* Overview
* Schedule
* Challenge Rounds
* Critique Rounds
* Valid Entry Constitution
* Scoring
* Penalties
* Resources
* Credits
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* Overview
The CCL is among the more fun games on the MtGSalvation forums due to its inherent aspect of interactivity among the Leaguers (that’s you). We actively critique each other’s card designs at the end of each round, putting a more personal interest into our cards and generally making us all better designers. Typically, we build worlds more complete than many games, as each round builds on the designs and ideas of previous rounds in the month. The CCL allows for Leaguers to plumb the depths of creativity, as the point schedule aspect allows for three full rounds without fear of elimination.
* Schedule
o The CCL will run six rounds, each lasting five days.
+ Rounds 1, 2 & 3 will be free-for-alls with each leaguer fighting for the most points during critiques. At the beginning of each of these rounds, the host will divide the league members evenly into two teams and each team will be assigned their design challenge. At the challenge deadline, the round will elapse into the critique section (see Critiques below). Once the critique section ends, the host will tally points and post the next round. Team rosters are likely to change between rounds; the new rosters will be included in the initial posting for the next round.
o Each round will last five days: 3.5 to finalize designs, 1.5 for critiques.
o The schedule will usually operate according to US Eastern Time Zone (GMT -5). We will stick to this schedule as closely as possible, adjusting as necessary.
* Challenge Rounds
o At the start of each round, the host will post the challenge for the round. This may be, at the host’s discretion, a single challenge for all leaguers, a list for each leaguer to choose from, challenges assigned to each leaguer, or other challenge variation.
o Each Leaguer will post his/her entry by the deadline, 3.5 days after the round is posted.
* Critique Rounds
o At the end of each challenge round, the host, or an individual the host designates, will officially close the round and open the forum for critiques. After this point, modifying the post containing your entry for the round will incur penalties (see Penalties section).
o Each Leaguer will thoroughly critique at least 50% of the entries given by the leaguers on the other team.
o In addition to the critiques, each Leaguer generates his/her list of the Top 3 entries for the round. The Top 3 listings are the chief source of points within the CCL and are therefore required to complete. Even if critiques are not completed, Top 3’s must be listed to avoid penalties (see Penalties for penalty schedule). Regardless of the cards actually critiqued by a given Leaguer, Top 3’s can be drawn from any valid entry of the round. Submitting Top 3’s grants one point.
o A valid critique does not need to be lengthy. A few constructive sentences will do as long as they are meaningful. Neither “Hated it,” “Too expensive,” nor “Bahhrokken!!!” are valid critiques.
Example:
The following card is submitted by Fitzgerald:
A few decent critics:
from Tiberius: Templating issue with “nonpermanent card,” it's confusing and should just read “instant or sorcery card.” And the cost seems steep: I’m giving up a mana, a card, and immediate access to the card I looked for. Creative, but not bad.
from Wilhelmina: I hate the name. Also the shuffle part should be right after removing the tutored card instead of on a separate line. Seems powerful as an instant, play it on the opponents turn and you get basically a free draw, but you get to pick it.
from Beauregard: A bit complicated for uncommon. It doesn’t go to microtext on a render (sans flavor text) but it still isn’t all that intuitive.
* Valid Entry Constitution
o A valid entry in a given round cleanly delivers all required components of the challenge. The CCL is based around card design, so each challenge will direct Leaguers to design one or more cards, but other components may be given according to the judge’s discretion. Historically, these non-card components have included such things as keyword mechanic designs, story pieces, and various ideas for the judge to incorporate into later rounds. Include only what is described by the challenge requirements, as superfluous items may sway judgings unfairly and will incur penalties.
o It is customary to include card renders in entries. This is not required. Some Leaguers may not have access to render design software and therefore will not be penalized for posting an entry without a render. However, it must be understood that a proper render is easier to judge/critique as it is more pleasing to the eye, more memorable and allows for Leaguers to judge the card by its wordiness, a very important aspect of a card’s design. Common rendering software used include Magic Set Editor (free program, the standard that most amateur designers use), PhotoShop (not free), and GIMP (free PhotoShop knockoff).
* Scoring
(This has been depricated, and pending approval from the powers that be will be deleted. See the next spoiler section for how Scoring works.)
o The bulk of available points will be derived from Top 3 listings, as is League custom. Within each Top 3 listing, the choice for 1st place will be awarded 3 points, the choice for 2nd place will receive 2 points, and the choice for 3rd place will receive 1 point. It is common for Leaguers to post an Honorable Mention or two along with their T3 listings. Honorable Mentions are not awarded points. Posting T3s is required and awards one point for completion of the requirements. There are penalties for failure to post T3s (see Penalties section).
o Critiques are an optional aspect of the CCL, therefore no penalties are given for failure to complete critiques. Any Leaguer completing critiques for at least 50% of the other team's entries will receive 1 bonus point. An additional point will be awarded if a Leaguer critiques all valid entries in the round.
o As noted in the section on Valid Entry Constitution, entries are encouraged to contain proper card renders. Some Leaguers may not have access to render design software and will not be penalized for posting an entry without a render.
* Penalties
o Failure to post Top 3s as required during the Critique section of any round will put a Leaguer on probation. While on probation, failure to post an Top 3 in any later round will disqualify that Leaguer for the remainder of the month.
o Once a Round elapses into its critique section, any Leaguer modifying their entry after any leaguer has posted a critique, will be disqualified for the round.
o Failure to post an entry within the Challenge round will put a Leaguer on probation. While on probation, failure to post an entry in any later round will disqualify that Leaguer for the remainder of the month.
* Resources
o This is a templating guideline compiled by Kraj. It is quite concise and very useful.
o Making Magic by Mark Rosewater, current head of Magic Design at Wizards of the Coast. Making Magic is a weekly article detailing the trials, tribulations and achievements of Magic R&D in riveting prose.
o Magiccards.info is the database mtgsalvation draws upon when you use the [card] tag. The advanced search functionality is useful for searching all cards officially printed by WotC.
o Gatherer is the database maintained officially by WotC. It has slightly different functionality than magiccards.info, but the differences are too numerable to list here. (Someone should write an article about that)
o Your other Leaguers are fantastic resources. We, more than the players of other games on this forum, are a community, as can be seen by the dialogue of any CCL thread.
+ Question, consult with, challenge and encourage each other at every opportunity.
o Credits
Each round, the players have a chance of getting a total of 100 points toward their score. Each score is determined by the following equation:
The grading of 3 points for first place, 2 points for second and 1 for third still stands. This is also the case for up to 2 points for crits and Top 3.
Total points of player A in round N = 100 * X/Y
Where:
X = Total number of points given by judges + (Bonus points for critiques & Top 3)
Y = Total number of points possible (3*Number of judges + Bonus Points)
This way the grading is more streamlined in the fact that all rounds up to going to top 8 are graded equally, and there is no handicap for any team that has fewer judges.
Each player starts the next round with the score that he previously had, and another possible 100 points is given to him at the end of that round. Therefore, there is a possible 300 points before the CCL goes to top 8.
Team Aggressor Koopa Krey netn9 Psijet Shaddock86 Twilight Kiwi TyranidBill
Team Dreamer brasil_dude101 Gerrard's Mom Maokun Oculus Thelas Umi_no_Samui void_nothing
Team Inventor Asrama drewdagreek Jimmy Groove NotoriousLynx Rocket_Powered_Turbo_Slug Ryder052 Shinen
Team Manipulator CrazyMatt Doom Lich Dragoon Lyzl Prospero314 Rimeshade BlackBull
However, these visions do not disappear, they only intensify, and with them comes new mana into your plane. Ancient artifacts that had faded from power and memory once again have astounding power, ancient spells and rites begin to work again, and ancient creatures start to once again walk your earth. And along with their walking, you begin to wake.
You are the land itself, solitary or home to many, unique within your realm. As the new mana enters your plane, it enters and awakens you, as a dreamer coming out of a long sleep. You find the world much changed from your vision of the past, and far different creatures walk upon you. The dregs of sleep threaten to pull you back down into their warm embrace, but the new mana gives you the power to resist, and to begin to control your environment...
For a while, as fledgling minds, you are content to merely observe what occurs above, below or within you. You learn every name of every person, animal, plant and being. You listen to the tongues of the creatures above you, and make them your own. You laugh at their misfortune, and rejoice with their successes. In time, you come to learn of their desires, dreams, past and present. All the secrets hidden skillfully within your domain are yours to peruse at will.
However, you soon grow bored. As your consciousness develops, you begin to have power over the world you inhabit. It starts as a mere influence, whether flowers here or there bloom or wither, whether the harvest is lush or scant, and eventually the minds of your inhabitants become open to your power.
However, as your power grows, so does the power of the presence that wakened you. All other mysteries within you you can discover easily and understand immediately, but not this one. At each attempt to discover its purpose and ability it hides itself further, as though through your attempts to find it you push it further from your grasp. Maddened by your failures and driven by curiosity, you decide to attack the problem in a different way. If the peoples above use you to their benefit, should not you use them? With this new idea, you begin to search for minions suitable to your cause, and plant the seed of your desire in their heads...
Their easily molded minds bend to your will as easily as lightning kills druids. Your minions soon form a faction that worships you as a god, not knowing that you are the land itself. The foolish mortals heed your every whim, and under your leadership they forge a new government from within the previous in their rise to power. They now are the elite, and control the people. Through them you are the master of your war-state.
With the new minions at your disposal, you almost decide to begin excavations to discover the artifact, when you feel a tremor in the land nearest you. You realize that the strange power that returned to this world not only awakened you, but awakened the other lands as well... and they might be just as powerful. You order your people to crush the newly awakened land, subjugating it as your own and enforcing your influence over it. However, the childish powers of that land make you realize that there could be other lands that woke before you, and are your equal or better.
You decide that your own safety is far more important than the discovery, and while it irritates you to have to wait any longer, something tells you that you have waited long for your life and can wait slightly longer for the prize. That is, if you stay alive. You immediately begin to fortify your nation, and wait for the first attack...
When it came, you found yourself both prepared and unprepared. Your enchantments had succeeded in preventing damage to yourself, and yet you had not expected the colossal force that you now faced. However, your inhabitants were not as lucky. Many were killed and even more wounded, inciting grief and rage against this outside force. Faster then you could have imagined your people were raising armies, amassing weapons, and training new soldiers. The streets where shops once stood transformed into barracks, and the merchants became the suppliers of this beast of war.
It seemed that your people would do the fighting for you, without your having to do a single thing. You eagerly watch the proceedings, cursing every failure and rejoicing in every success. You push the iron within you up to your crust, so that the weapon production increases. You fertilize your fields, and the crops sown grow bountiful and large, and are stored away for the war. At the same time, every time mana is called upon to forward to empower the war, so too are you empowered. You grow stronger, and yearn for war, chaos, destruction!
