The Third CCC&G Pro Tour
We Make the Set II: Into The Core
Round 9 - The Finals - Let The Voting Commence
It's been a long trip here - over two months since we started this iteration of the Pro Tour - and we're down to our last two contestants.
Svennihilator and yewlas. Take a bow, you've earned it. (And remember that you're both automatically qualified for the Fourth Pro Tour, in just a few short months.)
Without further ado, let me present the entries for the Finals:
Angelic Favor4W
Enchantment - Aura [Common]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying as long as you control it. Otherwise it can’t attack or block.
Seal of Endurance2W
Enchantment [Common]
Sacrifice Seal of Endurance: Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
Tidal Sphinx4UU
Creature - Sphinx [Rare]
Flying
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player returns a creature he or she controls to its owner’s hand.
5/5
Water TykeU
Creature - Elemental [Common] U: Water Tyke gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
0/3
Metaphysical MeleeU
Instant (C)
As an additional cost to cast Metaphysical Melee, return a creature you control to its owner's hand.
Counter target creature spell. Jace had his own version of "brute force."
Thieve the Future5UU
Enchantment- Aura (R)
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature has "T, Sacrifice Thieve the Future: Take an extra turn after this one."
Seal of Incandescence1R
Enchantment (C)
Sacrifice Seal of Incandescence: Add RRR to your mana pool.
Truth Serum1
Artifact (U) ,T, Sacrifice Truth Serum: Target player reveals his or her hand. Draw a card. Brewed over the course of a lunar phase, alchemists say that a few drops can make even the most powerful wizard spill out his innermost secrets.
Radiant Field
Land [Rare] T: Add 1 to your mana pool. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Plains.
Radiant Coast
Land [Rare] T: Add 1 to your mana pool. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control an Island.
Radiant Bog
Land [Rare] T: Add 1 to your mana pool. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Swamp.
Radiant Ridge
Land [Rare] T: Add 1 to your mana pool. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Mountain.
Radiant Woods
Land [Rare] T: Add 1 to your mana pool. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Forest.
Veteran's Stronghold
Land (R)
Veteran's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Veteran's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more white permanents, put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield. T: Add W to your mana pool.
Spy's Stronghold
Land (R)
Spy's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Spy's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more blue permanents, draw a card. T: Add U to your mana pool.
Assassin's Stronghold
Land (R)
Assassin's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Assassin's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more black permanents, target creature you don't control gets -2/-2 until end of turn. T: Add B to your mana pool.
Taskmage's Stronghold
Land (R)
Taskmage's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Taskmage's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more red permanents, it deals 3 damage to target player. T: Add R to your mana pool.
Druid's Stronghold
Land (R)
Druid's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Druid's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more green permanents, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. T: Add G to your mana pool.
Remnants of Vigor3WW
Sorcery [Uncommon]
You gain 3 life.
Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield for each 1 life you gained this turn.
Remnants of Suffering4BB
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Destroy target nonblack creature.
Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield for each creature that died this turn.
Remnants of FuryRR
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Remnants of Fury deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Put a 1/1 red Goblin creature token onto the battlefield for each time an instant or sorcery spell dealt damage this turn.
Remnants of Gaea2GG
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield for each land that entered the battlefield this turn.
Merfolk Mindmages5U
Creature- Merfolk Wizard (C)
Defender (This creature can't attack.) T: Target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
2/5
FrostboltU
Instant (C)
Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Rhox Alms-Collector3W
Creature- Rhino Cleric (R)
Spells your opponents cast cost 1 more to cast.
Abilities your opponents activate cost 1 more to activate.
1/4
Fencurse Witch3B
Creature- Human Shaman (U)
When Fencurse Witch dies, target player loses X life, where X is the number of Swamps you control. Even the darkest minds can be further corrupted.
1/3
Remnants of Memory2UU
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Draw a card.
Put a 1/1 blue Illusion creature token with flying onto the battlefield for each card you’ve drawn this turn.
Trickster's Charm1UU
Instant [Uncommon]
Choose one — Counter target noncreature spell; or draw two cards, then discard a card; or return target creature to its owner’s hand.
Dracoclysm1RRR
Creature - Elemental Dragon [Rare]
Flying, trample, haste
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice Dracoclysm. "We have one chance, and that's to induce the flood-head to bite the eruption-head whilst the tornado-tail is under the lightning-wings." - Pydeus-Twelve, golembrain highguard
7/1
Dragon's Charm1RR
Instant [Uncommon]
Choose one — Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn; or destroy target artifact; or Dragon’s Charm deals 3 damage to target creature.
