I think you are tied to the rules of the set's vision. So all gold indeed.
But I wonder.. if you take a failed set like Kamigawa, do you get to fix it? Sure, you can't change how Splice onto Arcane works. Or can you go Splice onto Sorcery? Make a Ninja, because they should have been in there? Well, you can't give it Ninjutsu, so that's lame.
The safe bet is probably to take a recent set and show you understood it. Except when you are in a slot where you need to impress the judges.
Jeremy could probably go with Innistrad and make some solid cards and be fine. But Chris needs to go all out, so maybe trying to fix an old set would get him the attention he needs.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
ARI NIEH - Revered is "Kicker - Tap # untapped creature(s) you control". Meh.
CHRIS MOONEY - Backstab is just complicated Frenzy.
JAY TREAT - Spill Blood is decent but poorly executed, especially considering Jay's experience and knowledge base. It probably should have been an ability word or perhaps should have effectively been "devotion to life loss". I think Jay just needs to relax and stop trying too hard.
JEREMY GEIST - Bloodied is "Kicker - If you lost life this turn". Meh, but not quite as meh as Ari's mechanic. At least it has a build-around vibe.
RYAN SIEGEL-STECHLER - Rhythm is "Kicker - Cast # spells before this spell". I like it in theory, but I suspect it would be a seldom realized effect compared to what it promises. It should be Rythm 1, 2, 3, 4 : Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic, respectively for Limited purposes. Probably the most novel mechanic of the round despite its Kicker roots.
SCOTT WILSON - Ancestry is clearly a Scavenge riff. That being said, I like it and expect to eventually see it in print.
OVERALL - Yet more proof that if WotC wants to find the best Magic designers (rather than the best test takers), all they need to do is visit the Custom Card Forums here on MTGS where iron sharpens iron. And that being said, unfortunately for them and us, they seem to have missed the golden age of custom design.
To discard a mechanic because it's similiar to kicker isn't reasonable. It's more of an issue with Kicker being too broad.
There were plenty of legit gameplay reasons to discard those mechanics, one doesn't need to disagree with how interesting they are from a design-perspective.
A narrowed down copy of kicker is still a good mechanic if it plays well and different enough.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
I feel most mechanics are going to have divergent evolution at this point in the game because the primary zones of game-play have been heavily mined. Anything that wants to drastically force new gameplay behaviors (at least in terms of how Rosewater presents their view) are scoffed as too 'complex' or too 'unintuitive'. there was a time when the back of a magic card was just a magic card. Imagine trying to pitch that idea of duel faced cards back during Urza's saga. They would have said 'Never!' but never say never. Anything that isn't getting weird is playing it safe at this point. Sagas being the closest thing to weird they've given us lately, is still just triggered abilities on an enchantment, with a new picture wrapper. They ask for weird from designers, but they secretly want safe, because just safe enough is what sells.
The broadest mechanics they came up with in the beginning are going to force any ability that gives extra value at casting a kicker derivative. Any ability that includes a discard functionality, a cycle derivative. And so on, for all pre-established mechanics. At this point much of the game is all about tweaking and iterating on the established. I saw Rosewater mention that during the contest, that they are paying close attention to how submitted mechanics create variations in the play behavior. It can be a derivative mechanic, but the million dollar question is "does it play differently enough for us to validate it?"
The booster pack challenge looks like a really fun one, but cranking out 14 designs from an established set would take some time. For the contestants this one is win or go home. choosing an older set with antiquated design would be ballsy, so i hope someone does it! Homelands and Fallen Empires were sold in eight card booster packs. I would totally make a fallen empires booster pack. So i think i will...
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Easy Dude. You're being very un-Dude.
____________________________________________
I feel most mechanics are going to have divergent evolution at this point in the game because the primary zones of game-play have been heavily mined. Anything that wants to drastically force new gameplay behaviors (at least in terms of how Rosewater presents their view) are scoffed as too 'complex' or too 'unintuitive'. there was a time when the back of a magic card was just a magic card. Imagine trying to pitch that idea of duel faced cards back during Urza's saga. They would have said 'Never!' but never say never. Anything that isn't getting weird is playing it safe at this point. Sagas being the closest thing to weird they've given us lately, is still just triggered abilities on an enchantment, with a new picture wrapper. They ask for weird from designers, but they secretly want safe, because just safe enough is what sells.
