- It doesn't really scout but it matches what your avatar is really well and does what blue and black like to do. IE search and destroy.
- Nice scouting card, the alt cost makes sense for the plane that the avatar came from. Overall really well done although it doesn't really make much sense for white.
- the card doesn't really match the avatar at all although the card is kinda cool. A gather specimens for land is pretty nice although I don't see the black in it. btw please put your avatar in your submission area as well.
- very cool card, resembles the avatar well and matches what black and green like to do. Adding dredge and sacrificing the land sort of balance the card out as well.
- Your card doesn't scout but it matches the avatar nicely. Has both qualities of blue and black as well.
- Your card doesn't really scout either but it does defend. With the flavor text for the card it seems like setting up base camp and having sentries patrol the area.
- Your card doesn't scout and doesn't match your avatar at all. The cards abilities though do match the color pie well. Btw I had to try to look for your avatar, next time put it in your submission
- Your card works great with your avatar, scouts and conforms to the color pie well. Nice use of sweep by the way
1.Magicprofessor28
2. Gerrard's Mom
3. Jimmy Groove
Izzet Snow Globe seems ok, but the randomness thing seems a bit wierd. Hard to know what it'll be doing next, though I suppose you could say that fits the Izzet guild perfectly.
Harbinger_
Nayan Shaman Staff certainly says "You're about to go exploring.", but I don't see anything particularly white about it. That said, rampant growth repeatable for an initial mana investment and extra mana seems perfectly fair (and oh so useful for my combo deck that needs to get up to 9 mana fast). Oh, and you forgot to shuffle your library.
GetItWrong
Grubhunter's Amulet - the flavor text made me laugh, which is always a good way to earn points. The "scouting" thing is a bit of a stretch, I think the card would read better with "only one creature can block equipped creature" and ":symrg: Target creature blocks equipped creature this turn if able."
KoolKoal
Sightdust Trinket - so for five mana, you can either draw two or draw and search up a land. Not the most intresting design, but it fits the challenge well enough.
Concallesco
Left Hand of Desire - It's either nigh useless or broken, depending on what cards I'm playing. For 5 mana initial and 5 mana later, I can tutor and cast anything in my library? Where'd I put Progenitus. Or Time Stretch.
Dodavehu - No Show
D@rkelf
Jhessian Spyglass - Fits the challenge. Exalted seems out of place with looking at a library though, and the flavor text doesn't help much. Might have prefered a non-equipment artifact that does the same thing.
Results
1. Harbringer_ - I would have perfered the white not being there, but it seems quite useful in my crazy combo decks that need a lot of mana (and it rewards basics, which is always good.) Fits the flavor of the challenge perfectly.
2. KoolKoal - It's a solid card, and many colors (green,red) would be happy enough to draw two cards for 5. Also, fits the flavor reasonably well.
3. GetItWrong - What can I say, I liked the flavor text? Goblins don't go searching for new land, they go searching for new food.
Welcome to the contest, don't think I've seen you around before Although a little complicated and wordy, the enchantment pulls off the assignment fairly well. Goblin Scout should be capitalized, and pulling fateseal in to Alara block was maybe not necessary. Maybe the concept could have been a little simpler by just sending a Scout every turn, who dies either way but forces a discard if he does damage, or something like that.
Jau
Nice flavor on both the avatar, the card, and the story. I only wonder if it would have pushed the card too far to have it put the land directly into play? Of course you would play lots of lands with this, I'm sure some casual decks could use it.
Twilight Kiwi
Is your avatar's name an anagram of something? Like Oars? Anyway, an inventive new effect, or at least I don't know of too many cards that work on what the opponent draws. Interesting choices for effects, and I think entertwining lands and creatures worked out well. Just want a rarity to fully evaluate the card.
snoopYah
Couldn't you have worded that more easily, having it put the card in your hand and then, if that card was an artifact card, letting you return the enchantment too? Possibly not. Am I missing something, or is this just a really terrible draw spell that costs four mana and reveals what you drew to get one card and possibly another use? Not to mention the fact that it can easily become an utterly irrelevant permanent.
Krey
Excellent and flavorful connection between your avatar and submission for this round. Spirit and Arcane should be capitalized, you need a rarity, and the flavor text doesn't need quotes, but that's minor stuff. The card itself works against many of the themes that Kamigawa had, particularly keeping stuff in your hand, but I think there are some decks that would like to turn cards into 1/1 flyers for whatever reason.
