"reflects a top-down design of the place described"
Does this mean that the card should represent the actual city, or just a part of it, or perhaps an inhabitant of said city? Meaning, should the card be a representation of place, or can it be just a creature who makes up the city (a merchant or something)?
If you control a Forest, you may attempt to sacrifice a beautiful white blond woman you caught
instead of paying King Kong’s mana cost.
King Kong will then soulbond with said woman and protect her at all costs.
Went a long way from there
Ha math. Right, fixed.
Also, King Kong will now always soulbond with Ann in my mind.
@UncleIstavan: i thought that the 'oh' sound of "shore" and "gold" made it rhyme enough to make it sound like either a cheer or a song?
@Harbinger: you say that you feel that errors are errors; i think i'm saying that when it comes to flavour text, things are so subjective that unless they are CLEARLY wrong, no points should be taken off from them.
` there's another entry you judged this month that i felt is a good example of this:
Lisha of the Azure, captain of the Sunspray, raids merchant ships to take from the rich and give to the poor. Despite she and her crew claiming to be "noble pirates" for this reason, the nation of Jhess still wishes her behind bars.
Quality (1/3) – Not certain if the for this reason in the flavor text is necessary, unnecessary comma after Sunspray.
some analysis:
1) you said the "for this reason" may not have been necessary, but personally i think it works well. this is an example of getting points docked for flavour text that i think is not necessarily wrong, but is only subjectively incorrect (you subjectively didn't like it, me and the competitor who made this card did like it).
2) and here you say the comma after the word "Sunspray" is not necessary, and here i actually think you're incorrect! i think it would be /made/ grammatically incorrect if you took that comma away!
so this may illustrate some of why i am often frusterated by marks being taken off for flavour text. i'd like to see marks not be taken off for flavour text punctuation or grammar unless it is /very/ obviously wrong.
do you guys think this is a good proposal?
----
edit: luckily the competitor i quoted above advanced, but you'll notice that s/he got docked two [!] marks. this is a lot! people will go through big hoops just to get the two challenge points!
` i would be really unhappy if i was this person and didn't advance because of such subjective reasons it's nice when judges a) judge early and b) invite feedback, so that there's time to change scoring, but this usually isn't the case.
` taking marks off for flavour text, honestly, just makes people not want to write flavour text, or only write the shortest flavour text they can. this is really sad for people (like myself) who like including flavour text. it's frusterating to want to add nice flavour text but knowing that you'll probably be docked marks SOMEWHERE on it, for no reason that you can reasonably forsee.
i add this edit to illustrate why i think marks shouldn't be taken off for such subjective reasons.
I see where you're coming from, but designing a card is in fact a creative endeavor (I don't think anyone here will disagree). You are telling a story with your card. I myself would have marked off for the flavor text listed above because I find it clunky and it took me a few times to understand it. That's a problem because most cards should be understood the instant they are read (and it seems as though other people had trouble with it as well). In fact, I would have taken off of yours too because of the expectation of rhyming. And yes, this is subjective, but any creative endeavor has to be viewed in at least partially a subjective tint.
To Eventide Sojourner:
Speaking of flavor texts, about my card for August Round 4, the flavor text doesn't need to be attributed if the character depicted on the card is the speaker (Anowon, the Ruin Sage, Atalya, Samite Master, etc.). (I totally accept that you dislike the flavor text, I just don't want the points taken off for formatting.) Also, I never realized that about the legend's name needing to appear completely at least once! That's actually really helpful for future card making. Thanks!
"Cut the ropes, sail the shores,
Make 'em scream, steal their gold,
Oh, a pirate's life for me!"
I wouldn't have cut points for the commas (Balduvian Barbarians has a similar flavor text format). But I would have cut points for the fact that the structure you used is usually only when the lines rhyme. Indeed this seems like it was a song, but the fact that the lines don't rhyme throws me off a little bit.
Also, only about 12 hours until September Round 1 closes, and with only 39 entries so far, this is going to end up being a light month. HAUL TO, YE SCURVY DOGS!
