Here's the twist I was talking about. There are plenty of relevant story event each set, and now we have the Saga subtype to tell them through cards. The history of Dominaria has more or less been told completely by the existing Saga cards. Let's try to use that technology for some other plane.
Main Challenge - Design a Saga for an important story event that occurred on a plane other than Dominaria. Please see clarifications for how to properly format your card.
Subchallenge 1 - The event your Saga represents is already known in official canon.
Subchallenge 2 - Your Saga has a "final chapter number" (aka the highest Roman numeral, see clarifications) different from three.
• If you have MSE (Magic Set Editor) and need a template for Saga cards, see this:
MSE doesn't seem to have a template for Sagas. Is there a way to see how well the text would fit in the text box?
MSE does have a Saga template. I know because I have it. I'll see if I can find again the link.
EDIT: found it. While you're there, take a look at the whole thread, there are templates for all recent frames, including those from Dominaria. Credit to user Cajun from the new MSE forum. I'll add this to the clarifications in the round thread.
• The rules text for Sagas is written as follows (as we first saw in the leaked design notes):
I — first chapter ability
II — second chapter ability
III — third chapter ability
IV — fourth chapter ability
(repeat for all chapter abilities the saga has)
There is a Roman numeral (or more, in which case they are separated by a comma and a space), followed by a space, an em dash (or a hyphen, both are acceptable here for the sake of this challenge), another space, and finally the text of the chapter ability, with the first letter capitalized.
I — Discard your hand.
II — Draw two cards.
III — If a red source you control would deal damage to a permanent or player this turn, it deals that much damage plus 2 to that permanent or player instead.
I, II — Create a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance.
III — Knights you control get +2/+1 until end of turn.
Your card is expected to follow this template. Expect point deductions in Quality otherwise.
• For subchallenge 1, it means you didn't just make it up for this round. It must be an event that actually happened in canon, and your representation of it must follow how it actually happened in canon.
• The judges will judge subchallenge 1 according to their own knowledge of the lore. They are not required to search old stories or the Wiki (though they obviously can if they so desire). If you pick a story event that actually happened but is so obscure that your judge doesn't honestly know it happened, you will NOT get the point. For this reason, I advise you to choose well-known events that you can expect the average player to know. It shouldn't require a lore expert to get your card.
• For subchallenge 2, remember that the official rules for Sagas don't say "Sacrifice after III" like it's written in the reminder text of DOM Sagas, but they actually say "Sacrifice after the last chapter". No matter how many chapters the Saga has, it will always be sacrificed after the last one (not necessarily the third one) has resolved. That's already implemented in the Comprehensive Rules, so you can take advantage of that:
Quote from from=Comprehensive Rules DOM Edition »
714.2d A Saga’s final chapter number is the greatest value among chapter abilities it has. If a Saga somehow has no chapter abilities, its final chapter number is 0.
714.4. If the number of lore counters on a Saga permanent is greater than or equal to its final chapter number, and it isn’t the source of a chapter ability that has triggered but not yet left the stack, that Saga’s controller sacrifices it. This state-based action doesn’t use the stack.
Notice how there is nothing requiring the "final chapter number" to be three. The fact that all Saga cards from the Dominaria set have exactly three chapter abilities was just a design choice.
• If you have any other question that's not covered here, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.
Design - (X/3) Appeal: Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card? (X/3) Elegance: Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development - (X/3) Viability: How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity? (X/3) Balance: Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity - (X/3) Uniqueness: Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel “fresh”? (X/3) Flavor: Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish - (X/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating. (X/2) *Main Challenge: Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge? (X/2) Subchallenges: One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
DEADLINES
Design Deadline: All submissions are to be final and submitted by Saturday, June 23rd 11:59 PM EST Judging Deadline: All judgements are to be final and completed by Tuesday, June 26th 11:59 PM EST
A reminder to everyone: In the MCC, putting rarity on cards is mandatory! If you don't put a rarity on your card, expect huge deductions in both Viability AND Quality.
Also, you should format your text cards accordingly to the forum rules (see the "this formatting looks best" spoiler in the linked OP). Again, expect deductions in Quality otherwise.
BRACKETS
Judge: Antiantiserum
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Judge:bravelion83
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Judge:void_nothing
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Conflux of the ShardsWUBRG
Enchantment - Saga (Mythic)
I - Search your library for up to five basic land cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
II - Draw a card for each color among creatures you control.
III - You may put a Bolas permenant card from your hand onto the battlefield.
IV - You win the game if you control a land of each basic land type and a creature of each color.
The Champion's Trials 3WW
Enchantment — Saga [M] (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.
II — Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
III — Exile up to one target creature or enchantment. You get an emblem with “Players can’t cast spells with the same name as cards in exile.”
IV — Each player sacrifices a planeswalker.
Avacyn's ImprisonmentWB
Enchantment — Saga (M) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after V.)
I - Exile a creature you control or sacrifice Avacyn's Imprisonment.
II, III, IV - Create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token with flying. You lose 1 life.
V - Create a legendary 5/5 white creature token with flying named Avacyn, Returned.
(22 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019
(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)
The Kami War1WW
Enchantment - Saga (M) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Put a divinity counter on target creature. Each creature you control with a divinity counter on it has indestructible.
II, III — Until your next turn, creatures you control gain bushido 2.
IV — Exile all creatures.
The Accounting of Hours3GWU
Enchantment - Saga {M} (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I - Scry 5, then draw a card.
II - Target creature you control fights another target creature.
III - Destroy another target enchantment. If you do, look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
IV - Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
Maralen's Bright Restoration2WB
Enchantment - Saga (R) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I: Until your next turn, each creature you control gains persist. (When it dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
II: Remove all counters from creatures and enchantments you control. Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain all creature types.
Judge: Antiantiserum
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Judge:bravelion83
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Judge:void_nothing
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
Judgments complete, not final until deadline.
Maralen's Bright Restoration2WB
Enchantment - Saga (R) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I: Until your next turn, each creature you control gains persist. (When it dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
II: Remove all counters from creatures and enchantments you control. Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain all creature types.
Design (2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy approves, though he would probably like chapter II to only remove -1/-1 counters. As is, he risks losing all the +1/+1 counters he used to grow his creatures too. Johnny can do tricks with persist. Spike should also be interested. (2.5/3) Elegance - Not too long and very clear. The "gain all creature types" part can be a little confusing until you realize it's meant to turn the creatures into changelings. Also, I would have probably just affected creatures in chapter II, leaving enchantments alone. As is, it can be a little confusing as everything else in the card, including the rest of that same ability, only cares about creatures. None of these are big problems though.
Development (3/3) Viability - Persist was in all colors, but the two colors that have creature reanimation in their slice of color pie, which persist is essentially a form of, are white (for small creatures) and black (for any creature), so having persist centered in white-black makes sense. Removing counters from creatures is also black, and caring about enchantments is white. Not being able to do anything against enchantments is actually an intended weakness of black, so white is needed unless you remove the words "and enchantments" from chapter II. Gaining all creature types was mainly white and blue in Lorwyn (Mirror Entity, Shields of Velis Vel, Amoeboid Changeling, Wings of Velis Vel), with only one red card (Blades of Velis Vel), while black made creatures lose all creature types (blue too: Nameless Inversion, Ego Erasure, and Amoeboid Changeling again). All of this to say that there are no big problems with the color pie here. Rarity feels right to me. (2/3) Balance - At first glance and without playtest, I see this card as definitely playable in limited but not in competitive constructed unless it's part of some strong combo. I think it would get played in casual constructed and I see no problems in multiplayer.
