Wew, thanks for sticking around. Sorry about the insane delay.
All of you have dived into the deep end of the flavor pool this round. In light of that, this round will be judged like an amateur diving competition.
To help my I’ll call in two of my good friends, Judge Mago (who will judge how well this card would actually work and how easy to understand it is) and Judge Maro (who will judge its over-all sleekness, uniqueness, printability). I will, of course, judge the card’s flavor.
I’ll make a gut-reaction critique and then the three of us will judge you by holding up a random number between 0 and 10. Then I’ll add them together and the ten highest scorers get to go to round two.
Mindlessdreamer – Pokeball
This pulls off the feel of capturing a Pokemon perfectly. It would have been good to have something in there that simulated opening and closing the ball (mostly so that you could say things like “Kraj, I choose you!”), but that might’ve gotten clunky really fast. It stretches the idea of what equipment is flavor-wise a bit (more of a standard artifact I’d say), but it’s not stretched enough to hurt it too much. No flavor text
DDH—7
Mago—7
Maro—7
Igmhorus – Tristessa
I sort of remember her from Domains of Dread. I love that you gave her haunt. I guess the idea here is that she haunts the baby that your opponent gives to you, slowly killing it over time. It’s overly wordy though. I think you could have taken out the option of killing the creature. Who wouldn’t pitch a creature to the yard to prevent a recurring Sower of Temptation? No flavor text, but you don’t really have room there anyway. There’s also a type in there.
DDH—8
Mago—4
Maro—5
Dragonmayu – Judgment of Anubis
Wow, this is a really unique card. I’m not entirely sure if it works though. I don’t think the alternative payment ability is kosher though. I think it would need “while ~ is in the graveyard . . .” Ignoring that though, I could see how Anubis would do something like this. I love the image of mummified Tarmogoyf" target="blank">Tarmogoyfs fighting for me. I think the cost to the opponents might be too low. I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t pay 2 and a life as soon as they could to clear the board of all the mummies. Unless this was played late in the game, I don’t see the mummies lasting more than a turn. Pretty good art. No flavor text ;(
DDH—7
Mago—2
Maro—8
Niv – Aura of the Omnipotent
The mechanics of this card are pretty cool (except that you’re missing a comma). It fits Niv-Mizzet pretty well. I don’t know why, but I really love tapping enchantments. The art leaves much to be desired, but it works. I don’t really like the name. It’s not an aura for one, which is a no no, but the big thing is that I think “omniscience” would be more fitting. The flavor text just isn’t doing it for me. It’s pretty lengthy and I’m not too sure Niv-Mizzet would be caught saying “awesomeness.”
DDH—4
Mago—8
Maro—6
Artrius – Zelda
Mmm, lots of flavor here. You’ve simulated every kidnapped princess story ever told. I especially like that you have to tap a legend to get her back (so they’re rescuing her). The shrouding gives her a reason to be valued, but not much reason for a red or black opponent with no legends to care too much. It’s not earth shattering enough when the bad guys get her. I might even just play red or black with her to get her back even easier. It’s also pretty wordy (though surprisingly not too clunky). No flavor text
DDH—7
Mago—6
Mara—4
L0ng5h0t – Volcanic Surge
I’d never heard of this setting so I had to read through the wiki page you provided. Very cool. I think I should look into this series. This card is sort of like a super Forbidden Lore. I’m assuming it’s an enchant creature. With all the red haste out there, this enchantment has the potential to get crazy, but it’s pretty balanced. It’s sort of useless against another red mage though. I’m not sure if it feels like a volcanic surge to me though. And that name doesn’t really evoke the setting much to me. The flavor text is great though.
DDH—7
Mago—5
Maro—5
Iphanx – Presence of Ganesha
This card basically follows its flavor text exactly. As the patron deity of Hinduism and the Remover of Obstacles, I’d think it would do more. I’m also not sure how the abilities tie into the creature. If Ganesha bless the player with health and wealth, why would it depend on how much hurt one of his/her creatures can do and on when that creature can die? Drawing after death is a good way to counteract the card advantage loss from auras though.
