easy or not linked to the abilities they trigger. You failed to establish the thematic links that would make them beleivable.
Asrama:
I like the idea. It definately allows creatures to be relevant across multiple stages of the game. It feels like allies, just with activated abilities, not comes into play abilities. Some of the cheaper cards would be a little tricky as the work too much ontheir own to be part of a team, but still looks ok.
Socrates:
Odd to be critiquing again so quickly. I think the Rare is a veyr interesting use of the mechanic, though he looks a little undercosted. Also, activated abilities are.. kinda hard to match, you might find arguements.. (Is B: +1/+1 and W +1/+1 the same ability.
Interesting Idea. I do think the bookkeeeping would be draining though.
I think the critiquing method was a little tricky, I think a 'First three cards' would have been fine.
Is just me or this doesn't make sense? Why should someone be penalized/awarded by comparison with players from other teams? I'm judging Oculus, ME and Thelas it seems. Just because Oculus has better cards than ME and Thelas (suppose), that doesn't mean he has better cards than any other in his team. Actually, it can also happen that Legend (from Oculus Team), is unfortunate and, despite having better cards than Oculus, the players aurorasparrow, Profani, and/or Tactical Cerebrant have better cards than Legend. So Legend would be scored last and Oculus first (in theirs parings), despite the scoring should give Legend > Oculus.
I know that judging is subjective, but this scoring method seems to be mixing it all and seems to not allow comparing the scores directly.
We could judge the top3 or last3, depending of our number, of the other team. For example, I'm 5, so I'd judge 4. Eskimo_Rage, 5. Thelas and 6. Ninja Caterpie. A 1-3 guy would judge the 1-3 players. It still messes up a bit by splitting the team in two, but seems better.
My 2 cents.
I was thinking about this for a while, but I decided to move on with it because I feel like some discrepancies in judging would be better than each player having to critique 30 cards.
What do you mean by your last proposal? I'm rereading it over and over again but I don't understand.
I was thinking about this for a while, but I decided to move on with it because I feel like some discrepancies in judging would be better than each player having to critique 30 cards.
What do you mean by your last proposal? I'm rereading it over and over again but I don't understand.
To be quite honest, I would rather keep on team's review. CCL does not require very lengthy judgings like other competitions, so reviewing 10 or so cards is not that much of a problem.
Solesticio is absolutely correct. This kind of T3 actually become a game of luck a bit. Sure, you can have killing card, by far the best of your team, but if you go against cards from other teams, you can go down in points when you deserve more. Also, this way, a play can get 3-9 points, always. You can design a horrible card that everyone hates, you still get 3 points. And you can have the best card ever design in the history of MTG, and you would only get 9 points. Does not seem fair to me.
Sorry, I know this belongs on the discussion thread, but since this was brought up here, I figure I could give my 2 cents.
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Winner is Judge and Club Flaming IIW (get the one on top)
Guild ability being used by another guild
Graveyard effects
How about as a compromise, we cancel bonus points for full critiques? As that anyone who doesn't do them because of the length won't have to worry. I know I critique without expecting points..?
Let me try rephrase it. On CCL, the judging is done by rotating the teams. We'd keep that. Which team doesn't matter, let's assum the above team. Modular on Parasitic on what concerns me. Now each player will judge 3 entries as well (the idea after all), but based on it's number. If a player's number is between 1 and 3, he will judge the first 3 players on that team. If it's number is in the range of 4-6, he would judge the 4th, 5th and 6th player. This way you will have each one judging 3 entries but that are in the same team, minimizing the cross-team judging.
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Trophyless guy.
Thought of the Month: I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
Ok Proph: A few questions and comments. 1) I'm loving this, perhaps a bit too much for my growing pile of homework 2) Can we make slight edits to our mechanics based on feedback (I've worked a better thematic name and flavor) 3) How are we supposed to judge this.. I'm worried. Will I get a judge who can see insight and try to show variety? Or will I get a judge who focuses on the negative and kill my whole entry if they view a single card as broken. I also don't want to worry about overwhelming Judges: Shall we just make a 'set of three' for short judging?
World and Theme: Mendyra, the Plane of Song (New World Details as of Round Two
Theme: A musical world.
World description: On the crystalline plane of Mendyra, songmages have developed a powerful new version of spellcasting. Their spells take the form of mystical songs that resonate within the crystal structures around the plane, blending spells into symphonies of powerful arcane might. From lofty perches choirs of Angels sing songs of light, while in dark corners of the world, the wails of the Banshee drive mortals into fits of madness and despair. Arcane symphonies abound, from the croaking of the froglike Anuri to the dances of the Satyrs, the world is alive with music and magic.