Creativity (1.5/3) Uniqueness - The mix of ability feels fresh, though no components of the cards are new. (1.5/3) Flavor - I'm sorry but I think that the main thing keeping all this together is that everything on this card comes from Lorwyn block mechanically, which is fine but is not the best thing to say when you're trying to judge the flavor of the card. I obviously might be just missing something. One thing that is interesting though is that you're putting together things from both states of the world: Shadowmoor (persist) and Lorwyn (changelings). If I recall correctly, at the end of the Lorwyn block story, the day-night cycle is restored, even if we still haven't seen what that implies for the world: for example, in which state would it be if we came back to it? How often do Auroras happen now? Do they happen at all? Is the world now a mixture of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor? I could go on and on again. Yes, I just want to go back to Lorwyn and discover all those things in the cards. Yes, I'm aware that it won't happen, except for minor appearances here and there such as in Origins, and maybe that's for the better, as not all returns so far have been at the original set's level, see Zendikar and Battle for Zendikar, or Mirrodin and Scars of Mirrodin. We'll see very soon about our third visit to Ravnica. Let's hope that there isn't a second Dragon's Maze in our near future...
Polish (1.5/3) Quality - The reminder text for Sagas is missing the "Sacrifice after last" part (-0.5). There should be no colons after chapter numbers, if they were actually there they would make the chapter abilities activated, which they can't be because the chapters symbols are already defined as representing triggered abilities, which would break the rules for Sagas. Besides, you had been warned in the clarifications. -1 for functional mistake. (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Lorwyn, not Dominaria. (2/2) Subchallenges - Lorwyn is one of my favorite settings ever in Magic. Unfortunately I was already playing (as I've already told multiple times, I started with the preconstructed Boros deck in original Ravnica back in 2005) but I didn't follow the story yet, but that's just my fault and not yours. Anyway, I think I am able to recognize in this card the ending of the Lorwyn story, with Maralen defeating Oona, even if that's strange to say because they were kind of the same person in a way. In my bracket, this is the card where I pondered the most whether to give you full points for subchallenge 1, but in the end I did as I think I've recognized the event without external help. Your approach to subchallenge 2 also surprised me because I kind of expected everyone to go for four chapters. I was hoping, but not expecting, that someone would try something different from the obvious choice, and you did (Flatline did too but in the opposite direction, with five chapters). Two is certainly different from three as the challenge required and also from the obvious four. It was a pleasant surprise. If I could I'd give you bonus points for this. In the end, let's say this is slightly less than 1 for the first subchallenge and slightly more than 1 for the second one. The total is 2 anyway.
Total: 18.5/25
The Kami War1WW
Enchantment - Saga (M) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Put a divinity counter on target creature. Each creature you control with a divinity counter on it has indestructible.
II, III — Until your next turn, creatures you control gain bushido 2.
IV — Exile all creatures.
Design (2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes everything but the last chapter. Not much for Johnny here. Spike sees this mostly as a delayed Wrath with additional upside and a discount on mana cost due to having to wait, kind of like suspend. (3/3) Elegance - Short, clean and to the point. Hard to do better that this with an inherently complicated style of cards.
Development (3/3) Viability - Everything is in color. I can definitely see this at mythic. (1.5/3) Balance - Chapters I and IV have actually anti-synergy: making one of your creatures indestructible does nothing when the final chapter hits and exiles it anyway. If it said destroy instead of exile there would be much more interesting. It's true that such synergy would probably be a bit much for just three mana, but there is the hidden cost of waiting three turns for the final chapter to go off. Again, like suspend: you trade time for mana, so I don't think having the synergy would be overpowered. As is, I'd probably play this in limited anyway, but to play it in competitive constructed you would really want that synergy to be there. Making a creature indestructible and then having to exile anyway would also be counterintuitive for some casual players. Fine card in multiplayer, where "reset buttons" are often needed, and if it isn't clear I'm mostly thinking about Commander there.
Creativity (1/3) Uniqueness - This card is essentially: what does happen when the Myojins meet bushido and Final Judgment? By the way, those are all from Kamigawa, so what you get out of this deal is a card that would feel right at home in any set in the Kamigawa block if Sagas had been already invented back then. Belonging in an already existing set and using only mechanics from it might help in other areas but not this one. (2.5/3) Flavor - The use of divinity counters and indestructible obviously ties this with the Myojin cycle from Kamigawa block, and that feels good on a card meant to represent the Kami War. Chapters II and III affect combat, which again is a fine way of representing war. And how does a big war usually end? With a big catastrophe that kills everything (chapter IV), even if I'm not sure that's how the actual Kami War ends in canon. Anyway, in my opinion the flavor works well enough, and without having to use a bunch of text on top of that.
Polish (2/3) Quality - Don't forget that while the chapters might look like static abilities, they are in fact effects of triggered abilities. This means that the first chapter should have those creatures "gain" (not "have") indestructible (-0.5). Bushido is a block mechanic, and as such it needs reminder text (-0.5). It's only acceptable to leave it out on a mythic, which this actually is, but only if there is no room. The MSE template I linked in the clarifications shows me there is room here, so it should have be there despite the mythic rarity (-0.5). (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Kamigawa, not Dominaria. (2/2) Subchallenges - My first Standard environment was Kamigawa/original Ravnica, so even if I don't know the exact details, I've definitely heard of the Kami War before. Final chapter number is four, that is not three.
Total: 19/25
The Accounting of Hours3GWU
Enchantment - Saga {M} (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I - Scry 5, then draw a card.
II - Target creature you control fights another target creature.
III - Destroy another target enchantment. If you do, look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
IV - Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
Design (2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes most of this card. Johnny could use the first two chapters to dig for combo pieces and to defend his win condition, but I don't expect him to have much use for the last two chapters. Spike likes everything here except the fact the she must have a target for chapter III to get the land search effect anyway. (2/3) Elegance - The text is quite long, but the ability are still very clear. In the third chapter, the enchantment destruction part and the land searching part appear disconnected. I went to check if you used the same effects as the Hour cycle from Hour of Devastation (the set) excluding Hour of Devastation (the card), that is whether the abilities reflected each their own respective hour, while also possibly being in the same order as they actually occur in the story (see the flavor text of Throne of the God-Pharaoh. Turns out that's not the case, but I think it would have been a very interesting and elegant idea, though maybe not very functional admittedly.
