Explosive Collar - 3UU
Artifact - Equipment
As Explosive Collar enters the battlefield, equip target creature. You may equip creatures you don't control with Explosive Collar.
You control equipped creature. If Explosive Collar becomes unattached from a creature, sacrifice that creature and Explosive Collar.
Arcel: Overpowered/10. Needs to have until end of turn or else player is invincible. Off with your head.
Atogaholic: Pretty simple, but neat. Love the hangover flavor. 7.5/10
Emocakes: It's alright. The ability is pretty annoying to read at first, but after I realized what it did, I thought it was interesting and fits the drink theme. 8/10
Flabort: Cool idea with giving a planeswalker another ability but bad execution. So much is going on this one card and snow doesn't have a reason to be on it, other than it fits your planeswalker's theme. 4/10
Jimmy Groove: This feels immensely powerful. I feel like there needs to be some sort of penalty. It's still a cool idea. 7/10
Prophylaxis: Its alright, kinda boring, and seems way overcosted. Does fit the flavor of living death though. Also really do not like the potion subtype. I originally had that, but I felt like it doesn't need to exist since potions have been a thing already, and they are really just artifacts with nothing new. 5/10
silence_dais: I feel like there is a lot going on. While rebounds could be an action word, it does the same as "at the beginning of your next upkeep,". 5/10
Socrates: This is really cool. The flavor of drinking a poisonous drink and spreading the disease is executed perfectly in a simple line. Shouldn't the drink go along with the planeswalker though? The planeswalker has nothing to do with infect and if you try to combo your card with the goblins, the goblin will just die before they can use the infect anyway. I'll ignore this part since I don't know for sure and the drink is just really cool by itself. 8.5/10
Great beginning, learning what each race thinks of the others. The Cloudwalkers, Feyrin, and Esferi had a realistic alliance. I felt like most of the lore felt more like a regular post trying to suggest ideas still, not a story trying to tie the plots together, but I did think its pretty cool how the assembly at the Cloudwalker's fortress was like the centerpiece of the team's lore. Like the idea of Cloudwalkers being experiments from the Xanten, like the Vaelshii. I didn't feel like there was enough lore though, but the ones you did have was fairly good.
Achren: Some decent white cards. Nothing too special, but I'm confused about the Burrower. I can see some ways this can definitely be useful, but its just such an odd ability. Jimmy Groove: I really do not like how Annaki and Dreamer aren't the same thing, and then you make another creature type, "dream", as well as involving spirits of Annaki. The flavor seems perfect, but you should balance out flavor and mechanics. Love how you used +1/+1 counters to show color changing. Everything bout Firemind is great. Komachi: I find uncover to be pretty strange and bad. Even though it would of costed more, I think Scry would work just as well, if not better. In the right deck, this is also pretty much adds another card per turn. I'm still trying to wrap my head around Rapidfire, but I think I understand. Basically, if it manages to deal damage, it can deal damage again. However, Rapidfire 2 sounds like it turns your first strike into triple strike instead of double (is this what you want?). I understand this isn't just double strike and can be expanded into other cards, but this card, at least in my opinion, does not execute the concept well. KoolKoal: Quickblade is great. The flavor seems more black though. River-Bottom Sculpture has an awesome name, I'll give it that. I could see this be playing in a merfolk deck I guess, and its a decent blue one drop. Link: Mistveil paired up defender is a good idea to showcase that ability. I say its a very good white common. On the agent, should Imbue be Imbue 2 and shouldn't the player reveal they are actually imbuing a creature. Can't the player just exile it, face down, since it doesn't say reveal? Small Child: I don't think shroud should die, and this is a nice card that shows why shroud is still important. I also like enhanced. I found the equipped part to be odd, but I like it a lot after I realized your race is equipment-heavy. lol
Team Wynaut 28/30
I loved reading a lot of the lore on the this race. Now, I don't want to pick favorites, but I love learning about the Asura, Lisandarians, and Vassav culture. This team has done a lot, in conjunction with Team Gentlemon, to shape the history and geography of Thanreus. Loved pretty much everything CC did. The admiral's journal to describe his race, "The Envoy", "The Night Speaks" and the lichess in general. A lot of contributions from most team members, but I would like to see more from Atrius, DeusofCalamity, and Gallus.