And with your new power you discover something. In your state of war-frenzy, you suddenly find that you are not making your own decisions... but rather being pushed into them. A strange trickle of energy is blending into your powers, creating this hunger for conquest within you. Knowing this, you realize that such an force must have allowed your people to mobilize quickly, and see the potential benefit in such a force. As you wonder over this, you see the mages of your people struggling with a spell, the creation of what will be your first attack. They wonder at what the new spell should do, and how it should and will be done. Invested in their success, you decide to direct the trickle of force towards them, but the results exceed your wildest dreams...
The days have turned to months, the months have turned to years, and at last you stand, only one other force within your desired domain. Your quest for domination, fueled by this strange power, has lead you to crush and annex all the lands surrounding you, amassing their magics, lore and weapons. Your citizens praise your victories, but times grow hard. War carries its toll, its toll to be paid in people, in money, in food, and in misery. Your people have grown hard to war, and yet they suffer. You fear that they cannot continue this endless war for much longer, that you must win decisively.
You wrack your expansive mind for any possibility for attack that you missed, any crack in your foes armor to exploit. While you do this, you know full well that they are doing the same, and that you are on a clock. Whoever finds the answer first shall win, and that must be you at all costs. Skirmishes continue, fields are burned, people enslaved, but still the deadlock rages. For each victory you suffer a defeat, and neither force can find the means to overcome the other.
An idea begins to take form in your mind. You coax it out over the course of days, allowing a once forgotten memory to grow and blossom in your mind. Then, in a rush, you remember the cause of your expansion: The artifact of power. It had first led you to attain life, to build civilization, and to empower it to war. Surely it could turn the tide in your favor...
Having seized the artifact and vanquished your foe, you grow confident in your victory. Your people rejoice, and enjoy a year of peace and prosperity. However, then a bedraggled caravan-driver arrives at the center of your kingdom, the seat of the powerful. He splutters tales of another people, one who robbed him of his goods and the lives of his fellow workers, and of how narrow his escape from them had been.
Your people once again cry for war, this time without your coaxing. They are sure of their imminent victory, but you yourself have doubts. If you had been able to obtain such power in these times, should not another land? You had never heard of such a place before now, and turn your power upon the unfortunate messenger. While he goes mad in the presence of such sheer mana, his memories show you what he experienced, and this countries proficiency with magic and their military-like movements suggest a powerful conqueror.
You realize that this war will be the final clash in the struggle for dominance, for it is impossible for other such lands to exist. Ignoring the visions of monsters and strange people that have become more and more recent, you decide that you yourself must lead this final battle. You concentrate your every being, leaving just enough of yourself to maintain the land, and you reveal your true shape to the priests who worship you as a god. Your coming commands the loyalty of all, and with this loyalty you march to war...
Get it? March to war?
You are allowed to hate me now
Round 5 Challenges:
1. Create a legendary creature avatar of your land. It must have a converted mana cost of 4 or more.
2. Create your nonlegendary warriors to lead to victory.
Deadline:
Twilight Kiwi vs. Oculus
drewdagreek vs. Lyzl
I opened one last year, got two crap worldwake packs and 8x scathe zombies, which I promptly hid around my sister's apartment for her roommates to find. But, yeah, it was a piece of crap.
You, sir, have just won the internet. Congratulations.
Vs. Oculus. Kudos for going all-out on the awesome story!
Long after the violent end of the Guildpact threw Ravnica into chaos, civilization finally began crawling back from its almost total collapse. The remnants of the Selesnyan Conclave built a temple dedicated to the memory of what they had once stood for and the fallen dryad at the heart of their covenant; unknown to those who watched over it and spread their message of peace, power accumulated within this center of worship and harmony for centuries, coiling its way into the hearts and minds of those around it and spreading across the plane, bringing mutual understanding and fellowship to all those it connected.
At some point, within this web of connected lives, a new life was born - a sort of hive mind, but one whose members were willing and mostly free-willed still. And this "oversoul" understood that the only way to prevent Ravnica's history from repeating itself was to bring all life in its world under its influence, to create a truly harmonious community, where all beings worked together for the greater good rather than struggling for meaningless personal power.
But the oversoul also sought answers to what had triggered its own birth, unwilling to accept that it could be accident or coincidence. It sensed, somehow, that something was responsible not only for giving the network awareness, but for ensuring the network would be created in the first place - and many of its component beings worried at this mysterious being's motives. And so the oversoul compelled the people of Ravnica to seek out the lost mysteries of the past, excitement for what they might find tempered by apprehension.
Shrine of Mat'Selesnya
Legendary Land Unity - T: Tap any number of untapped creatures you control. For each creature tapped this way, add 1 or one mana of any of that creature's colors to your mana pool. "Apart, we were weak, foolish, rats squabbling over the scraps of the world we had squandered. Together, We can do anything."
Remnant DelverWU
Creature - Human Wizard (U) Unity - When Remnant Delver enters the battlefield, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, draw a card.
Whenever you draw a card, gain 1 life. "We must rediscover the knowledge of those who came before... and avoid their mistakes."
2/2 Art: A scholar examines an ancient tome in a derelict, long-abandoned study. An assistant searches the shelves for other valuable relics in the background.
Well of Vigor2GW
Enchantment (U)
Whenever a creature you control becomes tapped, put an essence counter on Well of Vigor.
Remove three essence counters from Well of Vigor: Untap target creature. It's indestructible until end of turn.
Devitalize2UB
Sorcery (U)
Tap target artifact, creature, or land, then destroy target tapped creature. The Dimir were so good at keeping secrets that most agents never knew the ones pulling their strings were long gone, still carrying out their cryptic orders generations later.
Junk Broker1UR
Creature - Goblin Advisor (R) UR, :symq:: Destroy target artifact. Its controller may search his or her library for an artifact with converted mana cost less than the destroyed artifact's and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle his or her library. "A'course I'm a real merchant! This scrap's way broker'n it was before I got my mitts on it!"
2/2 Art: A shopper rubs her chin in suspicion as a grinning goblin in gaudy robes offers a somewhat battered-looking item; we can see him hiding a hammer behind his back.
Crown of Unity0
Legendary Artifact (M)
When Crown of Unity enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you tap five untapped creatures you control.
Tap an untapped creature you control: Gain 1 life.
Tap three untapped creatures you control: Draw a card.
Tap five untapped creatures you control: Destroy target nonland permanent. Art: Five mages who are, by their attire, obviously from very different backgrounds stand in a ring around a glowing silver crown on a pedestal, hands linked; a glowing rune reminiscent of the crown's shape hovers over each of their heads, and light shines from their eyes and mouths.
After countless struggles, the Oversoul had finally brought every mind on the plane into its fold; through compromise, understanding, and sacrifice, all beings acted for the good of the whole. Over time, however, the Ravnican populace slowly became aware of a distinct problem: the world was boring. There were no further challenges to overcome, nothing someone else in the world hadn't already experienced, nobody with a viewpoint distinct from anyone else's. Theirs was a perfect society, but a stagnant one; and the Oversoul postulated that without a catalyst for change, their culture would eventually wither and fade away.
That catalyst came when a new mind, impossibly unfamiliar to the Oversoul, suddenly appeared. Confronted by the nature of the world he had stumbled into, the being identified himself as a planeswalker - able to leap between worlds at will. Excited at the prospect of finding an infinite array of unique minds to add to its collective, the Oversoul invited the man to join, and thus the pathway was opened to a broad horizon of new thoughts and experiences. The Oversoul crafted a new body to house its will, an ambassador to send out to the multiverse to serve as its eyes, ears, and mouthpiece.
Oversoul Incarnate6
Legendary Creature - Avatar (M)
Whenever you cast Oversoul Incarnate or another creature spell, you may untap all creatures you control that share a color with that spell.
Oversoul Incarnate is all colors and gets +1/+1 for each tapped creature you control. Think as one. Act as one. Live as one.
0/5
The Oversoul often met suspicion, resistance, and outright hostility as it spread its message from world to world; but it understood that its way of life was not an easy one to accept, through the struggles it had overcome to reach its current point, and did not begrudge their paranoia. On every world there were at least a few who answered the call, and these were welcomed with opened arms; they were enough for now. With time and understanding, the rest would come eventually.
But then something strange and terrible happened - slowly, one by one across the planes, its new eyes began to wink out. They weren't just killed or disconnected from the hive mind - when that happened, their memories and thoughts still lived on in the shared network. Something had ripped that memory away as well, and it was as if each being had never existed - only the faint sensation that something was missing remained. Pouring all its considerable will and resources into discovering the cause of this fracturing, the Oversoul pieced together the identity of a being startlingly similar to its own existence - and yet frighteningly alien in many ways. It was almost the complete opposite of the Oversoul in some respects; rather than sharing knowledge and power equally, it selfishly hoarded and cultivated its own power, feeding off of the lives of others, manipulating lesser beings into its service as a zealously loyal cult.
This dark god was anathema to the Oversoul. And the collective knew that a confrontation was inevitable. But they had one major advantage - victory required only that they defeat a single, if immensely powerful, entity.. but their enemy would have to scour the multiverse of every last member of the Oversoul to truly defeat it.
Lightweaver2WU
Creature - Elemental (R)
Shroud, vigilance Unity - Whenever Lightweaver attacks, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, put a token onto the battlefield untapped and attacking that's a copy of Lightweaver.
3/4
Centuries have passed since the end of the war. Kamigawa is now shimmering with rebuilt life. The spirit world now again holds it's rightful place as a respected and worshiped realm. The war has had one major effect however, the birth of a golden era, one where legendary people are almost commonplace. A palace was built in the honor of the war, and has become a meeting place for all the legends of Kamigawa. A new terror lurks in the shadows however, as the prestige of such legendary heroes has created a political system in turmoil. The commoners are rising up, and with the legends of Kamigawa all gathered in one central location, they must prove their worth when there is danger from all sides. Will they combine forces and win the day, or fight for the glory of being the most heroic of all?
Sign-up round:
Hitenjima, the Grand Palace
Legendary Land (M) T: Add one mana of any color of a legendary permanent you control to your mana pool. WUBRG, T, Sacrifice Hitenjima, the Grand Palace: Search your library for a legendary permanent card and put it onto the battlefield. Then, shuffle your library.
Round 1:
Imperial ServantW
Creature - Human (U) T: You may activate an activated ability on target legendary permanent you control without paying the T in it's cost. (pay all other costs associated with that ability)
1/1
Round 2:
That Which Protects1W
Legendary Enchantment (R)
Legendary Permanents you control are indestructible.
Sacrifice three creatures: Flip That Which Protects and gain control of it. Only opponents may use this ability.
----- It That Devours
Legendary Creature - Demon
It That Devours is black.
At the beginning of your end step, destroy target legendary permanent.
5/5
Round 3:
Eminent Betrayal2BBB
Momentous Instant (R)
Destroy target legendary creature. Gain control of another target creature its owner controls. (This effect does not end at end of turn.) Heroes are created by those alive to tell the tale.