Development (2.5/3) Viability - Chapter I is firmly blue: every color can scry 1 or sometimes 2, but scrying more is exclusively blue. All the other chapters are green. White is definitely the least represented color on this card: it does the enchantment destruction in chapter III, but green can too, and gives indestructible in chapter IV, but I think green can do that too. This card could probably drop the white, but there is no problem with it staying. As for rarity, this looks like the definition of a mythic rare to me. (2/3) Balance - These are all effects you like to have available in your limited deck, if it can support the three different colors in the mana cost, and they all look powerful enough to me for this card to have potential in Standard, but not in older formats where you want a six mana card to practically win you the game right now, not maybe in three turns. Not a problem anyway, only the top, sometimes broken cards are played in older formats. The fact that you need a target for chapter III to be able to search for lands at all is counter-intuitive in casual. I would really try to find a way to have the land searching happen anyway even if there is no enchantment you want to destroy, either because there are none on the battlefield or because you're the only one to have it and you don't want to destroy one of yours. A simple "up to one other" instead of "another" would do it, as would making the enchantment destruction a "may" ability. I see no problems in multiplayer.
Creativity (1.5/3) Uniqueness - Scry 5 and the final chapter are certainly splashy, but nothing on this card is technically new. (2/3) Flavor - Four existing cards from Amonkhet have flavor text quoted from "The Accounting of Hours": Dissenter's Deliverance, Nimble-Blade Khenra, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, and Winged Shepherd. From there, it appears to be a tome collecting all the false prophecies about the coming of Bolas. I like the fact that the abilities are four, as are the foreseen hours: there is no Hour of Devastation in the Accounting of Hours, that was just a little something extra the God-Pharaoh had planned for the Gatewatch without telling the denizens of Naktamun, not even in twisted form. I would have liked a little more correspondence between each ability and one of the hours, either as known in the Accounting of Hours or in its card from HOU. Still, the overall flavor feels good.
Polish (3/3) Quality - All good. Not easy on a card with such a long text. (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Amonkhet, not Dominaria. (2/2) Subchallenges - The Accounting of Hours is certainly a known in-world source chronicling the five Hours happening in Hour of Devastation. That is definitely official canon. Final chapter number is four, that is not three.
Total: 19.5/25
Conflux of the ShardsWUBRG
Enchantment - Saga (Mythic)
I - Search your library for up to five basic land cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
II - Draw a card for each color among creatures you control.
III - You may put a Bolas permenant card from your hand onto the battlefield.
IV - You win the game if you control a land of each basic land type and a creature of each color.
Design (2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy just loves this card. Johnny likes alternate win conditions. Spike too but the mana cost asks a lot from her. (2.5/3) Elegance - The overall text is long, but still very clear. I also appreciate the symmetry between the original Conflux card and chapter I.
Development (3/3) Viability - For flavor, a card representing the Conflux kind of has to be all five colors. Let's see how each color is represented here mechanically: chapter I is green, chapter II is blue, chapter III is green if you see it as putting a permanent onto the battlefield and Grixis if you associate it with Bolas, chapter IV is literally Coalition Victory, so it's all five colors. Not much white overall, but it still can work as a five-colored card, and again it has to be for flavor. It's also notoriously difficult to make a five-colored card where all colors are equally represented mechanically. As for rarity, if this is not a mythic I don't know what it is. (1.5/3) Balance - A card with all five colors in the mana cost is not a card made for limited. I don't know if I've ever seen such a card played in limited in 13 years of playing Magic. This is a card for constructed, but you have to build your whole deck around it: you need lands for chapter I (but any deck has them), creatures of different colors for chapter II, a Bolas planeswalker card for chapter III, and all different colors for lands and creatures in chapter IV (yes, I know lands are technically colorless, but you get what I mean). Including all that in a single deck lokks quite difficult. Johnny is up to the challenge, but all of this means the card is probably much better to read than to try to play. As a result, I can't see this in competitive constructed, but casual players will most likely like it. Alternate win condition can be interesting in multiplayer, as they let you win in the same way regardless of how many opponents you have.
Creativity (2/3) Uniqueness - The flavor, including the mention of Bolas, makes this card memorable even if it uses no new effects. The final chapter also have the same exact text of an existing card might help in Elegance but hurts here. (2/3) Flavor - Unfortunately the simpler name Conflux was already taken, as you recognize yourself with the card link. Nonetheless, the flavor is still quite good here: first the shards start touching each other and patches of land from one start appearing on another (represented in chapter I through land fetching, even if I would have liked "up to five basic land cards with different names" even better for flavor), then the overlap completes and generates the Maelstrom, which is an explosion of mana and energy (represented through card draw in chapter II), then Bolas arrives (chapter III) and gets what he wants (chapter IV) before being forced off the plane by Ajani. Players who don't follow the story very closely might see the mention of Bolas kind of thrown out there, but at least this card teaches them that Bolas orchestrated the Conflux and might tickle their curiosity to go read the story to understand what is going on. Good work overall.
Polish (2.5/3) Quality - A typo in the third chapter: "permenant" is supposed to be "permanent" (the "a" and the second "e" are reversed, -0.5). (2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Alara, not Dominaria. (2/2) Subchallenges - The Conflux is definitely a well known and established canon event. Final chapter number is four, that is not three.
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Avacyn's ImprisonmentWB
Enchantment — Saga (M) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after V.)
I - Exile a creature you control or sacrifice Avacyn's Imprisonment.
II, III, IV - Create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token with flying. You lose 1 life.
V - Create a legendary 5/5 white creature token with flying named Avacyn, Returned.
Design .:. (3/3) Appeal: Reminiscent of Bitterblossom this card tingles Spike's senses. Being able to get a big angel might be of interest for the patient Txmmy. Creating fodder to sacrifice or something is always of interest for Jxnny. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: Spawning vampires is black, spawning an Avacyn is very white, the colors here are fine. The card is probably very powerful and also splashy, so very mythic. The text will fit on a card easily. While having more than three chapters this card would still work with the current layout. (3/3) Balance: This card boils down to a suspended Bitterblossom with a hoop to jump through. While certainly powerful I think it's okey this way.
Creativity .:. (2/3) Uniqueness: I find it is very similar to Rite of Belzenlok. Getting small dudes, getting a big dude. But with different flavor. (3/3) Flavor: I know just a little bit of this story but enough to think that this card is a fitting depiction of it.
Polish .:. (2,5/3) Quality: I'm not sure if chapter I works as intended. There's no example for this. I'd go with "Sacrifice ~ unless you exile a creature you control." just to be sure that you are forced to make this choice, e.g.
Rogue Elephant. Besides that no flaws detected. (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 23,5/25
VS
The Champion's Trials 3WW
Enchantment — Saga [M] (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.
II — Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
III — Exile up to one target creature or enchantment. You get an emblem with “Players can’t cast spells with the same name as cards in exile.”
IV — Each player sacrifices a planeswalker.
Design .:. (3/3) Appeal: All three aspects of the player psychographics find something in this card. (2,5/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense. I just wish it would exile always, instead of destroying and sacrificing. After all you get that nice emlbem you want to feed. The amount of text seems fine.
Development .:. (1,5/3) Viability: MaRo stated that emblems are a planeswalker only thing thus far. It makes sense to get one here but it is unorthodox. The colors are almost fine. Getting rid of planeswalkers is black's and red's territory. The rarity is fine. (3/3) Balance: Wow does this card do a lot. A little bit of everything it seems, and over four turns. At that mana cost probably somewhat okey.
Creativity .:. (2,5/3) Uniqueness: While overloaded it does feel unique. Non planeswalker emblems! (3/3) Flavor: Theros was the set I returned to magic after several years. Yet I still don't know an awful lot about the story. To the best of my knowledge this is an appropriate depiction of Elspeth's journey.
