January Artwork Contest

[Pichoro]

Banner by FirePenguinMaster

Planeswalker Month

This month, your task is to create an original piece of art featuring a planeswalker.

— Be creative and don't be afraid to let your imagination run wild.

— Images can be black and white, or colored.

— You may use an official planeswalker, or make your own. If you make your own, give a little back story about them.

— This contest will close on February 4th, 2011. Good Luck, and have fun!

[lcbusybug]

please delete

[Pichoro]

Wow - from almost no entries to a very detailed one two days into the contest. I'm shocked and impressed.

[FDW3773]

I'm inspired as well. Here's my entry, based on one of my college friends.

Oresia Scalebane

Many know her accomplishments and her name. The story of how Oresia Scalebane came to be, however, is virtually forgotten.

It was on the Mtenda Plains that Oresia was born, just as her grandmother Rashida did years before. Bearing the hallowed Scalebane name of her family clan, Oresia trained early and often in preparation for war. The dragons of Shiv proved to be constant threat and training ground for her, as her skills grew with her knowledge. Yet, Oresia knew of something far darker lurking elsewhere.

A Femeref prophetess foresaw the Phyrexian invasion coming and warned Oresia of it, but she did not know when. It could have been weeks, months, or even mere days before the attack would begin. Wasting no time, Oresia left with her delegation to Benalish to warn others and gather allies for the impending invasion.

Oresia arrived too late, with Benalia in flames under the Phyrexian onslaught. It would have been easy for her to return to Zhalfir, but Oresia would not condemn the surviving Benalish people to be slaughtered by the Phyrexians. Rallying the remnants of Benalia’s armies, Oresia Scalebane struck back against the Phyrexian horde.

Oresia Scalebane’s victories with her new allies were numerous, but temporary at best. Losing hundreds of Phyrexians meant little to Yawgmoth when tens of thousands more emerged from his war factories. Determined to quell all resistance, Yawgmoth unleashed countless legions to exterminate all that stood against his dominion.

Benalish courage with Zhalfirin military cunning and prowess was not enough against such devastating forces. Phyrexian war machines plowed over their own dead to attack. It was at a ravaged Cathedral of Serra that Oresia Scalebane made her stand, and where she would transcend beyond the mortal realm…

Oresia Scalebane
Planeswalker - Oresia
Enters play with 4 loyalty

+2 Loyalty: All creatures you control get double strike until end of turn.

The initiative belonged to Oresia, launching the attack to assail the Phyrexian horde from the flanks. The lumbering brutes of machine and sinew were soon outmaneuvered and crushed under their own bulk as they attempted to move against Oresia’s skirmishers. While many cheered of victory, Oresia knew that this only bought her time; precious time that she never seemed to have enough of.

Loyalty -3: Put two 2/2 red and white Knight creature tokens with first strike onto the battlefield.

Time granted Oresia many things. It enabled her to plan the next attack, heal the wounded and sick, gather more forces, and salvage hope from despair. Tsabo Tavoc, Yawgmoth’s general, soon realized this, and unleashed Phyrexian plague spores to poison the air, water, and earth. Oresia wept from those perishing from battle or disease against the Phyrexian horde. Tsabo Tavoc laughed and regaled in the slaughter as she approached the destroyed Cathedral of Serra. Oresia Scalebane, she thought, would make a fine trophy.

Loyalty -7: Exile all creatures in all graveyards. For each creature exiled this way, put two 2/2 red and white Spirit creature tokens with flying and lifelink onto the battlefield.

No one knows for sure what happened next. Call it a miracle. Call it the life spark igniting within her at last. Call it a destiny fulfilled. Oresia Scalebane rose from the ashen ruins, her eyes burning and aglow as spirits of light and fire circled around her, following their general from this life to the next. The Phyrexian attack met soul fire and vengeance, for the spirits of the fallen would not be denied their day.

Tsabo Tavoc screamed with rage as she fled; her victory was not to be.

Oresia soon returned to her native homeland, finding it gone from Dominaria’s existence due to Teferi’s magic. Taking a deep sigh, Oresia disappeared from Dominaria’s plane as well, living only in people’s memories now.

[Promatim]

This sounds fun.

Skipped a month, but now it's time to get back into it!