The broadest mechanics they came up with in the beginning are going to force any ability that gives extra value at casting a kicker derivative. Any ability that includes a discard functionality, a cycle derivative. And so on, for all pre-established mechanics. At this point much of the game is all about tweaking and iterating on the established. I saw Rosewater mention that during the contest, that they are paying close attention to how submitted mechanics create variations in the play behavior. It can be a derivative mechanic, but the million dollar question is "does it play differently enough for us to validate it?"
QFT
@doomfish - I'm well aware that "everything is kicker". Honestly, I was being kind in my criticisms of them. The truth is that this batch of mechanics is cringeworthy and does not well represent what the custom community is capable of. This is the 3rd iteration of a decade old contest. At this point we should be seeing the BEST custom/amateur ideas EVER - not this kind of junk that a noob could come up with on the fly.
The mechanics were cute for something someone came up with on the fly, but surely some of them should have had some GREAT ideas lying around somewhere like we all do. I think Ari is doing some great designs and is a capable designer. Chris is rather creative, even if he doesn't know what a common is. Jeremy played it so safe last round I almost fell asleep reading the designs. No idea what to think of him now.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Pretty much Fallen Empires is so far gone from contemporary design I didn’t even attempt to make this fit with the original cards. Since I’m not making the cut on this design challenge, I did my own thing. The 14th card is a collated slot for legendaries like they are doing in Dominaria. Fallen empires takes place on Dominaria so legendary stories and people make sense.
The common refuges aren’t original design. They did all the functional reprints recently, but they never finished the enemy cycle of lands with the name “refuge” so I put that cycle in this set with Fallen Empires flavored locations.
Icatian Refuge – Common
Land
Icatian Refuge enters the battlefield tapped.
When Icatian Refuge enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life.
T: add W or R When Trokair burned, the soldiers banded together their hope and rage, and vowed to save Icatia.
Another odd aside, the original “order of” creatures were ‘cleric knights’, and the white one was a human as well. So I gave the avenger a double secondary type, as the avenger is just a lowly soldier taking up the mantle of defending the name of Leitbur.
The Word of Farrel – Common 3W
Instant
The Word of Farrel deals 4 damage divided as you choose amongst any number of attacking or blocking creatures. You gain life equal to the damage dealt in this way.
Homarid Scavenger – Common 1U
Creature – Homarid UT: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Whenever another Homarid enters the battlefield, untap Homarid Scavenger
1/1
Ebon Hand Culler – Common 2B
Creature – Human Cleric 1BT, Sacrifice a creature: Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
2/3
Goblin Antics 1R
Sorcery
Goblin Antics deals 2 damage to target creature. If that creature dies this turn, create a 1/1 red goblin creature token.
Dwarven Smithee- Common 3R
Creature – Dwarf Artificer
Haste
When Dwarven Smithee enters the battlefield you may attach target equipment you control to Dwarven Smithee. If you do, that equipment becomes unattached at the beginning of the next end step.
3/2
Elvish Horticulturalist – Common 2G
When Elvish Horticulturist enters the battlefield, put a spore counter on each fungus you control.
3/2
Dwarven Pike – Common 1
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1
As long as equipped creature is a dwarf it has first strike.
Equip 2
Delif’s Rage-Hedron - Common 3
Artifact
Whenever a creature you control attacks, put a Geometric counter on Delif’s Rage-Hedron. 2R, Remove three Geometric counters from Delif’s Rage-Hedron: it deals 2 damage to target creature.
Swollen Shallows – Common
Land
Swollen Shallows enters the battlefield tapped. T: add U. 4UT, Sacrifice Swollen Shallows: Create two 1/1 blue Homarid creature tokens with " 2T, Sacrifice this creature: Tap target creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step."