Balefire: Like how you designed Asuran Combustioneer, but I feel like it could be made 2/1. It's well costed and I feel like adding in another mana or taking away 1 could really mess up the balance, so nicely done. Student of Synergistic's ability fits its name and flavor. CrustaceanCrusader: I'm really not trying to play favorites, but everything you give me is top notch. Bayou Ravager is really awesome. However, I'm not that big of a fan of Pale Warden. I feel like it should get persist as well. DeusofCalamity: Confused about arcane affinity. Besides closely having a name of two already known keywords (and I'll try to ignore that), it doesn't seem to do a whole lot. Although I'm sure you have a lot planned, I think simply having a theme of sharing common colors would be cleaner and more fun. Gallus: Nice creature-enchantment transform. Although people may complain about enchantment creatures being bothersome, I really like the direction of this one and think the ability is well written. I say the Heretic is pretty well costed. Ninja Caterpie: Big fan of the Lunar Artisan. I love me some multicolored bears. Don't really like the Muck Dweller too much. Nothing wrong with it, it just seems bland. Atrius: Animate is a cool ability, but I don't know how I feel about bringing the creature back to the battlefield. Wandering Trickster's flavor seems to be all over the place, or maybe I'm reading it wrong.
Team Consuming Ruin 27/30
As Lanxal put it, this is quite beautiful. Everyone did an amazing job contributing to the team's story. Prophy's neverending nightmare and Uncle's grand summit and blood in the night were my favorite, but everyone did an amazing job. It really felt like uncle did a long, hard analysis on all the races and did a great job combining all the backstory and elements to make a great read.
Prophylaxis: Flavor-wise, this card is brilliant. But even with Vanishing 3, I still feel like 3/4 is too good. Trance Breaker is also very cool and once again hits the flavor very well. queensauce: Pathfinder seems very powerful. Wish I had a card to put it up against. Warden of Blood is pretty cool. I like to combo cards like these with eldrazi spawn token decks. That'd be a lot of fun. Random_Nation: Both of your cards are simple, elegant designs that showcases your mechanics well. Raziel_X007223: I understand the ability, but it seems to be written backwards. I also feel like something like this shouldn't be at common. First off, it can be used for land destruction. That is at least 1RR. With the added bonus of enchantment and artifact, I don't think a simple W could help it, even with the large penalty as well. Blood Fever also doesn't seem that great either. +3/+3 isn't red, +3/+0 is, but having a set amount is boring imo. I would of just went with a variation on firebreathing (paying the cost any number of times for +X/+0). UncleIstvan: I really do not think this card needs to be three different colors, but I see where each color plays into this card. As for the gardener, I like it. Has good synergy with the Marauder. void_nothing: I really like feint. It's like the opposite of ninjitsu. I'd like to make a zoo deck with this. However, I feel like its worded improperly. I won't take off points because I'm not too sure myself. The gleaner is cool and I'd love to see someone break this card.
Team Gentlemon 29/30
This team oozed with lore. Cardz went beyond expectations, helping to construct a lot of the world with other team's, as well as his own. Of course, everyone helped a lot. Even with the cuts, the team did a great job at recovering and Rithaniel hopped right on in. I hope to hear more about the odyssey of Jannik.
avatarz: Pale Lurker is neat and I feel like its well costed. I really do not think that Dwell should have haunting in it. Don't think there's been two mechanics associated with one action. The actual ability is cool. Cardz5000: I'll try to ignore the fact that Battlecry and Exalted will pretty much never be on the same card together. It's a nice combination of mechanics, and everything is nicely-costed. Bolster feels like a nicely worded banding of sorts. I feel like it should probably cost 1GW though. Flabort: Child Keeper? What a weird name. lol Its an alright card. Don't really know if three 0/2 creatures for two mana is really fair or not. Onite Hunter is pretty basic, but its fine. Gerrard's Mom: I really like the Pods and was excited to see what they'll be like, and both seem really fun. I feel like Sinew Binder should cost 1 more since Primal Cocoon makes it so the creature can't attack or block, as well as give you another creature. Pairing with another creature doesn't really justify the cost since it can even be utilized in a beneficial way. Skygrabber has the best name ever, and the abilities fit the color and theme. Rithaniel: Distract is awesome and I'd love to see it get utilized more. Witch Doctor is equally as cool.
