This month we will be messing with different abilities
Main Challenge: Design a Planeswalker with a non-loyalty ability. This ability cannot be "CARDNAME can be your commander" Subchallenge 1: The card does not transform. Subchallenge 2: The non-loyalty ability is an activated ability.
If you have questions about the challenge, please post in the MCC discussion thread. Best of luck!
Subchallenge 1: Cannot transform by any means. Transform, meld, whatever fun mechanic you decide to use.
Subchallenge 2: The activated ability cannot be granted by the effect of a loyalty ability.
Design Deadline: All submissions are to be final and submitted by August 14th 11:59 PM EST
Judging Deadline: All judgements are to be final and completed by August 17th 11:59 PM EST
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.
Judges:
Koopa
Gerrard's Mom
Antiantiserum
Contestants:
Subject16
void_nothing
Freyleyes
StonerofKruphix
Marco
Jimmy Grove
netn10
TotallyHaywire
RaikouRider
Hemlock
The_Hittite
Raptorchan
bravelion83
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.
Kerion, Soul of Mines2WW
Legendary Planeswaler - Kerion (Mythic)
Tap two untapped creatures you control: Create a colorless Gold artifact tokens with "T Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
+1: Create a 1/1 white Dwarf creature token with vigilance.
-1: Untap all creatures you control.
-6: You get an emblem with "You may sacrifice Gold tokens as though as it was removing loyalty counters."
{2}
Laurel, Wandering GroveGGG
Legendary Planeswalker - Laurel [M]
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have Laurel, Wandering Grove become a colorless Forest land until your next turn.
+1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target Forest you control and it becomes a 0/0 Dryad creature with hexproof. It’s still a land.
-8: Gain control of all nonbasic lands. They become Forests in addition to their other types.
3
Kala, the Heart of Argentum3
Legendary Artifact Planeswalker - Kala {M}
-1: The next spell you cast this turn has affinity for artifacts.
-1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact creature. It gains modular until end of turn.
-3: Exile target non artifact permanent. 3: Exile Kala, the Heart of Argentum. Return it to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of your next turn.
3
Yormir, Tivo Historian2GWB
Legendary Planeswalker - Yormir (Mythic)
[+2]: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, put the bottom card of your library into your graveyard."
[-3:] Shuffle your graveyard into your library then put that many cards from the top of your library into your graveyard.
Dispel an emblem you control: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Starting Loyalty: 4
Dispelling an emblem is tantamount to sacrificing them. They are removed from the command zone and no longer have any effect. Flavour-wise, Yormir is an elven archeologist and historian, and finds his passion in paleontology i.e. the study of fossils and bones.
Joiner, Awakened LicidGW
Legendary Planeswalker - Joiner (MR) T: Target creature you control gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is Joiner, Awakened Licid's Loyalty.
[+2]: Untap up to one target land you control.
[+1]: Untap up to one target creature you control.
{2}
Nissa, Attuned to the Land2G
Legendary Planeswalker — Nissa (M) XX: Put X loyalty counters on Nissa, Attuned to the Land. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
-3: Draw a card. Until end of turn, lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types.
-10: You get an emblem with “Lands you control are 4/4 green Elemental creatures with vigilance, trample, indestructible, and haste. They’re still lands.”
3
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.)
Karel Bran, Unifier of Guilds5
Legendary Planeswalker - Karel (m)
Karel Bran, Unifier of Guilds enters the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.
+1: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
- 3: Reveal the top five cards of your library. For each color, choose a card with a mana symbol of that color in its mana cost and put that card into your hand. WUBRG: You may activate a loyalty ability of Karel Barn as thought none of its abilities have been activated this turn.
//1
Moiza Nikhon, Otherworldly Merchant2WB
Legendary Planeswalker - Moiza (M)
+1: Create a 1/1 white and black Kor Mercenary creature token with first strike.
0: Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, create a colorless artifact token named Gold. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
-10: You get an emblem with "Whenever a player casts a spell, you gain life equal to that spell's converted mana cost."
Sacrifice a Gold: Put a loyalty counter on Moiza Nikhon, Otherworldly Merchant.
{4}
Reruel, Suppressor Suzerain3UB
Legendary Planeswalker - Reruel (M) 1U: Counter target activated or triggered ability.
+1: Creatures target player controls get +1/-1 until end of turn.
-2: Until end of turn, all creatures and planeswalkers gain "When this permanent dies, you draw two cards and lose 2 life."
-7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a nontoken creature or planeswalker dies, create two tokens that are copies of it except the tokens aren't legendary if that permanent is legendary."
{[4]}
Gor-rok Vashinza2BR
Legendary Planeswalker - Gor-rok {M}
Whenever a creature dies, put a loyalty counter on Gor-rok Vashinza.
-1: Sacrifice a creature. If you do, put X +1/+1 counters on up to one target creature, where X is the sacrificed creature's power.
-4: Creatures you control gain double strike until end of turn.
-10: Each creature you control gains trample and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that creature's power. Sacrifice those creatures at the beginning of the next end step.
5
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker1RR
Legendary Planeswalker - Ib (Mythic Rare) T: You may put a Goblin creature card with converted mana cost equal to the number of loyalty counters on Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker from your hand onto the battlefield.
+1: Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
-2: Sacrifice a Goblin. If you do, Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker deals 4 damage to any target.
-4: Goblin creatures you control get +3/+0 and gain menace until end of turn.
3
Ral Zarek, Living Storm 4UR
Legendary Planeswalker- Ral {Mythic Rare}
Forecast— (U/R), reveal Ral Zarek, Living Storm from your hand: Create a 0/1 blue and red Elemental creature token with prowess and "Ral planeswalkers you control enter the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter." (Activate this ability only during your upkeep and only once each turn.)
You may activate the loyalty abilities of Ral any number of times each turn rather than only once.
[-1]: Ral deals 1 damage to each opponent. Scry 1, then draw a card.
[-4]: Add three mana in any combination of U and/or R. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.
[-7]: Draw X cards, where X is the number of Elementals you control. Then, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost X or less from your hand without paying its mana cost. If you do, copy it X times. You may choose new targets for the copies.
{3}
Derevi, Ascended Tactician1GWU
Legendary Planeswalker — Derevi (MR) T: Until end of turn, spells you control and creatures you control gain hexproof.
+1: Until end of turn, whenever a nonland permanent you control becomes tapped for the first time this turn, untap it.
-X: Tap or untap up to X target permanents.
-8: You get an emblem with: "Whenever a permanent you control becomes untapped, creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn."
4
Design - (3/3) Appeal: Strong appeal for fans of the original Derevi who like turning things sideways and back (2/3) Elegance: Hits the theme hard and has an actual reason to tap itself. That said, planeswalkers already have a "one per turn" thing they do, so adding tapping is a recipe for confusion.
