Your first breath of air is full of dust; you'd cough if your body wasn't so used to this abuse by now. You stand in a large, dimly-lit room, made of yellow bricks. At regular intervals stand thick stone pillars with intricate carvings and far off along the walls stand giant statues of strange creatures. Human bodies with animal heads: Dogs, birds, and crocodiles. Their eyes glow red when you look toward them, and suddenly your mind is engulfed in a foreign power of another mind. This being is powerful and wants chaos, destruction, and insanity. Your mind is released like the crack of a whip and you're now staring at your opponents. Please us! the statues whisper.
This round has a bonus rule: Whatever beings dwell in the statues demand chaos and will punish you for not complying. You will be dealt damage for choosing the same player to attack as another: 1 damage per other player that targets the same person as you. This damage will stop before killing you but will be dealt before the entries' damage.
Before I show the cards, a few notes on the voting.
Anyone may vote on this contest, even people who are not participating.
You may vote for as many cards as you want and you may vote for yourself. You must vote for at least 2 cards.
I ask that when voting, you consider both how well the card uses the stage (described above in italics) and how well designed the card is in general.
Some players have theorized that the best offense is a good defense. As far as I'm concerned, this is a completely acceptable choice and I don't want anyone marked down for it.
Please do not discuss who you think/know made certain cards. Part of the fun of this game is playing with a limited amount of information.
Posting critiques of the cards is encouraged.
Quote from ? »
Thunderous Mayhem4RR
Instant (U)
Thunderous Mayhem deals 5 damage to target creature or player.
Manic 1R(You may cast this spell for its manic cost as long as there are three or more legal targets for this spell. If you do, reselect its target at random when it goes onto the stack.)
Quote from ? »
Curse of Fate's Whim2BR
Enchantment - Aura Curse {R}
Enchant player
Whenever enchanted player casts a spell, that player flips a coin. If it comes up tails, he or she sacrifices a permanent. Otherwise, he or she loses 3 life.
Quote from ? »
Ember Storm2RR
Sorcery (R)
Choose an order at random for all creatures on the battlefield. Ember Storm deals 1 damage to the first, 2 damage to the second, 3 damage to the third and so on.
Quote from ? »
Unsealed Tomb4BBB
Sorcery (R)
Exile all creature cards from your graveyard, put a 2/1 black Mummy creature token onto the battlefield for every creature card exiled this way. No one believes the pharaohs curse, until it's too late.
Quote from ? »
Monument to the Spark5
Legendary Artifact (M)
Each other noncreature artifact and each non-Aura enchantment is a creature with power and toughness each equal to its converted mana cost in addition to its other types.
All lands are 2/2 creatures that are still lands.
Quote from ? »
Tomb Dust4RR
Sorcery (U)
Tomb Dust deals damage to each player equal to the number of cards in that player's graveyard. "The oldest ones has got the best loot, but the dust in them places'll stick in yer throat for...*cough hack cough*...years."
-Holgart, veteran grave robber
Quote from ? »
Last One Standing1RRR
Sorcery (MR)
Kicker WW
Each creature fights each other creature.
If Last One Standing was kicked, target creature you control is indestructible until end of turn. Myths of unending wars are always told by the lonely survivor.No one believes them.
Quote from ? »
Tribute to Chaos3BR
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a permanent at random. The gods demanded sacrifice. The gods demanded chaos. Their people combined the two into a twisted act of piety.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
Thunderous Mayhem :4mana::symr::symr:
Instant (U)
Thunderous Mayhem deals 5 damage to target creature or player.
Manic :1mana::symr: (You may cast this spell for its manic cost as long as there are three or more legal targets for this spell. If you do, reselect its target at random when it goes onto the stack.)
This card has a lot going for it: standard cost and manic cost both feel about right, and Manic's a pretty neat ability with a nice decision tree about when to use it. Unfortunately, I really don't see it as a keyword, just because there's not enough design space for it. The random element pretty much forces it to stay in red: so you have this card, a smaller version, and some Manic artifact removal. Neat ability, but it would work better spelled out on a one or two card, not keyworded.
