The lovely month of May, brought to you by Milldawg and JqlGirl, with the help of Cantripmancer! We've got some interesting rounds for you this month. If you're new to the contest, check out threads from previous months, or ask a question in the discussion thread. Judges will be using PlanesJaywalker's rubric just like last month. Now, let's get down to business!
Round 1. Make a card with affinity for something other than artifacts or a land type. (Feel free to make a card that counts something other than permanents you control, as long as it makes sense.)
Bonus 1: The card is multicolored.
Bonus 2: The card has a converted mana cost of 6 or less.
Main requirement: "Affinity for ___" means "This spell costs 1 less to play for each ___." In Mirrodin, this was restricted to "artifact you control" and "[basic land type] you control," but for this contest, you'll need to come up with something else. It shouldn't be too hard to think of something Bonus 1: Pretty straightforward. "Multicolored" means "the card is two or more colors." This includes gold cards, hybrid cards, and cards with rules text that says "CARDNAME is [color] and [color]." Bonus 2: Also pretty straightforward. 6 or less. Not 8. Not 14. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0. I think I have made my point
Design (/10): What goes into the initialization of the card. Suggested areas to judge:
Elegance - Does it say a lot in a few words? Does the design just 'click' with the flavor?
Creativity - Does it present an old mechanic with a wonderful new twist? Does it make you slam the table and shout "Damn! Why didn't I think of that?" Does it conform with the current color pie (not necessarily an uncreative thing)?
Potential - Would this card be well-received by Spikes? Would you want to see this card in the [insert rarity] slot of a booster pack? Does the name and flavor text bring the whole setting in front of you?
Development (/10): The connecting process between the concept and the final product. Suggested areas to judge:
Viability - Does it work at all? Would it bend any current rules? Would it make baby Gottlieb cry?
Balance - Would it break any format? Or a limited format of an imaginary block with that theme? Basically the Balance score from before, except decreased in importance.
Creative Writing - I'm lumping Creative development here as well. Flavor text and name go under here.
Polish (/5): Bonus points, render points, deductions for spelling/grammar mistakes.
Player Deadline: May 5th at midnight EST (when Tuesday becomes Wednesday).
Judge Deadline: May 9th at midnight EST (when Saturday becomes Sunday).
The top 4 in each bracket of 10 will advance. Judging brackets will be posted when the round closes.
Psychic Reformation5(U/R)
Sorcery {C}
Psychic Reformation costs 1 less to play for each card in your hand.
Shuffle the cards from your hand into your library, then draw that many plus one cards.
Aether Snatch4RU
Instant
Affinity for opponent's spells (This spell cost 1 less to play for each spell your opponent has played during this turn.)
Counter target spell. If the countered spell is an artifact, enchantment, creature or planeswalker, that permanent is put into play under your control instead of its owner's graveyard. "Mastering the aether gives you the ability to have what you want, when you want it." - I'voc, Aether Mage
Crypt-Call Dragon 9BB
Creature - Dragon (MR)
Affinity for cards in your graveyard.
Flying
Crypt-Call Dragon gets -1/-1 for each card in your graveyard. 9B: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. This ability costs 1 less to play for each card in your graveyard.
9/9
Illus. Vincent Hie
Spoliating Response :symu::symur::symr:
Instant [R]
Spoliating Response costs less to play for each card in target opponent’s hand.
Counter target spell. If that spell was countered this way, destroy target tapped land that player controls. A spell without repercussion is a myth when dealing with an Izzet guildmage.
502.31. Affinity
502.31a Affinity is a static ability that functions while the spell is on the stack. “Affinity for [text]" means “This spell costs you less to play for each [text] you control."
502.31b The affinity ability reduces only generic mana costs; it doesn't reduce how much colored mana you have to pay for a spell. Affinity can't reduce the cost to play a spell to less than 0.
502.31c If a spell has multiple instances of affinity, each of them applies.
Control, Controller
A permanent’s controller is whoever put it into play unless the spell or ability that put the permanent into play states otherwise. Other effects can later change a permanent’s controller.
A spell or activated ability on the stack is controlled by whoever played it. A copy of a spell is controlled by the player who put it on the stack. A triggered ability on the stack is controlled by the player who controlled its source at the time it triggered, unless it’s a delayed triggered ability. The controller of a delayed triggered ability is the player who controlled the spell or ability that created it.
Objects in zones other than in play or the stack have no controller. If anything asks for the controller of an object that doesn’t have a controller, use its owner instead
Search for Civilization :2mana::sym2g::sym2w:
Sorcery (Uncommon) (:sym2g: can be paid with any two mana or :symg:. This card’s converted mana cost is 6.)
Affinity for basic lands (This spell costs 1 less to play for each basic land you control.)
Search your library for a land card and put it into play tapped. Then Shuffle your library. Even the greatest journey begins with a single step.
Fleeting Horror 4UB
Creature - Illusion Horror [R]
Fleeting Horror costs 1 less to play for each other spell played this turn.
Fear, shroud
Vanishing
Fleeting Horror comes into play with X time counters on it, where X is six minus the number of other spells played this turn.
5/4 Some darkest hours last longer than others.
Well, guess 5 of you are advancing since there was a tie for 4th. Nice job everyone, some really cool and original ideas yet again.
Judging Rubric (adapted from Cantripmancer, originally from PlanesJaywalker) Design (/10): This is the initialization step of the card creation process: finding an idea, weighing it against history and environment, and achieving a believable execution.
---Elegance (/2) - Does it say a lot in a few words? Does the design just 'click' with the flavor?
---Creativity (/4) - Does it present an old mechanic with a wonderful new twist? Does it make you slam the table and shout "Damn! Why didn't I think of that?" How does it fit into the current color pie?
---Potential (/4) - Would this card be well-received by Spikes? Would you be happy to see this card in a booster pack? Do the name and flavor text feel like they suggest a bigger picture of the overall set? Development (/10): This is the connecting process between the concept and the final product: Hammering out the rules and wording, fine-tuning the balancing elements, letting the full potential of the Vorthosian elements shine through.
---Viability (/2) - Does it work at all? Would it bend any current rules? Would it make baby Gottlieb cry? If you're not sure your card works, you can check with a rules judge.
---Balance (/6) - Would it break any format? Or a limited format of an imaginary block with that theme? Basically the Balance score from before, except decreased in importance.
---Creative Writing (/2) - I'm lumping Creative development here as well. Flavor text and name go under here. Polish (/5): Bonus and overall technical quality.
---Bonus (/2) - Straightforward.
---Quality (/3) – Mostly a measure of technical errors. Spelling, grammar, formatting, render, wording, etc. If you're any less than 100% sure your card's spelling/grammar is correct, and/or English is not your native language, please check with a native English speaker to help polish your card.
DESIGN: 6/10 :rate5::rate1:
So, you kill monocolored creatures and then make everyone uber-discard. At instant speed…
Elegance: 1/2 It's pretty clunky. Each of the parts kind of makes sense on its own, but I can't see why they should be paired together.
Creativity: 2/4 There are a bunch of somewhat new effects mashed together, but there's really not much tying them together. To put it simply, it just doesn't make all that much sense.
Potential: 3/4 The usefulness of this card really depends on the environment. If it appeared in, say, Alara Reborn, it would be fairly useless because there are no monocolored creatures (except the occasional token, I guess). At least Defiler of Souls gives you a flying 5/5 if your opponent has no monocolored creatures, but this card would just be dead. However, it could be quite powerful in constructed. Mass removal + mass discard can really wreck a lot of decks. And at instant speed! The drawback is that it makes you discard too, and of course it doesn't kill anything bigger than X/2, but the discard part can be quite deadly. But the expensive cost unless you control a number of multicolored creatures also helps balance it out. Although it is instant-speed discard, we've seen that it's allowed (Esper Charm) as long as the spell is considerably difficult to cast, which it is. Weird as your card is, it does have potential, at least in constructed.