Avenger of Leitbur - Uncommon 2W
Creature – Human Cleric Soldier
Hexproof from Black.
When Avenger of Leitbur enters the battlefield exile target creature until Avenger of Leitbur leaves the battlefield. 1W: Avenger of Leitbur gets +1/+1 and has first strike until end of turn. Activate this ability only once per turn.
2/2
Thrull Crucible – Uncommon 2B
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep create a 1/1 black Thrull creature if you control no Thrull tokens. If you can't, double the number of Thrull tokens you control.
At the beginning of your end step you lose 1 life for each Thrull token you created this turn.
Thallid Scourge – Uncommon 1G
Creature – Fungus
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a spore counter on Thallid Scourge.
Remove three spore counters from Thallid Scourge: Fungus you control get +1/+0 and have menace until end of turn.
2>2
King Spawn – Mythic 5UU
Creature – Homarid
Flash.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 3. If you do create three 1/1 blue Homarid Spawn tokens with "2T, sacrifice this creature: Tap target creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step."
7/7
Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep - Uncommon (Collated Legendary slot) 2RR
Legendary Creature – Dwarf Advisor
Trample
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep is equipped, target creature an opponent controls can't block this turn.
Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep gets +1/+0 for each equipment attached to it.
4/3
Pretty much Fallen Empires is so far gone from contemporary design I didn’t even attempt to make this fit with the original cards. Since I’m not making the cut on this design challenge, I did my own thing. The 14th card is a collated slot for legendaries like they are doing in Dominaria. Fallen empires takes place on Dominaria so legendary stories and people make sense.
The common refuges aren’t original design. They did all the functional reprints recently, but they never finished the enemy cycle of lands with the name “refuge” so I put that cycle in this set with Fallen Empires flavored locations.
Icatian Refuge – Common
Land
Icatian Refuge enters the battlefield tapped.
When Icatian Refuge enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life.
T: add W or R When Trokair burned, the soldiers banded together their hope and rage, and vowed to save Icatia.
Another odd aside, the original “order of” creatures were ‘cleric knights’, and the white one was a human as well. So I gave the avenger a double secondary type, as the avenger is just a lowly soldier taking up the mantle of defending the name of Leitbur.
The Word of Farrel – Common 3W
Instant
The Word of Farrel deals 4 damage divided as you choose amongst any number of attacking or blocking creatures. You gain life equal to the damage dealt in this way.
– Common 1U
Creature – Homarid UT: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Whenever another Homarid enters the battlefield, untap Homarid Scavenger
1/1
Ebon Hand Culler – Common 2B
Creature – Human Cleric 1BT, Sacrifice a creature: Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
2/3
Goblin Antics 1R
Sorcery
Goblin Antics deals 2 damage to target creature. If that creature dies this turn, create a 1/1 red goblin creature token.
Dwarven Smithee- Common 3R
Creature – Dwarf Artificer
Haste
When Dwarven Smithee enters the battlefield you may attach target equipment you control to Dwarven Smithee. If you do, that equipment becomes unattached at the beginning of the next end step.
3/2
Elvish Horticulturalist – Common 2G
When Elvish Horticulturist enters the battlefield, put a spore counter on each fungus you control.
3/2
Dwarven Pike – Common 1
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1
As long as equipped creature is a dwarf it has first strike.
Equip 2
Delif’s Rage-Hedron - Common 3
Artifact
Whenever a creature you control attacks, put a Geometric counter on Delif’s Rage-Hedron. 2R, Remove three Geometric counters from Delif’s Rage-Hedron: it deals 2 damage to target creature.
Swollen Shallows – Common
Land
Swollen Shallows enters the battlefield tapped. T: add U. 4UT, Sacrifice Swollen Shallows: Create two 1/1 blue Homarid creature tokens with " 2T, Sacrifice this creature: Tap target creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step."
Avenger of Leitbur - Uncommon 2W
Creature – Human Cleric Soldier
Hexproof from Black.
When Avenger of Leitbur enters the battlefield exile target creature until Avenger of Leitbur leaves the battlefield. 1W: Avenger of Leitbur gets +1/+1 and has first strike until end of turn. Activate this ability only once per turn.