Development - (2/3) Viability: My belief is that you want the +1 to work on only one permanent, but I think it works on everything, and even if it doesn't it's a very wordy way to say "Untap target permanent". (1/3) Balance: The most powerful part about this card may actually be the pseudo-Privileged Position. Untapping one thing is a bit weak compared to other planeswalker options and, while versatile, the tap/untap X is also not very strong compared to something like Sleep. The emblem is also pretty strong at parity but isn't good for comebacks. I guess the hexproof at least has some windows where it wouldn't be active to make it slightly less unfun.
Creativity - (2/3) Uniqueness: Everything Wake Thrasher is pretty fun and new, as is the line about spells with hexproof, and the untapping thing. By the nature of the challenge, it's a new take on walkers. (3/3) Flavor: Fits the character
Polish - (2/3) Quality: I suspect that we can't say "Tap or untap" for multiple targets since it isn't clear if you can do different things to each one. As far as I can tell there is no precedent for that, Hidden Strings being the biggest clue. (2/2) Main Challenge: (2/2) Subchallenges:
Moiza Nikhon, Otherworldly Merchant2WB
Legendary Planeswalker - Moiza (M)
+1: Create a 1/1 white and black Kor Mercenary creature token with first strike.
0: Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, create a colorless artifact token named Gold. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
-10: You get an emblem with "Whenever a player casts a spell, you gain life equal to that spell's converted mana cost."
Sacrifice a Gold: Put a loyalty counter on Moiza Nikhon, Otherworldly Merchant.
{4}
Design - (2/3) Appeal: It's somewhat subtle in its appeal. I suppose it's mostly a Johnny card. (2/3) Elegance: There's a progression of token - Gold - loyalty - ultimate that works nicely but it's a little murky in how it all plays out.
Development - (3/3) Viability: I buy these colors caring about Gold. The ultimate works. (2/3) Balance: A lot depends on if we get more ways to create Gold. A fast ultimate is definitely hard to deal with, but she(?) needs a lot of support from evasive creatures and the tokens she make are not going to be a big help.
Creativity - (2/3) Uniqueness: All feels pretty new, and I think this is a good try at the challenge. I think Wizards would just let you spend Gold for loyalty in one of the loyalty abilities. (3/3) Flavor: The details on the tokens are evocative and the play pattern is cool because they feel like her guards, while she contracts out to other evasive creatures you summon to get more Gold.
Polish - (2/3) Quality: Hmm, Garruk Relentless has his trigger first but all the commander static abilities come last, so hard to tell which one is right and I'll believe you. Name is definitely too long though. (2/2) Main Challenge: (2/2) Subchallenges:
Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker1RR
Legendary Planeswalker - Ib (Mythic Rare) T: You may put a Goblin creature card with converted mana cost equal to the number of loyalty counters on Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker from your hand onto the battlefield.
+1: Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
-2: Sacrifice a Goblin. If you do, Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker deals 4 damage to any target.
-4: Goblin creatures you control get +3/+0 and gain menace until end of turn.
3
Design - (3/3) Appeal: People like goblins (2/3) Elegance: Again, tapping is pretty weird in combination with loyalty abilities.
Development - (3/3) Viability: These should all be things that red can do. (1/3) Balance: This would certainly push Goblins in a lot of formats. You can immediately get two tokens and a 3 or 4-cost goblin, which could easily be a lord for 6 power, running to 15 the next turn with the ultimate, and it only gets better from there. It's also a 5 turn clock by itself without any combat and with an extra chump blocker every other turn. Even if the minus abilities were bad, which they aren't, the plus ability by itself is a 2-mana ability that can be used every turn on a 3-mana card, which should be a warning sign.
Creativity - (1/3) Uniqueness: Half of it is just the Ib legend and the rest is more or less Goblin Lackey and Goblin Pyromancer or something. (3/3) Flavor: Feels pretty darn gobliny
Polish - (3/3) Quality: (2/2) Main Challenge: (2/2) Subchallenges:
Ral Zarek, Living Storm 4UR
Legendary Planeswalker- Ral {Mythic Rare}
Forecast— (U/R), reveal Ral Zarek, Living Storm from your hand: Create a 0/1 blue and red Elemental creature token with prowess and "Ral planeswalkers you control enter the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter." (Activate this ability only during your upkeep and only once each turn.)
You may activate the loyalty abilities of Ral any number of times each turn rather than only once.
[-1]: Ral deals 1 damage to each opponent. Scry 1, then draw a card.
[-4]: Add three mana in any combination of U and/or R. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.
[-7]: Draw X cards, where X is the number of Elementals you control. Then, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost X or less from your hand without paying its mana cost. If you do, copy it X times. You may choose new targets for the copies.
{3}
Design - (2/3) Appeal: I guess Johnny can try to maximize this and "big random turn" Tammys might be on board. (1/3) Elegance: This is a neat concept but a weird planeswalker. Too much odd stuff going on. The Forecast ability just making prowess tokens with two or three brief abilities in + and - capitalizing on the tokens would have been sufficiently new and cool.
Development - (3/3) Viability: Forecast is not really a red ability, but it's ultimately tied to blue and the flavor makes it an acceptable bend. All the things it does are solidly blue/red. (2/3) Balance: So to live the dream here, I need to spend 4 turns forecasting and protecting my elementals, then I draw 4 and get a 4-damage spell to just kill you. What's weird is that with 7 loyalty I can get pretty close to that without the Elementals, drawing 3 and getting some extra mana to cast two copies of something. I think you need to either capitalize the rapid-fire ability with several cheap minus options like drawing, mana, copying. Or be a normalish planeswalker that exploits the elementals but can still build up after arriving.
Creativity - (3/3) Uniqueness: Forecast is actually awesome for a planeswalker, and you did some cool stuff with setting up the tokens and using them as payoff. Also a rapid-fire, sorcery-like planeswalker is interesting. (3/3) Flavor: Forecast...Storm...I got it. Although by Living Storm, did he have some kind of accident? Seems Izzet enough though.
Polish - (1/3) Quality: The text box is more crampled than most cards are allowed to be...before even getting to the loyalty abilities. This would be a "full text" card. Also, please make use of the bold and italics formatting for cardname and reminder text, respectively. (2/2) Main Challenge: (2/2) Subchallenges:
Sorry friends. I tried to get on last night between my work shifts but naturally the site was down. Regardless, here are the assignments. The top two of each will advance.
Reruel, Suppressor Suzerain3UB
Legendary Planeswalker - Reruel (M) 1U: Counter target activated or triggered ability.
+1: Creatures target player controls get +1/-1 until end of turn.