Duelist's Sabre1
Artifact- Equpiment (C)
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and can't be blocked by more than one creature.
Equip 2(2: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
Defense of the Devout4W
Instant (C)
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you this turn. You gain 5 life.
Terrasurge2GG
Sorcery (R)
Search your library for a land card and put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
Target creature gets +X/+X and gains trample until end of turn, where X is the number of lands you control.
Restless Corpse1B
Creature- Zombie (U)
Restless Corpse can't block.
Whenever a creature you control dies, if Restless Corpse is in your graveyard, you may exile that card. If you do, return Restless Corpse to the battlefield.
2/2
Mesmeric Drake4UU
Creature - Drake [Uncommon]
Flying
Whenever Mesmeric Drake deals damage, each opponent puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
3/3
Blood Hoarder4B
Creature - Vampire [Uncommon]
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on Blood Hoarder.
2/2
Skeletal ChampionBBB
Creature - Skeleton [Rare] BBB: Return Skeletal Champion from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
3/1
Cerebral Breach3RR
Sorcery [Rare]
Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You may put a creature card from it onto the battlefield under your control. It gains haste until end of turn. Return it to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step.
Brutal Advantage2G
Sorcery (C)
Target creature you control gets +2/+2 until end of turn. You may have it fight target creature you don't control. (If you do, each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
Thoughtskim2U
Sorcery (C)
Target player puts the top five cards of his or her graveyard into his or her library.
Draw a card. Great minds think alike. Greater minds prevent others from thinking.
Morbid Memories3B
Sorcery (C)
Target player discards two cards.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. "Many have fallen to dreams unfulfilled. Let me rid you of such trifles."
—Liliana Vess
Infernal Tormentor3BBB
Creature- Demon (M)
Flying, trample
Whenever Infernal Tormenter deals combat damage to a player, he or she sacrifices a creature.
At the beginning of your end step, sacrifice another creature unless Infernal Tormenter dealt combat damage to a player this turn. If you do, you lose life equal to that creature’s power.
7/7
To everyone who's voting: Vote once for each category. The five categories are the new cards, the rare lands, and each of the three sets of replacements.
I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the Third Pro Tour, and I'd like everyone to wish our finalists the best of luck!
Even after the Finals concludes, development on this set will continue in the Custom Set Creation subforum, and playtesting will be available at some point after the conclusion of the Finals as well. In addition, we may commission art from other members of the site, depending on how well playtesting of the set goes.
First and foremost, I like slow limited formats. I draft online almost every day and if there's a limited GP or PTQ I'll go out to play in it. I still design with constructed in mind but a lot of my goals are to make a solid limited format. If you take a look at what competative players tend to say are the best limited formats in Magic you'll get answers like Onslaught block, Time Spiral block(New players didn't enjoy it not because it was slow, but because of complexity), or Rise of the Eldrazi. All three of these formats are very slow and share common elements that make them this way. The four most common ways to slow down a format are common creatures with high toughness, which we already have, creatures with expensive activated abilities, cheap but situational removal and expensive but high-impact removal. My goal in this final round and in the time after is to try and slow the set down so that games last long enough to play them and so that there are a variety of interesting archetypes to try each time you play.
New Cards
First up is Angelic Favor. Looking at the set, we have zero white commons above CMC 4. That's something that definitely needs to change after the contest and I tried to take the first step with Angelic Favor. It's either a mediocre removal spell or a way to end games.
Seal of Endurance is somewhere between 23rd card and amazing depending on the board state. Before Rootborn Defenses I would have said this card should be uncommon, but it seems like Wizards is okay printing this effect at common.
Tidal Sphinx plays an interesting role in this limited format. On the one hand there are a lot of tokens you can eat for free each turn and you can set up constant ETB effects, but at the same time if your opponent has ETB effects or if Sphinx is your only creature then you're in for some sad times.
Water Tyke is my favorite of the bunch. I was quite surprised to find that this effect hasn't been done before on a one-drop and it plays quite well with the monocolor theme. Even if you never pump it and it sits around as a 0/3 you still stop bears for a while. It also plays well with Ninjutsu should there be a need for aggressive blue creatures come Kamigawa.
