Sans titre

Bias Expectations: Partial Decree Runners-Up

True-Name Invocation by @izzet-always-r-versus-u

Just as I like interaction, I also like protection, and this struck me as a card where I was like “I can’t believe this hasn’t already been printed!” Obviously a reference to True-Name Nemesis, this can make a creature unblockable for the turn, protect from a nasty kill spell, and more! I really do like the flexibility on this one and I think it would be lots of fun to theory-brew with. In fact, this could have easily been a winner, it just looks so empty without any art description or flavor text. A few little details to really tie it all together would have pushed this card from great to fantastic.

Xerxes, Sentient Polygon by @gollumni

I’ve never been a fan of the whole Hydra gimmick, but mainly that’s because creatures that are just “big” don’t do much for me. Sure, this thing has the whole “enters with counters equal to mana” thing, but it also does some fun things with those counters. I would recommend checking out Deepglow Skate for wording on that, since it’s a bit different, but I do love Deepglow Skate, so even one that only targets a single creature is pretty cool in my books. There’s still lots of fun stuff to do with that. The bounce is excellent as well. Not only do you save Xerxes from a potential threat, you also save another creature. And, if the shield counter doesn’t get used up, you can double it when you replay Xerxes! So much fun, so many shenanigans. 10/10 would be a secret commander for my Pir and Toothy deck.

Preparing to Ace by @simsarwel

Much like Amass, I didn’t actually care for Learn/Lesson that much. I mean sure, I liked the flavor, but the Lessons were (necessarily) kind of dull, and didn’t excite me much. Plus, you know, EDH, no sideboards, all that jazz. This is pretty fun though! It gives you an incentive to engage with both sides of the mechanic. The scry is admittedly only a small bonus, but it doesn’t need to be big. The real payoff is being able to copy all of those lessons, which turns several of them from mediocre to very nice- especially if you can pull off a Mascot Exhibition. Also, I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the reference to studying for Hydromancy brings to mind one of my last submissions before becoming a judge. If not, neat coincidence. If it was intentional, well, I never claimed to be immune to flattery.

I’ll see you in a few days with commentary. Until next time!

V-IPs: IP IP Hooray Contest Winners

Holy cow. I knew these contests were popular, but 32 entries is nuts. I’ve got some writing ahead of me. Winners and runners-up this week were incredibly difficult choices, and the other judges were a big help in sorting everything out and picking the absolute cream of the crop. However, this was one of the strongest weeks I’ve had in terms of submissions- you all have such brilliant ideas, and I love seeing the expressions of passion for the things you love. I’m definitely going to be running more IP contests in the future, so keep an eye out for those. Anyways, enough of the sappy rambling. Our winners are…

Idaten by @snugz

Okay, I swear I’m not being biased about this card, and we’ll get to the card in a second, but I can’t believe there’s another World Trigger fan out there in the wild! Easily my favorite manga, so I’m glad you appreciate it as well. For the card: I don’t specifically remember this ability, because it’s been a while, but from your description of a lightning-fast strike that can hit multiple opponents before they can react, this slots in perfectly. The mechanics of it are also great- It’s a Fall of the Hammer that, for two more mana, can split up its damage. Honestly, it’s such a neat card that I can’t believe we haven’t seen it before. Obviously a bit of a win more, since you can wipe the board with a big enough creature, but Chandra’s Ignition exists, and this just seems like a fun take on that niche of spells. I’m not as sold on the flavor text- I think something more descriptive and less exposition-y might have really brought it together- but overall, this is an excellent uncommon that I would love to snag in a draft.

Hate of the Dead God by @simsarwel

So this one is a pretty simple and straightforward design inspired by Princess Mononoke, and man, even with no familiarity with the movie, I can FEEL the wrongness oozing out of this card. The art is great, and this is a very cool take on day/night. It still plays with “creatures get stronger at night”, but it has a much more permanent consequences for making it day than the werewolves do. In fact, I can imagine that opponents will be scrambling to cast multiple spells in order to get rid of whatever beastie you put this on. Of course, there’s the other option- this can be removal too, where you play this and any other card, and you can remove a nasty threat even through indestructible. I think my one nitpick is that this could probably be uncommon instead of rare, but that’s open to interpretation. Nicely done!