2/2
Thrull Crucible – Uncommon 2B
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep create a 1/1 black Thrull creature if you control no Thrull tokens. If you can't, double the number of Thrull tokens you control.
At the beginning of your end step you lose 1 life for each Thrull token you created this turn.
Thallid Scourge – Uncommon 1G
Creature – Fungus
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a spore counter on Thallid Scourge.
Remove three spore counters from Thallid Scourge: Fungus you control get +1/+0 and have menace until end of turn.
2>2
King Spawn – Mythic 5UU
Creature – Homarid
Flash.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 3. If you do create three 1/1 blue Homarid Spawn tokens with "2T, sacrifice this creature: Tap target creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step."
7/7
Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep - Uncommon (Collated Legendary slot) 2RR
Legendary Creature – Dwarf Advisor
Trample
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep is equipped, target creature an opponent controls can't block this turn.
Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep gets +1/+0 for each equipment attached to it.
4/3
Plains - Common
Basic Land T: Add W
Fantastic bunch of cards. I think overall that you hit that old Fallen Empires flavor.
Some quick nitpicks:
The Word of Farrel - Great, great card but wouldn't be uncommon in any era of Magic.
Goblin Antics - i like this too but think it shoul dealt only 1 damage.
Dwarven Smithee - Very nice. I think this would cost 3RR or 4R
Delif’s Rage-Hedron - it should tap and sacrifice. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but "hedron" seems very out of place in FE.
Swollen Shallows - feels like a riff of recent designs and patterns rather than a throwback to FE.
Again, great batch of cards. 9/10 considering the difficulty of designing for FE.
EDIT: So after looking at this round's submissions, I've decided that you won this round.
This was more challenging than I thought it would be. And it took more time to complete than I thought it would take.
I chose Antiquities, an aptly named 85 card set.
The word "artifact" is required to be on every nonland card.
It was quite challenging to design artifact themed cards that didn't feel like they're for/from Mirrodin.
Matching Expansion – This design challenge is about designing within constraints of a defined set. You will be judged by how much your cards feel as if they belong in the expansion you've chosen.
Creativity – This assignment is not just about mimicking the set you're in but finding cool new things to do with the preexisting tools of that set.
Flavor – It's important that your cards feel and play as if they are from the world that expansion is set on.
Color Pie Appropriateness – This, and the next two categories, are the areas where I'm going to let you deviate from the original expansion. Use the modern color pie and not the color pie at the time of the set. Any mechanic that was used may be used in the colors it was used in that set. As always, matching color means staying within the color pie constraints. Bends are allowed if appropriate (although be frugal with them), but breaks are not.
Rarity Appropriateness – Your designs need to fit into the rarity you're designing for. Think about things like complexity and impact on Limited. As with color pie, use modern-day rarity constraints.
Card Type Appropriateness – Make sure that your cards are properly representing the card type they're in. As with color pie and rarity, use modern-day constraints.
You will submit the following:
Your Name
Label each card Design 1 through 15. Put any basic land first, then your commons in WUBRG order, then your uncommons in WUBRG order, then your rares (and/or mythic rare if mythic rares exist in this set) and finally any extra card(s) if your set has a special slot(s).
We're excited to open your booster packs!
Wastes (basic land)
Basic Land t: Add C.
Neutralize (common) 1W
Instant
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to and dealt by target artifact this turn.
Energize (common) 2U
Instant
Untap all artifacts you control.
Draw a card.
Skittering Scavenger (common) 3B
Creature - Horror
2/2
When Skittering Scavenger dies, return an artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
Yawgmoth's Blessing (common) B
Instant
Target creature gets +1/-1 until end of turn for each artifact you control.
Overheat (common) 1R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant artifact
Whenever enchanted artifact becomes tapped, its controller adds R to his or her mana pool.
Ancient Automaton (common) 6
Artifact Creature - Construct
6/6
Ancient Automaton attacks and blocks each turn if able
Cyclopean Armor (common) 1
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1.
