The Card Creation League is a monthly contest in which players compete over seven rounds. Each month has an overall theme and/or story, determined by that month's host.
Each round, the host will assign a card creation task to the players. This task may vary between teams or players.
The first three rounds are open to everyone who joined in the sign-up thread, which will be posted near the end of the previous month. After these rounds, the Top 8 players will move on to three single elimination rounds to determine a winner.
Rounds usually last three to four days for submissions and about two days for critiques, but the host has final say in making the schedule.
For the first three rounds, players are divided into teams. Four teams is standard, but there may be more or less depending on the number of players. Each team will review another team's cards during the critique period of that round.
Each player must submit a Top 3 ranking for the team he or she critiques at the end of each round. Each First Place is worth 3 points; Second Place is 2 points; and Third Place is 1 point.
Additionally, each player can receive up to 2 additional points per round. One point is given for posting a Top 3, and one point for providing critiques for that team's cards.
Suggested areas to critique include creativity, balance, printability, and relation to the overall theme or that player's previous cards.
Players who do not post a card or a Top 3 will be put on "probation." Top 3 violations for a round can be removed by posting or PMing the host with your Top 3 before the end of the next round. Any player that would receive a second violation is disqualified from further competition that month.
At the end of the first three rounds, the Top 8 players will be selected by points (usually the top 2 from each team). In the case of ties, there may be more than 8 players advancing. The host will determine matchups for single elimination. At the end of each elimination round, remaining players not in that matchup will choose a winner to advance. The host will break any ties.
The final round is determined by public poll.
Prior to Top 8, players have a chance of getting a total of 100 points toward their score each Scoring Round. Scores for each Round are determined by the following equation:
Total points of Player A in round N = 100 * X/Y, where:
X = Total number of Scoring Points (Judge Points + Additional Points from Top 3 & Critiques)
Y = Total number of Possible Points (3 * Number of Judges + Additional Points)
3 points are given for a First Place Top 3 finish, 2 points for a Second Place, and 1 point for a Third Place. 1 additional point is awarded if a Top 3 is submitted. 1 additional point is awarded if Critiques are given for all entries to be judged.
This way the grading is more streamlined in the fact that all rounds prior to Top 8 are graded equally, and there is no handicap for any team that has fewer judges.
Each player accumulates points from each Scoring Round until the end of Round 3.
The Narrative
Feeling refreshed, you take note of the fact that some of your competition has been dematerialized into raw data. You also have become aware of the passage of time, and realize that weeks have passed since you were first pulled in, though you haven't felt the need to eat, sleep, or use a bathroom. The implications are a little unnerving, but the only way to ensure your survival is to win.
Through the faint shimmer of your Aura, you can now 'see' the colors of the other contestants. More than a few players are running colors opposed to one or more of yours. Time is starting to run out, and you need to leave a memorable impression. With a Cheshire grin sliding across your face, you decide it's time to punish some of the competition for choosing their colors so... poorly.
The Challenge
Create a Rare Instant, within your chosen colors, that "hoses" a color you did not choose. Design should be in line with the color pie (White hoses Black and/or Red, Red/Green hoses Blue, etc.), and the effect should also reflect your stlye of play/deckbuilding. You cannot "hose" any of your chosen colors. The card design must include at least one of your chosen colors.
Included below is an example of a card that "hoses" and is in line with my Round 0 example.
Critiques
During this Round, critique the Round 2 submissions of the assigned Team. Critiques/Top 3 should be listed below your entry for this Round. Please include your Team Name at the top of your Post for the consideration of your fellow players.
Team Id judges Team Superego Team Ego judges Team Psyche Team Superego judges Team Id Team Psyche judges Team Ego
If you have a behind your name, that means you are on Probation for failing to provide a Top 3 and/or Round Submission. A strikethrough means you have dropped or been DQ'd. (Scores, Probation, and Participation status updated as of 00:30 Eastern on 18 July.)
Team Id
TwilightSpark: 62
Timothy, Mimeslayer: 63
Eremity: 61 DeusofCalamity shadowfuryix
Krey: 60 Jimmy Groove Summon_Legend
xX-TacOcat-Xx: 13
Oculus the Benevolent1WU
Legendary Creature - Human Monk {M} T:Flip a coin. If you win the flip, any number of target players each draw two cards. Otherwise, each player draws two cards.
1/3
Defense of the Self:
Disarmament2WW
Sorcery {U}
Each player exiles a creature he or she controls that shares the highest power amongst creatures he or she controls. True peace requires trust - trust that can only be woven by a collective act of selflessness.
Booster Aura:
Clearsight Coil2U
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant creature
As long as you have seven or more cards in your hand, enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and and has hexproof. Given enough wisdom, anyone can be the master of their own destiny.
Impose JudgmentW
Instant {R}
Exile target red permanent. Forecast - 2U, Reveal Impose Judgment from your hand: Target nonland permanent becomes red until end of turn. (Activate this ability only once each turn and only during your upkeep.) "Treachery burns inside all hearts, and must be dealt to harshly. I will show you yours, then punish you accordingly."
Explanation Thingy:
Not a lot to explain this round - the only time I'll play hosers is with a full set of Painter's Servant/Shifting Sky, or if the hosers can pull their weight even without anything to hose (eg. Ember Gale). This fits into both categories nicely.
Team Id
TwilightSpark: I suppose your avatar works alongside your Aura in the sense that it flashbacks them after casting. I still have a lot of issues with this though - commons should very rarely mess with legendary creatures, and never exclusively (Pious Kitsune and Kitsune Healer are both still fine cards on their own). Also, it's doing something very dangerous for a common, and would be nuts even at rare - Freed From the Real would make this a bloodbath, especially as it doesn't actually exile the cards. The flavor text feels a bit disconnected to me.
Timothy, Mimeslayer: I was actually pondering something along these lines, but decided against it. Nice execution, if a little narrow for a common.
Eremity: I don't like that this is the same cost as Pack's Disdain, and extremely similar, but apart from that, a solid card.
Krey: Might be a little too complex for common, but I'm all for what this is trying to do. I'm a little apprehensive of the second ability and the confusion it can cause though. Nice tie-in with your avatar.
Carl, Firemind Tactician2UR Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast. Elegance and Flare
1/1
Round 1: Channel Yourself
KoboldizexUR Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds. They are like sheep, but harmless.
Round 2: Steel Yourself
Mark of Kaminari2R Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Legendary Creature
Enchanted creature has, "T: You may play an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard without paying its mana cost." Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.
Round 3: Indulge Yourself
The Challenge
Create a Rare Instant, within your chosen colors, that "hoses" a color you did not choose. Design should be in line with the color pie (White hoses Black and/or Red, Red/Green hoses Blue, etc.), and the effect should also reflect your stlye of play/deckbuilding. You cannot "hose" any of your chosen colors. The card design must include at least one of your chosen colors.
Business PlansU Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn. Nature must make way for progress.
Notes: Similar to Flashfreeze, but with fewer targets. Allowed it to draw cards and match the flavor. Rare because wizards would never print a card this narrow at anything less than rare. Not mythic because it is not flashy/powerful enough. Instant because it counters stuff.
Critiques of team: Super-ego
brasil_dude101
Challenge met. Solid card. Flavor matches the card. Obvious theme. Good job. CodGod
Challenge met. Really cool card. Always a good thing when a designer trys to solve the 2 for 1 problem plaguing auras. ParaSiempre Challenge not met. Name could stand to be reworked, but other than that cool card. Marr965
Challenge met. I love this card. Simple, elegant and filled with johnny love. Great card. Oculus
Challenge met. Obvious synergy with your avatar. Maokun
Challenge met. Fun and interesting, but maybe a touch to powerful. See: Shielding plax Still not overly powerful, so great card. schtingah
Challenge met. Great interaction with your avatar that is not entirely linear. Great job. Pocketwatch
Challenge met. It is a good one for the johnnies out there I suppose. Extremely weak though.
Team Ego on HOLD. Well, I'll be one of the many anti-red people this round.....I feel so dirty.
Ben, Architect of Progress -- 1WU
Legendary Creature - Human Avatar
Whenever a player activates an ability of an enchantment or artifact, if it isn't a mana ability, you may pay 2. If you do, copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
1/3
I believe in the pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of society and fully intend on doing so in whatever electrical engineering job I land or company I start. Therefore, I mostly align myself with WU since they represent the knowledge and improvement of civilzation together. As for the actual card, one of my favorite cards is Rings of Brighthearth as the amount of cards it interacts with is astounding. Being a WU card though, the card should really only interacts with the abilities of artifacts and enchantments (see Stoneforge Mystic and Academy Researchers) and not creatures or lands so I decided to limit it to those types. However, I also expanded to whenever any player activates it so you can benefit from other's "improvements".
So I need some Magic to ward of the beasties that would harm me in this realm of the CCL....I guess I'll make a nice mixture of magics from my colors.....yes...
Mystifying Gaze -- 4:symuw::symuw:
Sorcery (U)
Return target permanent to its owner's hand, then tap another target permanent, then exile another target permanent and return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
My avatar is :symuw:, so the three primary ways that these colors share creature removal is by tapping, bouncing, and blink effects (see Minister of Impediments, Turn to Mist, and Worldpurge). I love versatility in both Magic and real life, and combining all of the aspects of removal into one decently powerful uncommon is exactly the type of card I love to use in limited. This can remove three opponents creatures from combat or can remove two creatures and give you a next ETB effect like Skinrender or save two creatures under two different Arrests.....the possibilities are endless.
Dream State -- 2UU
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has shroud.
When Dream State becomes attached to a creature, tap or untap it. 2U: Attach Dream State to target creature.
Obviously, I wanted an aura with an activated ability to interact with my Avatar, so I settled to with the decently classic "reattach" that is blue through and through. But why would I want to move this aura? And why would I copy the move? I wanted something that could potentially protect my Avatar but also be used defensively with my opponent's creatures. I had a bunch of weird ideas to start, namely looting, not allowing to untap and several others, but I settled with the mechanically simple "tap your creature". I wanted the creature to have shroud too, so simplifying the card made it easy to add the shroud to potentially protect my Avatar.
Battlecry of Thorn -- 1WW
Instant (R)
Put X 1/1 white Human Knight creature tokens with protection from red and first strike onto the battlefield, where X is two plus the number of attacking creatures. “The goblins have breach the outer defenses. The time has come for us to strike!” — Tivadar, Knight of Thorn
There are narrow hate cards (Flashfreeze) and there are flexible ones (Obstinate Baloth). I love flexibility: the ability for something to serve more than one purpose instills a feel of awesomeness in me. I love flexible cards and I have designed one that is a bit so. While it is great vs. a Goblins deck, I can see siding this in in WW mirrors as a surprise first-striking force to decimate their field or simply use it to bolster my force in the matchups where I simply need more dudes.
Pretty interesting card to go with your general, but certainly hard/odd to use on other creatures. I guess pingers are okay...don't really know if this should be common.
Should say "Other creatures you control with same name" etc., but it is a pretty solid design, despite being on a very fragile toke. However, don't think this effect is really common.
A simple effect that helps your avatar block better. I like, but you also need ways to draw on your opponents turn. Probably could be :symwu:, but that is just me pushing power level.
I like this card a fair amount. It is a bit low for what it does (gives every spell Buyback WU) but it is a decently splashy effect. This is borderline uncommon though...
Love, love, love this card. This card does so many things AND it interacts greatly with your avatar. Easily the best design I've seen so far.
Nice and simple. This card does well with a lot of different others, from your avatar to a simple Llanowar Elves. Good job.
This aura is simply too obnoxious for a common. I could see this being an uncommon a lot. Without the activated ability, I think I like it more.
Sure, seems fine. Not particularly inspired, but a common nonetheless.
Angelo, Gladiatorial Battlemind - 2UW
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M) 1(U/W),T: Put a Psionic counter on target creature.
Attacking creatures gain -2/-2 for each Psionic counter on them until end of turn.
1/3
Mind Spike - 1UW
Instant - Trap (U)
If exactly one creature is attacking, you may pay W rather than Mind Spike's mana cost.
Rebound
Target attacking creature becomes 1/1 until end of turn.
Psionic Defense - 2WW
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has +0/+1 for each counter on the battlefield it produces.
Battle Resilience - 1U
Instant - Trap (R)
If you were dealt noncombat damage this turn, you may pay W instead of Convert's mana cost.
Counter target red spell. If any of convert's alternate mana costs were payed, you may gain life equal to countered spell's converted mana cost.
Flashback 1WU
void_nothing: I feel like the aura is more blue or red since it's about attacking/controlling, but I guess I can see why it's white. It fits your legendary creature so that's good.