Races: I'm going to remove some of the standard races and go with some less common ones:
Humans are in, but I'm going to go with more musical races
Humans: Humans are a main race in Mendyra. They are equally gifted in all five colors, often serving as bards or choir mages. (Most common in BW)
Satyrs: These are the spirits of the wood in Mendyra. Their revelries carry across the wilds. (Primarily Red-Green)
Hounds: A race of houndfolk, the Canu, live in the mires and dark canyons of Mendyra. Their howls echo across the lands, driving fear into those what would venture into their territory. (Primarily Red-Black)
Frogs: A race of sentient Frogfolk, called the Rana and the Anuri, play a prominent role in Mendyra. Naturally gifted with resonant voices, the frogfolk are among the most gift songmages. The frogs are a divided people: Most Rana have settled in the half-submerged city of Ranadae, meticulously studying the arts of note and chord, meter and verse. (blue). The wild tribes of the Anuri seek a more primal type of song. (Green)
Birds: Aven choirs are another force on Mendyra. Most Aven travel in flocks and sing in harmony. The Aven of this world are more songbird-like than other worlds (Cockatiels being the inspiraton)
Big Races: Sphinxes, Angels and Beasts make a return. However, I'm going to try to work in terrible Banshees as the black Iconic. For Red, I'm going to go with wild Efreets, which I see as being more artistic than Dragons.
Mechanical Ideas on Theme
Getting the Cards
One idea will be spells that work together, creating new spells. Multiple spells will be encouraged and creative methods will be encouraged.
As such, the world will skew towards drawing cards a little heavier than other sets (I envision a Howling Mine reprint, Phyrexian Rager functional reprint).
Cards that return things to your opponents' hand will also be a common type of removal, as in this set, simple replaying a creature might actually be more interesting.. CIP effects, or Harmony spells. Blue bounce will be stronger than normal, A form of red bounce (a'la planar chaos) will return. Possible Oblation reprint (or functional) and similar effects.
For mana accelerators, I envision adaptations of reprints of cycles similar to the medallions or familiars, allowing you to cast more spells per turn.
I also envision higher proportion of cantrips, and a card or mechanic to improve topdecking. Also a functionally identical Phyrexian Rager.
One mechanic, Harmony (originally accompany), allows you to play more spells per turn by playing them together. A harmony spell can be played alongside a spell with an equal or greater cost for a (usually) cheaper cost.
Original Round 1
My mechanic is Accompany, which thematically mimics musical accompaniment and the spell artistry that would be found in a musical world.
Accompany comes in two forms. Regular: Accompany <cost>(If you control a spell with an equal or greater converted mana cost, you may cast this spell as if it has flash for its accompany cost) and Specific Accompany a <type> <cost>(If you control a <type> spell with an equal or greater converted mana cost, you may cast this spell as if it has flash for its accompany cost)
Note: A card is only a 'spell' when it is on the stack.
The intent of the mechanic is to encourage playing combinations of spells, without restricting you to having to stick to low cost spells. After some consideration the 'equal or greater to' cost was added both for balance (it is no longer a 'cheat the mana cost' ability), and it makes it so the accompaniment doesn't overshadow the main spell.
Possible consideration: (Make accompany work against a fix converted mana cost, like 4 or more)..
Ominous March :3mana::symw::symw:
Sorcery (R)
Accompany a Creature (If you control a creature spell an equal or greater converted mana cost, you may cast this as if it has flash for its accompany cost)
Destroy all creatures. The notes of Fate itself are thundrous and deafening. The silence that follows is but a prelude to even greater things.
Adjustments to Round One: If allowed
While 'accompaniment' is a music term, I'm going to go with a thematic name change to 'Harmony'. Most spells will be just Harmony, but a few may be 'Creature Harmony', 'Artifact Harmony' or such.
Adjusted card:
Ominous March :3mana::symw::symw:
Sorcery (R)
Creature Harmony (If you control a creature spell an equal or greater converted mana cost, you may cast this as if it has flash for its accompany cost)
Destroy all creatures. The notes of Fate itself are thunderous and deafening. The silence that follows is but a prelude to even greater things.
ROUND 2 STUFF (In progress)
Common Cycle: Small effect that can be done cheaper when cast alongside another spell
Incendiary Verse2R
Sorcery (C)
HarmonyR (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost)
Deal 4 damage to target creature or player. The rancorous howls of the Canu stir the soul to passion and pain.
Illuminating Verse1UU
Sorcery (C)
Draw two cards.
Harmony U (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost)
The meticulous cadence of Ranian opera stirs sleeping minds to new awakenings.
Primal Verse2G
Sorcery (C)
Harmony G (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost)
Put three +1/+1 counters on target creature. The thunderous croaking of the Anuri stirs something feral and mighty within.
Heroic Verse2W
Sorcery (C)
Harmony W (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost)
Put two 1/1 white bird soldier tokens with flying onto the battlefield. The lofty choirs of the Aven stir stalwart hearts onward to glory.
Maddening Verse1BB
Sorcery (C)
Harmony B (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost)
Target player discards two cards. The eerie wails of the banshee stir the mind, like a cook beating eggs.
Creature
Obligatory 'Free' Creatures
Choirwood Cantor2G
Creature - Dryad Shaman (C)
Harmony 0 (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost) Life's song echoes in all things. Even in the grandest of cities, you cannot escape it - Hylda the Melodious, Maestro of the Choirwood
2/2
'Life only creature'
Whispering Banshee 1B
Creature - Spirit (U)
Harmony: Pay 3 life (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost) Her song is a haunting counterpoint to life itself.
