MTG Salvation

Quote from Polendino

Current challenge is Keyword a non-keyworded "mechanic" previously printed on a magic card(s), I.E. the "Clockwork mechanic". The "mechanic" did not necessarily have to have been printed on more than one card.

Goddamn "iiwsig"

His current sig says "~off-color forecast activation." Did he change his sig already or did Polendino massively hax everyone?

Quote from AsianInvasion

Gaea's Champion 1GG
Creature - Elf Warrior (R)
Vexing (This spell can't be countered by spells or abilities.)
Creature spells you cast have vexing.
Other creatures you control get +1/+1.
2/2

Flavor rewording suggestion:

Quote from MDenham

Thoughtviewer 2
Artifact (C)
Steadfast (You may choose not to untap this during your untap step.)
T: Target player plays with his or her hand revealed for as long as Thoughtviewer remains tapped.

IIW: It's a box!

There are enough cards that have that line of text that Steadfast (not a huge fan of the name) has a reasonable chance of getting printed. It would definitely save a lot of reading, which is the purpose of keywords, so kudos for that. The card itself is a little boring, though, and I'd rather play Urza's Glasses; cheaper (and Trinket Mage-able), the glasses let you "look" (which in multiplayer can help you plan around things your opponents can't), and, again in multiplayer, forgetting to untap it when you want to change who you're peeking at creates some unnecessary feel-bad.

Quote from LnGrrrR

Treacherous Sentry 2W
Creature - Human Soldier
Tribute - Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature he or she controls that's attacking you.
Treacherous Sentry can't block.
3/3
Sentries aren't paid as well as you'd think.

IIW: A cyberpunk equipment or enchantment

Inspiration: Windborn Muse

No rarity makes me go >: (, though this is obviously a rare, I think. I can't see propaganda effects getting keyworded since a format with tons of these guys going around makes combat in limited absolutely miserable. White not being able to block is pretty out of pie, and I feel Windborn Muse, which you were inspired from, is a better implementation of this.

Quote from Piar

Ever-Expanding Growth 2G
Sorcery {U}
Seek a basic land. (Search your library for a basic land card and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.)
You may play an additional land this turn.

IIW: Morph

Not 100% on board with "Seek" as a keyword, mostly because it pretty much only shows up in green and random artifacts, partly because I don't feel it help players create any significant mental shortcuts (you play the card with "seek" and then you don't have to care about it, at least in most cases). This is a pretty weak for uncommon, and a little bland too; Search for Tomorrow is almost strictly better/more interesting. :<

Quote from AsianInvasion

Gaea's Champion 1GG
Creature - Elf Warrior (R)
Vexing (This spell can't be countered by spells or abilities.)
Creature spells you cast have vexing.
Other creatures you control get +1/+1.
2/2

IIW: A card with flashback.

"Can't be countered" is probably borderline on what I'd consider reasonable to keyword, mostly because of how niche an effect it is (it can never become a significant keyword that people build around, like Infect from Scars). I don't like that it's almost a strict upgrade on Gaea's Anthem (this is more vulnerable to removal, I guess), and Gaea's Herald is not happy either (did you purposely reference cards you were outclassing? :(). You're getting far too much bang for your buck, and I don't think the effect is even all that interesting, either.

Quote from ced395

Alpha Hundroog 2GG
Creature - Beast (R)
When Alpha Hundroog enters the battlefield, if it isn't the creature with the highest power or tied for the highest power, put three +1/+1 counters on it. If you put counters on Alpha Hundroog this way, repeat this process.
Dominant (Creatures with power less than this creature's power can't block it.)
4/4

IIW: Someone else's keyword from this round.

Yay! Aura Gnarlid! I'm pretty sure this will be keyworded at some point, maybe in the near future, since it's a great way to give green (maybe red) evasion. I love the card to death, too; it fits well into green's pie, and its perfectly fine both early and lategame, which gives it a semblance of modality. MAYBE it could have cost an extra 1, and keywords (haste, flying etc) usually go before any non-keyworded abilities.

Quote from k-rad

Master of the Gate UU
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Flash
Gating -- When ~ enters the battlefield, return a blue creature you control to its owner's hand.
Creature cards you own that aren't on the battlefield have flash.
2/2

IIW: terrible flavour text

I think it'd be simple if it was just "return a creature that shares a colour with this creature" - all the gating creatures in INV block were doing that already, and that lets you change this from an ability word to a keyword, which is a lot cleaner. Heh, I like all the tricks you can do with this - with no guys on board, flash this in in response to an opponents attack, then flash another guy in before his gating resolves (returning himself) and nom away. Very fun/tricksy card, and very blue.