MagicBrains: I like this a lot. It doesn't really help your legend as much as it does your sorcery, but it's still great.
Jau: Jax seems a little hard to play, especially against a white weenie when you rely on this aura. Maybe if it was like "creatures of enchanted creature type can't attack" or something, it'd be more useful.
TwilightSpark: Seems overpowered, even though it's an enchant legendary. Also, as a common, I don't think there should be an enchant legendary sepll. It doesn't really help your avatar and, in some ways, makes him a bit useless. Another way to think of how this is overpowered is: if you have a cancel in your graveyard, you can play cancel for free each turn. Maybe if it was like "you may play sorceries and instances from your graveyard, then exile them" or something.
Paradigm Entity: Fits the color, fits the theme, balanced, useful, I would use this in actual game. 10/10
Ikeda: I like the combo between your legend and aura. I can see so many ways to break it though.
Gerrard's Mom: Doesn't really enhance the ability, but creates a whole new ability. It's good, anyways.
@NotoriousLynx: Um, where's the color hosing? Flashfreeze is a color hosing counterspell. Guttural Response is a color hosing counterspell. Your entry doesn't even mention a color. I attached an "example" card to give a little guidance, if needed. That, and I wanted to show off a little.
@brasil_dude101: You went WU for your Legend, so these would be your available options: W hosing B and/or R; U hosing R and/or G; WU (gold or hybrid) hosing R. So, yes, you can go for paired color-hosing.
Ephraim, Apprentice Engineer1UW
Lengedary Creature - Human Artificer (M)
When Ephraim, Apprentice Engineer enters the battlefield, you may search your library for an artifact with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of lands you control, and put into your hand. Then, shuffle your library. 1/3
Postpone1UU
Sorcery {U}
Return target permanent to its owner’s hand if Postpone was cast from your hand. Put that card on the bottom of its owner's library instead if you didn’t cast Postpone it from your hand. Put Postpone on the bottom of your library.
Suspend 2—UW
I tend to leave things for later. Whether that's because I feel that I'm not yet prepared for the task due to a lack of necessary skills or information, or because I'm simply being lazy and procrastinating, it's not odd to find me doing something due the next day when I've had a while to do it. I feel the above card represents this tendency and/or me well, since it basically either draws things out (procrastinates), or, if you are willing to wait, solves your problem.
Basic Assembly1U
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.
Enchanted creature has “T: Add 2 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.” All construction begins with a solid base.
I believe the above card represents me well (I'm assuming we're keeping the theme going), because currently, I'm a student, and hence, my main job is to master the basics, so that eventually, anything I try to do boils down to "basic assembly."
I've kind of dug myself into a hole here since I actually prefere aggro and combo to control, yet UW is the quintessential control combination (although an argument copuld be made for UB). Hence, this might not turn out so well, but here we go... (Please read the explanation below, since I'm sure you'll need it to understand.)
Force Diversion2UU
Instant {R}
Tap all red and green creatures. They don’t untap during their controller’s next untap step. For each creature tapped this way, you may untap target artifact you control. “If only my creations could display the verve that those pesky marauders do...”
The premise here is that some artificer is being hassled by some RG nitwits while attempting to get his/her creations to function. It then dawns upon him/her that sapping away the marauders strength and using it to power the artifacts would kill two birds with one stone.
This personally suits my style of play because it stalls out aggro, allowing you to combo off with your artifacts, or giving a chance to alpha-strike with your artifact creatures (if used on your turn).
CRITS & TOP 3: TEAM ID
I could theoretically see this at common if it still required you to pay the cost and/or exiled the card upon resolution, but as is, it's just too powerful. For flavor reasons (as in, the flavor of the round), Enchant Legends makes sense, but game-play wise, it just feels disconnected. If I saw this in a booster pack, I would most likely not understand what it's referring to (especially since your avatar isn't from Kamigawa).
So like an updated Alexi's Cloak merged with a conditional but more versatile Primal Cocoon? Nice. I think the card works out well both in and of itself, and matches your avatar well. I'm kind of borderline on whether it should cost just more, but I don't think it'd be that backbreaking at its current cost.
This feels like a common core-set removal spell, since in a true tribal block, it will generally kill everything it can target. Not as versatile as Doom Blade in that regard, though, which balances it, so I guess its fine. Great card.
I really like what this card s trying to achieve. That being said, I think this is a bit powerful for a common, and even then, I would have liked to have seen some sort of activation cost, since passing o abilities adds up very quickly. It feels just basic enough that it could pass for a common, but in case it does, it's severly undercosted.
Ben, Linguophile2WU
Legendary Creature - Human {MR}
When Ben, Linguophile enters the battlefield, gain control of any number of target creatures with 2 power or less as long as Ben remains on the battlefield. He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.
1/2
Spellbind1UU
Instant {U}
Tap target creature. As long as Spellbind is in your graveyard, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step. Since the moment the chilling tale had left Ben's lips, the guard couldn't keep it out of his head. Soon it was all he could think about.
Curse of the Frog Prince2U
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is a 1/1 Frog creature with no abilities. When it becomes the target of another creature's ability, sacrifice Curse of the Frog Prince. Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.
Illuminating Spark3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards. Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.
I see how this feeds off your avatar's ability, but it could also cause some stupid mistakes when it deals combat damage, you're required to pick a type and then you realize you wanted to cast one of them in your second main. After all, this is often going to trigger off of combat damage, where it's pretty useless. And often a player casts only one spell a turn, so it's often not even going to do anything if it triggers off your avatar's ability.
Very cool card. This is very flashy and unusual for a common, however. Cutting one of the abilities would've reined in the complexity while retaining the idea. You forgot "Enchant creature" also.
This is very strange. It makes one of your guys a gomazoa, and is sort of removal for their best guy if you're playing control, and is really bad blinking. I don't understand why the second ability is here at all. It has no flavor or mechanical connection that I can see.
If I'm going to go to all the trouble of playing an aura and drawing multiple cards for an effect, I'm going to want something better than this. You also forgot "Enchant creature."
I'm sad that you didn't use "Cards in your hand have 'Splice onto instant or sorcery.' Their splice costs are equal to their mana costs." in your avatar. I think this card would be fine (and simpler) if it just returned an instant or sorcery put into your graveyard this turn to your hand rather than having to mess with things as they resolve. I also don't understand why this is an aura other than to fulfill the challenge. You could have had all instants or sorceries that target enchanted creature bounce back to hand, that would have made it more aura-ish.
I see why the mana payment is necessary, even though I wish it wasn't. Gerrard is going to have lots of fungus brothers very quickly with your avatar.
I don't understand why this doesn't just say "1: Choose a type, Creatures of that type have "When this creature attacks it is unblockable unless defending player pays 2" until end of turn." Even that would be much too complex for a common.
Twilight KiwiRWU
Legendary Creature - Human Guardian (M)
Whenever a permanent or player becomes the target of a spell or ability, if you or Twilight Kiwi could be targeted by that spell or ability, you may pay 2. If you do, choose one - Redirect that spell or ability to you or Twilight Kiwi; or you may copy that spell or ability, and you or Twilight Kiwi must be a target of the copy.
1/3
Because someone asked. Within the context of Magic:
I feel red- and blue-flavored because I'm drawn to and entertained by the unnecessarily complicated, especially when a game devolves into the kind of crazy fun that stories are made of - there are a bajillion tokens on the board? Everytime I play a creature, a dozen different triggers go off? Someone just lost to a deck centered around One With Nothing? Sign me up! I care much less about winning often than I do about winning (or losing!) in interesting and different ways. I like to try new, less straightforward strategies rather than sticking to the same surefire ones all the time.
These two colors are tempered by white - I prefer multiplayer to duels, and more so than my other motivations, I care less about winning than I do about everyone having fun. I will help other players even when there's nothing in it for me if they're stuck in an annoying situation, and (red bleeding in a bit here) I'll take risky moves to break a stale game state even if it means leaving myself vulnerable. If one of my weird decks seems unfun for others to play against, I won't use it very often. I am definitely not a poor loser or winner (and I try not to give my opponents the opportunity to do either if they seem inclined to). Blue bleeds into the white part of me here - after a game I will try to offer what constructive advice or comments I can, and will eagerly take any another player has to give me. I have a vested interest in helping my opponents improve and improving myself, because when everyone is a better player, games become more challenging, interesting, and fun.
Okay, so I'm inside the CCL somehow. This isn't so bad, actually! I wonder what all these shiny bits do. Maybe I should poke around, see if anyone on the outside notices me... or if this has happened to anyone else. Though come to think of it... if I'm not alone in here, and this is the CCL, won't most others be looking for a fight..? I should have something prepared to dissuade any violence, just in case...
Diplomatic Solution1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature. "I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
Art: A council room filled with bureaucrats who, by their attire, are obviously from different nations; one of their number seems to be arguing heatedly about something and pointing an accusing finger at another. An impassive-looking council member stands between them.
Seems my diplomatic solution wasn't enough to keep the more aggressive folk off my back, and... hey, those guys are getting a little too close for comfort. Hrrrrm... summoning creatures is actually kind of hard! I don't have time to be really creative, need something familiar I can quickly bring to mind... my dog? I don't really want to see my loyal companion slaughtered in front of me though... ah, that's it! Instead of solid flesh and blood, I just need him to be able to protect me and still be able to recover easily if he gets overcome...
Hound Umbra1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever a creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, if Hound Umbra is in your graveyard, you may pay 1W. If you do, return it to the battlefield enchanting that creature.
Totem armor
I figured an aura with totem armor would be the perfect compliment to a spell magnet like my legend; this way I can eat removal or direct damage without losing him (myself?) in the process. And of course, man's best friend will always return to his master's side.
Dawn's Light1W
Instant (R)
Whenever a nonblack creature becomes the target of a spell or ability this turn, it's indestructible this turn.
Whenever a black creature becomes the target of a spell or ability this turn, exile it. "The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent
The Night Dweller :symbg::symwg::symbw:
Legendary Creature - Human
Creature tokens you control have trample, deathtouch and lifelink.
0/2
Æther/Essence/Mana Genesis1GWB Forgot to choose a name
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target non-token creature.
If GG was spent to cast ~, put four 0/1 green plant creature tokens into play.
If WW was spent to cast ~, put two 1/1 white soldier creature tokens into play.
If BB was spent to cast ~, put a 2/2 black zombie creature token into play.
Might of the Meek3GGG
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each creature you control that has the same name as it.
Creatures you control that share a name with enchanted creature get +1/+1. The time has come, friends. Band together and show these fools your true power.
Light of the Pure :symw::symw::symw::symw:
Instant (R)
Put all red permanents on the bottom of their owner's libraries.
Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play for each creature put into a library this way.
Psionic Defense - 2WW
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has +0/+1 for each counter on the battlefield it produces.
This would be hard to keep track of I think. Maybe have it put a counter on the enchanted creature when it puts a counter on another permanent and that creature gets +0/+1 for each of those counters. The idea is cool, even if the execution is't the most elegant. Suits your legendary.
No Entry?
Hound Umbra1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever a creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, if Hound Umbra is in your graveyard, you may pay 1W. If you do, return it to the battlefield enchanting that creature.
Totem armor
This is a tasty aura. I feel it may be a pinch of salt too tasty for common though. I'd use it and basically ignore the +1/+1 on it. In fact, you could have just removed the +1/+1 altogether. I love the card, just not costed right IMO.
Proof ReadingU
Enchantment - Aura (c)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has protection from creatures that share an ability with enchanted creature. flieing, vigalance, first stryke, hast, protektion, lifelinc, dethtuch, reech, landwak...
I like this card too I think it works extremely well with your avatar. It's so complimentary - but maybe deserves an uncommon tag.
Narcissistic Feel2B
Enchantment - Aura (c)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+0 and is legendary along with every other creature that shares a name with enchanted creature. Your ego is showing.
Haha, I like this card a lot It'd decimate my little friends. I think all three of you cards work really well so far. Good job.
No Entry?
Curse of the Frog Prince2U
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is a 1/1 Frog creature with no abilities. When it becomes the target of another creature's ability, sacrifice Curse of the Frog Prince. Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.
I'm not 100% clear on which abilities get checked when cast and resolution and which ones only get checked when cast, so I'll take your word for it. That said, I think your card is cool-beans! It's not overpowered at all unless coupled with your legendary creature's ability - which is the point of the competition I approve.
Dream State -- 2UU
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has shroud.
When Dream State becomes attached to a creature, tap or untap it. 2U: Attach Dream State to target creature.
This is an interesting card. Not sure on how often I'd mix this with the legendary creature ability, but it's definitely got some good utility. It's appropriately costed for what you get, too. Good job.
