Grizzled Leotau, taken from Pucatrade, by Lars Grant-West and Wizards of the Coast
Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!
Theme
September in the CCL is going to be Defenses Month! Because not everything has to be aggressive, and slowing the game down is often healthy.
Challenge
Design your choice of three of the following: a creature card with converted mana cost 3 or less and printed toughness 5 or greater; a creature card that can block multiple creatures per combat; a creature card with converted mana cost 4 or greater and printed power 0 or less; a rare or mythic creature card with reach that isn't green; a rare or mythic creature card with vigilance that isn't white; a rare or mythic creature card that can bring itself back from the graveyard that isn't black; a planeswalker card with starting loyalty 5 or greater.
Make sure to include a rarity.
Your cards can satisfy multiple requirements at once as long as you post three distinct cards and each satisfies at least one requirement.
PLEASE NOTE: This month will continue the use of the "Mandatory Top 3 Rule." For this month, you must submit a Top 3 during a round's critique period in order to receive any points for the round. Submitting critiques as well will be worth 2 bonus points in the round.
A creature card with converted mana cost 4 or greater and printed power 0 or less:
Devouring Shade2BB
Creature — Shade (R) B: Devouring Shade gets +1/+1 until end of turn. B, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Put a +1/+1 counter on Devouring Shade. The souls and hunger of many beings in the body of one.
0/1
A rare or mythic creature card with reach that isn't green:
Skybreaker Giant3RR
Creature — Giant (R)
Reach
Creatures with flying can’t block. He will not be content until there are wings in the sky.
4/3
A rare or mythic creature card with vigilance that isn't white:
Gilt-Leaf Sentinel3BG
Creature — Elf Warrior (M)
Vigilance
When Gilt-Leaf Sentinel enters the battlefield, attacks, or dies, you may destroy target non-Elf creature. “Eyeblights are not allowed in Lys Alana. I stand at its border and filter out entrants to preserve its beauty.”
2/4
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.)
Pyriscient Needle-Kin1R
Creature - Treefolk Warrior (R)
Reach
Whenever you are dealt damage by a red instant or sorcery spell, you may pay 1R. If you do, return Pyriscient Needle-Kin from your graveyard to the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it. Their seeds are conceived by lightning and nurtured by fire.
2/1
Kudzu Mass1G
Creature - Plant (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Kudzu Mass deals combat damage to a player, put that many +1/+1 counters on it. "Never have I seen a more horrifying defeat than that battlefield, lost under a sea of dark green leaves."
- Commander Halgrim
0/5
Kairmin, Wood Warden2GW
Legendary Planeswalker - Karimin (M)
+1: Until your next turn, any number of target creatures assign combat damage equal to their toughness rather than their power.
+0: Create a 0/2 green and white Plant Wall creature token with defender and "This creature can block an additional creature each combat."
-4: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control with defender have vigilance and trample and can attack as though they didn't have defender."
[5]
a creature card that can block multiple creatures per combat
Top-Heavy Topiary3GG
Creature - Treefolk (U)
Reach
~ can block an additional creature each combat.
~ can block only one creature with flying each combat.
~ can block only one creature without flying each combat.
3/6
a creature card with converted mana cost 4 or greater and printed power 0 or less
Armed Armament3R
Creature - Soldier Wall (U)
Defender
Tap two untapped creatures with defender you control: ~ deals 2 damage to any target. "A wall itself will only keep invaders out for so long, the ballista keeps them out for good."
0/6
a rare or mythic creature card that can bring itself back from the graveyard that isn't black
Poltergeist's Facade2WW
Creature - Spirit Wall (R)
Defender
If damage would be dealt to ~ prevent that damage, put that many -1/-1 counters on ~, and create that many 0/1 colorless Wall creature tokens with Defender.
Sacrifice 5 creatures with Defender: Return ~ from your graveyard to play, activate this ability only whenever you could cast a sorcery.
0/4
Similar to Sekki, Seasons' Guide, Poltergeist's Facade can make more tokens than it has toughness if it is over damaged.
a nonblack mythic that can return from the graveyard:
Ortik, Tactical Medic1RW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Cleric (m)
First Strike
When Ortic, Tactical Medic and at least two other creatures attack, put target creature card with converted mana two or less from your graveyard into the battlefield tapped and attacking.