Alabran
Blue-white life gain with a surprising underside. The denial seems good and uncommon probably works, plus there might be some skill-testing decisions to make when faced with expensive cards that could gain you life temporarily but might cost you in the long run. Need a link to your avatar next time for flavor and plane connections.
kiwoli
Quite a powerful enchantment. Much better than Phyrexian Arena, but possibly balanced by the fact that it costs two colors and has to enchant a breakable land. I think you want a clause letting you put the cards back in any order. The flavor pulls off the black connection pretty well.
Top 3
1. Twilight Kiwi for freshness
2. Jau for elegance
3. Alabran for interesting play value
bearsareawesome has contacted me and explained his mistake in not posting a card on time. In the spirit of trying to make sure everyone has a good time, I've decided to allow his late post this one time. Team Fame is asked to critique his card as well. Any of you who already posted your critiques and will not have a chance to review his card as well, I'll consider as his punishment for not posting on time.
@ Dodavehu - Sad to see you go man. hopefully next month will not be as busy for you.
As a general statement, I disagree with mostly everyone who feels that submissions that don't interact with lands (or other permanents or something of that ilk) does not represent scouting. As the challenge states:
Quote from The Challenge »
Your first challenge is to scout your surroundings. You'll need to make a card that will allow you to gather information on whats going around you. The card should still retain the flavour of your home plane.
Nowhere does this say physical surroundings (i.e. lands). I believe that the players (myself included) who chose to explore libraries, hands, etc were in fact, exploring non-physical surroundings. From a flavor perspective, the library is the entire mind of a planeswalker (player), the hand is the current thoughts of said planeswalker, and such. It makes perfect sense IMO for someone to not only scout out the physical situation, but also, the abstract mental state of the locals, et al. In fact, most cards that did so were blue/black - and it makes perfect sense for these colors to care more about potential spell-based dangers in the local denizens' minds, than about what the terrain looked like. Just as in the military, reconnaissance means both physical exploration and exploration of the intents and objectives of enemy combatants, and the adaptation of current strategies to both.
My $.02
EDIT: This is a general observation whose repercussions I tried to discuss in my own critiques. I don't mean to sound as though I feel I have been cheated or whatever... because if I was, I'm not the only one.
Strange card, and certainly flavorful, but its very wordy and complicated. And it barely feels black at all. But it's a pretty nice submission overall.
I don't get it at all. This is scouting? I suppose in very loose terms, if we had been told to remove a future threat with our scouting this could have made sense, but only just. And then the mechanic itself: Why would anyone want to sacrifice a creature (well, potentially a tribal card, but they don't exist for spirits yet) for a chance to remove a random card from the opponent's library? It doesn't make sense, and it's bad use of resources. Not the strongest submission I've seen from you.
Um, why are your scouts damaging things? The card would have made some sense had it been flavored that the scouts are jumpy and attack on sight, but the card has the flavor of war or something.
Ugh, sweep. Have you ever played with this mechanic? It sucks, I hate it, and it was what put the final nail in Kamigawa's coffin. Seriously, I just can't think your card is useful when I see the word sweep staring at me. I'm happy the card goes so well with your avatar and it actually seems like scouting, but sweep? Really?
First of all, this is primarily a blue ability, so the mana cost seems a little off in that it allows you to cast it as a black/green spell. I'm not sure why stealing a land is scouting, but it makes more sense than many other submissions this round. The card is too powerful in my opinion, a simple boomerang on an opponents early land drop can steal the game, how much worse will it be when you're actually stealing the land. You can also drop the "You" at the beginning.
I'm not sure why, but seeing the word scandalous on a magic card makes me laugh. And your card is also one of the few to work in information retrieval which pretty much guarantees you a top 3 spot. The way the card works is very interesting, but also very strange. There's not much reason for counting cards in hands then using that to check another person's library. Still, a very good submission.
You're really pushing what white does here, the card is extremely powerful for bending the color pie. When white gets land search there's two rules, it should not be into play (which you've done correctly) and it should be clunky (not so much). In fact, your card is really good. Extremely good. Put this exact same thing in green and I'd be happy giving you the top spot, but in white you might have missed out on getting any points from me.
Nice mechanical idea, a brand new type of bonus to be added when you pay an additional color for a spell. It is extremely powerful though, digging through four cards for three mana is insane, even if it only nets you one card in the end.