Goomba Stomp by @helloijustreadyourpost

Ahh, the classic Super Mario Bros. This is a hilarious card that I did not expect to see this week, but I like it. The flavor doesn’t 100% connect with me, but I can see the basic elements of it, and I like what you were going for. Where this card stands out is how clever it is mechanically. Like with Idaten, it’s very reminiscent of Fall of the Hammer, but adding an extra mana and downshifting to sorcery in exchange for a less-than-one-mana effect. Which is good! Cards that just stick the effect of two other spells together and combine their costs always disregard the power of card advantage, but this doesn’t fall into that trap. What I like most is that the creature you use this on is already unblockable, so you can either clear out a nasty blocker to make way for your other creatures, or you can just take out that annoying utility creature that you know was never going to block. There are so many choices wrapped up in this card, but it’s so straightforward and clean. I love it!

And that’s our podium! Stay tuned for runners-up, arriving shortly!

~judge @naban-dean-of-irritation

Yay! Second time winner, with my favorite movie. ✌✌✌

You’re All Set: Name, Set, Match Winners

Hello hello! Man, this is a crazy week. 35 entries? This contest really resonated with all y’all, which means I am definitely going to be paying more attention to the contest suggestions in the Discord from now on. (Once again, shout out to @nicolbolas96 for the excellent idea). However, as always, I have to pick some winners- which does not mean I didn’t love every card that came through our gates this week. Seriously, y’all are really stepping up your game. Anyways, onto commentary and whatnot.

Aether Revolt by @simsarwel

This one caught my eye while I was assembling the entry posts, and it’s a funny coincidence that it happened to be the first one alphabetically. Honestly, I usually try to find some kind of constructive feedback to give a card just so we can all grow as designers, but… I have nothing. Every aspect of this card absolutely blows me away. The original Kaladesh was a counter-heavy set, with things like energy but also fabricate, and slotting this into a hypothetical parallel universe version of Aether Revolt (or maybe in some future sequel set, who knows) would allow it to work perfectly. It encourages you to stockpile your own energy to get more value, but also allows you to hose your opponent with it. In fact, I would call it too powerful, if not for the choice of giving the tokens decayed. It smooths out the balance beautifully, and is so incredibly flavorful with the Aetherborn, a race that literally starts decaying the moment they are born. Again, I have nothing but praise for this card; it’s gotta be in my top 5 submissions since I started.

Beyond Death by @dabudder

Hybrid is such a trap for designers that I’m always a little scared of it, which forces me to do a double take when I see a well-balanced, color-pie-compliant card. (Which this is, by the way.) It’s the perfect intersection of white and black reanimation, mechanically and flavorfully. The unique restriction of taking away the creature type and replacing with enchantment is layered nicely: Not only does it keep the power level down, but it also intersects with constellation effects and other enchantment synergies that are found in Theros sets. From a flavor standpoint, it’s quite literally returning from the dead, but leaving a part of yourself in Nyx- or maybe it’s about being imbued with godly essence. Either way, it’s a slam dunk of a card. I’m still not totally sold on 3 mana, but I don’t think it’s insanely broken, just a tad on the strong side.

Gatecrash by @demimonde-semigoddess

This card is deceptively simple. Or deceptively complicated. One of those two. Anyways, it’s a neatly packaged common with a lot of punch, but a fairly big drawback. Any chump blocker makes these guys go away forever, which hinders their usefulness. And it’s great! This introduces so many interesting decisions between you and your opponent, especially when you have multiples of them. All your opponent has to do is keep them away once, and then they’re gone. Honestly, I can see that perk being a tool to bait your opponent into some pretty bad blocking choices. I am not sure this should be a common, but I’m wavering back and forth. It does seem pretty good in limited, and like I said above, multiples would be fun, but I can’t help but wonder if this really wants to be an uncommon just so you wouldn’t see too many of them in limited. Requires playtesting, methinks, but compared to the wow factor that the rest of the card has, it is a miniscule detail.