Polish .:. (2,5/3) Quality: Unfortunately I can't find a perfect example but I think it is "can't cast spells with the same name a card in exile", your wording stems from cards like Godsend that refer only to cards exiled with them self. My not so perfect example is Candles of Leng. No other flaws detected. (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22/25
Maralen's Bright Restoration2WB
Enchantment - Saga (R) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I: Until your next turn, each creature you control gains persist. (When it dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
II: Remove all counters from creatures and enchantments you control. Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain all creature types.
Design .:. (1/3) Appeal: Very appealing to Jxnny, of course. Who wouldn't like to sacrifice anything without a real drawback. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense. It is a lot of text but with two chapters this should be possible.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: Colors and rarity are all right. (3/3) Balance: Being able to sacrifice everything without drawback every other turn seems powerful but not too oppressive. It's slow but allows for nice combos.
Creativity .:. (3/3) Uniqueness: A saga that sets itself back is a cool idea. (3/3) Flavor: I read a little bit into it and it seems like this card is a nice representation of the whole day and night cycle thing going on Lorwyn–Shadowmoor.
Polish .:. (2,5/3) Quality: It's "creatures you control gain", e.g. Heroic Reinforcements. There's one weird instance where your wording was used, on Shade's Breath, but I'm almost certain that has to do with the "become" part. The flavor reminder text is unusual but describes how the card actually seems to work. No other flaws detected. (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22,5/25
VS
The Kami War1WW
Enchantment - Saga (M) (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Put a divinity counter on target creature. Each creature you control with a divinity counter on it has indestructible.
II, III — Until your next turn, creatures you control gain bushido 2.
IV — Exile all creatures.
Design .:. (1/3) Appeal: Probably a Jxnny card. Hard to judge. (2,5/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense. Playwise it somewhat sad that the last ability gets rid of the divine creature you made in chapter I. The text would fit nicely on a card.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: The card's effects are true to its color. Mythic seems okey. (3/3) Balance: Fits good into weenie stragies and similar. A wrath at turn seven is strong but not overpowering. Especially if you see it coming so far ahead.
Creativity .:. (2,5/3) Uniqueness: Kind of a conditional hymn with a wrath in one package. Nice but not too exciting. (3/3) Flavor: Kamigawa block was one of the last before my magical hiatus. As such all I knew about the story is somewhat forgotten. But I know enough to think that this card is a fitting depcition of the kami war.
Polish .:. (3/3) Quality: No flaws detected! (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22/25
Flatline = 23,5 VS The_Hittite = 22
Gerrard's Mom = 22,5 VS Raptorchan = 22
(2,5/3) Quality: It's "creatures you control gain", e.g. Heroic Reinforcements. There's one weird instance where your wording was used, on Shade's Breath, but I'm almost certain that has to do with the "become" part. The flavor text is unusual but describes how the card actually seems to work. No other flaws detected.
This is a super tiny point, but I believe Cauldron of Souls and Cauldron Haze are the correct references for wording temporary persist. I assume they are worded with the nonstandard "each creature gains" instead of "creatures you control gain" because the reminder text would be hard to parse in the plural.
Thanks for the judgings!
Design - (2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy loves the sheer scale of this card. Lots of effects for Johnny to play around with and an especially strong final chapter for him to cheat out. Spike loves a toolbox (card smoothing, removal, ramp, alpha strike) to get him to the end of the game but the cost is a bit difficult - still, makes for a great control finisher. (1.5/3) Elegance: Each effect is pretty clear on its own, but boy does this card have a lot of words.
Development - (3/3) Viability: Colors and rarity are right. (3/3) Balance: Every effect is extremely strong. However, the card is expensive as hell. I wouldn't object to abilities similar to these as the pluses and minuses of a planeswalker that costs 3GWU, after all.
Creativity - (2.5/3) Uniqueness: None of the individual effects are particularly unique but the storytelling of putting them together in this way certainly is. (2.5/3) Flavor: A little odd - the Amonkhetu version of the Accounting of the Hours only has four, but we know there are five, so there's this strange meta-disconnect. The effects also sometimes only have vague relevance to the actual names/significances of the Hours (though I like how you represented knocking down the Hekma in Promise), and the whole deal feels like it should be, y'know, four colors. Otherwise, though, a great job done tackling an ambitious concept.
Design - (3/3) Appeal: Timmy loves effects this huge, Johnny always enjoys an alt-win, Spike likes an autowin that builds itself. (3/3) Elegance: Supremely elegant in spite of its wordiness, and it's not as wordy as some Sagas. I like the callback to Conflux.
Development - (3/3) Viability: Has to be all-colors and mythic is a given. (2.5/3) Balance: A very strong first chapter that enables the autowin, but you still do have to work for that, and if you can access WUBRG in the first place, you don't necessarily need to be able to fix your mana at that point, right? All in all it's powerful but you have to build-around it.
Creativity - (1.5/3) Uniqueness: As mentioned, cribs pretty heavily from the original Conflux (and I guess Gaea's Balance?) and Coalition Victory but a unique story/combination. (3/3) Flavor: All but perfect.
Design - (2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy likes getting beaters for cheap but frowns at the disadvantage to get it started up. Johnny could do silly things with tokens. Spike would make the most of pumping out bodies like this, particularly in Limited. (3/3) Elegance: Can't fault you here.
Development - (2.5/3) Viability: Colors obviously fine, but this seems way more rare than mythic in terms of effects and simplicity. This is the kind of Saga I would like to see showing up in Limited, which seems to be its best home. (2.5/3) Balance: Development might, maybe, add 1 to this cost but trading a creature for a Bitterblossom that after a while explodes into a 5/5 flyer seems to be a fair card on the whole.
Creativity - (1.5/3) Uniqueness: A drawback-mode is unique, but not necessarily in an exciting way, and we've certainly seen several Sagas that spit out creatures. (2.5/3) Flavor: The Vampire tokens are because the Vamps ran wild in Avacyn's absence, right? Well... so did every other kind of monster. So it only being Vampire tokens is understandable for an elegant and readable card but a knock against the flavor.
Polish - (2/3) Quality: Fairly certain the first chapter would be "Sacrifice Avacyn's Imprisonment unless you exile a creature you control." (2/2) *Main Challenge: Completed. (2/2) Subchallenges: Done.
Total: 20.5/25
Design - (2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy likes how cinematic it is but might be underwhelmed by the individual effect sizes. A lockdown-minded Johnny could do dumb things with that emblem. Spike likes an all-in-one toolbox that also shuts off problem planeswalkers, potentially before they can even ultimate. (2.5/3) Elegance: Emblems on non-planeswalkers is an element of slight inelegance.
Development - (3/3) Viability: Color and rarity are correct. (3/3) Balance: Does about as much as I'd like a five-mana Saga to. The final chapter even feels a bit, well... anticlimactic.
Creativity - (2/3) Uniqueness: Obviously draws on Elspeth herself but still fairly unique as a Saga. (3/3) Flavor: About a spot-on retelling of the Theros storyline.