1. Saire
2. Manascrew
3. MagicProfessor
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I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
Grubhunter's Amulet
Artifact--Equipment (uncommon)
Equip
Equipped creature must be blocked by exactly one creature if able.
Equipped creature must be blocked by a creature with power less than its power and toughness less than its toughness if able. Skarng shook the Roar-Clan treasure and let out a low growl. It was supposed to point out the nearest food source...so why did it keep saying that was him?
This card doesn't seem to give off a scouting feel. Why does an artifact that searches out food force creatures to block it's holder? It makes a little sense, but not a lot. The flavor text would have been great if it didn't keep creatures that could actually eat the holder from blocking it. It also could have probably cost 2 to cast, and the lower power/toughness seems really strangely worded.
Jhessian Spyglass
Artifact - Equipment {U}
Exalted
Equipped creature has “: Look at the top card of target players library.”
Equip 2 “With the merging of the shards came the need to chronicle the familiar yet foreign landscapes”
I really like the flavor of this card. A card that gives an exalted bonus in a very straight forward flavor is great, and I like the creature it's on being able to do more searching. It really hits the scouting, as well. My only big complaint is that two mana to equip it is kinda steep. It should probably be one mana to equip.
Nayan Shaman Staff :1mana::symg::symw:
Artifact [C]
:4mana:,: Search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. "With the shaking of the staff and the ritual that followed visions showed them the path ahead."
This cardhits well on the scouting and flavor points well. It's easy to tell it's not just an alara card, but a Naya card, even without the name. But it seems kind of boring. It get's you land every turn, and while good, it has no twist on it. I also believe that common is a really low rarity for the effect. Repeatable card search should not be common, if just for limited.
Izzet Show Globe
Artifact {U}
At the beginning of your upkeep, do one of the following at random: Look at target players hand, look at the top 3 cards of your library and put them back in any order, or ~ deals 1 damage to each creature. "Its such a wonderful tool. Now only if i could get it to work right."- Slov, Izzet Alchemist
I really love this card. My biggest critique on it would be that if you were going for the flavor of a scrying device that's slightly broken (if that's what you wanted) would be just your creatures taking damage (more of a backlash feel) and make it cost 2.
Left Hand of Desire
Legendary Artifact
Left Hand of Desire comes into play tapped.
:5mana:, , Exile Left Hand of Desire: Search target player's library for up to five nonland cards and exile them. You may cast one of them without paying its mana cost any time you could cast an instant. If you do, put the exiled cards into their owner's graveyard. (This effect lasts indefinitely) Even the world of mortals belongs to the kami, for them to do as they wish.
It does a great job at scouting, but for a lot more mana than needed. If this artifact or the activation cost had been blue, this could have been at least a little cheaper. I think the target player rather than opponent is a fantastic touch to this card, and I would probably use this card to get Darksteel Colossus or Progenitus from my own deck.
Sightdust Trinket
Artifact (C)
:3mana:, sacrifice Sightdust Trinket: Draw a card, then choose one: search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library afterward; or draw a card. Vision and progression in a single cube.
This is really nice. It feels like couriers capsule for 5 after activating instead of 2UU after activating, and with an extra option. I think the casting cost and activation cost should be switched, but other than that, it fills the challenge well, and is really well designed.
1. KoolKoal
2. d@rkelf
3. Concallesco
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Despite my name, I do not play casual magic. Just thought that would be good to tell people.
ACtually Concallesco, These cards are supposed to be designed flavorfully based on the information given. We're supposed to make something that can accomplish the task of what is going on with your surroundings. In every piece of description given, it had something to do with the land or the plane. Not once did it mention this plane was inhabitted. Using a card that requires the plane to be inhabitted is not in the spirit of what was asked. If anywhere in those sentences it had said there were people around you or that the plane was known to he inhabitted, I would agree with you. However, this is not the case. The round requirements flavorfully want your physical surroundings.
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Oh, what's that you say, Karn? You remove poison counters? You should tell that to Mr. Rosewater.
Just a brief question to the people that have judged my card. What makes a card exciting to you? Just curious because I don't really see things exciting about many cards
Team Fame shall make an instant card, depicting either a spell to scout the area or the actual act of scouting.