***Rules Text for "Momentous": When a Momentous card is cast, if a card with the same name is in any graveyard, counter it. Then, exile it and all copies of that card from all graveyards.***
Round 4:
Dawn of the Golden Era4WWW
Momentous Sorcery (M)
Search your library for up to three legendary permanent cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your library. If five colors of mana were spent to cast this spell, you may cast an artifact, enchantment and creature spell from your hand without paying their mana costs this turn.
***Rules Text for "Momentous": When a Momentous card is cast, if a card with the same name is in any graveyard, counter it. Then, exile it and all copies of that card from all graveyards.***
Mira-tama3
Legendary Artifact (R) 1: Mira-tama becomes a copy of target permanent until end of turn. 1U: Mira-tama becomes a copy of target Legendary permanent except it’s not Legendary until end of turn. 1WU: Exile target permanent, Mira-tama becomes a copy of that permanent. It seeing all, it sees within, seeking perfect reflection.
Round 5:
Taisou, the Imperial Sun1WUBRG
Legendary Creature - Dragon Spirit (M)
Flying
~ has all abilities of legendary creature cards in all graveyards. Taisou has watched the champions of Kamigawa rise and fall since ancient times, taking in every moment for himself.
5/5
Scribe of the Imperial Seal1WB
Creature - Human Cleric (R) ,T: Search your library for a card and put it into your graveyard.
When ~ is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. The scribes devote their life to uncovering the battles of past for the emperor's collection, but only in death would one give the secret to reading them.
1/4
'holder. Not going to screw up at the final round.
Question: So we can make as many creatures as we want for the second challenge?
At first, there was nothing. Then, in a flash of mana, the world bloomed out like a drop of blood in a pond. Its fiery skin buckled, churned and finally cooled. Creatures sprung forth, cities rose, and in the blink of an eye and war, fell. Timelines exploded out, twining, interacting, dancing into infinity.
Yixal had only existed for a fraction of a second, yet he had witnessed this all. For him, time was no more than another distance - in fact, it was one place in particular he was now bound to, powerless as the eternities unfolded before him...
Ura, Spire of Yixal
Legendary Land {R} T:Add B to your mana pool. T:Exile target card from a graveyard. Even Yixilid acolytes avoid the looming pinnacle, where their master waits, ever-hungering.
At first, he fed on the past of places around the needle-like peak. Like a scavenger, he fed in ancient burial sites, the memory of the weak-minded, traces of forgotten spirits. But as the past vanished, so the spire tok on a sinister air of emptiness. The local villages became suspicious, and finally even superstitious. They would do anything to please the dark god that looked over them, and Yixal gladly obliged. Those who were offered as sacrifices would have their futures taken away, fading to existence as he became stronger and stronger. When a cult formed and offered their opposers to the "god" on the spire, he began to see a glimmer of opportunity - a chance to become much more powerful than a simple vengeful executor they all took him for. So it was that Yixal's influence spread through his speakers of the Yixilid. And with this new power, other creatures revealed themselves to him, offering loyalty for a scrap of his otherwordly power.
Yixilid Vampire3UB
Creature - Vampire {U}
Flying
Whenever Yixilid Vampire deals combat damage to a player, you may shuffle your graveyard into your library. If you do, that player puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard. They mimic their master, shortening futures to relive the past.
3/2
But with his newfound power came consequences - those he could not break would incite fear amoung nearby cities and realms, of a demon-god, of foul beings that served him, of priests that have become a mockery of the true speakers of the divine. It was when the first crusade of knights, mages and beastmasters came that Yixal knew he and those he controller were in danger. Yet powerful as the mages were, they could not fathom his unique magic; their warriors, unable to cope with the boon he granted to his subjects, were quickly overwhelmed by the same beings they were destined to cut down.
Chronodox2UB
Enchantment {M}
Skip your draw step.
You may only cast one spell each turn.
You may play cards from your graveyard as though they were in your hand.
Over the following months, Yixal became immensely powerful. He had even succeded in calling into existence paradox-rifts, around which mages had built shrines. Even without his guidance, knights were sent to purge the nearby lands for those who could pose a threat, and cast them into those rifts....
Temporal Collapse2U
Sorcery {U}
Kicker 1B
Put target creature on top of its owner's library. If Temporal Collapse was kicked, its controller puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard. Those who oppose Yixal are thrown into paradox-rifts, never to have been seen again.
...and yet, something was missing. Yixal was undoubtedly more powerful than anything under the horizon. His power grew every day, as did his influence. Nevertheless, uneasiness plagued the elemental. The answer came in the form of an assault - another elemental of unfathomable power had been encroaching his terrain, and was now striking at the periphery outposts. While the losses were minimal, he could feel the land itself being torn from his grasp, unravelling his wards and exposing his more and more by the minute. More determined than ever, Yixal plunged into his own timeline, trying to find something locked deep within his past...something he remembered having forgotten...
Evercoil1B
Instant {R}
Search your library for a card with the same name as a card in your graveyard, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Yixal knew the knowledge he sought was lost in the past, so he pushed time forward until it tipped and doubled back on itself.
...yes. The timeline swayed wildly, threatening to erase Yixal from existence, but he pushed on, driven into a frenzy by the revelation. The timeline coiled and frayed, and Yixal was thrown around like a kitten in a whirlwind, and spells, strange beings and storms all raged with the blizzard of moments. Other timelines branched and merged from it, and yet he struggled on, like a fish swimming up a waterfall. Just when he thought he could push no further, time froze - and there it was - his source of existence:
Ixtchul, the Frozen Rift5
Legendary Artifact {M}
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, you may pay 3 and flip a coin. If you win the flip, end the turn. Hidden within the Pools of Becoming is an aperture to the temporal infinite - an aperture that can be closed as easily as opened.
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This Round
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Nothing was powerful enough to stop the Yixilid now that their master had taken control of the fabled scar Bolas stole from Dominaria itself; or so they thought. There were places where Yixal's presence had not yet reached, and the acolytes were sure it was only a matter of time until they yielded too. All it took was one unfortunate messenger to bring the land into turmoil once again. Yixal felt the presence of another being of limitless power - a countless army, their essence intertwined into one single, unstoppable force. Yixal has decided - he must personally crush the presence that threatens to destroy him and the land he had created for himself.
Yixal, the End of Time, 3UUBB
Legendary Creature - Elemental Demon {M}
Flying, trample
Whenever Yixal, the End of Time deals combat damage to a player, search that player's graveyard and/or library for that many cards and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library. You may play those cards as long as they remain exiled. "Those that fight for their future are standing between our god and his prey."
- Khajlan, Yixilid speaker
5/5
It felt...different. Before, Yixal viewed his domain as if it were a story, unable to know what it is, but able to recount and foresee all that will happen, and changing the path of fate at his whim. Now he had thrown himself into the story, and for the first time he knew what it was like to see, to feel, to be swept along by the tide of time as the world-dwellers did. One things was still strange though - although he was on the world, and had form, no body was to be seen or felt. The answer came when he rose to the skies - the light from the sun slowed as they fell on his skin, eventually trapped within his being. Curious at his newfound abilities, Yixal swiped at a nearby raven. It withered and died instantly, but in doing so he seemed to have absorbed the bird's memories, thoughts, even the endless timelines of the raven's futures. Yixal grinned - after all, even the most unstoppable of forces wear down in time...
Time slowed and strained as the elemental-demon swooped ever closer. As the sun's light was captured within his form, a cloak of darkness creeped behind him. On the withering landscape below, unspeakable horrors had emerged from the time rift, and now charged to the frontline with their leader...
Chronovore2UB
Creature - Lhurgoyf {R}
Shroud
Chronovore's power and toughness are each equal to the number of exiled cards. From the void emerged a presence, amalgamating shards of lost moments into a terror of futures never to be.
*/*
@Monkey: Wow, missed that pun. Though everyone missed a bad one in my flavor text.
The multiverse abounds with infinite possiblities. Where mana flows, anything is possible.
Deep below a lush jungle in a now forgotten plane, leylines of blue and green mana intersected, infusing the land with energies of growth and creativity. At the surface, a spring burst from the ground, a spring whose waters transformed those who bathed in them.
Feeding on the worship of local druid, the land itself awakened. Ghal Y'dar a sentient font of change. Ever longing for greater growth, the primitive conciousness of the waters sought a realm beyond its own, transmigrating across planar boundaries to a wasteland.. but one that held a secret.
Buried below the wasteland was a seed. The sole survivor of a vast mana infused jungle. The seed of Growth lay dormant, calling the waters of Change to it. When the two finally met, the seed germinated into a being of pure progress.
Thus was born Y'dar Khan, the reborn avatar of a long lost jungle. Infused with both growth and change, the jungle and its new master spread, transforming the world into its own image.
The land
Ghal Y'dar, Font of Possibility
Legendary Land (R)
: Add to your mana pool. :symgu::symgu:,: If target spell or ability would put at counter on a permanent or player, it puts twice as many counters on that permanent or player instead. If the spell or ability would create one or more tokens of a single type, put twice as many tokens onto the battlefield instead
The minion
Y'daran Celebrant :2mana::symu::symg:
Creature - Human Druid (U)
Whenever a token enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Yadaran Celebrant. "Embrace change and change will embrace you" -Y'daran Maxim
2/3
Defense
Mistblossom Veil :1mana::symu::symg:
Enchantment (R)
Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell put a 1/1 blue Faerie token with flying onto the battlefield. Eerie floral shapes drift through the mists of Y'dar, like seeds on the wind. At the merest touch of magic, they burst forth into life. Those who seek to harm us will only increase our numbers. - Hakalu, Y'daran Celebrant
Offense
Atrophy :1mana::symu:
Instant (U)
Target creature loses all abilities. (This effect does not end at the end of turn)
Draw a card. Ghal Y'dar is the source of Zi, the energy of change. Few realize Zi works both forward and backward. Control Zi, and you can undo even the mightiest foes. - Bahalu, Y'daran Revoker
Searching:
Reconfigure1UG
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target artifact.
Search your library for an artifact card , reveal it and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Even artificial progress is the domain of Y'dar. The unworthy will forfeit their gifts to the faithful. We will put them to more righteous use.
The power:
Seed of Dahl'Khan7
Legendary Artifact (MR)
Whenever another triggered ability you control would be put on the stack, puts two copies of that ability on the stack instead. (You may choose new targets for the copy) The ancient jungle of Dahl'Khan waits to be reborn. Even in its slumber, growth echoes around it. Its hour of return is drawing near.