2/2
harmony+ Creatures: Creatures that enter the battlefield with greater effects when cast alongside another spell. Small and Medium
Commons:
Choirwood Reveller - 1GG
Creature - Satyr Rogue (C)
Harmony G (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost) When Choirwood Reveller enters the battlefield, if its harmony cost was paid, draw two cards. The satyrs of the Choirwood are prone to celebration, whatever the event. Even their funerals are parties of legend.
2/3
Aven Choirknight WW
Creature - Bird Knight
Harmony W (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost) Flying
When Aven Choirknight enters the battlefield, if its harmony cost was paid, gain 4 life.
His lance sings of Death; His heart sings of Mercy. 2/2
Canu DirgeknightBB
Creature - Hound Knight (C)
Harmony1B (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost)
First Strike
When Canu Dirgeknight enters the battlefied, if its harmony cost was paid, each opponent loses 2 life. Formal study and training may leave the Canu more civilized, but no less savage 2/2
Mischievous Trumpeter 2RCreature - Satyr RogueHarmony R (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it has flash for its harmony cost)
Haste
When Mischievous Trumpeter enters the battlefield, if its Harmony cost was paid, return target creature you don't control to it's owner's hand. They are not true musicians. They just sneak up on some fool and.. GAH!! - Maestro Gylwengun
Rares:
Melody Sphinx3UU
Creature - Sphinx (R)
Harmony 1U (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its accompany cost) Flying
When Melody Sphinx enters the battlefield, if it's harmony cost was paid, draw four cards. The songs of the sphinxes are as mysterious as they are beautiful. Each song is but a part, seeking a symphony.
4/5
Resonant Baloth 3GG
Creature -Beast (R)
Harmony 1G (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost) When Resonant Baloth enters the battlefield, if its accompany cost was paid, put two 4/4 green Beast tokens onto the battlefield. In the echoing glades of the Choirwood, a single roar becomes a chorus.
4/4
Wailing Scourge4BB
Creature- Spirit (R)
Harmony 1B (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this as if it had flash for its harmony cost) Flying
When Wailing Scourge enters the battlefield, if its accompany cost was paid, target player discards his or her hand. The screams of my sistren are indeed sweet. Why else would others sing along? - Queen Svylania of the Banshee
6/4
The 'leech off the mana cost of target spell' cycle. (I'm torn on this one.. it plays very well with Harmony, but borders on hating high CC spells, which the set encourages)
Nature's Choir2GG
Instant (U)
Harmony 1G (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this for its harmony cost)
Put X 1/1 green Frog tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the converted mana cost of target spell.
Borrowed Muse3UUU
Instant (R)
Harmony 1UU (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this for its harmony cost)
Draw X cards, where X is the converted mana cost of target spell. Why stand on the shoulders of giants? The real treasure is in their heads.
Cacophonous Efreet 2RR
Creature - Efreet
Harmony RR (If you control a spell with an equal or greater mana cost, you may cast this card for its harmony cost)
Flash
As Cacophonous Efreet enters the battlefield, you many choose a spell. If you do, it enters with a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the converted mana cost of the chosen spell.
0/0
I liked Accompany Harmony in round one, and I like it now. The name works better with your theme. It's still not modular, though, but in order to fix that you'll probably end up ruining it, so I'm not going to give you grief over it.
Like with the round one card, the ability to cast as though it has flash creates an issue with some cards. Maddening Verse is a good example, wizards very rarely prints hand disruption at instant speed, because it causes a lot of unfair interactions, and makes the game unfun.
This is also an issue with the card that become stronger when cast via Harmony. Many of them a sub-par on their own, but are verging on broken when harmonized, especially the commons.
In short, you've got a cool mechanic, but you need to work out some of the kinks.
Also, cards like Whispering Banshee and Choirwood Cantor would most likely be printed only in the second or third set of the block. Not a big design issue, but something to think about if you're actually going to do this set.
Skystrike General(U/W)(U/W)
Creature - Human Soldier (U)
Brigade (Whenever this creature attacks, it gets +1/+1 for each other attacking creature that shares one of its abilities.) W: Skystrike General gains first strike until end of turn. U: Skystrike General gains flying until end of turn.
2/2
Because Brigade triggers off itself:
Legionnaire RecruitW
Creature - Human Soldier (C)
Brigade (Whenever this creature attacks, it gets +1/+1 for each other attacking creature that shares one of its abilities.)
1/1
But also other common abilities:
Bladeleader Adept1RR
Creature - Human Warrior (C)
Bladeleader Adept has first strike as long as you control three or more creatures.
Brigade (Whenever this creature attacks, it gets +1/+1 for each other attacking creature that shares one of its abilities.)
3/1
But also weird things:
Necrotic General2BB
Creature - Human Shaman Warrior (R)
Necrotic General has all activated abilities of all creature cards in all graveyards.
Brigade (Whenever this creature attacks, it gets +1/+1 for each other attacking creature that shares one of its abilities.)
3/3
I like brigade, but I think it might be a bit confusing at times. I also feel like it would fit only the RGW part of the pie, with black and blue cards with an attack bonus might look weird.
The cards are good, but with the exception of Necrotic General, all are a bit uninspiring. I know every set need simple boring cards for each mechanic, but the challenge did allow you to post enough cards to show both the boring and the more complex cards. There's just not much I can say about Legionnaire Recruit except that brigade is fine on a one-drop.