Team V 26/30
Cataclysm was alright, decent enough. Discussion started off well with the teammates trying to spot similarities between the race's ultimate goal, which I mainly base the team on. Eskimo_Rage's suggestion of the Celestials being gods to some other races was a great starting point and it seemed to stuck. I especially loved that someone thought that the goal should be that the team wanted to find a way to fuse the spiritual sides of this Magic Wars to increase their lifespan or even become immortal.
I liked learning about the Reltathri the most since they were not only displaced with the teammates, but almost with each other race. I guess "common boarders" was close to being the only solution as to why they are on this team, even though its pretty lazy. It's a good thing that the Atceras and Reltathri share a common goal. I really enjoyed reading the race's views on the other ones.
Like how Emocakes used a third party race made from another player on another team to explain the history of the Delthran. Don't know why the Xanten would create reptile-folk for slave labor. The Lrin would of seem like better choices, but I'll continue to read the rest of the thread before I judge.
Read the Journal of Gareen the Clear. Love this "secondary" story telling lore or whatevah you'd call it. Especially like that you used another race to explain the Phileran's psychic phenomenon.
Really looked like almost each teammate had a fair share of the work. MirrorEntity took a leader-like role, Lordshuft focused a lot of the geographic part, Emocakes focused on the lore and came up with an original concept, Trabant took the concept and made it real, and he did it without putting words into anyone's mouth.
CoiLic: Both abilities on the first card seem redundant and devour doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that belongs on common along with an ability like that. Hivewatch Sorcerer is alright. I like cards like these, but I feel that it would make a lot more sense to have the red and green mana change places. Emocakes: Standard cost could be another colorless, but everything else is really awesome. Like the Avenger a lot. The Negotiator is a pretty cool card. I'd like to make a 5-color deck with him in it. Eskimo_Rage: Doesn't really feel black. I think an alternate mana cost for something instead of adding mana should of gone here. Celestial Protector, now this is a cool card; great mix of two mechanics. Lordshuft: Battlecraft doesn't need to be keyword, it just takes up more space than it needs. Other than that, nicely done. Reflect seems kinda clunky, but with attackers, it shines. Basically adds 2 power. MirrorEntity: Weird requirement, rewarding high CMC creature in the graveyard? Could be a cool mechanic, but I don't think this card will see much play. Unless it went against your race's lore for some reason, I would of made the requirement a bit not too strange, and it changed the ability so you exile a target creature from your graveyard. That could of made probably cost less. Another odd requirement and effect. Color-wise, I don't think it fits into green's philosophy of "big creatures" or elves. The activated ability feels a lot more blue or black. Trabant777: Interesting ability. Hexproof fits very well with this card. The second card's pretty good, a bit bland, but it does its job well.
Jekyll's Transformation - XR
Instant (U)
Choose a player at random. Until end of turn, target creature that player doesn't control gains +X/+X and attacks that player this turn if able.
@CC: I meant your team's overall theme. For example, if your team wanted to enslave all the other teams, but you have a race where slavery is one of the greatest sins, you're gonna have some problems. If your managed to work together in order to construct some lore which tells why that anti-slavery race is on this team, you're going to get a much better score. If we feel that the reasoning is unbelievable and one big ass pull, we might take off some points.
I guess that is true that a lot of the grading happens there. I'll stick to more of the lore side of the competition than the card designing side since there is two types of grades: your team's (lore) and the individual player's (cards). I meant more that if someone on your team had a card that clearly did not match with the current challenge, we should probably take off one or two team points since that shows that no one on the team assisted their teammate.
@Cardz: Back to grading lore, that's why I said make a section of the original post of all the collected lore and work you've done. If not the OP, than somewhere in your discussion topic. I've been reading through these threads a lot and have seen the teams and lore develop, and I'm not grading on whether or not the thread has ten pages of lore or three pages of lore because I see the discussion happen in IRC a lot.
Well, its me, Lanxal, Megiddo, and Diefi I believe. We aren't grading you on whether or not we like your lore or not. Does your team's themes and beliefs connect with every member of the team? Interesting plot lines and characters? We are also grading on the discussion themselves and how useful the teammates were during the card designing challenges.