NotoriousLynx
Your avatar doesn't need to say "until end of turn," as a static ability it will stop working when they stop becoming attacking creatures. Similarly, I don't think your aura works, and it is also extremely weak. I would try "Whenever a counter is placed on another creature, you may put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature," but that might be uncommon because of the unusual rules interactions. Probably three mana or so for that, but definitely not 4 when you only get toughness.
Koopa
Twilight Kiwi
Seems pretty complicated for a common, not to mention it translates to "1W: Regenerate target creature" from your graveyard. Certainly combos well with your avatar since you can redirect to him.
Prospero314
Both the mana cost and ability seem at least uncommon, unless you are in a multicolored set about keywords. I see no problem with it just being white, but in most cases it sucks. For 1W you can now get Spirit Mantle, which is pretty much strictly better.
Dofustal
Pretty sure making stuff legendary is not common material. I don't like the wording either. It's a pretty roundabout way to do removal for black.
Monkey Playing MTG
Phyrexian Editor
Yeah, clever way to work with your avatar; apparently you have some pretty convincing kisses. Your other card talks about lips too 0_0 Pretty nice core set-style design, very reminiscent of Arachnus Web.
Benjammn
Seems awfully expensive for Robe of Mirrors + Twiddle. As long as the activation cost stays pretty high, you can probably cut the initial cost to 1U or so. I guess your avatar pushes this a little to 4U: Tap or untap two target creatures. I don't know how I feel about the shroud; it makes it 2U: counter target spell that targets a creature. Interesting case where I think hexproof would improve the play, since it doesn't let you counter opponents' pump spells, but still allows you to target your own guys.
1. Phyrexian Editor
2. Benjammn
3. Twilight Kiwi
Mother of Gerrard(G/W)
Legendary Creature - Human Designer (M) (G/W)(G/W): Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. You may target each creature only once each turn with this ability. A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.
1/1
DeposeW
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller. Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings
Spore Glands1G
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Whenever you activate an ability of enchanted creature, you may pay G. If you do, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield. Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.
Shielding Vitality 3GW
Instant (R)
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you this turn from nongreen, nonwhite sources. For each 1 damage prevented in this way, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield.
NotoriousLynx: The wording of Psionic Defense sounds way off, but I get the general gist of what it does. WU is the most defensive colour pairing in Magic, but I don’t see why the creature can’t get +1/+1 for each counter it creates. At the moment, Psionic Defense does nothing for the majority of creatures, and not much for those that do make counters. Even for cards like Gideon’s Avenger or your own Angelo, Gladiatorial Battlemind, getting a +0/+3 or +0/+4 boost to your toughness is not worth paying 2WW for. I might not even pay for that ability. This card could be a lot stronger, for example, if it gave the enchanted creature +1/+1 for each counter among permanents on the battlefield.
Twilight Kiwi: Hound Umbra is an interesting card. There’s quite a few elements going on, with the +1/+1 boost, the totem armor, and the returning of the Aura whenever a creature is targeted (any creature I noticed; that would be fun in multiplayer), so I’m not sure whether it is best suited as a common. Your explanation for why the Aura keeps coming back and its connection with the name is rather clever. Very good stuff.
Prospero314: Is the effect on Proof Reading limited to keyword abilities, or is it any activated/triggered ability? Would a Prodigal Pyromancer enchanted with Proof Reading have protection from Prodigal Sorcerer’s pinging? I assume it’s the former, as the rulings for the latter could be very complicated and be beyond the realm of a common card. Your card is weaker than, say Spirit Mantle, but that’s expected given the different rarities between the two. In practicality, I could only really see Proof Reading being useful for protecting your flier from other fliers, as the other keywords don’t appear nearly enough. The idea for your card is sound, but its applicability is limited.
Dofustal: It took me a few minutes to figure out how Narcissistic Feel interacts with your persona, but it’s actually quite ingenious. The potential to kill two birds with one stone is pretty cool. Alternatively, it serves as a token killer, which is rather neat. However, I don’t think this is the type of card Limited players would want to see among their commons in their boosters. I feel its ability would be more appropriate as an uncommon.
Phyrexian Editor: Hmm, a variation on Ice Cage. Both are flavourful, but I think Curse of the Frog Prince is a little weaker since it still allows the creature to chump block. The connection between ‘touching’ another creature and the removal of the Aura is awesome however. Good card.
Benjammn: I like your card. Its effect is simple but it is certainly versatile. For 2U, you can tap or untap any creature you control, counter any targeted spell that your opponents may throw at your creatures, and also counter any Auras, Equipment, and activated abilities your opponents may try to play that target their own creatures. Having said that, I think it does a bit too much for a common. Freed from the Real and Stasis Cell were both commons, but Dream State does what both cards do and more.
1. Twilight Kiwi
2. Benjammn
3. Phyrexian Editor
Jacky, Antagonist of War1WU
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no damage was dealt this turn, draw a card. Otherwise, discard a card.
1/2
Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost. “Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War
Inner Virtue2W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to or dealt by enchanted creature.
Sacrifice Inner Virtue: Exile enchanted creature. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner’s control at the beginning of the next end step
Team Psyche - Round 3 Instant:
Moment's Doubt1W
Instant (R)
Your opponents can’t cast spells this turn. Until end of turn, black and red creatures can’t attack or activate abilities. (Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.) “There is still hope when the blackest of hearts and the bloodiest of hands pause, no matter how briefly, to reflect on the consequences of their actions.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War
CodGodRUW
Creature - Human Avatar (M)
Whenever CodGod becomes the target of a spell or ability, put an 1/1 colourless Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield, and change a target of that spell or ability to that creature.
0/2
Colours: I'm very driven by my emotions, and by a desire to learn. I try to follow rules in general, but will break them if I feel they're wrong - sometimes going out of my way to do so. I try to understand why a rule is in place before I draw conclusions about it. I believe that rules are important and that life would be much worse if people have them, but I don't venerate rules just for them being rules - if a particular rule holds us back more than it helps, it should be discarded. And I think rules shouldn't be applied completely hard and fast, but mitigated by emotional compassion and intellectual understanding of the circumstances.
Ability: I like redirection effects and weird interactions, and I love cards which have one effect, but which is applied in multiple ways - in this case, against opponent's spells the ability functions like a psudo hexproof, while working as a token generation engine with your own spells (or at least the beneficial ones). I love enemy colour pairs, and the wedge combinations even more so. I like tokens which aren't just creatures, because they interact with a wider variety of other cards, and also the tokens made sense as artifacts because I'm a computer programmer with a keen interest in AI and robotics.
I feel this ability isn't out of place here - white has a good history of token producing, and redirection is red/blue. But It could also could work in RGU - the other colour combination I think best fits me after RUW. I do have times where I care less about what the rules are and more about just finding my place in the world as it is. So in that way I feel it's doubly fitting for me, as it fits in either of the two colour combinations I most identify with.
Also, I know I have a tendency to become evasive when I feel threatened, and try to shift blame and/or aggression away from myself as an almost automatic response at times - although I do try to force myself to accept and admit when I am in fact at fault. And the ability works with that, as well as the fact that when I'm in over my head, I often rely on calling on my friends to come help me out.
Power and Toughness: I don't like to fight, and in all honesty probably wouldn't be very good at it, but feel I can at least take a small amount of punishment. And yes if I had the ability, I'd have robots do the fighting for me
Raging Reiforecements3WR
Sorcery (U)
Put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens into play. Each of those tokens deals damage equal to it's power to target creature or player.
I like cards which seem straightforward but offer way to enhance their effect by combining them with other cards. In this case, the card is designed to be reasonable by itself, but better if you have a glorious anthem or similar to pump the token with.
Machine Mastery1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control. W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Part of my avatar's design is it's interaction with auras - it removes card disadvantage by automatically shifting auras cast on it to their own token creature - thus preventing you losing two cards (creature and aura) to a single removal spell. So I've made an aura which works well with that ability - when cast on my avatar, it'll be automatically shunted onto a 1/1 token, making that token bigger for each friend it has. In addition, if you're low on tokens, you can just return it to hand and cast it again to generate a new one.
My Round 3 Card: Repel the Unrighteous4WWW
Instant (R)
For each creature without flying attacking you, put a 2/2 white Knight creature token with first strike and protection from black and from red onto the battlefield.
I like my hosers to still have at least some use when opponents aren't playing those colours, so at it's very worst, this is a 7-mana fog that doesn't affect flyers.... Okay that's pretty bad, I'll admit. But luckily, it won't be at it's very worst most of the time. If any of the attacking creatures have 2 or less toughness, then the knights which kill those ones will survive to either defend another day, or attack on your turn. And if the opponent is playing black/red all those the tokens for attackers of those colours will hang around, ready to either block again turn after turn, or swing in revenge, with those colours not being able to block them.
This card fits me/my playstyle in four ways:
1) I like token creation effects (In case you hadn't picked that up from my previous cards)
2) I play almost exclusively multiplayer, and like cards which provide a disincentive to attacking me, so that other players will look elsewhere when deciding who to attack. After the first assault is blunted, leaving the knight tokens on defense will ensure any black/red creatures swing at other people rather than me.
3) I've been playing since Ice Age, and I like like when new cards make references to older cards (I loved Time spiral block). One I worked out the basics of the card, I had to add the first strike to the tokens as well so that they'd be Palladin en-Vec. It just wouldn't have felt right otherwise. This meant I had to increase the cost slightly, and makes it a less full-on hoser since that change makes it more useful against decks not running the hosed colours, but if I hadn't done it it wouldn't have felt like I'd been making a card which fit me nearly so much as it does now. And it's still much more effective against red/black decks than others, so I think it's still reasonably hoser-y.
4) I love EDH, and have a soft stop for big, expensive spells with splashy effects (I'm a Johnny-Timmy). They're not so useful in hardcore constructed tournaments, but that's not how I like to play the game.
Round 0: Carl, Firemind Tactician2UR Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast. Elegance and Flare
1/1
Round 1: KoboldizexUR Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds. They are like sheep, but harmless.
Mark of Kaminari2R
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Legendary Creature
Enchanted creature has, "T: You may play an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard without paying its mana cost." Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.
Well, the special ability of my avatar is to lower the cost of instants and sorceries. This makes them more playable. Why not make them playable from the grave and of any mana cost? I chose a red kami from kamigawa block whose card dealt with the graveyard. A tribute to what is probably the most flavorful block in all of magic. Also, kamigawa had a legends theme.
The restriction reduces its power a lot, but perfect for this contest. The ability is also very red.
I started to like this one as soon as I saw it was set in Kamigawa. But I'm afraid I'm not going to give you first place just for that, so I'm going to have to read the rest of the card
Unfortunately, the card is way, way, too good. The first thing this needs is a clause to exile the spell you play from the graveyard. As written, this on any legendary creature, plus a Time Warp or similar in the graveyard, means infinite turns. Or a Turnabout for infinte untaps on all your other creatures, letting you win with any pinger, or generate infinite mana with a single mana elf or similar. Even this plus Twiddle can rack up an infinte storm count. This card is broken wide open, and could never see print as is.
If we change the card so that it exiles the spells, it's still too good. Sins of the Past cost six mana (and exiled the card), this lets you do that every turn for a T. There should really be a mana cost associated with using this ability as well. Obviously being an aura (and one limited to legendary creatures at that) makes it harder to use, but not nearly enough to justify the completely broken things this does as you've made it. Also, the challenge was:
Create a Common Aura, within your chosen colors, that enhances or improves the special ability of your avatar. The card design must include at least one of your chosen colors.
And while your aura plays nicely in the same deck as your avatar's ability, it doesn't improve or enhance the ability, but rather makes it redundant for this purpose - your avatars ability tries to reduce the mana cost of the spells, but the aura's telling not to pay the cost at all, so you're not getting that benefit. So really this would have fit the challenge better if it hadn't had the "without paying it's mana cost" part, since then your avatar's ability would actually work with it, applying the cost reduction to apply the spells the aura lets you cast from your graveyard. If you'd done that and exiled the spells after they were cast, it would actually be at least reasonably close to balanced. As is, the card is massivly overpowered, and it could have done a better job than it did of meeting the theme. Also, it feels like it should be at least uncommon, rather than common, for complexity, swingyness, and because having a common which has no use unless you have a legendary creature out is really annoying in limited, because it's so easily a dead card. Note that even in Kamigawa block, the only common with an ability which required a legendary creature was Kitsune Healer, which still did something if you didn't have one yet.
Round 0: Jammer, Faithful Soul :symwu::symwu::symwu:
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (MR)
Hexproof (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
:1mana::symw:: Jammer, Faithful Soul has indestructible until end of turn.