Gerrard's Mom: 18.5 + 22.5 = 41
Raptorchan: 19 + 22 = 41
This is a tie, so both players advance. We will have a final round with four players.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016 DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for: "Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index.Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
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(This banner is my own elaboration on the art of the cards History of Benalia by Noah Bradley, The Mirari Conjecture by James Arnold, Phyrexian Scriptures by Joseph Meehan, The First Eruption by Steven Belledin, and Song of Freyalise by Min Yum.)
June MCC Round 3
Sagacious design
Here's the twist I was talking about. There are plenty of relevant story event each set, and now we have the Saga subtype to tell them through cards. The history of Dominaria has more or less been told completely by the existing Saga cards. Let's try to use that technology for some other plane.
Main Challenge - Design a Saga for an important story event that occurred on a plane other than Dominaria. Please see clarifications for how to properly format your card.
Subchallenge 1 - The event your Saga represents is already known in official canon.
Subchallenge 2 - Your Saga has a "final chapter number" (aka the highest Roman numeral, see clarifications) different from three.
• If you have MSE (Magic Set Editor) and need a template for Saga cards, see this:
• The rules text for Sagas is written as follows (as we first saw in the leaked design notes):
II — second chapter ability
III — third chapter ability
IV — fourth chapter ability
(repeat for all chapter abilities the saga has)
There is a Roman numeral (or more, in which case they are separated by a comma and a space), followed by a space, an em dash (or a hyphen, both are acceptable here for the sake of this challenge), another space, and finally the text of the chapter ability, with the first letter capitalized.
For example, The Flame of Keld's rules text is written as:
II — Draw two cards.
III — If a red source you control would deal damage to a permanent or player this turn, it deals that much damage plus 2 to that permanent or player instead.
while History of Benalia's rules text is written as:
III — Knights you control get +2/+1 until end of turn.
Your card is expected to follow this template. Expect point deductions in Quality otherwise.
• For subchallenge 1, it means you didn't just make it up for this round. It must be an event that actually happened in canon, and your representation of it must follow how it actually happened in canon.
• The judges will judge subchallenge 1 according to their own knowledge of the lore. They are not required to search old stories or the Wiki (though they obviously can if they so desire). If you pick a story event that actually happened but is so obscure that your judge doesn't honestly know it happened, you will NOT get the point. For this reason, I advise you to choose well-known events that you can expect the average player to know. It shouldn't require a lore expert to get your card.
• For subchallenge 2, remember that the official rules for Sagas don't say "Sacrifice after III" like it's written in the reminder text of DOM Sagas, but they actually say "Sacrifice after the last chapter". No matter how many chapters the Saga has, it will always be sacrificed after the last one (not necessarily the third one) has resolved. That's already implemented in the Comprehensive Rules, so you can take advantage of that:
Notice how there is nothing requiring the "final chapter number" to be three. The fact that all Saga cards from the Dominaria set have exactly three chapter abilities was just a design choice.
• If you have any other question that's not covered here, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.
(X/3) Appeal: Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance: Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development -
(X/3) Viability: How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity?
(X/3) Balance: Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity -
(X/3) Uniqueness: Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel “fresh”?
(X/3) Flavor: Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish -
(X/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) *Main Challenge: Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges: One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
DEADLINES
Design Deadline: All submissions are to be final and submitted by Saturday, June 23rd 11:59 PM EST
Judging Deadline: All judgements are to be final and completed by Tuesday, June 26th 11:59 PM EST
JUDGES
bravelion83
Antiantiserum
void_nothing
PLAYERS
Cardz5000
Flatline
Gerrard's Mom
netn10
Raptorchan
The_Hittite
A helpful tip for those formatting their cards (I wrote it quite some time ago but it's still totally valid):
BRACKETS
Judge: Antiantiserum
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Judge:bravelion83
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Judge:void_nothing
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Enchantment - Saga (Mythic)
I - Search your library for up to five basic land cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
II - Draw a card for each color among creatures you control.
III - You may put a Bolas permenant card from your hand onto the battlefield.
IV - You win the game if you control a land of each basic land type and a creature of each color.
Enchantment — Saga [M]
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.
II — Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
III — Exile up to one target creature or enchantment. You get an emblem with “Players can’t cast spells with the same name as cards in exile.”
IV — Each player sacrifices a planeswalker.
Enchantment — Saga (M)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after V.)
I - Exile a creature you control or sacrifice Avacyn's Imprisonment.
II, III, IV - Create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token with flying. You lose 1 life.
V - Create a legendary 5/5 white creature token with flying named Avacyn, Returned.
Enchantment - Saga (M)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Put a divinity counter on target creature. Each creature you control with a divinity counter on it has indestructible.
II, III — Until your next turn, creatures you control gain bushido 2.
IV — Exile all creatures.
Enchantment - Saga {M}
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I - Scry 5, then draw a card.
II - Target creature you control fights another target creature.
III - Destroy another target enchantment. If you do, look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
IV - Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
Enchantment - Saga (R)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I: Until your next turn, each creature you control gains persist. (When it dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
II: Remove all counters from creatures and enchantments you control. Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain all creature types.
BRACKETS
Judge: Antiantiserum
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Judge:bravelion83
Gerrard's Mom vs. Raptorchan
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Judge:void_nothing
Cardz5000 vs. netn10
Flatline vs. The_Hittite
Judgments complete, not final until deadline.
Maralen's Bright Restoration 2WB
Enchantment - Saga (R)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I: Until your next turn, each creature you control gains persist. (When it dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
II: Remove all counters from creatures and enchantments you control. Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain all creature types.
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy approves, though he would probably like chapter II to only remove -1/-1 counters. As is, he risks losing all the +1/+1 counters he used to grow his creatures too. Johnny can do tricks with persist. Spike should also be interested.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Not too long and very clear. The "gain all creature types" part can be a little confusing until you realize it's meant to turn the creatures into changelings. Also, I would have probably just affected creatures in chapter II, leaving enchantments alone. As is, it can be a little confusing as everything else in the card, including the rest of that same ability, only cares about creatures. None of these are big problems though.
Development
(3/3) Viability - Persist was in all colors, but the two colors that have creature reanimation in their slice of color pie, which persist is essentially a form of, are white (for small creatures) and black (for any creature), so having persist centered in white-black makes sense. Removing counters from creatures is also black, and caring about enchantments is white. Not being able to do anything against enchantments is actually an intended weakness of black, so white is needed unless you remove the words "and enchantments" from chapter II. Gaining all creature types was mainly white and blue in Lorwyn (Mirror Entity, Shields of Velis Vel, Amoeboid Changeling, Wings of Velis Vel), with only one red card (Blades of Velis Vel), while black made creatures lose all creature types (blue too: Nameless Inversion, Ego Erasure, and Amoeboid Changeling again). All of this to say that there are no big problems with the color pie here. Rarity feels right to me.
(2/3) Balance - At first glance and without playtest, I see this card as definitely playable in limited but not in competitive constructed unless it's part of some strong combo. I think it would get played in casual constructed and I see no problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - The mix of ability feels fresh, though no components of the cards are new.