When equipped creature dies, exile it.
Equip - Pay 1 life
Quarry Gnomes (common) 3
Artifact Creature - Gnome
2/2
Exile Quarry Gnomes from your hand: Add C.
Signet Ring (common) 2
Artifact 1, t: Add CC.
Trap Door (common) 4
Artifact 4, t, Exile Trap Door: Exile target tapped creature without flying.
Giant Engineer (uncommon) 4R
Creature - Giant
*/4
Giant Engineer's power is equal to the greatest converted mana cost among artifacts in graveyards.
Titania's Touch (uncommon) 2G
Instant
Until end of turn, target artifact loses all abilities and becomes an artifact creature with base power and toughness 5/5 in addition to its other types.
Urza's Workshop (uncommon)
Land t: Add C. x: Urza's Workshop becomes an X/X Assembly-Worker artifact creature that's still a land until end of turn.
Chronicles of War (rare) 7
Artifact
If damage would be dealt to a player, that player draws that many cards instead.
But I wonder.. if you take a failed set like Kamigawa, do you get to fix it? Sure, you can't change how Splice onto Arcane works. Or can you go Splice onto Sorcery? Make a Ninja, because they should have been in there? Well, you can't give it Ninjutsu, so that's lame.
The safe bet is probably to take a recent set and show you understood it. Except when you are in a slot where you need to impress the judges.
Jeremy could probably go with Innistrad and make some solid cards and be fine. But Chris needs to go all out, so maybe trying to fix an old set would get him the attention he needs.
Edit: Interesting - http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/174389497068/were-the-contestants-given-the-full-size-art
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
ARI NIEH - Revered is "Kicker - Tap # untapped creature(s) you control". Meh.
CHRIS MOONEY - Backstab is just complicated Frenzy.
JAY TREAT - Spill Blood is decent but poorly executed, especially considering Jay's experience and knowledge base. It probably should have been an ability word or perhaps should have effectively been "devotion to life loss". I think Jay just needs to relax and stop trying too hard.
JEREMY GEIST - Bloodied is "Kicker - If you lost life this turn". Meh, but not quite as meh as Ari's mechanic. At least it has a build-around vibe.
RYAN SIEGEL-STECHLER - Rhythm is "Kicker - Cast # spells before this spell". I like it in theory, but I suspect it would be a seldom realized effect compared to what it promises. It should be Rythm 1, 2, 3, 4 : Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic, respectively for Limited purposes. Probably the most novel mechanic of the round despite its Kicker roots.
SCOTT WILSON - Ancestry is clearly a Scavenge riff. That being said, I like it and expect to eventually see it in print.
OVERALL - Yet more proof that if WotC wants to find the best Magic designers (rather than the best test takers), all they need to do is visit the Custom Card Forums here on MTGS where iron sharpens iron. And that being said, unfortunately for them and us, they seem to have missed the golden age of custom design.
There were plenty of legit gameplay reasons to discard those mechanics, one doesn't need to disagree with how interesting they are from a design-perspective.
A narrowed down copy of kicker is still a good mechanic if it plays well and different enough.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
The broadest mechanics they came up with in the beginning are going to force any ability that gives extra value at casting a kicker derivative. Any ability that includes a discard functionality, a cycle derivative. And so on, for all pre-established mechanics. At this point much of the game is all about tweaking and iterating on the established. I saw Rosewater mention that during the contest, that they are paying close attention to how submitted mechanics create variations in the play behavior. It can be a derivative mechanic, but the million dollar question is "does it play differently enough for us to validate it?"
The booster pack challenge looks like a really fun one, but cranking out 14 designs from an established set would take some time. For the contestants this one is win or go home. choosing an older set with antiquated design would be ballsy, so i hope someone does it! Homelands and Fallen Empires were sold in eight card booster packs. I would totally make a fallen empires booster pack. So i think i will...