When three or more creatures you control attack, if Ortik is in your graveyard, you may return it to the battlefield tapped and attacking.
2/1
a cmc 4 or more creature with power 0:
Makeshift Barricade3W
Creature - Wall (u)
Flash
Defender
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for or one mana of that creature's color.)
0/7
cmc 3 or lesd with 5 or more toughness Withering Moss-TitanGBW
Creature - Elemental Plant Giant (r)
Hexproof from lands
Withering Moss-Titan gets -1/-1 for each land card in a graveyard.
6/5
Devouring Shade: The shade part is too bad on a 4 cmc 0/1, but the ScOoze part is just right. Once you get this base stats to a good level with the second ability, the shade ability becomes good. These two abilities are so similar, yet they complement each other nicely too. "I wish I could pump this more" and "I wish I didn't have to pump this so much", both these concerns are handled by the other ability and make sense on this card. Skybreaker Giant: A little bland, but sometimes the good designs are simple ones. The juxtaposition of theses abilities makes them both feel red and they harmonize well together to make an anti flying card that makes sense in a color that might need help with flyers, but isn't traditionally the anti-flying color. I think there is a typo in the flavor text? Gilt-Leaf Sentinel:Seems very strong, If you play this and chump attack it kills 3 things; and killing the first 2 things probably means you're not chump attacking. Even if it just dies to removal it's still a 3 for 1. If you ever clear their board your opponent basically be locked out of playing non-elf creatures. Vigilance seems unnecessary and a little tacked-on (I would).
Pyriscient Needle-Kin: Love the ability on this card, it creates lots situations that wouldn't normally need to be played around. Do I avoid killing this if I have burn that hits a player, or do I just save it all for lethal in one turn? I could see Bolting myself to get this back, whic is nice added functionality. Not sure why it has reach and is a treefolk though, would make more sense as an elemental/ phoenix. If I understand the etymology of Pyriscient the idea is the Fire brings consciousness back to the dead tree, but I don't understand why that would make it permanently stronger. Kudzu Mass: This is another neat ability. I think the starting body is too big, this can always attack freely to bluff the trick and once it gets pumped it will never die to damage. Both of these problems are exacerbated by the vigilance, I get that this takes some work to get going, but once it's big enough it can always attack and always block. Since it threatens to grow if unblocked, even with no counters on it, your opponent is always required to keep a blocker back for it, so by existing and blocking it stops 2 attackers which seems very strong for 2 mana. Kairmin, Wood Warden: This combination of abilities is very interesting. Being able to emblem right away and still stick around is very strong, but on the other hand you need to use all 3 abilities to intrinsically make an attack with a 2/2. The abilities do create a lot more board presence if you have other creatures in play to help it. Not sure if it is intended, but the first ability can target your opponent's stuff, potentially weakening it. Wotc tends to shy away from this kind of complexity, but it is a mythic planeswalker so it's probably fine.
I personally like Planeswalkers that require some deckbuilding cost, that keeps them from being chase mythics that homogenize the formats they are in, and this accomplishes that very well. Overall, this is an interesting design that I cannot tell how good it would be.
Ortik, Tactical Medic: I like the tension of these abilities. The first strike makes this kind of hard to block (but not too hard), but it needs other attackers which it doesn't protect, so your opponent can just block them to stop this. But it also brings back a fourth attacker to replace the creatures that are dying and help it trigger again next turn. Seems a little snowbally if they can't block anything though. The biggest problem with this is most players will not intuitively understand that the comes into play tapped and attacking ability won't also trigger the first ability (Battalion and putting a creature into play attacking was the example they used in the GDS test), so this could never be printed as-is Makeshift Barricade: Convoke on this effect seems weird. I'll tap all my creatures to summon ... a blocker. It does upgrade it and at 4 cmc you don't need convoke, so i's not too dissynergistic. I would've liked to see something else, a buff for convoking it, a Masako the Humorless / Village Bell-Ringer effect ... idk something. Withering Moss-Titan: Seems too strong for standard, where lands don't often go to the graveyard, but this wouldn't be printed without the context of fetches or some way to naturally shrink it. It could be in a commander product. In formats with fetches it's gets bad quick. I'd like it if this were a slightly more interesting Woolly Thoctar, which is what it wants to be. I don't think there is an existing format where it can be that, but I like the design.
bravelion83:
It's odd to have counters and temporary pump on the same card. Also, not being able to eat opponent's dead creatures makes it a lot less appealing for formats like Commander, and I think it's on the weak end already so it could have used that buff.