Actually, now that I think of it, french vanilla one-drop brigaders would be better in red, and white should get a one-drop with brigade plus something else.
I'd like to see more of brigade, too bad you didn't showcase it better.
Some changes to my ability, i am taking advice from the critiques and giving resonate to permanents.
URMIA
Theme
Progress vs nature
The plane of Urmia is a plane of diverse races who have put aside inclinations to war openly and through eons of inter-racial trade created mutual dependency and tolerance.
Each race has something to offer:
A race of flying creatures that are the couriers of the skies often providing the fastest way to trade or travel.
A race of Forest dwellers they are the quickest way to courier goods or travel through the forest or trade in goods from the forests. These may include food, rare and common wood, medicinal herbs, pets etc.
As their goods indicate they are a peaceful tribal people living off the forests resources for generations, they are also the best way to contact the treefolk living within the forest.
In appearance they are humanoid flying squirrels, agile, unseen and able to glide through the forest.
primarily
A race of gnomish innovators they use the raw materials from trade to craft artifacts and provide the resources for their cities. Trade is the lifeblood of their progress.
The Innovators favour ingenuity and leaps of insight. Their talents are so well known that artifacts have been created in their own image even on other planes. This is attributed to visiting planeswalkers who have heard of the Innovators' skill and visit in disguise, spreading myths and stories of these prodigious artificers throughout the multiverse. http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/GnomesPrimarily :symu::symr:
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg:: Elementals are fundamentally linked to the world of Urmia, they are the most noble, spiritual and enlightened of the races and are often sought for their wisdom.
Urmia: Innovators
Finds the plane in relative peace, the Innovators continue to push forward new technologies and trading with partners is as important as ever. The Sky Folk prepare for breeding season among their people and the Leaf Dwellers have little interest outside the shamanic rituals and co-existence with their forest homes. They continue to trade passage, wood, berries, magic and other forest paraphernalia enthusiastically as do the skyfolk, providing courier services and goods from sky homes.
However the Innovators have invented a new technology that will come to change the plane and all its inhabitants. Constructs, machines that can do anything limited only by imagination. As these machines are brought in to replace the work force demand grows and so does civil disobedience.
The recently unemployed are not happy and the machines themselves are not self sustaining but require fuels such as water, wood or solar depending on there function.
Unknown to the Innovators waste products from the machines are toxic to the environment.
Urmia: Infighting Mysterious maladies strike the inhabitants of Urmia. The Sky Folk have left for their breeding grounds in the unreachable Peak Cliffs to nurture their young, but some eggs appear diseased and the young appear feeble.
The new technology among the Innovators has shifted the balance of power a little in favour of the greedy who think nothing of covertly taking resources and building on their neighbours lands.
The Leaf Dwellers wake each day to find the boundaries of the forest shifted or burnt as mysterious people plunder the forests resources and infuriate the wrath of the Treefolk.
Each inhabitant battles with factions from within, who are winning influence in the face of new issues and would strike back at neighbours or try to grab more power for themselves.
With each race caught within their own problems little is noticed about the sudden disappearance of many of the Elementals, those that are passed upon are incoherent appearing to battle some unseen force for control.
Urmia: Elemental Uprising
Urmia it seems cannot find an end one problem before another begins. The problem of theft and pollution from The Innovators new inventions are dealt with diplomatically as each race wrestles with the power struggle with the factions within and overcomes them.
New trade agreements are made and old ties renewed but to late the inhabitants of Urmia find themselves facing unmitigating violence. The noble Elementals inexplicably linked with Urmia itself have lost their fight for free will as the Plane lashes back like a wounded animal against the pollution and abuse.
As Urmia roils with unnatural weather the elementals become similarly wild and feral breaking upon the other races with impunity. Can a coalition of the races working to buy time for new Innovator technology to be developed save the Elementals and the plane of Urmia?
Shiny Chaperone4 artifact creature- construct [u]
shiny chaperone doesn't untap during your untap step.
resonate for gnomes- shiny chaperone gains vigilance if you control a gnome.
6/4"The envy of Gnomish Ladies who's Husbands aren't to busy to escort them to functions."
Mountainous Wilds :1mana::symg:
instant [c]
search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand.
resonate for mountains- You may add :symr::symr::symr: to your manapool instead if you control a mountain.
Home Heart Might2GG
enchant creature [u]
Enchanted creature is indestructible
resonate for forests- Home Heart Might has hexproof if you control a forest. "Home is the place that self belief that was never lost can be rediscovered." Nana Shen.
Talina, Village Guide GG
legendary creature- squirrel shaman [m]
reach
You may play land cards from your graveyard.
resonance for forests- You may play an additional land on each of your turns if you control a forest.
2/2
"The forest lives through us much as we live through it." Talina
Innovator Engineer UR
creature- gnome artificer [r]
resonate for artifacts- If you control an artifact Innovator Engineer has, 't; sacrifice a land you control: add 2 to your mana pool.'
2/2 "Mechanical marvels for any enterprise."
Impassable Terrain3UW
legendary enchantment [m]
Creatures don't untap during their controller's untap step unless that player pays x, where x is the number of creatures they control.
resonate for flying- Creatures you control gain vigilance If you control a creature with flying. "The skyfolk don't go to war they wait for it to come to their crumbling canyons and narrow cliffs crawling under the baking Sun."