-2: Until end of turn, all creatures and planeswalkers gain "When this permanent dies, you draw two cards and lose 2 life."
-7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a nontoken creature or planeswalker dies, create two tokens that are copies of it except the tokens aren't legendary if that permanent is legendary."
{[4]}
Design - (1.5/3) Appeal: This is a spike card through and through. Johnny likes the ultimate and could use the repeatable Stifle maybe. (1.5/3) Elegance: All of the abilities are pretty straight-forward but delayed triggers can always cause issues. The +1 and the activated ability seems to be disconnected from the rest of the card.
Development - (3/3) Viability: The card is certainly UB and mythic is the correct rarity. (2/3) Balance: Repeatable Stifle is very powerful, though probably fine on a 5-drop. The real concern here is the ultimate goes infinite with any sac outlet, which would make the standard environment tough to design. The card has a weird feel where it is either fairly underpowered or doing broken things.
Creativity - (3/3) Uniqueness: This is a solid new take on a UB walker. (1.5/3) Flavor: As I said above, the second two abilities tie well together but the + and the activated ability seem unteathered from the rest of the card.
Karel Bran, Unifier of Guilds5
Legendary Planeswalker - Karel (m)
Karel Bran, Unifier of Guilds enters the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.
+1: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
- 3: Reveal the top five cards of your library. For each color, choose a card with a mana symbol of that color in its mana cost and put that card into your hand. WUBRG: You may activate a loyalty ability of Karel Barn as thought none of its abilities have been activated this turn.
//1
Design - (3/3) Appeal: I think this hits all 3 of the archetypes very well! (2.5/3) Elegance: The abilities all tie well together. The -3 could be confusing to a newer player and could take an extra read to fully understand.
Development - (2.5/3) Viability: This fits great as a pseudo-five color walker but I feel it should have a color indicator (I think we can do a 5 color one). Obviously mythic fits (2.5/3) Balance: This card is very hard to judge and could be potentially busted. That said, I think requiring more colors to turn up it's power and the fact that it costs 5 with no ability to really protect itself lead me to believe that it is probably fine. That said, it would be a developmental nightmare.
Creativity - (3/3) Uniqueness: A very fresh take on a walker in more ways than one. (3/3) Flavor: This card oozes Ravnica. Great job.
Polish - (3/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating. (2/2) Main Challenge: Yup (2/2) Subchallenges: Yup
Total: 23.5/25
Nissa, Attuned to the Land2G
Legendary Planeswalker — Nissa (M) XX: Put X loyalty counters on Nissa, Attuned to the Land. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
-3: Draw a card. Until end of turn, lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types.
-10: You get an emblem with “Lands you control are 4/4 green Elemental creatures with vigilance, trample, indestructible, and haste. They’re still lands.”
3
Design - (2/3) Appeal: Timmy likes making a bunch of 4/4s. Johnny likes that he ramp up to pour loyalty onto it. Spike likes drawing cards, but dislikes the poor rate that he gets it here. (2.5/3) Elegance: The abilities are pretty straight forward but XX could be confusing to newer players. Abilities tie well together
Development - (3/3) Viability: Card is certainly green and mythic. (2.5/3) Balance: Adding a bunch of loyalty each turn can be quite good especially as you keep the cards flowing from the -3. That said, it feels bad that you can't do anything with Nissa if you cast her on Turn 3. It would be nice to at least get a card without her dying.
Creativity - (2.5/3) Uniqueness: This feels like previous Nissas in that it feels like Nissa but is a different take on it. (2.5/3) Flavor: Flavor is pretty good. Not incredible but solid.
Yormir, Tivo Historian2GWB
Legendary Planeswalker - Yormir (Mythic)
[+2]: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, put the bottom card of your library into your graveyard."
[-3:] Shuffle your graveyard into your library then put that many cards from the top of your library into your graveyard.
Dispel an emblem you control: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Starting Loyalty: 4
Dispelling an emblem is tantamount to sacrificing them. They are removed from the command zone and no longer have any effect. Flavour-wise, Yormir is an elven archeologist and historian, and finds his passion in paleontology i.e. the study of fossils and bones.
Design - (3/3) Appeal: Timmy is meh. Johnny likes the potential to find combo pieces but overall is disappointed with how long it will take. Spike basically sees a consistent stream of cards. (2/3) Elegance: Dispeling an emblem obviously would cause a new player to curl their brow as emblems alone already have confusion tied to them. Putting card from the bottom of the library is also, seemingly unnecessarily strange.
Development - (2/3) Viability: Black self mill with green regrowth seems good here. The white isn't necessary. While I love the design space opened up by playing with emblems, WotC has been adamant about NOT messing with them. (2/3) Balance: This card essecially has a +2 draw a card every turn but allows you to take turns off if you don't want the card in exchange for an extra shot next turn. The -3 seems pretty weak and as a five-drop walker that can't protect itself doesn't bode well for him in Standard.
Creativity - (3/3) Uniqueness: This is a fresh take on a junk walker. (2.5/3) Flavor: Without reading your synopsis, the card has some decent flavor overall. Not mindblowing, but solid.
Laurel, Wandering GroveGGG
Legendary Planeswalker - Laurel [M]
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have Laurel, Wandering Grove become a colorless Forest land until your next turn.
+1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target Forest you control and it becomes a 0/0 Dryad creature with hexproof. It’s still a land.
-8: Gain control of all nonbasic lands. They become Forests in addition to their other types.
3
Design - (2/3) Appeal: Soike loves it. Timmy likes it. Johnny is meh. (2.5/3) Elegance: This becoming a Forest could trick up some players but all in all fairly elegant.
Development - (3/3) Viability: Very green and mythic. (1.5/3) Balance: Making a stream of hexproof threads feels like a very unfun game plan that would really push control decks out of the format. In addition, after a turn this card becomes incredibly hard to kill. This could be just an insane card that warps standard.
Creativity - (2.5/3) Uniqueness: A green walker that plays with Forests but still feels completely different than Nissa is quite an accomplishment. (3/3) Flavor: Flavor is quite good. I get the feel of a sentient grove.
Joiner, Awakened LicidGW
Legendary Planeswalker - Joiner (MR) T: Target creature you control gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is Joiner, Awakened Licid's Loyalty.
[+2]: Untap up to one target land you control.
[+1]: Untap up to one target creature you control.
