- When submitting a render, make sure you give proper artist credit.
- Unless requested, do not add notes explaining your card. Let the judge figure it out for himself/herself.
- Even if you submit a render, you are still required to submit your card in text form.
- Here’s the point breakdown:
Bonus: 2/2 - 1 point for each criteria, just like normal. As before, cards that do not meet the round criteria may not earn bonus points.
Balance: 10/10 - Judge how the card is balanced; its power level, and whether or not it could make or break a format, i.e. just like it was before.
Flavour: 5/5 - Just like it was before but now also incorporates the flavor contribution of render art choice.
Creativity: 4/4 - Just like it was before.
Quality: 4/4 - Now includes proper use of mana symbols and miscellaneous render issues (such as microtext, art that is clearly not the quality level seen on Magic cards, etc.). Failing to meet the round criteria, or poorly meeting it in the case of a subjective criteria, can earn deductions here.
Okay, everyone. Get your dimes, quarters or whatever you have. For this round, make a card that involves flipping one or more coins.
Bonuses:
1 point - Instant or sorcery
1 point - Converted mana cost 4 or more
Players may wish to reference the Players List. If you have questions about the FCC, check out the FAQ. If you have a question about using MSE, find your answer here.
This round will run until Midnight EDT, Wednesday,October the 22nd (when Wednesday becomes Thursday.)
Judges, please don't begin judging until the round is over. You may start postings at 12:01am EDT, even if we (Moss_Elemental, Kraj, and Shepherd) are not online then to close the round.
i might not be able to attach a render this time, sorry about it, I was to attached to the idea and couldn't find something that fits
Cytoclone1URG
Instant [R]
Put a token into play that's a copy of target creature. Flip a coin. If you win the flip, put a +1/+1 counter on the token and it gains haste until end of turn.
Momir found Yolov's original project to be uninteresting since it only replicated life without improving it. But he found a new sponsor in the form of the Firemind, who just found a new way to look at his own image and tought him how to make it bigger.
Fiery Tantrum :2mana::symr::symr:
Enchantment (R)
Whenever you would win a clash or coinflip, you may replace that win with a loss. If you do, Fiery Tantrum deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Losing hurts—especially if you’re the winner.
man, I never thought our rematch would be that early!! I'll have my revenge Good luck dude
Dangerous Thoughts2BB
Sorcery
Kicker 1R(You may pay an additional 1R as you play this spell.)
Flip a coin. If you win the flip, draw five cards. If you lose the flip, lose half your life, rounded up.
If you paid the kicker cost, instead flip two coins and ignore one.
This was a tough pair to judge, since they were both good, and the cards were actually similar. (I could almost imagine them being part of the same cycle!) But I think I made the right decision.
Coin flip cards, historically, must be red, blue-red, or artifacts. However, I think the spirit of the round wants to ask "what would it be like if coin flipping weren't exclusively red?" So instead of automatically punishing any card that isn't red, I tried to look at the cards from that perspective. As luck would have it, both of them are nonred, so the issue isn't really relevant, since they would be equally penalized. Similarly, any coin flip card becomes broken with Krark's Thumb, so I won't worry about combo potential either.
BALANCE: 6.5/10 A tad overpowered. I was surprised that I couldn't find an existing blue sorcery with the text "Gain control of target creature." I thought for sure one would exist. So I don't know exactly what to compare it to. Control Magic is close, but it's an enchantment, so it could be dispelled much more easily. Mouth to Mouth is actually pretty close. I don't know how legitimate it is to use an Unhinged card to consider balance for a black-bordered card, but I think it is worth noting. That card basically does the same thing as yours for a slightly less restrictive mana cost, without the destroying option. However, I think merely changing 3U to 2UB is not enough to warrant your addition of destroying the creature if you lose the flip. There's also Govern the Guildless to consider. It lets you get a fair selection of creatures for 6 mana, and any creature for 8 mana. So if your card at only 4 mana gives you a 50% chance to steal ANY creature, OR destroy it if you fail, I think your card is undercosted. There's still the consideration of randomness and your lack of control, but usually, if a creature is worth stealing, it's probably also worth killing. I would recommend 3UB for your card.
FLAVOR: 4/5 "Mindmark…" You're trying to control a creature's mind. If you're lucky, you'll succeed. If not, the mental damage you caused will kill the creature instead. Some interpretation was required without the render, but you did a good job of conveying the flavor regardless. The flavor text is a little weird, though. It talks about a pit fighter, which doesn't sound very blue-black, and "in love" doesn't really match "under the control of." I did like this card's flavor overall, though.
CREATIVITY: 2.5/4 Like Odds from Odds // Ends (I don't know how to link to a split card using autocard), you're using a coin flip to determine which of two useful effects will occur. On your card, one of the effects is generally more useful than the other, but they're fairly simple effects. (I thought it was amusing that both you and VampyrLestat had 4cc sorceries that used coin flips to decide between two more-or-less useful but rather generic effects.) A solid card, but not brilliantly inventive.
QUALITY: 4/4 Fine. I wish you had submitted a render, though. Renders are shiny.
BALANCE: 8/10 Usually you'll end up with at least 1 creature card in your hand and 1 in your graveyard. In a deck with Dredge, this could be pretty powerful, since any of the cards that end up in your graveyard can make their way to your hand eventually. However, even in the best possible situation, you still don't get to choose which cards go where, so it's difficult to abuse (except, of course, with Krark's Thumb). Even if you just want as many cards in your hand as possible, you have an 82.5% chance for at least one card in your hand, a 50% chance for at least two cards, and a 12.5% chance for all three. I think it is a very useful card in draft or Standard, but maybe a little overpowered in Extended. Three is a good number of cards to search for, though, because it means you have quite a good chance of getting at least one card you want, with the possibility of more.