Lands
These were easily the hardest designs I had to make during the entire contest. I had nine different ideas and each had their pros and cons, but ultimately I went with the Radiant cycle. There were three major hurdles I had to jump over. The first was that we have a decently-sized monocolor focus, but the lands were specifically reserved for duals. The lands somehow had to play better knowing the decks would be leaning towards a base color with a splash. The second hurdle was that the lands needed to come into play untapped, or at least have the ability to. With Kamigawa and the "return lands to hand" mechanic confirmed as returning, bouncing lands that came back into play tapped seems like the least amount of fun I can imagine. The last and ultimately largest hurdle was NWO's newest policy on dual land cycles. If a dual land cycle is to appear, all ten combinations need to be present. This is a problem because we only have five slots. So somehow these five lands need to be more splash focused rather than traditional duals, they need to have the ability to enter the battlefield untapped, they have to cover all ten color combinations and yet somehow still have to be elegant because this is Core.
Sounds easy, right?
Radiant Field
Land [Rare] T: Add 1 to your mana pool. T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Plains.
Promotes monocolor with a splash: Check. These lands require a threshold of their respective land type. You can't run four of these and four of the blue one because you can't reliably draw both a plains, an island and these duals. A hand with two islands and the white dual, Radiant Field is just worse than if you had two islands and a plains. The lands actually get worse beyond two colors, which is where this set wants them to be. They promote exactly what the set and the Standard environment want you to be doing while actively making it harder to run three or more colors. These aren't trying to be better or worse than the M10 duals, but replace them for a standard season that doesn't want three color decks running around. (Obviously they become better in older formats where you have access to shocks and duals, but I think fetches+shocks/duals is still just better considering the high amount of wasteland variants and man-lands that don't turn these on.)
Ability to enter the battlefield untapped: Check.
They represent all ten color combinations in only five slots: Check. Radiant Field is Plateau, Scrubland, Savannah or Tundra depending on what your splash is. If you're running a base-white deck splashing blue, you run Radiant Field. If you're running a base-blue deck splashing white, you run Radiant Coast. Base-red splash black? Radiant Ridge. You get the picture.
First Revisions
A work isn't done when there is nothing more to put in, but when there is nothing left to take out. The Remnant cycle could be much simpler. There's just no reason that red or black should be getting flash creatures and half of the cycle wants you to cast it at sorcery speed anyways. The names are also very weird. I've changed them all to be easier to say. I would also really like to keep the flavor text on these but it puts the black, red and green one's into microtext on the cards, so I had to get rid of it. I apologize to whoever made them.
Vigor's Remnant's has been changed to 3WW, 3 life and to a sorcery. Commander's Charm already makes two dudes at instant speed with other bonuses and it's been in the set since the very first round of the contest. I don't think we need that effect twice. At CMC five it turns into more of a build-around-me value card and white needs more high cost cards in the set.
Suffering's Remnants is the only card in the cycle to receive a complete re-work. Nothing about the original card feels right. Why is black getting flash creatures? Why is black milling people in a Core Set? Why do the creatures have intimidate? Why is it the only card in the cycle where the original scaling is random? I've changed the card to a six-mana Nekrataal variant, thus the nonblack restriction, and the scaling has been changed to creatures that died this turn. It's potentially quite the limited card, but like most expensive removal spells it can also be mediocre at times. Our black is all over the place for limited play so it's nice to have a card that gives you a game plan.
For Fury's Remnants I really didn't like that the token was a 2/1 and that it had flash. I've changed it to make 1/1 Goblins which are a common theme in the set and made it a sorcery like the rest. Right now it plays like a Sparkmage Apprentice with a steeper cost but with an upside. The scaling has remained the same.
Gaea's Remnants was just too efficient. The closest things I can equate it to are Ondu Giant and Solemn Simulacrum. It's better than the giant in our set because we already have a focus on monocolor or with a splash, so the GG cost for two 2/2s and a land shouldn't be an issue. The costs of Flow of Ideas and Howl of the Night Pack say that a 2/2 and a card are fairly close in value, thus the reference to Solemn. I've changed the card to make 1/1 Saprolings, but instead of fetching basics it can now fetch any land. Now it's more of a ramp/utility card with an upside rather than being a 4/4 for four with an upside. Did I mention the original card was also an instant? That value.
Second Revisions
Memory's Remnants was close to perfect. The biggest problem I had was that you would rarely play it as an instant for a 1/1 when you could play it on your turn for two 1/1s. It's been changed to a sorcery but remains the same otherwise.
Refute was actually my own submission and I think it's a fine card, but after seeing that there was no room for the red or blue charms to finish the cycle something had to be cut. Trickster's Charm uses the noncreature counter so cutting Refute felt right. None of the modes on Trickster's Charm are particularly cost-efficient, but when combined make for a well-rounded card.