{2}
Design .:. (2/3) Appeal: Both Jxnny and Spike have a use for this card. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (2,5/3) Viability: A selesnya colored mythic could look like this. Though, what does tapping a planeswalker mean? Are non-creature planeswalker summoning sick or can they tap right away? (2/3) Balance: It doesn't help you cast a 3-drop on turn two. But it helps you cast a 4-drop turn three, and so on. In that it's about as fast as the "new generation" mana dorks, like Channeler Initiate. Overall I'd compare this to Kiora's Follower in its ability to untap stuff. It's about as efficient. The pump ability should be pretty potent, even more so if this can be actiated the turn it comes into play. That's potentially +4/+4 the first time and increasingly stronger each following activation. For a 2-mana permanent this is pretty powerful. Your blockers and your attackers become pretty big and scary and the one creature you pump is virtualy above the curve sveral turns, once each turn cycle!
Creativity .:. (2,5/3) Uniqueness:Nissa and Kiora have both been able to untap lands and creatures in the past. Here the ability is split and also added is the pump effect. (2,5/3) Flavor: It's a licid doing licid things, it's still beneficial to your creatures/board. Having a licid, a pretty lowly parasitic animal, become a awakened I find pretty wild and also unlikely though. We'd need a good explanation for this.
Polish .:. (2,5/3) Quality: "The number of loyalty counters on this" has never been shortcutted to just "this's loyalty". It's a nice idea and probably very intuitive but not an actual way to word currently. (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 21/25
Kerion, Soul of Mines2WW
Legendary Planeswaler - Kerion (Mythic)
Tap two untapped creatures you control: Create a colorless Gold artifact tokens with "T Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
+1: Create a 1/1 white Dwarf creature token with vigilance.
-1: Untap all creatures you control.
-6: You get an emblem with "You may sacrifice Gold tokens as though as it was removing loyalty counters."
{2}
Design .:. (1/3) Appeal: This seems to be a Jxnny card. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: Untapping your troops and generating tokens is easily white. Generating tons of gold and using that gold in such a way is new terrain. To compare this, there are no white cards that produce treasures, that is, only pirates produce them and they aren't white naturally. Here we have a miner folk, a group of people dedicating their life to dig for gold together. I can see this in white. (3/3) Balance: So, on turn 4 (or 3 a Wx deck usually doesn't get ahead of curve that fast, but with other gold themed cards it might) you can either generate a gold token or two or attack with your guys, to then untap them all to be able to block or generate more gold. Or you get an additional creature. Generating a number of gold tokens, two should be not unlikely if you untap all your creatures, makes this into a pretty good ramp card. On turn 5 (or 4) you can play your 7-drop (or 6-drop). Pretty unusual for white I'd say but treasures did the same thing already for other colors. Late turn ramp is still powerful but probably not as powerful as early turn ramp. So over all somewhat balanced for four mana I think. The ultimat, depending on what it's supposed to do, works only with other planeswalkers. It's probably not bad but needs a very specific deck to be properly used.
Creativity .:. (3/3) Uniqueness: A gold matters planeswalker feels pretty fresh. Also, first dwarfen (i guess) planeswalker getting a card! (3/3) Flavor: All the effects give you some idea of the story behind this guy.
Polish .:. (1,5/3) Quality: It's a token, singular. Also, so far gold tokens always where named gold. The way you word it it would have to have the subtype gold what would be unusual for gold tokens. Compared to treasures, where having the subtype is the usual way. The ultimate worded this way doesn't really function. It doesn't even really explain what it does. Do you mean something like "Instead of removing loyalty counters to activate loyalty abilities of planeswalkers you control, you may sacrifice that many gold tokens."? (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 21,5/25
RaikouRider Gor-rok Vashinza2BR
Legendary Planeswalker - Gor-rok {M}
Whenever a creature dies, put a loyalty counter on Gor-rok Vashinza.
-1: Sacrifice a creature. If you do, put X +1/+1 counters on up to one target creature, where X is the sacrificed creature's power.
-4: Creatures you control gain double strike until end of turn.
-10: Each creature you control gains trample and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that creature's power. Sacrifice those creatures at the beginning of the next end step.
5
Design .:. (2/3) Appeal: A nice Txmmy planeswalker. Sac and counter shenanigans might also interest Jxnny. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (3/3) Viability: Sacrificing stuff and make other stuff bigger, seem reasonable for a rakdos mythic. (2,5/3) Balance: I like how the -1 is really just a -0 and doesn't really change anything, as the power is only redistributed not added. So, on turn 4 you can either redistribute power a little, or have all your dudes gain double strike for a turn. The last effect appearing unconditionally only on 5CMC stuff or higher usually. That already seems pushed a little bit. Tying loyalty counters to death might end up pretty powerful, especially when you allow token creatures to take part in this. Getting to the ultimate might be not as difficult and a mass Berserk/Fatal Frenzy is an awesome idea. Then again, it's basically just the -4 again but with trample. Overall, you can either play this and find a balance between sacrificing your creatures and attacking with them. Or you just play it for its pushed double strike effect if your deck needs just that.
Creativity .:. (2,5/3) Uniqueness: The -1 and -10 have some similarity to Garruk, the Veil-Cursed but other than that it feels pretty fresh. (2/3) Flavor: Gor-rok, or gore-rock?, doesn't really tell a lot except blood, blood, gore, and blood.
Polish .:. (3/3) Quality: No flaws detected! (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (1/2) Subchallenges: Subchallenge 1 satisfied!
Total: 21/25
Kala, the Heart of Argentum3
Legendary Artifact Planeswalker - Kala {M}
-1: The next spell you cast this turn has affinity for artifacts.
-1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact creature. It gains modular until end of turn.
-3: Exile target non artifact permanent. 3: Exile Kala, the Heart of Argentum. Return it to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of your next turn.
3
Design .:. (3/3) Appeal: Strong enough to go into most decks, this card would probably appeal to any player type in some way. (3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:. (1/3) Viability: Quasi unconditional removal on such a low mana cost and without a color restrition violates the game's concept of the color pie and also seems broken power level wise. (0/3) Balance: The first -1 and the ultimate are absurdely strong. The middle effect is nice, modular could even be permanent. Yes, Karn Liberated is a virtual 3-drop that exiles permanents, but Kala slots into any deck, not just tron.
Creativity .:. (2,5/3) Uniqueness:Saheeli, the Gifted did show us the affinity ability just very recently. (2,5/3) Flavor: Karn is a pretty special artificial being that got the become a planeswalker. We'd need a good explanation for Kala being another artifical planeswalker. Obviously it has to do something with Karn/Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, as the name indicates. Is it before the phyrexianization of mirrodin or is new phyrexia wiped out?