DEVELOPMENT: 6.5/10 :rate5::rate1.5:
Viability: 1/2 It doesn't quite work. There's no direct way to link a -X/-X effect specifically to any creatures. The closest you could get is "for each creature put into a graveyard this turn.," which might even be a good idea.
Balance: 4.5/6 It's a weird mish-mosh of effects, but it's actually pretty well-balanced. It's a bit too weak in limited and a bit too strong in multiplayer, but I can really see it being reasonable in constructed.
Creative Writing: 1/2 I don't get what's "unholy" about this card, and the flavor text doesn't help to enlighten me. You would have had more room for flavor text if you had removed half the rules text, which I don't think is unreasonable to suggest because the two parts of the card aren't really tightly related.
POLISH: 4.75/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2.75/3 Flavor text is usually supposed to be written in complete sentences. -.25
DESIGN: 7/10 :rate5::rate2:
Elegance: 1/2 Pretty straightforward and concise, though I'm not sure why the shroud clause is necessary. There's already a card that does that (Greater Auramancy), and it doesn't contribute much to the card.
Creativity: 3/4 Enchantments that turn into creatures are nothing new, but allowing all your other enchantments to become dudes at will is pretty neat.
Potential: 3/4 As long as you have one or two other enchantments, this card can be a real powerhouse. Most decks have at least a few enchantments (especially if they are Oblivion Rings) so this would at least net you a couple of extra dudes. But in an enchantment-based deck, it can be quite awesome. Play a bunch of enchantments, then make them into DUDES. Serra's Blessing, anyone? Glorious Anthem? Etc.
DEVELOPMENT: 7/10 :rate5::rate2:
Viability: 1/2 It should really specify "non-Aura enchantments." If you make an Aura into a creature, it just dies. Though I guess you might occasionally want to do that…
Balance: 5/6 Well done. In an enchantment-based deck, you can make your enchantments into dudes (with flying!), and even the Circle itself. And even in Limited, it's solid as long as you have a couple other enchantments.
Creative Writing: 1/2 "Circle of ___" is traditionally reserved for effects that involve preventing damage. This has nothing to do with that, so it probably shouldn't have that name.
POLISH: 2/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 0/3 This is riddled with errors. The text card doesn't match the render at all, the render border is gold instead of white-blue, and the text card is missing rarity. I'm not even going to go through all the errors, but the card SHOULD read:
Affinity for enchantments (This spell costs 1 less to play for each enchantment you control.)
Other noncreature enchantments you control have shroud.
Enchantments you control have "WU: This enchantment becomes a 2/2 Spirit creature with flying until end of turn. It's still an enchantment."
(Well, I'm not sure whether you wanted it to remain an enchantment, but I have to assume you do since most such cards do, plus you specifically mentioned noncreature enchantments in the other ability.)
In the future, PROOFREAD. -3
DESIGN: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Elegance: 2/2 Affinity on an X spell is neat, basically increasing its maximum capacity. The mechanics and the flavor are tied together very well (except for one little thing which I explain below).
Creativity: 3/4 It's somewhat similar to Psychic Drain, but that card is more of a mill spell with a life gain bonus, whereas yours is a burn spell with a mill bonus, so it's not too similar. There's a little bit of a disconnect between the flavor and the mechanics, since it's the player's mind that burns, but the creature's body. If it damaged players, it would make more sense. Overall, though, a neat card.
Potential: 3/4 Since it only targets creatures, its applications are rather limited, especially for a rare. It can potentially kill really big creatures and mill quite a few cards, but that's still rather underwhelming for a rare. If it were uncommon, I think it would be fine, but it needs a little more "bang" to be a rare. However, I can certainly see it being played even in its current state, so it does have a reasonable amount of potential.
DEVELOPMENT: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Viability: 1/2 As mentioned above, it feels a little too underwhelming for a rare. I feel like it should either be uncommon, or should have some other advantage to make it more worthy of being rare (maybe being able to hit players). It works fine, though.
Balance: 5/6 It's an X spell, so affinity doesn't really make it playable earlier so much as make it more powerful if you play it later, which is a really nice touch. As I've said everywhere else, it's limited by its inability to hit players, but overall I think it's quite well-balanced.
Creative Writing: 2/2 Very neat, though as I mentioned above, it deviates somewhat from the actual mechanics.
POLISH: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 3/3 I think the affinity wording should be "(This spell costs 1 less to play or each instant or sorcery card in your graveyard.)" but I'm not actually sure on this, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
When you have a quote with the speaker's name on the next line, instead of a line break, you should put it on the same line and then spacebar over until it goes onto the next line. But this is snoopYah's problem
DESIGN: 7/10 :rate5::rate2:
Elegance: 1/2 It seems like the only reason you have the "additional combat phase" clause is to allow you to attack with a bunch of dudes, and then have a bunch of tapped dudes to let you make use of affinity. It certainly works, but there are some potential abuses of this (see below).
Creativity: 3/4 It looks very similar to Sneak Attack et al, but there's actually a lot more going on here than a simple cheat-dudes-into-play-and-then-sacrifice-them spell. More on this below.
Potential: 3/4 Potentially, this is totally ridiculous (see below). With the few insane exceptions aside, though, it's a solid card that could certain see play.
DEVELOPMENT: 7/10 :rate5::rate2
Viability: 2/2 It works fine.
Balance: 3/6 It's possible to get this out as early as turn 3, which could be ridiculous if you have Darksteel Colossus or Progenitus or something of similar awesomeness. Turn 1 Forest + Birds of Paradise, turn 2 Forest + Birds of Paradise, turn 3 tap the Birds for RR and your Forests for GG and since you have two tapped creatures, you can then play Aggressive Approach for 2RG and drop Progenitus, causing your opponent to fall out of his chair. Or to make matters worse, it could be Godsire. Since he has vigilance, you can attack with him TWICE thanks to the extra combat phase, and then make a token before he dies. On turn three. So, although in a normal situation (like Limited), you'll attack with dudes in order to get them tapped and then play this during your second main phase, mana-producing guys can really push this way over the curve.
Creative Writing: 2/2 Not much of it, but it's good.
DESIGN: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Elegance: 2/2 Beautiful. The flavor ties in perfectly to the mechanics as well.
Creativity: 3/4 There are plenty of similar cards out there, but this one has a new twist by hosing all monocolored spells.
Potential: 3/4 This can be absolutely devastating in the right matchup. Presumably you would only play it in an all-multicolored deck, so its uses are rather limited in Limited (yuk yuk), but it can be a huge pain in Constructed. Drop a couple borderposts, then BAM. Its powerful effect is mitigated by its dependence on your opponent's deck, but it could easily see Constructed play in a certain type of deck, or as a sideboard card.
DEVELOPMENT: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine.
Balance: 4/6 In the right matchup, this can be absolutely game-winning. Turn 1 Fieldmist Borderpost, turn 2 Esper Stormblade, turn 3 this? Your opponent won't even be able to Naturalize it until he can pay 3G. Of course, if your opponent has a lot of multicolored stuff, it's useless, but it's certainly the kind of card that any heavily multicolored deck would love to sideboard. So although it's not useful 100% of the time, when it IS useful, it is absolutely crippling.
Creative Writing: 2/2 Very nice.
POLISH: 4.5/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2.5/3 Heh, you figured out how to avoid a line break by spacebarring the "—Lifris" clause instead of returning, but then you used a short dash instead of the requisite long dash. Also, you left out the rarity in the text card. Also, the affinity reminder text should have a period. -.5
DESIGN: 9/10 :rate5::rate4:
Elegance: 2/2 The flavor text is a little vague and mystical, but for the most part this is a very elegant design. It's simple, yet has a lot of variety in its uses.
Creativity: 3/4 It's a lot like Resounding Silence or Æthertow, but the lifegain part is certainly original, and of course the affinity part.
Potential: 4/4 This card is really good. It's first-pickable in draft, and easily playable in constructed. Beautiful.
DEVELOPMENT: 8.5/10 :rate5::rate3.5:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine.
