One of the nice things I truly appreciate about the CCL is that it feels a little more relaxed with regards to creating designs and judging when compared to other contests here. Perhaps it’s partly that we often have new folks tasked with judging and rating the cards, so our expectations must be lower; or perhaps it’s people seeing the intent behind the design, the card’s potential; or that they may choose to relate to a card purely at an emotional level. Whatever the case may be, I think the CCL is about having fun and learning as you go, and we should never lose that.
I believe bravelion83 is correct here about the card — but it matters not, as ultimately, it’s up to Legend’s peers to decide whether they like the card or not. If people wish to point this out in the critiques or penalize him/her, that’s their prerogative. That being said, this is a design contest; the focus should be more on the design and less on the development. If it were me judging cards with rules syntax errors, I would choose to overlook it, as I’m after a solid design, as long as it’s not a semantic error (if someone put “target player” but maybe meant to put “target creature or player” I would hold them to the submitted version).
It’s highly advised people hold their peers to the requirements of the round, but there is no prescribed criteria when it comes to CCL critiques, and I think that’s fine.
I am super appreciative of all the work proudawesome has been putting into the CCL lately, and I am totally on board with most of the changes he or she has adopted, but.....Am I the only one that's not a big fan of the hidden finals poll? I like to be able to follow along with who's winning. With the way it is now, once you've voted, there is literally nothing to follow in the contest for about two weeks.
Thanks for the endorsement, Flatline
When it came to the poll, I figured having the results visible could easily influence the voting one way or another. That being said, if people do not like that, I can revert it.
Also, I am going to absolutely close the poll at the end of Round 2, next Friday.
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( mproud on reddit )
Regarding August Round 4: A mechanic called evolve? You mean like, Evolve, that mechanic from Gatecrash that is already a thing? (See for example Adaptive Snapjaw.)
Are we just going to ignore that and play alternate universe?
Giving out 2 bonus points to people who voted for the last month’s poll appears to be very well received! We had 18 people cast votes, which is just plain awesome — the most I can find of any final poll! (All this even with three participants in the final, too!) This might be worth doing again.
I’m debating about if the formula needs changing. If someone has a great Round 1, mathematically it makes sense for them to sit out both the next rounds. I don’t think anyone is doing this, but technically, since the formula is an average, there is no penalty for missing a round. If people got a penalty for missing a round, or others got bonus points for participating, this would help mitigate that risk.
Since the beginning of the year, from my count, only one person has entered Round 3 without participating in Rounds 1 or 2. Many months, Round 3 looks exactly like what the Top 8 would be. Most participants either drop out after Round 1 as they lose interest, or realize they probably don’t stand a chance after a few bad critiques. I’m strongly considering changing Round 3 to a Top 8, as I feel it will give more people an incentive to submit better cards, since they know they’ll be in the running. (This would also help solve the previous bullet point.)
That being said, this month I’m experimenting with a Top 8 after the first three rounds… which may have been a bad idea in retrospect, if anything because of time. I have been intentionally vague, but should I have a Top 4, or jump straight to a 2-person finals?
Lastly, seeing no one else has expressed interest in hosting September, I am happy and excited to run it another month
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Congratulations go to bothbravelion83 and Flatline for being joint winners in July’s CCL! (It’s only fitting — you guys really couldn’t avoid ties this month!) That being said, August is winding down soon. If someone would like to run September, I will pass the torch. However, I’m totally cool with finding a fun topic and running this another month (assuming you guys are enjoying it!)
I was thinking on what card to create for this week's CCL when I realized that there was a notable problem with the following rule for this week.
Create a new creature inspired by the one you chose, sharing at least one creature type
Some legendary creatures could possibly retain no types between their transitions from past to present to future, so there are actually less than 600 possibilities. Some cards that come to mind are:
Brago, King Eternal - Who was probably alive (as a human) before he was a spirit.
Crovax the Cursed - Who was definitely human before he was cursed into being a vampire.
Geth, Lord of the Vault - I am also going to assume this character had to die before they could be turned into a zombie.
Xenagos, God of Revels - This character was definitely a Satyr before becoming a God (although, admittedly, he was a planeswalker in between).