DDH—3
Mago—7
Maro—7
Urzastoiletseatofdoom – The Wurm’s Rage
Uh oh, this isn’t a world enchantment, it doesn’t affect everyone the same. You also forgot to use mana symbols. Ignoring all that though, it seems a bit over powered to me. For three you can Naturalize each turn for free (did I mention that it doesn’t target?), then in a few turns you can get rid of all the cards you destroyed to give each of your creatures a ton of +1/+1 counters. If it were +1/+1 until end of turn, it might have almost been balanced. Again, ignoring all of that, it is pretty good flavorwise. I had to look up Iron Kingdoms on wikipedia (I’d heard of it, but knew almost nothing about it). It seems like a good interpretation of the embodiment of nature and rage. Flavor text is so-so.
DDH—6
Mago—2
Maro—5
GiftsTrix – Horizon of Vana'diel
Ahh, this card would be a nightmare as is. Almost everyone hates the two subgame cards because they bog down the current, actual game. Enter the Dungeon was ALMOST bearable because the players only had 5 life instead of 20. This card replicates the dungeon, but will last four times as long. But then we get to the worst part: it happens EVERY TURN. Imagine playing a game where every turn you would have to win a completely separate game of Magic. You’d never finish. Your friends playing Monopoly and play-by-mail Axis and Allies would wonder when your Magic game would ever end. Magic would become battle of attrition to see who would forfeit first; people would starve in hobby shops. The flavor text is nice. I like the idea behind this card. I’m not really sure about why you choose a color though.
DDH—6
Mago—1
Maro—6
Dragoon26 – Call of the Rainbow
This is actually a really neat card. I heard that Shadowmoor might be THE definitive pony set, so affinity for ponies works perfectly here. Most of the My Little Ponies can’t fly though (those that can are from a different world), so giving them flying seems kind of weird. Especially since you’re basically getting a 2/2 flier with lifelink for 2 (and less with the affinity), but copied three times. It’s probably overpowered as is. But the power level of My Little Pony has always been pretty competitive. The flavor text is amazing. Way to tie the two properties together.
DDH—8
Mago—4
Maro—7
FuriouslySleepingIdea – Valkyrie Troop
This is a pretty cool card. It fits the Valkyrie idea of taking away warriors to paradise. I’m not sure if the rules fit though. Are creatures still attacking if they die from combat damage? I’ll assume that they are. This would cut down on combat tricks a lot, it might even cause you to use your combat tricks against your own creatures to make sure they go back to your hand. This would also be great in a red and white (Boros anyone?) deck where you could burn weakened creatures in the second main phase. No flavor text
DDH—6
Mago—7
Maro—9
Fissionessence – Mink of the Firds
Why do I feel that some character on Star Trek just explained me how a warp core works? The drawing you provided helped out a bunch. I think the problem with Magi-Nation was all of the weird/cute terminology you had to learn. This is pretty wordy as it is, but it is doing a lot of things. I guess Dreamsummon is sort of like the Rebel creature type, but with Magi-nation things. I don’t know if Naroomese would make a good creature type just based on grammar. “Destroy all Naroomeses in play” just sounds wrong. “As long as you control a Naroomese . . .”
DDH—7
Mago—4
Maro—7
Ter’el’s Blessing – Scrounger
I perused the wiki page for Arcanum. I’d never played the game, but it looks pretty interesting. I’m guessing that quickdraw artists are the setting’s version of showdowns. Although there’s nothing specific on the wiki page, I’m venturing a guess that this card simulates how some elf mage offers a magic spell to gunslingers of the city so that they can fire faster/better. I’m able to venture this from the descriptive flavor text and card name. From what the page told me, I find it hard to believe that the elves would help out or that technology and magic would be able to mix like that, but I don’t have the full story so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. The ability seems to be on the powerful side. Remember how everyone played Mastacore? Sure, this one at least needs a RR investment, but it can hurt players too and doesn’t need a sacrifice.
Guild ability being used by another guild
Graveyard effects
Done:
1 Mana Legendary Permanent
Kamigawa re-done
All of you have dived into the deep end of the flavor pool this round. In light of that, this round will be judged like an amateur diving competition.
To help my I’ll call in two of my good friends, Judge Mago (who will judge how well this card would actually work and how easy to understand it is) and Judge Maro (who will judge its over-all sleekness, uniqueness, printability). I will, of course, judge the card’s flavor.
I’ll make a gut-reaction critique and then the three of us will judge you by holding up a random number between 0 and 10. Then I’ll add them together and the ten highest scorers get to go to round two.