FLAVOR: 3.5/5 Pretty obvious. Getting creatures is green, getting creatures into your graveyard is black. I don't like the name, though. It's too close to Cradle to Grave, and although it's clear and direct, it's a little TOO direct. The art is kind of weird, but neat. (Art rarely affects my judging of flavor unless it is either awful or spectacular.) The randomness, while interesting mechanically, also doesn't really make sense flavor-wise. You suggest that the choice is decided by fate, but why? Overally, pretty clear but not especially interesting.
CREATIVITY: 3/4 It's a combination of existing effects. You basically took Odds from Odds // Ends, replacing the effects with three Eladamri's Call and three Corpse Connoisseur's-comes-into-play-ability. However, doing it three times and having each determined by a flip is an ingenious way to make the coin flipping less random.
QUALITY: 3.5/4 Not 100% sure on the proper wording, but…
"Search your library for up to three creature cards and reveal them. For each card revealed this way, flip a coin. If it comes up heads, put that card into your hand. If it comes up tails, put that card into your graveyard."
Basically, just a few things. When you search for a card that might end up in your hand and there are restrictions on what type you can search for, you have to reveal it. As for winning/losing the flip versus heads/tails, I think that heads/tails would be a better choice here because "winning" and "losing" implies that you always prefer to win, whereas this card is more like Odds from Odds // Ends: two modes that might be equally useful (at least, this is the assumption I make since it's black/green). Functionally, though, there's very little difference between the two choices, except for oddities such as your version triggering Karplusan Minotaur and mine not. I've said a lot, but there's really nothing wrong with the card besides a few typos and minor adjustments.
TOTAL: 20/25
Edit: An anonymous tipster has pointed out that you left out a "then shuffle your library" clause at the end. Since I overlooked it too and have already posted the judgings, I won't change your score, but it's not like that mistake would have cost you the round, so it's no big deal. I just wanted to make a note.
------------------------
Green Opal: 19/25 VampyrLestat: 20/25 Congratulations VampyrLestat!
Didn't have time to set up my usual spoilered rubric.
Versus
dd2k 23/25
Bonus 1/2
balence 10/10: I really think that this card is very well ballenced. Would it see play, mabye. it is nice and undercosed if your lucky, 1U to gain +1 card advntage is actualy quite nice, but if you lose the flip the cost keeps going up. I really like the ballence here. very nice.
Flavor 5/5: Flavor looks quite nice, I like the art, and the Flavor text, Very nicely done. everything looks in order
Creativity 3/4: I don't know anything like this card, but it dosn't feel too fresh, simply eacuse there is so much blue card draw out there.
Quality 4/4:I don't see any issues
FuriouslySleepingIdea 15/25
Bonus 1/2
Balence 5/10: First of all this card would be quite too powerful in limited at a comon level, i personally would drft these quite high. also, IMO this card is strictly worse than invoke the firemind, sure it costs 1 less U however, the fact that you can't really use it as dedicated removal is an issue. also, this card should at least be un common due to limited implications. this card is quite off.
Flavor 5/5: the flavor works quite nice, i do like the art.
Creativity 1/4: Invoke the Firemind anyone? this card is so similar in flavor and ability.
Quality 3/4: no Copyright on Render, MSE square set symbol
Ib's Gambit 3R
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Kicker RR
Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, put three 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens into play. If it comes up tails, creatures you control get +2/+0 and gain haste until end of turn. If you paid the kicker cost, instead do both. “Roll the new recruits down the hill. If they don’t hit the enemy on the way down, they can fight at the bottom!”
— Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
Probably won't have time to find art for a render.
Bonus (2/2): All good. Balance (8/10): Well, your first mistake was making a card that involves flipping coins... oh, wait, that was the round requirement. >.< Sorry, lame attempt at a joke. Anyway, We have an Arena that has a chance to activate up to 4 times. That means there needs to be four creatures on each side of the battle (or, in multi, 4 on your side, and four not on your side) for this to be most effective. And for 6 mana, that is pretty good. Now, you could target thr same creature more than once, but if it dies from one, any others involving that creature will fizzle, since they're missing a target. This is a good card in alot of big beat decks (like a RG Colossus deck), or combined with Treefolk, who are most likely going to survive the ordeal. The best "combo" I can think of is with Stuffy Doll, but unforetunately that just rotated out of Standard. It's inconsistency is it's only real drawback. F/C/Q (11/13):
-Flavor (5/5): Excellent.
-Creativity (2/4): The effect is not unfamiliar.
-Quality (4/4): Just so you know, the copies wouldn't cause any more coin flips. I don't know if this was your intention, I don't think it was, just wanted to make sure you knew. Since the copies aren't actually played, they don't trigger it. Total: 21/25
Bonus (2/2): All good. Balance (7.5/10): Well, at the very least, we have a URG "Destroy target legendary creature"! The intent is likely that it's played on your own creature though. There are numerous creatures in URG that I'm sure it would be great to have more of (I'm not going to bother listen them). And since the main effect is unrelated to the coin flip, you'll rarely have to worry about being shortchanged, but it's still nice to get that winning flip. At the moment, the Standard landpool doesn't quite offer proper support for these colors together, but I think it's safe to assume we'll be seeing such lands in the next set or two, so I'm not going to hold that too much against you. F/C/Q (8.5/13):
-Flavor (2/5): The flavor text feels very forced and uneloquent. The name is also pretty bland.