Quote from MOON-E

Rhox Disciple 3GG
Creature - Rhino Warrior (U)
Breakthrough (You may have this creature assign its combat damage as though it weren't blocked.)
Whenever ~ deals damage to a player, you may draw a card.
Wether they be guided by enlightenment or blinded by rage, little can stand in the way of a Rhox that has made up its mind.
2/4

IIW: A loose cycle

The keyword could probably see use at some point, assuming they print more Spinebiter type-dealies. This card is pretty fair. Costs too much for the body, but the abilities give it late game reach and early game advantage when your opponent doesn't have enough power to take him down yet. The abilities, cost and flavour text come together to create a fun, cool limited card. I like.

Quote from Ninja Caterpie

Myojin of Dying Clouds 11
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi Spirit (M)
Divine (This creature the battlefield with a divinity counter on it if you cast it from your hand. It's indestructible as long as it has a divinity counter on it.)
Remove a divinity counter from Myojin of Dying Clouds: Exile all nonland permanents.
9/9

iiwsig

If we ever return to Kamigawa (probably not lolololol), this could show up. A set based around indestructible creatures could be interesting (especially if the Eldrazi are there to counteract it?). I think this card is stepping on Myojin of Cleansing Fire's shoes a bit too much; both have a pretty similar effect, except the Myojin lives through it, which is a bit cooler/more fun than having your fatty die to his own ability. I like the flavour implications this card has, but I find the effect a bit too bland/overused.

Quote from Moonleaf

Heart of the Woods G
Legendary Creature - Elemental {M}
Heart of the Woods has trample as long as you control three or more forests, hexproof as long as you control six or more forests and indestructible as long as you control ten or more forests.
Empower for Forests you control (this creature gets +1/+1 for each Forest you control)
0/0

Squirrel-Infested Woods
Land - Forest {U}
Squirrel-Infested Woods comes into play tapped
T: Add G to your mana pool
3: Squirrel-Infested Woods becomes a 0/0 green Squirrel creature with Empower for other Squirrels (this creature gets +1/+1 for each other Squirrel in the battlefield)

[S]I can probably find a better word than Growth, we'll see[/S]

IIW: Sig

"Empower" is pretty awkwardly worded; I think the wordiness of the keyword combined with the differences between different "versions" of the keyword (things you control vs things on the battlefield) make this too awkward to see print, and not prevalent enough to really need keywording. I like how the creature scales, though my brain wants to make his last ability count 9 Forests instead of 10 to match up mathematically. I like the flavour of the land, but I feel it's too busy for an uncommon (Forest land, can become a creature, cares about creatures, has an awkward keyword).

Quote from MagicBrains

Maggot Yard
Land (R)
Slowform (This permanent enters the battlefield tapped.)
:symtap:: Add to your mana pool.
:symb::symg:, :symtap:: Return the creature with the greatest toughness among all graveyards to its owners hand. If two ore more creatures are tied for the highest toughness, you choose which to return.
They kept roiling out of the ground, like some living meat grinder operating in reverse. The corpses they were churning up, however, underwent no such reversal of grinding mechanics.

IIW: Goblin(s).

Drawback mechanics generally don't get keyworded, though I think this is borderline just because of how often this shows up. The card is pretty interesting, though the flavour is pretty weird. I think this would be better if it cost more but only worked with your graveyard; the potential to give your opponents their biggest guys back does not sound like an appealing prospect to me.

Quote from CrustaceanCrusader

Cauldron Witch 1U
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Ice cauldron (This permanent has "X,T: Put a charge counter on this permanent and exile a nonland card from your hand. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled. Note the type and amount of mana spent to pay this activation cost. Activate this ability only if there are no charge counters on this permanent." and "T, Remove a charge counter from this permanent: Add this permanent's last noted type and amount of mana to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast the last card exiled with this permanent.")
1/3

IIW: These.

Quote from Prophylaxis

Flame Dragonling 1RR
Creature - Dragon Warrior (R)
Firebreathing (R: This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
As long as Flame Dragonling has 3 or more power, it has haste.
As long as Flame Dragonling has 5 or more power, it has trample.
As long as Flame Dragonling has 7 or more power, it has first strike.
2/2

IIW blog

My only problem with firebreathing as a keyword is that Wizards has started printing multiple different forms of firebreathing (Feral Ridgewolf), and it's weird to me that there will be a feeling of separation between keyworded and non-keyworded firebreathing. As for the card, the fact that none of its ability gives it flying makes me frown. It's a dragon! Additionally, I feel the 5/7 abilities should be switched, since giving trample is slightly more powerful than just first strike, and dealing lots of damage to your opponent is a bit more exciting than being better in combat, and it also prevents this thing from dying too easily in combat.