Gliding Assassins' Backlash3BG
sorcery [r]
Target player loses life equal to the number of lands in each graveyard.
resonate for black creatures- Destroy all artifacts if you control a black creature. "The group had lay dormant for generations among their unsuspecting clans until they heard rumours of rumbling on the forest outskirts"
Resonance feels like a non-mechanic. It works on creature types, it works on card types, it works on land types... it just doesn't feel like a mechanic under a single theme. Compare with metalcraft - Just by seeing it I know that it belongs in an artifact-themed set. When you look at resonance, what sort of theme stands out? control of permanents? how is that unique?
In addition, permanents and spells with resonance for lands of their colors seem redundant to me. If you're playing a green spell, you'll have a forest. The only thing that it does is getting people to play less non-basic lands, which is nearly meaningless in limited.
Now if resonance would care about the number of FOO permanents you control, I'd be more kind. As is, it's just too open and seem to do nothing but add extra lines of text to the card.
Speaking of the cards: most are ok, but I don't really feel the theme of nature vs progress from them. Mountainous Wilds and Impassable Terrain are the most interesting, though the wilds is a bit underwhelming.
Gliding Assassins' Backlash seems weird, there almost no cennection between the abilities. Innovator Engineer really doesn't need to be rare. The lack of commons really works against you here, it's hard for me to imagine the set.
I was tempted to give a tie between Socrates and drewdageek for first place. Brigade is better defined that Harmony, but drew put more effort to showcase his mechanic, and his cards give me a better idea on how his set is going to work. And so:
1. drewdageek
2. Socrates
3. Eskimo_Rage
What's the aim here, Prophy, just to provide more detailed critiques? It looks like you haven't made the first round scores into percentages, for one thing, which is done to ensure that each round has equal weight. That is especially necessary for this round, because people are going to miss critiques. Say all of the #1 people provide a Top 3, but only two of the #2 people do. These means that the #2 people who did critiques will only be getting points from one other Top 3 (max 3 points), while the #1 people will be judged 3 times (max 9 points). This clearly unbalances the plan of cutting to Top 8 based on total points from the first 3 rounds.
I'm not sure Solesticio's suggestion is a huge improvement, even the normal team system means that there is a random factor of "whose card is the best among these." The divisions can be done in any random way, what's important is that each player have access to the same maximum amount of points each round. For example, I think I had 12 points, if that is the result of 5 critiques, you need to convert it to 80 points (12/15*100). As long as you do the same thing this round, we should be ok, but it is a lot harder to track. (If three of the #1 people provide critiques, then the max for the person who didn't is 9, and the max for all of the others is 6.)
I think this method has only a dubious potential increase in critique detail, but it has a very definite risk that people will get only one or possibly no critiques/Top 3s for their card.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<3 Sally 4eva
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Creature - Viashino Knight (C)
Skyknight (You may pair this creature with an unpaired creature with flying you control. They remain paired for as long as you control both.)
As long as Squadron Pilot is paired with a creature with flying, it gets +2/+2 and has flying.
3/3
Volcano Patrol 1W
Creature - Human Knight (C)
Skyknight (You may pair this creature with an unpaired creature with flying when either enters the battlefield. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Volcano Patrol is paired with a creature with flying, it gains flying and first strike.
2/2
Steampeak Lookout 2U
Creature - Human Knight (C)
Skyknight (You may pair this creature with an unpaired creature with flying when either enters the battlefield. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Steampeak Lookout is paired with a creature with flying, it has flying and “1U: Untap Steampeak Lookout and the creature it’s paired with.”
2/2
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
1. Thanks! This is a fairly complex project for me too because I'm not that experienced in running a CCL, and I hope that I can continue this throughout the month.
2. Yes.
3. Yeah, this month will be difficult to judge because I want to focus on holistic design. I will probably find a way to do this, maybe individual judgings.
Signups
Round 1
Targleam Gnasher 2B
Creature - Zombie Crocodile (C)
Rejuvenated - Targleam Gnasher gets +3/+0 as long as you've gained life this turn.
1/3
Brightsorrow Cultist
Creature - Human Cleric (C)
Rejuvenated - Brightsorrow Cultist gets +1/+1 and has flying as long as you've gained life this turn.
"I swear that Jerhenvu will not pass judgment on me until all have heard word of his truth."
1/1
Gladeborne Stormer 3GG
Creature - Bear Archer Shaman (C)
Rejuvenated - When Gladeborne Stormer enters the battlefield, if you've gained life this turn, you may destroy target creature with flying.
4/3
Into the Glade 5G
Sorcery (U)
Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and draw a card.
Rejuvenated - Put two +1/+1 counters on each creature you control and draw two cards instead if you gained life this turn.
Strangers who go among the Unction Clans are not strangers for long - they are swiftly either honored guests or dead.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
My mechanic is somewhat of a returning mechanic: I am fixing Splice.
Rules (changes in bold):
Intensify
Red Sorcery (R)
Splice onto anything 1RR (As you cast a spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
If Intensify would deal damage, it deals double that damage to that creature or player instead.