Curse of Fate's Whim :2mana::symb::symr:
Enchantment - Aura Curse {R}
Enchant player
Whenever enchanted player casts a spell, that player flips a coin. If it comes up tails, he or she sacrifices a permanent. Otherwise, he or she loses 3 life.
Pretty oppressive and thus not fun to play under. I guess you still get to play your spells, but I'd rather if this did nothing if you won the flip so you at least have a chance to "trick" fate.
Ember Storm :2mana::symr::symr:
Sorcery (R)
Choose an order at random for all creatures on the battlefield. Ember Storm deals 1 damage to the first, 2 damage to the second, 3 damage to the third and so on.
The name is pretty bland. Ability is original and I think templated clearly enough. Sucks that you don't know how much damage things are going to get until it resolves, so can save/sac your creatures intelligently.
Unsealed Tomb :4mana::symb::symb::symb:
Sorcery (R)
Exile all creature cards from your graveyard, put a 2/1 black Mummy creature token onto the battlefield for every creature card exiled this way. No one believes the pharaohs curse, until it's too late.
Egyptian set, I'll assume? This card feels like its missing something, but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it needs to do more for its 7 mana, though in a deal built around it it will already be insane. Maybe the Mummy tokens need some ability to increase there flavour (etb Tapped? As they're lying down in there crypts and have to get up?) Maybe the name just sounds like a artifact or land, where a sorcery would be some more verby like "Break the Seal"
Monument to the Spark
Legendary Artifact (M)
Each other noncreature artifact and each non-Aura enchantment is a creature with power and toughness each equal to its converted mana cost in addition to its other types.
All lands are 2/2 creatures that are still lands.
This is doing too much for its cost (and possibly for any one card, period). It almost works in that it's just say "Everything is alive!" but not auras, and lands are a special case. Also "The Spark" is MTG lingo for what planeswalkers gain when they become planeswalkers.
Tomb Dust :4mana::symr::symr:
Sorcery (U)
Tomb Dust deals damage to each player equal to the number of cards in that player's graveyard. "The oldest ones has got the best loot, but the dust in them places'll stick in yer throat for...*cough hack cough*...years."
-Holgart, veteran grave robber
Not too sure about this, but then getting cards in your opponent's graveyards is already a win condition, so capitalizing off of that can be wrong. cmc 6, symmetry and not effecting the board at all mean it's unlikely to be broken.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ?Last One Standing :1mana::symr::symr::symr:
Sorcery (MR)
Kicker :symw::symw:
Each creature fights each other creature.
If Last One Standing was kicked, target creature you control is indestructible until end of turn. Myths of unending wars are always told by the lonely survivor.No one believes them.
This seems to be two cards in one. The first is "kill everything, if you kicked, don't kill this one thing", and the other is "Each creature fights each other creature". Both all good designs in their own right, but they don't need to be together. The "Each creature fights each other creature" bit is deceptively complex; most of the time it will just be "kill everything", but with lifelink or any other kind of damage or damage prevention triggers involve, you will need to work out all the math on how much damage is going where from what. That's just on the right side of the complexity line, imo, and the card can't handle having a keyword and other ability as well.
Tribute to Chaos :3mana::symb::symr:
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a permanent at random. The gods demanded sacrifice. The gods demanded chaos. Their people combined the two into a twisted act of piety.
Fits the round pretty well. Seems like it adds a lot of randomness to the game though, as every turn you have to find a way to randomise all his or her permanents. For a one-shot effect like Thieve's Auction or Ember Storm above, this is alright, but it could get old if you have to do it this often. I like that it takes out itself eventually though. I'm assuming you intended it to be a random "permanent he or she controls", to: as written I think you would randomly choose _any_ permanent on the battlefield, but then only be able to sacrifice it if it was one of yours.