First win in the contest! So happy!✌✌✌

Second From the Top

Congrats to our runners-up this week: @simsarwel with Vessifrus, the Boiling Mischief, @helloijustreadyourpost with Mystic Catalog, and @bread-into-toast with Ekkinost, Sludgesifter!

~

Vessifrus, the Boiling Mischief

Place: Lorwyn

Subject: Vessifrus, a flamekin fighter, seemingly bruised, provocating elves with a malicious grin. Some elves already knocked out can be seen around.

Mood: “Who’s next?”

This mythic has a lot going on, but I do like where it’s going. I think that activated ability is really cool. If your opponent has a 4/4, then they really don’t know if they should activate or not. They might be able to, but it comes with a pretty big risk. Even scarier, Vessifrus could end up fighting another creature controlled by the same player! This card has a lot of risk, but the reward is pretty good, too. If you keep winning clashes, or if your opponent keeps playing small creatures, then this can keep the board clear for a very small investment. I think what I like most about this card is the story it tells in its activation. It has a real “showdown at noon” sort of vibe. Both players stare each other down, and while one player does have an advantage, it’s not a sure thing, and there’s a lot that could go wrong. However, the card is not without its faults. First is first strike. While I think it’s okay on the card, and I understand wanting to put a combat ability on a creature that likes combat, first strike doesn’t interact with fighting, even though some players think it does. At mythic, and probably in a supplemental set, that’s maybe okay. Next is the blue. Blue just doesn’t seem appropriate for this card. Is it just for tribal purposes? Or clash synergy? The only blue part of the card text is the scry, but every color gets scry, especially scry 1. Lastly, there’s some weird templating issues. Technically, two players who don’t control Vessifrus could clash, which seems odd, but I think is forgivable. Fighting another target creature, however, can’t really be done. Targets are chosen before the spell resolves, so you would have to pick it before the winner of the clash is determined, but the clash (I believe) is intended to determine who picks what it fights. You’d need it to be a reflexive trigger. Something like “When a player wins a clash this way, that player may…” and so on. There’s also the weirdness of “do I get the counter even if I don’t want to fight anything” which seems to be no at the moment. So, what I’m saying is, I am pretty sure I know how this card works as written, but I’m not sure if it’s what’s intended. If it is, then no complaints! But I think there’s some minor changes that would need to be made to rectify that. But, with all that said, I still think this is a really cool card, just with some minor complaints and fixes.

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Mystic Catalog

Before I say anything else, I’ll say that the templating on the first ability should not use the word draw because draw is exclusively form the top. It’s easily understandable, but it should say “you may instead put the second or third card from your library into your hand.” So, the card itself? I think it’s really neat. It is very close to some famous cards of magic’s past, like sensei’s divining top or sylvan library, but it’s different in a way that I think is kind of fun. It interacts very well with other top of library effects. For example, you can leave a card on top for your Skill Borrower or Mul Daya Channelers to interact with. The big problem with this card is the big one with top and what got it banned: it’s very slow. Like, really slow. Basically, you’ll want to use this ability after every draw, so you know which one you want. Luckily, unlike top, if you need to change which card you want to draw next from the three, you don’t need to reactivate. Unless you have poor memory. I think this fixes some issues with some of the cards like this, but introduces a few more. I think it comes out on the side of better, but it’s close. Oh, and there’s no way a card this complex and that slows down the game so much should be uncommon. So yeah, cool card, great entry for this week’s contest, just some minor complaints.