Quick question concerning judgings. I (and I think I also speak for spezza) thought that this:
Which is what makes the word "y'all" so very amusing. A contraction of a plural word and the word all is not only linguistically redundant, but irritatingly common. See also the less common "All y'all."
Actually, I am 100% behind the use of "y'all". Okay, maybe 70%. Why in the heck does Modern English lacks a plural second person pronoun? Okay, it doesn't lack it, but it is the same as the first person plural which defeats the purpose of differentiating between the two. And although "y'all" is hardly the most elegant of solutions (GOOD HEAVENS :monocle:), I approve what it is trying to accomplish in the language. At least it gets the message across. However we can agree on this: "All y'all" is freaking dumb as ****.
Actually, "thee" was the Middle English second person singular nominative. "Ye" is the Middle English second person plural nominative, as well. "You" in fact was the second person plural objective in Middle English so, while it doesn't seem right or sound as fun, "you" is the right word here.
Does this mean that the card should represent the actual city, or just a part of it, or perhaps an inhabitant of said city? Meaning, should the card be a representation of place, or can it be just a creature who makes up the city (a merchant or something)?
EDIT: Read the results wrong. Congratulations you wonderful mother you. And Oculus, you're still the fanciest eyeball this side of Urborg.
Ha math. Right, fixed.
Also, King Kong will now always soulbond with Ann in my mind.
Judgings.
Also. Homelands is my ****. Pretty sure despite its bad reputation, it is actually my favorite set. Narwhal? Rysorian Badger? Plus actually fun cards like Sengir Autocrat and Wall of Kelp.
EDIT: Done
I see where you're coming from, but designing a card is in fact a creative endeavor (I don't think anyone here will disagree). You are telling a story with your card. I myself would have marked off for the flavor text listed above because I find it clunky and it took me a few times to understand it. That's a problem because most cards should be understood the instant they are read (and it seems as though other people had trouble with it as well). In fact, I would have taken off of yours too because of the expectation of rhyming. And yes, this is subjective, but any creative endeavor has to be viewed in at least partially a subjective tint.
To Eventide Sojourner:
Speaking of flavor texts, about my card for August Round 4, the flavor text doesn't need to be attributed if the character depicted on the card is the speaker (Anowon, the Ruin Sage, Atalya, Samite Master, etc.). (I totally accept that you dislike the flavor text, I just don't want the points taken off for formatting.) Also, I never realized that about the legend's name needing to appear completely at least once! That's actually really helpful for future card making. Thanks!
Make 'em scream, steal their gold,
Oh, a pirate's life for me!"
I wouldn't have cut points for the commas (Balduvian Barbarians has a similar flavor text format). But I would have cut points for the fact that the structure you used is usually only when the lines rhyme. Indeed this seems like it was a song, but the fact that the lines don't rhyme throws me off a little bit.
Quick question concerning judgings. I (and I think I also speak for spezza) thought that this:
meant that flavor text would qualify for the second challenge? In hindsight, I should have asked beforehand.
Actually, I am 100% behind the use of "y'all". Okay, maybe 70%. Why in the heck does Modern English lacks a plural second person pronoun? Okay, it doesn't lack it, but it is the same as the first person plural which defeats the purpose of differentiating between the two. And although "y'all" is hardly the most elegant of solutions (GOOD HEAVENS :monocle:), I approve what it is trying to accomplish in the language. At least it gets the message across. However we can agree on this: "All y'all" is freaking dumb as ****.
Soooo, magic cards...new mechanics...excited...MCC...
Actually, "thee" was the Middle English second person singular nominative. "Ye" is the Middle English second person plural nominative, as well. "You" in fact was the second person plural objective in Middle English so, while it doesn't seem right or sound as fun, "you" is the right word here.
PS: Thanks for the advance
^This. This was a hard round. Kudos to the organizer for a difficult challenge that didn't seem totally arbitrary.
So cerebellum is off limits too?