Balance: 5/6 Even without affinity, this card would be really good. It doesn't even need affinity to be playable. I would love to pair this with Goldenglow Moth. Block two giant dudes with two Moths, gain 8 life, then play this for 2WU to bounce the giant dudes and gain even more life. Of course, I'm irrationally exuberant about lifegain, but still, it's awesome. I think this might be a tad undercosted (5WU might be better) since you get to bounce TWO dudes, but I really like it.
Creative Writing: 1.5/2 I like the flavor text, though I'm not exactly sure what it has to do with the card.
POLISH: 4.75/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2.75/3 The mana cost in the text card should be 4WU rather than 4UW. If you're unsure about the order of mana symbols, just check with the render, because MSE is set up to do them correctly automatically.
DESIGN: 5/10 :rate5::rate0:
Elegance: 1/2 This is a very confusing card to figure out. The text itself is simple, but it's hard to get a grasp of when to play it without doing out the calculations. It's rather counterintuitive.
Creativity: 3/4 Well, it's a Stream of Life variant, but affinity for life is a very interesting touch.
Potential: 1/4 All right, let's crunch the numbers now. Affinity is a mandatory cost reduction, so if you're at 5 or more life, it will cost just (G/W) and gain you 3 life. For each point of life below that, it will cost 1 more and gain you 3 more life. So it's usually going to be a Healing Salve, but if you're really hurting for life, it will gain you a lot. (It's worth noting that you'll almost never play it for its full cost, unless your life total is 0 or less and you have some way of preventing you from losing the game.) But for a card that does nothing but gain life and is very often worse than Healing Salve, this really should not be rare. Uncommon, maybe. But even so, it's pretty weak.
DEVELOPMENT: 6.5/10 :rate5::rate1.5:
Viability: 1.5/2 Well, I guess this works all right, though it is difficult to template correctly. There might be an easier way to do this.
Balance: 3.5/6 Worse than Healing Salve unless you're at 4 or less life. I suppose I could imagine a deck that would want to play this card (Angel's Grace.dec?), but if you're at a very low life total anyway, odds are you're still going to be in trouble.
Creative Writing: 1.5/2 Pretty blunt. In case players don't figure out that this card is only good when you're at 4 life or less, the flavor text straight up tells them.
POLISH: 3.25/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 1.25/3 There should be a period at the end of the affinity reminder text, and it should be "…where X is your life total" rather than X, since in this case it's a numerical value rather than a cost. -.5
I think there are better ways to do this card. I'm not sure the wording you used would be correct, though I can't say I know for sure what the correct wording would be, since most variable lifegain spells involve an X in the cost. Maybe "You gain three times X life, where X is this spell's converted mana cost." Or, "You gain 3 life for each 1 spent to play Lifebloom." -.5
DESIGN: 5/10 :rate5::rate0:
Elegance: 0/2 Oh god the mathhhhh. Sorry, but this card is not elegant at all. It looks more like a logic problem than a Magic card.
Creativity: 4/4 Well, it's certainly never been done before, though I can't say I'd be thrilled to see it printed.
Potential: 1/4 Okay, time to actually figure out what this card does. I've read it twice and I still don’t entirely get it. So let's see…first of all, you have to use only basic land mana to play it. So let's say you can play it for GUB. You gain control of up to three target nonbasic lands. (The wording seems to be such that if they don't have three nonbasic lands to steal, you can just target the same one multiple times, which is why I said "up to" three.) So in Limited it'll let you steal the occasional Savage Lands or Unstable Frontier, which is fine, I guess. In Constructed, where nonbasic lands are a lot more frequent, this card gets ridiculous. However, you yourself need to be using basic lands, which means you probably won't be playing it in a full green-blue-black deck. I imagine this would most likely be played in mono-blue or blue-black decks. So then, you play it, and steal your opponent's lands. If your opponent has a lot of nonbasic lands, you'll usually be able to steal pretty much all of them. Stealing all your opponent's lands with one spell is ridiculously insanely overpowered (Gilt-Leaf Archdruid requires you to have SIX other dudes, and he can easily be killed before then), and you will almost definitely win the game if you do this. And if you draw it later, you can just steal pretty much ALL of their lands. So when you boil it down, this card reads, "If you have some basic lands and your opponent has a lot of nonbasic lands, you steal them all." The affinity part has almost no effect, since it's only useful if you have already stolen some lands. And if you're already stolen them with this spell, then you've likely already won so it's redundant, and if you've stolen them with another spell, it still doesn't do all that much. The effectiveness of this card is very much based on the environment in which it's played, but its potential for ridiculousness pushes it way over the curve. I've heard people say the printing of Anathemancer marked the end of five-color control, but this card is even worse. Oh, and I completely forgot about what happens when you play it for 0. First off, the only way you can do this is if you have stolen six or more lands. If you have, then this bounces any number of lands, which is just as game-winning as stealing them. But wait a minute, if it's just as game-winning, why even have it be different at all? That whole part of the card seems completely unnecessary.
DEVELOPMENT: 4.5/10 :rate4.5::rate0:
Viability: 2/2 Well, technically, it works, I suppose.
Balance: 1.5/6 Well, in Limited, it might actually be reasonable. In Constructed, it completely destroys any deck that relies on nonbasic lands (move over, Blood Moon!), and is useless against ones that don't. Plus, half the card is pointless. The 1.5 points are for its Limited playability.
Creative Writing: 1/2 Well there's no flavor text, but the name is neat. The mana cost reminds me of Urborg Elf, so it's appropriate that "Urborg" is in the title.
POLISH: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 3/3 "…to their owners' hands." This is minor enough that I won't take off.
DESIGN: 9.5/10 :rate5::rate4.5:
Elegance: 2/2 It has a number of distinct purposes (see below), but it expresses them nicely in one simple ability. Very nice.
Creativity: 3.5/4 Well, there are already cards that turn dudes face up, but none that turn them face down again at end of turn (well, except for Vesuvan Shapeshifter). This one's purpose seems to be to take advantage of "when ~ is turned face up" effects since it can reuse them, but it can also "peek" at opponents' face-down creatures, which is a nice bonus. A neat variety of uses rolled into one elegant ability.
Potential: 4/4 Many morph creatures have expensive morph costs, so this card can let you replace expensive morph costs with a simple GU, though with the drawback of having to do it each turn. It can also abuse "when ~ is turned face up" effects (Fathom Seer would be a ridiculous card drawing engine with this dude), and peek at enemy morph dudes without morphing them up permanently. And if you have a morph-heavy deck, it can be a 3/4 for 2 mana, which is very solid. Overall it's quite a good deal without being too game-breaking.
DEVELOPMENT: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine.
Balance: 5.5/6 Very well-balanced. It can create some really awesome combinations (like with Fathom Seer as I mentioned above), but since its ability requires it to tap, it's not THAT abusable. It also costs 6 unless you have a bunch of morphs, and even if you do, it's not that overpowered. It might be a little better with a slightly smaller body, since 3/4 is pretty big for a potentially 2-cost creature, but it's still fair. Well done here.
Creative Writing: 0.5/2 There would probably be room for flavor text. I would have liked to see some. The name is all right, but nothing special.
DESIGN: 7.5/10 :rate5::rate2.5:
Elegance: 1/2 It's a bit clunky. It's clear what it does, and I don't know if there's a better way to go about it, but it's still a bit convoluted.
Creativity: 3.5/4 It could be thought of as a more elaborate Fight to the Death. However, what's really neat is that its affinity ability only applies at certain times. I'll get into that more below.
Potential: 3/4 So you can play it as a straight 4/4 for 3RW, which is all right in a pinch, but you'll much more likely want to play it during combat. Its restrictions are such that you can't flash it in and then block with it; you can only flash it in after blockers are declared. You'll usually want to play him when the opponent attacks with a bunch of weak dudes, by declaring no blockers and then flashing him in. Or if you want to play him more cheaply, you can block with some chumps and then flash him in. But rarely will there be a situation where you'll actually block with dudes and expect them to survive, since 4 damage is a ton. After all, if you have huge dudes that can block, it's not likely your opponent will attack into them anyway. But I just noticed it does have one other application: when your OPPONENT is blocking. You won't get the affinity bonus, but if you attack with some weaker dudes and get your opponent to block with some medium-sized dudes, you can wipe the board. So although this guy's applications are a bit weird, there are enough of them that he does have potential.