-Creativity (2.5/4): Nothing we haven't seen before.
-Quality (4/4): No issues. Total: 18/25
Milaya, the Fiery Light :1mana::symr::symw::symw:
Legendary Creature - Angel {MR}
Flying
When Milaya, the Fiery Light comes into play, for each nonwhite creature, flip a coin. If you win the flip, destroy that creature. “I am the Fiery Light, illuminating the just in my arrival and burning the unfaithful that dares to stay.”
3/4
Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, gain control of target creature unless its controller pays 3. If it comes up tails, return target creature to its owner's hand and draw two cards.
"It was well known that Shu possessed the skill to do what others thought to be impossible." -- Raye, University Archivist
Diverging Runeflames2RR
Instant U
As you play Diverging Runeflames, flip three coins. For each flip you lose, prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt by Diverging Runeflames this turn.
Diverging Runeflames deals 6 damage to target creature or player. A kaleidoscope of fire.
"This is not the holder your looking for."
-Obi Wan Kenobi
Wurm Tactics :4mana::symg:
Instant (U)
Flip two coins. If you win at least one coin flip, put a 6/6 green Wurm creature token into play. Sacrifice that creature at end of turn if you didn't win both coin flips.
"Wurms are very fickle creatures, when you ask for help, sometimes they ignore you, sometimes they give you they're undying devotion."
- Seton, Krosan Protector
Lightning Hammer 3R
Instant - {C}
~ deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Flip a coin. If you win, return ~ to it’s owner’s hand. Still think lightning never strikes twice?
Desperate Measures 1RWW
Sorcery {R}
Flip a coin until you lose a flip or choose to stop flipping. If you lose a flip, you lose 2 life for each coin flipped this turn. If you win one or more flips, destroy all enchantments you don’t control. If you win two or more flips, destroy all artifacts you don’t control. If you win three or more flips, destroy all creatures you don’t control. “I’ve lost everything, there's no where left to run, with but one more step, everything ends.” - Hyral Lightsworn
* I try not to be too hard on art in general. Don't be too lazy on the quality, but I'd rather see the concept come through than the perfection in quality.
* I reserve a point in both Flavor and Creativity for a "wow" factor.
* I don't take off for not including a render, but I will take off for no art. If someone includes a render, I point out cosmetic flaws (such as the color of the inner border on multi-color cards) but don't take off for them. I do require all relevant fields be filled in, including artist and copyright.
Bonus - 2/2: Involves flipping, CMC 2, costs 4. Balance - 4/10: For four mana, you play a very, very dangerous game with an outrageously powerful reward. For six mana (with a second color), you improve the odds substantially, but losing is still very, very bad. So bad that I can't see people choosing to play with this. It follows the "all good or all bad" model of coin flipping that keeps players from wanting to play coin flip cards. Compare this to Infernal Contract. For one more mana, I might get one more card, or I might do nothing other than half of my opponent's work for him/her. If I'm already ahead in the game, I will never want to play this; it risks letting my opponent back into the game. If the game is close, I probably don't want to play this, because if I lose the flip, I'll probably lose the game. If I'm already behind, it's the Hail Mary pass of American football, an act of desperation. But even if I win the flip, I've just tapped out six mana. How will I have the mana to play any of my new cards (Slaughter Pact excepted)? From another perspective, aggro is happy to beat on you another turn, combo is happy to have another turn to get the combo going, and control will just counter whatever you draw if you win the flip. There's another balance question that should also be looked at. That question is, are the "win" and "lose" conditions balanced? Specifically, is the reward of five cards worth the risk of half your life? Infernal Contract says half your life is the "price" for four cards in black. I don't think the card is used that much, but I don't think that card is balanced well. Most black cards put card draw-for-life at a one-for-one basis, and Infernal Contract charges you a lot more for your cards. In the case of your card, it's a gamble, not a price. You might get those cards for "free", and you get one more. From this perspective, I think it's weighted a bit better. I just think the results are so extreme, so far to one side or the other, that the card isn't playable. Flavor - 3/5: The double meaning of the card name reflects the ability very well. The art is fitting - is the figure in the center clutching his head in order to send out harm, or is he suffering it? Without flavor text, I feel like the card has a hole. The name and art don't put the card over the top in flavor by themselves. There isn't anything wrong with the current flavor, it just doesn't feel complete. (If you were concerned about space, you could have cut the reminder text on kicker, especially since this card was rare). Creativity - 3/4: I really like using kicker to get you Krark's Thumb. If coin flipping didn't disturb some players so much, I could see coin flipping as a minor theme in a set, with this mechanic getting its own keyword and appearing on multiple cards. The card is Infernal Contract, but with an "either/or" instead of an "and", giving it a "bad choices" twist typical of black. I like that kind of twist. It's not "wow" new, but it's certainly innovative. Quality - 2/4: It's very clear what you want to do with the kicker, but it won't work as phrased. For comparison, take a look at Primal Growth. When you tell the game "instead", you're replacing everything the effect that came before it. Notice how Primal Growth repeats a lot of its rules text after "If the kicker..." What your wording does is it replaces all of the previous rules text, including the "draw" or "lose life" conditions, with flipping two coins. In other words, if you pay the kicker cost, all your card lets you do is flip two coins. I believe you'd need to word the card as following: "Flip a coin. If the kicker cost was paid, instead flip two coins and ignore one. If you win the flip..." Also, note bolded wording. That's the correct phrasing for kicker costs (not, "If you paid the kicker..."). I'm not taking off for this, but you should probably include the rarity in the text version of the card, just in case something happens to the render.