Polish .:. (1/3) Quality: "Artifact planeswalker" isn't a thing. To quote MaRo: "We would have done it for Karn if we were ever going to do it. The potential for abuse is too high.", also the attribute of being a planeswalker is said to override all other aspects of your type nature. You just are a planeswalker. Nonartifact is a single word. Further, in Estrid, the Masked and Narset Transcendent I've found two planeswalkers that use set specific words without explaining what they do. They both have in common that the word they reference appears on other cards in their set, at a lower rarity, or in their preconstructed deck. There's no need to explain what the word means on the planeswalker, if your set/precon includes other cards that do the explaining. What this means for Kala, is that for her to be worded this way she must appear in a set/precon that revolves about modular and some form of affinity. The latter being a broken mechanic that's pretty hard to balance as any other cost reductions mechanic, a set of mechanics that proves to be too powerful time and time again. Modular is neat though : ) The wording is not technically incorrect but for it being worded in this way they'd have to bring back affinity for artifacts (extremely unlikely) or affinity for X (less unlikely but still not very likely). (2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied! (2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 17/25
I have two 2nd places this time:
netn10 21,5
RaikouRider 21,0
Jimmy Grove 21,0
Freyleyes 17,0
August MCC 2018 Round 1 - Abilities!
This month we will be messing with different abilities
Main Challenge: Design a Planeswalker with a non-loyalty ability. This ability cannot be "CARDNAME can be your commander"
Subchallenge 1: The card does not transform.
Subchallenge 2: The non-loyalty ability is an activated ability.
If you have questions about the challenge, please post in the MCC discussion thread. Best of luck!
Subchallenge 1: Cannot transform by any means. Transform, meld, whatever fun mechanic you decide to use.
Subchallenge 2: The activated ability cannot be granted by the effect of a loyalty ability.
Design Deadline: All submissions are to be final and submitted by August 14th 11:59 PM EST
Judging Deadline: All judgements are to be final and completed by August 17th 11:59 PM EST
(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.
Judges:
Koopa
Gerrard's Mom
Antiantiserum
Contestants:
Subject16
void_nothing
Freyleyes
StonerofKruphix
Marco
Jimmy Grove
netn10
TotallyHaywire
RaikouRider
Hemlock
The_Hittite
Raptorchan
bravelion83
A helpful tip for those formatting their cards:
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Legendary Planeswaler - Kerion (Mythic)
Tap two untapped creatures you control: Create a colorless Gold artifact tokens with "T Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
+1: Create a 1/1 white Dwarf creature token with vigilance.
-1: Untap all creatures you control.
-6: You get an emblem with "You may sacrifice Gold tokens as though as it was removing loyalty counters."
{2}
Legendary Planeswalker - Laurel [M]
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have Laurel, Wandering Grove become a colorless Forest land until your next turn.
+1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target Forest you control and it becomes a 0/0 Dryad creature with hexproof. It’s still a land.
-8: Gain control of all nonbasic lands. They become Forests in addition to their other types.
3
Legendary Artifact Planeswalker - Kala {M}
-1: The next spell you cast this turn has affinity for artifacts.
-1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact creature. It gains modular until end of turn.
-3: Exile target non artifact permanent.
3: Exile Kala, the Heart of Argentum. Return it to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of your next turn.
3
Legendary Planeswalker - Yormir (Mythic)
[+2]: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, put the bottom card of your library into your graveyard."
[-3:] Shuffle your graveyard into your library then put that many cards from the top of your library into your graveyard.
Dispel an emblem you control: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Starting Loyalty: 4
Dispelling an emblem is tantamount to sacrificing them. They are removed from the command zone and no longer have any effect. Flavour-wise, Yormir is an elven archeologist and historian, and finds his passion in paleontology i.e. the study of fossils and bones.
Legendary Planeswalker - Joiner (MR)
T: Target creature you control gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is Joiner, Awakened Licid's Loyalty.
[+2]: Untap up to one target land you control.
[+1]: Untap up to one target creature you control.
{2}
Legendary Planeswalker — Nissa (M)
XX: Put X loyalty counters on Nissa, Attuned to the Land. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
-3: Draw a card. Until end of turn, lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types.
-10: You get an emblem with “Lands you control are 4/4 green Elemental creatures with vigilance, trample, indestructible, and haste. They’re still lands.”
3
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.)
Legendary Planeswalker - Karel (m)
Karel Bran, Unifier of Guilds enters the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.
+1: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
- 3: Reveal the top five cards of your library. For each color, choose a card with a mana symbol of that color in its mana cost and put that card into your hand.
WUBRG: You may activate a loyalty ability of Karel Barn as thought none of its abilities have been activated this turn.
//1
Legendary Planeswalker - Moiza (M)
+1: Create a 1/1 white and black Kor Mercenary creature token with first strike.
0: Until end of turn, whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, create a colorless artifact token named Gold. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
-10: You get an emblem with "Whenever a player casts a spell, you gain life equal to that spell's converted mana cost."
Sacrifice a Gold: Put a loyalty counter on Moiza Nikhon, Otherworldly Merchant.
{4}
Legendary Planeswalker - Reruel (M)
1U: Counter target activated or triggered ability.
+1: Creatures target player controls get +1/-1 until end of turn.
-2: Until end of turn, all creatures and planeswalkers gain "When this permanent dies, you draw two cards and lose 2 life."
-7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a nontoken creature or planeswalker dies, create two tokens that are copies of it except the tokens aren't legendary if that permanent is legendary."
{[4]}
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Gor-rok Vashinza 2BR
Legendary Planeswalker - Gor-rok {M}
Whenever a creature dies, put a loyalty counter on Gor-rok Vashinza.
-1: Sacrifice a creature. If you do, put X +1/+1 counters on up to one target creature, where X is the sacrificed creature's power.
-4: Creatures you control gain double strike until end of turn.
-10: Each creature you control gains trample and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that creature's power. Sacrifice those creatures at the beginning of the next end step.
5
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Legendary Planeswalker - Ib (Mythic Rare)
T: You may put a Goblin creature card with converted mana cost equal to the number of loyalty counters on Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker from your hand onto the battlefield.
+1: Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
-2: Sacrifice a Goblin. If you do, Ib Halfheart, Planeswalker deals 4 damage to any target.
-4: Goblin creatures you control get +3/+0 and gain menace until end of turn.
3
Legendary Planeswalker- Ral {Mythic Rare}
Forecast— (U/R), reveal Ral Zarek, Living Storm from your hand: Create a 0/1 blue and red Elemental creature token with prowess and "Ral planeswalkers you control enter the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter." (Activate this ability only during your upkeep and only once each turn.)
You may activate the loyalty abilities of Ral any number of times each turn rather than only once.
[-1]: Ral deals 1 damage to each opponent. Scry 1, then draw a card.
[-4]: Add three mana in any combination of U and/or R. The next time you cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.
[-7]: Draw X cards, where X is the number of Elementals you control. Then, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost X or less from your hand without paying its mana cost. If you do, copy it X times. You may choose new targets for the copies.