Rules FAQ
Design Notes
The reason I am bringing back Splice is that I want another way to make cards persistent threats, ideally not just buyback. Splice is significantly harder to deal with than Buyback, but the gameplay it creates is also less repetitive in most cases, as cards must be cast each time.
On this card:
The intent of this card was to find an effect that was meaningful on every card type. This card should enable a mostly-weenie/burn deck to get to the endgame alone - note that two copies of Intensify will allow you to quadruple the damage, as mentioned in the FAQ above. The play situations should be sufficiently interesting to satisfy players looking for more options in gameplay (including many Spikes), the combination opportunities should be interesting for Johnny, Melvin will likely enjoy being able to splice onto both permanents and spells, and Timmy likes doubling things.
On an earlier design (when I thought the task was "noncreature mechanics") and memory issues:
Earlier design below.
Spinning the Ghostly Web 2W
Enchantment (R)
Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 1 for each creature he or she controls that's attacking you.
Splice onto permanent 2WW (As you cast a permanent spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
On this earlier card in Limited: This card is not as useless as it would appear in Limited - green (and sometimes white) can pursue a creature token strategy that this is very strong against, and some cards can also animate themselves or other objects.
On other uses of splice: The most common splice conditions will be "splice onto instant" or "splice onto sorcery". Narrower conditions may exist, and design space is left for later sets ("splice onto enchantment", "splice onto blue", though the latter would be difficult in most cases to template effects that work on both nonpermanent and permanent spells.)
Ancient Lore 1U
Sorcery (C)
Return target sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
Splice onto instant 1UU (As you cast an instant, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Repetition brings mastery.
Simplicity 2G
Sorcery (C)
Put target artifact or enchantment on top of its owner's library.
Splice onto instant or sorcery - Return an artifact or enchantment you control to its owner's hand. (As you cast a sorcery, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Progress is a double-edged sword.
Psychological Warfare BB
Instant (U)
Name a nonland card. Target player discards a card with that name. If he or she can't, that player reveals his or her hand.
Splice onto sorcery 2BB (As you cast a sorcery, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
None can resist forever.
Edit: scores are semi-updated
Signups
Round 1 (Reposted below)
(As this resolves exile it with N chime counters on it. Whenever {condition,} remove a chime counter from this, copy it, and cast the copy without paying its mana cost. Then, if there are no chime counters on this, put it into your graveyard.)
Excommunication Litany 4W
Sorcery (R)
Exile target creature.
Resound 4 — A creature deals combat damage to you.
When you remove the last chime counter from Excommunication Litany, return all creature cards exiled by it to the battlefield under their owners' control.
The mechanic:
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
The background:
Chime is a RWU mechanic that represents the highly community-based magic of the Tsem Empire. Their rites and songs echo through the sandstone halls of Tsem’s palaces and temples, providing a constant musical counterpoint to life in the Empire.
First, a revision of Round 1’s card:
Litany of the Scorned 4W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
A couple of commons:
Whispers in the Rain 2U
Sorcery (C)
Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.
Draw a card.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Battlefield Planting 2W
Instant (C)
Whenever a creature you control attacks or blocks this turn, gain 2 life.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Let the dead be shrouded in sacred grain. This field of war will bring plenty to our tables.
— Sacrament for fallen soldiers
Searing Glance 1R
Instant (C)
Searing Glance deals 3 damage to target creature.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
And a bonus rare:
Cracklegraft 2RR
Instant (R)
Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy. Cracklegraft deals 2 damage to the copied spell’s controller.
Chime (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
4th place at CCC&G Pro Tour
Chances of bad hands (<2 or >4 land):
21: 28.9%
22: 27.5%
23: 26.3%
24: 25.5%
25: 25.1%
26: 25.3%
They'll be up in a few minutes hopefully. I'm trying to work this out so that you guys only need to crit like 3 entries or so.
So this is how it's going to work. See the number next to your name? You are going to critique or top 3 the other three players with the same number as you. For example, if I was Legend, then I would be critiquing aurorasparrow, Profani, and TacticalCelebrant.
Parasitic
1. herbert west
2. Legend
3. Raikou Rider
4. Asrama
5. Oculus
6. void_nothing
Modular
1. Link
2. aurorasparrow
3. yewlas
4. drewdagreek
5. Solestico
6. Jimmy Groove
Combat
1. Saagn
2. Profani
3. Gerrard's Mom
4. Socrates
5. MirrorEntity
6. Noatz
Sorcery
1. willows
2. TacticalCelebrant
3. lgmhorus
4. Eskimo_Rage
5. Thelas
6. Ninja Caterpie
Let me know if you guys have any questions. I'll move up the deadline as well to Thursday midnight pacific time.
and we rank those people 1-3? (not out of 100 or anything)
4th place at CCC&G Pro Tour
Chances of bad hands (<2 or >4 land):
21: 28.9%
22: 27.5%
23: 26.3%
24: 25.5%
25: 25.1%
26: 25.3%
Emerging Game’s tapped Beast token is sort of bizarre. I assume that is an effort to control the creeping effect of Emanating a Beast out of another spell that might happen at a weird time.
It’s cool that you get to have spells piggybacking off other spells.
All that said, I’m still not in love with emanate, and I’ll try to explain why.