Auto-advances due to opponent posting after deadline.
Bonus - 2/2 Sorcery w/CMC 5
Balance - 8/10 No matter your luck, it's a 5-mana Concentrate. Definately playable and strong. With a few good flips, it's also Fugue. Borderline amazing and broken. The coin flipping keeps it in balance, as at best it's going to be "Draw three cards, target opponent discards one or two cards." Powerful and annoying, but not broken.
Flavor - 4.5/5 Blue and Black don't like leaving things to chance, but they'll take an oppotunity if they see one. This definately hits that on the head mechanically. Flavor text doesn't quite click with me, but maybe I'm just not reading it right. I do like the tie-in to Alara, especially since that art looks like it would be from Grixis. Good job.
Creativity - 4/4 A non-red coin flip card? And it makes sense? Bravo!
Quality - 3/4 Unless you intend to be able to target multiple opponents, the wording should probably be "Choose target player and flip three coins. For each flip you win, that player discards a card and you draw a card. For each flip you lose, you draw a card." That way there's no confusion over who will be discarding.
Total - 21.5/25
Auto-loses due to posting after deadline.
Bonus - 2/2 Instant w/CMC 4
Balance - 7/10 Fun with the Hammer of God, but seems a bit weak. Will deal an average of 4 or 5 damage, depending on your luck. Could probably be upped to 7 damage without too much incident, even as an uncommon. Lightning Blast was common and always did 4 for 3R, and Rhystic Lightning, the closest analogue to your card, did 2 or 4 for 2R. Of course, now that I say that, I also realize that Everlasting Torment completely nullifies the drawback of this card, so maybe not.
Flavor - 4/5 With the name "Diverging," it gives me the impression that it would be able to spread out its damage. Of course, the prevention part would wreak havoc with that wording. Excelent FT, though, goes very well with the picture.
Creativity - 4/4 A nicely unique way of combining prevention and damage on the same card, also a good use of coin flipping to represent Red's chaotic nature.
Quality - 4/4 No issues.
Total - 21/25
Randoom 4R
Sorcery (R)
Flip 10 coins. Randoom deals 1 damage to target creature or player for each flip you win. Randoom deals 1 damage to you for each flip you lose. Bees poured out of the clouds. Floggo's nose turned into a sword. Acid rain spewed in circles from the ground, and there was chaos.
Haggard PackXG
Instant (U)
Put X 2/2 green Wolf creature tokens into play with “At the beginning of your upkeep flip a coin. If you lose, sacrifice this creature."
Life during the winter can be cold, harsh and taxing, and only mother nature can decide who lives and who dies.
1. Design a new Ravnica mechanic for one of the old guilds and make a card around it.
2.Design a mono-colored card using two Ravnica mechanics that both come from the color you're using.
3. Blow up a land.
Winner is Judge Wins: 12345
Tap all creatures your opponents control. For each creature tapped this way, flip a coin. If you win the flip, Rain of Fire deals 3 damage to that creature.
When you see the sky spitting rocks and flames, run for shelter and forget about everything else, for death is the only thing that awaits.
I was seriously considering just conceding this round because a) I don't feel coin flipping should be in magic outside of Un and b) it's incredibly unfair when it comes to judging because power-level issues are basically moot with such things as Stitch in Time having been printed, so the round basically goes to the more flavorful card, but I'm ultimately sticking around in hopes to just proceed to a better round.
Card stuffs
Schism Surfer 2UR
Creature - Wurm
As Schism Surfer comes into play, flip a coin for each land in play. For each flip you won, you may tap or untap that land.
When Schism Surfer leaves play, tapped lands become copies of it until end of turn. Wurms not long for this world are known to thread themselves into the earth in an act known as surfing. The result is its death aswell as that of its surroundings.
6/0
Rare
Irilon's Meditation :xmana::symu:
Sorcery
Flip X coins. Irilon's meditation deals damage equal to the number of heads to target creature or player. Draw cards equal to the number of tails. "I find it increasingly hard to control the precise effects of my magic, and decreasingly worthwhile." Irilon, Wild Mage
me vs. jozan_destroyer
Good luck, jozan_destroyer!
Judge: andreoti16
Crop Plague :3mana::symb::symb:
Sorcery (R)
Destroy all tapped lands.
:symr:, Reveal Crop Plague from your hand: Flip a coin. If you win the flip, add :symb::symr: to your mana pool. This mana may only be used to play spells named Crop Plague and activated abilities of cards named Crop Plague. The mage-king Kyxh set the blight upon the world, letting fate decide if his subjects would starve.
- Unless requested, do not add notes explaining your card. Let the judge figure it out for himself/herself.
- Even if you submit a render, you are still required to submit your card in text form.
- Here’s the point breakdown:
Balance: 10/10 - Judge how the card is balanced; its power level, and whether or not it could make or break a format, i.e. just like it was before.
Flavour: 5/5 - Just like it was before but now also incorporates the flavor contribution of render art choice.
Creativity: 4/4 - Just like it was before.
Quality: 4/4 - Now includes proper use of mana symbols and miscellaneous render issues (such as microtext, art that is clearly not the quality level seen on Magic cards, etc.). Failing to meet the round criteria, or poorly meeting it in the case of a subjective criteria, can earn deductions here.
