MTG Salvation

For this final showdown, two contestant have made their way through the trails and tribulation of being a fledgling designer in a corporation controlled by an evil alien brain in a jar. You can read about their adventures here:
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Top 8
Semifinals
Finals


Our two fearless designers are now pitched in the battle of their lives:


Their mission was to create a total of four cards:

• Three cards designed to defeat Gleemax, a player with 1000 life and all magic cards ever created as his library
• One final card to show what they choose to do with Gleemax once they defeated it

The submissions:

Ink-Treader:

Quote from Ink-Treader »

Oh my, that's one hell of an opponent. Holder

Heh, poison might work, but what's the fun in that? (And yet I can't help but think of this in terms of one turn kills...)

Alright...

Essence Spinner 1BG
Creature - Hag Druid (R)
T, Sacrifice another creature: Add the sacrificed creature's mana cost to your mana pool. (Mana cost includes color. If a mana symbol has multiple colors, choose one.)
"Such potential. You could become many things..."
0/2

Ruinous Spiteblade BB
Creature - Human Assassin (R)
Deathtouch
Whenever Ruinous Spiteblade attacks and isn't blocked, if your life total is less than defending player's, you may have his or her life total become equal to your own.
"Mutually assured destruction is a fantastic modus operandi."
1/1

Dream Reveler 4UB
Creature - Nightmare (R)
Whenever you cast a spell, if you didn't cast it from your hand, Dream Reveler gets +2/+2 and gains menace until end of turn.
Whenever Dream Reveler deals combat damage to a player, you may search his or her library for a card and exile it. That card’s owner shuffles his or her library. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast it.
4/4

And as for after the battle...

Painted Smile 1WW
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature attacks or blocks each turn if able.
If enchanted creature would deal damage to a creature, planeswalker, or player, that permanent's controller or that player instead gains that much life.
"So... happy... So... much... joy... Must... share..."

Every card you say? Plan here is simple. Ruinous Spiteblade brings Gleemax to my level, Dream Devourer steals a Wound Reflection, Essence Spinner sacrifices the Dream Devourer so I can cast Wound Reflection. Gleemax falls on my end step. And then it's time for some... reconditioning.

Hmmm...

Bravelion83:

Quote from bravelion83 »

Quote from Asrama »

Nervous Stress 2UU
Sorcery (R)
Target player puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is the number of cards in that player’s graveyard. Untap target creature that player controls.
They say stress is a physiological response of your body to make you alert. It may be good for your body, but it certainly puts a heavy burden on your mind.

Azorius Council 4UU
Legendary Creature — Human Wizard (R)
T: You may cast target blue instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost equal to Azorius Council’s power from your graveyard without paying its mana cost. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
“The Council has accepted your request. You’re allowed to perform again that ritual you asked to repeat.”
4/3

Macabre Undertaker 1BB
Creature — Human (M)
At the beginning of your end step, if there are forty or more cards in your graveyard, you win the game.
B, T: Choose one —
• Each player sacrifices a creature.
• Each player discards a card.
• Each player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
1/4

Brain Dissection 3UB
Sorcery (R)
Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You draw X cards and gain X life, where X is that card’s converted mana cost.
“Let’s see what’s inside...”

How it works: you need to have the Undertaker and the Council on the battlefield without summoning sickness. You cast the Stress on yourself untapping the Council and then recur the Stress with the Council until you have the forty cards in your graveyard that the Undertaker requires. If you don't have any card in your graveyard to start the combo, that's what the activated ability on the Undertaker is for. The activation cost should not be a problem as you should only need to activate this ability once (if at all) to start the combo. This should be allowable based on this:
[quote from="Asrama »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/creativity/custom-card-creation/custom-card-contests-and-games/658237-december-final-round-im-here-to-design-cards-and?comment=7"]You may assume that you could activate something once if the mana to do so is not too high (say one to three mana).

Brain Dissection is what I do to Gleemax after his defeat.

I hope this submission is fine. Let me know if there are any problems with it.

And now it's up to you: Who should win the battle? Who will parish from Gleemax's fury?

The winner will receive epic bragging rights, and his very own ending, depending on their fourth card.

Good luck!

For now I will not vote for anyone. If Ink-Treader agrees, we can both vote for ourselves without any problem. What are you going to do, Ink-Treader?

I suppose I'm curious what the results are... I see no problem with voting for ourselves.

Oh, there's a view results button >.< Still have no problems with voting for ourselves.

Now that I think about it, shouldn't this supposed to be stickied until it's done? I remember that being the case

Stealth bump

Quote from Ink-Treader »

I see no problem with voting for ourselves.

Neither do I, but I brought that up because it has been an issue sometimes in the past. I'm going to vote for myself right now, you're more than welcome to do the same for yourself whenever you want.
EDIT: Now that I saw the results, it's definitely not a problem...

Quote from Ink-Treader »

Now that I think about it, shouldn't this supposed to be stickied until it's done? I remember that being the case

Yes, it was indeed.

I should mention, anywone who wants to post critique of the finalist's submissions is welcome to do so. I will post a critique of my own before annoucing the winner.

Time for the final judgement.