- “The converted mana cost” means that the color of your spells doesn’t matter once they are in the yard. I can imagine a yard-happy set like this one creating decks that just drop off-color spells into the yard so they can colorlessly emanate them off of on-color ones.
- Since they are repeatable (as currently written), each time you cast an emanate spell, you complicate the board state exponentially for both players.
- NWO doesn’t like repeatable removal at common, which means you can’t have any emanate removal at all.
- The fact that you can emanate your opponent’s spells and vice versa means that you will want to avoid any emanate spells that can be useful to your opponent, which is probably most of them.
- Since it creates a brand-new resource that either player can tap into, it’ll warp the format around itself — every deck will need an emanate/ramp toolkit to take advantage of the spell cache that’s building in everyone’s yard, which creates homogeneity.
I think you can make this work, but the repeatability and “any graveyard” need to go, and I reiterate that I think it needs a cost parameter like Splice does (which gets you the side benefit of letting you make low cast/high emanate costs, like Flashback, so you can see emanate cards in the early game).
Overall I think persecute has good potential but I don’t love how it’s being implemented here; there is some baggage surrounding it that weighs it down.
The targeting restriction is complex and frustrating; I see that you’re trying to avoid ugly words like “non-monoblack”, but “nonblack” or “multicolored” (btw Guardian of the Guildpact says *colored takes an -ed) would have been more elegant. “That doesn’t share every color with CARDNAME,” would work okay too, permit colorless targets, and unify the restriction across cards.
Lastly, I don’t get how persecute is supposed to fit in pie; persecute does so many things (Aura removal, at least one case of instant-speed creature removal, temporary though it is, crippling, outright destroying creatures with 1 toughness, reupping ETBs) that I feel like it should be obligatorily multicolored like Cascade, but it seems like you want to make it point at “different from us,” which is an attitude that belongs on monocolors.
- Drag Through the Streets is a little confusing, hot-gluey. I don’t get how its flavor relates to “draw a card,” which reads as the card’s main function here, even though persecute is a large and complex effect. (I suspect you meant it to be a cantrip.)
- Tainted Law is interesting, but I think maybe too fast for a potentially one-sided board sweeper even if it puts the dudes back at eot; maybe 2WW.
- Willing Martyr looks like a good “show the ability” common to me. Since it’s almost always going to die when it does its thing, though, maybe it doesn’t need the color restriction clause.
- Forgo Thought looks like it wants to be black.
I like that you gave us a French vanilla. Sentinel Vine’s ability bums me out — I can only kill an attacker with it if I double-block? Nangan Paralytic is pleasing.
I do wish you hadn’t put Ensnare on a red creature. The mechanic has solidly established precursors in non-red contents, and its aggressive use is a little too slow to feel right for red or on a Goblin. It would have been nice if any of these designs had abilities that showed synergy with Ensnare. Nonetheless, good show.
2. Link
3. herbert west
Enchanted Fortune is neat. Not much else to say about it.
MirrorEntity - No show
Thelas - Ancient Lore makes a solid uncommon and a decent build-around splice enabler. At common, it would be way too grindy. Hana Kami comes to mind. Simplicity is okay, if somewhat weak. Its splice cost is a bit bizarre in green - it doesn't usually encourage you to play artifacts and enchantments. Psychological Warfare, assuming it works the way you want it to, is a really cool Distress/Cabal Therapy variant.
1 - Thelas
2 - Solestico
3 - MirrorEntity (no show)
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
I know that judging is subjective, but this scoring method seems to be mixing it all and seems to not allow comparing the scores directly.
We could judge the top3 or last3, depending of our number, of the other team. For example, I'm 5, so I'd judge 4. Eskimo_Rage, 5. Thelas and 6. Ninja Caterpie. A 1-3 guy would judge the 1-3 players. It still messes up a bit by splitting the team in two, but seems better.
My 2 cents.
Thought of the Month:
I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
I'm not quite a fan.
I'm ignoring the formating entirely, but next time the cards look cleaner with some capital letters.
I think the idea of resonating for a basic land of the same color is redundant, unless your set is chockful of non-basics.
-Shiny Chaperone, interesting creature, but the drawback is seeming small fo a 6/4 vigilience at colorless.
-Mountainous WIlds: a bit of a weird card, i don't see it linking thematically at all
-Home Heart Might: I can't imagine this having GG in the cost and being reasonably played with a forest in play
- Talina: Interesting, but she seems like a pile of abilities. Why Reach? Honeslty.. without reach.. that would be very interesting if it was threshold
- Inovator: Not sure it needs to be blue at all.
-Impassible Terrain is just incoherant. A single flying creature gives all your guys vigilience? That effect owuld be confusing enough, but tacked onto the other effect its just dissonant.
- THe assassin's backlash also dissonant. How does one half of the card (bareley green) affect life totals, yet if you are more black, then its also an artifact-wrath?
I think the mechanic can have some potential, but the conditions you've set are either too easy or not linked to the abilities they trigger. You failed to establish the thematic links that would make them beleivable.
Asrama:
I like the idea. It definately allows creatures to be relevant across multiple stages of the game. It feels like allies, just with activated abilities, not comes into play abilities. Some of the cheaper cards would be a little tricky as the work too much ontheir own to be part of a team, but still looks ok.