DEVELOPMENT: 9/10 :rate5::rate4:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine except for a few errors (see below).
Balance: 5/6 Interesting to note that this is the only card in my bracket that doesn't have a converted mana cost of 6. I think 5 is a good cost for him, because it makes him playable as a generic 4/4 if you need to, and it's somewhat unusual to block with more than 3 creatures anyway, so costing him 5 allows him to get used to his full potential more often. He might be a little over the curve, since he can essentially be Fight to the Death PLUS a 4/4. But overall, pretty solid.
Creative Writing: 2/2 I giggled.
POLISH: 4/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2/3 Affinity doesn't have a period at the end (though the reminder text does). -.25
Should be "…during combat after blockers are declared." -.25
Should be "…each attacking or blocking creature." "And" would imply that it hits only creatures who are both attacking and blocking -.25
I don't think I've ever seen italicized flavor text (well, un-italicized), but I guess there's no problem with it.
The render border should be red-white, not gold. -.25
Etherium Spellgrid :3mana::symwb::symu:
Artifact
Affinity for multicolored permanents (This spell costs less to play for each multicolored permanent you control)
Monocolored spells cost more to play. “Our defenses are impregnable. The inferior creatures of this world will never tarnish our perfect city.” - Lifris, Esper arcanist
Despair (2/R)(2/R)BB
Sorcery {R} ((2/R) can be paid with any two mana or with R. This card’s converted mana cost is 6.)
Affinity for -1/-1 counters (This spell costs 1 less to play for each -1/-1 counter in play.)
For each -1/-1 counter on each creature put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature.
Affinity for snow-covered permanents (This spell costs 1 less to play for each snow-covered permanent you control.)
Flying
When Aussir, Winterscourge comes into play, destroy four target creatures. Put a +1/+1 counter on Aussir, Winterscourge for each creature destroyed this way.
Lussak Darrat4WU
Planeswalker - Lussak
Affinity for tokens.
[+1]: Put a 1/1 white and blue bird wizard creature token with flying into play.
[-X]: Put a token into play that's a copy of target nonlegendary permanent with converted mana cost X.
[-8]: For each nonlegendary permanent you control, put a token into play that’s a copy of that permanent.
3
Lussak Darrat4WU
Planeswalker - Lussak {R}
Affinity for tokens.
[+1]: Choose one — Put a 1/1 white soldier creature token into play; or token creatures are unblockable until end of turn.
[-8]: For each nonlegendary nonland permanent you control, put a token into play that’s a copy of that permanent.
4
Golden Warmonger 3RW
Artifact Creature - Golem (R)
Affinity for Golden Warmonger (This spell costs 1 less to play for each Golden Warmonger you control.) Golden Warmonger gets +1/+0 for each other creature in play named Golden Warmonger you control. They’re the first in an unstoppable army, one where each new soldier help build the next. 2/4
Brushwatch Gorilla3(G/W)(G/W)
Creature - Ape Soldier (U)
Affinity for attacking creatures
Flash
When Brushwatch Gorilla comes into play, it must block if able. Canopy communities exploited the gorillas' natural tendency to run towards any sudden noise, training the apes as fearless guards against threats from the forest floor.
3/4
Keeper of Wards 3WU
Creature - Human Shaman
Affinity for enchantments
Shroud
All enchantments you control have shroud.
Whenever an enchantment you control leaves play, you may put target enchantment in your graveyard into your hand.
2/3
Char the Land4RW
Sorcery
Affinity for basic lands (This spell costs 1 less to play for each basic land you control.)
Destroy up to X non-basic lands and/or creatures, where X is the mana spent to play Char the Land. Destruction, hence, like creation, is one of Nature’s mandates.
Affinity for Elves
Distribute three -1/-1 counters among one, two, or three target creatures. If a creature targeted in this way would be put into a graveyard from play this turn, you gain 2 life.
“Administering poison is like reading an old fable. It starts slowly, then becomes more entertaining until it climaxes upon death at the end.” Enrya, Dark Elf
Bilespiller 4BG
Creature - Horror {R}
Affinity for poison counters you have (This spell costs 1 less for each poison counter you have.)
Fear, poisonous 1
Forecast — 2:symbg:, Reveal Bilespiller from your hand: Each player gets a poison counter. (Play this ability only during your upkeep and only once each turn.)
Celestial Purge6WW
Sorcery (r)
Affinity for creatures that came into play this turn (This spell costs 1 less to play for each creature that came into play this turn.)
Remove all creatures from the game. Gain life equal to the amount of creatures removed from the game this way. If you would gain 9 or more life this way put three 2/2 white angel creature tokens with flying into play.
Beguiling Angel3WU
Creature - Angel [R]
Affinity for auras (This spell costs 1 less to play for each aura you control.)
Flying
Damage that would be dealt to enchanted creatures you control are dealt to you instead. “Those who choose to hide behind masks seek protection, I am that protection.”
3/3
Sporeglow Predator - 3GG
Creature - Fungus Beast {u}
Affinity for Fungi (This spell costs 1 less to play for each Fungus you control.)
When Sporeglow Predator comes into play, you may move any number of spore counters from creatures you control onto it.
Sporeglow Predator gets +1/+1 for each spore counter on it.
0/1
Spellweaver Adept4UU
Creature- Human Wizard
Affinity for spells (This spell costs 1 less to play for each spell played this turn.)
Kicker U (You may pay an additional U as you play this spell.)
Flash
When Spellweaver Adept comes into play, counter target spell. If the kicker cost was paid, return Spellweaver Adept to its owner’s hand.
Note: Please refer to the Affinity description in the text version, not the render version. (MagicSetEditor wouldn't let me mess with the wording)
Mystery's Puppeteer 4GU
Creature - Human Wizard
Affinity for face-down creatures GU,T: Turn target face-down creature face up. At end of turn, turn it face down and it becomes a 2/2 creature.
3/4
Angel of Remembrance 4WU
Creature - Angel {R}
Affinity for creatures (This spell costs 1 less to play for each creature you control.)
Flying
Whenever a creature other than Angel of Remembrance is put into a graveyard from play, put it on the top of its owner's library. As long as we hold them in our hearts, those who have gone before us will always be near.
3/3
Renders (old frame because it looks better, new frame because of the affinity keyword):
Discussion Thread
The lovely month of May, brought to you by Milldawg and JqlGirl, with the help of Cantripmancer! We've got some interesting rounds for you this month. If you're new to the contest, check out threads from previous months, or ask a question in the discussion thread. Judges will be using PlanesJaywalker's rubric just like last month. Now, let's get down to business!
Round 1. Make a card with affinity for something other than artifacts or a land type. (Feel free to make a card that counts something other than permanents you control, as long as it makes sense.)
Bonus 1: The card is multicolored.
Bonus 2: The card has a converted mana cost of 6 or less.
Main requirement: "Affinity for ___" means "This spell costs 1 less to play for each ___." In Mirrodin, this was restricted to "artifact you control" and "[basic land type] you control," but for this contest, you'll need to come up with something else. It shouldn't be too hard to think of something
Bonus 1: Pretty straightforward. "Multicolored" means "the card is two or more colors." This includes gold cards, hybrid cards, and cards with rules text that says "CARDNAME is [color] and [color]."
Bonus 2: Also pretty straightforward. 6 or less. Not 8. Not 14. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0. I think I have made my point
Design (/10): What goes into the initialization of the card. Suggested areas to judge:
Elegance - Does it say a lot in a few words? Does the design just 'click' with the flavor?
Creativity - Does it present an old mechanic with a wonderful new twist? Does it make you slam the table and shout "Damn! Why didn't I think of that?" Does it conform with the current color pie (not necessarily an uncreative thing)?