Mindlessdreamer – Pokeball
This pulls off the feel of capturing a Pokemon perfectly. It would have been good to have something in there that simulated opening and closing the ball (mostly so that you could say things like “Kraj, I choose you!”), but that might’ve gotten clunky really fast. It stretches the idea of what equipment is flavor-wise a bit (more of a standard artifact I’d say), but it’s not stretched enough to hurt it too much. No flavor text
DDH—7
Mago—7
Maro—7
Igmhorus – Tristessa
I sort of remember her from Domains of Dread. I love that you gave her haunt. I guess the idea here is that she haunts the baby that your opponent gives to you, slowly killing it over time. It’s overly wordy though. I think you could have taken out the option of killing the creature. Who wouldn’t pitch a creature to the yard to prevent a recurring Sower of Temptation? No flavor text, but you don’t really have room there anyway. There’s also a type in there.
DDH—8
Mago—4
Maro—5
Dragonmayu – Judgment of Anubis
Wow, this is a really unique card. I’m not entirely sure if it works though. I don’t think the alternative payment ability is kosher though. I think it would need “while ~ is in the graveyard . . .” Ignoring that though, I could see how Anubis would do something like this. I love the image of mummified Tarmogoyf" target="blank">Tarmogoyfs fighting for me. I think the cost to the opponents might be too low. I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t pay 2 and a life as soon as they could to clear the board of all the mummies. Unless this was played late in the game, I don’t see the mummies lasting more than a turn. Pretty good art. No flavor text ;(
DDH—7
Mago—2
Maro—8
Niv – Aura of the Omnipotent
The mechanics of this card are pretty cool (except that you’re missing a comma). It fits Niv-Mizzet pretty well. I don’t know why, but I really love tapping enchantments. The art leaves much to be desired, but it works. I don’t really like the name. It’s not an aura for one, which is a no no, but the big thing is that I think “omniscience” would be more fitting. The flavor text just isn’t doing it for me. It’s pretty lengthy and I’m not too sure Niv-Mizzet would be caught saying “awesomeness.”
DDH—4
Mago—8
Maro—6
Artrius – Zelda
Mmm, lots of flavor here. You’ve simulated every kidnapped princess story ever told. I especially like that you have to tap a legend to get her back (so they’re rescuing her). The shrouding gives her a reason to be valued, but not much reason for a red or black opponent with no legends to care too much. It’s not earth shattering enough when the bad guys get her. I might even just play red or black with her to get her back even easier. It’s also pretty wordy (though surprisingly not too clunky). No flavor text
DDH—7
Mago—6
Mara—4
L0ng5h0t – Volcanic Surge
I’d never heard of this setting so I had to read through the wiki page you provided. Very cool. I think I should look into this series. This card is sort of like a super Forbidden Lore. I’m assuming it’s an enchant creature. With all the red haste out there, this enchantment has the potential to get crazy, but it’s pretty balanced. It’s sort of useless against another red mage though. I’m not sure if it feels like a volcanic surge to me though. And that name doesn’t really evoke the setting much to me. The flavor text is great though.
DDH—7
Mago—5
Maro—5
Iphanx – Presence of Ganesha
This card basically follows its flavor text exactly. As the patron deity of Hinduism and the Remover of Obstacles, I’d think it would do more. I’m also not sure how the abilities tie into the creature. If Ganesha bless the player with health and wealth, why would it depend on how much hurt one of his/her creatures can do and on when that creature can die? Drawing after death is a good way to counteract the card advantage loss from auras though.
DDH—3
Mago—7
Maro—7
Urzastoiletseatofdoom – The Wurm’s Rage
Uh oh, this isn’t a world enchantment, it doesn’t affect everyone the same. You also forgot to use mana symbols. Ignoring all that though, it seems a bit over powered to me. For three you can Naturalize each turn for free (did I mention that it doesn’t target?), then in a few turns you can get rid of all the cards you destroyed to give each of your creatures a ton of +1/+1 counters. If it were +1/+1 until end of turn, it might have almost been balanced. Again, ignoring all of that, it is pretty good flavorwise. I had to look up Iron Kingdoms on wikipedia (I’d heard of it, but knew almost nothing about it). It seems like a good interpretation of the embodiment of nature and rage. Flavor text is so-so.