[BlackBull]

I would like to give you a custom card designer's point of view about your text cards:

Here it is:

Ok, ok. Just joking. Here it goes:

The following would be the correct templatings for your cards:

Uhl, Lost in Darkness
Planeswalker — Uhl M
{+1}: You may exile up to one card from an opponent's graveyard. If a card is exiled this way, search its owner's library for all cards with the same name as that card and exile them. That player shuffles his or her library.
{-2}: Target player sacrifices a creature.
{-5}: Each player gets an emblem with "Whenever you tap a land for mana, you lose 2 life."
[2]

"Up to", because positive abilities from planeswalkers avoids being restrictive by general rule. Nobody would like a PW that can't add loyalty every turn.
About the emblems, until R&D says the oposite, players get emblems, not zones.
I feel the ultimate is unelegant and extremely brokable, since you can cast this in your first turn with acel. as Dark Ritual. It's basically a doubled indestructible Mana Flare that can't be prevented and that works as a Relic of Progenitus until you decide to turn it into the aforementioned, or into a repeatable Cruel Edict. I would cost it at least at 2BB, rise the starting loyalty to 3, and make the ultimate {-4} and an emblem that punishes for 1 life under the same trigger.

But what the heck, your art piece is just incredible!

Oresia Scalebane
Planeswalker — Oresia
{+2}: Creatures you control gain flanking and double strike until end of turn.
{-3}: Put two 2/2 red and white Knight creature tokens onto the battlefield.
{-8}: Exile all creature cards from all graveyards. For each creature card exiled this way, put a 2/2 red and white Spirit creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
[4]
　
R&D buried flanking very deep a long time ago, because the way it works is counterintuitive (among a ton of other reasons.) I would suggest you to remove it (it doesn't makes such a big impact after all) or at least replace it with something like bushido. "All" is redundant.
It is weird to see a knight-making token engine that produces knights without first strike. As anyone else (I think), I would expect to see that also. If Garruk, Wildspeaker makes a vanilla 3/3 for {-2}, I'm pretty sure a 2/2 first striker for the same cost would be ok in a multicolored PWker with cmc 4.
The ultimate feels very poor if we imagine an ideal curve for its resolution (cast PW turn 4, play its ultimate turn 7.) How many creature cards do you think would be there? (specially if u're running the two colors with less graveyard manipulation in the game.) I would add "twice the number of cards exiled this way" to balance it, and even an extra lifelink would be something to think about (playtesting would be needed surely.) Also, since the effect isn't permanent as Icbusybug's ultimate, it would be nice if you make your formula to be able to resolve the ultimate with a remaining loyalty point on Oresia (nobody likes token engines that kill themselves.)
　
Nice Tempest-eske art, dude!

Hope to have been helpful, and good luck everyone!

[Promatim]

Doran, Oathbreaker
Planeswalker - Doran
+2: Put a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token onto the battlefield under target opponent's control.
0: Untap all lands you control.
-10: Search your library for a creature and put it onto the battlefield. Use this ability only if each opponent controls more creatures than you. Then shuffle your library.
Loyalty - 5

Spoiler:

Since we're dealing with a known character, I'll skip the backstory. I think it's more fun to let other people speculate on how Doran got his spark.

[cardkitty]

Alice, Doomsday Architect
Loyalty: 2
+1: Choose a card in target player's graveyard. That player puts the top X cards from his or her library into his or her graveyard where X is the number of cards in that player's graveyard of the chosen card type.
-2: Sacrafice a non-token permanent: Counter target spell, play this ability as instant.
-5: For each player, choose a permanent in that player's graveyard, that player puts all cards of the chosen type into play under their control.

Spoiler:

Alice was once the head of experimental research at the Tolarian Academy. Her life-long goal has been to apprehend and study all of the physical contents of the planes, and to understand their purpose and relation to the rest of magical reality.
She has often been quoted saying: "My friends are only as valuable as their contributions to my research." It has been no surprise that she is regarded as untrustworthy and hungry for fame. Despite the criticism, most agree that she maintains a high standard of fashion.
Alice currently operates a research facility at an undisclosed location. What is known is that the inscription above the entrance to her laboratory is purported to read: Danger for the Greater Good. During the span of her lifetime, she has been in contact with many of the most powerful magical relics known. It is rumored that she is currently in possession of something so awful and magnificent that uncovering its secrets must be the reason for her self imposed reclusive state.