If everyone could edit their original post in each of the team discussion thread, that'd be great. Include a section for lore and entries for each round. You can design it how ever you want, but be sure to include each race's views on the other races, as well as the reason your team is fighting. What is their goal? What do they want from being in this war?
Tesla Elemental - 1R
Creature - Elemental (R)
This creature enters the battlefield with three level counters on it.
Suppression 2(2: Any player may pay this mana cost. If they do, remove a level counter from this creature.)
[3+]: Haste, First Strike (3/1)
[0-1]: (1/1)
Yo, if the players care, they should design watermarks for their teams. If you include renders into your submissions, the watermarks should be on the card. This watermark should represent what your team strives for.
Lynx, Capricious Consigliere - 2WBR
Planeswalker - Lynx (M)
[+2]: Choose a player at random. Search that player's library and put a creature card from it into the graveyard. Then, shuffle that library.
[-3]: Choose a creature card at random from target player's graveyard. Put that card onto the battlefield under your control.
[-6]: You get an emblem with "if a target would be chosen at random, you may pick the targets instead." "Among the crimes he has commit over the years, burglary, coercion, and cheating were his favorite."
{3}
Lightning Strikes Twice - 1R
Instant (U)
Lightning Strikes Twice deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is twice the number of times a spell named Lightning Strikes Twice was cast this turn.
Flashback 2R
IWW: TV Tropes
edit: ((dang, I hope I didn't miss the deadline. You should judge me anyway.))
Really nice, Cardz. Really outdid yourself this time. May I ask what you used to accomplish this? I'm currently making a computer game and I would live to have a map in it.
Artifact - Equipment
As Explosive Collar enters the battlefield, equip target creature. You may equip creatures you don't control with Explosive Collar.
You control equipped creature. If Explosive Collar becomes unattached from a creature, sacrifice that creature and Explosive Collar.
Atogaholic: Pretty simple, but neat. Love the hangover flavor. 7.5/10
Emocakes: It's alright. The ability is pretty annoying to read at first, but after I realized what it did, I thought it was interesting and fits the drink theme. 8/10
Flabort: Cool idea with giving a planeswalker another ability but bad execution. So much is going on this one card and snow doesn't have a reason to be on it, other than it fits your planeswalker's theme. 4/10
Jimmy Groove: This feels immensely powerful. I feel like there needs to be some sort of penalty. It's still a cool idea. 7/10
Prophylaxis: Its alright, kinda boring, and seems way overcosted. Does fit the flavor of living death though. Also really do not like the potion subtype. I originally had that, but I felt like it doesn't need to exist since potions have been a thing already, and they are really just artifacts with nothing new. 5/10
silence_dais: I feel like there is a lot going on. While rebounds could be an action word, it does the same as "at the beginning of your next upkeep,". 5/10
Socrates: This is really cool. The flavor of drinking a poisonous drink and spreading the disease is executed perfectly in a simple line. Shouldn't the drink go along with the planeswalker though? The planeswalker has nothing to do with infect and if you try to combo your card with the goblins, the goblin will just die before they can use the infect anyway. I'll ignore this part since I don't know for sure and the drink is just really cool by itself. 8.5/10
3. Atogaholic
2. Emocakes
1. Socrates
Team Conclave 24/30
Jimmy Groove: I really do not like how Annaki and Dreamer aren't the same thing, and then you make another creature type, "dream", as well as involving spirits of Annaki. The flavor seems perfect, but you should balance out flavor and mechanics. Love how you used +1/+1 counters to show color changing. Everything bout Firemind is great.
Komachi: I find uncover to be pretty strange and bad. Even though it would of costed more, I think Scry would work just as well, if not better. In the right deck, this is also pretty much adds another card per turn. I'm still trying to wrap my head around Rapidfire, but I think I understand. Basically, if it manages to deal damage, it can deal damage again. However, Rapidfire 2 sounds like it turns your first strike into triple strike instead of double (is this what you want?). I understand this isn't just double strike and can be expanded into other cards, but this card, at least in my opinion, does not execute the concept well.
KoolKoal: Quickblade is great. The flavor seems more black though. River-Bottom Sculpture has an awesome name, I'll give it that. I could see this be playing in a merfolk deck I guess, and its a decent blue one drop.