Between both flying and intimidate, Living Cataclysm was just an expensive rare Lava Axe. I've changed it to be more of a flashy Ball Lightning variant. I like the flavor text though, so I'm going to keep it.
Tactless Mandrils is so very strange. The situation where I would be willing to give them a 6/3 and give up two cards to kill their hexproof creature and then the Mandrils I just gave them just wont come up. Not to mention they can just give the Mandrils back to me to counter whatever removal spell I'm using to target their hexproof creature. It's just not very good at its job. Dragon's Charm is a role-player. It's a finisher in the R/X tokens decks, a decent removal spell or a way to get rid of whatever stray artifact is giving you a problem.
Third Revisions
Platinum Wyvern seems like it was intended to be part of a larger cycle that didn't get fully realized. I like when sets have an Air Elemental variant that is good at closing out games so I went with a new twist. Note how Mesmeric Drake doesn't say "...damage to a player...", so even if it's getting chumped or stone walled you're still advancing a win condition. I have never understood the need to put "combat damage" on cards what's power level isn't determined by it. Why should Johnny be punished because he wants to throw a copy of Mesmeric Drake in his Quicksilver Dagger deck?
Hellfire Scars is in a weird spot. You want it as a finisher in an aggressive deck because you don't care about your life total, but your creatures aren't going to have such high power that this does very much. It's one of those cards where you wont play it often because you're not sure just how good it is and when you do play it you'll probably be underwhelmed. I've decided to replace it with another card that gives black decks a real plan. I've said before that I think black is kind of all over the place when it comes to limited so I wanted a way for black to interact positively with all the tokens running around. Blood Hoarder is one of those cards you'll pick up when you start drafting an archetype like w/g tokens, w/r tokens or r/g tokens and one of your colors dries up or you'll see it early and move in. I like how with the couple of lifelink guys at common in black and white and this dude at uncommon, the updated Remnants of Vigor actually turns into a B/W archetype.
Mausoleum Archaeologist was just too wordy. It's hard to grasp at first what it does because of the awkward way it has to be worded. I think that it could pass in an Expert Level set, but it's a bit complex for Core. I've decided to replace it with something much simpler in Skeletal Champion. It has the potential to be fairly good but the steep cost should keep it in check. It shouldn't be a problem in standard considering this set is following a graveyard set so there will probably be a good amount of graveyard hate.
I already said my piece on Lava Barricade last round, so I'll just sum it up by saying that I'm not a fan of "punisher" cards and that I think this will have a marginal effect on limited. I've decided to replace it with the obligatory weird red sorcery that does stuff, only this time with a twist! It might see play! It's a lot of words, like the big ugly red sorcery should be, but it's just Act of Treason from their hand. It's intended to be a stop-gap if Standard turns into a "big stuff" format like with the titans.
I took most of these challenges as an opportunity to fill holes in the set (hence why I picked so many commons). That was especially true here, for the few remaining spots open.
I felt like blue really needed another counterspell at common, since the only one was Temporal Excision. I also knew that a counterspell needed to cost less and be more narrow in focus. The image of an ethereal creature punching another one out made me smile, and thus was born Metaphysical Melee (originally titled Æther Rumble).
I don't have much to say about Thieve the Future except that I like stealing dudes and taking extra turns. Oh, and that this was a bottom-up design, so when I tried to give it some flavor in my head, I come up with a very wonky story about time travel that doesn't make any sense. Hopefully we'll fix it in the flavor text.
I rather like Rituals in red, and thought the Seals cycle was a good opportunity to set up for big turns.
The following is the true life story of how Truth Serum was created:
Me: I need to design an uncommon artifact for a core set, so it would help if it were a resonant card. It needs to mean something outside of mtg.
My wife: Oookay...
Me: Core sets have used a ton of the typical fantasy items- swords, staves, rings, etc. I need something different.
Wife: And why are you asking me?
Me: Well, Harry Potter is full of magical objects, and you know those books way better than me.
Wife:
From there, we stumbled upon the idea of potions, and when she said veritaserum, I knew I had my card. What makes me really happy is that when I told my wife (who is only superficially familiar with Magic) I wanted to do a truth serum card, she knew EXACTLY what it would do.
Lands
I really struggled with this set of cards. Like Svennihilator, I had multiple designs cooked up. I didn't really want to make dual lands, since our set is not pushing multicolor at all. Ultimately, I went with the Strongholds because they reinforced the monocolor theme and would be really enticing with the Kamigawa land-bouncing mechanic.