{3}
Design -
(3/3) Appeal: Strong appeal for fans of the original Derevi who like turning things sideways and back
(2/3) Elegance: Hits the theme hard and has an actual reason to tap itself. That said, planeswalkers already have a "one per turn" thing they do, so adding tapping is a recipe for confusion.
Development -
(2/3) Viability: My belief is that you want the +1 to work on only one permanent, but I think it works on everything, and even if it doesn't it's a very wordy way to say "Untap target permanent".
(1/3) Balance: The most powerful part about this card may actually be the pseudo-Privileged Position. Untapping one thing is a bit weak compared to other planeswalker options and, while versatile, the tap/untap X is also not very strong compared to something like Sleep. The emblem is also pretty strong at parity but isn't good for comebacks. I guess the hexproof at least has some windows where it wouldn't be active to make it slightly less unfun.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: Everything Wake Thrasher is pretty fun and new, as is the line about spells with hexproof, and the untapping thing. By the nature of the challenge, it's a new take on walkers.
(3/3) Flavor: Fits the character
Polish -
(2/3) Quality: I suspect that we can't say "Tap or untap" for multiple targets since it isn't clear if you can do different things to each one. As far as I can tell there is no precedent for that, Hidden Strings being the biggest clue.
(2/2) Main Challenge:
(2/2) Subchallenges:
Total: 19/25
Design -
(2/3) Appeal: It's somewhat subtle in its appeal. I suppose it's mostly a Johnny card.
(2/3) Elegance: There's a progression of token - Gold - loyalty - ultimate that works nicely but it's a little murky in how it all plays out.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: I buy these colors caring about Gold. The ultimate works.
(2/3) Balance: A lot depends on if we get more ways to create Gold. A fast ultimate is definitely hard to deal with, but she(?) needs a lot of support from evasive creatures and the tokens she make are not going to be a big help.
Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: All feels pretty new, and I think this is a good try at the challenge. I think Wizards would just let you spend Gold for loyalty in one of the loyalty abilities.
(3/3) Flavor: The details on the tokens are evocative and the play pattern is cool because they feel like her guards, while she contracts out to other evasive creatures you summon to get more Gold.
Polish -
(2/3) Quality: Hmm, Garruk Relentless has his trigger first but all the commander static abilities come last, so hard to tell which one is right and I'll believe you. Name is definitely too long though.
(2/2) Main Challenge:
(2/2) Subchallenges:
Total: 20/25
Design -
(3/3) Appeal: People like goblins
(2/3) Elegance: Again, tapping is pretty weird in combination with loyalty abilities.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: These should all be things that red can do.
(1/3) Balance: This would certainly push Goblins in a lot of formats. You can immediately get two tokens and a 3 or 4-cost goblin, which could easily be a lord for 6 power, running to 15 the next turn with the ultimate, and it only gets better from there. It's also a 5 turn clock by itself without any combat and with an extra chump blocker every other turn. Even if the minus abilities were bad, which they aren't, the plus ability by itself is a 2-mana ability that can be used every turn on a 3-mana card, which should be a warning sign.
Creativity -
(1/3) Uniqueness: Half of it is just the Ib legend and the rest is more or less Goblin Lackey and Goblin Pyromancer or something.
(3/3) Flavor: Feels pretty darn gobliny
Polish -
(3/3) Quality:
(2/2) Main Challenge:
(2/2) Subchallenges:
Total: 20/25
Design -
(2/3) Appeal: I guess Johnny can try to maximize this and "big random turn" Tammys might be on board.
(1/3) Elegance: This is a neat concept but a weird planeswalker. Too much odd stuff going on. The Forecast ability just making prowess tokens with two or three brief abilities in + and - capitalizing on the tokens would have been sufficiently new and cool.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Forecast is not really a red ability, but it's ultimately tied to blue and the flavor makes it an acceptable bend. All the things it does are solidly blue/red.
(2/3) Balance: So to live the dream here, I need to spend 4 turns forecasting and protecting my elementals, then I draw 4 and get a 4-damage spell to just kill you. What's weird is that with 7 loyalty I can get pretty close to that without the Elementals, drawing 3 and getting some extra mana to cast two copies of something. I think you need to either capitalize the rapid-fire ability with several cheap minus options like drawing, mana, copying. Or be a normalish planeswalker that exploits the elementals but can still build up after arriving.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: Forecast is actually awesome for a planeswalker, and you did some cool stuff with setting up the tokens and using them as payoff. Also a rapid-fire, sorcery-like planeswalker is interesting.
(3/3) Flavor: Forecast...Storm...I got it. Although by Living Storm, did he have some kind of accident? Seems Izzet enough though.
Polish -
(1/3) Quality: The text box is more crampled than most cards are allowed to be...before even getting to the loyalty abilities. This would be a "full text" card. Also, please make use of the bold and italics formatting for cardname and reminder text, respectively.
(2/2) Main Challenge:
(2/2) Subchallenges:
Total: 19/25
Raptorchan - 20
Marco - 20
TotallyHaywire - 19
Koopa:
Subject16
void_nothing
Hemlock
The_Hittite
bravelion83
Gerrard's Mom:
StonerofKruphix
Raptorchan
Marco
TotallyHaywire
Antiantiserum:
Jimmy Grove
netn10
RaikouRider
Freyleyes
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Legendary Planeswalker - Reruel (M)
1U: Counter target activated or triggered ability.
+1: Creatures target player controls get +1/-1 until end of turn.
-2: Until end of turn, all creatures and planeswalkers gain "When this permanent dies, you draw two cards and lose 2 life."
-7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a nontoken creature or planeswalker dies, create two tokens that are copies of it except the tokens aren't legendary if that permanent is legendary."
{[4]}
(1.5/3) Appeal: This is a spike card through and through. Johnny likes the ultimate and could use the repeatable Stifle maybe.
(1.5/3) Elegance: All of the abilities are pretty straight-forward but delayed triggers can always cause issues. The +1 and the activated ability seems to be disconnected from the rest of the card.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: The card is certainly UB and mythic is the correct rarity.
(2/3) Balance: Repeatable Stifle is very powerful, though probably fine on a 5-drop. The real concern here is the ultimate goes infinite with any sac outlet, which would make the standard environment tough to design. The card has a weird feel where it is either fairly underpowered or doing broken things.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: This is a solid new take on a UB walker.
(1.5/3) Flavor: As I said above, the second two abilities tie well together but the + and the activated ability seem unteathered from the rest of the card.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Check
(2/2) Main Challenge: Yup
(2/2) Subchallenges: Yup
Total: 19.5/25
Karel Bran, Unifier of Guilds 5
Legendary Planeswalker - Karel (m)
Karel Bran, Unifier of Guilds enters the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.