But first, allow me to offer critique for your submissions:



The winner, with 13 out of 17 votes, is Ink-Treader!

Congratulation to you!

I’d also like to thank everyone who participated, and especially anyone who took the time to give me feedback and let me know they’re having a good time with my crazy story. I didn’t know where I was going with this when I started, I just thought having a CCL were the contestants play designers obliged to make a last minute winter-theme set would be a great fit for the holiday season. Coupled with inspiration from one of my favorite MaRo articles and the fact that I have played The Stanley Parable earlier in 2015, and you’ve got the craziness that was CCL December 2015.

I hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

Ending will be posted soon.

December CCL - Epilogue:

The final showdown with Gleemax did not go as you’ve expected. Gleemax has proven to be extremely powerful for a brain in Jar, and to have almost every nasty trick known to magic under his command. Your colleague gets eaten by Eldrazis before he’s able to set his cards, but gives you the time to spring your trap, and defeat Gleemax. You then spend no time in reconditioning Gleemax, to make sure he’ll never harm another soul.

You emerge from Gleemax’s chamber covered in sweat and slime, and find that nearly all of Wizards employees have compacted themselves into the hall outside the chamber. They all look stunned. Apparently, when you’ve attacked Gleemax, he called out to everyone, but now that he’s been neutralized, they are all confused, the fog in their brain slowly clearing.

“Gleemax will control Wizards no more”, you tell them. “From now on,we go back to making Magic: the Gathering the best and most fun collective card game there is in the good old fashioned way.”

Someone in the back cheers. the cheer dies out after a bit. it’s stifling in the hall, with several dozens of sweaty nerds packed in. They all seem to wait for someone to tell them what to do, their minds still used to being controls. You tell them to spread out, and start touring the facilities to find out what’s hidden down here, re-cardify any creatures they might find and start putting the place back together.

Slowly, you rehabilitate Wizards. You find the real Mark Rosewater locked in a cell at one of the bottom levels. He has been there for quite some time. You can see writing all over the walls. On close examination it seems that he designed a Roseane themed set while he was imprisoned. No sign of the horned fellow you thought was MaRo. You also can’t track Richard Garfield anywhere. You take stock of the alien technology that was amassed over the years. Some of it is definitely amazing. With it and the R&D team, you soon restore Wizards to a place that’s fun to work.

*************Two Weeks Later***************

“Would.. you.. like… a… drink.. Mas..ter?” You turn to see Gleemax with a tray of cocktails attached to it. Someone has painted a smiley face on his jar and put him in a french-maid costume. It’s a bit creepy. It has been a non-stop party now that his evil influence has been broken. The Cardmakers and Imitation Matrixes made the weekly EDH games really epic, and all the technology means you have plenty of free time to just party all the time.

You’re about to ask for a Gerrard Capashen when someone comes running towards you in a panic. You see that it’s one of the designers who started work with you. He speaks out of breath: “Hasbro <heave> CEO <heave> Here! Wants to <heave> see why <heave> we haven’t aunched the winter set as planned <big heave>!”

You look up to see a group of seriously-dressed businessmen walking towards you. A well-kept man who you can only assume is the CEO starts barking at you: “You in charge here? Where is Forscythe? where’s Rosewater? why are you partying instead of working? why was there no winter set? We had an agreement with Gleemax! Well?! why aren’t you saying anything?!”

My, what an unpleasant guy. You wonder if you should try to explain, but decide against it. He did mention Gleemax, meaning he probably knew about it and didn’t care. Hell, he probably condoned it. You feel mad that these suits made money out of your fellow designer’s suffering, but then an idea comes to you, and you instantly relax. “Of course”, you answer, “come this way, all your questions will be answered until you’re completely satisfied.”

You lead them to the chamber where Gleemax used to stay. Everything you need is still there from your fight. It doesn’t take long, really. The management of Hasbro isn’t really a challenge after defeating an all-powered alien brain.

A few minutes later you leave with the CEO and his staff in toe. They are quite more pleasant now, even if they grit their teeth a bit when they tell you that they appreciate your work and won’t bother you again.

Thing go back to the new normal then. Parties, gaming, and drinks all week long. That is, until a skype call from one of your college mates brings you to a new realization. Your mate works at a large entertainment company, and the conditions are very bad: working at all hours, with low pay and terrible management. You realize that you can’t just stop at Wizards and hasbro. A short plane ride and a few minutes at the offices and the management at your friend’s company is now much more easy to deal with.

You start a tour, and pretty soon all of the fortune 500 companies become very pleasant places to work in.

Of course, that draws some unwanted attention, but a short visit to Washington takes care of that. It’s amazing how easy it was to finally get the President, Senate, and Congress to all work together once they’ve gone through the Process.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees things your way. Especially the United Nations, who keeps on being useless in your eyes. With your new funds, it doesn’t take long before world peace is achieved, and all the world leaders are under your influence.

Finally, it’s peaceful. Sort of. You think that Gleemax made its way to earth somehow. This means there are other races out there. Others who might stop your fun.

Well, you have the sources of the entire planet at your disposal. It doesn’t take long before you’re ready to take to the stars, and bring the entire universe into the fold. Soon, all will smile under your command....