(1.5/3) Flavor - I'm sorry but I think that the main thing keeping all this together is that everything on this card comes from Lorwyn block mechanically, which is fine but is not the best thing to say when you're trying to judge the flavor of the card. I obviously might be just missing something. One thing that is interesting though is that you're putting together things from both states of the world: Shadowmoor (persist) and Lorwyn (changelings). If I recall correctly, at the end of the Lorwyn block story, the day-night cycle is restored, even if we still haven't seen what that implies for the world: for example, in which state would it be if we came back to it? How often do Auroras happen now? Do they happen at all? Is the world now a mixture of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor? I could go on and on again. Yes, I just want to go back to Lorwyn and discover all those things in the cards. Yes, I'm aware that it won't happen, except for minor appearances here and there such as in Origins, and maybe that's for the better, as not all returns so far have been at the original set's level, see Zendikar and Battle for Zendikar, or Mirrodin and Scars of Mirrodin. We'll see very soon about our third visit to Ravnica. Let's hope that there isn't a second Dragon's Maze in our near future...
Polish
(1.5/3) Quality - The reminder text for Sagas is missing the "Sacrifice after last" part (-0.5). There should be no colons after chapter numbers, if they were actually there they would make the chapter abilities activated, which they can't be because the chapters symbols are already defined as representing triggered abilities, which would break the rules for Sagas. Besides, you had been warned in the clarifications. -1 for functional mistake.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Lorwyn, not Dominaria.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Lorwyn is one of my favorite settings ever in Magic. Unfortunately I was already playing (as I've already told multiple times, I started with the preconstructed Boros deck in original Ravnica back in 2005) but I didn't follow the story yet, but that's just my fault and not yours. Anyway, I think I am able to recognize in this card the ending of the Lorwyn story, with Maralen defeating Oona, even if that's strange to say because they were kind of the same person in a way. In my bracket, this is the card where I pondered the most whether to give you full points for subchallenge 1, but in the end I did as I think I've recognized the event without external help. Your approach to subchallenge 2 also surprised me because I kind of expected everyone to go for four chapters. I was hoping, but not expecting, that someone would try something different from the obvious choice, and you did (Flatline did too but in the opposite direction, with five chapters). Two is certainly different from three as the challenge required and also from the obvious four. It was a pleasant surprise. If I could I'd give you bonus points for this. In the end, let's say this is slightly less than 1 for the first subchallenge and slightly more than 1 for the second one. The total is 2 anyway.
Total: 18.5/25
The Kami War 1WW
Enchantment - Saga (M)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Put a divinity counter on target creature. Each creature you control with a divinity counter on it has indestructible.
II, III — Until your next turn, creatures you control gain bushido 2.
IV — Exile all creatures.
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes everything but the last chapter. Not much for Johnny here. Spike sees this mostly as a delayed Wrath with additional upside and a discount on mana cost due to having to wait, kind of like suspend.
(3/3) Elegance - Short, clean and to the point. Hard to do better that this with an inherently complicated style of cards.
Development
(3/3) Viability - Everything is in color. I can definitely see this at mythic.
(1.5/3) Balance - Chapters I and IV have actually anti-synergy: making one of your creatures indestructible does nothing when the final chapter hits and exiles it anyway. If it said destroy instead of exile there would be much more interesting. It's true that such synergy would probably be a bit much for just three mana, but there is the hidden cost of waiting three turns for the final chapter to go off. Again, like suspend: you trade time for mana, so I don't think having the synergy would be overpowered. As is, I'd probably play this in limited anyway, but to play it in competitive constructed you would really want that synergy to be there. Making a creature indestructible and then having to exile anyway would also be counterintuitive for some casual players. Fine card in multiplayer, where "reset buttons" are often needed, and if it isn't clear I'm mostly thinking about Commander there.
Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - This card is essentially: what does happen when the Myojins meet bushido and Final Judgment? By the way, those are all from Kamigawa, so what you get out of this deal is a card that would feel right at home in any set in the Kamigawa block if Sagas had been already invented back then. Belonging in an already existing set and using only mechanics from it might help in other areas but not this one.
(2.5/3) Flavor - The use of divinity counters and indestructible obviously ties this with the Myojin cycle from Kamigawa block, and that feels good on a card meant to represent the Kami War. Chapters II and III affect combat, which again is a fine way of representing war. And how does a big war usually end? With a big catastrophe that kills everything (chapter IV), even if I'm not sure that's how the actual Kami War ends in canon. Anyway, in my opinion the flavor works well enough, and without having to use a bunch of text on top of that.
Polish
(2/3) Quality - Don't forget that while the chapters might look like static abilities, they are in fact effects of triggered abilities. This means that the first chapter should have those creatures "gain" (not "have") indestructible (-0.5). Bushido is a block mechanic, and as such it needs reminder text (-0.5). It's only acceptable to leave it out on a mythic, which this actually is, but only if there is no room. The MSE template I linked in the clarifications shows me there is room here, so it should have be there despite the mythic rarity (-0.5).
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Kamigawa, not Dominaria.
(2/2) Subchallenges - My first Standard environment was Kamigawa/original Ravnica, so even if I don't know the exact details, I've definitely heard of the Kami War before. Final chapter number is four, that is not three.
Total: 19/25
The Accounting of Hours 3GWU
Enchantment - Saga {M}
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I - Scry 5, then draw a card.
II - Target creature you control fights another target creature.
III - Destroy another target enchantment. If you do, look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
IV - Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes most of this card. Johnny could use the first two chapters to dig for combo pieces and to defend his win condition, but I don't expect him to have much use for the last two chapters. Spike likes everything here except the fact the she must have a target for chapter III to get the land search effect anyway.
(2/3) Elegance - The text is quite long, but the ability are still very clear. In the third chapter, the enchantment destruction part and the land searching part appear disconnected. I went to check if you used the same effects as the Hour cycle from Hour of Devastation (the set) excluding Hour of Devastation (the card), that is whether the abilities reflected each their own respective hour, while also possibly being in the same order as they actually occur in the story (see the flavor text of Throne of the God-Pharaoh. Turns out that's not the case, but I think it would have been a very interesting and elegant idea, though maybe not very functional admittedly.
Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Chapter I is firmly blue: every color can scry 1 or sometimes 2, but scrying more is exclusively blue. All the other chapters are green. White is definitely the least represented color on this card: it does the enchantment destruction in chapter III, but green can too, and gives indestructible in chapter IV, but I think green can do that too. This card could probably drop the white, but there is no problem with it staying. As for rarity, this looks like the definition of a mythic rare to me.
(2/3) Balance - These are all effects you like to have available in your limited deck, if it can support the three different colors in the mana cost, and they all look powerful enough to me for this card to have potential in Standard, but not in older formats where you want a six mana card to practically win you the game right now, not maybe in three turns. Not a problem anyway, only the top, sometimes broken cards are played in older formats. The fact that you need a target for chapter III to be able to search for lands at all is counter-intuitive in casual. I would really try to find a way to have the land searching happen anyway even if there is no enchantment you want to destroy, either because there are none on the battlefield or because you're the only one to have it and you don't want to destroy one of yours. A simple "up to one other" instead of "another" would do it, as would making the enchantment destruction a "may" ability. I see no problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Scry 5 and the final chapter are certainly splashy, but nothing on this card is technically new.