+1: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
- 3: Reveal the top five cards of your library. For each color, choose a card with a mana symbol of that color in its mana cost and put that card into your hand.
WUBRG: You may activate a loyalty ability of Karel Barn as thought none of its abilities have been activated this turn.
//1
(3/3) Appeal: I think this hits all 3 of the archetypes very well!
(2.5/3) Elegance: The abilities all tie well together. The -3 could be confusing to a newer player and could take an extra read to fully understand.
Development -
(2.5/3) Viability: This fits great as a pseudo-five color walker but I feel it should have a color indicator (I think we can do a 5 color one). Obviously mythic fits
(2.5/3) Balance: This card is very hard to judge and could be potentially busted. That said, I think requiring more colors to turn up it's power and the fact that it costs 5 with no ability to really protect itself lead me to believe that it is probably fine. That said, it would be a developmental nightmare.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: A very fresh take on a walker in more ways than one.
(3/3) Flavor: This card oozes Ravnica. Great job.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(2/2) Main Challenge: Yup
(2/2) Subchallenges: Yup
Total: 23.5/25
Nissa, Attuned to the Land 2G
Legendary Planeswalker — Nissa (M)
XX: Put X loyalty counters on Nissa, Attuned to the Land. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
-3: Draw a card. Until end of turn, lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types.
-10: You get an emblem with “Lands you control are 4/4 green Elemental creatures with vigilance, trample, indestructible, and haste. They’re still lands.”
3
(2/3) Appeal: Timmy likes making a bunch of 4/4s. Johnny likes that he ramp up to pour loyalty onto it. Spike likes drawing cards, but dislikes the poor rate that he gets it here.
(2.5/3) Elegance: The abilities are pretty straight forward but XX could be confusing to newer players. Abilities tie well together
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Card is certainly green and mythic.
(2.5/3) Balance: Adding a bunch of loyalty each turn can be quite good especially as you keep the cards flowing from the -3. That said, it feels bad that you can't do anything with Nissa if you cast her on Turn 3. It would be nice to at least get a card without her dying.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: This feels like previous Nissas in that it feels like Nissa but is a different take on it.
(2.5/3) Flavor: Flavor is pretty good. Not incredible but solid.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Yup
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Yup
(2/2) Subchallenges: Yup
Total: 22/25
Yormir, Tivo Historian 2GWB
Legendary Planeswalker - Yormir (Mythic)
[+2]: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, put the bottom card of your library into your graveyard."
[-3:] Shuffle your graveyard into your library then put that many cards from the top of your library into your graveyard.
Dispel an emblem you control: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Starting Loyalty: 4
Dispelling an emblem is tantamount to sacrificing them. They are removed from the command zone and no longer have any effect. Flavour-wise, Yormir is an elven archeologist and historian, and finds his passion in paleontology i.e. the study of fossils and bones.
(3/3) Appeal: Timmy is meh. Johnny likes the potential to find combo pieces but overall is disappointed with how long it will take. Spike basically sees a consistent stream of cards.
(2/3) Elegance: Dispeling an emblem obviously would cause a new player to curl their brow as emblems alone already have confusion tied to them. Putting card from the bottom of the library is also, seemingly unnecessarily strange.
Development -
(2/3) Viability: Black self mill with green regrowth seems good here. The white isn't necessary. While I love the design space opened up by playing with emblems, WotC has been adamant about NOT messing with them.
(2/3) Balance: This card essecially has a +2 draw a card every turn but allows you to take turns off if you don't want the card in exchange for an extra shot next turn. The -3 seems pretty weak and as a five-drop walker that can't protect itself doesn't bode well for him in Standard.
Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: This is a fresh take on a junk walker.
(2.5/3) Flavor: Without reading your synopsis, the card has some decent flavor overall. Not mindblowing, but solid.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Good job
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Yup
(2/2) Subchallenges: Okay
Total: 21.5/25
Laurel, Wandering Grove GGG
Legendary Planeswalker - Laurel [M]
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have Laurel, Wandering Grove become a colorless Forest land until your next turn.
+1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target Forest you control and it becomes a 0/0 Dryad creature with hexproof. It’s still a land.
-8: Gain control of all nonbasic lands. They become Forests in addition to their other types.
3
(2/3) Appeal: Soike loves it. Timmy likes it. Johnny is meh.
(2.5/3) Elegance: This becoming a Forest could trick up some players but all in all fairly elegant.
Development -
(3/3) Viability: Very green and mythic.
(1.5/3) Balance: Making a stream of hexproof threads feels like a very unfun game plan that would really push control decks out of the format. In addition, after a turn this card becomes incredibly hard to kill. This could be just an insane card that warps standard.
Creativity -
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: A green walker that plays with Forests but still feels completely different than Nissa is quite an accomplishment.
(3/3) Flavor: Flavor is quite good. I get the feel of a sentient grove.
Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Yup
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Yup
(1/2) Subchallenges: Not activated ability
Total: 20.5/25
Planeswalkers are hard to design much less without some ridiculous hoops to jump through. IMO, all of my submissions were pretty good.
void: 19.5
Hemlock: 23.5
bravelion: 22
Subject: 21.5
Hittle: 20.5
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Legendary Planeswalker - Joiner (MR)
T: Target creature you control gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is Joiner, Awakened Licid's Loyalty.
[+2]: Untap up to one target land you control.
[+1]: Untap up to one target creature you control.
{2}
Design .:.
(2/3) Appeal: Both Jxnny and Spike have a use for this card.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(2,5/3) Viability: A selesnya colored mythic could look like this. Though, what does tapping a planeswalker mean? Are non-creature planeswalker summoning sick or can they tap right away?
(2/3) Balance: It doesn't help you cast a 3-drop on turn two. But it helps you cast a 4-drop turn three, and so on. In that it's about as fast as the "new generation" mana dorks, like Channeler Initiate. Overall I'd compare this to Kiora's Follower in its ability to untap stuff. It's about as efficient. The pump ability should be pretty potent, even more so if this can be actiated the turn it comes into play. That's potentially +4/+4 the first time and increasingly stronger each following activation. For a 2-mana permanent this is pretty powerful. Your blockers and your attackers become pretty big and scary and the one creature you pump is virtualy above the curve sveral turns, once each turn cycle!
Creativity .:.
(2,5/3) Uniqueness: Nissa and Kiora have both been able to untap lands and creatures in the past. Here the ability is split and also added is the pump effect.
(2,5/3) Flavor: It's a licid doing licid things, it's still beneficial to your creatures/board. Having a licid, a pretty lowly parasitic animal, become a awakened I find pretty wild and also unlikely though. We'd need a good explanation for this.