Y'dar Khan, the Jungle Reborn4:symug::symug::symug:
Legendary Creature - Elemental Avatar GG: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. 2UU: Gain control of target creature with a +1/+1 counter on it. From the waters of change and the seed of growth sprouted our Lord of Progress. The world will be awash in glorious growth. And that growth will belong to Y'dar Khan. - Bahalu, High Druid of Y'dar Khan
7/7
Mistblossom Raider 2U
Creature - Faerie Rogue
Flying 1G: Prevent the next damage that would be done to Mistblossom Raider this turn. For each point of damage prevented this way, put that many 1/1 blue Faerie creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield. As capricious and as endless as the mists that birthed them, the sprytes of Y'dar were a whimsical blight upon the land.
2/1
I opened one last year, got two crap worldwake packs and 8x scathe zombies, which I promptly hid around my sister's apartment for her roommates to find. But, yeah, it was a piece of crap.
You, sir, have just won the internet. Congratulations.
Yixal, the End of Time, 3UUBB
Legendary Creature - Elemental Demon {M}
Flying, trample
Whenever Yixal, the End of Time deals combat damage to a player, search that player's graveyard and/or library for that many cards and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library. You may play those cards as long as they remain exiled. "Those that fight for their future are standing between our god and his prey."
- Khajlan, Yixilid speaker
5/5
My comments:
Alright, balance wise, we have a 5/5 flying trample for 7 mana. If it were just that, it's probably underpowered, which is a good start. Then we have the card advantage of hitting them in combat, which is a substantial amount. On a full hit, this nets you five cards, although theres a 50/50 chance or so they'd be unplayable considering colors. I'm pretty good with that.
For your story and flavor, it's pretty solid. Fits into your theme nicely, and he really feels like an "end boss" to your collection.
I like the card. It's well done, looks fairly printable, and really works in your collection. I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't seem very fresh or innovative though, nor does Johnny or Spike find it very impressive. I see it filled a solid Mythic slot in a set, but not something to get hyped up about.
Chronovore2UB
Creature - Lhurgoyf {R}
Shroud
Chronovore's power and toughness are each equal to the number of exiled cards. From the void emerged a presence, amalgamating shards of lost moments into a terror of futures never to be.
*/*
My comments:
Ok, I do actually have a problem with this one. Simply put, having a card that absolutely requires a strategy built around it to even be cast at all seems very narrow. The card is actually fairly well balanced and good otherwise: Shroud makes sense, the creature type, name, flavor text and mana cost are well placed as well. I'm very happy with how it works with your theme.
Overall good job, I'm just left with a bittersweet taste knowing that it only works in the "Yixal" deck.
Twilight Kiwi:
Oversoul Incarnate6
Legendary Creature - Avatar (M)
Whenever you cast Oversoul Incarnate or another creature spell, you may untap all creatures you control that share a color with that spell.
Oversoul Incarnate is all colors and gets +1/+1 for each tapped creature you control. Think as one. Act as one. Live as one.
0/5
My comments:
The abilities are cool and sleek, especially the first one. I really appreciate the nifty utility it has with your Unity cards. The name and flavor and cohesion with your theme are all strong.
However, I actually really feel more comfortable with this as a 5 color card, it just doesn't make sense to me that your could spend 6 colorless mana and get a 5 color card. I also think the P/T is odd, and should be something like 3/3. I understand it's "lack of power" flavoring while no other creatures are around, however, I just think it feels more proper with an even P/T ratio.
As an avatar of your land, it is very solid, and I like the card. While only fitting in specific decks, it does well in those decks and seems like a lot of fun. Good job.
Lightweaver2WU
Creature - Elemental (R)
Shroud, vigilance Unity - Whenever Lightweaver attacks, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, put a token onto the battlefield untapped and attacking that's a copy of Lightweaver.
3/4
My comments:
This card is cool. I'm a little weirded out that even with shroud you can copy the Lightweavers a lot but using themselves as the tappers, not sure if that is intentional or not.
I like the "untapped and attacking", it's amusing and works great with your theme. Overall the card is very cohesive and a great addition to your collection. I'd really enjoy playing it, although it is certainly overpowered unless the token disappeared at end of turn and/or couldn't be used on itself.
==========================================
Final Judgement:
Oculus - I really love your theme, and I feel like you have created some golden cards this month (Temporal Collapse possibly being one of the finest cards this month.). The colors and way your dealt with time manipulation and 'non-existence' were really cool. I am seriously impressed by your collection overall, with a variety of variations on your theme, and you never strayed into brokenness nor badly designed cards.
However, your cards do sometimes have a quality of being plain or narrow, as is the case respectively with your avatar and minion this challenge. I'd try to be more ambitious with your designs in the future.
Twilight Kiwi - Your theme has shown us a wonderful and colorful world, where creatures of all colors collaborate to create something more. I definitely feel it's been a worthy month for you, as you've created consistently elegant and innovative cards such as Remnant Delver. It has always been obvious that you've thought about how to create this... unified and cohesive collection.
However, very little of your cards stand out as anything more than something to meet the challenge requirements. Well of Vigor is a good example, being so obvious a card to work in your theme. Oversoul Incarnate easily falls into this trap, being a card blindingly focused on working exclusively in the "unity" deck. However, color me impressed by your Lightweaver card, I think it is a very cool card with great applications in and out of your collections, and would be a blast to play with.
For that reason:
Twilight Kiwi
wins the round for me.
==========================================
Critique responses:
@Oculus: Glad you liked Taisou (Did you notice he was inspired from the legendary dragon cycle in champions of kamigawa? It's too bad he can't use their abilities from the graveyard though!)
The Scribe was a challenge. I wanted to make a spike-worthy card that supported my general. I think I did that, but went a bit overboard. With a bit of number tweaking I do think it works fine, but it would be a super delicate balance between bad, competitive and broken. Entomb effects can be "draw a card" or better or many decks. I don't like how it can get itself back when it dies either. Of course, the simple solution is only tutor for legendary cards, but I was getting sick of writing "legendary" on every single card I made for this competition ><.
Also, I think Gravedigger and Sun Titan type effects make it not unreasonable to grab cards from the graveyard in BW.
@Kiwi: I didn't really set out to write a story, but I was blank on ideas and decided this was the easiest way to come up with something. Good luck!
Preparations for doomsayings:
drewdagreek
Y'dar Khan, the Jungle Reborn - At first glance, this seems really overpowered (it's got a cost/size ratio that's almost too good for blue, it can steal stuff, and make your team bigger). The only real comparison I could draw here is Memnarch. He loses some significant power and toughness to shift to one color, and be able to steal permanents. The idea is not totally new either - this is just really Cytoplast Manipulator cranked to 11. On the flip side, mono green decks wouldn't be ashamed running this either...
Mistblossom Raider - I think this is possibly more broken than the avatar; aside from the fact that you have to keep mana open, this is some serious combat deterrent - not only is it a real pain to kill (which is something Broodhatch Nantuko and Saber Ants had to balance it), but it also gives the tokens flying (turning them from chump fodder to actual threats). "would be dealt to" and "for each 1 damage prevented this way, ..." is the correct wording. Although fairly novel, an effect like this should be fairly highly costed, like Phytohydra. Would also be more inclined to give this one to you if you had indicated a rarity (it looks uncommon to me, although it should be rare).
/////////////////////////
Lyzl
Taisou, the Imperial Sun - Every so often there's a card that I instantly connect with, and start dreaming up decks with Stifle, Phage the Untouchable and Progenitus. This is one. Five colors makes it sufficiently challenging, and although it's probably not much for a competitive deck, in the right cirumstances it's an unstoppable game finisher. Thumbs up.
Scribe of the Imperial Seal - My problem with this card is twofold - repeatable Entombs are totally crazy, and Eternal Witness/Regrowth-type cards are pretty much exclusively green, not white (not that I'd want it to die). Then again, it's certainly a creative way to tutor and power on your legend, and it can probably be fixed by tweaking the numbers...
//////////////////////
WINNER: Lyzl!
Critique Ripostes:
drewdagreek
Yeah, it is incredibly powerful. The trample was probably overkill, but I wanted to make sure it was better than Szadek, Lord of Secrets (who kills in 3-4 hits), which isn't that great a card.
As for the 'goyf - it was a toss-up between some form of evasion and shroud, but in the end losing a few creatures is not as bad as taking a whole pile of damage to the head (I was also going to say exiling cards is not easy, and it really needs Yixal to be big, but then I remembered Leyline of the Void exists...oh well, call it a combo piece.)
I opened one last year, got two crap worldwake packs and 8x scathe zombies, which I promptly hid around my sister's apartment for her roommates to find. But, yeah, it was a piece of crap.
You, sir, have just won the internet. Congratulations.
The legend is just incredibly powerful. In addition, it can't be stopped that easily, as flying and trample will overcoming most defenses for the point that's needed. The cherry picking of 5 spells from your opponent's library is extreme card advatange and tutoring. This effect is a bit much.
I like the idea of chronovore.. but exiled cards are too plentiful and perhaps too easy to build up. Also, shroud feels tacked on to add hopelessness. Sure it can't be removed, but it can't be enhanced or interacted with. It just becomes big.
Creative and interesting, but in the end a bit too powerful.
Twilight Kiwi: The legend is interesting but I think too much for 6 colorless. Lightweaver is very creative, but I think too powerful. Once again, shroud seems unnecessary. A 3/4 blocker and additonal attacker. This could get really dangerous really fast. Also, the copy and the original can tap each other on the second round. If you don't have a blocker capable of killing it on the first assault, you're screwed unless you draw a sweeper. A might too powerful, but very neat.
I like both entries, though the used of shroud was a little much on both. Close one Oculus, but I'm going to give the edge to Kiwi as his is a little more balanced.
Y'dar Khan, the Jungle Reborn: This guy sits somewhere between Memnarch and Cytoplast Manipulator, and looks like a lot of fun; a little less mean than Mirrodin's evil overlord, since he can only steal creatures. 7/7 seems a little on the big side given his awesome abilities, but anything less on a 7-mana UG legend would probably feel too small... though since he can pump himself it might have been okay to shrink him a bit. If there's nothing good to take on your opponent's side, you can use him to beef up your own dudes, which really sets him apart from Memnarch. I feel he might have been better off at 3UUGG instead of hybrid, but I do like that he can still play roles in monocolored decks with access to only one of his abilities (though it probably wouldn't be worth playing him in monoblue unless your metagame has a lot of decks that use counters). As is he's probably a little too strong overall, but I like his versatility.
VS
Taisou, the Imperial Sun:Experiment Kraj is still one of my favorite cards, and "this card has all abilities of (subset of cards)" variations are always fun to design, but hard to balance. You've done an admirable job here, though I think it might have even been okay to push him a little further and make him 6/6 for that cost (I'm guessing you wanted to keep him in line with the Kamigawa dragon spirits). Definitely a build-around card, but there are oh so many cool combos you could come up with. I can't even begin to scratch the surface of his vast combo potential (one of the first things to come to mind was a deck full of the Grandeur legends). He's also very flavorful for Kamigawa of course.