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Ekkinost, Sludgesifter

I like this card, though I think it might be doing a bit too much. First, I’ll bring up the first thing I noticed: it goes infinite with any permanent that has tap: scry. Granted, there’s not a ton of those, but it will automatically let you go through your entire deck until you find the card you want and leave it on top. But this is a 7 mana mythic, so maybe a two-card combo that doesn’t instantly win you the game is okay. In general I think the untapping is not super necessary, tapping is already good and it would clear up some text, but again, 7 mana mythic. I think my biggest issue is I don’t like how the last ability makes the center ability, the scry 3, not really a scry 3. Every time you scry 3, you’re going to have to think “is putting any of these cards on top instead of a random card better than getting a free ice or untap?” It’s going to be rare for that question to be no unless there’s no permanents in play for the trigger to hit. Speaking of which, I think it would have been really cool if it were an attack trigger. It would mean you’d have to at least risk this guy getting into combat (though barely, since he can tap their blockers), but it would also just help the game progress. As I see it, this is a control finisher, one that, if resolved, will take control of the game. Cards like that are best when they encourage actually closing out the game instead of durdling around until you can control MORE of the game. Dream Trawler, for example, draws a card when it attacks, and prognostic sphinx actually does scry 3 when it attacks. Plus, then you could untap the leviathan itself, which would give you a target for the trigger if you didn’t have one already, and makes you think about whether your opponent has a trick that would make you want to tap one of their blockers rather than untap your guy. So, while I think this guy is a solid concept, and I like it as a simic legend not based around lands, I think there were some design choices that could have been done differently to make it a more exciting and engaging card. But I still gave it a runner-up spot because I can’t stop thinking about it.

~

Hoo boy, that sounded like a lot of critique, but seriously, I liked all of those cards! This just happened to be a week with a lot of cards with multiple minor issues rather than one big one or none at all. You’ll see what I mean in a bit when I share the commentary. Until next time, seeya!

-Mod Mr. ShinyObject

Putting the I in Team

Congrats to our runners-up this week! @nicolbolas96 with You’ll Be Mine, @simsarwel with Here I Stand, and @snugz with United We Stand // Divided We Fall

~

You’ll Be Mine

I remember there being some discussion in the discord, and I’d just like to say, personally, I think this card and its first ability is entirely in-color. I think it’s outdated and not something you’d do regularly, but this is exactly the type of card where you’d prefer it to a tap or transforming effect. That said, I think there’s two things a little off about this. First, It’s a little cheap. A pacifism alone has lately been going for a little higher than 2 mana, and even with the double blue color restriction, I think it needs to be more, especially since it’s something blue isn’t supposed to be better at than white. Similarly, I like the idea of the activated ability being higher. Four mana is really cheap. You can curve into this while still getting the pacifism bonus. I think it would play better if it were more expensive, like something you’re leading up to and hoping to get the mana for, rather than something that will definitely happen and happen soon. I know it’s technically 6 mana total, but it can often play like a 4 mana card. Last big one: I want it to be sorcery speed. Partly so you can’t just leave up mana and do this when they don’t cast a spell, and partly to not mess with combat math and make things complicated. Like I said, I think this plays better when it’s something to work for and earn. Tapping out on your turn to steal a creature feels good and powerful, so you should make it happen on your turn. Make ‘em work for it. So with all that said, I still like this card. The concept is great and the execution is pretty close. The name is also fitting, if a little cheesy.

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Here I Stand

Place: Battlefield on Bant

Description: A soldier is facing an overwhelming legion of Grixis horrors. The character looks bruised, but determined.

Mood: No hope, no rest, not a flinch.

Wow, this card is way better than I thought it was at first glance. The two different ways to use this card are very interesting. First, you can use it on one of your own creatures as essentially a giant fog at the cost of sacrificing a creature. Or, if you’re lucky, you’ve got something that can survive. Second, you could use it as a removal spell. Attack with your two 1/3 creatures, then cast this targeting their 2/2, and even if it attacked you get to untap it and kill it. It’s both the card Culling Mark and Gideon’s sacrifice at the same time, while also being Valor Made real, all for two mana. Normally I’d say that’s too much value, but with combat tricks small amounts of mana matter, and none of those are good cards anyway. But if you combine them all together, they sort of are! I like this card and its versatility. I will say, though, that that last ability would probably be written differently. I’d have phrased it “Enchanted creature can block any number of creatures and blocks each attacking creature if able.” You don’t need to specify ones attack you or planeswalkers you control because those are already the only ones it can block. The only thing to keep this from a top spot is its complexity. This is very hard to comprehend, even for experienced players, and I wish there was a way to make it easier to interpret without losing its versatility. It’s complexity might be okay if it were a rare, but I don’t think players would like a fog / conditional removal spell as their rare. Other than that, very impressed, very cool card.