Link: Mistveil paired up defender is a good idea to showcase that ability. I say its a very good white common. On the agent, should Imbue be Imbue 2 and shouldn't the player reveal they are actually imbuing a creature. Can't the player just exile it, face down, since it doesn't say reveal?
Small Child: I don't think shroud should die, and this is a nice card that shows why shroud is still important. I also like enhanced. I found the equipped part to be odd, but I like it a lot after I realized your race is equipment-heavy. lol
Team Wynaut 28/30
CrustaceanCrusader: I'm really not trying to play favorites, but everything you give me is top notch. Bayou Ravager is really awesome. However, I'm not that big of a fan of Pale Warden. I feel like it should get persist as well.
DeusofCalamity: Confused about arcane affinity. Besides closely having a name of two already known keywords (and I'll try to ignore that), it doesn't seem to do a whole lot. Although I'm sure you have a lot planned, I think simply having a theme of sharing common colors would be cleaner and more fun.
Gallus: Nice creature-enchantment transform. Although people may complain about enchantment creatures being bothersome, I really like the direction of this one and think the ability is well written. I say the Heretic is pretty well costed.
Ninja Caterpie: Big fan of the Lunar Artisan. I love me some multicolored bears. Don't really like the Muck Dweller too much. Nothing wrong with it, it just seems bland.
Atrius: Animate is a cool ability, but I don't know how I feel about bringing the creature back to the battlefield. Wandering Trickster's flavor seems to be all over the place, or maybe I'm reading it wrong.
Team Consuming Ruin 27/30
Prophylaxis: Flavor-wise, this card is brilliant. But even with Vanishing 3, I still feel like 3/4 is too good. Trance Breaker is also very cool and once again hits the flavor very well.
queensauce: Pathfinder seems very powerful. Wish I had a card to put it up against. Warden of Blood is pretty cool. I like to combo cards like these with eldrazi spawn token decks. That'd be a lot of fun.
Random_Nation: Both of your cards are simple, elegant designs that showcases your mechanics well.
Raziel_X007223: I understand the ability, but it seems to be written backwards. I also feel like something like this shouldn't be at common. First off, it can be used for land destruction. That is at least 1RR. With the added bonus of enchantment and artifact, I don't think a simple W could help it, even with the large penalty as well. Blood Fever also doesn't seem that great either. +3/+3 isn't red, +3/+0 is, but having a set amount is boring imo. I would of just went with a variation on firebreathing (paying the cost any number of times for +X/+0).
UncleIstvan: I really do not think this card needs to be three different colors, but I see where each color plays into this card. As for the gardener, I like it. Has good synergy with the Marauder.
void_nothing: I really like feint. It's like the opposite of ninjitsu. I'd like to make a zoo deck with this. However, I feel like its worded improperly. I won't take off points because I'm not too sure myself. The gleaner is cool and I'd love to see someone break this card.
Team Gentlemon 29/30
Cardz5000: I'll try to ignore the fact that Battlecry and Exalted will pretty much never be on the same card together. It's a nice combination of mechanics, and everything is nicely-costed. Bolster feels like a nicely worded banding of sorts. I feel like it should probably cost 1GW though.
Flabort: Child Keeper? What a weird name. lol Its an alright card. Don't really know if three 0/2 creatures for two mana is really fair or not. Onite Hunter is pretty basic, but its fine.
Gerrard's Mom: I really like the Pods and was excited to see what they'll be like, and both seem really fun. I feel like Sinew Binder should cost 1 more since Primal Cocoon makes it so the creature can't attack or block, as well as give you another creature. Pairing with another creature doesn't really justify the cost since it can even be utilized in a beneficial way. Skygrabber has the best name ever, and the abilities fit the color and theme.
Rithaniel: Distract is awesome and I'd love to see it get utilized more. Witch Doctor is equally as cool.
Team V 26/30
I liked learning about the Reltathri the most since they were not only displaced with the teammates, but almost with each other race. I guess "common boarders" was close to being the only solution as to why they are on this team, even though its pretty lazy. It's a good thing that the Atceras and Reltathri share a common goal. I really enjoyed reading the race's views on the other ones.