Not content as long as there are wings in the sky? There are some interesting applications for the giant, like having your own aggressive flyers. Again it's on the tame side of the curve, I think this could easily be 4 mana.
The Sentinel is just oppressive - I can't think of anything else off-hand that destroys so much so easily. For this one, I'd rather see it on a more fragile body or just have non-elf deathtouch or something like that.
Zemoo:
The Topiary is a fun idea and has the right stats to pull it off.
The Armament is another nice reward along the lines of Vent Sentinel. Flavor works well.
The Facade is pretty crazy and seems like it is just an annoying super fog effect. There's an interesting minigame in the "don't deal too much damage" aspect but what it does otherwise is not really worth the effort. I think it would work better on an aggressive creature that dies down into defenders.
Hemlock:
Unspecified Battalion, in a Boros mood for the weekend eh? It's slightly hard to see at first the the parallelism is cool.
Sure, convoke wall is fine, good name for it.
I guess this is only 1/1 bigger than a Wooly Thoctar at comparable cost. Might be too big for a Standard without fetches but probably not that great in Modern and older formats that are full of them. I guess it is protected from Maze of Ith or something? Not really sure what to make of this card. Why is it protected from active lands but made weaker by dead ones?
These might turn out shorter than usual because I'm still exhausted from the GRN prerelease I did yesterday. I had a great time, but I'm physically destroyed. My body is no longer used to multi-hour physical prereleases (last one was Kaladesh), but I had a lot of fun and that's what matters. It was also my first 2HG event ever and it was a blast. Turns out playing Magic with a friend on your side helping and supporting each other is much more fun than I assumed. If you're wondering where my current custom title comes from, "Two Lions" was the name of our team, my friend came up with it and I obviously approved it immediately! I was Boros, he was Golgari. I opened Vraska and his promo was an Assassin's Trophy (which I traded for after the tournament). Mine was Citywide Bust. We went 1-2-1, 7th out of 9 teams, but I don't care about the result. It has really been one of the best days of my life and I am extremely grateful to him for this. It was the best birthday gift he could choose for me (yesterday was also my birthday). He had fun too (first sanctioned tournament of his life by the way, even if he's been playing for a couple years now, I taught him) and we have already decided to repeat the experience for Ravnica Allegiance in January. Ok, enough talking about real Magic, I have some critiques to do!
(Quality details adjusted like I did in previous rounds.)
Gerrard's Mom
Pyriscient Needle-Kin1R
Creature - Treefolk Warrior (R)
Reach
Whenever you're dealt damage by a red instant or sorcery spell, you may pay 1R. If you do, return Pyriscient Needle-Kin from your graveyard to the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it. Their seeds are conceived by lightning and nurtured by fire.
2/1
This card is fine. It feels to me like it wants to be a Phoenix but couldn't just because of the challenge requirements though.
Kudzu Mass1G
Creature - Plant (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Kudzu Mass deals combat damage to a player, put that many +1/+1 counters on it. "Never have I seen a more horrifying defeat than that battlefield, lost under a sea of dark green leaves."
-Commander Halgrim
0/5
I see nothing wrong with this card. It continues the "that many +1/+1 counters" theme from the previous card, but it uses it in a different way, one that makes the card feel worthy of being rare to me.
Kairmin, Wood Warden2GW
Legendary Planeswalker - Karimin (M)
+1: Until your next turn, any number of target creatures assign combat damage equal to their toughness rather than their power.
0: Create a 0/2 green and white Plant Wall creature token with defender and "This creature can block an additional creature each combat."