1/2 The dark cannot destroy those whose faith shines bright enough.
Round 1: Justice's Verdict :3mana::symw::symu:
Sorcery (U)
Return all creatures that dealt damage to you this turn to their owner's hand. If three or more creature would be returned to their owner's hand, exile those creatures instead. These land's laws demands an eye for an eye. Even when I was the victim, I believe there is a more peaceful way to atone for their crimes.
Enlightened Knowledge1UU
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted creature gains ":symtap:: Target creature you control loses all abilities and gains all the abilities of the enchanted creature until end of turn."
Return Enlightened Knowledge to its owner's hand: Untap the enchanted creature. "All my years learning the magical arts of healing and protection has come to a end, Now as a master of those arts I must teach them to the worthy ones." - Jammer, Faithful Soul
First off, I'm struk by the impression that you might be misunderstanding how this interacts with your avatar's activated indestructablity. The reason I get this impression is because you've worded your avatar's ability as "...has indestructible...", which is wrong. It should be "...is indestructable...". Your wording would be the correct woring if "indestructable" was an ability, but it isn't - rather it's a property of a permanent. This is why Darksteel Colossus says "Darksteel Collossus is indestructable". If "indestructable" were an ability itself, it would just say "Indestructable", just like "Trample" or "Flying".
So if you cast this aura on your avatar, activate his ability to make him indestructable until end of turn, and then tap him for the ability from the aura, the targeted creature will not be indestructable - it will have gained your avatars abilities, which at that point are:
Hexproof
:1mana::symw:: ~ hasis indestructible until end of turn.
:symtap:: Target creature you control loses all abilities and gains all the abilities of the enchanted creature until end of turn.
You'll be able to activate the ability to make that creature indestructable until end of turn, but the indestructable property is not an ability and will not be passed on - to do so your avatar would need to be worded ":1mana::symw:: ~ gains "This creature is indestructible" until end of turn.". In that case, "This creature is indestructible" is an ability, and could therefore be passed on by the aura (but that wording is horrible).
I could, of course, be completely wrong, and you may be aware of this, and just used the wrong word in a momen'ts oversight. In which case I apologise for making you read so much explaining something you already know. For the record, I don't think this hurts your card particularly - it still passes on the hexproof, and the ability to get indestructablitly. So please don't think I'm going to be judging it harshly based on my assumptions about what you meant it to do (although I would be interested to hear whether you knew about how this worked, or thought that it would pass on the indestructablitly as well).
The part of the card which really appeals to me, in fact, is that you worded it such that the aura grants the ability to the creature - and therefore the creature will pass that ability to the target, which can then to do again to another creature (assuming it doesn't have summoning sickness), and so on until all your creatures have the same abilities.
The ability to return it to your hand is too good as is. Usually you have to pay mana to return an aura to your hand (see Flickering Ward and friends), but here you do it as a cost in order to get an extrfa benefit. Returning it to your hand for no mana means you'll pretty much never be able to loose the aura, especially since the opponent can't respond because you made returning it part of the cost. Since you'll probably want to return it sometimes anyway just to move it onto another creature with different abilities, you really ought to be paying for that effect, not using it as a cost.
The real problem with your card, is this is a cool design, but definitely not a common. It's way to complex and swingy for common, and in fact I'd hesitate to put it even at uncommon (althought that could be agured). This feels like a rare card, maybe an uncommon. Not a common at all, which is what the challenge required.
Round 0: Erasmus, Weaver of Life :1mana::symb::symg:
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman (M)
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, you may put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield. Come, meet some friends of mine.
0/3
Round 1: Growth//Decay
Growth :2mana::symg::symg:
Sorcery (U)
Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Draw a card.
// Decay :2mana::symb::symb:
Sorcery (U)
Target player discards a card; put a -1/-1 counter on each creature he or she controls.
Mob Oppression :1mana::symb:
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature.
When Mob Oppression enters the battlefield choose a creature type, enchanted creature get -1/-1 for each creature on the battlefield of the chosen type. To be singled out is a death sentence.
This is an interesting design. I can't help but compare to Pack's Disdain, which brings two one thoughts to mind by comparison - This could count permanents so that it works with tribal artifacts/enchantments, and ignore this I accidentally read the cost from the sorcery above it and thought it was overcosted, my mistake. From instant to enchantment while keeping the cost reminds me of Howl from Beyond and Endless Scream. I like the card, and it definitely feels like something which could see print as a common in the right set. Well done.
Round 0: Timothy, the Mellow :1mana::symu::symg:
Legendary Creature - Human (M)
At the beginning of your end step, if you played a creature this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Otherwise, draw a card then discard a card.
1/1
I am pretty much always going with the flow through life, this is represented through my card as, "Hey great, I played a creature" or just as equally "Hey great, I didn't play a creature." Don't confuse this with aimlessness though, just like the river, I have a destination I have to get through and I will carve away mountains to get there and in the case of the card, you are that mountain.
Round 1: Channel Soul :1mana::symu::symg:
Sorcery (U)
Return target creature to its owners hand and add any combination of and to your mana pool equal to that creature's converted mana cost.
Battlemage Training :1mana::symg::symu:
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gains Hexproof.
At the beginning of your end step, if you drew more than one card this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature.
Beautiful. The effect is powerful, but seems balanced, on colour, works really nicely with your avatar while still being good with plenty of other cards, and simple enough to be printed at common. I'm honestly struggling to find anything bad to say about it... Um... It would have been better with flavour text, and I don't think the name is the best because I don't see any connection between this ability and any of the battlemages. That's about as harsh as I can really be on this card. Really well done.
shadowfuryix: Posted a placeholder in the round 2 thread but as yet there's no card there. I'll check again later in case it's posted late or something. Feel free to PM me if you've posted it and think I've missed it/won't see it on time.
xX-TacOcat-Xx: Doesn't seem to have posted in the round 2 thread at all, so likewise.
The remainder of the team is no longer in the game, but since DeusofCalamity got as far as posting a card for round 2 before having to drop, I figured I'd critique that too. Kept in another level of spoilering to keep in separate from the entries of those still in the game to avoid confusion.
Round 0: Victor, Trinket Fiddler 1:symwr::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Artificer{R}
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Draw a card. Activate this ability no more than three times per turn. "What does this button do....?"
1/2
Round 1: Experimental Malfunction1UR
Sorcery {U}
As an additional cost to cast ~, sacrifice an artifact.
~ deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is the sacrificed artifact's converted mana cost.
Draw a card. "Wait, don't push that....!" -- Drivik, Izzet Researcher; Final Words.
Brain PoweredU
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant Artifact
Discard a card: Untap enchanted artifact. Activate this ability only once per turn. "The brain contains more electricity that a 10V battery. Why not harnes that?"
Well, the ability clearly works with your avatar. I initially had my crazy-broken alarm going off in my head because I missed the limits on uses per turn on both cards on my first read. So false alarm. The card seems fairly balanced, and certainly on-colour. The interaction with your avatar is cool, although the two having different limits on their use feels inelegant to me. There are definitely several cards this could work with other than your avatar, but it feels like most of the time it's either going to be really good or not worth using - there's not a lot of middle ground. And I while simple, the limited number of cards this interacts with usefully mean I'd be happier with it at uncommon than common. I won't say it couldn't be common, because it could, but it would have to be in an artifact heavy set to justify it's presence at common for limited formats, or have some interaction with a set theme (an artifact keyword which involves tapping or some such). A quite nice card, all in all. Sorry you had to drop, but of course real life gets in the way sometimes.
Overall:
I'd like to point out that this was quite a hard challenge in my opinion. Mythic rares such as we designed in the first round tend to have reasonably complex abilities, so designing an aura to work with those that would still fit as a common was a tough one. I was harsh i my critiquing where I felt it justified (I tried to be harsh but fair, but perhaps others might feel I fell short of that), but I'd like to say that no-one on team Id should feel bad about my comments here - I might not have felt you did well, but I recognise it was very hard to do so, and I can see everyone was trying.
And condolences to those who've been forced to drop. This is my first CCL, and I've really enjoyed it so far, so I hope to see everyone again in future months
Team Id Top 3: 1: Timothy, Mimeslayer
An interesting card with a unique effect, but which is simple enough to fit nicely at common. And it works wonderfully with your avatar, as well as being very useful without it as well. I think you hit this challenge about perfectly.
2: Erimety Pack's Disdain in aura form clearly works well with your avatar, and I like that it's a little different than the original that you can us it on a creature now, then amass a big enough army to kill the target later, just weakening it in the meantime. It's a solid common, and would be a great card in limited in a tribal set. This was a close call, but Timothy got the nod over you because while you both had solid cards which worked as commons, his just felt a bit more exciting and interesting - which isn't necessary for a common card, but is nice to have.
3: Krey
Where Erimety had a good, solid common but fell to second because it just wasn't as interesting or cool a design as Timothy's, you went the other way - I love your card, and it's got plenty of 'wow'. But I really can't see it as a common card - it just has too many crazy interactions which could confuse people. Particularly since one of the abilities it transfers over is the one the aura itself gives the creatures, meaning you can chain it around all your creatures until they have the same abilities (although this will tap them all, so its not necessarily useful). It's a great card, but I don't think that level of complexity is appropriate for a common - which bumped you down to third place.
Ikeda MagnusWU
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard MR
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may reveal an instant card from your hand and pay its mana cost. If you do, add that card's effects to that spell. "Hmmm."
1/1
Indoctrinate3WU
Sorcery U
Exile target creature, then return it to the battlefield tapped under your control. "If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see." —Henry David Thoreau
Mnemonic MantleWU
Enchantment - Aura C
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+2.
Return Mnemonic Mantle to its owner's hand: Target instant or sorcery spell gains "Put this card into its owner's hand as it resolves." "In remembrance will you find strength." —Master Argus
This round's submission:
Reflective Glare1WU
Instant
Change the target of target spell with a single target. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn. "If you refuse to see how my brilliance outmatches yours... then perhaps you might as well be blind."—Riel, Mirrorwalker
NotoriousLynx I like the fact that this opens up some interesting design space, although I'm skeptical about how much bookkeeping will be involved if you have more than one card that can pass out counters. While the Aura does enhance your Avatar's ability, I think that the ability is too narrow for anything else - there's a very limited number of creatures where you can place this Aura and have it be effective; I don't think it's a good quality for a card to have.
Koopa I don't see your submission - drop me a line if I've failed to notice it for any reason.
Twilight Kiwi Not bad. It enhances your Avatar's ability, and the targeting trigger is a nice touch for a card that's likely to land in the graveyard for any number of reasons. My issue, however, is that it's tantamount to being able to stop any removal spell for 1W, especially multiple times per turn. It's definitely not common in my book.
Prospero314 Kudos for finding an ability that works with your Avatar's. What I find interesting is that when placed on Prospero, the Lexiconnoisseur can turn the protection on and off at will. Otherwise you can just drop this on a flying creature and make it unblockable - it's quite the playable card. My only issue is a big one, though - we normally see protection from creatures at the uncommon rarity, and I feel that it would also be the case for a more selective version of the ability.
Dofustal Well done on finding that loophole, sir. What I like here is the fact that the Aura can stand on its own - you can use it to kill multiple copies of a single creature card, decimate token decks (Avenger of Zendikar would probably cry at that), and at worst, you can always drop it on one of your own creatures for the +2/+0 bonus. I just don't feel that the mechanic of the card is common, though, and that's a concern for me.
Monkey Playing MTG I don't see your submission - drop me a line if I've failed to notice it for any reason.
Phyrexian Editor You're right in that your Avatar will check each creature's power upon targeting, but the ability will also check them upon resolution, and will be countered for any creature that no longer has power 2 or less, such as a Frog Prince whose curse has worn off. (608.2b, Comprehensive Rules) Beyond that, however, it's clearly a common Aura that can stand by itself, although its ability is fairly fragile.
Benjammn Rather than an Aura that enhances your Avatar's ability, your Avatar enhances your Aura's. I feel that it's overcosted, but I also feel that it's fairly creative to have an Aura that gives something beneficial to the enchanted creature upon attachment. It's also definitely common.
1. Dofustal
2. Prospero314
3. Twilight Kiwi
This was the most difficult top three I've had to call. Positive and negative comments aside, I was impressed at the creativity from Team Ego this round.
Create a Rare Instant, within your chosen colors, that "hoses" a color you did not choose. Design should be in line with the color pie (White hoses Black and/or Red, Red/Green hoses Blue, etc.), and the effect should also reflect your stlye of play/deckbuilding. You cannot "hose" any of your chosen colors. The card design must include at least one of your chosen colors.