Okay, everyone. Get your dimes, quarters or whatever you have. For this round, make a card that involves flipping one or more coins.
Bonuses:
1 point - Instant or sorcery
1 point - Converted mana cost 4 or more
Players:
This round will run until Midnight EDT, Wednesday, October the 22nd (when Wednesday becomes Thursday.)
Judges:
Belgareth (Match 1)
Howler13 (Match 2)
andreoti16 (Match 3)
Johm000 (Match 4)
Milldawg (Match 5)
Koop (Match 6)
Niv (Match 7)
DarkNightCavalier (Match 8)
Lorgalis (Match 9)
Technomagus (Match 10)
Vishara (Match 11)
Moss_Elemental (Matches 12-13)
Judges, please don't begin judging until the round is over. You may start postings at 12:01am EDT, even if we (Moss_Elemental, Kraj, and Shepherd) are not online then to close the round.
Good luck, everyone.
Sorcery [r]
You choose how all flipped coins come up this turn.
Cytoclone 1URG
Instant [R]
Put a token into play that's a copy of target creature. Flip a coin. If you win the flip, put a +1/+1 counter on the token and it gains haste until end of turn.
Momir found Yolov's original project to be uninteresting since it only replicated life without improving it. But he found a new sponsor in the form of the Firemind, who just found a new way to look at his own image and tought him how to make it bigger.
Match 6
Judge: Koop
Opponent: DARKING
Fiery Tantrum :2mana::symr::symr:
Enchantment (R)
Whenever you would win a clash or coinflip, you may replace that win with a loss. If you do, Fiery Tantrum deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Losing hurts—especially if you’re the winner.
Judge: Vishara (Match 11)
man, I never thought our rematch would be that early!! I'll have my revenge Good luck dude
Dangerous Thoughts 2BB
Sorcery
Kicker 1R (You may pay an additional 1R as you play this spell.)
Flip a coin. If you win the flip, draw five cards. If you lose the flip, lose half your life, rounded up.
If you paid the kicker cost, instead flip two coins and ignore one.
Thought of the Month:
I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
Sasky for the Sig.
I am in your [PACK]. Watching you... do... something.
BONUS: 2/2 Yep.
BALANCE: 6.5/10 A tad overpowered. I was surprised that I couldn't find an existing blue sorcery with the text "Gain control of target creature." I thought for sure one would exist. So I don't know exactly what to compare it to. Control Magic is close, but it's an enchantment, so it could be dispelled much more easily. Mouth to Mouth is actually pretty close. I don't know how legitimate it is to use an Unhinged card to consider balance for a black-bordered card, but I think it is worth noting. That card basically does the same thing as yours for a slightly less restrictive mana cost, without the destroying option. However, I think merely changing 3U to 2UB is not enough to warrant your addition of destroying the creature if you lose the flip. There's also Govern the Guildless to consider. It lets you get a fair selection of creatures for 6 mana, and any creature for 8 mana. So if your card at only 4 mana gives you a 50% chance to steal ANY creature, OR destroy it if you fail, I think your card is undercosted. There's still the consideration of randomness and your lack of control, but usually, if a creature is worth stealing, it's probably also worth killing. I would recommend 3UB for your card.
FLAVOR: 4/5 "Mindmark…" You're trying to control a creature's mind. If you're lucky, you'll succeed. If not, the mental damage you caused will kill the creature instead. Some interpretation was required without the render, but you did a good job of conveying the flavor regardless. The flavor text is a little weird, though. It talks about a pit fighter, which doesn't sound very blue-black, and "in love" doesn't really match "under the control of." I did like this card's flavor overall, though.
CREATIVITY: 2.5/4 Like Odds from Odds // Ends (I don't know how to link to a split card using autocard), you're using a coin flip to determine which of two useful effects will occur. On your card, one of the effects is generally more useful than the other, but they're fairly simple effects. (I thought it was amusing that both you and VampyrLestat had 4cc sorceries that used coin flips to decide between two more-or-less useful but rather generic effects.) A solid card, but not brilliantly inventive.
QUALITY: 4/4 Fine. I wish you had submitted a render, though. Renders are shiny.
TOTAL: 19/25
BONUS: 2/2 Yep.
BALANCE: 8/10 Usually you'll end up with at least 1 creature card in your hand and 1 in your graveyard. In a deck with Dredge, this could be pretty powerful, since any of the cards that end up in your graveyard can make their way to your hand eventually. However, even in the best possible situation, you still don't get to choose which cards go where, so it's difficult to abuse (except, of course, with Krark's Thumb). Even if you just want as many cards in your hand as possible, you have an 82.5% chance for at least one card in your hand, a 50% chance for at least two cards, and a 12.5% chance for all three. I think it is a very useful card in draft or Standard, but maybe a little overpowered in Extended. Three is a good number of cards to search for, though, because it means you have quite a good chance of getting at least one card you want, with the possibility of more.
FLAVOR: 3.5/5 Pretty obvious. Getting creatures is green, getting creatures into your graveyard is black. I don't like the name, though. It's too close to Cradle to Grave, and although it's clear and direct, it's a little TOO direct. The art is kind of weird, but neat. (Art rarely affects my judging of flavor unless it is either awful or spectacular.) The randomness, while interesting mechanically, also doesn't really make sense flavor-wise. You suggest that the choice is decided by fate, but why? Overally, pretty clear but not especially interesting.