Quote from reebtoor

Izzet Mnemonomancer UR
Creature - Human Wizard
t: Loot (Draw a card, then discard a card.)
Discard a card: Unatp Izzet Mnemonomancer
0/1

Note: Mnemonomancer might be the most awkward "word" I've ever typed.

IIW: Wall tribal

Heh. While "loot" is a cute keyword, I don't find it entirely necessary to keyword, mostly because loot's wording is pretty short. I like the card quite a bit though; it's in the Faithless Looting realm of cards that give up value for card quality, and it's cool that, if you really need something, you can dump your entire hand to try and find it - very "Izzet". I like the combos with Azami, too. :>

Quote from queensauce

Reckless Hexmage 2RR
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Haste, fearlessness (Reckless Hexmage must attack each turn if able.)
Forecast - BB, Discard a card, Reveal Reckless Hexmage from your hand: Destroy target nonblack, nonartifact creature. (Activate this ability only during your upkeep and only once each turn.)
3/2

I think just "fearless" would work fine - no reason to make them longer than they have to be. This is another drawback mechanic keyworded, but I think yours is the more likely to see print at some point. The card is wayyy too oppressive, though; an unkillable guy that spellshapes Terror every turn is going to ruin any limited format he's printed in (it's essentially an autowin against any nonblack deck), and uncounterable removal spells will force every control deck to run shroud/black/artifact finishers. That isn't a fun ability.

Quote from Gerrard"s Mom

For a set using Delve:

Ringstone Runner R
Creature - Goblin Warrior (U)
Haste
Clarity-As long as there are no cards in your graveyard, Stonehole Runner gets +1/+1.
The Ringstone goblins run fastest on the high mountain trails, where there is little but stone and sky to distract them.
1/1

IIW: Random card gave me Dark Banishing then Terror in a row. What conditional removal can you think of?

Bam, uncommon Goblin Guide! I really don't know how to evaluate this card powerwise; I think any format that doesn't have a a playable 1-mana removal spell is going to cry when people are playing these t1 on the play and following up with another one/a Stormblood Berserker-eque guy t2. And with delve in the format, these can still be relevant even late game. I like the concept/execution, but this is probably too good even by today's standard. :<

Quote from avatarz

Glareborn 1WW
Creature — Angel (R)
Flux, flux, flux
Flying, flash
And not a single flux was given that day.
5/5

Flux (When this creature enters the battlefield, return a creature you control that share a color with it to their owner's hand.)

IIW: Drawbacks that can be useful

This is a better implementation/wording of gating than krad did, although I think just "gating" is better for the name. As for the card, Dust Elemental kind of punches this guy in the face and takes his lunch money. 1 more is definitely worth the extra +1/+1 and fear, and you're more likely to have 3 dudes out on turn 4 then turn 3 anyway if you're using this/the Elemental as a beater. I guess you can play this and bounce a white creature you want back in your hand while leaving your green (or whatever) creatures on the table, but eh.

Quote from Volraths Bane

To give Red and Blue more keywords...

Crackedhorn Berserker - :3mana::symr::symr::symr:
Creature - Minotaur Berserker (R)
Haste, First strike
Overwhelm 3 (This creature can't be blocked except by three or more creatures)
5/3

IIW: Two Nongreen Dryads (Heleads, Naiads, Oreads, Auloniads, etc...)

Overwhelm may show up one day, perhaps in some sort of block that focuses on tokens/lot of creatures. While I like the mechanic, the card is pretty bland. Requiring triple red for a card that just has a bunch of keywords on it won't excite the vast majority of the playerbase (and it doesn't excite me - I don't like Vorapede design-wise). It's balanced, but I don't think it creates interesting/exciting game states.

Quote from Niv

Super Lightning Bolt RR
Instant
Bolt 4 (when this spell resolves you may deal 4 damage to target creature or player.)

Who needs muscles when the sky will do my bidding.

If I Win: 10 words or less across the whole card (name, types, text box, etcetera).

Bolt is pretty silly as a keyword. See Piar's judgement - it's mostly for the same reasons. This is pretty powerful, but I'm not entirely excited by just straight burn.

WINNER: ced395! Yay green fat.
HMs: krad, MOON-E, GMom

NEXT CHALLENGE: Someone else's keyword from this round. (as in, if you entered this challenge, you can't use the keyword you used for the challenge).

Since I'm nice (also no life), here's a list.