Mistblossom Raider: I like the concept, but there are a few issues with it. First, the wording is a little awkward; I'm not sure what the best alternative would have been, maybe something like, "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to ~ from a single source this turn. For each damage prevented this way..." Unfortunately it's way too powerful! Compare to Oona, Queen of the Fae; putting an X in the cost would've helped a lot to balance this. Also, this feels like a white ability, not a green one. Either way a creature with an effect like this should cost a bit more than three mana. VS
Scribe of the Imperial Seal: This dude feels very BG to me, as white only gets to bring creatures back from the grave most of the time (occasionally other permanent types too, but never instants or sorceries), while returning any card to your hand is seen fairly often in green. Cheap, repeatable Entombing is probably a little too enabling for many types of decks; self-milling might have been better. Combining these two effects is clever, but at this cost it's a bit too much. Maybe if it was a one-time Entomb on a stick when it enters the battlefield, then Eternal Witness when it dies..?
I loved both legends, but wasn't too keen on either minion. This is a tough choice, but the sheer Johnnyness of Taisou pushes victory in Lyzl's direction for me.
My crits are up. Thanks Oculus; I'll do my best, and I look forward to competing against you again this month!
Notes on my cards: Ah, it hadn't occurred to me that Lightweaver copies could tap for each other for some reason. >_< I was surprised to find Wizards hadn't made a creature with vigilance and shroud yet, though.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Suffer the little creatures, for they may yet rise up and beat you senseless."
I opened one last year, got two crap worldwake packs and 8x scathe zombies, which I promptly hid around my sister's apartment for her roommates to find. But, yeah, it was a piece of crap.
You, sir, have just won the internet. Congratulations.
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March CCL Round 4
Custom Card League Rules Compendium
* Overview
* Schedule
* Challenge Rounds
* Critique Rounds
* Valid Entry Constitution
* Scoring
* Penalties
* Resources
* Credits
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* Overview
The CCL is among the more fun games on the MtGSalvation forums due to its inherent aspect of interactivity among the Leaguers (that’s you). We actively critique each other’s card designs at the end of each round, putting a more personal interest into our cards and generally making us all better designers. Typically, we build worlds more complete than many games, as each round builds on the designs and ideas of previous rounds in the month. The CCL allows for Leaguers to plumb the depths of creativity, as the point schedule aspect allows for three full rounds without fear of elimination.
* Schedule
o The CCL will run six rounds, each lasting five days.
+ Rounds 1, 2 & 3 will be free-for-alls with each leaguer fighting for the most points during critiques. At the beginning of each of these rounds, the host will divide the league members evenly into two teams and each team will be assigned their design challenge. At the challenge deadline, the round will elapse into the critique section (see Critiques below). Once the critique section ends, the host will tally points and post the next round. Team rosters are likely to change between rounds; the new rosters will be included in the initial posting for the next round.
o Each round will last five days: 3.5 to finalize designs, 1.5 for critiques.
o The schedule will usually operate according to US Eastern Time Zone (GMT -5). We will stick to this schedule as closely as possible, adjusting as necessary.
* Challenge Rounds
o At the start of each round, the host will post the challenge for the round. This may be, at the host’s discretion, a single challenge for all leaguers, a list for each leaguer to choose from, challenges assigned to each leaguer, or other challenge variation.
o Each Leaguer will post his/her entry by the deadline, 3.5 days after the round is posted.
* Critique Rounds
o At the end of each challenge round, the host, or an individual the host designates, will officially close the round and open the forum for critiques. After this point, modifying the post containing your entry for the round will incur penalties (see Penalties section).
o Each Leaguer will thoroughly critique at least 50% of the entries given by the leaguers on the other team.
o In addition to the critiques, each Leaguer generates his/her list of the Top 3 entries for the round. The Top 3 listings are the chief source of points within the CCL and are therefore required to complete. Even if critiques are not completed, Top 3’s must be listed to avoid penalties (see Penalties for penalty schedule). Regardless of the cards actually critiqued by a given Leaguer, Top 3’s can be drawn from any valid entry of the round. Submitting Top 3’s grants one point.
o A valid critique does not need to be lengthy. A few constructive sentences will do as long as they are meaningful. Neither “Hated it,” “Too expensive,” nor “Bahhrokken!!!” are valid critiques.
Example:
The following card is submitted by Fitzgerald:
A few decent critics:
from Tiberius: Templating issue with “nonpermanent card,” it's confusing and should just read “instant or sorcery card.” And the cost seems steep: I’m giving up a mana, a card, and immediate access to the card I looked for. Creative, but not bad.
from Wilhelmina: I hate the name. Also the shuffle part should be right after removing the tutored card instead of on a separate line. Seems powerful as an instant, play it on the opponents turn and you get basically a free draw, but you get to pick it.
from Beauregard: A bit complicated for uncommon. It doesn’t go to microtext on a render (sans flavor text) but it still isn’t all that intuitive.
* Valid Entry Constitution
o A valid entry in a given round cleanly delivers all required components of the challenge. The CCL is based around card design, so each challenge will direct Leaguers to design one or more cards, but other components may be given according to the judge’s discretion. Historically, these non-card components have included such things as keyword mechanic designs, story pieces, and various ideas for the judge to incorporate into later rounds. Include only what is described by the challenge requirements, as superfluous items may sway judgings unfairly and will incur penalties.
o It is customary to include card renders in entries. This is not required. Some Leaguers may not have access to render design software and therefore will not be penalized for posting an entry without a render. However, it must be understood that a proper render is easier to judge/critique as it is more pleasing to the eye, more memorable and allows for Leaguers to judge the card by its wordiness, a very important aspect of a card’s design. Common rendering software used include Magic Set Editor (free program, the standard that most amateur designers use), PhotoShop (not free), and GIMP (free PhotoShop knockoff).
* Scoring
(This has been depricated, and pending approval from the powers that be will be deleted. See the next spoiler section for how Scoring works.)
o The bulk of available points will be derived from Top 3 listings, as is League custom. Within each Top 3 listing, the choice for 1st place will be awarded 3 points, the choice for 2nd place will receive 2 points, and the choice for 3rd place will receive 1 point. It is common for Leaguers to post an Honorable Mention or two along with their T3 listings. Honorable Mentions are not awarded points. Posting T3s is required and awards one point for completion of the requirements. There are penalties for failure to post T3s (see Penalties section).
o Critiques are an optional aspect of the CCL, therefore no penalties are given for failure to complete critiques. Any Leaguer completing critiques for at least 50% of the other team's entries will receive 1 bonus point. An additional point will be awarded if a Leaguer critiques all valid entries in the round.
o As noted in the section on Valid Entry Constitution, entries are encouraged to contain proper card renders. Some Leaguers may not have access to render design software and will not be penalized for posting an entry without a render.
* Penalties
o Failure to post Top 3s as required during the Critique section of any round will put a Leaguer on probation. While on probation, failure to post an Top 3 in any later round will disqualify that Leaguer for the remainder of the month.
o Once a Round elapses into its critique section, any Leaguer modifying their entry after any leaguer has posted a critique, will be disqualified for the round.
o Failure to post an entry within the Challenge round will put a Leaguer on probation. While on probation, failure to post an entry in any later round will disqualify that Leaguer for the remainder of the month.
* Resources
o This is a templating guideline compiled by Kraj. It is quite concise and very useful.
o Making Magic by Mark Rosewater, current head of Magic Design at Wizards of the Coast. Making Magic is a weekly article detailing the trials, tribulations and achievements of Magic R&D in riveting prose.
o Magiccards.info is the database mtgsalvation draws upon when you use the [card] tag. The advanced search functionality is useful for searching all cards officially printed by WotC.
o Gatherer is the database maintained officially by WotC. It has slightly different functionality than magiccards.info, but the differences are too numerable to list here. (Someone should write an article about that)
o Your other Leaguers are fantastic resources. We, more than the players of other games on this forum, are a community, as can be seen by the dialogue of any CCL thread.
+ Question, consult with, challenge and encourage each other at every opportunity.
o Credits
Each round, the players have a chance of getting a total of 100 points toward their score. Each score is determined by the following equation:
The grading of 3 points for first place, 2 points for second and 1 for third still stands. This is also the case for up to 2 points for crits and Top 3.
Total points of player A in round N = 100 * X/Y
Where:
X = Total number of points given by judges + (Bonus points for critiques & Top 3)
Y = Total number of points possible (3*Number of judges + Bonus Points)
This way the grading is more streamlined in the fact that all rounds up to going to top 8 are graded equally, and there is no handicap for any team that has fewer judges.
Each player starts the next round with the score that he previously had, and another possible 100 points is given to him at the end of that round. Therefore, there is a possible 300 points before the CCL goes to top 8.
Team Aggressor
KoopaKreynetn9PsijetShaddock86Twilight Kiwi
TyranidBillTeam Dreamer
brasil_dude101Gerrard's MomMaokunOculus
ThelasUmi_no_Samuivoid_nothingTeam Inventor
Asramadrewdagreek
Jimmy GrooveNotoriousLynxRocket_Powered_Turbo_SlugRyder052ShinenTeam Manipulator
CrazyMattDoom LichDragoonLyzl
Prospero314RimeshadeBlackBullSignup Round
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Throughout the multiverse, the planes are becoming less and less stable. On each plane there appear to be visions of ghosts overlaying the reality; samurai, strange priests, faeries, elemental monstrossities, mechanical demons, zombie lords, strange, sinuous creatures, gargantuan constructs, primal giants, and even entire landscapes. These scare the smallfolk of the planes, but they just assume that it's the wizard's fault and everything will be put to rights by tea time, or failing that next week, but by the end of the month at the latest.
However, these visions do not disappear, they only intensify, and with them comes new mana into your plane. Ancient artifacts that had faded from power and memory once again have astounding power, ancient spells and rites begin to work again, and ancient creatures start to once again walk your earth. And along with their walking, you begin to wake.
You are the land itself, solitary or home to many, unique within your realm. As the new mana enters your plane, it enters and awakens you, as a dreamer coming out of a long sleep. You find the world much changed from your vision of the past, and far different creatures walk upon you. The dregs of sleep threaten to pull you back down into their warm embrace, but the new mana gives you the power to resist, and to begin to control your environment...
For a while, as fledgling minds, you are content to merely observe what occurs above, below or within you. You learn every name of every person, animal, plant and being. You listen to the tongues of the creatures above you, and make them your own. You laugh at their misfortune, and rejoice with their successes. In time, you come to learn of their desires, dreams, past and present. All the secrets hidden skillfully within your domain are yours to peruse at will.
However, you soon grow bored. As your consciousness develops, you begin to have power over the world you inhabit. It starts as a mere influence, whether flowers here or there bloom or wither, whether the harvest is lush or scant, and eventually the minds of your inhabitants become open to your power.