Socrates:
Odd to be critiquing again so quickly. I think the Rare is a veyr interesting use of the mechanic, though he looks a little undercosted. Also, activated abilities are.. kinda hard to match, you might find arguements.. (Is B: +1/+1 and W +1/+1 the same ability.
Interesting Idea. I do think the bookkeeeping would be draining though.
I think the critiquing method was a little tricky, I think a 'First three cards' would have been fine.
Rankings:
1. Asrama
2. Socrates
3. Eskimo_Rage.
Yeah, you, Profani, and TC. Made a mistake there.
I was thinking about this for a while, but I decided to move on with it because I feel like some discrepancies in judging would be better than each player having to critique 30 cards.
What do you mean by your last proposal? I'm rereading it over and over again but I don't understand.
To be quite honest, I would rather keep on team's review. CCL does not require very lengthy judgings like other competitions, so reviewing 10 or so cards is not that much of a problem.
Solesticio is absolutely correct. This kind of T3 actually become a game of luck a bit. Sure, you can have killing card, by far the best of your team, but if you go against cards from other teams, you can go down in points when you deserve more. Also, this way, a play can get 3-9 points, always. You can design a horrible card that everyone hates, you still get 3 points. And you can have the best card ever design in the history of MTG, and you would only get 9 points. Does not seem fair to me.
Sorry, I know this belongs on the discussion thread, but since this was brought up here, I figure I could give my 2 cents.
Guild ability being used by another guild
Graveyard effects
Done:
1 Mana Legendary Permanent
Kamigawa re-done
Thought of the Month:
I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
I liked
AccompanyHarmony in round one, and I like it now. The name works better with your theme. It's still not modular, though, but in order to fix that you'll probably end up ruining it, so I'm not going to give you grief over it.Like with the round one card, the ability to cast as though it has flash creates an issue with some cards. Maddening Verse is a good example, wizards very rarely prints hand disruption at instant speed, because it causes a lot of unfair interactions, and makes the game unfun.
This is also an issue with the card that become stronger when cast via Harmony. Many of them a sub-par on their own, but are verging on broken when harmonized, especially the commons.
In short, you've got a cool mechanic, but you need to work out some of the kinks.
Also, cards like Whispering Banshee and Choirwood Cantor would most likely be printed only in the second or third set of the block. Not a big design issue, but something to think about if you're actually going to do this set.
I like brigade, but I think it might be a bit confusing at times. I also feel like it would fit only the RGW part of the pie, with black and blue cards with an attack bonus might look weird.
The cards are good, but with the exception of Necrotic General, all are a bit uninspiring. I know every set need simple boring cards for each mechanic, but the challenge did allow you to post enough cards to show both the boring and the more complex cards. There's just not much I can say about Legionnaire Recruit except that brigade is fine on a one-drop.
Actually, now that I think of it, french vanilla one-drop brigaders would be better in red, and white should get a one-drop with brigade plus something else.
I'd like to see more of brigade, too bad you didn't showcase it better.
Resonance feels like a non-mechanic. It works on creature types, it works on card types, it works on land types... it just doesn't feel like a mechanic under a single theme. Compare with metalcraft - Just by seeing it I know that it belongs in an artifact-themed set. When you look at resonance, what sort of theme stands out? control of permanents? how is that unique?
In addition, permanents and spells with resonance for lands of their colors seem redundant to me. If you're playing a green spell, you'll have a forest. The only thing that it does is getting people to play less non-basic lands, which is nearly meaningless in limited.
Now if resonance would care about the number of FOO permanents you control, I'd be more kind. As is, it's just too open and seem to do nothing but add extra lines of text to the card.
Speaking of the cards: most are ok, but I don't really feel the theme of nature vs progress from them. Mountainous Wilds and Impassable Terrain are the most interesting, though the wilds is a bit underwhelming.
Gliding Assassins' Backlash seems weird, there almost no cennection between the abilities. Innovator Engineer really doesn't need to be rare. The lack of commons really works against you here, it's hard for me to imagine the set.
I was tempted to give a tie between Socrates and drewdageek for first place. Brigade is better defined that Harmony, but drew put more effort to showcase his mechanic, and his cards give me a better idea on how his set is going to work. And so:
1. drewdageek
2. Socrates
3. Eskimo_Rage
Host, December 2015: A Winter Wonderland? - R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL April 2014: A Game of Fate - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinal|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL December 2012: Spy Games - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL November 2010: The Perfect Crime - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL August 2009: A Commander's Journey: Signups|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
I've got tons of art from the web. Want art for a render? PM me! Want to create your own collection? Start here!
I'm not sure Solesticio's suggestion is a huge improvement, even the normal team system means that there is a random factor of "whose card is the best among these." The divisions can be done in any random way, what's important is that each player have access to the same maximum amount of points each round. For example, I think I had 12 points, if that is the result of 5 critiques, you need to convert it to 80 points (12/15*100). As long as you do the same thing this round, we should be ok, but it is a lot harder to track. (If three of the #1 people provide critiques, then the max for the person who didn't is 9, and the max for all of the others is 6.)
I think this method has only a dubious potential increase in critique detail, but it has a very definite risk that people will get only one or possibly no critiques/Top 3s for their card.