Thunderous Mayhem: Cool card, probably shouldn't be keyworded though.
Curse of Fate's Whim: Quite annoying.
Ember Storm: This is pretty interesting. I'm not sure if the wording is quite right, but I like it.
Unsealed Tomb: In general mummies are still zombies. I can't help but feel Necromancer's Covenant does more for less.
Monument to the Spark: The all spark? This is kinda cool, but ends up being awkward since you have to specify certain things, which makes it read poorly. It's also probably too powerful, given March of the Machines is colored and only does the artifact part.
Tomb Dust: Seems like a bad lava axe most of the time. I mean, it has the potential to be good, but only if you're set up to abuse it. I guess you can think of it like an alternate win condition in a mill deck, which itself is already an alternate win condition. In that sense, I actually kinda like it, but then it feels much more black to me.
Last One Standing: It's hard for me to think of a situation this doesn't just say "destroy all creatures. I feel like you could have just said "each creature deals damage equal to it's power to each other creature", which is a lot easier to understand and functionally the same. Anyway, I like the card, but it's somewhat confusing.
Tribute to Chaos: Cool flavor, but it would be a pain to shuffle all your permanents every turn. I like how it will eventually get rid of itself so it's harder to abuse. As jwanders said, probably could have been worded better.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
This round's stage:
Your first breath of air is full of dust; you'd cough if your body wasn't so used to this abuse by now. You stand in a large, dimly-lit room, made of yellow bricks. At regular intervals stand thick stone pillars with intricate carvings and far off along the walls stand giant statues of strange creatures. Human bodies with animal heads: Dogs, birds, and crocodiles. Their eyes glow red when you look toward them, and suddenly your mind is engulfed in a foreign power of another mind. This being is powerful and wants chaos, destruction, and insanity. Your mind is released like the crack of a whip and you're now staring at your opponents. Please us! the statues whisper.
This round has a bonus rule: Whatever beings dwell in the statues demand chaos and will punish you for not complying. You will be dealt damage for choosing the same player to attack as another: 1 damage per other player that targets the same person as you. This damage will stop before killing you but will be dealt before the entries' damage.
Before I show the cards, a few notes on the voting.
Instant (U)
Thunderous Mayhem deals 5 damage to target creature or player.
Manic :1mana::symr: (You may cast this spell for its manic cost as long as there are three or more legal targets for this spell. If you do, reselect its target at random when it goes onto the stack.)
This card has a lot going for it: standard cost and manic cost both feel about right, and Manic's a pretty neat ability with a nice decision tree about when to use it. Unfortunately, I really don't see it as a keyword, just because there's not enough design space for it. The random element pretty much forces it to stay in red: so you have this card, a smaller version, and some Manic artifact removal. Neat ability, but it would work better spelled out on a one or two card, not keyworded.
Curse of Fate's Whim :2mana::symb::symr:
Enchantment - Aura Curse {R}
Enchant player
Whenever enchanted player casts a spell, that player flips a coin. If it comes up tails, he or she sacrifices a permanent. Otherwise, he or she loses 3 life.
Pretty oppressive and thus not fun to play under. I guess you still get to play your spells, but I'd rather if this did nothing if you won the flip so you at least have a chance to "trick" fate.
Ember Storm :2mana::symr::symr:
Sorcery (R)
Choose an order at random for all creatures on the battlefield. Ember Storm deals 1 damage to the first, 2 damage to the second, 3 damage to the third and so on.
The name is pretty bland. Ability is original and I think templated clearly enough. Sucks that you don't know how much damage things are going to get until it resolves, so can save/sac your creatures intelligently.
Unsealed Tomb :4mana::symb::symb::symb:
Sorcery (R)
Exile all creature cards from your graveyard, put a 2/1 black Mummy creature token onto the battlefield for every creature card exiled this way.
No one believes the pharaohs curse, until it's too late.