Since I knew I was distancing myself from duals, I wanted a land that you didn't want to see on turn one, but rather a land that could serve as a strong topdeck. My biggest concern was power level. I didn't want them to be too strong, since they're basically 0-mana, unconterable effects. In many of my attempts, I erred on the side of caution and wound up with disappointing, weak lands. I'm hoping this pushes the envelope a bit, but not too much.
First Revisions
I really liked Polar Sentinel, but it was just too hard to get through and would gum up the ground too often in Limited for my tastes. Do you know how many common creatures have 8 toughness? Ulamog's Crusher. That's it. The Mindmages are meant to help make milling more viable in Limited but still give blue a good defensive creature.
I love tap-down effects in blue, and was surprised to see that both this card didn't already exist and that blue had no common Frost Breath-like effects.
Fencurse Witch exists because I was surprised we didn't get a Swamp-matters card in a set with a monocolor theme. It also enforces the black sacrifice theme that seems to be developing.
Second Revisions
Duelist's Sabre continues my mission of low-rarity, (hopefully) high-resonance artifacts. We didn't have an equipment that gave evasion, either. Also, Gideon is in the set, so I thought another equipment might be appropriate.
Defense of the Devout is a bad card, but could be fairly useful in a controlling Limited build. It's the kind of thing that could table and make it to the person who needs it in a draft. I think it's important that sets have such low power cards, especially custom sets, as the tendency to make everything as efficient as possible is persistent.
I wanted Terrasurge to be an Overrun effect, but I thought green needed a rare that focused on lands. Trying to cost it to make all your guys get +X/+X got frustrating (it always pumps for at least one more than you paid, i.e. even at 8 mana, if you cast it as soon as you hit 8 lands, you're pumping for +9/+9!) so I just made it a big pump spell for one guy.
Zombie Overseer was my design, and I had wanted to see an uncommon cycle of lords, but there just weren't enough slots. The goblin deck probably would've been bonkers with an uncommon lord, anyway. Plus, we already have a TON of cycles. So, I just went with another Zombie trope– self-reanimation. It also pushes the sacrifice theme.
Third Revisions
Brutal Advantage is the missing common fight effect. It may need to cost more given Hunt the Weak, but I thought the temporary boost vs. the counter was a fair trade-off.
Thoughtskim was a little closer to the original card (Research Report) than I had intended, but I knew the set needed at least two common milling cards for the archetype to stand a chance in Limited. Blue also felt like it could use a little more card drawing at common.
Morbid Memories had so many restrictions on it. I wanted a discard spell. But it couldn't cost 1 (we already have Brain Bleed). It really needed to hit at least two cards, so it needed to cost at least as much as Mind Rot. Stapling another effect to it was tough, as common black already has enough removal and life loss. I'm hoping the flavor text helps tie the two effects together a little bit, since they're both in Liliana's sphere of influence. Oddly, my biggest regret is I fear the flavor text isn't badass enough for Lili. Hopefully it comes across as snarky.
I was a little worried about the demon, since if he's your only guy, he doesn't really have a downside. Monoblack control has had some pretty strong finishers anyway, though, so I didn't let it get too in the way.
Category 1: Water Tyke is my favorite card here, followed by Truth Serum and Metaphysical Melee. I'm a bit concerned by the Seals; the White one might be deceptively strong in Limited, and the Red one might get banned in Modern. I don't understand the flavor on the final two cards.
Category 2: I voted for Sven here; his reasoning is very sound and the lands are well designed.
Category 3: I was initially surprised by Sven's choices on the Remnants but his explanation was illuminating. Reducing the number of kinds of tokens in the set is much appreciated. I do feel like the black remake is too strong; it seems pretty easy to get three zombies and a Doom Blade for 6.
Frostbolt is a card that's been a long time coming, and I'm glad to see it here. I do believe you mean non-mana abilities for the Monk?
Category 4: Trickster's Charm is sweet; I bet many people would call it Cryptic Command-light. Duelist's Saber is my second favorite card, great flavor.
Category 5: Blood Hoarder fills a much-needed role in the set, and Cerebral Breach is another good twist on Act of Treason. Brutal Advantage is one of green's best kill spells ever, but I like it. Infernal Tormenter is craazy.
As long as the creature actually dies from the destruction effect (that is, it's not somehow made indestructible, and it doesn't get regenerated), it counts; later sentences on a card don't look at "the board state when this was originally cast", they look at the board state at that point during resolution, where the previous sentences have already happened.