-4: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control with defender have vigilance and trample and can attack as though they didn't have defender."
[5]
I like the bold choice to go with the planeswalker. I didn't do it because I know planeswalker design is really harder than it looks and I honestly wanted to pick the easier options.
+1: ok, but why not just giving the Doran ability to all creatures (you control)? I can see that you might have some creatures with greater power than toughness, but are the additional complexity and potential memory issues worth it?
0: a nice in-color way for Kairmin to protect themselves, which is an important thing for a planeswalker to do.
-4: feels quite original and I like it.
Zemoo
Top-Heavy Topiary3GG
Creature - Treefolk (U)
Reach
Top-Heavy Topiary can block an additional creature each combat.
Top-Heavy Topiary can block only one creature with flying each combat.
Top-Heavy Topiary can block only one creature without flying each combat.
3/6
I just wish there were an easier way to write "can block one flier and one non-flier, but not two fliers or two non-fliers".
Armed Armament3R
Creature - Soldier Wall (U)
Defender
Tap two untapped creatures with defender you control: Armed Armament deals 2 damage to any target. "A wall itself will only keep invaders out for so long, the ballista keeps them out for good."
0/6
I think the activated ability might want a mana cost to prevent shenanigans. No problems other than that.
Poltergeist's Facade2WW
Creature - Spirit Wall (R)
Defender
If damage would be dealt to Poltergeist's Facade, instead prevent that damage, put that many -1/-1 counters on Poltergeist's Facade, and create that many 0/1 colorless Wall creature tokens with defender.
Sacrifice five creatures with defender: Return Poltergeist's Facade from your graveyard to play. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
0/4
Was I the only one who didn't use the same theme for two of their cards ("defender matters" in your case, "that many +1/+1 counters" for Gerrard's Mom)? Anyway, I appreciate the synergy between the replacement effect (that missed "instead" by the way, but at least it correctly wasn't a trigger) and the activated ability but I think the Spirit flavor isn't enough to make that activation not feel black. I think this should probably be an Orzhov card.
Hemlock
Ortik, Tactical Medic1RW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Cleric (M)
First strike
When Ortic, Tactical Medic and at least two other creatures attack, put target creature card with converted mana two or less from your graveyard onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
When three or more creatures you control attack, if Ortik is in your graveyard, you may return it to the battlefield tapped and attacking.
2/1
I would really like to see the first trigger being labeled as battalion, but I can see you didn't want to break the aesthetic symmetry between the triggers, which I like. Also, this card could just be monowhite. At least, it does a better job at not feeling black than Zemoo's self-reanimating creature in my opinion.
Makeshift Barricade3W
Creature - Wall (U)
Flash
Defender
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for 1 or one mana of that creature's color.)
0/7
I really like the elegance of using just three keywords, but I hate the thought of playing against this.
Withering Moss-TitanWBG
Creature - Elemental Plant Giant (R)
Hexproof from lands
Withering Moss-Titan gets -1/-1 for each land card in a graveyard.
6/5
I like how original this feels despite only using twists on known abilities. I also like that caring about lands makes the two abilities feel connected. This honestly feels more Golgari than Abzan to me.
Top 3
No submission was perfect, but all were good enough in my opinion. The relative placement was essentially determined by the details and my own personal taste.
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.)
bravelion: Devouring Shade: Classic shade stuff with a very black twist. Rare shades are very ggressively costed like nantuko shade ot the newer 3/3 for BBB, so rarity is a bit off here.
skybreaker Giant: Again, I think you missed on the rarity here, but with rrity being a requirement makes it a bit more serious. The effect is nice, but for that cost I would have liked a bit more beef. Reach here fits very well with the other ability.
Gilt-leaf Sentinel: Three kill effects on a creature is a bit too much. I don't think something as constricting as this would see print. The vigilance here doesn't really fit.
GerrardsMom
Pyricient needle-kin: Looks quite nasty and fun to break if paired with some spells that cn damage each player. I like how you tacked two "restrictions" into the same card.
Kudzu Mass- Odd and can get very powerful. I like the way it scales itself.