Egyptian set, I'll assume? This card feels like its missing something, but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it needs to do more for its 7 mana, though in a deal built around it it will already be insane. Maybe the Mummy tokens need some ability to increase there flavour (etb Tapped? As they're lying down in there crypts and have to get up?) Maybe the name just sounds like a artifact or land, where a sorcery would be some more verby like "Break the Seal"
Monument to the Spark
Legendary Artifact (M)
Each other noncreature artifact and each non-Aura enchantment is a creature with power and toughness each equal to its converted mana cost in addition to its other types.
All lands are 2/2 creatures that are still lands.
This is doing too much for its cost (and possibly for any one card, period). It almost works in that it's just say "Everything is alive!" but not auras, and lands are a special case. Also "The Spark" is MTG lingo for what planeswalkers gain when they become planeswalkers.
Tomb Dust :4mana::symr::symr:
Sorcery (U)
Tomb Dust deals damage to each player equal to the number of cards in that player's graveyard.
"The oldest ones has got the best loot, but the dust in them places'll stick in yer throat for...*cough hack cough*...years."
-Holgart, veteran grave robber
Not too sure about this, but then getting cards in your opponent's graveyards is already a win condition, so capitalizing off of that can be wrong. cmc 6, symmetry and not effecting the board at all mean it's unlikely to be broken.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ? Last One Standing :1mana::symr::symr::symr:
Sorcery (MR)
Kicker :symw::symw:
Each creature fights each other creature.
If Last One Standing was kicked, target creature you control is indestructible until end of turn.
Myths of unending wars are always told by the lonely survivor. No one believes them.
This seems to be two cards in one. The first is "kill everything, if you kicked, don't kill this one thing", and the other is "Each creature fights each other creature". Both all good designs in their own right, but they don't need to be together. The "Each creature fights each other creature" bit is deceptively complex; most of the time it will just be "kill everything", but with lifelink or any other kind of damage or damage prevention triggers involve, you will need to work out all the math on how much damage is going where from what. That's just on the right side of the complexity line, imo, and the card can't handle having a keyword and other ability as well.
Tribute to Chaos :3mana::symb::symr:
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a permanent at random.
The gods demanded sacrifice. The gods demanded chaos. Their people combined the two into a twisted act of piety.
Fits the round pretty well. Seems like it adds a lot of randomness to the game though, as every turn you have to find a way to randomise all his or her permanents. For a one-shot effect like Thieve's Auction or Ember Storm above, this is alright, but it could get old if you have to do it this often. I like that it takes out itself eventually though. I'm assuming you intended it to be a random "permanent he or she controls", to: as written I think you would randomly choose _any_ permanent on the battlefield, but then only be able to sacrifice it if it was one of yours.
Curse of Fate's Whim: Quite annoying.
Ember Storm: This is pretty interesting. I'm not sure if the wording is quite right, but I like it.
Unsealed Tomb: In general mummies are still zombies. I can't help but feel Necromancer's Covenant does more for less.
Monument to the Spark: The all spark? This is kinda cool, but ends up being awkward since you have to specify certain things, which makes it read poorly. It's also probably too powerful, given March of the Machines is colored and only does the artifact part.
Tomb Dust: Seems like a bad lava axe most of the time. I mean, it has the potential to be good, but only if you're set up to abuse it. I guess you can think of it like an alternate win condition in a mill deck, which itself is already an alternate win condition. In that sense, I actually kinda like it, but then it feels much more black to me.
Last One Standing: It's hard for me to think of a situation this doesn't just say "destroy all creatures. I feel like you could have just said "each creature deals damage equal to it's power to each other creature", which is a lot easier to understand and functionally the same. Anyway, I like the card, but it's somewhat confusing.
Tribute to Chaos: Cool flavor, but it would be a pain to shuffle all your permanents every turn. I like how it will eventually get rid of itself so it's harder to abuse. As jwanders said, probably could have been worded better.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
I have to leave for work too soon to fix this today, but expect the next stage to be posted between 12 and 24 hours from now.