Potential - Would this card be well-received by Spikes? Would you want to see this card in the [insert rarity] slot of a booster pack? Does the name and flavor text bring the whole setting in front of you?
Development (/10): The connecting process between the concept and the final product. Suggested areas to judge:
Viability - Does it work at all? Would it bend any current rules? Would it make baby Gottlieb cry?
Balance - Would it break any format? Or a limited format of an imaginary block with that theme? Basically the Balance score from before, except decreased in importance.
Creative Writing - I'm lumping Creative development here as well. Flavor text and name go under here.
Polish (/5): Bonus points, render points, deductions for spelling/grammar mistakes.
Player Deadline: May 5th at midnight EST (when Tuesday becomes Wednesday).
Judge Deadline: May 9th at midnight EST (when Saturday becomes Sunday).
The top 4 in each bracket of 10 will advance. Judging brackets will be posted when the round closes.
BRACKETS
Arzangremmel:
a-slice-of-cake
Catarax
Jimmy Groove
Kenaron
Kev the Walker
MotionPicture13
mstieler
Nevhir
Saproking
snoopYah
Asrama:
d@rkelf
Dody
gaura
keeperofzion24
krynthe
NeoMagicwarrior
Phuzzy
Pseudofate
Stairc
Venser_FR
Fa+blimp:
DanceofMany
Harbinger_
Hemlock
kiwoli
Krey
May Contain Nuts
noob123
PMega
schtingah
Tsaycro
JqlGirl:
cannon
DARKING
Davidesle
Emo_Pinata
FuriouslySleepingIdea
Gerrard's Mom
markino
RancytheRancor
Solesticio
Stubborn Boy
Milldawg:
Cha0s Finale
DemonicVenoM
Gifts
Ikeda
Jau
Kami_of_Randomness
Oppo28
seratonin
Socrates
WhisperedThunder
Nonconformist:
Charm_Master3125
dd2k
Dementia Summoner
Erimety
Froxy
.handslikeguns
KoolKoal
marchosius cobalt
PlanesJaywalker
Red Angel
Surge:
Autumn Willow
BlackBull
CheeseStickLightsaber
elathel trom
enLight
falknir
Homee1212
Hyral
Lanxal
MagicProfessor28
The Ice King:
Azhur
blacker_lotus
DarienCR
KrtZer0
MazerPriest
mitooo
MtGColorPie
Technomagus
The letter 3
Vexhel
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
Sorcery {C}
Psychic Reformation costs 1 less to play for each card in your hand.
Shuffle the cards from your hand into your library, then draw that many plus one cards.
Aether Snatch 4RU
Instant
Affinity for opponent's spells (This spell cost 1 less to play for each spell your opponent has played during this turn.)
Counter target spell. If the countered spell is an artifact, enchantment, creature or planeswalker, that permanent is put into play under your control instead of its owner's graveyard.
"Mastering the aether gives you the ability to have what you want, when you want it." - I'voc, Aether Mage
Render:
Source:
http://endzi-z.deviantart.com/art/Fantasy-Dragon-and-Wizard-93133219
Creature - Dragon (MR)
Affinity for cards in your graveyard.
Flying
Crypt-Call Dragon gets -1/-1 for each card in your graveyard.
9B: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. This ability costs 1 less to play for each card in your graveyard.
9/9
Illus. Vincent Hie
Instant [R]
Spoliating Response costs less to play for each card in target opponent’s hand.
Counter target spell. If that spell was countered this way, destroy target tapped land that player controls.
A spell without repercussion is a myth when dealing with an Izzet guildmage.
H/W List http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=112656
Search for Civilization :2mana::sym2g::sym2w:
Sorcery (Uncommon)
(:sym2g: can be paid with any two mana or :symg:. This card’s converted mana cost is 6.)
Affinity for basic lands (This spell costs 1 less to play for each basic land you control.)
Search your library for a land card and put it into play tapped. Then Shuffle your library.
Even the greatest journey begins with a single step.
My Custom Cards
My Twitch - Languishing in neglect under the vain hope of starting again
My Livestream Archive
4UB
Creature - Illusion Horror [R]
Fleeting Horror costs 1 less to play for each other spell played this turn.
Fear, shroud
Vanishing
Fleeting Horror comes into play with X time counters on it, where X is six minus the number of other spells played this turn.
5/4
Some darkest hours last longer than others.
Design (/10): This is the initialization step of the card creation process: finding an idea, weighing it against history and environment, and achieving a believable execution.
---Elegance (/2) - Does it say a lot in a few words? Does the design just 'click' with the flavor?
---Creativity (/4) - Does it present an old mechanic with a wonderful new twist? Does it make you slam the table and shout "Damn! Why didn't I think of that?" How does it fit into the current color pie?
---Potential (/4) - Would this card be well-received by Spikes? Would you be happy to see this card in a booster pack? Do the name and flavor text feel like they suggest a bigger picture of the overall set?
Development (/10): This is the connecting process between the concept and the final product: Hammering out the rules and wording, fine-tuning the balancing elements, letting the full potential of the Vorthosian elements shine through.
---Viability (/2) - Does it work at all? Would it bend any current rules? Would it make baby Gottlieb cry? If you're not sure your card works, you can check with a rules judge.
---Balance (/6) - Would it break any format? Or a limited format of an imaginary block with that theme? Basically the Balance score from before, except decreased in importance.
---Creative Writing (/2) - I'm lumping Creative development here as well. Flavor text and name go under here.
Polish (/5): Bonus and overall technical quality.
---Bonus (/2) - Straightforward.
---Quality (/3) – Mostly a measure of technical errors. Spelling, grammar, formatting, render, wording, etc. If you're any less than 100% sure your card's spelling/grammar is correct, and/or English is not your native language, please check with a native English speaker to help polish your card.
DESIGN: 6/10 :rate5::rate1:
So, you kill monocolored creatures and then make everyone uber-discard. At instant speed…
Elegance: 1/2 It's pretty clunky. Each of the parts kind of makes sense on its own, but I can't see why they should be paired together.
Creativity: 2/4 There are a bunch of somewhat new effects mashed together, but there's really not much tying them together. To put it simply, it just doesn't make all that much sense.
Potential: 3/4 The usefulness of this card really depends on the environment. If it appeared in, say, Alara Reborn, it would be fairly useless because there are no monocolored creatures (except the occasional token, I guess). At least Defiler of Souls gives you a flying 5/5 if your opponent has no monocolored creatures, but this card would just be dead. However, it could be quite powerful in constructed. Mass removal + mass discard can really wreck a lot of decks. And at instant speed! The drawback is that it makes you discard too, and of course it doesn't kill anything bigger than X/2, but the discard part can be quite deadly. But the expensive cost unless you control a number of multicolored creatures also helps balance it out. Although it is instant-speed discard, we've seen that it's allowed (Esper Charm) as long as the spell is considerably difficult to cast, which it is. Weird as your card is, it does have potential, at least in constructed.
DEVELOPMENT: 6.5/10 :rate5::rate1.5:
Viability: 1/2 It doesn't quite work. There's no direct way to link a -X/-X effect specifically to any creatures. The closest you could get is "for each creature put into a graveyard this turn.," which might even be a good idea.
Balance: 4.5/6 It's a weird mish-mosh of effects, but it's actually pretty well-balanced. It's a bit too weak in limited and a bit too strong in multiplayer, but I can really see it being reasonable in constructed.
Creative Writing: 1/2 I don't get what's "unholy" about this card, and the flavor text doesn't help to enlighten me. You would have had more room for flavor text if you had removed half the rules text, which I don't think is unreasonable to suggest because the two parts of the card aren't really tightly related.
POLISH: 4.75/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2.75/3 Flavor text is usually supposed to be written in complete sentences. -.25
TOTAL: 17.25/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate2::rate0:
DESIGN: 7/10 :rate5::rate2:
Elegance: 1/2 Pretty straightforward and concise, though I'm not sure why the shroud clause is necessary. There's already a card that does that (Greater Auramancy), and it doesn't contribute much to the card.