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United We Stand // Divided We Fall

WotC doesn’t have a way to denote it, so I’m going to assume this is a modal double faced card. The naming convention does feel a bit closer to a split card, since most MDFCs have no naming convention linking the two sides, but I don’t think that’s important. It’s two cards with very thematic effects. The first is great for going wide and smashing face, and the second is great for shrinking your opponents board. Though, weirdly, they play out pretty similarly I think. Since you’re only giving indestructible, not trample or vigilance or lifelink, an all out attack isn’t going to get much damage through, just force your opponent to chump a bitm removing about as many creatures as the other half. I think MDFCs work best when the two sides are used in entirely different situations, and I think these overlap maybe just a bit too much. If the first side were a little more aggressive, providing either a way to finish out the game or get in a relatively free attack, that might help make it stand out more. As is I actually think this card is pretty good, just could be a bit better. Do or Die is an old card, and I think it’s fine at 4 mana when it’s got another option, and a board pump is always going to be at least a little playable. So yeah, quite good, but some room for improvement.

~

And there are your runners-up! Good job! I’ll have the commentary up shortly, hopefully.

- Mod Mr. ShinyObject

In a Pinch: Flavor Copy Runners-Up ~

Our runners-up this week are @grornt​, @horsecrash​ and @simsarwel​!

@grornt​ — Weatherlight Sepulcher

I’m honestly not sure what Tendrils of Despair is originally trying to say—like, Karn feels pain but can’t cry? It’s a little odd here, and this card definitely clarifies it. I think, mechanically, having “other” in there isn’t great because it would be better to at least get a cantrip all things considered, but the rest of the card is fantastic. Erasing the past and getting new memories while using the strength to honor those in the present? Great work. This one stirred up a lot of judge buzzing. I’m not the most familiar with the Weatherlight saga and all those shenanigans (those deadly, deadly shenanigans) but I understand some of it from how you posed Karn here. I do really like Karn as a character, and this makes him feel a little more sadly stoic to me. I enjoyed this card a lot.

@horsecrash​ — Vermin King

Ha, because they’re worms! It’s certainly more substantial than Goblin Bully as a card. You didn’t need to completely twist any meaning here because it was fairly open-ended, but there’s also this notion of zombies losing their bones and having no spines, too. I think this card’s really darn powerful and the cost is appropriate for where a zombie deck wants to be on turn four, giving lots of potential bodies and death triggers. All those worms and corpses. Yeah, I don’t hate it! It’s a viscerally disgusting image too, and I like that a lot. It’s more “haha cool” fantasy than grimdark fantasy, which I…sometimes skew towards, even though I try not to as much these days. Does it tell a story through mechanics? No, it’s an action-oriented card about wormy dead bois. And that’s all it needs to be. Live long and fester.

@simsarwel​ — Curse of Intrusion

It was pointed out to me that, as amazing as this card is, it’s not always practical to look at the top card of your opponent’s library in paper. All the same, what an incredible use of multiplayer mechanics with how it both encourages AND discourages attacking, changes up politics, AND in single-player, it shifts the way that you can adjust your draws. Because you can enchant yourself! It makes attacking weird, and huh. I just thought about that. You can enchant yourself. Does that make this card… Does it need a nerf? Hm, that’s interesting. I think that it’s definitely a complicated card and it may need tweaking. All the same, the radical departure from Lyra Dawnbringer’s “I’m your guardian angel” text is worth it to me. This card, I feel, is a mechanically ambitious take on a creepy notion. I like it a lot, from the first time I saw it. Seeing it a second time and with some feedback, there’s a little bit of tweaking that needs to be done before it’s truly there. All the same, a worthy card to showcase.