____________________________________________
QFT
@doomfish - I'm well aware that "everything is kicker". Honestly, I was being kind in my criticisms of them. The truth is that this batch of mechanics is cringeworthy and does not well represent what the custom community is capable of. This is the 3rd iteration of a decade old contest. At this point we should be seeing the BEST custom/amateur ideas EVER - not this kind of junk that a noob could come up with on the fly.
The mechanics were cute for something someone came up with on the fly, but surely some of them should have had some GREAT ideas lying around somewhere like we all do. I think Ari is doing some great designs and is a capable designer. Chris is rather creative, even if he doesn't know what a common is. Jeremy played it so safe last round I almost fell asleep reading the designs. No idea what to think of him now.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
The common refuges aren’t original design. They did all the functional reprints recently, but they never finished the enemy cycle of lands with the name “refuge” so I put that cycle in this set with Fallen Empires flavored locations.
Icatian Refuge – Common
Land
Icatian Refuge enters the battlefield tapped.
When Icatian Refuge enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life.
T: add W or R
When Trokair burned, the soldiers banded together their hope and rage, and vowed to save Icatia.
Another odd aside, the original “order of” creatures were ‘cleric knights’, and the white one was a human as well. So I gave the avenger a double secondary type, as the avenger is just a lowly soldier taking up the mantle of defending the name of Leitbur.
3W
Instant
The Word of Farrel deals 4 damage divided as you choose amongst any number of attacking or blocking creatures. You gain life equal to the damage dealt in this way.
Homarid Scavenger – Common
1U
Creature – Homarid
UT: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Whenever another Homarid enters the battlefield, untap Homarid Scavenger
1/1
Ebon Hand Culler – Common
2B
Creature – Human Cleric
1BT, Sacrifice a creature: Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
2/3
Goblin Antics
1R
Sorcery
Goblin Antics deals 2 damage to target creature. If that creature dies this turn, create a 1/1 red goblin creature token.
Dwarven Smithee- Common
3R
Creature – Dwarf Artificer
Haste
When Dwarven Smithee enters the battlefield you may attach target equipment you control to Dwarven Smithee. If you do, that equipment becomes unattached at the beginning of the next end step.
3/2
Elvish Horticulturalist – Common
2G
When Elvish Horticulturist enters the battlefield, put a spore counter on each fungus you control.
3/2
Dwarven Pike – Common
1
Artifact – Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1
As long as equipped creature is a dwarf it has first strike.
Equip 2
Delif’s Rage-Hedron - Common
3
Artifact
Whenever a creature you control attacks, put a Geometric counter on Delif’s Rage-Hedron.
2R, Remove three Geometric counters from Delif’s Rage-Hedron: it deals 2 damage to target creature.
Swollen Shallows – Common
Land
Swollen Shallows enters the battlefield tapped.
T: add U.
4UT, Sacrifice Swollen Shallows: Create two 1/1 blue Homarid creature tokens with " 2 T, Sacrifice this creature: Tap target creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step."
Avenger of Leitbur - Uncommon
2W
Creature – Human Cleric Soldier
Hexproof from Black.
When Avenger of Leitbur enters the battlefield exile target creature until Avenger of Leitbur leaves the battlefield.
1W: Avenger of Leitbur gets +1/+1 and has first strike until end of turn. Activate this ability only once per turn.
2/2
Thrull Crucible – Uncommon
2B
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep create a 1/1 black Thrull creature if you control no Thrull tokens. If you can't, double the number of Thrull tokens you control.
At the beginning of your end step you lose 1 life for each Thrull token you created this turn.
Thallid Scourge – Uncommon
1G
Creature – Fungus
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a spore counter on Thallid Scourge.
Remove three spore counters from Thallid Scourge: Fungus you control get +1/+0 and have menace until end of turn.
2>2
King Spawn – Mythic
5UU
Creature – Homarid
Flash.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 3. If you do create three 1/1 blue Homarid Spawn tokens with "2T, sacrifice this creature: Tap target creature, it doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step."
7/7
Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep - Uncommon (Collated Legendary slot)
2RR
Legendary Creature – Dwarf Advisor
Trample
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep is equipped, target creature an opponent controls can't block this turn.