Rhox Alms-Collector 3W
Creature- Rhino Cleric (R)
Spells your opponents cast cost 1 more to cast. Abilities your opponents activate cost 1 more to activate.
1/4
This shuts down your opponents' lands because their abilities are activated. Should add: "Abilities your opponents activate that aren't mana abilities cost 1 more to activate."
This shuts down your opponents' lands because their abilities are activated. Should add: "Abilities your opponents activate that aren't mana abilities cost 1 more to activate."
I fixed that during my designs, but must have been looking at an older file when I posted my cards here. Oh, well.
As there is only about 7 hours left in the poll, I'm going to go ahead and congratulate Svennihilator. This has been an amazingly fun Pro Tour, and you've been an outstanding designer. I've learned so much from this experience, thanks in no small part to Sven's great work (not to mention the awesome work done by everyone else who competed this summer). I may try to get some critiques up, but I will happily go ahead and give you my vote.
Oh my, I just saw this. I'm actually excited beyond words by this, haha. I design a lot in my spare time like I'm sure most of the contestants do so it's a very nice feeling to be recognized.
First off I want to give a big hand to MDenham for running a smooth and very exciting PT. I was intrigued by the different challenges each round and think we actually ended up with a playable set. I especially liked designing the packs.
You're an incredible designer, Yewlas. I was actually inspired by your third pack of cards back in round seven or eight. It blew mine out of the water.
GM, aurorasparrow and Savia all gave fantastic ideas as to overall set themes and helped bring a cohesiveness no the set that I tried to incorporate into my own cards each round. I think your guidance and ideas were fantastic and lead to where the set has become on a large scale.
And to everyone else who participated and to those who voted for me, thank you! It's a privledge to have made it this far and I couldn't have done it without your support. Everyone had interesting ideas and brought their own unique designs to the table.
Lastly, sig'ed!
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Oh, what's that you say, Karn? You remove poison counters? You should tell that to Mr. Rosewater.
GM, aurorasparrow and Savia all gave fantastic ideas as to overall set themes and helped bring a cohesiveness no the set that I tried to incorporate into my own cards each round. I think your guidance and ideas were fantastic and lead to where the set has become on a large scale.
Aw, thanks And congratulations, well deserved. You were on fire this whole PT.
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DCI L3 Judge; Regional Coordinator, British Isles & South Africa
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Oh my, I just saw this. I'm actually excited beyond words by this, haha. I design a lot in my spare time like I'm sure most of the contestants do so it's a very nice feeling to be recognized.
First off I want to give a big hand to MDenham for running a smooth and very exciting PT. I was intrigued by the different challenges each round and think we actually ended up with a playable set. I especially liked designing the packs.
You're an incredible designer, Yewlas. I was actually inspired by your third pack of cards back in round seven or eight. It blew mine out of the water.
GM, aurorasparrow and Savia all gave fantastic ideas as to overall set themes and helped bring a cohesiveness no the set that I tried to incorporate into my own cards each round. I think your guidance and ideas were fantastic and lead to where the set has become on a large scale.
And to everyone else who participated and to those who voted for me, thank you! It's a privledge to have made it this far and I couldn't have done it without your support. Everyone had interesting ideas and brought their own unique designs to the table.
Lastly, sig'ed!
Your kind words are appreciated I'm really proud of this set. I think it's really very good!
We Make the Set II: Into The Core
Round 9 - The Finals - Let The Voting Commence
It's been a long trip here - over two months since we started this iteration of the Pro Tour - and we're down to our last two contestants.
Svennihilator and yewlas. Take a bow, you've earned it. (And remember that you're both automatically qualified for the Fourth Pro Tour, in just a few short months.)
Without further ado, let me present the entries for the Finals:
Enchantment - Aura [Common]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying as long as you control it. Otherwise it can’t attack or block.
Seal of Endurance 2W
Enchantment [Common]
Sacrifice Seal of Endurance: Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
Tidal Sphinx 4UU
Creature - Sphinx [Rare]
Flying
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player returns a creature he or she controls to its owner’s hand.
5/5
Water Tyke U
Creature - Elemental [Common]
U: Water Tyke gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
0/3
Instant (C)
As an additional cost to cast Metaphysical Melee, return a creature you control to its owner's hand.
Counter target creature spell.
Jace had his own version of "brute force."
Thieve the Future 5UU
Enchantment- Aura (R)
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature has "T, Sacrifice Thieve the Future: Take an extra turn after this one."