Kairmin, Wood Watcher: Compared with Assault Formation, this takes a lot of work to get things going. I like that you can get an emblem as soon as you play it, but I think this would not be the best tool in a attackig-defenders build.
Zemoo
Top-Heavy Topiary: I like the idea of the block clauses but in the end it feels like half an ability. The stats are not veey exciting for a green uncommon.
Armed Armaments: In tje vein of Thermo-Alchemist, Lobber crew and wall of forgotten pharaohs, this carries the tradition. I like that it circumvents summoning sickness but needing another defender balances it a bit.
Poltergeist's Facade:
I think this is a bit too convoluted and the fct that it cretes extr dwfenders cn get bit too nasty in most combat situations.
“Home Army”
Grizzled Leotau, taken from Pucatrade, by Lars Grant-West and Wizards of the Coast
Theme
September in the CCL is going to be Defenses Month! Because not everything has to be aggressive, and slowing the game down is often healthy.
Challenge
PLEASE NOTE: This month will continue the use of the "Mandatory Top 3 Rule." For this month, you must submit a Top 3 during a round's critique period in order to receive any points for the round. Submitting critiques as well will be worth 2 bonus points in the round.
Contestants:
bravelion83
Gerrard's Mom
Hemlock
Zemoo
Schedule
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Devouring Shade 2BB
Creature — Shade (R)
B: Devouring Shade gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
B, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Put a +1/+1 counter on Devouring Shade.
The souls and hunger of many beings in the body of one.
0/1
A rare or mythic creature card with reach that isn't green:
Skybreaker Giant 3RR
Creature — Giant (R)
Reach
Creatures with flying can’t block.
He will not be content until there are wings in the sky.
4/3
A rare or mythic creature card with vigilance that isn't white:
Gilt-Leaf Sentinel 3BG
Creature — Elf Warrior (M)
Vigilance
When Gilt-Leaf Sentinel enters the battlefield, attacks, or dies, you may destroy target non-Elf creature.
“Eyeblights are not allowed in Lys Alana. I stand at its border and filter out entrants to preserve its beauty.”
2/4
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.)
Pyriscient Needle-Kin 1R
Creature - Treefolk Warrior (R)
Reach
Whenever you are dealt damage by a red instant or sorcery spell, you may pay 1R. If you do, return Pyriscient Needle-Kin from your graveyard to the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it.
Their seeds are conceived by lightning and nurtured by fire.
2/1
Kudzu Mass 1G
Creature - Plant (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Kudzu Mass deals combat damage to a player, put that many +1/+1 counters on it.
"Never have I seen a more horrifying defeat than that battlefield, lost under a sea of dark green leaves."
- Commander Halgrim
0/5
Kairmin, Wood Warden 2GW
Legendary Planeswalker - Karimin (M)
+1: Until your next turn, any number of target creatures assign combat damage equal to their toughness rather than their power.
+0: Create a 0/2 green and white Plant Wall creature token with defender and "This creature can block an additional creature each combat."
-4: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control with defender have vigilance and trample and can attack as though they didn't have defender."
[5]
Top-Heavy Topiary 3GG
Creature - Treefolk (U)
Reach
~ can block an additional creature each combat.
~ can block only one creature with flying each combat.
~ can block only one creature without flying each combat.
3/6
a creature card with converted mana cost 4 or greater and printed power 0 or less
Armed Armament3R
Creature - Soldier Wall (U)
Defender
Tap two untapped creatures with defender you control: ~ deals 2 damage to any target.
"A wall itself will only keep invaders out for so long, the ballista keeps them out for good."
0/6
a rare or mythic creature card that can bring itself back from the graveyard that isn't black
Poltergeist's Facade 2WW
Creature - Spirit Wall (R)
Defender
If damage would be dealt to ~ prevent that damage, put that many -1/-1 counters on ~, and create that many 0/1 colorless Wall creature tokens with Defender.
Sacrifice 5 creatures with Defender: Return ~ from your graveyard to play, activate this ability only whenever you could cast a sorcery.
0/4
My Cubes:Pauper|Archetype
My Deviant Art
Ortik, Tactical Medic1RW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Cleric (m)
First Strike
When Ortic, Tactical Medic and at least two other creatures attack, put target creature card with converted mana two or less from your graveyard into the battlefield tapped and attacking.