MagicProfessor28--This wants to be a creature, although I realize the instantness makes it better with dredge. And pot vs. kettle, but the flavor seems more like renewing existing land than scouting out new ones. Phyrexian Editor--Hm. Conditionally stacking your opponent's entire library for UB and two cards. It's not quite as broken as it looks, but it's still way overpowered and would make for a boring couple of minutes to boot. void_nothing--Cool. I like the nervous, hair-trigger reactionary vibe. It's pretty underpowered, though. Gerrard's Mom--Nothing more scouty than roots, really. I never really grokked Sweep, but I can't hold that against you. seratonin--Cool mechanic. A solid 2-mana land destruction spell, even in non-red, is pretty scary. I don't think they'd print it. Saire--The scouting minds idea is creative, but still seems like a stretch. I also suspect it wants to be a sorcery. Jimmy Groove--Fairly underpowered, and bland for a 5C card. Also, I don't see the connection to your avatar or to Mirrodin. Manascrew--Very cool mechanic. Wants to be a sorcery, and you needed flavortext to make this fit the challenge.
My avatar may or may not have been thrown together at the last minute. I'm not surprised the wording is off, does anyone have any idea how to word it properly (general idea being: once per turn, you choose a creature type. Power and toughness become equal to # of that type in play, and it gains protection from that type.)
@Concallesco/Svennihilator/Does a scout card need to scout land?
Personally, I'd consider any card that gathers information to qualify as a card that lets you "gather information on whats going around you." I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the plane is inhabitted: not once was it mentionied that the plane wasn't inhabitted, so I'd say it's a judgement call for the designer. Similarly, I don't think it needs to only target land; Dewdrop Spy feels to me like a card that would fit this challenge perfectly, and she doesn't care about lands at all.
Of course, that's just my opinion, feel free to disagree.
@Harbringer/What's an "exciting" card
If anyone else can answer this better, don't hesitate.
Make no mistake: The staff isn't a bad card (hell, I gave it first place; making solid simple cards is as important as making exciting and wild rare cards). Also, know that I agree: you did not have the only "boring" card. However, you want to know about "exciting" cards.
The thing about exciting is that it's entirely a utility card. You put it in a deck to help boost mana production, not to do anything exciting with it. It doesn't explore any new design space (it basically says 4: Cast Rampant Growth).
In comparison: CasualThor's card did took an existing mechanic and did something new with it that worked well flavorfully. Nekyia took three existing abilities, threw them on a card, and made it go crazy between which one you use (sadly, I'm not a huge fan of "random pick" cards, but I appreatiate the thought, sry Nekyia :)). Jimmy Grove took the Bringer mechanic and added something new: triggering off paying the alternate cost. These kinds of cards are "exciting", not because they break the game open (most of them involve very simple effects) but because they explore design space in new and exciting ways.
@person3412
I think I was referring more to the cardname, where you had Vela of Vela Vas at the top, but in the card its Vela of Velis Vel. But there are some tiny changes you can make to bring it in line with existing cards - I do like the avatar though.
P.S. The interesting thing is, I don't know if its power and toughness needs to be */* (instead of 1/1) for the effect to work, so you should either add in a "when it enters the battlefield" clause or simply use 1+*/1+* and add "...toughness are each equal to 1 plus the number of..." Oh, it should probably be a Legendary Creature as well.
Vela of Vela Ves :3mana::symw:
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling
At the beginning of each upkeep, choose a creature type. Until end of turn, Vela of Velis Vel gains protection from the chosen creature type, and its power and toughness are each become equal to the number of permanents of the chosen type on the battlefield.
1/1
Maokun: I highly disagree about the overcosted remark. Courier's Capsule
Also, I didn't want to make it green, because efficient card draw is out of color. Plus it wouldn't stay true to the plane of mirrodin, that didn't have colored artifacts.
You are totally right, and probably I didn't make myself clear. The card as an artifact is good and as an entry for this round is good as well (that's why I gave you a spot in my top 3) What I meant is that if this card existed in Magic, I'd like to have this effect not in an artifact but in a color, so it could cost less and hopefully obtain the effect immediately, as in a sorcery,
Maokun: The name makes it sound like it should do 3 of something. If you compare the card to Kodma's Reach, from the same set, this card seems a little overpowered. The ability for one mana to set up your next two land drops - for whatever colors you want, seems too much.
"Triangulation" uses the spot you are at (the land you used to cast the spell) and how it relates to two other known landmarks to get your bearings. And for the people who think it is undercosted: yes it is. This is an awesome effect for your first turn, as it lets you keep a hand with one land. However, it has a small, hidden drawback that evens it out: it is one of the deadest late-game topdecks to ever exist in Magic. You cast it to get almost nothing relevant and ruin your next turn's draw in return.