Polish .:.
(2,5/3) Quality: "The number of loyalty counters on this" has never been shortcutted to just "this's loyalty". It's a nice idea and probably very intuitive but not an actual way to word currently.
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 21/25
Legendary Planeswaler - Kerion (Mythic)
Tap two untapped creatures you control: Create a colorless Gold artifact tokens with "T Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color."
+1: Create a 1/1 white Dwarf creature token with vigilance.
-1: Untap all creatures you control.
-6: You get an emblem with "You may sacrifice Gold tokens as though as it was removing loyalty counters."
{2}
Design .:.
(1/3) Appeal: This seems to be a Jxnny card.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: Untapping your troops and generating tokens is easily white. Generating tons of gold and using that gold in such a way is new terrain. To compare this, there are no white cards that produce treasures, that is, only pirates produce them and they aren't white naturally. Here we have a miner folk, a group of people dedicating their life to dig for gold together. I can see this in white.
(3/3) Balance: So, on turn 4 (or 3 a Wx deck usually doesn't get ahead of curve that fast, but with other gold themed cards it might) you can either generate a gold token or two or attack with your guys, to then untap them all to be able to block or generate more gold. Or you get an additional creature. Generating a number of gold tokens, two should be not unlikely if you untap all your creatures, makes this into a pretty good ramp card. On turn 5 (or 4) you can play your 7-drop (or 6-drop). Pretty unusual for white I'd say but treasures did the same thing already for other colors. Late turn ramp is still powerful but probably not as powerful as early turn ramp. So over all somewhat balanced for four mana I think. The ultimat, depending on what it's supposed to do, works only with other planeswalkers. It's probably not bad but needs a very specific deck to be properly used.
Creativity .:.
(3/3) Uniqueness: A gold matters planeswalker feels pretty fresh. Also, first dwarfen (i guess) planeswalker getting a card!
(3/3) Flavor: All the effects give you some idea of the story behind this guy.
Polish .:.
(1,5/3) Quality: It's a token, singular. Also, so far gold tokens always where named gold. The way you word it it would have to have the subtype gold what would be unusual for gold tokens. Compared to treasures, where having the subtype is the usual way. The ultimate worded this way doesn't really function. It doesn't even really explain what it does. Do you mean something like "Instead of removing loyalty counters to activate loyalty abilities of planeswalkers you control, you may sacrifice that many gold tokens."?
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 21,5/25
Gor-rok Vashinza 2BR
Legendary Planeswalker - Gor-rok {M}
Whenever a creature dies, put a loyalty counter on Gor-rok Vashinza.
-1: Sacrifice a creature. If you do, put X +1/+1 counters on up to one target creature, where X is the sacrificed creature's power.
-4: Creatures you control gain double strike until end of turn.
-10: Each creature you control gains trample and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that creature's power. Sacrifice those creatures at the beginning of the next end step.
5
Design .:.
(2/3) Appeal: A nice Txmmy planeswalker. Sac and counter shenanigans might also interest Jxnny.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(3/3) Viability: Sacrificing stuff and make other stuff bigger, seem reasonable for a rakdos mythic.
(2,5/3) Balance: I like how the -1 is really just a -0 and doesn't really change anything, as the power is only redistributed not added. So, on turn 4 you can either redistribute power a little, or have all your dudes gain double strike for a turn. The last effect appearing unconditionally only on 5CMC stuff or higher usually. That already seems pushed a little bit. Tying loyalty counters to death might end up pretty powerful, especially when you allow token creatures to take part in this. Getting to the ultimate might be not as difficult and a mass Berserk/Fatal Frenzy is an awesome idea. Then again, it's basically just the -4 again but with trample. Overall, you can either play this and find a balance between sacrificing your creatures and attacking with them. Or you just play it for its pushed double strike effect if your deck needs just that.
Creativity .:.
(2,5/3) Uniqueness: The -1 and -10 have some similarity to Garruk, the Veil-Cursed but other than that it feels pretty fresh.
(2/3) Flavor: Gor-rok, or gore-rock?, doesn't really tell a lot except blood, blood, gore, and blood.
Polish .:.
(3/3) Quality: No flaws detected!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(1/2) Subchallenges: Subchallenge 1 satisfied!
Total: 21/25
Legendary Artifact Planeswalker - Kala {M}
-1: The next spell you cast this turn has affinity for artifacts.
-1: Put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact creature. It gains modular until end of turn.
-3: Exile target non artifact permanent.
3: Exile Kala, the Heart of Argentum. Return it to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of your next turn.
3
Design .:.
(3/3) Appeal: Strong enough to go into most decks, this card would probably appeal to any player type in some way.
(3/3) Elegance: The card is easy to understand and makes sense.
Development .:.
(1/3) Viability: Quasi unconditional removal on such a low mana cost and without a color restrition violates the game's concept of the color pie and also seems broken power level wise.
(0/3) Balance: The first -1 and the ultimate are absurdely strong. The middle effect is nice, modular could even be permanent. Yes, Karn Liberated is a virtual 3-drop that exiles permanents, but Kala slots into any deck, not just tron.
Creativity .:.
(2,5/3) Uniqueness: Saheeli, the Gifted did show us the affinity ability just very recently.
(2,5/3) Flavor: Karn is a pretty special artificial being that got the become a planeswalker. We'd need a good explanation for Kala being another artifical planeswalker. Obviously it has to do something with Karn/Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, as the name indicates. Is it before the phyrexianization of mirrodin or is new phyrexia wiped out?
Polish .:.
(1/3) Quality: "Artifact planeswalker" isn't a thing. To quote MaRo: "We would have done it for Karn if we were ever going to do it. The potential for abuse is too high.", also the attribute of being a planeswalker is said to override all other aspects of your type nature. You just are a planeswalker. Nonartifact is a single word. Further, in Estrid, the Masked and Narset Transcendent I've found two planeswalkers that use set specific words without explaining what they do. They both have in common that the word they reference appears on other cards in their set, at a lower rarity, or in their preconstructed deck. There's no need to explain what the word means on the planeswalker, if your set/precon includes other cards that do the explaining. What this means for Kala, is that for her to be worded this way she must appear in a set/precon that revolves about modular and some form of affinity. The latter being a broken mechanic that's pretty hard to balance as any other cost reductions mechanic, a set of mechanics that proves to be too powerful time and time again. Modular is neat though : ) The wording is not technically incorrect but for it being worded in this way they'd have to bring back affinity for artifacts (extremely unlikely) or affinity for X (less unlikely but still not very likely).
(2/2) Main Challenge: Main challenge satisfied!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges satisfied!
Total: 17/25
RaikouRider 21,0
Jimmy Grove 21,0
Freyleyes 17,0