When three or more creatures you control attack, if Ortik is in your graveyard, you may return it to the battlefield tapped and attacking.
2/1
a cmc 4 or more creature with power 0:
Makeshift Barricade 3W
Creature - Wall (u)
Flash
Defender
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for or one mana of that creature's color.)
0/7
cmc 3 or lesd with 5 or more toughness
Withering Moss-Titan GBW
Creature - Elemental Plant Giant (r)
Hexproof from lands
Withering Moss-Titan gets -1/-1 for each land card in a graveyard.
6/5
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Devouring Shade: The shade part is too bad on a 4 cmc 0/1, but the ScOoze part is just right. Once you get this base stats to a good level with the second ability, the shade ability becomes good. These two abilities are so similar, yet they complement each other nicely too. "I wish I could pump this more" and "I wish I didn't have to pump this so much", both these concerns are handled by the other ability and make sense on this card.
Skybreaker Giant: A little bland, but sometimes the good designs are simple ones. The juxtaposition of theses abilities makes them both feel red and they harmonize well together to make an anti flying card that makes sense in a color that might need help with flyers, but isn't traditionally the anti-flying color. I think there is a typo in the flavor text?
Gilt-Leaf Sentinel:Seems very strong, If you play this and chump attack it kills 3 things; and killing the first 2 things probably means you're not chump attacking. Even if it just dies to removal it's still a 3 for 1. If you ever clear their board your opponent basically be locked out of playing non-elf creatures. Vigilance seems unnecessary and a little tacked-on (I would).
Pyriscient Needle-Kin: Love the ability on this card, it creates lots situations that wouldn't normally need to be played around. Do I avoid killing this if I have burn that hits a player, or do I just save it all for lethal in one turn? I could see Bolting myself to get this back, whic is nice added functionality. Not sure why it has reach and is a treefolk though, would make more sense as an elemental/ phoenix. If I understand the etymology of Pyriscient the idea is the Fire brings consciousness back to the dead tree, but I don't understand why that would make it permanently stronger.
Kudzu Mass: This is another neat ability. I think the starting body is too big, this can always attack freely to bluff the trick and once it gets pumped it will never die to damage. Both of these problems are exacerbated by the vigilance, I get that this takes some work to get going, but once it's big enough it can always attack and always block. Since it threatens to grow if unblocked, even with no counters on it, your opponent is always required to keep a blocker back for it, so by existing and blocking it stops 2 attackers which seems very strong for 2 mana.
Kairmin, Wood Warden: This combination of abilities is very interesting. Being able to emblem right away and still stick around is very strong, but on the other hand you need to use all 3 abilities to intrinsically make an attack with a 2/2. The abilities do create a lot more board presence if you have other creatures in play to help it. Not sure if it is intended, but the first ability can target your opponent's stuff, potentially weakening it. Wotc tends to shy away from this kind of complexity, but it is a mythic planeswalker so it's probably fine.
I personally like Planeswalkers that require some deckbuilding cost, that keeps them from being chase mythics that homogenize the formats they are in, and this accomplishes that very well. Overall, this is an interesting design that I cannot tell how good it would be.
Ortik, Tactical Medic: I like the tension of these abilities. The first strike makes this kind of hard to block (but not too hard), but it needs other attackers which it doesn't protect, so your opponent can just block them to stop this. But it also brings back a fourth attacker to replace the creatures that are dying and help it trigger again next turn. Seems a little snowbally if they can't block anything though. The biggest problem with this is most players will not intuitively understand that the comes into play tapped and attacking ability won't also trigger the first ability (Battalion and putting a creature into play attacking was the example they used in the GDS test), so this could never be printed as-is
Makeshift Barricade: Convoke on this effect seems weird. I'll tap all my creatures to summon ... a blocker. It does upgrade it and at 4 cmc you don't need convoke, so i's not too dissynergistic. I would've liked to see something else, a buff for convoking it, a Masako the Humorless / Village Bell-Ringer effect ... idk something.