Seeing that my Avatar is White and Blue, this task will involve creating a White and/or Blue card that is a rare instant and hoses an opposing color. Technically that boils this down to:
- White card that hoses Red and/or Black
- Blue card that hoses Red and/or Green
- White/Blue card that hoses Red
Other possibilities are likely (in the approach of Phyrexian Crusader and Mirran Crusader), but the above three are the most obvious.
My big concern is that the most popular hosers are uncommon in rarity; some hosers exist at rare, but my impression is that these are normally known for abilities other than hosing (see the Crusaders above). The good news is that hosers normally come in cycles, so they're somewhat easy to search for:
- The Ice Age cycle: Glaciers, Flooded Woodlands, Ghostly Flame, Monsoon, Reclamation. Each of these hosers needed two colors in order to hit a single color, which compromised their effectivity. Ghostly Flame is of note here because it was used in some sideboards to circumvent Circles of Protection (and because it did not explicitly mention White or Plains).
- The Alliances cycle: Royal Decree, Tidal Control, Dystopia, Omen of Fire, Nature's Wrath. Each of these hosers hit two colors with a very powerful effect; Dystopia in particular made it to the sideboard of every Necrodeck during its time.
The biggie, of course, is that none of these cards are instants. In fact, instant-speed hosers are contradictory: You want them to be powerful enough to hose specific colors, but granting them game-breaking power means making them slower, i.e. sorcery speed.
So what's the move here? I think I'll want to approach this from a certain angle:
- Look up rare white and/or blue effects.
- See how these can work as hoser-type abilities.
- Wrangle the ability into an instant.
- Tweak the instant so that it fits the rare rarity without being too powerful.
With that in mind, some rare effects that have come out as instants in the past:
The Blue list is more general than the White list because Blue doesn't seem to have a lot of rare instant effects that can potentially penalize a different color; as a result Blue needs to be actively tweaked for this. For example:
CARDNAME (cost)
Instant
Put the top two cards of target player's library into that player's graveyard. If a red card is put into that player's graveyard in this way, repeat this process.
That's a Grindstone derivative, of course. You can twist it further:
CARDNAME (cost)
Instant
Put the top two cards of target player's library into that player's graveyard. If a red card is put into that player's graveyard in this way, repeat this process. You gain 1 life for each red card put into that player's graveyard in this way.
And that would make it White/Blue. But this wouldn't really work, because the first question I'd ask is: Why wouldn't this be a sorcery?
The obvious way to go about this, then, is to make the spell reactive in some way. That brings us down to:
...Each of which is either reactive, or is optimally played during combat, or on an opponent's turn.
Let's take the fourth one, Effects that Manipulate Spells on the Stack. There are four approaches to this, off the top of my head:
1. Counter spells.
2. Copy spells.
3. Redirect spells.
4. Splice spells. (This seems to be my general direction this month.)
So one possibility:
CARDNAMEU
Instant
Copy target red instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
That's a more limited Twincast, and is firmly in the realm of rare instant. It has two problems, though: 1) It's limited in its choice of targets, and 2) It doesn't stop the original spell, which is hypothetically what Blue should be able to do.
Fixing that:
CARDNAME1UU
Instant
You may choose new targets for target spell. If that spell is red, you may copy that spell and choose new targets for the copy.
The problem is that this new version is now Wild Ricochet. Basically, I'm going to want to replace the "copy" effect with something else. The obvious replacement is the only other spell-affecting ability in the original list:
CARDNAME1WU
Instant
You may choose new targets for target spell. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn.
That's not bad. Technically it's a conditional Silence + Redirect. The straight mana cost would be W + UU, so that's a concern.
Going over card archives, I note that "choose new target" spells come in two varieties - one that allows you to change any or all of a spell's targets (the modern template), and one that allows you to change the target of a spell that only has a single target. I'd rather use the latter here, in order to help justify the lower cost:
CARDNAME1WU
Instant
Change the target of target spell with a single target. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn.
Does this reflect my style of play? I suppose so - Deflection was always one of my favorite cards. I can't say much about the Silence portion, but the surprise aspect has always been part of my deck style.
Speaking of which, "Reflect" would make a good name...
Reflect1WU
Instant
Change the target of target spell with a single target. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn.
As much as I would LOVE to design a blue hoser (I really, really, would!) Real Life hath reared it's ugly head and I must withdraw. Apologies to team ID for whom I didn't get to do crits for last round
My Avatar: Jammer, Faithful Soul :symwu::symwu::symwu:
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (MR)
Hexproof (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
:1mana::symw:: Jammer, Faithful Soul has indestructible until end of turn.
1/2 The dark cannot destroy those whose faith shines bright enough.
My way to solve things: Justice's Verdict :3mana::symw::symu:
Sorcery (U)
Return all creatures that dealt damage to you this turn to their owner's hand. If three or more creature would be returned to their owner's hand, exile those creatures instead. These land's laws demands an eye for an eye. Even when I was the victim, I believe there is a more peaceful way to atone for their crimes.
The Magic I cover myself with: Enlightened Knowledge :1mana::symu::symu:
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted creature gains ":symtap:: Target creature you control loses all abilities and gains all the abilities of the enchanted creature until end of turn."
Return Enlightened Knowledge to its owner's hand: Untap the enchanted creature. "All my years learning the magical arts of healing and protection has come to a end, Now as a master of those arts I must teach them to the worthy ones." - Jammer, Faithful Soul
Round 3 Card:
The Challenge: Create a Rare Instant, within your chosen colors, that "hoses" a color you did not choose.
Futile Endeavor3WWW
Instant - Trap (R)
If a red creature is attacking you or a red spell is targeting you, you may pay WWW rather than pay Futile Endeavor's mana cost.
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you or permanents you control this turn.
If damage from a creature is prevented this way, Futile Endeavor deals that much damage to that creature.
If damage from a non-creature source is prevented this way, Futile Endeavor deals that much damage to the source's controller. "In the end the evil of those that let it run wild is what will bring them to their downfall" - Jammer, Faithful Soul
The Challenge:
Create a Common Aura, within your chosen colors, that enhances or improves the special ability of your avatar.
Team Super-Ego
destinytrigger: No Card
brasil_dude101: Feels like common and improve your avatars abilities. The aura's ability helps casts those artifacts you search and the extra 2 could give you an edge.
CodGod: Feels common and enhances your avatar's abilities even when the avatar cannot wear it. You explained yourself how this could work for your avatar and it makes a lot of sense. The return ability could have worked better on blue but white's ok since auras are ok in white. Hybrid mana could had been a nice choice for the abilities cost.
ParaSiempre: The challenge was to make a common aura, yours is rare. I don't see how exiling a creature that can't attack or use abilities is going to enhance or improve the abilities of your avatar.
Marr965: Feels common and enhances your avatar's abilities. Don't see the pump effect as blue but I could make an exception here because of the way it gets pumped. For the information on the card I guess flavor text could had been a possibility.
Oculus: Feels like a powerful common and the only way it matters to your avatar is that it would draw you cards to give him the aura's abilities and power-ups. Feels blue in the way it needs cards to function. Good flavor text.
Maokun: Feels common. Improves your avatar by maximaxing tap abilities. The only thing that worries is that the hexproof works fine in hybrid for blue and green, but the untapping should work as blue only. If the card was only blue it would have been fine but green to untap does not feel so right.
schtingah: Feels like bit powerful for a common and helps your avatar in a big way. Don't see a reason for the blue in the card, I guess black/red would had worked better. Using this "common" on something like Phage would turn the game for its controller. Guess the ability should had to be restricted on the power of the targeted creature.
Pocketwatch: Feels more like uncommon than common and the ability's cost feel more powerful than that dues to the very low cost it has. This aura could help your avatar's ability by taking back things you do not want to lose, and even then it could help you filter your deck. This could prevent you from losing due to milling strategies and could help you recycling thing like Brindle Boar.
Paradigm EightyWUG
Legendary Creature — Human Infowarrior(M)
Whenever Paradigm Eighty blocks a creature, reveal the top card of your library, then put it into your hand. Paradigm Eighty gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is equal to the converted mana cost of the revealed card.
1/3 "All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come."
— Victor Hugo
I fight for justice and the rights of the individual. Selfishness is a virtue, the natural state of man. The natural order the came from our individuality is responsible for the greatest achievements the human race has accomplished. By sacrificing the individual for the group, we only serve to lower the limits of potential. By allowing the individual to achieve greatness, the natural combined result of those great individuals is compounded. This is what I believe and fight for through every fiber of my being.
Edit: Ive revised my card after a lengthy color pie discussion, although I fully expect some negative criticism in the critique process related to it. I'm fully confident that my philosophy matches these three colors and I find it unfortunate that I'm probably going to be judged based on misconceptions of the philosophy.
Divide and Conquer3W
Sorcery (U)
Each creature target player controls deals 1 damage to another target creature that player controls. Through our propaganda, we can control them. Take their eyes off their enemy and put them onto each other.
Explanation: My play style prefers a match with lots of creatures battling it out, and this compliments that. My personal interests mark how organized governments manipulate their own people as well as the people of other nations. One very popular tactic is that of Divide and Conquer, which is where you convince a population to attack each other based on their petty differences. This card bends the color pie a bit, since it's not White's game to typically deal damage, but it is White's game to manipulate socially (not intellectually as blue does). However, there are examples of white dealing direct damage if the flavor fits, such as Arrow Volley Trap. Also, inb4 "Direct damage is red blah blah blah"
Honor through WisdomUW
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Whenever you draw a card, enchanted creature gets +0/+3 until end of turn. An ignorant revolution is as dangerous as an intentional tyranny. Do not use our teachings only to resist the use of force, but to defend yourself against it.
Propagandize1WW
Instant (R)
Until the beginning of your next upkeep, whenever a player casts a red spell or a red creature attacks, creatures you control get +0/+3 until end of turn. "Do you see, brothers? The anarchy and chaos of our enemy stops at nothing to undermine our utopia! Through unity we shall overcome!"
— Yenske, Party Leader
@Ikeda: I figured it was a typo. But amid all that deep planning, you have to be careful. Over in the MIJ thread, I entered a joke card. The judge "complained" about the joke card, then accidentally ended up judging it anyway. Sometimes what we see influences what we think, and, before you know it, an error slips through the cracks.
@GMom: You went GW, so your options would be: W hosing R and/or B, G hosing U and/or B, or GW hosing B. Of course, if you went hybrid, you could also run a "split" effect (hose one if G was paid, hose a different one if W was paid). My example is a potential double-hoser, so, yes, more than one color is an option.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
May your games be chaotic and your decks be Rogue.
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Round 3: Indulge Yourself
Y = Total number of Possible Points (3 * Number of Judges + Additional Points)
What Has Gone Before
Round 0: Be Yourself
Round 1: Channel Yourself
Round 2: Steel Yourself
The Narrative
Feeling refreshed, you take note of the fact that some of your competition has been dematerialized into raw data. You also have become aware of the passage of time, and realize that weeks have passed since you were first pulled in, though you haven't felt the need to eat, sleep, or use a bathroom. The implications are a little unnerving, but the only way to ensure your survival is to win.
Through the faint shimmer of your Aura, you can now 'see' the colors of the other contestants. More than a few players are running colors opposed to one or more of yours. Time is starting to run out, and you need to leave a memorable impression. With a Cheshire grin sliding across your face, you decide it's time to punish some of the competition for choosing their colors so... poorly.
The Challenge
Create a Rare Instant, within your chosen colors, that "hoses" a color you did not choose. Design should be in line with the color pie (White hoses Black and/or Red, Red/Green hoses Blue, etc.), and the effect should also reflect your stlye of play/deckbuilding. You cannot "hose" any of your chosen colors. The card design must include at least one of your chosen colors.
Included below is an example of a card that "hoses" and is in line with my Round 0 example.
Critiques
During this Round, critique the Round 2 submissions of the assigned Team. Critiques/Top 3 should be listed below your entry for this Round. Please include your Team Name at the top of your Post for the consideration of your fellow players.
Team Id judges Team Superego
Team Ego judges Team Psyche
Team Superego judges Team Id
Team Psyche judges Team Ego
If you have a behind your name, that means you are on Probation for failing to provide a Top 3 and/or Round Submission. A
strikethroughmeans you have dropped or been DQ'd. (Scores, Probation, and Participation status updated as of 00:30 Eastern on 18 July.)Team Id
TwilightSpark: 62
Timothy, Mimeslayer: 63
Eremity: 61
DeusofCalamityshadowfuryixKrey: 60
Jimmy GrooveSummon_LegendxX-TacOcat-Xx: 13
Team Ego
NotoriousLynx: 22
Koopa: 34
Twilight Kiwi: 99
Prospero314: 75
Dofustal: 70
Monkey Playing MTG: 8
AchrenPhyrexian Editor: 106
The_ReignBenjammn: 59
Team Super-ego
destinytriggerbrasil_dude101: 115
CodGod: 93
ParaSiempre: 32
Marr965: 24
Oculus: 68
Maokun: 59
schtingah: 31
Pocketwatch: 70
Team Psyche
Gerrard's Mom: 104
Viperionvoid_nothing: 42
Jau: 81
Ikeda: 105
Paradigm Eighty: 50
MichMashRimeshade: 39
MagicBrains: 35
Round 3 ends at 23:59 Eastern on 21 July 2011.