Just a brief question to the people that have judged my card. What makes a card exciting to you? Just curious because I don't really see things exciting about many cards
Exciting is the opposite to straightforward. And it's not that straightforward is bad. It is actually necessary and a huge part of real Magic. White Knight, is for example, a straightforward take on an efficient, hard to kill bear and it's a big success. But this is a design contest: we want to see creativity, lateral thinking and innovation. Something that tickles your imagination and reason. Under that light, "(cost), T: Do the required task." cards are straightforward, not exciting.
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
Once again, my oppinion. You aren't a planeswalker. You are some run of the mill legendary bum who was selected for a mission.You aren't being asked to create a card that could be used if you were playing a game of magic. You aren't being asked to create a card that one planeswalker would use on another to find information. You are being asked to create a spell that your mage would use to scout his current surroundings because that is your mage's current duty. There is no player vs player in this challenge, thus why we had to create avatars in the form of creatures rather than planeswalkers.
Likewise, nothing ever said the plane was inhabbited. It's an assumption that the plane is inhabbited. There is no proof of either, but the current information we have points to uninhabbited as there is no mentions of a species here yet many of all other surroundings.
My understanding is that everyone is free to judge how they see fit given their own bias, which is fine.
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Oh, what's that you say, Karn? You remove poison counters? You should tell that to Mr. Rosewater.
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2. Gerrard's Mom
3. Jimmy Groove
Izzet Snow Globe seems ok, but the randomness thing seems a bit wierd. Hard to know what it'll be doing next, though I suppose you could say that fits the Izzet guild perfectly.
Nayan Shaman Staff certainly says "You're about to go exploring.", but I don't see anything particularly white about it. That said, rampant growth repeatable for an initial mana investment and extra mana seems perfectly fair (and oh so useful for my combo deck that needs to get up to 9 mana fast). Oh, and you forgot to shuffle your library.
Grubhunter's Amulet - the flavor text made me laugh, which is always a good way to earn points. The "scouting" thing is a bit of a stretch, I think the card would read better with "only one creature can block equipped creature" and ":symrg: Target creature blocks equipped creature this turn if able."
Sightdust Trinket - so for five mana, you can either draw two or draw and search up a land. Not the most intresting design, but it fits the challenge well enough.
Left Hand of Desire - It's either nigh useless or broken, depending on what cards I'm playing. For 5 mana initial and 5 mana later, I can tutor and cast anything in my library? Where'd I put Progenitus. Or Time Stretch.
Dodavehu - No Show
D@rkelf
Jhessian Spyglass - Fits the challenge. Exalted seems out of place with looking at a library though, and the flavor text doesn't help much. Might have prefered a non-equipment artifact that does the same thing.
Results
1. Harbringer_ - I would have perfered the white not being there, but it seems quite useful in my crazy combo decks that need a lot of mana (and it rewards basics, which is always good.) Fits the flavor of the challenge perfectly.
2. KoolKoal - It's a solid card, and many colors (green,red) would be happy enough to draw two cards for 5. Also, fits the flavor reasonably well.
3. GetItWrong - What can I say, I liked the flavor text? Goblins don't go searching for new land, they go searching for new food.
bearsareawesome
Quite a powerful enchantment. Much better than Phyrexian Arena, but possibly balanced by the fact that it costs two colors and has to enchant a breakable land. I think you want a clause letting you put the cards back in any order. The flavor pulls off the black connection pretty well.
Top 3
2. Jau for elegance
3. Alabran for interesting play value
@ Dodavehu - Sad to see you go man. hopefully next month will not be as busy for you.
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Nowhere does this say physical surroundings (i.e. lands). I believe that the players (myself included) who chose to explore libraries, hands, etc were in fact, exploring non-physical surroundings. From a flavor perspective, the library is the entire mind of a planeswalker (player), the hand is the current thoughts of said planeswalker, and such. It makes perfect sense IMO for someone to not only scout out the physical situation, but also, the abstract mental state of the locals, et al. In fact, most cards that did so were blue/black - and it makes perfect sense for these colors to care more about potential spell-based dangers in the local denizens' minds, than about what the terrain looked like. Just as in the military, reconnaissance means both physical exploration and exploration of the intents and objectives of enemy combatants, and the adaptation of current strategies to both.