DDH—6
Mago—2
Maro—5
GiftsTrix – Horizon of Vana'diel
Ahh, this card would be a nightmare as is. Almost everyone hates the two subgame cards because they bog down the current, actual game. Enter the Dungeon was ALMOST bearable because the players only had 5 life instead of 20. This card replicates the dungeon, but will last four times as long. But then we get to the worst part: it happens EVERY TURN. Imagine playing a game where every turn you would have to win a completely separate game of Magic. You’d never finish. Your friends playing Monopoly and play-by-mail Axis and Allies would wonder when your Magic game would ever end. Magic would become battle of attrition to see who would forfeit first; people would starve in hobby shops. The flavor text is nice. I like the idea behind this card. I’m not really sure about why you choose a color though.
DDH—6
Mago—1
Maro—6
Dragoon26 – Call of the Rainbow
This is actually a really neat card. I heard that Shadowmoor might be THE definitive pony set, so affinity for ponies works perfectly here. Most of the My Little Ponies can’t fly though (those that can are from a different world), so giving them flying seems kind of weird. Especially since you’re basically getting a 2/2 flier with lifelink for 2 (and less with the affinity), but copied three times. It’s probably overpowered as is. But the power level of My Little Pony has always been pretty competitive. The flavor text is amazing. Way to tie the two properties together.
DDH—8
Mago—4
Maro—7
FuriouslySleepingIdea – Valkyrie Troop
This is a pretty cool card. It fits the Valkyrie idea of taking away warriors to paradise. I’m not sure if the rules fit though. Are creatures still attacking if they die from combat damage? I’ll assume that they are. This would cut down on combat tricks a lot, it might even cause you to use your combat tricks against your own creatures to make sure they go back to your hand. This would also be great in a red and white (Boros anyone?) deck where you could burn weakened creatures in the second main phase. No flavor text
DDH—6
Mago—7
Maro—9
Fissionessence – Mink of the Firds
Why do I feel that some character on Star Trek just explained me how a warp core works? The drawing you provided helped out a bunch. I think the problem with Magi-Nation was all of the weird/cute terminology you had to learn. This is pretty wordy as it is, but it is doing a lot of things. I guess Dreamsummon is sort of like the Rebel creature type, but with Magi-nation things. I don’t know if Naroomese would make a good creature type just based on grammar. “Destroy all Naroomeses in play” just sounds wrong. “As long as you control a Naroomese . . .”
DDH—7
Mago—4
Maro—7
Ter’el’s Blessing – Scrounger
I perused the wiki page for Arcanum. I’d never played the game, but it looks pretty interesting. I’m guessing that quickdraw artists are the setting’s version of showdowns. Although there’s nothing specific on the wiki page, I’m venturing a guess that this card simulates how some elf mage offers a magic spell to gunslingers of the city so that they can fire faster/better. I’m able to venture this from the descriptive flavor text and card name. From what the page told me, I find it hard to believe that the elves would help out or that technology and magic would be able to mix like that, but I don’t have the full story so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. The ability seems to be on the powerful side. Remember how everyone played Mastacore? Sure, this one at least needs a RR investment, but it can hurt players too and doesn’t need a sacrifice.
DDH—6
Mago—4
Maro—6
And so that means the following 10 are moving on.
Lgmhorus
fissionessence
Atrius
L0ng5h0t
FuriouslySleepingIdea
Dragonmayu
Niv
iphanx
mindlessdreamer
Dragoon26
(Thanks Atrius)
Winner of the 2nd Design Survivor Contest
Creator of the Vorthos Card Contest
Winner of 12th and the 18th Short Story Contests
Creator of the Vs. Tournament.
--Runner of the Superhero Vs. Tounrament
--Runner of the Villian Vs. Tournament.
FuriouslySleepingIdea - 22
Mindlessdreamer - 21
Dragoon26 - 19
Fissionessence - 18
Niv - 18
LGMHorus - 17
Dragonmayu - 17
Atrius - 17
L0ng5h0t - 17
Iphanx - 17
Scrounger - 16
Urzas - 13
GiftsTrix - 13
I count 13 entries, meaning that unfortunately Scrounger, Urzastoiletseatofdoom and GiftsTrix are the bottom three.
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