Creativity: 3/4 Enchantments that turn into creatures are nothing new, but allowing all your other enchantments to become dudes at will is pretty neat.
Potential: 3/4 As long as you have one or two other enchantments, this card can be a real powerhouse. Most decks have at least a few enchantments (especially if they are Oblivion Rings) so this would at least net you a couple of extra dudes. But in an enchantment-based deck, it can be quite awesome. Play a bunch of enchantments, then make them into DUDES. Serra's Blessing, anyone? Glorious Anthem? Etc.
DEVELOPMENT: 7/10 :rate5::rate2:
Viability: 1/2 It should really specify "non-Aura enchantments." If you make an Aura into a creature, it just dies. Though I guess you might occasionally want to do that…
Balance: 5/6 Well done. In an enchantment-based deck, you can make your enchantments into dudes (with flying!), and even the Circle itself. And even in Limited, it's solid as long as you have a couple other enchantments.
Creative Writing: 1/2 "Circle of ___" is traditionally reserved for effects that involve preventing damage. This has nothing to do with that, so it probably shouldn't have that name.
POLISH: 2/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 0/3 This is riddled with errors. The text card doesn't match the render at all, the render border is gold instead of white-blue, and the text card is missing rarity. I'm not even going to go through all the errors, but the card SHOULD read:
Affinity for enchantments (This spell costs 1 less to play for each enchantment you control.)
Other noncreature enchantments you control have shroud.
Enchantments you control have "WU: This enchantment becomes a 2/2 Spirit creature with flying until end of turn. It's still an enchantment."
(Well, I'm not sure whether you wanted it to remain an enchantment, but I have to assume you do since most such cards do, plus you specifically mentioned noncreature enchantments in the other ability.)
In the future, PROOFREAD. -3
TOTAL: 16/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate1::rate0:
DESIGN: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Elegance: 2/2 Affinity on an X spell is neat, basically increasing its maximum capacity. The mechanics and the flavor are tied together very well (except for one little thing which I explain below).
Creativity: 3/4 It's somewhat similar to Psychic Drain, but that card is more of a mill spell with a life gain bonus, whereas yours is a burn spell with a mill bonus, so it's not too similar. There's a little bit of a disconnect between the flavor and the mechanics, since it's the player's mind that burns, but the creature's body. If it damaged players, it would make more sense. Overall, though, a neat card.
Potential: 3/4 Since it only targets creatures, its applications are rather limited, especially for a rare. It can potentially kill really big creatures and mill quite a few cards, but that's still rather underwhelming for a rare. If it were uncommon, I think it would be fine, but it needs a little more "bang" to be a rare. However, I can certainly see it being played even in its current state, so it does have a reasonable amount of potential.
DEVELOPMENT: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Viability: 1/2 As mentioned above, it feels a little too underwhelming for a rare. I feel like it should either be uncommon, or should have some other advantage to make it more worthy of being rare (maybe being able to hit players). It works fine, though.
Balance: 5/6 It's an X spell, so affinity doesn't really make it playable earlier so much as make it more powerful if you play it later, which is a really nice touch. As I've said everywhere else, it's limited by its inability to hit players, but overall I think it's quite well-balanced.
Creative Writing: 2/2 Very neat, though as I mentioned above, it deviates somewhat from the actual mechanics.
POLISH: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 3/3 I think the affinity wording should be "(This spell costs 1 less to play or each instant or sorcery card in your graveyard.)" but I'm not actually sure on this, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
When you have a quote with the speaker's name on the next line, instead of a line break, you should put it on the same line and then spacebar over until it goes onto the next line. But this is snoopYah's problem
TOTAL: 21/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate1:
DESIGN: 7/10 :rate5::rate2:
Elegance: 1/2 It seems like the only reason you have the "additional combat phase" clause is to allow you to attack with a bunch of dudes, and then have a bunch of tapped dudes to let you make use of affinity. It certainly works, but there are some potential abuses of this (see below).
Creativity: 3/4 It looks very similar to Sneak Attack et al, but there's actually a lot more going on here than a simple cheat-dudes-into-play-and-then-sacrifice-them spell. More on this below.
Potential: 3/4 Potentially, this is totally ridiculous (see below). With the few insane exceptions aside, though, it's a solid card that could certain see play.
DEVELOPMENT: 7/10 :rate5::rate2
Viability: 2/2 It works fine.
Balance: 3/6 It's possible to get this out as early as turn 3, which could be ridiculous if you have Darksteel Colossus or Progenitus or something of similar awesomeness. Turn 1 Forest + Birds of Paradise, turn 2 Forest + Birds of Paradise, turn 3 tap the Birds for RR and your Forests for GG and since you have two tapped creatures, you can then play Aggressive Approach for 2RG and drop Progenitus, causing your opponent to fall out of his chair. Or to make matters worse, it could be Godsire. Since he has vigilance, you can attack with him TWICE thanks to the extra combat phase, and then make a token before he dies. On turn three. So, although in a normal situation (like Limited), you'll attack with dudes in order to get them tapped and then play this during your second main phase, mana-producing guys can really push this way over the curve.
Creative Writing: 2/2 Not much of it, but it's good.
POLISH: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 3/3 Perfect!
TOTAL: 19/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate4::rate0:
DESIGN: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Elegance: 2/2 Beautiful. The flavor ties in perfectly to the mechanics as well.
Creativity: 3/4 There are plenty of similar cards out there, but this one has a new twist by hosing all monocolored spells.
Potential: 3/4 This can be absolutely devastating in the right matchup. Presumably you would only play it in an all-multicolored deck, so its uses are rather limited in Limited (yuk yuk), but it can be a huge pain in Constructed. Drop a couple borderposts, then BAM. Its powerful effect is mitigated by its dependence on your opponent's deck, but it could easily see Constructed play in a certain type of deck, or as a sideboard card.
DEVELOPMENT: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine.
Balance: 4/6 In the right matchup, this can be absolutely game-winning. Turn 1 Fieldmist Borderpost, turn 2 Esper Stormblade, turn 3 this? Your opponent won't even be able to Naturalize it until he can pay 3G. Of course, if your opponent has a lot of multicolored stuff, it's useless, but it's certainly the kind of card that any heavily multicolored deck would love to sideboard. So although it's not useful 100% of the time, when it IS useful, it is absolutely crippling.
Creative Writing: 2/2 Very nice.
POLISH: 4.5/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2.5/3 Heh, you figured out how to avoid a line break by spacebarring the "—Lifris" clause instead of returning, but then you used a short dash instead of the requisite long dash. Also, you left out the rarity in the text card. Also, the affinity reminder text should have a period. -.5
TOTAL: 20.5/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate0.5:
DESIGN: 9/10 :rate5::rate4:
Elegance: 2/2 The flavor text is a little vague and mystical, but for the most part this is a very elegant design. It's simple, yet has a lot of variety in its uses.
Creativity: 3/4 It's a lot like Resounding Silence or Æthertow, but the lifegain part is certainly original, and of course the affinity part.
Potential: 4/4 This card is really good. It's first-pickable in draft, and easily playable in constructed. Beautiful.
DEVELOPMENT: 8.5/10 :rate5::rate3.5:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine.
Balance: 5/6 Even without affinity, this card would be really good. It doesn't even need affinity to be playable. I would love to pair this with Goldenglow Moth. Block two giant dudes with two Moths, gain 8 life, then play this for 2WU to bounce the giant dudes and gain even more life. Of course, I'm irrationally exuberant about lifegain, but still, it's awesome. I think this might be a tad undercosted (5WU might be better) since you get to bounce TWO dudes, but I really like it.
Creative Writing: 1.5/2 I like the flavor text, though I'm not exactly sure what it has to do with the card.
POLISH: 4.75/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2.75/3 The mana cost in the text card should be 4WU rather than 4UW. If you're unsure about the order of mana symbols, just check with the render, because MSE is set up to do them correctly automatically.