CREATIVITY: 3/4 It's a combination of existing effects. You basically took Odds from Odds // Ends, replacing the effects with three Eladamri's Call and three Corpse Connoisseur's-comes-into-play-ability. However, doing it three times and having each determined by a flip is an ingenious way to make the coin flipping less random.
QUALITY: 3.5/4 Not 100% sure on the proper wording, but…
"Search your library for up to three creature cards and reveal them. For each card revealed this way, flip a coin. If it comes up heads, put that card into your hand. If it comes up tails, put that card into your graveyard."
Basically, just a few things. When you search for a card that might end up in your hand and there are restrictions on what type you can search for, you have to reveal it. As for winning/losing the flip versus heads/tails, I think that heads/tails would be a better choice here because "winning" and "losing" implies that you always prefer to win, whereas this card is more like Odds from Odds // Ends: two modes that might be equally useful (at least, this is the assumption I make since it's black/green). Functionally, though, there's very little difference between the two choices, except for oddities such as your version triggering Karplusan Minotaur and mine not. I've said a lot, but there's really nothing wrong with the card besides a few typos and minor adjustments.
TOTAL: 20/25
Edit: An anonymous tipster has pointed out that you left out a "then shuffle your library" clause at the end. Since I overlooked it too and have already posted the judgings, I won't change your score, but it's not like that mistake would have cost you the round, so it's no big deal. I just wanted to make a note.
VampyrLestat: 20/25
Congratulations VampyrLestat!
Hanna, Ship's Navigator - WU Enchantments Control
Wort, the Raidmother - RG Copy ALL the Spells!
Rakdos, Lord of Riots - BR Group Murder-Hug
Reaper King - WUBRG Token Copies
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker - B Sacrifice Engine
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden - BR Randomized Toolbox
Karametra, God of Harvests - GW Ramp
Versus
Bonus 1/2
balence 10/10: I really think that this card is very well ballenced. Would it see play, mabye. it is nice and undercosed if your lucky, 1U to gain +1 card advntage is actualy quite nice, but if you lose the flip the cost keeps going up. I really like the ballence here. very nice.
Flavor 5/5: Flavor looks quite nice, I like the art, and the Flavor text, Very nicely done. everything looks in order
Creativity 3/4: I don't know anything like this card, but it dosn't feel too fresh, simply eacuse there is so much blue card draw out there.
Quality 4/4:I don't see any issues
FuriouslySleepingIdea 15/25
Bonus 1/2
Balence 5/10: First of all this card would be quite too powerful in limited at a comon level, i personally would drft these quite high. also, IMO this card is strictly worse than invoke the firemind, sure it costs 1 less U however, the fact that you can't really use it as dedicated removal is an issue. also, this card should at least be un common due to limited implications. this card is quite off.
Flavor 5/5: the flavor works quite nice, i do like the art.
Creativity 1/4: Invoke the Firemind anyone? this card is so similar in flavor and ability.
Quality 3/4: no Copyright on Render, MSE square set symbol
Millionaires, I hear it's good Music (Disclaimer: lyrics not PG-13) Thanks, CC
Ib's Gambit 3R
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Kicker RR
Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, put three 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens into play. If it comes up tails, creatures you control get +2/+0 and gain haste until end of turn. If you paid the kicker cost, instead do both.
“Roll the new recruits down the hill. If they don’t hit the enemy on the way down, they can fight at the bottom!”
— Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
Probably won't have time to find art for a render.
-Douglas Adams
enLight
Balance (8/10): Well, your first mistake was making a card that involves flipping coins... oh, wait, that was the round requirement. >.< Sorry, lame attempt at a joke. Anyway, We have an Arena that has a chance to activate up to 4 times. That means there needs to be four creatures on each side of the battle (or, in multi, 4 on your side, and four not on your side) for this to be most effective. And for 6 mana, that is pretty good. Now, you could target thr same creature more than once, but if it dies from one, any others involving that creature will fizzle, since they're missing a target. This is a good card in alot of big beat decks (like a RG Colossus deck), or combined with Treefolk, who are most likely going to survive the ordeal. The best "combo" I can think of is with Stuffy Doll, but unforetunately that just rotated out of Standard. It's inconsistency is it's only real drawback.
F/C/Q (11/13):
-Flavor (5/5): Excellent.
-Creativity (2/4): The effect is not unfamiliar.
-Quality (4/4): Just so you know, the copies wouldn't cause any more coin flips. I don't know if this was your intention, I don't think it was, just wanted to make sure you knew. Since the copies aren't actually played, they don't trigger it.
Total: 21/25
Balance (7.5/10): Well, at the very least, we have a URG "Destroy target legendary creature"! The intent is likely that it's played on your own creature though. There are numerous creatures in URG that I'm sure it would be great to have more of (I'm not going to bother listen them). And since the main effect is unrelated to the coin flip, you'll rarely have to worry about being shortchanged, but it's still nice to get that winning flip. At the moment, the Standard landpool doesn't quite offer proper support for these colors together, but I think it's safe to assume we'll be seeing such lands in the next set or two, so I'm not going to hold that too much against you.
F/C/Q (8.5/13):
-Flavor (2/5): The flavor text feels very forced and uneloquent. The name is also pretty bland.
-Creativity (2.5/4): Nothing we haven't seen before.
-Quality (4/4): No issues.
Total: 18/25
enLight moves on.