Tor Vignir, Bane of Gurn Keep gets +1/+0 for each equipment attached to it.
4/3
Plains - Common
Basic Land
T: Add W
____________________________________________
Fantastic bunch of cards. I think overall that you hit that old Fallen Empires flavor.
Some quick nitpicks:
The Word of Farrel - Great, great card but wouldn't be uncommon in any era of Magic.
Goblin Antics - i like this too but think it shoul dealt only 1 damage.
Dwarven Smithee - Very nice. I think this would cost 3RR or 4R
Delif’s Rage-Hedron - it should tap and sacrifice. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but "hedron" seems very out of place in FE.
Swollen Shallows - feels like a riff of recent designs and patterns rather than a throwback to FE.
Again, great batch of cards. 9/10 considering the difficulty of designing for FE.
EDIT: So after looking at this round's submissions, I've decided that you won this round.
I chose Antiquities, an aptly named 85 card set.
The word "artifact" is required to be on every nonland card.
It was quite challenging to design artifact themed cards that didn't feel like they're for/from Mirrodin.
Matching Expansion – This design challenge is about designing within constraints of a defined set. You will be judged by how much your cards feel as if they belong in the expansion you've chosen.
Creativity – This assignment is not just about mimicking the set you're in but finding cool new things to do with the preexisting tools of that set.
Flavor – It's important that your cards feel and play as if they are from the world that expansion is set on.
Color Pie Appropriateness – This, and the next two categories, are the areas where I'm going to let you deviate from the original expansion. Use the modern color pie and not the color pie at the time of the set. Any mechanic that was used may be used in the colors it was used in that set. As always, matching color means staying within the color pie constraints. Bends are allowed if appropriate (although be frugal with them), but breaks are not.
Rarity Appropriateness – Your designs need to fit into the rarity you're designing for. Think about things like complexity and impact on Limited. As with color pie, use modern-day rarity constraints.
Card Type Appropriateness – Make sure that your cards are properly representing the card type they're in. As with color pie and rarity, use modern-day constraints.
You will submit the following:
Your Name
Label each card Design 1 through 15. Put any basic land first, then your commons in WUBRG order, then your uncommons in WUBRG order, then your rares (and/or mythic rare if mythic rares exist in this set) and finally any extra card(s) if your set has a special slot(s).
We're excited to open your booster packs!
Wastes (basic land)
Basic Land
t: Add C.
Neutralize (common)
1W
Instant
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to and dealt by target artifact this turn.
Energize (common)
2U
Instant
Untap all artifacts you control.
Draw a card.
Skittering Scavenger (common)
3B
Creature - Horror
2/2
When Skittering Scavenger dies, return an artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
Yawgmoth's Blessing (common)
B
Instant
Target creature gets +1/-1 until end of turn for each artifact you control.
Overheat (common)
1R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant artifact
Whenever enchanted artifact becomes tapped, its controller adds R to his or her mana pool.
Ancient Automaton (common)
6
Artifact Creature - Construct
6/6
Ancient Automaton attacks and blocks each turn if able
Cyclopean Armor (common)
1
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1.
When equipped creature dies, exile it.
Equip - Pay 1 life
Quarry Gnomes (common)
3
Artifact Creature - Gnome
2/2
Exile Quarry Gnomes from your hand: Add C.
Signet Ring (common)
2
Artifact
1, t: Add CC.
Trap Door (common)
4
Artifact
4, t, Exile Trap Door: Exile target tapped creature without flying.
Giant Engineer (uncommon)
4R
Creature - Giant
*/4
Giant Engineer's power is equal to the greatest converted mana cost among artifacts in graveyards.
Titania's Touch (uncommon)
2G
Instant
Until end of turn, target artifact loses all abilities and becomes an artifact creature with base power and toughness 5/5 in addition to its other types.
Urza's Workshop (uncommon)
Land
t: Add C.
x: Urza's Workshop becomes an X/X Assembly-Worker artifact creature that's still a land until end of turn.
Chronicles of War (rare)
7
Artifact
If damage would be dealt to a player, that player draws that many cards instead.