Should be "…to their owners' hands." -.25
TOTAL: 22.25/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate2:
DESIGN: 5/10 :rate5::rate0:
Elegance: 1/2 This is a very confusing card to figure out. The text itself is simple, but it's hard to get a grasp of when to play it without doing out the calculations. It's rather counterintuitive.
Creativity: 3/4 Well, it's a Stream of Life variant, but affinity for life is a very interesting touch.
Potential: 1/4 All right, let's crunch the numbers now. Affinity is a mandatory cost reduction, so if you're at 5 or more life, it will cost just (G/W) and gain you 3 life. For each point of life below that, it will cost 1 more and gain you 3 more life. So it's usually going to be a Healing Salve, but if you're really hurting for life, it will gain you a lot. (It's worth noting that you'll almost never play it for its full cost, unless your life total is 0 or less and you have some way of preventing you from losing the game.) But for a card that does nothing but gain life and is very often worse than Healing Salve, this really should not be rare. Uncommon, maybe. But even so, it's pretty weak.
DEVELOPMENT: 6.5/10 :rate5::rate1.5:
Viability: 1.5/2 Well, I guess this works all right, though it is difficult to template correctly. There might be an easier way to do this.
Balance: 3.5/6 Worse than Healing Salve unless you're at 4 or less life. I suppose I could imagine a deck that would want to play this card (Angel's Grace.dec?), but if you're at a very low life total anyway, odds are you're still going to be in trouble.
Creative Writing: 1.5/2 Pretty blunt. In case players don't figure out that this card is only good when you're at 4 life or less, the flavor text straight up tells them.
POLISH: 3.25/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 1.25/3 There should be a period at the end of the affinity reminder text, and it should be "…where X is your life total" rather than X, since in this case it's a numerical value rather than a cost. -.5
I think there are better ways to do this card. I'm not sure the wording you used would be correct, though I can't say I know for sure what the correct wording would be, since most variable lifegain spells involve an X in the cost. Maybe "You gain three times X life, where X is this spell's converted mana cost." Or, "You gain 3 life for each 1 spent to play Lifebloom." -.5
That art is from Llanowar Reborn. -.5
Some typos in the flavor text (spacing and capitalization). -.25
TOTAL: 14.75/25 :rate5::rate5::rate4.5::rate0::rate0:
DESIGN: 5/10 :rate5::rate0:
Elegance: 0/2 Oh god the mathhhhh. Sorry, but this card is not elegant at all. It looks more like a logic problem than a Magic card.
Creativity: 4/4 Well, it's certainly never been done before, though I can't say I'd be thrilled to see it printed.
Potential: 1/4 Okay, time to actually figure out what this card does. I've read it twice and I still don’t entirely get it. So let's see…first of all, you have to use only basic land mana to play it. So let's say you can play it for GUB. You gain control of up to three target nonbasic lands. (The wording seems to be such that if they don't have three nonbasic lands to steal, you can just target the same one multiple times, which is why I said "up to" three.) So in Limited it'll let you steal the occasional Savage Lands or Unstable Frontier, which is fine, I guess. In Constructed, where nonbasic lands are a lot more frequent, this card gets ridiculous. However, you yourself need to be using basic lands, which means you probably won't be playing it in a full green-blue-black deck. I imagine this would most likely be played in mono-blue or blue-black decks. So then, you play it, and steal your opponent's lands. If your opponent has a lot of nonbasic lands, you'll usually be able to steal pretty much all of them. Stealing all your opponent's lands with one spell is ridiculously insanely overpowered (Gilt-Leaf Archdruid requires you to have SIX other dudes, and he can easily be killed before then), and you will almost definitely win the game if you do this. And if you draw it later, you can just steal pretty much ALL of their lands. So when you boil it down, this card reads, "If you have some basic lands and your opponent has a lot of nonbasic lands, you steal them all." The affinity part has almost no effect, since it's only useful if you have already stolen some lands. And if you're already stolen them with this spell, then you've likely already won so it's redundant, and if you've stolen them with another spell, it still doesn't do all that much. The effectiveness of this card is very much based on the environment in which it's played, but its potential for ridiculousness pushes it way over the curve. I've heard people say the printing of Anathemancer marked the end of five-color control, but this card is even worse. Oh, and I completely forgot about what happens when you play it for 0. First off, the only way you can do this is if you have stolen six or more lands. If you have, then this bounces any number of lands, which is just as game-winning as stealing them. But wait a minute, if it's just as game-winning, why even have it be different at all? That whole part of the card seems completely unnecessary.
DEVELOPMENT: 4.5/10 :rate4.5::rate0:
Viability: 2/2 Well, technically, it works, I suppose.
Balance: 1.5/6 Well, in Limited, it might actually be reasonable. In Constructed, it completely destroys any deck that relies on nonbasic lands (move over, Blood Moon!), and is useless against ones that don't. Plus, half the card is pointless. The 1.5 points are for its Limited playability.
Creative Writing: 1/2 Well there's no flavor text, but the name is neat. The mana cost reminds me of Urborg Elf, so it's appropriate that "Urborg" is in the title.
POLISH: 5/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 3/3 "…to their owners' hands." This is minor enough that I won't take off.
TOTAL: 14.5/25 :rate5::rate5::rate4.5::rate0::rate0:
DESIGN: 9.5/10 :rate5::rate4.5:
Elegance: 2/2 It has a number of distinct purposes (see below), but it expresses them nicely in one simple ability. Very nice.
Creativity: 3.5/4 Well, there are already cards that turn dudes face up, but none that turn them face down again at end of turn (well, except for Vesuvan Shapeshifter). This one's purpose seems to be to take advantage of "when ~ is turned face up" effects since it can reuse them, but it can also "peek" at opponents' face-down creatures, which is a nice bonus. A neat variety of uses rolled into one elegant ability.
Potential: 4/4 Many morph creatures have expensive morph costs, so this card can let you replace expensive morph costs with a simple GU, though with the drawback of having to do it each turn. It can also abuse "when ~ is turned face up" effects (Fathom Seer would be a ridiculous card drawing engine with this dude), and peek at enemy morph dudes without morphing them up permanently. And if you have a morph-heavy deck, it can be a 3/4 for 2 mana, which is very solid. Overall it's quite a good deal without being too game-breaking.
DEVELOPMENT: 8/10 :rate5::rate3:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine.
Balance: 5.5/6 Very well-balanced. It can create some really awesome combinations (like with Fathom Seer as I mentioned above), but since its ability requires it to tap, it's not THAT abusable. It also costs 6 unless you have a bunch of morphs, and even if you do, it's not that overpowered. It might be a little better with a slightly smaller body, since 3/4 is pretty big for a potentially 2-cost creature, but it's still fair. Well done here.
Creative Writing: 0.5/2 There would probably be room for flavor text. I would have liked to see some. The name is all right, but nothing special.
POLISH: 4/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2/3 Rarity? -1
TOTAL: 21.5/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate1.5:
DESIGN: 7.5/10 :rate5::rate2.5:
Elegance: 1/2 It's a bit clunky. It's clear what it does, and I don't know if there's a better way to go about it, but it's still a bit convoluted.
Creativity: 3.5/4 It could be thought of as a more elaborate Fight to the Death. However, what's really neat is that its affinity ability only applies at certain times. I'll get into that more below.
Potential: 3/4 So you can play it as a straight 4/4 for 3RW, which is all right in a pinch, but you'll much more likely want to play it during combat. Its restrictions are such that you can't flash it in and then block with it; you can only flash it in after blockers are declared. You'll usually want to play him when the opponent attacks with a bunch of weak dudes, by declaring no blockers and then flashing him in. Or if you want to play him more cheaply, you can block with some chumps and then flash him in. But rarely will there be a situation where you'll actually block with dudes and expect them to survive, since 4 damage is a ton. After all, if you have huge dudes that can block, it's not likely your opponent will attack into them anyway. But I just noticed it does have one other application: when your OPPONENT is blocking. You won't get the affinity bonus, but if you attack with some weaker dudes and get your opponent to block with some medium-sized dudes, you can wipe the board. So although this guy's applications are a bit weird, there are enough of them that he does have potential.