However, as your power grows, so does the power of the presence that wakened you. All other mysteries within you you can discover easily and understand immediately, but not this one. At each attempt to discover its purpose and ability it hides itself further, as though through your attempts to find it you push it further from your grasp. Maddened by your failures and driven by curiosity, you decide to attack the problem in a different way. If the peoples above use you to their benefit, should not you use them? With this new idea, you begin to search for minions suitable to your cause, and plant the seed of your desire in their heads...
Their easily molded minds bend to your will as easily as lightning kills druids. Your minions soon form a faction that worships you as a god, not knowing that you are the land itself. The foolish mortals heed your every whim, and under your leadership they forge a new government from within the previous in their rise to power. They now are the elite, and control the people. Through them you are the master of your war-state.
With the new minions at your disposal, you almost decide to begin excavations to discover the artifact, when you feel a tremor in the land nearest you. You realize that the strange power that returned to this world not only awakened you, but awakened the other lands as well... and they might be just as powerful. You order your people to crush the newly awakened land, subjugating it as your own and enforcing your influence over it. However, the childish powers of that land make you realize that there could be other lands that woke before you, and are your equal or better.
You decide that your own safety is far more important than the discovery, and while it irritates you to have to wait any longer, something tells you that you have waited long for your life and can wait slightly longer for the prize. That is, if you stay alive. You immediately begin to fortify your nation, and wait for the first attack...
When it came, you found yourself both prepared and unprepared. Your enchantments had succeeded in preventing damage to yourself, and yet you had not expected the colossal force that you now faced. However, your inhabitants were not as lucky. Many were killed and even more wounded, inciting grief and rage against this outside force. Faster then you could have imagined your people were raising armies, amassing weapons, and training new soldiers. The streets where shops once stood transformed into barracks, and the merchants became the suppliers of this beast of war.
It seemed that your people would do the fighting for you, without your having to do a single thing. You eagerly watch the proceedings, cursing every failure and rejoicing in every success. You push the iron within you up to your crust, so that the weapon production increases. You fertilize your fields, and the crops sown grow bountiful and large, and are stored away for the war. At the same time, every time mana is called upon to forward to empower the war, so too are you empowered. You grow stronger, and yearn for war, chaos, destruction!
And with your new power you discover something. In your state of war-frenzy, you suddenly find that you are not making your own decisions... but rather being pushed into them. A strange trickle of energy is blending into your powers, creating this hunger for conquest within you. Knowing this, you realize that such an force must have allowed your people to mobilize quickly, and see the potential benefit in such a force. As you wonder over this, you see the mages of your people struggling with a spell, the creation of what will be your first attack. They wonder at what the new spell should do, and how it should and will be done. Invested in their success, you decide to direct the trickle of force towards them, but the results exceed your wildest dreams...
The days have turned to months, the months have turned to years, and at last you stand, only one other force within your desired domain. Your quest for domination, fueled by this strange power, has lead you to crush and annex all the lands surrounding you, amassing their magics, lore and weapons. Your citizens praise your victories, but times grow hard. War carries its toll, its toll to be paid in people, in money, in food, and in misery. Your people have grown hard to war, and yet they suffer. You fear that they cannot continue this endless war for much longer, that you must win decisively.
You wrack your expansive mind for any possibility for attack that you missed, any crack in your foes armor to exploit. While you do this, you know full well that they are doing the same, and that you are on a clock. Whoever finds the answer first shall win, and that must be you at all costs. Skirmishes continue, fields are burned, people enslaved, but still the deadlock rages. For each victory you suffer a defeat, and neither force can find the means to overcome the other.
An idea begins to take form in your mind. You coax it out over the course of days, allowing a once forgotten memory to grow and blossom in your mind. Then, in a rush, you remember the cause of your expansion: The artifact of power. It had first led you to attain life, to build civilization, and to empower it to war. Surely it could turn the tide in your favor...
Having seized the artifact and vanquished your foe, you grow confident in your victory. Your people rejoice, and enjoy a year of peace and prosperity. However, then a bedraggled caravan-driver arrives at the center of your kingdom, the seat of the powerful. He splutters tales of another people, one who robbed him of his goods and the lives of his fellow workers, and of how narrow his escape from them had been.
Your people once again cry for war, this time without your coaxing. They are sure of their imminent victory, but you yourself have doubts. If you had been able to obtain such power in these times, should not another land? You had never heard of such a place before now, and turn your power upon the unfortunate messenger. While he goes mad in the presence of such sheer mana, his memories show you what he experienced, and this countries proficiency with magic and their military-like movements suggest a powerful conqueror.
You realize that this war will be the final clash in the struggle for dominance, for it is impossible for other such lands to exist. Ignoring the visions of monsters and strange people that have become more and more recent, you decide that you yourself must lead this final battle. You concentrate your every being, leaving just enough of yourself to maintain the land, and you reveal your true shape to the priests who worship you as a god. Your coming commands the loyalty of all, and with this loyalty you march to war...
Get it? March to war?
You are allowed to hate me now
Round 5 Challenges:
1. Create a legendary creature avatar of your land. It must have a converted mana cost of 4 or more.
2. Create your nonlegendary warriors to lead to victory.
Deadline:
Twilight Kiwi vs. Oculus
drewdagreek vs. Lyzl
Critiques due April 3 at 11:59 PM EST
Notes:
Almost there!
Host of the July CCL '10, Host of the March CCL '11
At some point, within this web of connected lives, a new life was born - a sort of hive mind, but one whose members were willing and mostly free-willed still. And this "oversoul" understood that the only way to prevent Ravnica's history from repeating itself was to bring all life in its world under its influence, to create a truly harmonious community, where all beings worked together for the greater good rather than struggling for meaningless personal power.
But the oversoul also sought answers to what had triggered its own birth, unwilling to accept that it could be accident or coincidence. It sensed, somehow, that something was responsible not only for giving the network awareness, but for ensuring the network would be created in the first place - and many of its component beings worried at this mysterious being's motives. And so the oversoul compelled the people of Ravnica to seek out the lost mysteries of the past, excitement for what they might find tempered by apprehension.
Legendary Land
Unity - T: Tap any number of untapped creatures you control. For each creature tapped this way, add 1 or one mana of any of that creature's colors to your mana pool.
"Apart, we were weak, foolish, rats squabbling over the scraps of the world we had squandered. Together, We can do anything."
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
Unity - When Remnant Delver enters the battlefield, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, draw a card.
Whenever you draw a card, gain 1 life.
"We must rediscover the knowledge of those who came before... and avoid their mistakes."
2/2
Art: A scholar examines an ancient tome in a derelict, long-abandoned study. An assistant searches the shelves for other valuable relics in the background.
Enchantment (U)
Whenever a creature you control becomes tapped, put an essence counter on Well of Vigor.
Remove three essence counters from Well of Vigor: Untap target creature. It's indestructible until end of turn.
Sorcery (U)
Tap target artifact, creature, or land, then destroy target tapped creature.
The Dimir were so good at keeping secrets that most agents never knew the ones pulling their strings were long gone, still carrying out their cryptic orders generations later.
Creature - Goblin Advisor (R)
UR, :symq:: Destroy target artifact. Its controller may search his or her library for an artifact with converted mana cost less than the destroyed artifact's and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle his or her library.
"A'course I'm a real merchant! This scrap's way broker'n it was before I got my mitts on it!"
2/2
Art: A shopper rubs her chin in suspicion as a grinning goblin in gaudy robes offers a somewhat battered-looking item; we can see him hiding a hammer behind his back.
Crown of Unity 0
Legendary Artifact (M)
When Crown of Unity enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you tap five untapped creatures you control.
Tap an untapped creature you control: Gain 1 life.
Tap three untapped creatures you control: Draw a card.
Tap five untapped creatures you control: Destroy target nonland permanent.
Art: Five mages who are, by their attire, obviously from very different backgrounds stand in a ring around a glowing silver crown on a pedestal, hands linked; a glowing rune reminiscent of the crown's shape hovers over each of their heads, and light shines from their eyes and mouths.
That catalyst came when a new mind, impossibly unfamiliar to the Oversoul, suddenly appeared. Confronted by the nature of the world he had stumbled into, the being identified himself as a planeswalker - able to leap between worlds at will. Excited at the prospect of finding an infinite array of unique minds to add to its collective, the Oversoul invited the man to join, and thus the pathway was opened to a broad horizon of new thoughts and experiences. The Oversoul crafted a new body to house its will, an ambassador to send out to the multiverse to serve as its eyes, ears, and mouthpiece.
Legendary Creature - Avatar (M)
Whenever you cast Oversoul Incarnate or another creature spell, you may untap all creatures you control that share a color with that spell.
Oversoul Incarnate is all colors and gets +1/+1 for each tapped creature you control.
Think as one. Act as one. Live as one.
0/5
But then something strange and terrible happened - slowly, one by one across the planes, its new eyes began to wink out. They weren't just killed or disconnected from the hive mind - when that happened, their memories and thoughts still lived on in the shared network. Something had ripped that memory away as well, and it was as if each being had never existed - only the faint sensation that something was missing remained. Pouring all its considerable will and resources into discovering the cause of this fracturing, the Oversoul pieced together the identity of a being startlingly similar to its own existence - and yet frighteningly alien in many ways. It was almost the complete opposite of the Oversoul in some respects; rather than sharing knowledge and power equally, it selfishly hoarded and cultivated its own power, feeding off of the lives of others, manipulating lesser beings into its service as a zealously loyal cult.
This dark god was anathema to the Oversoul. And the collective knew that a confrontation was inevitable. But they had one major advantage - victory required only that they defeat a single, if immensely powerful, entity.. but their enemy would have to scour the multiverse of every last member of the Oversoul to truly defeat it.
Creature - Elemental (R)
Shroud, vigilance
Unity - Whenever Lightweaver attacks, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, put a token onto the battlefield untapped and attacking that's a copy of Lightweaver.
3/4
My First (And Probably Only) MCC Perfect Score: December 09 (Round One)
Good Luck Sir, bring everything you've got!
Story:
Sign-up round:
Legendary Land (M)
T: Add one mana of any color of a legendary permanent you control to your mana pool.
WUBRG, T, Sacrifice Hitenjima, the Grand Palace: Search your library for a legendary permanent card and put it onto the battlefield. Then, shuffle your library.
Round 1:
Creature - Human (U)
T: You may activate an activated ability on target legendary permanent you control without paying the T in it's cost. (pay all other costs associated with that ability)
1/1
Round 2:
Legendary Enchantment (R)
Legendary Permanents you control are indestructible.
Sacrifice three creatures: Flip That Which Protects and gain control of it. Only opponents may use this ability.
-----
It That Devours
Legendary Creature - Demon
It That Devours is black.
At the beginning of your end step, destroy target legendary permanent.
5/5
Round 3:
Momentous Instant (R)
Destroy target legendary creature. Gain control of another target creature its owner controls. (This effect does not end at end of turn.)