Opponent: Svennihilator
Judge: andreoti16
Submission:
Milaya, the Fiery Light :1mana::symr::symw::symw:
Legendary Creature - Angel {MR}
Flying
When Milaya, the Fiery Light comes into play, for each nonwhite creature, flip a coin. If you win the flip, destroy that creature.
“I am the Fiery Light, illuminating the just in my arrival and burning the unfaithful that dares to stay.”
3/4
Artist: Klementeva Alena
http://www.fish-ka.deviantart.com/
Match-Up: MotionPicture13 versus azathoth
I decided to stick to with my submission:
Shu's Maneuver 3UU
Instant {R}
Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, gain control of target creature unless its controller pays 3. If it comes up tails, return target creature to its owner's hand and draw two cards.
"It was well known that Shu possessed the skill to do what others thought to be impossible." -- Raye, University Archivist
"Sarcasm is the body's natural defense against Stupidity"
Judge: Technomagus
Diverging Runeflames 2RR
Instant U
As you play Diverging Runeflames, flip three coins. For each flip you lose, prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt by Diverging Runeflames this turn.
Diverging Runeflames deals 6 damage to target creature or player.
A kaleidoscope of fire.
Illus: Michael Dixon
JD vs. muchsarcasm
Good luck sir/ma'am/badger!!
Judge: DarkNightCavalier
"This is not the holder your looking for."
-Obi Wan Kenobi
Wurm Tactics :4mana::symg:
Instant (U)
Flip two coins. If you win at least one coin flip, put a 6/6 green Wurm creature token into play. Sacrifice that creature at end of turn if you didn't win both coin flips.
"Wurms are very fickle creatures, when you ask for help, sometimes they ignore you, sometimes they give you they're undying devotion."
- Seton, Krosan Protector
Thanks to spiderboy4 for the great avatar and sig from High Light Studios!
Instant - {C}
~ deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Flip a coin. If you win, return ~ to it’s owner’s hand.
Still think lightning never strikes twice?
Judge: Belgareth
Alright final submission:
Desperate Measures 1RWW
Sorcery {R}
Flip a coin until you lose a flip or choose to stop flipping. If you lose a flip, you lose 2 life for each coin flipped this turn. If you win one or more flips, destroy all enchantments you don’t control. If you win two or more flips, destroy all artifacts you don’t control. If you win three or more flips, destroy all creatures you don’t control.
“I’ve lost everything, there's no where left to run, with but one more step, everything ends.” - Hyral Lightsworn
Here's the render:
* I try not to be too hard on art in general. Don't be too lazy on the quality, but I'd rather see the concept come through than the perfection in quality.
* I reserve a point in both Flavor and Creativity for a "wow" factor.
* I don't take off for not including a render, but I will take off for no art. If someone includes a render, I point out cosmetic flaws (such as the color of the inner border on multi-color cards) but don't take off for them. I do require all relevant fields be filled in, including artist and copyright.
Solesticio
Bonus - 2/2: Involves flipping, CMC 2, costs 4.
Balance - 4/10: For four mana, you play a very, very dangerous game with an outrageously powerful reward. For six mana (with a second color), you improve the odds substantially, but losing is still very, very bad. So bad that I can't see people choosing to play with this. It follows the "all good or all bad" model of coin flipping that keeps players from wanting to play coin flip cards. Compare this to Infernal Contract. For one more mana, I might get one more card, or I might do nothing other than half of my opponent's work for him/her. If I'm already ahead in the game, I will never want to play this; it risks letting my opponent back into the game. If the game is close, I probably don't want to play this, because if I lose the flip, I'll probably lose the game. If I'm already behind, it's the Hail Mary pass of American football, an act of desperation. But even if I win the flip, I've just tapped out six mana. How will I have the mana to play any of my new cards (Slaughter Pact excepted)? From another perspective, aggro is happy to beat on you another turn, combo is happy to have another turn to get the combo going, and control will just counter whatever you draw if you win the flip. There's another balance question that should also be looked at. That question is, are the "win" and "lose" conditions balanced? Specifically, is the reward of five cards worth the risk of half your life? Infernal Contract says half your life is the "price" for four cards in black. I don't think the card is used that much, but I don't think that card is balanced well. Most black cards put card draw-for-life at a one-for-one basis, and Infernal Contract charges you a lot more for your cards. In the case of your card, it's a gamble, not a price. You might get those cards for "free", and you get one more. From this perspective, I think it's weighted a bit better. I just think the results are so extreme, so far to one side or the other, that the card isn't playable.
Flavor - 3/5: The double meaning of the card name reflects the ability very well. The art is fitting - is the figure in the center clutching his head in order to send out harm, or is he suffering it? Without flavor text, I feel like the card has a hole. The name and art don't put the card over the top in flavor by themselves. There isn't anything wrong with the current flavor, it just doesn't feel complete. (If you were concerned about space, you could have cut the reminder text on kicker, especially since this card was rare).
Creativity - 3/4: I really like using kicker to get you Krark's Thumb. If coin flipping didn't disturb some players so much, I could see coin flipping as a minor theme in a set, with this mechanic getting its own keyword and appearing on multiple cards. The card is Infernal Contract, but with an "either/or" instead of an "and", giving it a "bad choices" twist typical of black. I like that kind of twist. It's not "wow" new, but it's certainly innovative.