Like how Emocakes used a third party race made from another player on another team to explain the history of the Delthran. Don't know why the Xanten would create reptile-folk for slave labor. The Lrin would of seem like better choices, but I'll continue to read the rest of the thread before I judge.
Read the Journal of Gareen the Clear. Love this "secondary" story telling lore or whatevah you'd call it. Especially like that you used another race to explain the Phileran's psychic phenomenon.
Really looked like almost each teammate had a fair share of the work. MirrorEntity took a leader-like role, Lordshuft focused a lot of the geographic part, Emocakes focused on the lore and came up with an original concept, Trabant took the concept and made it real, and he did it without putting words into anyone's mouth.
CoiLic: Both abilities on the first card seem redundant and devour doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that belongs on common along with an ability like that. Hivewatch Sorcerer is alright. I like cards like these, but I feel that it would make a lot more sense to have the red and green mana change places.
Emocakes: Standard cost could be another colorless, but everything else is really awesome. Like the Avenger a lot. The Negotiator is a pretty cool card. I'd like to make a 5-color deck with him in it.
Eskimo_Rage: Doesn't really feel black. I think an alternate mana cost for something instead of adding mana should of gone here. Celestial Protector, now this is a cool card; great mix of two mechanics.
Lordshuft: Battlecraft doesn't need to be keyword, it just takes up more space than it needs. Other than that, nicely done. Reflect seems kinda clunky, but with attackers, it shines. Basically adds 2 power.
MirrorEntity: Weird requirement, rewarding high CMC creature in the graveyard? Could be a cool mechanic, but I don't think this card will see much play. Unless it went against your race's lore for some reason, I would of made the requirement a bit not too strange, and it changed the ability so you exile a target creature from your graveyard. That could of made probably cost less. Another odd requirement and effect. Color-wise, I don't think it fits into green's philosophy of "big creatures" or elves. The activated ability feels a lot more blue or black.
Trabant777: Interesting ability. Hexproof fits very well with this card. The second card's pretty good, a bit bland, but it does its job well.
Lynx, Capricious Consigliere
Instant (U)
Choose a player at random. Until end of turn, target creature that player doesn't control gains +X/+X and attacks that player this turn if able.
I guess that is true that a lot of the grading happens there. I'll stick to more of the lore side of the competition than the card designing side since there is two types of grades: your team's (lore) and the individual player's (cards). I meant more that if someone on your team had a card that clearly did not match with the current challenge, we should probably take off one or two team points since that shows that no one on the team assisted their teammate.
@Cardz: Back to grading lore, that's why I said make a section of the original post of all the collected lore and work you've done. If not the OP, than somewhere in your discussion topic. I've been reading through these threads a lot and have seen the teams and lore develop, and I'm not grading on whether or not the thread has ten pages of lore or three pages of lore because I see the discussion happen in IRC a lot.
Sorcery
Any number of target players gain 6 life.
Buyback -- Pay 12 life
IWW: TV Tropes
Tesla Elemental - 1R
Creature - Elemental (R)
This creature enters the battlefield with three level counters on it.
Suppression 2 (2: Any player may pay this mana cost. If they do, remove a level counter from this creature.)
[3+]: Haste, First Strike (3/1)
[0-1]: (1/1)
IWW: Tv Tropes
Yo, if the players care, they should design watermarks for their teams. If you include renders into your submissions, the watermarks should be on the card. This watermark should represent what your team strives for.
Planeswalker - Lynx (M)
[+2]: Choose a player at random. Search that player's library and put a creature card from it into the graveyard. Then, shuffle that library.
[-3]: Choose a creature card at random from target player's graveyard. Put that card onto the battlefield under your control.
[-6]: You get an emblem with "if a target would be chosen at random, you may pick the targets instead."
"Among the crimes he has commit over the years, burglary, coercion, and cheating were his favorite."
{3}
Instant (U)
Lightning Strikes Twice deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is twice the number of times a spell named Lightning Strikes Twice was cast this turn.
Flashback 2R
IWW: TV Tropes
edit: ((dang, I hope I didn't miss the deadline. You should judge me anyway.))
Really nice, Cardz. Really outdid yourself this time. May I ask what you used to accomplish this? I'm currently making a computer game and I would live to have a map in it.