I feel as though a bit of an oversight has been made in this regard for this week's contest as a result.
I see what you’re getting at.
The intention here was to keep people linked more closely with the original card. Of course, not everyone maintains their creature type when they advance through life (or death).
I guess it partially depends how Vorthos you are… but you don’t have to feel limited here. It doesn’t have to be from a previous lifetime; it could just be that character from a year or two before. (And it doesn’t have to strictly be that character, either, but represent a general role the character used to employ.)
Or you could create an alternate timeline — Magic is full of changing history (Planar Chaos, Khans block, etc.) and that’s absolutely fine.
Anyway, I hope you find something that works that doesn’t feel forced. Maybe there aren’t 600 good cards to choose from, but even if there were only 100 really good cards I would hope that still provides enough choices
I think no, contestants shouldn’t vote. Like you said, Flatline, it would just benefit each person to vote for their self.
D'OH! I only saw this now and I just did it! Well, feel free to manually subtract my vote if you wish, proudawesome.
I haven’t said no just yet, that’s just the way I’m leaning, especially as, most of the time, it’s just two contestants. (Most judged competitions you aren’t also the judge; obviously the CCL is a bit different as the rounds leading up to the finals you actually are.)
I’d be interested to hear from others on this.
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( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
And even if the animal is sort of represented in Magic, you can still make the card with a new creature type, just as a Phoenix is also a Bird.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
One of the nice things I truly appreciate about the CCL is that it feels a little more relaxed with regards to creating designs and judging when compared to other contests here. Perhaps it’s partly that we often have new folks tasked with judging and rating the cards, so our expectations must be lower; or perhaps it’s people seeing the intent behind the design, the card’s potential; or that they may choose to relate to a card purely at an emotional level. Whatever the case may be, I think the CCL is about having fun and learning as you go, and we should never lose that.
I believe bravelion83 is correct here about the card — but it matters not, as ultimately, it’s up to Legend’s peers to decide whether they like the card or not. If people wish to point this out in the critiques or penalize him/her, that’s their prerogative. That being said, this is a design contest; the focus should be more on the design and less on the development. If it were me judging cards with rules syntax errors, I would choose to overlook it, as I’m after a solid design, as long as it’s not a semantic error (if someone put “target player” but maybe meant to put “target creature or player” I would hold them to the submitted version).
It’s highly advised people hold their peers to the requirements of the round, but there is no prescribed criteria when it comes to CCL critiques, and I think that’s fine.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
I know Blydden was working furiously on this (all the while hosting the MCC too!)
Looks like all the time spent paid off!
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
When it came to the poll, I figured having the results visible could easily influence the voting one way or another. That being said, if people do not like that, I can revert it.
Also, I am going to absolutely close the poll at the end of Round 2, next Friday.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
Edit: I’ve updated the post to clarify this.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
If someone else wants to host I’ll pass the torch. However, I’m more than happy to continue another month.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
Congratulations go to both bravelion83 and Flatline for being joint winners in July’s CCL! (It’s only fitting — you guys really couldn’t avoid ties this month!)
That being said, August is winding down soon. If someone would like to run September, I will pass the torch. However, I’m totally cool with finding a fun topic and running this another month (assuming you guys are enjoying it!)
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
The intention here was to keep people linked more closely with the original card. Of course, not everyone maintains their creature type when they advance through life (or death).
I guess it partially depends how Vorthos you are… but you don’t have to feel limited here. It doesn’t have to be from a previous lifetime; it could just be that character from a year or two before. (And it doesn’t have to strictly be that character, either, but represent a general role the character used to employ.)
Or you could create an alternate timeline — Magic is full of changing history (Planar Chaos, Khans block, etc.) and that’s absolutely fine.
Anyway, I hope you find something that works that doesn’t feel forced. Maybe there aren’t 600 good cards to choose from, but even if there were only 100 really good cards I would hope that still provides enough choices
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
bravelion83, Flatline, theazurespirit, go ahead and vote for July and I’ll also count the bonus points for August.
Thanks for the discussion, and good luck to you all!
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )
I’d be interested to hear from others on this.
( ancestral on Custom Magic Discord server )
( mproud on reddit )