Withering Moss-Titan: Seems too strong for standard, where lands don't often go to the graveyard, but this wouldn't be printed without the context of fetches or some way to naturally shrink it. It could be in a commander product. In formats with fetches it's gets bad quick. I'd like it if this were a slightly more interesting Woolly Thoctar, which is what it wants to be. I don't think there is an existing format where it can be that, but I like the design.
Top 3?
1. Gerrard's Mom
2. Bravelion83
3. Hemlock
My Cubes:Pauper|Archetype
My Deviant Art
It's odd to have counters and temporary pump on the same card. Also, not being able to eat opponent's dead creatures makes it a lot less appealing for formats like Commander, and I think it's on the weak end already so it could have used that buff.
Not content as long as there are wings in the sky? There are some interesting applications for the giant, like having your own aggressive flyers. Again it's on the tame side of the curve, I think this could easily be 4 mana.
The Sentinel is just oppressive - I can't think of anything else off-hand that destroys so much so easily. For this one, I'd rather see it on a more fragile body or just have non-elf deathtouch or something like that.
Zemoo:
The Topiary is a fun idea and has the right stats to pull it off.
The Armament is another nice reward along the lines of Vent Sentinel. Flavor works well.
The Facade is pretty crazy and seems like it is just an annoying super fog effect. There's an interesting minigame in the "don't deal too much damage" aspect but what it does otherwise is not really worth the effort. I think it would work better on an aggressive creature that dies down into defenders.
Hemlock:
Unspecified Battalion, in a Boros mood for the weekend eh? It's slightly hard to see at first the the parallelism is cool.
Sure, convoke wall is fine, good name for it.
I guess this is only 1/1 bigger than a Wooly Thoctar at comparable cost. Might be too big for a Standard without fetches but probably not that great in Modern and older formats that are full of them. I guess it is protected from Maze of Ith or something? Not really sure what to make of this card. Why is it protected from active lands but made weaker by dead ones?
Top 3:
1 - Zemoo
2 - Hemlock
3 - bravelion83
(Quality details adjusted like I did in previous rounds.)
Gerrard's Mom
Pyriscient Needle-Kin 1R
Creature - Treefolk Warrior (R)
Reach
Whenever you're dealt damage by a red instant or sorcery spell, you may pay 1R. If you do, return Pyriscient Needle-Kin from your graveyard to the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it.
Their seeds are conceived by lightning and nurtured by fire.
2/1
This card is fine. It feels to me like it wants to be a Phoenix but couldn't just because of the challenge requirements though.
Kudzu Mass 1G
Creature - Plant (R)
Vigilance
Whenever Kudzu Mass deals combat damage to a player, put that many +1/+1 counters on it.
"Never have I seen a more horrifying defeat than that battlefield, lost under a sea of dark green leaves."
-Commander Halgrim
0/5
I see nothing wrong with this card. It continues the "that many +1/+1 counters" theme from the previous card, but it uses it in a different way, one that makes the card feel worthy of being rare to me.
Kairmin, Wood Warden 2GW
Legendary Planeswalker - Karimin (M)
+1: Until your next turn, any number of target creatures assign combat damage equal to their toughness rather than their power.
0: Create a 0/2 green and white Plant Wall creature token with defender and "This creature can block an additional creature each combat."
-4: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control with defender have vigilance and trample and can attack as though they didn't have defender."
[5]
I like the bold choice to go with the planeswalker. I didn't do it because I know planeswalker design is really harder than it looks and I honestly wanted to pick the easier options.
+1: ok, but why not just giving the Doran ability to all creatures (you control)? I can see that you might have some creatures with greater power than toughness, but are the additional complexity and potential memory issues worth it?
0: a nice in-color way for Kairmin to protect themselves, which is an important thing for a planeswalker to do.
-4: feels quite original and I like it.
Zemoo
Top-Heavy Topiary 3GG
Creature - Treefolk (U)
Reach
Top-Heavy Topiary can block an additional creature each combat.
Top-Heavy Topiary can block only one creature with flying each combat.
Top-Heavy Topiary can block only one creature without flying each combat.