DEVELOPMENT: 9/10 :rate5::rate4:
Viability: 2/2 Works fine except for a few errors (see below).
Balance: 5/6 Interesting to note that this is the only card in my bracket that doesn't have a converted mana cost of 6. I think 5 is a good cost for him, because it makes him playable as a generic 4/4 if you need to, and it's somewhat unusual to block with more than 3 creatures anyway, so costing him 5 allows him to get used to his full potential more often. He might be a little over the curve, since he can essentially be Fight to the Death PLUS a 4/4. But overall, pretty solid.
Creative Writing: 2/2 I giggled.
POLISH: 4/5
Bonus: 2/2 Yep.
Quality: 2/3 Affinity doesn't have a period at the end (though the reminder text does). -.25
Should be "…during combat after blockers are declared." -.25
Should be "…each attacking or blocking creature." "And" would imply that it hits only creatures who are both attacking and blocking -.25
I don't think I've ever seen italicized flavor text (well, un-italicized), but I guess there's no problem with it.
The render border should be red-white, not gold. -.25
TOTAL: 20.5/25 :rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate0.5:
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate2: Kami_of_Randomness 22.25
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate1.5: Socrates 21.5
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate1: Gifts 21
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate0.5: Jau 20.5
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate5::rate0.5: WhisperedThunder 20.5
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate4::rate0: Ikeda 19
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate2::rate0: Cha0s Finale 17.25
:rate5::rate5::rate5::rate1::rate0: Demonic VenoM 16
:rate5::rate5::rate4.5::rate0::rate0: Oppo28 14.75
:rate5::rate5::rate4.5::rate0::rate0: seratonin 14.5
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
Etherium Spellgrid :3mana::symwb::symu:
Artifact
Affinity for multicolored permanents (This spell costs less to play for each multicolored permanent you control)
Monocolored spells cost more to play.
“Our defenses are impregnable. The inferior creatures of this world will never tarnish our perfect city.” - Lifris, Esper arcanist
Artwork: Here
Sorcery {R}
((2/R) can be paid with any two mana or with R. This card’s converted mana cost is 6.)
Affinity for -1/-1 counters (This spell costs 1 less to play for each -1/-1 counter in play.)
For each -1/-1 counter on each creature put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature.
Creature - Dragon (R)
Affinity for snow-covered permanents (This spell costs 1 less to play for each snow-covered permanent you control.)
Flying
When Aussir, Winterscourge comes into play, destroy four target creatures. Put a +1/+1 counter on Aussir, Winterscourge for each creature destroyed this way.
3/3
Planeswalker - Lussak
Affinity for tokens.
[+1]: Put a 1/1 white and blue bird wizard creature token with flying into play.
[-X]: Put a token into play that's a copy of target nonlegendary permanent with converted mana cost X.
[-8]: For each nonlegendary permanent you control, put a token into play that’s a copy of that permanent.
3
Lussak Darrat 4WU
Planeswalker - Lussak {R}
Affinity for tokens.
[+1]: Choose one — Put a 1/1 white soldier creature token into play; or token creatures are unblockable until end of turn.
[-8]: For each nonlegendary nonland permanent you control, put a token into play that’s a copy of that permanent.
4
Golden Warmonger 3RW
Artifact Creature - Golem (R)
Affinity for Golden Warmonger (This spell costs 1 less to play for each Golden Warmonger you control.)
Golden Warmonger gets +1/+0 for each other creature in play named Golden Warmonger you control.
They’re the first in an unstoppable army, one where each new soldier help build the next.
2/4
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Instant
Affinity for creatures. (This spell costs 1 less for each creature you control.)
Destroy all creatures.
Creature - Ape Soldier (U)
Affinity for attacking creatures
Flash
When Brushwatch Gorilla comes into play, it must block if able.
Canopy communities exploited the gorillas' natural tendency to run towards any sudden noise, training the apes as fearless guards against threats from the forest floor.
3/4
the card isn't final yet.
Creature - Human Shaman
Affinity for enchantments
Shroud
All enchantments you control have shroud.
Whenever an enchantment you control leaves play, you may put target enchantment in your graveyard into your hand.
2/3
Sorcery
Affinity for basic lands (This spell costs 1 less to play for each basic land you control.)
Destroy up to X non-basic lands and/or creatures, where X is the mana spent to play Char the Land.
Destruction, hence, like creation, is one of Nature’s mandates.
Artist: Inga Nielsen
"The best cure for a big ego is a little failure"
-Turnabout
Legacy:
Stasis
Prolifer-hate
February 2006 FCC Winner! ^^
My Trade List - Retired/Not Updated -
Foul Play 3BG
Sorcery- Elf {U}
Affinity for Elves
Distribute three -1/-1 counters among one, two, or three target creatures. If a creature targeted in this way would be put into a graveyard from play this turn, you gain 2 life.
“Administering poison is like reading an old fable. It starts slowly, then becomes more entertaining until it climaxes upon death at the end.” Enrya, Dark Elf
"Sarcasm is the body's natural defense against Stupidity"
Creature - Horror {R}
Affinity for poison counters you have (This spell costs 1 less for each poison counter you have.)
Fear, poisonous 1
Forecast — 2:symbg:, Reveal Bilespiller from your hand: Each player gets a poison counter. (Play this ability only during your upkeep and only once each turn.)
Sorcery (r)
Affinity for creatures that came into play this turn (This spell costs 1 less to play for each creature that came into play this turn.)
Remove all creatures from the game. Gain life equal to the amount of creatures removed from the game this way. If you would gain 9 or more life this way put three 2/2 white angel creature tokens with flying into play.
Beguiling Angel 3WU
Creature - Angel [R]
Affinity for auras (This spell costs 1 less to play for each aura you control.)
Flying
Damage that would be dealt to enchanted creatures you control are dealt to you instead.
“Those who choose to hide behind masks seek protection, I am that protection.”
3/3
Creature - Fungus Beast {u}
Affinity for Fungi (This spell costs 1 less to play for each Fungus you control.)
When Sporeglow Predator comes into play, you may move any number of spore counters from creatures you control onto it.
Sporeglow Predator gets +1/+1 for each spore counter on it.
0/1
Cave Dweller by Einen
http://einen.deviantart.com/art/Cave-Dweller-109605608
Creature- Human Wizard
Affinity for spells (This spell costs 1 less to play for each spell played this turn.)
Kicker U (You may pay an additional U as you play this spell.)
Flash
When Spellweaver Adept comes into play, counter target spell. If the kicker cost was paid, return Spellweaver Adept to its owner’s hand.
Note: Please refer to the Affinity description in the text version, not the render version. (MagicSetEditor wouldn't let me mess with the wording)
Currently Playing:
EDH
RBUJeleva SpellsUBR
RGRadha RampGR
GW Rhys Tokens WG
GB Meren Graveyard BG
BUW Oloro Lifegain WUB
RBUW Breya Artifacts WUBR
Standard
Nothing currently
Retired From:
GUExtended Crystal WitnessUG
RBStandard Blightthroat AggroBR
UGHighlander CountersGU
GU Standard Turbo Turns UG
Creature - Human Wizard
Affinity for face-down creatures
GU,T: Turn target face-down creature face up. At end of turn, turn it face down and it becomes a 2/2 creature.
3/4
Angel of Remembrance 4WU
Creature - Angel {R}
Affinity for creatures (This spell costs 1 less to play for each creature you control.)
Flying
Whenever a creature other than Angel of Remembrance is put into a graveyard from play, put it on the top of its owner's library.
As long as we hold them in our hearts, those who have gone before us will always be near.
3/3
Renders (old frame because it looks better, new frame because of the affinity keyword):
artist credit and link: http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/view.pl?id=109314