(2/3) Flavor - Four existing cards from Amonkhet have flavor text quoted from "The Accounting of Hours": Dissenter's Deliverance, Nimble-Blade Khenra, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, and Winged Shepherd. From there, it appears to be a tome collecting all the false prophecies about the coming of Bolas. I like the fact that the abilities are four, as are the foreseen hours: there is no Hour of Devastation in the Accounting of Hours, that was just a little something extra the God-Pharaoh had planned for the Gatewatch without telling the denizens of Naktamun, not even in twisted form. I would have liked a little more correspondence between each ability and one of the hours, either as known in the Accounting of Hours or in its card from HOU. Still, the overall flavor feels good.
Polish
(3/3) Quality - All good. Not easy on a card with such a long text.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Amonkhet, not Dominaria.
(2/2) Subchallenges - The Accounting of Hours is certainly a known in-world source chronicling the five Hours happening in Hour of Devastation. That is definitely official canon. Final chapter number is four, that is not three.
Total: 19.5/25
Conflux of the Shards WUBRG
Enchantment - Saga (Mythic)
I - Search your library for up to five basic land cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
II - Draw a card for each color among creatures you control.
III - You may put a Bolas permenant card from your hand onto the battlefield.
IV - You win the game if you control a land of each basic land type and a creature of each color.
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy just loves this card. Johnny likes alternate win conditions. Spike too but the mana cost asks a lot from her.
(2.5/3) Elegance - The overall text is long, but still very clear. I also appreciate the symmetry between the original Conflux card and chapter I.
Development
(3/3) Viability - For flavor, a card representing the Conflux kind of has to be all five colors. Let's see how each color is represented here mechanically: chapter I is green, chapter II is blue, chapter III is green if you see it as putting a permanent onto the battlefield and Grixis if you associate it with Bolas, chapter IV is literally Coalition Victory, so it's all five colors. Not much white overall, but it still can work as a five-colored card, and again it has to be for flavor. It's also notoriously difficult to make a five-colored card where all colors are equally represented mechanically. As for rarity, if this is not a mythic I don't know what it is.
(1.5/3) Balance - A card with all five colors in the mana cost is not a card made for limited. I don't know if I've ever seen such a card played in limited in 13 years of playing Magic. This is a card for constructed, but you have to build your whole deck around it: you need lands for chapter I (but any deck has them), creatures of different colors for chapter II, a Bolas planeswalker card for chapter III, and all different colors for lands and creatures in chapter IV (yes, I know lands are technically colorless, but you get what I mean). Including all that in a single deck lokks quite difficult. Johnny is up to the challenge, but all of this means the card is probably much better to read than to try to play. As a result, I can't see this in competitive constructed, but casual players will most likely like it. Alternate win condition can be interesting in multiplayer, as they let you win in the same way regardless of how many opponents you have.
Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - The flavor, including the mention of Bolas, makes this card memorable even if it uses no new effects. The final chapter also have the same exact text of an existing card might help in Elegance but hurts here.
(2/3) Flavor - Unfortunately the simpler name Conflux was already taken, as you recognize yourself with the card link. Nonetheless, the flavor is still quite good here: first the shards start touching each other and patches of land from one start appearing on another (represented in chapter I through land fetching, even if I would have liked "up to five basic land cards with different names" even better for flavor), then the overlap completes and generates the Maelstrom, which is an explosion of mana and energy (represented through card draw in chapter II), then Bolas arrives (chapter III) and gets what he wants (chapter IV) before being forced off the plane by Ajani. Players who don't follow the story very closely might see the mention of Bolas kind of thrown out there, but at least this card teaches them that Bolas orchestrated the Conflux and might tickle their curiosity to go read the story to understand what is going on. Good work overall.
Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - A typo in the third chapter: "permenant" is supposed to be "permanent" (the "a" and the second "e" are reversed, -0.5).
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good. This is Alara, not Dominaria.
(2/2) Subchallenges - The Conflux is definitely a well known and established canon event. Final chapter number is four, that is not three.
Total: 20/25
Gerrard's Mom: 18.5
Raptorchan: 19
Cardz5000: 19.5
netn10: 20
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)
Enchantment — Saga (M)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after V.)
I - Exile a creature you control or sacrifice Avacyn's Imprisonment.
II, III, IV - Create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token with flying. You lose 1 life.
V - Create a legendary 5/5 white creature token with flying named Avacyn, Returned.
Design .:.
(3/3) Appeal: Reminiscent of Bitterblossom this card tingles Spike's senses. Being able to get a big angel might be of interest for the patient Txmmy. Creating fodder to sacrifice or something is always of interest for Jxnny.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: Spawning vampires is black, spawning an Avacyn is very white, the colors here are fine. The card is probably very powerful and also splashy, so very mythic. The text will fit on a card easily. While having more than three chapters this card would still work with the current layout.
(3/3) Balance: This card boils down to a suspended Bitterblossom with a hoop to jump through. While certainly powerful I think it's okey this way.
Creativity .:.
(2/3) Uniqueness: I find it is very similar to Rite of Belzenlok. Getting small dudes, getting a big dude. But with different flavor.
(3/3) Flavor: I know just a little bit of this story but enough to think that this card is a fitting depiction of it.
Polish .:.
(2,5/3) Quality: I'm not sure if chapter I works as intended. There's no example for this. I'd go with "Sacrifice ~ unless you exile a creature you control." just to be sure that you are forced to make this choice, e.g.
Rogue Elephant. Besides that no flaws detected.
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 23,5/25
Enchantment — Saga [M]
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.
II — Create three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
III — Exile up to one target creature or enchantment. You get an emblem with “Players can’t cast spells with the same name as cards in exile.”
IV — Each player sacrifices a planeswalker.
Design .:.
(3/3) Appeal: All three aspects of the player psychographics find something in this card.
(2,5/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense. I just wish it would exile always, instead of destroying and sacrificing. After all you get that nice emlbem you want to feed. The amount of text seems fine.
Development .:.
(1,5/3) Viability: MaRo stated that emblems are a planeswalker only thing thus far. It makes sense to get one here but it is unorthodox. The colors are almost fine. Getting rid of planeswalkers is black's and red's territory. The rarity is fine.
(3/3) Balance: Wow does this card do a lot. A little bit of everything it seems, and over four turns. At that mana cost probably somewhat okey.
Creativity .:.
(2,5/3) Uniqueness: While overloaded it does feel unique. Non planeswalker emblems!
(3/3) Flavor: Theros was the set I returned to magic after several years. Yet I still don't know an awful lot about the story. To the best of my knowledge this is an appropriate depiction of Elspeth's journey.
Polish .:.
(2,5/3) Quality: Unfortunately I can't find a perfect example but I think it is "can't cast spells with the same name a card in exile", your wording stems from cards like Godsend that refer only to cards exiled with them self. My not so perfect example is Candles of Leng. No other flaws detected.
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22/25
Enchantment - Saga (R)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I: Until your next turn, each creature you control gains persist. (When it dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)
II: Remove all counters from creatures and enchantments you control. Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain all creature types.
Design .:.
(1/3) Appeal: Very appealing to Jxnny, of course. Who wouldn't like to sacrifice anything without a real drawback.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense. It is a lot of text but with two chapters this should be possible.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: Colors and rarity are all right.