Quality - 2/4: It's very clear what you want to do with the kicker, but it won't work as phrased. For comparison, take a look at Primal Growth. When you tell the game "instead", you're replacing everything the effect that came before it. Notice how Primal Growth repeats a lot of its rules text after "If the kicker..." What your wording does is it replaces all of the previous rules text, including the "draw" or "lose life" conditions, with flipping two coins. In other words, if you pay the kicker cost, all your card lets you do is flip two coins. I believe you'd need to word the card as following: "Flip a coin. If the kicker cost was paid, instead flip two coins and ignore one. If you win the flip..." Also, note bolded wording. That's the correct phrasing for kicker costs (not, "If you paid the kicker..."). I'm not taking off for this, but you should probably include the rarity in the text version of the card, just in case something happens to the render.
Total - 14/25
Bonus - 0/2:
Balance - 0/10:
Flavor - 0/5:
Creativity - 0/4:
Quality - 0/4:
Total - 0/25
Solesticio
Bonus - 2/2 Sorcery w/CMC 5
Balance - 8/10 No matter your luck, it's a 5-mana Concentrate. Definately playable and strong. With a few good flips, it's also Fugue. Borderline amazing and broken. The coin flipping keeps it in balance, as at best it's going to be "Draw three cards, target opponent discards one or two cards." Powerful and annoying, but not broken.
Flavor - 4.5/5 Blue and Black don't like leaving things to chance, but they'll take an oppotunity if they see one. This definately hits that on the head mechanically. Flavor text doesn't quite click with me, but maybe I'm just not reading it right. I do like the tie-in to Alara, especially since that art looks like it would be from Grixis. Good job.
Creativity - 4/4 A non-red coin flip card? And it makes sense? Bravo!
Quality - 3/4 Unless you intend to be able to target multiple opponents, the wording should probably be "Choose target player and flip three coins. For each flip you win, that player discards a card and you draw a card. For each flip you lose, you draw a card." That way there's no confusion over who will be discarding.
Total - 21.5/25
Bonus - 2/2 Instant w/CMC 4
Balance - 7/10 Fun with the Hammer of God, but seems a bit weak. Will deal an average of 4 or 5 damage, depending on your luck. Could probably be upped to 7 damage without too much incident, even as an uncommon. Lightning Blast was common and always did 4 for 3R, and Rhystic Lightning, the closest analogue to your card, did 2 or 4 for 2R. Of course, now that I say that, I also realize that Everlasting Torment completely nullifies the drawback of this card, so maybe not.
Flavor - 4/5 With the name "Diverging," it gives me the impression that it would be able to spread out its damage. Of course, the prevention part would wreak havoc with that wording. Excelent FT, though, goes very well with the picture.
Creativity - 4/4 A nicely unique way of combining prevention and damage on the same card, also a good use of coin flipping to represent Red's chaotic nature.
Quality - 4/4 No issues.
Total - 21/25
My Custom Cards
My Twitch - Languishing in neglect under the vain hope of starting again
My Livestream Archive
Sorcery (R)
Flip 10 coins. Randoom deals 1 damage to target creature or player for each flip you win. Randoom deals 1 damage to you for each flip you lose.
Bees poured out of the clouds. Floggo's nose turned into a sword. Acid rain spewed in circles from the ground, and there was chaos.
Instant (U)
Put X 2/2 green Wolf creature tokens into play with “At the beginning of your upkeep flip a coin. If you lose, sacrifice this creature."
Life during the winter can be cold, harsh and taxing, and only mother nature can decide who lives and who dies.
Illus. BlueStormDragon (From DevArt)
^ Done by ME! (My first banner)
1. Design a new Ravnica mechanic for one of the old guilds and make a card around it.
2.Design a mono-colored card using two Ravnica mechanics that both come from the color you're using.
3. Blow up a land.
Winner is Judge Wins:
1 2 3 4 5
Judge - Koop
Rain of Fire 1UUR
Instant (rare)
Tap all creatures your opponents control. For each creature tapped this way, flip a coin. If you win the flip, Rain of Fire deals 3 damage to that creature.
When you see the sky spitting rocks and flames, run for shelter and forget about everything else, for death is the only thing that awaits.
Illus. Cindy A. Brewty
Rant
I was seriously considering just conceding this round because a) I don't feel coin flipping should be in magic outside of Un and b) it's incredibly unfair when it comes to judging because power-level issues are basically moot with such things as Stitch in Time having been printed, so the round basically goes to the more flavorful card, but I'm ultimately sticking around in hopes to just proceed to a better round.
Card stuffs
Schism Surfer 2UR
Creature - Wurm
As Schism Surfer comes into play, flip a coin for each land in play. For each flip you won, you may tap or untap that land.
When Schism Surfer leaves play, tapped lands become copies of it until end of turn.
Wurms not long for this world are known to thread themselves into the earth in an act known as surfing. The result is its death aswell as that of its surroundings.
6/0
Rare
Render
Artist info
http://zakariah.deviantart.com/art/Terrahide-Wurm-39872872
Sorcery
Flip X coins. Irilon's meditation deals damage equal to the number of heads to target creature or player. Draw cards equal to the number of tails.
"I find it increasingly hard to control the precise effects of my magic, and decreasingly worthwhile." Irilon, Wild Mage
Good luck, jozan_destroyer!
Judge: andreoti16
Crop Plague :3mana::symb::symb:
Sorcery (R)
Destroy all tapped lands.
:symr:, Reveal Crop Plague from your hand: Flip a coin. If you win the flip, add :symb::symr: to your mana pool. This mana may only be used to play spells named Crop Plague and activated abilities of cards named Crop Plague.
The mage-king Kyxh set the blight upon the world, letting fate decide if his subjects would starve.
Art by Robin Olausson