Team Super-Ego
Mythic Me:
Oculus the Benevolent 1WU
Legendary Creature - Human Monk {M}
T:Flip a coin. If you win the flip, any number of target players each draw two cards. Otherwise, each player draws two cards.
1/3
Defense of the Self:
Disarmament 2WW
Sorcery {U}
Each player exiles a creature he or she controls that shares the highest power amongst creatures he or she controls.
True peace requires trust - trust that can only be woven by a collective act of selflessness.
Booster Aura:
Clearsight Coil 2U
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant creature
As long as you have seven or more cards in your hand, enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and and has hexproof.
Given enough wisdom, anyone can be the master of their own destiny.
Impose Judgment W
Instant {R}
Exile target red permanent.
Forecast - 2U, Reveal Impose Judgment from your hand: Target nonland permanent becomes red until end of turn. (Activate this ability only once each turn and only during your upkeep.)
"Treachery burns inside all hearts, and must be dealt to harshly. I will show you yours, then punish you accordingly."
Explanation Thingy:
Not a lot to explain this round - the only time I'll play hosers is with a full set of Painter's Servant/Shifting Sky, or if the hosers can pull their weight even without anything to hose (eg. Ember Gale). This fits into both categories nicely.
Team Id
TwilightSpark: I suppose your avatar works alongside your Aura in the sense that it flashbacks them after casting. I still have a lot of issues with this though - commons should very rarely mess with legendary creatures, and never exclusively (Pious Kitsune and Kitsune Healer are both still fine cards on their own). Also, it's doing something very dangerous for a common, and would be nuts even at rare - Freed From the Real would make this a bloodbath, especially as it doesn't actually exile the cards. The flavor text feels a bit disconnected to me.
Timothy, Mimeslayer: I was actually pondering something along these lines, but decided against it. Nice execution, if a little narrow for a common.
Eremity: I don't like that this is the same cost as Pack's Disdain, and extremely similar, but apart from that, a solid card.
Krey: Might be a little too complex for common, but I'm all for what this is trying to do. I'm a little apprehensive of the second ability and the confusion it can cause though. Nice tie-in with your avatar.
TOP 3:
1 - Timothy, Mimeslayer
2 - Krey
3 - Eremity
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
Previous
Round 0: Be Yourself
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
Elegance and Flare
1/1
Koboldize xUR
Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
They are like sheep, but harmless.
Mark of Kaminari 2R
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Legendary Creature
Enchanted creature has, "T: You may play an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard without paying its mana cost."
Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.
Round 3: Indulge Yourself
The Challenge
Create a Rare Instant, within your chosen colors, that "hoses" a color you did not choose. Design should be in line with the color pie (White hoses Black and/or Red, Red/Green hoses Blue, etc.), and the effect should also reflect your stlye of play/deckbuilding. You cannot "hose" any of your chosen colors. The card design must include at least one of your chosen colors.
Business Plans U
Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
Nature must make way for progress.
Notes: Similar to Flashfreeze, but with fewer targets. Allowed it to draw cards and match the flavor. Rare because wizards would never print a card this narrow at anything less than rare. Not mythic because it is not flashy/powerful enough. Instant because it counters stuff.
Critiques of team: Super-ego
brasil_dude101
Challenge met. Solid card. Flavor matches the card. Obvious theme. Good job.
CodGod
Challenge met. Really cool card. Always a good thing when a designer trys to solve the 2 for 1 problem plaguing auras.
ParaSiempre
Challenge not met. Name could stand to be reworked, but other than that cool card.
Marr965
Challenge met. I love this card. Simple, elegant and filled with johnny love. Great card.
Oculus
Challenge met. Obvious synergy with your avatar.
Maokun
Challenge met. Fun and interesting, but maybe a touch to powerful. See: Shielding plax Still not overly powerful, so great card.
schtingah
Challenge met. Great interaction with your avatar that is not entirely linear. Great job.
Pocketwatch
Challenge met. It is a good one for the johnnies out there I suppose. Extremely weak though.
Top 3
1. Mar965
2. Maokun
3. CodGod
Avatar by Hakai Studios
Legendary Creature - Human Avatar
Whenever a player activates an ability of an enchantment or artifact, if it isn't a mana ability, you may pay 2. If you do, copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
1/3
Mystifying Gaze -- 4:symuw::symuw:
Sorcery (U)
Return target permanent to its owner's hand, then tap another target permanent, then exile another target permanent and return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has shroud.
When Dream State becomes attached to a creature, tap or untap it.
2U: Attach Dream State to target creature.
Instant (R)
Put X 1/1 white Human Knight creature tokens with protection from red and first strike onto the battlefield, where X is two plus the number of attacking creatures.
“The goblins have breach the outer defenses. The time has come for us to strike!” — Tivadar, Knight of Thorn
1. Jau
2. Gerrad's Mom
3. Paradigm Entity
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
1(U/W),T: Put a Psionic counter on target creature.
Attacking creatures gain -2/-2 for each Psionic counter on them until end of turn.
1/3
Instant - Trap (U)
If exactly one creature is attacking, you may pay W rather than Mind Spike's mana cost.
Rebound
Target attacking creature becomes 1/1 until end of turn.
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has +0/+1 for each counter on the battlefield it produces.
Battle Resilience - 1U
Instant - Trap (R)
If you were dealt noncombat damage this turn, you may pay W instead of Convert's mana cost.
Counter target red spell. If any of convert's alternate mana costs were payed, you may gain life equal to countered spell's converted mana cost.
Flashback 1WU
void_nothing: I feel like the aura is more blue or red since it's about attacking/controlling, but I guess I can see why it's white. It fits your legendary creature so that's good.
MagicBrains: I like this a lot. It doesn't really help your legend as much as it does your sorcery, but it's still great.
Jau: Jax seems a little hard to play, especially against a white weenie when you rely on this aura. Maybe if it was like "creatures of enchanted creature type can't attack" or something, it'd be more useful.
TwilightSpark: Seems overpowered, even though it's an enchant legendary. Also, as a common, I don't think there should be an enchant legendary sepll. It doesn't really help your avatar and, in some ways, makes him a bit useless. Another way to think of how this is overpowered is: if you have a cancel in your graveyard, you can play cancel for free each turn. Maybe if it was like "you may play sorceries and instances from your graveyard, then exile them" or something.
Paradigm Entity: Fits the color, fits the theme, balanced, useful, I would use this in actual game. 10/10
Ikeda: I like the combo between your legend and aura. I can see so many ways to break it though.
Gerrard's Mom: Doesn't really enhance the ability, but creates a whole new ability. It's good, anyways.
3. MagicBrains
2. Ikeda
1. Paradigm Entity
@brasil_dude101: You went WU for your Legend, so these would be your available options: W hosing B and/or R; U hosing R and/or G; WU (gold or hybrid) hosing R. So, yes, you can go for paired color-hosing.
man-EgoLengedary Creature - Human Artificer (M)
When Ephraim, Apprentice Engineer enters the battlefield, you may search your library for an artifact with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of lands you control, and put into your hand. Then, shuffle your library.
1/3
Sorcery {U}
Return target permanent to its owner’s hand if Postpone was cast from your hand. Put that card on the bottom of its owner's library instead if you didn’t cast Postpone it from your hand. Put Postpone on the bottom of your library.
Suspend 2—UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block.
Enchanted creature has “T: Add 2 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.”
All construction begins with a solid base.
Instant {R}
Tap all red and green creatures. They don’t untap during their controller’s next untap step. For each creature tapped this way, you may untap target artifact you control.
“If only my creations could display the verve that those pesky marauders do...”
The premise here is that some artificer is being hassled by some RG nitwits while attempting to get his/her creations to function. It then dawns upon him/her that sapping away the marauders strength and using it to power the artifacts would kill two birds with one stone.
This personally suits my style of play because it stalls out aggro, allowing you to combo off with your artifacts, or giving a chance to alpha-strike with your artifact creatures (if used on your turn).
CRITS & TOP 3: TEAM ID
2. Erimetry
3. Krey
Legendary Creature - Human {MR}
When Ben, Linguophile enters the battlefield, gain control of any number of target creatures with 2 power or less as long as Ben remains on the battlefield.
He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.
1/2
Instant {U}
Tap target creature. As long as Spellbind is in your graveyard, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
Since the moment the chilling tale had left Ben's lips, the guard couldn't keep it out of his head. Soon it was all he could think about.
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is a 1/1 Frog creature with no abilities. When it becomes the target of another creature's ability, sacrifice Curse of the Frog Prince.
Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.
2. Ikeda
3. MagicBrains
Legendary Creature - Human Guardian (M)
Whenever a permanent or player becomes the target of a spell or ability, if you or Twilight Kiwi could be targeted by that spell or ability, you may pay 2. If you do, choose one - Redirect that spell or ability to you or Twilight Kiwi; or you may copy that spell or ability, and you or Twilight Kiwi must be a target of the copy.
1/3
I feel red- and blue-flavored because I'm drawn to and entertained by the unnecessarily complicated, especially when a game devolves into the kind of crazy fun that stories are made of - there are a bajillion tokens on the board? Everytime I play a creature, a dozen different triggers go off? Someone just lost to a deck centered around One With Nothing? Sign me up! I care much less about winning often than I do about winning (or losing!) in interesting and different ways. I like to try new, less straightforward strategies rather than sticking to the same surefire ones all the time.
These two colors are tempered by white - I prefer multiplayer to duels, and more so than my other motivations, I care less about winning than I do about everyone having fun. I will help other players even when there's nothing in it for me if they're stuck in an annoying situation, and (red bleeding in a bit here) I'll take risky moves to break a stale game state even if it means leaving myself vulnerable. If one of my weird decks seems unfun for others to play against, I won't use it very often. I am definitely not a poor loser or winner (and I try not to give my opponents the opportunity to do either if they seem inclined to). Blue bleeds into the white part of me here - after a game I will try to offer what constructive advice or comments I can, and will eagerly take any another player has to give me. I have a vested interest in helping my opponents improve and improving myself, because when everyone is a better player, games become more challenging, interesting, and fun.
Diplomatic Solution 1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
Art: A council room filled with bureaucrats who, by their attire, are obviously from different nations; one of their number seems to be arguing heatedly about something and pointing an accusing finger at another. An impassive-looking council member stands between them.
Hound Umbra 1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever a creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, if Hound Umbra is in your graveyard, you may pay 1W. If you do, return it to the battlefield enchanting that creature.
Totem armor
I figured an aura with totem armor would be the perfect compliment to a spell magnet like my legend; this way I can eat removal or direct damage without losing him (myself?) in the process. And of course, man's best friend will always return to his master's side.
Instant (R)
Whenever a nonblack creature becomes the target of a spell or ability this turn, it's indestructible this turn.
Whenever a black creature becomes the target of a spell or ability this turn, exile it.
"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent
2. Jau
3. MagicBrains
My First (And Probably Only) MCC Perfect Score: December 09 (Round One)
The Night Dweller :symbg::symwg::symbw:
Legendary Creature - Human
Creature tokens you control have trample, deathtouch and lifelink.
0/2
Æther/Essence/Mana Genesis 1GWB Forgot to choose a name
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target non-token creature.
If GG was spent to cast ~, put four 0/1 green plant creature tokens into play.
If WW was spent to cast ~, put two 1/1 white soldier creature tokens into play.
If BB was spent to cast ~, put a 2/2 black zombie creature token into play.
Might of the Meek 3GGG
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each creature you control that has the same name as it.
Creatures you control that share a name with enchanted creature get +1/+1.
The time has come, friends. Band together and show these fools your true power.
Light of the Pure :symw::symw::symw::symw:
Instant (R)
Put all red permanents on the bottom of their owner's libraries.
Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play for each creature put into a library this way.
Psionic Defense - 2WW
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has +0/+1 for each counter on the battlefield it produces.
This would be hard to keep track of I think. Maybe have it put a counter on the enchanted creature when it puts a counter on another permanent and that creature gets +0/+1 for each of those counters. The idea is cool, even if the execution is't the most elegant. Suits your legendary.