(3/3) Balance: Being able to sacrifice everything without drawback every other turn seems powerful but not too oppressive. It's slow but allows for nice combos.
Creativity .:.
(3/3) Uniqueness: A saga that sets itself back is a cool idea.
(3/3) Flavor: I read a little bit into it and it seems like this card is a nice representation of the whole day and night cycle thing going on Lorwyn–Shadowmoor.
Polish .:.
(2,5/3) Quality: It's "creatures you control gain", e.g. Heroic Reinforcements. There's one weird instance where your wording was used, on Shade's Breath, but I'm almost certain that has to do with the "become" part. The
flavorreminder text is unusual but describes how the card actually seems to work. No other flaws detected.(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22,5/25
Enchantment - Saga (M)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I — Put a divinity counter on target creature. Each creature you control with a divinity counter on it has indestructible.
II, III — Until your next turn, creatures you control gain bushido 2.
IV — Exile all creatures.
Design .:.
(1/3) Appeal: Probably a Jxnny card. Hard to judge.
(2,5/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense. Playwise it somewhat sad that the last ability gets rid of the divine creature you made in chapter I. The text would fit nicely on a card.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: The card's effects are true to its color. Mythic seems okey.
(3/3) Balance: Fits good into weenie stragies and similar. A wrath at turn seven is strong but not overpowering. Especially if you see it coming so far ahead.
Creativity .:.
(2,5/3) Uniqueness: Kind of a conditional hymn with a wrath in one package. Nice but not too exciting.
(3/3) Flavor: Kamigawa block was one of the last before my magical hiatus. As such all I knew about the story is somewhat forgotten. But I know enough to think that this card is a fitting depcition of the kami war.
Polish .:.
(3/3) Quality: No flaws detected!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 22/25
Flatline = 23,5 VS The_Hittite = 22
Gerrard's Mom = 22,5 VS Raptorchan = 22
This is a super tiny point, but I believe Cauldron of Souls and Cauldron Haze are the correct references for wording temporary persist. I assume they are worded with the nonstandard "each creature gains" instead of "creatures you control gain" because the reminder text would be hard to parse in the plural.
Thanks for the judgings!
(2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy loves the sheer scale of this card. Lots of effects for Johnny to play around with and an especially strong final chapter for him to cheat out. Spike loves a toolbox (card smoothing, removal, ramp, alpha strike) to get him to the end of the game but the cost is a bit difficult - still, makes for a great control finisher.
(1.5/3) Elegance: Each effect is pretty clear on its own, but boy does this card have a lot of words.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Colors and rarity are right.
(3/3) Balance: Every effect is extremely strong. However, the card is expensive as hell. I wouldn't object to abilities similar to these as the pluses and minuses of a planeswalker that costs 3GWU, after all.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: None of the individual effects are particularly unique but the storytelling of putting them together in this way certainly is.
(2.5/3) Flavor: A little odd - the Amonkhetu version of the Accounting of the Hours only has four, but we know there are five, so there's this strange meta-disconnect. The effects also sometimes only have vague relevance to the actual names/significances of the Hours (though I like how you represented knocking down the Hekma in Promise), and the whole deal feels like it should be, y'know, four colors. Otherwise, though, a great job done tackling an ambitious concept.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Looking good.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges: And done.
Total: 22/25
(3/3) Appeal: Timmy loves effects this huge, Johnny always enjoys an alt-win, Spike likes an autowin that builds itself.
(3/3) Elegance: Supremely elegant in spite of its wordiness, and it's not as wordy as some Sagas. I like the callback to Conflux.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Has to be all-colors and mythic is a given.
(2.5/3) Balance: A very strong first chapter that enables the autowin, but you still do have to work for that, and if you can access WUBRG in the first place, you don't necessarily need to be able to fix your mana at that point, right? All in all it's powerful but you have to build-around it.
Creativity -
(1.5/3) Uniqueness: As mentioned, cribs pretty heavily from the original Conflux (and I guess Gaea's Balance?) and Coalition Victory but a unique story/combination.
(3/3) Flavor: All but perfect.
Polish -
(2.5/3) Quality: "Permanent" misspelled.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges: And done.
Total: 22.5/25
(2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy likes getting beaters for cheap but frowns at the disadvantage to get it started up. Johnny could do silly things with tokens. Spike would make the most of pumping out bodies like this, particularly in Limited.
(3/3) Elegance: Can't fault you here.
Development -
(2.5/3) Viability: Colors obviously fine, but this seems way more rare than mythic in terms of effects and simplicity. This is the kind of Saga I would like to see showing up in Limited, which seems to be its best home.
(2.5/3) Balance: Development might, maybe, add 1 to this cost but trading a creature for a Bitterblossom that after a while explodes into a 5/5 flyer seems to be a fair card on the whole.
Creativity -
(1.5/3) Uniqueness: A drawback-mode is unique, but not necessarily in an exciting way, and we've certainly seen several Sagas that spit out creatures.
(2.5/3) Flavor: The Vampire tokens are because the Vamps ran wild in Avacyn's absence, right? Well... so did every other kind of monster. So it only being Vampire tokens is understandable for an elegant and readable card but a knock against the flavor.
Polish -
(2/3) Quality: Fairly certain the first chapter would be "Sacrifice Avacyn's Imprisonment unless you exile a creature you control."
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Completed.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Done.
Total: 20.5/25
(2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy likes how cinematic it is but might be underwhelmed by the individual effect sizes. A lockdown-minded Johnny could do dumb things with that emblem. Spike likes an all-in-one toolbox that also shuts off problem planeswalkers, potentially before they can even ultimate.
(2.5/3) Elegance: Emblems on non-planeswalkers is an element of slight inelegance.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Color and rarity are correct.
(3/3) Balance: Does about as much as I'd like a five-mana Saga to. The final chapter even feels a bit, well... anticlimactic.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: Obviously draws on Elspeth herself but still fairly unique as a Saga.
(3/3) Flavor: About a spot-on retelling of the Theros storyline.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Good.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges: And done.
Total: 23/25
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Cardz5000: 22 + 19.5 = 41.5
netn10: 22.5 + 20 = 42.5
Flatline: 23.5 + 20.5 = 44
The_Hittite: 22 + 23 = 45
Gerrard's Mom: 18.5 + 22.5 = 41
Raptorchan: 19 + 22 = 41
This is a tie, so both players advance. We will have a final round with four players.
MCC - Winner (6): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019 || Host (15): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here) || Judge (34): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last one here)
CCL - Winner (3): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last one here) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (1): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar) || Host (3): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016
• The two public custom sets I've been part a part of the design team for:
"Brotherhood of Ormos" - Blog post with all info - set thread - design skeleton / card list || "Extinctia: Homo Evanuit" - Blog post with all info - set thread - card list spreadsheet
• "The Lion's Lair", my article series about MTG and custom card design in particular. Latest article here. Here is the article index. Rather outdated by now, and based on the old MCC rubric, but I'm leaving this here for anybody that might be interested anyway.
• My only public attempt at being a writer: the story of my Leonin custom planeswalker Jeff Lionheart. (I have a very big one that I'm working on right now but that's private for now, and I don't know if I will ever actually publish it, and I also have ideas for multiple future ones, including one where I'm going to reprise Jeff.)