Heroes are created by those alive to tell the tale.
Round 4:
Momentous Sorcery (M)
Search your library for up to three legendary permanent cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your library. If five colors of mana were spent to cast this spell, you may cast an artifact, enchantment and creature spell from your hand without paying their mana costs this turn.
***Rules Text for "Momentous": When a Momentous card is cast, if a card with the same name is in any graveyard, counter it. Then, exile it and all copies of that card from all graveyards.***
Legendary Artifact (R)
1: Mira-tama becomes a copy of target permanent until end of turn.
1U: Mira-tama becomes a copy of target Legendary permanent except it’s not Legendary until end of turn.
1WU: Exile target permanent, Mira-tama becomes a copy of that permanent.
It seeing all, it sees within, seeking perfect reflection.
Round 5:
Taisou, the Imperial Sun 1WUBRG
Legendary Creature - Dragon Spirit (M)
Flying
~ has all abilities of legendary creature cards in all graveyards.
Taisou has watched the champions of Kamigawa rise and fall since ancient times, taking in every moment for himself.
5/5
Scribe of the Imperial Seal 1WB
Creature - Human Cleric (R)
,T: Search your library for a card and put it into your graveyard.
When ~ is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
The scribes devote their life to uncovering the battles of past for the emperor's collection, but only in death would one give the secret to reading them.
1/4
Sets - Arcania
Competitions - CCL: March 2011, April 2011
Question: So we can make as many creatures as we want for the second challenge?
At first, there was nothing. Then, in a flash of mana, the world bloomed out like a drop of blood in a pond. Its fiery skin buckled, churned and finally cooled. Creatures sprung forth, cities rose, and in the blink of an eye and war, fell. Timelines exploded out, twining, interacting, dancing into infinity.
Yixal had only existed for a fraction of a second, yet he had witnessed this all. For him, time was no more than another distance - in fact, it was one place in particular he was now bound to, powerless as the eternities unfolded before him...
Ura, Spire of Yixal
Legendary Land {R}
T:Add B to your mana pool.
T:Exile target card from a graveyard.
Even Yixilid acolytes avoid the looming pinnacle, where their master waits, ever-hungering.
At first, he fed on the past of places around the needle-like peak. Like a scavenger, he fed in ancient burial sites, the memory of the weak-minded, traces of forgotten spirits. But as the past vanished, so the spire tok on a sinister air of emptiness. The local villages became suspicious, and finally even superstitious. They would do anything to please the dark god that looked over them, and Yixal gladly obliged. Those who were offered as sacrifices would have their futures taken away, fading to existence as he became stronger and stronger. When a cult formed and offered their opposers to the "god" on the spire, he began to see a glimmer of opportunity - a chance to become much more powerful than a simple vengeful executor they all took him for. So it was that Yixal's influence spread through his speakers of the Yixilid. And with this new power, other creatures revealed themselves to him, offering loyalty for a scrap of his otherwordly power.
Yixilid Vampire 3UB
Creature - Vampire {U}
Flying
Whenever Yixilid Vampire deals combat damage to a player, you may shuffle your graveyard into your library. If you do, that player puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
They mimic their master, shortening futures to relive the past.
3/2
But with his newfound power came consequences - those he could not break would incite fear amoung nearby cities and realms, of a demon-god, of foul beings that served him, of priests that have become a mockery of the true speakers of the divine. It was when the first crusade of knights, mages and beastmasters came that Yixal knew he and those he controller were in danger. Yet powerful as the mages were, they could not fathom his unique magic; their warriors, unable to cope with the boon he granted to his subjects, were quickly overwhelmed by the same beings they were destined to cut down.
Chronodox 2UB
Enchantment {M}
Skip your draw step.
You may only cast one spell each turn.
You may play cards from your graveyard as though they were in your hand.
Over the following months, Yixal became immensely powerful. He had even succeded in calling into existence paradox-rifts, around which mages had built shrines. Even without his guidance, knights were sent to purge the nearby lands for those who could pose a threat, and cast them into those rifts....
Temporal Collapse 2U
Sorcery {U}
Kicker 1B
Put target creature on top of its owner's library. If Temporal Collapse was kicked, its controller puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Those who oppose Yixal are thrown into paradox-rifts, never to have been seen again.
...and yet, something was missing. Yixal was undoubtedly more powerful than anything under the horizon. His power grew every day, as did his influence. Nevertheless, uneasiness plagued the elemental. The answer came in the form of an assault - another elemental of unfathomable power had been encroaching his terrain, and was now striking at the periphery outposts. While the losses were minimal, he could feel the land itself being torn from his grasp, unravelling his wards and exposing his more and more by the minute. More determined than ever, Yixal plunged into his own timeline, trying to find something locked deep within his past...something he remembered having forgotten...
Evercoil 1B
Instant {R}
Search your library for a card with the same name as a card in your graveyard, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Yixal knew the knowledge he sought was lost in the past, so he pushed time forward until it tipped and doubled back on itself.
...yes. The timeline swayed wildly, threatening to erase Yixal from existence, but he pushed on, driven into a frenzy by the revelation. The timeline coiled and frayed, and Yixal was thrown around like a kitten in a whirlwind, and spells, strange beings and storms all raged with the blizzard of moments. Other timelines branched and merged from it, and yet he struggled on, like a fish swimming up a waterfall. Just when he thought he could push no further, time froze - and there it was - his source of existence:
Ixtchul, the Frozen Rift 5
Legendary Artifact {M}
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, you may pay 3 and flip a coin. If you win the flip, end the turn.
Hidden within the Pools of Becoming is an aperture to the temporal infinite - an aperture that can be closed as easily as opened.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Round
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Nothing was powerful enough to stop the Yixilid now that their master had taken control of the fabled scar Bolas stole from Dominaria itself; or so they thought. There were places where Yixal's presence had not yet reached, and the acolytes were sure it was only a matter of time until they yielded too. All it took was one unfortunate messenger to bring the land into turmoil once again. Yixal felt the presence of another being of limitless power - a countless army, their essence intertwined into one single, unstoppable force. Yixal has decided - he must personally crush the presence that threatens to destroy him and the land he had created for himself.
Yixal, the End of Time, 3UUBB
Legendary Creature - Elemental Demon {M}
Flying, trample
Whenever Yixal, the End of Time deals combat damage to a player, search that player's graveyard and/or library for that many cards and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library. You may play those cards as long as they remain exiled.
"Those that fight for their future are standing between our god and his prey."
- Khajlan, Yixilid speaker
5/5
It felt...different. Before, Yixal viewed his domain as if it were a story, unable to know what it is, but able to recount and foresee all that will happen, and changing the path of fate at his whim. Now he had thrown himself into the story, and for the first time he knew what it was like to see, to feel, to be swept along by the tide of time as the world-dwellers did. One things was still strange though - although he was on the world, and had form, no body was to be seen or felt. The answer came when he rose to the skies - the light from the sun slowed as they fell on his skin, eventually trapped within his being. Curious at his newfound abilities, Yixal swiped at a nearby raven. It withered and died instantly, but in doing so he seemed to have absorbed the bird's memories, thoughts, even the endless timelines of the raven's futures. Yixal grinned - after all, even the most unstoppable of forces wear down in time...
Time slowed and strained as the elemental-demon swooped ever closer. As the sun's light was captured within his form, a cloak of darkness creeped behind him. On the withering landscape below, unspeakable horrors had emerged from the time rift, and now charged to the frontline with their leader...
Chronovore 2UB
Creature - Lhurgoyf {R}
Shroud
Chronovore's power and toughness are each equal to the number of exiled cards.
From the void emerged a presence, amalgamating shards of lost moments into a terror of futures never to be.
*/*
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
@Monkey: Wow, missed that pun. Though everyone missed a bad one in my flavor text.
The multiverse abounds with infinite possiblities. Where mana flows, anything is possible.
Deep below a lush jungle in a now forgotten plane, leylines of blue and green mana intersected, infusing the land with energies of growth and creativity. At the surface, a spring burst from the ground, a spring whose waters transformed those who bathed in them.
Feeding on the worship of local druid, the land itself awakened. Ghal Y'dar a sentient font of change. Ever longing for greater growth, the primitive conciousness of the waters sought a realm beyond its own, transmigrating across planar boundaries to a wasteland.. but one that held a secret.
Buried below the wasteland was a seed. The sole survivor of a vast mana infused jungle. The seed of Growth lay dormant, calling the waters of Change to it. When the two finally met, the seed germinated into a being of pure progress.
Thus was born Y'dar Khan, the reborn avatar of a long lost jungle. Infused with both growth and change, the jungle and its new master spread, transforming the world into its own image.
The land
Ghal Y'dar, Font of Possibility
Legendary Land (R)
: Add to your mana pool.
:symgu::symgu:,: If target spell or ability would put at counter on a permanent or player, it puts twice as many counters on that permanent or player instead. If the spell or ability would create one or more tokens of a single type, put twice as many tokens onto the battlefield instead
The minion
Y'daran Celebrant :2mana::symu::symg:
Creature - Human Druid (U)
Whenever a token enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Yadaran Celebrant.
"Embrace change and change will embrace you"
-Y'daran Maxim
2/3
Defense
Mistblossom Veil :1mana::symu::symg:
Enchantment (R)
Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell put a 1/1 blue Faerie token with flying onto the battlefield.
Eerie floral shapes drift through the mists of Y'dar, like seeds on the wind. At the merest touch of magic, they burst forth into life. Those who seek to harm us will only increase our numbers. - Hakalu, Y'daran Celebrant
Atrophy :1mana::symu:
Instant (U)
Target creature loses all abilities. (This effect does not end at the end of turn)
Draw a card.
Ghal Y'dar is the source of Zi, the energy of change. Few realize Zi works both forward and backward. Control Zi, and you can undo even the mightiest foes.
- Bahalu, Y'daran Revoker
Searching:
Reconfigure 1UG
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target artifact.
Search your library for an artifact card , reveal it and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Even artificial progress is the domain of Y'dar. The unworthy will forfeit their gifts to the faithful. We will put them to more righteous use.
Seed of Dahl'Khan 7
Legendary Artifact (MR)
Whenever another triggered ability you control would be put on the stack, puts two copies of that ability on the stack instead. (You may choose new targets for the copy)
The ancient jungle of Dahl'Khan waits to be reborn. Even in its slumber, growth echoes around it. Its hour of return is drawing near.
Legendary Creature - Elemental Avatar
GG: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
2UU: Gain control of target creature with a +1/+1 counter on it.
From the waters of change and the seed of growth sprouted our Lord of Progress. The world will be awash in glorious growth. And that growth will belong to Y'dar Khan. - Bahalu, High Druid of Y'dar Khan
7/7
Mistblossom Raider 2U
Creature - Faerie Rogue
Flying
1G: Prevent the next damage that would be done to Mistblossom Raider this turn. For each point of damage prevented this way, put that many 1/1 blue Faerie creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
As capricious and as endless as the mists that birthed them, the sprytes of Y'dar were a whimsical blight upon the land.