3/6
I just wish there were an easier way to write "can block one flier and one non-flier, but not two fliers or two non-fliers".
Armed Armament3R
Creature - Soldier Wall (U)
Defender
Tap two untapped creatures with defender you control: Armed Armament deals 2 damage to any target.
"A wall itself will only keep invaders out for so long, the ballista keeps them out for good."
0/6
I think the activated ability might want a mana cost to prevent shenanigans. No problems other than that.
Poltergeist's Facade 2WW
Creature - Spirit Wall (R)
Defender
If damage would be dealt to Poltergeist's Facade,
insteadprevent that damage, put that many -1/-1 counters on Poltergeist's Facade, and create that many 0/1 colorless Wall creature tokens with defender.Sacrifice five creatures with defender: Return Poltergeist's Facade from your graveyard to play. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
0/4
Was I the only one who didn't use the same theme for two of their cards ("defender matters" in your case, "that many +1/+1 counters" for Gerrard's Mom)? Anyway, I appreciate the synergy between the replacement effect (that missed "instead" by the way, but at least it correctly wasn't a trigger) and the activated ability but I think the Spirit flavor isn't enough to make that activation not feel black. I think this should probably be an Orzhov card.
Hemlock
Ortik, Tactical Medic 1RW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Cleric (M)
First strike
When Ortic, Tactical Medic and at least two other creatures attack, put target creature card with converted mana two or less from your graveyard onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
When three or more creatures you control attack, if Ortik is in your graveyard, you may return it to the battlefield tapped and attacking.
2/1
I would really like to see the first trigger being labeled as battalion, but I can see you didn't want to break the aesthetic symmetry between the triggers, which I like. Also, this card could just be monowhite. At least, it does a better job at not feeling black than Zemoo's self-reanimating creature in my opinion.
Makeshift Barricade 3W
Creature - Wall (U)
Flash
Defender
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for 1 or one mana of that creature's color.)
0/7
I really like the elegance of using just three keywords, but I hate the thought of playing against this.
Withering Moss-Titan WBG
Creature - Elemental Plant Giant (R)
Hexproof from lands
Withering Moss-Titan gets -1/-1 for each land card in a graveyard.
6/5
I like how original this feels despite only using twists on known abilities. I also like that caring about lands makes the two abilities feel connected. This honestly feels more Golgari than Abzan to me.
Top 3
No submission was perfect, but all were good enough in my opinion. The relative placement was essentially determined by the details and my own personal taste.
1st: Gerrard's Mom
2nd: Hemlock
3rd: Zemoo
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.)
Devouring Shade: Classic shade stuff with a very black twist. Rare shades are very ggressively costed like nantuko shade ot the newer 3/3 for BBB, so rarity is a bit off here.
skybreaker Giant: Again, I think you missed on the rarity here, but with rrity being a requirement makes it a bit more serious. The effect is nice, but for that cost I would have liked a bit more beef. Reach here fits very well with the other ability.
Gilt-leaf Sentinel: Three kill effects on a creature is a bit too much. I don't think something as constricting as this would see print. The vigilance here doesn't really fit.
GerrardsMom
Pyricient needle-kin: Looks quite nasty and fun to break if paired with some spells that cn damage each player. I like how you tacked two "restrictions" into the same card.
Kudzu Mass- Odd and can get very powerful. I like the way it scales itself.
Kairmin, Wood Watcher: Compared with Assault Formation, this takes a lot of work to get things going. I like that you can get an emblem as soon as you play it, but I think this would not be the best tool in a attackig-defenders build.
Zemoo
Top-Heavy Topiary: I like the idea of the block clauses but in the end it feels like half an ability. The stats are not veey exciting for a green uncommon.
Armed Armaments: In tje vein of Thermo-Alchemist, Lobber crew and wall of forgotten pharaohs, this carries the tradition. I like that it circumvents summoning sickness but needing another defender balances it a bit.
Poltergeist's Facade:
I think this is a bit too convoluted and the fct that it cretes extr dwfenders cn get bit too nasty in most combat situations.
1.Gerrards Mom
2. Brvelion
3. Zemoo
You're all going to the finals. Surprise! Round goes up soon.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