Seal of Incandescence 1R
Enchantment (C)
Sacrifice Seal of Incandescence: Add RRR to your mana pool.
Truth Serum 1
Artifact (U)
,T, Sacrifice Truth Serum: Target player reveals his or her hand. Draw a card.
Brewed over the course of a lunar phase, alchemists say that a few drops can make even the most powerful wizard spill out his innermost secrets.
Land [Rare]
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Plains.
Radiant Coast
Land [Rare]
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control an Island.
Radiant Bog
Land [Rare]
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Swamp.
Radiant Ridge
Land [Rare]
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Mountain.
Radiant Woods
Land [Rare]
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Forest.
Land (R)
Veteran's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Veteran's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more white permanents, put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield.
T: Add W to your mana pool.
Spy's Stronghold
Land (R)
Spy's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Spy's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more blue permanents, draw a card.
T: Add U to your mana pool.
Assassin's Stronghold
Land (R)
Assassin's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Assassin's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more black permanents, target creature you don't control gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
T: Add B to your mana pool.
Taskmage's Stronghold
Land (R)
Taskmage's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Taskmage's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more red permanents, it deals 3 damage to target player.
T: Add R to your mana pool.
Druid's Stronghold
Land (R)
Druid's Stronghold enters the battlefield tapped.
When Druid's Stronghold enters the battlefield, if you control three or more green permanents, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
T: Add G to your mana pool.
Sorcery [Uncommon]
You gain 3 life.
Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield for each 1 life you gained this turn.
Remnants of Suffering 4BB
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Destroy target nonblack creature.
Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield for each creature that died this turn.
Remnants of Fury RR
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Remnants of Fury deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Put a 1/1 red Goblin creature token onto the battlefield for each time an instant or sorcery spell dealt damage this turn.
Remnants of Gaea 2GG
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield for each land that entered the battlefield this turn.
Creature- Merfolk Wizard (C)
Defender (This creature can't attack.)
T: Target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
2/5
Frostbolt U
Instant (C)
Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Rhox Alms-Collector 3W
Creature- Rhino Cleric (R)
Spells your opponents cast cost 1 more to cast.
Abilities your opponents activate cost 1 more to activate.
1/4
Fencurse Witch 3B
Creature- Human Shaman (U)
When Fencurse Witch dies, target player loses X life, where X is the number of Swamps you control.
Even the darkest minds can be further corrupted.
1/3
Sorcery [Uncommon]
Draw a card.
Put a 1/1 blue Illusion creature token with flying onto the battlefield for each card you’ve drawn this turn.
Trickster's Charm 1UU
Instant [Uncommon]
Choose one — Counter target noncreature spell; or draw two cards, then discard a card; or return target creature to its owner’s hand.
Dracoclysm 1RRR
Creature - Elemental Dragon [Rare]
Flying, trample, haste
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice Dracoclysm.
"We have one chance, and that's to induce the flood-head to bite the eruption-head whilst the tornado-tail is under the lightning-wings." - Pydeus-Twelve, golembrain highguard
7/1
Dragon's Charm 1RR
Instant [Uncommon]
Choose one — Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn; or destroy target artifact; or Dragon’s Charm deals 3 damage to target creature.
Artifact- Equpiment (C)
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and can't be blocked by more than one creature.
Equip 2 (2: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
Defense of the Devout 4W
Instant (C)
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you this turn. You gain 5 life.
Terrasurge 2GG
Sorcery (R)
Search your library for a land card and put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
Target creature gets +X/+X and gains trample until end of turn, where X is the number of lands you control.
Restless Corpse 1B
Creature- Zombie (U)
Restless Corpse can't block.
Whenever a creature you control dies, if Restless Corpse is in your graveyard, you may exile that card. If you do, return Restless Corpse to the battlefield.
2/2
Creature - Drake [Uncommon]
Flying
Whenever Mesmeric Drake deals damage, each opponent puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
3/3
Blood Hoarder 4B
Creature - Vampire [Uncommon]
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on Blood Hoarder.
2/2
Skeletal Champion BBB
Creature - Skeleton [Rare]
BBB: Return Skeletal Champion from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
3/1
Cerebral Breach 3RR
Sorcery [Rare]
Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You may put a creature card from it onto the battlefield under your control. It gains haste until end of turn. Return it to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step.
Sorcery (C)
Target creature you control gets +2/+2 until end of turn. You may have it fight target creature you don't control. (If you do, each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
Thoughtskim 2U
Sorcery (C)
Target player puts the top five cards of his or her graveyard into his or her library.