2/1
Host of the July CCL '10, Host of the March CCL '11
Oculus:
Legendary Creature - Elemental Demon {M}
Flying, trample
Whenever Yixal, the End of Time deals combat damage to a player, search that player's graveyard and/or library for that many cards and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library. You may play those cards as long as they remain exiled.
"Those that fight for their future are standing between our god and his prey."
- Khajlan, Yixilid speaker
5/5
Alright, balance wise, we have a 5/5 flying trample for 7 mana. If it were just that, it's probably underpowered, which is a good start. Then we have the card advantage of hitting them in combat, which is a substantial amount. On a full hit, this nets you five cards, although theres a 50/50 chance or so they'd be unplayable considering colors. I'm pretty good with that.
For your story and flavor, it's pretty solid. Fits into your theme nicely, and he really feels like an "end boss" to your collection.
I like the card. It's well done, looks fairly printable, and really works in your collection. I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't seem very fresh or innovative though, nor does Johnny or Spike find it very impressive. I see it filled a solid Mythic slot in a set, but not something to get hyped up about.
Creature - Lhurgoyf {R}
Shroud
Chronovore's power and toughness are each equal to the number of exiled cards.
From the void emerged a presence, amalgamating shards of lost moments into a terror of futures never to be.
*/*
Ok, I do actually have a problem with this one. Simply put, having a card that absolutely requires a strategy built around it to even be cast at all seems very narrow. The card is actually fairly well balanced and good otherwise: Shroud makes sense, the creature type, name, flavor text and mana cost are well placed as well. I'm very happy with how it works with your theme.
Overall good job, I'm just left with a bittersweet taste knowing that it only works in the "Yixal" deck.
Twilight Kiwi:
Legendary Creature - Avatar (M)
Whenever you cast Oversoul Incarnate or another creature spell, you may untap all creatures you control that share a color with that spell.
Oversoul Incarnate is all colors and gets +1/+1 for each tapped creature you control.
Think as one. Act as one. Live as one.
0/5
The abilities are cool and sleek, especially the first one. I really appreciate the nifty utility it has with your Unity cards. The name and flavor and cohesion with your theme are all strong.
However, I actually really feel more comfortable with this as a 5 color card, it just doesn't make sense to me that your could spend 6 colorless mana and get a 5 color card. I also think the P/T is odd, and should be something like 3/3. I understand it's "lack of power" flavoring while no other creatures are around, however, I just think it feels more proper with an even P/T ratio.
As an avatar of your land, it is very solid, and I like the card. While only fitting in specific decks, it does well in those decks and seems like a lot of fun. Good job.
Creature - Elemental (R)
Shroud, vigilance
Unity - Whenever Lightweaver attacks, you may tap another untapped creature you control. If you do, put a token onto the battlefield untapped and attacking that's a copy of Lightweaver.
3/4
This card is cool. I'm a little weirded out that even with shroud you can copy the Lightweavers a lot but using themselves as the tappers, not sure if that is intentional or not.
I like the "untapped and attacking", it's amusing and works great with your theme. Overall the card is very cohesive and a great addition to your collection. I'd really enjoy playing it, although it is certainly overpowered unless the token disappeared at end of turn and/or couldn't be used on itself.
==========================================
Final Judgement:
Oculus - I really love your theme, and I feel like you have created some golden cards this month (Temporal Collapse possibly being one of the finest cards this month.). The colors and way your dealt with time manipulation and 'non-existence' were really cool. I am seriously impressed by your collection overall, with a variety of variations on your theme, and you never strayed into brokenness nor badly designed cards.
However, your cards do sometimes have a quality of being plain or narrow, as is the case respectively with your avatar and minion this challenge. I'd try to be more ambitious with your designs in the future.
Twilight Kiwi - Your theme has shown us a wonderful and colorful world, where creatures of all colors collaborate to create something more. I definitely feel it's been a worthy month for you, as you've created consistently elegant and innovative cards such as Remnant Delver. It has always been obvious that you've thought about how to create this... unified and cohesive collection.
However, very little of your cards stand out as anything more than something to meet the challenge requirements. Well of Vigor is a good example, being so obvious a card to work in your theme. Oversoul Incarnate easily falls into this trap, being a card blindingly focused on working exclusively in the "unity" deck. However, color me impressed by your Lightweaver card, I think it is a very cool card with great applications in and out of your collections, and would be a blast to play with.
For that reason:
wins the round for me.
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Critique responses:
The Scribe was a challenge. I wanted to make a spike-worthy card that supported my general. I think I did that, but went a bit overboard. With a bit of number tweaking I do think it works fine, but it would be a super delicate balance between bad, competitive and broken. Entomb effects can be "draw a card" or better or many decks. I don't like how it can get itself back when it dies either. Of course, the simple solution is only tutor for legendary cards, but I was getting sick of writing "legendary" on every single card I made for this competition ><.
Also, I think Gravedigger and Sun Titan type effects make it not unreasonable to grab cards from the graveyard in BW.
Sets - Arcania
Competitions - CCL: March 2011, April 2011
Preparations for doomsayings:
drewdagreek
Y'dar Khan, the Jungle Reborn - At first glance, this seems really overpowered (it's got a cost/size ratio that's almost too good for blue, it can steal stuff, and make your team bigger). The only real comparison I could draw here is Memnarch. He loses some significant power and toughness to shift to one color, and be able to steal permanents. The idea is not totally new either - this is just really Cytoplast Manipulator cranked to 11. On the flip side, mono green decks wouldn't be ashamed running this either...
Mistblossom Raider - I think this is possibly more broken than the avatar; aside from the fact that you have to keep mana open, this is some serious combat deterrent - not only is it a real pain to kill (which is something Broodhatch Nantuko and Saber Ants had to balance it), but it also gives the tokens flying (turning them from chump fodder to actual threats). "would be dealt to" and "for each 1 damage prevented this way, ..." is the correct wording. Although fairly novel, an effect like this should be fairly highly costed, like Phytohydra. Would also be more inclined to give this one to you if you had indicated a rarity (it looks uncommon to me, although it should be rare).
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Lyzl
Taisou, the Imperial Sun - Every so often there's a card that I instantly connect with, and start dreaming up decks with Stifle, Phage the Untouchable and Progenitus. This is one. Five colors makes it sufficiently challenging, and although it's probably not much for a competitive deck, in the right cirumstances it's an unstoppable game finisher. Thumbs up.
Scribe of the Imperial Seal - My problem with this card is twofold - repeatable Entombs are totally crazy, and Eternal Witness/Regrowth-type cards are pretty much exclusively green, not white (not that I'd want it to die). Then again, it's certainly a creative way to tutor and power on your legend, and it can probably be fixed by tweaking the numbers...
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WINNER: Lyzl!
Critique Ripostes:
drewdagreek
Yeah, it is incredibly powerful. The trample was probably overkill, but I wanted to make sure it was better than Szadek, Lord of Secrets (who kills in 3-4 hits), which isn't that great a card.
As for the 'goyf - it was a toss-up between some form of evasion and shroud, but in the end losing a few creatures is not as bad as taking a whole pile of damage to the head (I was also going to say exiling cards is not easy, and it really needs Yixal to be big, but then I remembered Leyline of the Void exists...oh well, call it a combo piece.)
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
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Sorry for the confusion, yes you only critique the other two players. I get to break ties
Host of the July CCL '10, Host of the March CCL '11
The legend is just incredibly powerful. In addition, it can't be stopped that easily, as flying and trample will overcoming most defenses for the point that's needed. The cherry picking of 5 spells from your opponent's library is extreme card advatange and tutoring. This effect is a bit much.
I like the idea of chronovore.. but exiled cards are too plentiful and perhaps too easy to build up. Also, shroud feels tacked on to add hopelessness. Sure it can't be removed, but it can't be enhanced or interacted with. It just becomes big.
Creative and interesting, but in the end a bit too powerful.
Twilight Kiwi: The legend is interesting but I think too much for 6 colorless. Lightweaver is very creative, but I think too powerful. Once again, shroud seems unnecessary. A 3/4 blocker and additonal attacker. This could get really dangerous really fast. Also, the copy and the original can tap each other on the second round. If you don't have a blocker capable of killing it on the first assault, you're screwed unless you draw a sweeper. A might too powerful, but very neat.
I like both entries, though the used of shroud was a little much on both. Close one Oculus, but I'm going to give the edge to Kiwi as his is a little more balanced.
Winner: Kiwi
VS
Taisou, the Imperial Sun: Experiment Kraj is still one of my favorite cards, and "this card has all abilities of (subset of cards)" variations are always fun to design, but hard to balance. You've done an admirable job here, though I think it might have even been okay to push him a little further and make him 6/6 for that cost (I'm guessing you wanted to keep him in line with the Kamigawa dragon spirits). Definitely a build-around card, but there are oh so many cool combos you could come up with. I can't even begin to scratch the surface of his vast combo potential (one of the first things to come to mind was a deck full of the Grandeur legends). He's also very flavorful for Kamigawa of course.
Mistblossom Raider: I like the concept, but there are a few issues with it. First, the wording is a little awkward; I'm not sure what the best alternative would have been, maybe something like, "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to ~ from a single source this turn. For each damage prevented this way..." Unfortunately it's way too powerful! Compare to Oona, Queen of the Fae; putting an X in the cost would've helped a lot to balance this. Also, this feels like a white ability, not a green one. Either way a creature with an effect like this should cost a bit more than three mana.
VS
Scribe of the Imperial Seal: This dude feels very BG to me, as white only gets to bring creatures back from the grave most of the time (occasionally other permanent types too, but never instants or sorceries), while returning any card to your hand is seen fairly often in green. Cheap, repeatable Entombing is probably a little too enabling for many types of decks; self-milling might have been better. Combining these two effects is clever, but at this cost it's a bit too much. Maybe if it was a one-time Entomb on a stick when it enters the battlefield, then Eternal Witness when it dies..?
My First (And Probably Only) MCC Perfect Score: December 09 (Round One)
Either way, congrats Twilight Kiwi! You have to win it for me now mate
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
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Notes on my cards: Ah, it hadn't occurred to me that Lightweaver copies could tap for each other for some reason. >_< I was surprised to find Wizards hadn't made a creature with vigilance and shroud yet, though.
My First (And Probably Only) MCC Perfect Score: December 09 (Round One)
Well played gentlemen. Best of luck Lyzl.
Off to April!
It was a really difficult decision between you two btw, I really liked both sets of cards. Good luck in the next CCL Oculus and Drewdageek.
I'm excited for the finals Kiwi, looking forward to seeing what happens.
Sets - Arcania
Competitions - CCL: March 2011, April 2011
Host of the July CCL '10, Host of the March CCL '11