No Entry?
Hound Umbra 1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever a creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, if Hound Umbra is in your graveyard, you may pay 1W. If you do, return it to the battlefield enchanting that creature.
Totem armor
This is a tasty aura. I feel it may be a pinch of salt too tasty for common though. I'd use it and basically ignore the +1/+1 on it. In fact, you could have just removed the +1/+1 altogether. I love the card, just not costed right IMO.
Proof Reading U
Enchantment - Aura (c)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has protection from creatures that share an ability with enchanted creature.
flieing, vigalance, first stryke, hast, protektion, lifelinc, dethtuch, reech, landwak...I like this card too I think it works extremely well with your avatar. It's so complimentary - but maybe deserves an uncommon tag.
Narcissistic Feel 2B
Enchantment - Aura (c)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+0 and is legendary along with every other creature that shares a name with enchanted creature.
Your ego is showing.
Haha, I like this card a lot It'd decimate my little friends. I think all three of you cards work really well so far. Good job.
No Entry?
Curse of the Frog Prince 2U
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is a 1/1 Frog creature with no abilities. When it becomes the target of another creature's ability, sacrifice Curse of the Frog Prince.
Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.
I'm not 100% clear on which abilities get checked when cast and resolution and which ones only get checked when cast, so I'll take your word for it. That said, I think your card is cool-beans! It's not overpowered at all unless coupled with your legendary creature's ability - which is the point of the competition I approve.
Dream State -- 2UU
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has shroud.
When Dream State becomes attached to a creature, tap or untap it.
2U: Attach Dream State to target creature.
This is an interesting card. Not sure on how often I'd mix this with the legendary creature ability, but it's definitely got some good utility. It's appropriately costed for what you get, too. Good job.
1: Dofustal
2: Phyrexian Editor
3: Prospero314
Very close 4th from Twilight Kiwi.
This is for me more than it is for anyone else. I sucks at colors.
Take a mechanic from the pre-mirrodin era, and a mechanic after the mirrodin era, and create a card that flavorfully melds both mechanics.
Your avatar doesn't need to say "until end of turn," as a static ability it will stop working when they stop becoming attacking creatures. Similarly, I don't think your aura works, and it is also extremely weak. I would try "Whenever a counter is placed on another creature, you may put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature," but that might be uncommon because of the unusual rules interactions. Probably three mana or so for that, but definitely not 4 when you only get toughness.
Koopa
Twilight Kiwi
Seems pretty complicated for a common, not to mention it translates to "1W: Regenerate target creature" from your graveyard. Certainly combos well with your avatar since you can redirect to him.
Prospero314
Both the mana cost and ability seem at least uncommon, unless you are in a multicolored set about keywords. I see no problem with it just being white, but in most cases it sucks. For 1W you can now get Spirit Mantle, which is pretty much strictly better.
Dofustal
Pretty sure making stuff legendary is not common material. I don't like the wording either. It's a pretty roundabout way to do removal for black.
Monkey Playing MTG
Phyrexian Editor
Yeah, clever way to work with your avatar; apparently you have some pretty convincing kisses. Your other card talks about lips too 0_0 Pretty nice core set-style design, very reminiscent of Arachnus Web.
Benjammn
Seems awfully expensive for Robe of Mirrors + Twiddle. As long as the activation cost stays pretty high, you can probably cut the initial cost to 1U or so. I guess your avatar pushes this a little to 4U: Tap or untap two target creatures. I don't know how I feel about the shroud; it makes it 2U: counter target spell that targets a creature. Interesting case where I think hexproof would improve the play, since it doesn't let you counter opponents' pump spells, but still allows you to target your own guys.
2. Benjammn
3. Twilight Kiwi
Legendary Creature - Human Designer (M)
(G/W)(G/W): Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. You may target each creature only once each turn with this ability.
A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.
1/1
Depose W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings
Spore Glands 1G
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Whenever you activate an ability of enchanted creature, you may pay G. If you do, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield.
Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.
Instant (R)
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you this turn from nongreen, nonwhite sources. For each 1 damage prevented in this way, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield.
Twilight Kiwi: Hound Umbra is an interesting card. There’s quite a few elements going on, with the +1/+1 boost, the totem armor, and the returning of the Aura whenever a creature is targeted (any creature I noticed; that would be fun in multiplayer), so I’m not sure whether it is best suited as a common. Your explanation for why the Aura keeps coming back and its connection with the name is rather clever. Very good stuff.
Prospero314: Is the effect on Proof Reading limited to keyword abilities, or is it any activated/triggered ability? Would a Prodigal Pyromancer enchanted with Proof Reading have protection from Prodigal Sorcerer’s pinging? I assume it’s the former, as the rulings for the latter could be very complicated and be beyond the realm of a common card. Your card is weaker than, say Spirit Mantle, but that’s expected given the different rarities between the two. In practicality, I could only really see Proof Reading being useful for protecting your flier from other fliers, as the other keywords don’t appear nearly enough. The idea for your card is sound, but its applicability is limited.
Dofustal: It took me a few minutes to figure out how Narcissistic Feel interacts with your persona, but it’s actually quite ingenious. The potential to kill two birds with one stone is pretty cool. Alternatively, it serves as a token killer, which is rather neat. However, I don’t think this is the type of card Limited players would want to see among their commons in their boosters. I feel its ability would be more appropriate as an uncommon.
Phyrexian Editor: Hmm, a variation on Ice Cage. Both are flavourful, but I think Curse of the Frog Prince is a little weaker since it still allows the creature to chump block. The connection between ‘touching’ another creature and the removal of the Aura is awesome however. Good card.
Benjammn: I like your card. Its effect is simple but it is certainly versatile. For 2U, you can tap or untap any creature you control, counter any targeted spell that your opponents may throw at your creatures, and also counter any Auras, Equipment, and activated abilities your opponents may try to play that target their own creatures. Having said that, I think it does a bit too much for a common. Freed from the Real and Stasis Cell were both commons, but Dream State does what both cards do and more.
2. Benjammn
3. Phyrexian Editor
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no damage was dealt this turn, draw a card. Otherwise, discard a card.
1/2
Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War
Inner Virtue 2W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to or dealt by enchanted creature.
Sacrifice Inner Virtue: Exile enchanted creature. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner’s control at the beginning of the next end step
Moment's Doubt 1W
Instant (R)
Your opponents can’t cast spells this turn. Until end of turn, black and red creatures can’t attack or activate abilities. (Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)
“There is still hope when the blackest of hearts and the bloodiest of hands pause, no matter how briefly, to reflect on the consequences of their actions.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War
Creature - Human Avatar (M)
Whenever CodGod becomes the target of a spell or ability, put an 1/1 colourless Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield, and change a target of that spell or ability to that creature.
0/2
Colours: I'm very driven by my emotions, and by a desire to learn. I try to follow rules in general, but will break them if I feel they're wrong - sometimes going out of my way to do so. I try to understand why a rule is in place before I draw conclusions about it. I believe that rules are important and that life would be much worse if people have them, but I don't venerate rules just for them being rules - if a particular rule holds us back more than it helps, it should be discarded. And I think rules shouldn't be applied completely hard and fast, but mitigated by emotional compassion and intellectual understanding of the circumstances.
Ability: I like redirection effects and weird interactions, and I love cards which have one effect, but which is applied in multiple ways - in this case, against opponent's spells the ability functions like a psudo hexproof, while working as a token generation engine with your own spells (or at least the beneficial ones). I love enemy colour pairs, and the wedge combinations even more so. I like tokens which aren't just creatures, because they interact with a wider variety of other cards, and also the tokens made sense as artifacts because I'm a computer programmer with a keen interest in AI and robotics.
I feel this ability isn't out of place here - white has a good history of token producing, and redirection is red/blue. But It could also could work in RGU - the other colour combination I think best fits me after RUW. I do have times where I care less about what the rules are and more about just finding my place in the world as it is. So in that way I feel it's doubly fitting for me, as it fits in either of the two colour combinations I most identify with.
Also, I know I have a tendency to become evasive when I feel threatened, and try to shift blame and/or aggression away from myself as an almost automatic response at times - although I do try to force myself to accept and admit when I am in fact at fault. And the ability works with that, as well as the fact that when I'm in over my head, I often rely on calling on my friends to come help me out.
Power and Toughness: I don't like to fight, and in all honesty probably wouldn't be very good at it, but feel I can at least take a small amount of punishment. And yes if I had the ability, I'd have robots do the fighting for me
Raging Reiforecements 3WR
Sorcery (U)
Put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens into play. Each of those tokens deals damage equal to it's power to target creature or player.
I like cards which seem straightforward but offer way to enhance their effect by combining them with other cards. In this case, the card is designed to be reasonable by itself, but better if you have a glorious anthem or similar to pump the token with.
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Part of my avatar's design is it's interaction with auras - it removes card disadvantage by automatically shifting auras cast on it to their own token creature - thus preventing you losing two cards (creature and aura) to a single removal spell. So I've made an aura which works well with that ability - when cast on my avatar, it'll be automatically shunted onto a 1/1 token, making that token bigger for each friend it has. In addition, if you're low on tokens, you can just return it to hand and cast it again to generate a new one.
Repel the Unrighteous 4WWW
Instant (R)
For each creature without flying attacking you, put a 2/2 white Knight creature token with first strike and protection from black and from red onto the battlefield.
I like my hosers to still have at least some use when opponents aren't playing those colours, so at it's very worst, this is a 7-mana fog that doesn't affect flyers.... Okay that's pretty bad, I'll admit. But luckily, it won't be at it's very worst most of the time. If any of the attacking creatures have 2 or less toughness, then the knights which kill those ones will survive to either defend another day, or attack on your turn. And if the opponent is playing black/red all those the tokens for attackers of those colours will hang around, ready to either block again turn after turn, or swing in revenge, with those colours not being able to block them.
This card fits me/my playstyle in four ways:
1) I like token creation effects (In case you hadn't picked that up from my previous cards)
2) I play almost exclusively multiplayer, and like cards which provide a disincentive to attacking me, so that other players will look elsewhere when deciding who to attack. After the first assault is blunted, leaving the knight tokens on defense will ensure any black/red creatures swing at other people rather than me.
3) I've been playing since Ice Age, and I like like when new cards make references to older cards (I loved Time spiral block). One I worked out the basics of the card, I had to add the first strike to the tokens as well so that they'd be Palladin en-Vec. It just wouldn't have felt right otherwise. This meant I had to increase the cost slightly, and makes it a less full-on hoser since that change makes it more useful against decks not running the hosed colours, but if I hadn't done it it wouldn't have felt like I'd been making a card which fit me nearly so much as it does now. And it's still much more effective against red/black decks than others, so I think it's still reasonably hoser-y.
4) I love EDH, and have a soft stop for big, expensive spells with splashy effects (I'm a Johnny-Timmy). They're not so useful in hardcore constructed tournaments, but that's not how I like to play the game.
Carl, Firemind Tactician 2UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
Elegance and Flare
1/1
Round 1:
Koboldize xUR
Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
They are like sheep, but harmless.
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Legendary Creature
Enchanted creature has, "T: You may play an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard without paying its mana cost."
Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.
Well, the special ability of my avatar is to lower the cost of instants and sorceries. This makes them more playable. Why not make them playable from the grave and of any mana cost? I chose a red kami from kamigawa block whose card dealt with the graveyard. A tribute to what is probably the most flavorful block in all of magic. Also, kamigawa had a legends theme.
The restriction reduces its power a lot, but perfect for this contest. The ability is also very red.
Unfortunately, the card is way, way, too good. The first thing this needs is a clause to exile the spell you play from the graveyard. As written, this on any legendary creature, plus a Time Warp or similar in the graveyard, means infinite turns. Or a Turnabout for infinte untaps on all your other creatures, letting you win with any pinger, or generate infinite mana with a single mana elf or similar. Even this plus Twiddle can rack up an infinte storm count. This card is broken wide open, and could never see print as is.
If we change the card so that it exiles the spells, it's still too good. Sins of the Past cost six mana (and exiled the card), this lets you do that every turn for a T. There should really be a mana cost associated with using this ability as well. Obviously being an aura (and one limited to legendary creatures at that) makes it harder to use, but not nearly enough to justify the completely broken things this does as you've made it. Also, the challenge was:
And while your aura plays nicely in the same deck as your avatar's ability, it doesn't improve or enhance the ability, but rather makes it redundant for this purpose - your avatars ability tries to reduce the mana cost of the spells, but the aura's telling not to pay the cost at all, so you're not getting that benefit. So really this would have fit the challenge better if it hadn't had the "without paying it's mana cost" part, since then your avatar's ability would actually work with it, applying the cost reduction to apply the spells the aura lets you cast from your graveyard. If you'd done that and exiled the spells after they were cast, it would actually be at least reasonably close to balanced. As is, the card is massivly overpowered, and it could have done a better job than it did of meeting the theme. Also, it feels like it should be at least uncommon, rather than common, for complexity, swingyness, and because having a common which has no use unless you have a legendary creature out is really annoying in limited, because it's so easily a dead card. Note that even in Kamigawa block, the only common with an ability which required a legendary creature was Kitsune Healer, which still did something if you didn't have one yet.