Draw a card.
Great minds think alike. Greater minds prevent others from thinking.
Morbid Memories 3B
Sorcery (C)
Target player discards two cards.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
"Many have fallen to dreams unfulfilled. Let me rid you of such trifles."
—Liliana Vess
Infernal Tormentor 3BBB
Creature- Demon (M)
Flying, trample
Whenever Infernal Tormenter deals combat damage to a player, he or she sacrifices a creature.
At the beginning of your end step, sacrifice another creature unless Infernal Tormenter dealt combat damage to a player this turn. If you do, you lose life equal to that creature’s power.
7/7
To everyone who's voting: Vote once for each category. The five categories are the new cards, the rare lands, and each of the three sets of replacements.
I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the Third Pro Tour, and I'd like everyone to wish our finalists the best of luck!
Finally, statements from the finalists:
(Probably NSFW) So you may have heard I'm trying to write a TV series...
Category 2: I voted for Sven here; his reasoning is very sound and the lands are well designed.
Category 3: I was initially surprised by Sven's choices on the Remnants but his explanation was illuminating. Reducing the number of kinds of tokens in the set is much appreciated. I do feel like the black remake is too strong; it seems pretty easy to get three zombies and a Doom Blade for 6.
Frostbolt is a card that's been a long time coming, and I'm glad to see it here. I do believe you mean non-mana abilities for the Monk?
Category 4: Trickster's Charm is sweet; I bet many people would call it Cryptic Command-light. Duelist's Saber is my second favorite card, great flavor.
Category 5: Blood Hoarder fills a much-needed role in the set, and Cerebral Breach is another good twist on Act of Treason. Brutal Advantage is one of green's best kill spells ever, but I like it. Infernal Tormenter is craazy.
Great cards overall! Good job, guys!
4th place at CCC&G Pro Tour
Chances of bad hands (<2 or >4 land):
21: 28.9%
22: 27.5%
23: 26.3%
24: 25.5%
25: 25.1%
26: 25.3%
It won't count the creature it kills will it?
4th place at CCC&G Pro Tour
Chances of bad hands (<2 or >4 land):
21: 28.9%
22: 27.5%
23: 26.3%
24: 25.5%
25: 25.1%
26: 25.3%
(Probably NSFW) So you may have heard I'm trying to write a TV series...
Rhox Alms-Collector 3W
Creature- Rhino Cleric (R)
Spells your opponents cast cost 1 more to cast.
Abilities your opponents activate cost 1 more to activate.
1/4
This shuts down your opponents' lands because their abilities are activated. Should add: "Abilities your opponents activate that aren't mana abilities cost 1 more to activate."
I fixed that during my designs, but must have been looking at an older file when I posted my cards here. Oh, well.
As there is only about 7 hours left in the poll, I'm going to go ahead and congratulate Svennihilator. This has been an amazingly fun Pro Tour, and you've been an outstanding designer. I've learned so much from this experience, thanks in no small part to Sven's great work (not to mention the awesome work done by everyone else who competed this summer). I may try to get some critiques up, but I will happily go ahead and give you my vote.
Mechanic Creator's Contest III- Winner
[Clan Flamingo]
I'll put in the request for a trophy within the next couple of days if nobody else gets to it before me.
(Probably NSFW) So you may have heard I'm trying to write a TV series...
First off I want to give a big hand to MDenham for running a smooth and very exciting PT. I was intrigued by the different challenges each round and think we actually ended up with a playable set. I especially liked designing the packs.
You're an incredible designer, Yewlas. I was actually inspired by your third pack of cards back in round seven or eight. It blew mine out of the water.
GM, aurorasparrow and Savia all gave fantastic ideas as to overall set themes and helped bring a cohesiveness no the set that I tried to incorporate into my own cards each round. I think your guidance and ideas were fantastic and lead to where the set has become on a large scale.
And to everyone else who participated and to those who voted for me, thank you! It's a privledge to have made it this far and I couldn't have done it without your support. Everyone had interesting ideas and brought their own unique designs to the table.
Lastly, sig'ed!
Aw, thanks
I run a Tumblr for Magic-related statistics, graphs, and quizzes. Come check it out!
Your kind words are appreciated
4th place at CCC&G Pro Tour
Chances of bad hands (<2 or >4 land):
21: 28.9%
22: 27.5%
23: 26.3%
24: 25.5%
25: 25.1%
26: 25.3%