My $.02
EDIT: This is a general observation whose repercussions I tried to discuss in my own critiques. I don't mean to sound as though I feel I have been cheated or whatever... because if I was, I'm not the only one.
2. Manascrew
3. MagicProfessor
Artifact--Equipment (uncommon)
Equip
Equipped creature must be blocked by exactly one creature if able.
Equipped creature must be blocked by a creature with power less than its power and toughness less than its toughness if able.
Skarng shook the Roar-Clan treasure and let out a low growl. It was supposed to point out the nearest food source...so why did it keep saying that was him?
This card doesn't seem to give off a scouting feel. Why does an artifact that searches out food force creatures to block it's holder? It makes a little sense, but not a lot. The flavor text would have been great if it didn't keep creatures that could actually eat the holder from blocking it. It also could have probably cost 2 to cast, and the lower power/toughness seems really strangely worded.
Artifact - Equipment {U}
Exalted
Equipped creature has “: Look at the top card of target players library.”
Equip 2
“With the merging of the shards came the need to chronicle the familiar yet foreign landscapes”
I really like the flavor of this card. A card that gives an exalted bonus in a very straight forward flavor is great, and I like the creature it's on being able to do more searching. It really hits the scouting, as well. My only big complaint is that two mana to equip it is kinda steep. It should probably be one mana to equip.
Artifact [C]
:4mana:,: Search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped.
"With the shaking of the staff and the ritual that followed visions showed them the path ahead."
This cardhits well on the scouting and flavor points well. It's easy to tell it's not just an alara card, but a Naya card, even without the name. But it seems kind of boring. It get's you land every turn, and while good, it has no twist on it. I also believe that common is a really low rarity for the effect. Repeatable card search should not be common, if just for limited.
Artifact {U}
At the beginning of your upkeep, do one of the following at random: Look at target players hand, look at the top 3 cards of your library and put them back in any order, or ~ deals 1 damage to each creature.
"Its such a wonderful tool. Now only if i could get it to work right."- Slov, Izzet Alchemist
I really love this card. My biggest critique on it would be that if you were going for the flavor of a scrying device that's slightly broken (if that's what you wanted) would be just your creatures taking damage (more of a backlash feel) and make it cost 2.
Legendary Artifact
Left Hand of Desire comes into play tapped.
:5mana:, , Exile Left Hand of Desire: Search target player's library for up to five nonland cards and exile them. You may cast one of them without paying its mana cost any time you could cast an instant. If you do, put the exiled cards into their owner's graveyard. (This effect lasts indefinitely)
Even the world of mortals belongs to the kami, for them to do as they wish.
It does a great job at scouting, but for a lot more mana than needed. If this artifact or the activation cost had been blue, this could have been at least a little cheaper. I think the target player rather than opponent is a fantastic touch to this card, and I would probably use this card to get Darksteel Colossus or Progenitus from my own deck.
Artifact (C)
:3mana:, sacrifice Sightdust Trinket: Draw a card, then choose one: search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library afterward; or draw a card.
Vision and progression in a single cube.
This is really nice. It feels like couriers capsule for 5 after activating instead of 2UU after activating, and with an extra option. I think the casting cost and activation cost should be switched, but other than that, it fills the challenge well, and is really well designed.
1. KoolKoal
2. d@rkelf
3. Concallesco
MagicProfessor28--This wants to be a creature, although I realize the instantness makes it better with dredge. And pot vs. kettle, but the flavor seems more like renewing existing land than scouting out new ones.
Phyrexian Editor--Hm. Conditionally stacking your opponent's entire library for UB and two cards. It's not quite as broken as it looks, but it's still way overpowered and would make for a boring couple of minutes to boot.
void_nothing--Cool. I like the nervous, hair-trigger reactionary vibe. It's pretty underpowered, though.
Gerrard's Mom--Nothing more scouty than roots, really. I never really grokked Sweep, but I can't hold that against you.
seratonin--Cool mechanic. A solid 2-mana land destruction spell, even in non-red, is pretty scary. I don't think they'd print it.
Saire--The scouting minds idea is creative, but still seems like a stretch. I also suspect it wants to be a sorcery.
Jimmy Groove--Fairly underpowered, and bland for a 5C card. Also, I don't see the connection to your avatar or to Mirrodin.