Thank you all once again for your entries! I’ll be writing the commentary through today and answering questions along the way.

— @abelzumi​

Lucky Number Two - Take A Chance Runners-Up

Long time no see! I don’t have much else to say, so I’m just going to get into it.

@simsarwel - Goblin Bombardier

Art direction: A scrappy aircraft seemingly filled with hazardous materials with two pilots either extatic or dubious. Location: Dominaria or Mirrodin. Focus: The vehicle. Mood: “May it be us or them, there will be a huge blow!” First things first, welcome to the fair! I’m always excited to see new folks, and I hope you stick around for many contests to come! Also, despite your disclaimers about English not being your first language, this card is templated almost perfectly, so congrats on that! This card seems very fun and there are lots of interesting play patterns that come out of it. The crew cost naturally encourages 2/2s for crewing, but the second ability really wants you to have a 2/3 or larger, at which point the downside is pretty much gone, since the crewing creature won’t be involved in combat. That’s the kind of build-around-me random that I wanted to see. Note that it should be “that crewed it this turn’, unless you want some nasty memory issues. My one other note is that vehicles usually get to be above rate because of the crew requirement, and a 3/1 for 3 is pretty below rate. This card could definitely be either bigger or cheaper. Also, a “Bombardier” usually refers to a person rather than a vehicle, I think you might have wanted “Bomber”. For your first submission though, this is fantastic, and I can’t wait to see your next one!

@starch255 - Ritual of Yawgmoth Gotta say, “Yawgmoth’s Garage Sale” was an excellent working title, even if this one sounds much more like a real card. This is exactly how black likes to approach gambling both flavorfully and mechanically. The fact that you lose life before deciding to cast each card puts you in a dangerous mindset of “oh, I’ve already lost the life for this one, and the next one probably won’t be so bad, right?” And then before you know it, you’ve gone too far. It just seems like such a fun card to play with, and I would love to see something like this in print. However, I have one major gripe with this card: it would SUCK to hit a land right off the top, and completely waste your 4 mana spell. I think this could have been well-served by only exiling nonlands from your graveyard, so that you would be unlikely to completely whiff. At the same time, that does make it significantly less random, especially if you only have a single nonland card in your grave. (That requires setup though, so it could be forgiven). Also, what happens to the rest of the pile? I guess it just stays in exile? I would have liked those cards to be put back, so that you could “reroll” with another Ritual if you had one. However, those are minor complaints compared to how much I like this card and how badly I want to play it.

@ghoulcaclulator64 - Vector of Frenzy

Art Direction: A gigantic Phyrexian beast covered with spikes in the shape of a ceratok rampages around the spires of stone in the background. It has one huge, metallic forelimb raised to crash into the earth, and its head is held up to bellow to the sky. Plumes of yellowish spores billow from its mouth and from jets in between its spiked back and limbs, giving the surrounding sky an even sicklier tint.

Phyrexians. Ya love to hate them and hate to love them. I did a double take at that typeline, but I am so on board. Phyrexianized beasties is a very fun space to play around in, and also makes me think about the abject horror that would be infected Ikoria. Anyways, the Vector (excellent name btw) is a pretty nice powerhouse. Fighting a creature on every attack or block could be very oppressive, but since it’s random, it’s a lot less of an issue. Given the flavor of “unstoppable force”, I’m not sure if I like the ability triggering on block, but that’s just semantics. My other minor nitpick is that, while the ability is good removal if you get lucky, it’s also enough of a downside that the Vector could probably get away with some extra power/toughness. Like I said though, that’s minor. Also, kudos on just a fantastic name/art direction/flavor text combo, it really makes this card feel fearsome and awe-inspiring.

And that’s it for the runners-up! I’m heading home for the holidays tomorrow, but hopefully I’ll have commentary up on Monday or Tuesday next week. That’s the plan, anyways! 

Tune in tomorrow for our penultimate contest of the year!

@naban-dean-of-irritation

So happy to be in the runners-up for my first submission! 😊