Manascrew--Very cool mechanic. Wants to be a sorcery, and you needed flavortext to make this fit the challenge.
1.Gerrard's Mom
2.void_nothing
3.seratonin
Make a card called Long For This World.
My avatar may or may not have been thrown together at the last minute. I'm not surprised the wording is off, does anyone have any idea how to word it properly (general idea being: once per turn, you choose a creature type. Power and toughness become equal to # of that type in play, and it gains protection from that type.)
@Concallesco/Svennihilator/Does a scout card need to scout land?
Personally, I'd consider any card that gathers information to qualify as a card that lets you "gather information on whats going around you." I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the plane is inhabitted: not once was it mentionied that the plane wasn't inhabitted, so I'd say it's a judgement call for the designer. Similarly, I don't think it needs to only target land; Dewdrop Spy feels to me like a card that would fit this challenge perfectly, and she doesn't care about lands at all.
Of course, that's just my opinion, feel free to disagree.
@Harbringer/What's an "exciting" card
If anyone else can answer this better, don't hesitate.
Make no mistake: The staff isn't a bad card (hell, I gave it first place; making solid simple cards is as important as making exciting and wild rare cards). Also, know that I agree: you did not have the only "boring" card. However, you want to know about "exciting" cards.
The thing about exciting is that it's entirely a utility card. You put it in a deck to help boost mana production, not to do anything exciting with it. It doesn't explore any new design space (it basically says 4: Cast Rampant Growth).
In comparison: CasualThor's card did took an existing mechanic and did something new with it that worked well flavorfully. Nekyia took three existing abilities, threw them on a card, and made it go crazy between which one you use (sadly, I'm not a huge fan of "random pick" cards, but I appreatiate the thought, sry Nekyia :)). Jimmy Grove took the Bringer mechanic and added something new: triggering off paying the alternate cost. These kinds of cards are "exciting", not because they break the game open (most of them involve very simple effects) but because they explore design space in new and exciting ways.
I think I was referring more to the cardname, where you had Vela of Vela Vas at the top, but in the card its Vela of Velis Vel. But there are some tiny changes you can make to bring it in line with existing cards - I do like the avatar though.
P.S. The interesting thing is, I don't know if its power and toughness needs to be */* (instead of 1/1) for the effect to work, so you should either add in a "when it enters the battlefield" clause or simply use 1+*/1+* and add "...toughness are each equal to 1 plus the number of..." Oh, it should probably be a Legendary Creature as well.
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling
At the beginning of each upkeep, choose a creature type. Until end of turn, Vela of Velis Vel gains protection from the chosen creature type, and its power and toughness are each
becomeequal to the number of permanents of the chosen type on the battlefield.1/1
Winner of the First and Fourth Double Dare Single Elimination Contests
2009 July CCL: COMING THIS JULY
2008 December CCL: The Mechinations of Fate
Double Dare to Design: The 5th Single Elimination Contest
Double Dare That Designer: The 2nd Single Elimination Contest
You are totally right, and probably I didn't make myself clear. The card as an artifact is good and as an entry for this round is good as well (that's why I gave you a spot in my top 3) What I meant is that if this card existed in Magic, I'd like to have this effect not in an artifact but in a color, so it could cost less and hopefully obtain the effect immediately, as in a sorcery,
"Triangulation" uses the spot you are at (the land you used to cast the spell) and how it relates to two other known landmarks to get your bearings. And for the people who think it is undercosted: yes it is. This is an awesome effect for your first turn, as it lets you keep a hand with one land. However, it has a small, hidden drawback that evens it out: it is one of the deadest late-game topdecks to ever exist in Magic. You cast it to get almost nothing relevant and ruin your next turn's draw in return.
Exciting is the opposite to straightforward. And it's not that straightforward is bad. It is actually necessary and a huge part of real Magic. White Knight, is for example, a straightforward take on an efficient, hard to kill bear and it's a big success. But this is a design contest: we want to see creativity, lateral thinking and innovation. Something that tickles your imagination and reason. Under that light, "(cost), T: Do the required task." cards are straightforward, not exciting.
1. Jau
2. Krey
3. Twilight Kiwi
Likewise, nothing ever said the plane was inhabbited. It's an assumption that the plane is inhabbited. There is no proof of either, but the current information we have points to uninhabbited as there is no mentions of a species here yet many of all other surroundings.
My understanding is that everyone is free to judge how they see fit given their own bias, which is fine.