Jammer, Faithful Soul :symwu::symwu::symwu:
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (MR)
Hexproof (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
:1mana::symw:: Jammer, Faithful Soul has indestructible until end of turn.
1/2
The dark cannot destroy those whose faith shines bright enough.
Round 1:
Justice's Verdict :3mana::symw::symu:
Sorcery (U)
Return all creatures that dealt damage to you this turn to their owner's hand. If three or more creature would be returned to their owner's hand, exile those creatures instead.
These land's laws demands an eye for an eye. Even when I was the victim, I believe there is a more peaceful way to atone for their crimes.
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted creature gains ":symtap:: Target creature you control loses all abilities and gains all the abilities of the enchanted creature until end of turn."
Return Enlightened Knowledge to its owner's hand: Untap the enchanted creature.
"All my years learning the magical arts of healing and protection has come to a end, Now as a master of those arts I must teach them to the worthy ones." - Jammer, Faithful Soul
So if you cast this aura on your avatar, activate his ability to make him indestructable until end of turn, and then tap him for the ability from the aura, the targeted creature will not be indestructable - it will have gained your avatars abilities, which at that point are:
hasis indestructible until end of turn.I could, of course, be completely wrong, and you may be aware of this, and just used the wrong word in a momen'ts oversight. In which case I apologise for making you read so much explaining something you already know. For the record, I don't think this hurts your card particularly - it still passes on the hexproof, and the ability to get indestructablitly. So please don't think I'm going to be judging it harshly based on my assumptions about what you meant it to do (although I would be interested to hear whether you knew about how this worked, or thought that it would pass on the indestructablitly as well).
The part of the card which really appeals to me, in fact, is that you worded it such that the aura grants the ability to the creature - and therefore the creature will pass that ability to the target, which can then to do again to another creature (assuming it doesn't have summoning sickness), and so on until all your creatures have the same abilities.
The ability to return it to your hand is too good as is. Usually you have to pay mana to return an aura to your hand (see Flickering Ward and friends), but here you do it as a cost in order to get an extrfa benefit. Returning it to your hand for no mana means you'll pretty much never be able to loose the aura, especially since the opponent can't respond because you made returning it part of the cost. Since you'll probably want to return it sometimes anyway just to move it onto another creature with different abilities, you really ought to be paying for that effect, not using it as a cost.
The real problem with your card, is this is a cool design, but definitely not a common. It's way to complex and swingy for common, and in fact I'd hesitate to put it even at uncommon (althought that could be agured). This feels like a rare card, maybe an uncommon. Not a common at all, which is what the challenge required.
Erasmus, Weaver of Life :1mana::symb::symg:
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman (M)
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, you may put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield.
Come, meet some friends of mine.
0/3
Round 1:
Growth//Decay
Growth :2mana::symg::symg:
Sorcery (U)
Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Draw a card.
//
Decay :2mana::symb::symb:
Sorcery (U)
Target player discards a card; put a -1/-1 counter on each creature he or she controls.
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature.
When Mob Oppression enters the battlefield choose a creature type, enchanted creature get -1/-1 for each creature on the battlefield of the chosen type.
To be singled out is a death sentence.
twoone thoughtsto mind by comparison - This could count permanents so that it works with tribal artifacts/enchantments, and ignore this I accidentally read the cost from the sorcery above it and thought it was overcosted, my mistake. From instant to enchantment while keeping the cost reminds me of Howl from Beyond and Endless Scream. I like the card, and it definitely feels like something which could see print as a common in the right set. Well done.Round 0:
Timothy, the Mellow :1mana::symu::symg:
Legendary Creature - Human (M)
At the beginning of your end step, if you played a creature this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Otherwise, draw a card then discard a card.
1/1
I am pretty much always going with the flow through life, this is represented through my card as, "Hey great, I played a creature" or just as equally "Hey great, I didn't play a creature." Don't confuse this with aimlessness though, just like the river, I have a destination I have to get through and I will carve away mountains to get there and in the case of the card, you are that mountain.
Round 1:
Channel Soul :1mana::symu::symg:
Sorcery (U)
Return target creature to its owners hand and add any combination of and to your mana pool equal to that creature's converted mana cost.
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gains Hexproof.
At the beginning of your end step, if you drew more than one card this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature.
shadowfuryix: Posted a placeholder in the round 2 thread but as yet there's no card there. I'll check again later in case it's posted late or something. Feel free to PM me if you've posted it and think I've missed it/won't see it on time.
xX-TacOcat-Xx: Doesn't seem to have posted in the round 2 thread at all, so likewise.
Victor, Trinket Fiddler 1:symwr::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Artificer{R}
Tap an untapped artifact you control: Draw a card. Activate this ability no more than three times per turn.
"What does this button do....?"
1/2
Round 1:
Experimental Malfunction 1UR
Sorcery {U}
As an additional cost to cast ~, sacrifice an artifact.
~ deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is the sacrificed artifact's converted mana cost.
Draw a card.
"Wait, don't push that....!" -- Drivik, Izzet Researcher; Final Words.
Enchantment - Aura {C}
Enchant Artifact
Discard a card: Untap enchanted artifact. Activate this ability only once per turn.
"The brain contains more electricity that a 10V battery. Why not harnes that?"
Overall:
I'd like to point out that this was quite a hard challenge in my opinion. Mythic rares such as we designed in the first round tend to have reasonably complex abilities, so designing an aura to work with those that would still fit as a common was a tough one. I was harsh i my critiquing where I felt it justified (I tried to be harsh but fair, but perhaps others might feel I fell short of that), but I'd like to say that no-one on team Id should feel bad about my comments here - I might not have felt you did well, but I recognise it was very hard to do so, and I can see everyone was trying.
And condolences to those who've been forced to drop. This is my first CCL, and I've really enjoyed it so far, so I hope to see everyone again in future months
Team Id Top 3:
1: Timothy, Mimeslayer
An interesting card with a unique effect, but which is simple enough to fit nicely at common. And it works wonderfully with your avatar, as well as being very useful without it as well. I think you hit this challenge about perfectly.
2: Erimety
Pack's Disdain in aura form clearly works well with your avatar, and I like that it's a little different than the original that you can us it on a creature now, then amass a big enough army to kill the target later, just weakening it in the meantime. It's a solid common, and would be a great card in limited in a tribal set. This was a close call, but Timothy got the nod over you because while you both had solid cards which worked as commons, his just felt a bit more exciting and interesting - which isn't necessary for a common card, but is nice to have.
3: Krey
Where Erimety had a good, solid common but fell to second because it just wasn't as interesting or cool a design as Timothy's, you went the other way - I love your card, and it's got plenty of 'wow'. But I really can't see it as a common card - it just has too many crazy interactions which could confuse people. Particularly since one of the abilities it transfers over is the one the aura itself gives the creatures, meaning you can chain it around all your creatures until they have the same abilities (although this will tap them all, so its not necessarily useful). It's a great card, but I don't think that level of complexity is appropriate for a common - which bumped you down to third place.
Ikeda Magnus WU
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard MR
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may reveal an instant card from your hand and pay its mana cost. If you do, add that card's effects to that spell.
"Hmmm."
1/1
Indoctrinate 3WU
Sorcery U
Exile target creature, then return it to the battlefield tapped under your control.
"If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see." —Henry David Thoreau
Mnemonic Mantle WU
Enchantment - Aura C
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+2.
Return Mnemonic Mantle to its owner's hand: Target instant or sorcery spell gains "Put this card into its owner's hand as it resolves."
"In remembrance will you find strength." —Master Argus
Reflective Glare 1WU
Instant
Change the target of target spell with a single target. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn.
"If you refuse to see how my brilliance outmatches yours... then perhaps you might as well be blind." —Riel, Mirrorwalker
NotoriousLynx
I like the fact that this opens up some interesting design space, although I'm skeptical about how much bookkeeping will be involved if you have more than one card that can pass out counters. While the Aura does enhance your Avatar's ability, I think that the ability is too narrow for anything else - there's a very limited number of creatures where you can place this Aura and have it be effective; I don't think it's a good quality for a card to have.
Koopa
I don't see your submission - drop me a line if I've failed to notice it for any reason.
Twilight Kiwi
Not bad. It enhances your Avatar's ability, and the targeting trigger is a nice touch for a card that's likely to land in the graveyard for any number of reasons. My issue, however, is that it's tantamount to being able to stop any removal spell for 1W, especially multiple times per turn. It's definitely not common in my book.
Prospero314
Kudos for finding an ability that works with your Avatar's. What I find interesting is that when placed on Prospero, the Lexiconnoisseur can turn the protection on and off at will. Otherwise you can just drop this on a flying creature and make it unblockable - it's quite the playable card. My only issue is a big one, though - we normally see protection from creatures at the uncommon rarity, and I feel that it would also be the case for a more selective version of the ability.
Dofustal
Well done on finding that loophole, sir. What I like here is the fact that the Aura can stand on its own - you can use it to kill multiple copies of a single creature card, decimate token decks (Avenger of Zendikar would probably cry at that), and at worst, you can always drop it on one of your own creatures for the +2/+0 bonus. I just don't feel that the mechanic of the card is common, though, and that's a concern for me.
Monkey Playing MTG
I don't see your submission - drop me a line if I've failed to notice it for any reason.
Phyrexian Editor
You're right in that your Avatar will check each creature's power upon targeting, but the ability will also check them upon resolution, and will be countered for any creature that no longer has power 2 or less, such as a Frog Prince whose curse has worn off. (608.2b, Comprehensive Rules) Beyond that, however, it's clearly a common Aura that can stand by itself, although its ability is fairly fragile.
Benjammn
Rather than an Aura that enhances your Avatar's ability, your Avatar enhances your Aura's. I feel that it's overcosted, but I also feel that it's fairly creative to have an Aura that gives something beneficial to the enchanted creature upon attachment. It's also definitely common.
1. Dofustal
2. Prospero314
3. Twilight Kiwi
This was the most difficult top three I've had to call. Positive and negative comments aside, I was impressed at the creativity from Team Ego this round.
Create a Rare Instant, within your chosen colors, that "hoses" a color you did not choose. Design should be in line with the color pie (White hoses Black and/or Red, Red/Green hoses Blue, etc.), and the effect should also reflect your stlye of play/deckbuilding. You cannot "hose" any of your chosen colors. The card design must include at least one of your chosen colors.
Seeing that my Avatar is White and Blue, this task will involve creating a White and/or Blue card that is a rare instant and hoses an opposing color. Technically that boils this down to:
- White card that hoses Red and/or Black
- Blue card that hoses Red and/or Green
- White/Blue card that hoses Red
Other possibilities are likely (in the approach of Phyrexian Crusader and Mirran Crusader), but the above three are the most obvious.
My big concern is that the most popular hosers are uncommon in rarity; some hosers exist at rare, but my impression is that these are normally known for abilities other than hosing (see the Crusaders above). The good news is that hosers normally come in cycles, so they're somewhat easy to search for:
The rare hosers from my first search:
- The Legends cycle: Cleanse, Lifeblood, Acid Rain, Elder Spawn, Jovial Evil, Quarum Trench Gnomes, Spinal Villain, Typhoon. Strangely, there are no hosers between Black and Green here.
- The Ice Age cycle: Glaciers, Flooded Woodlands, Ghostly Flame, Monsoon, Reclamation. Each of these hosers needed two colors in order to hit a single color, which compromised their effectivity. Ghostly Flame is of note here because it was used in some sideboards to circumvent Circles of Protection (and because it did not explicitly mention White or Plains).
- The Alliances cycle: Royal Decree, Tidal Control, Dystopia, Omen of Fire, Nature's Wrath. Each of these hosers hit two colors with a very powerful effect; Dystopia in particular made it to the sideboard of every Necrodeck during its time.
Other rare hosers came in pairs: Northern Paladin and Southern Paladin, Eastern Paladin and Western Paladin. Deathgrip and Lifeforce are notable in that they got upgraded to rare for Masters Edition.
The biggie, of course, is that none of these cards are instants. In fact, instant-speed hosers are contradictory: You want them to be powerful enough to hose specific colors, but granting them game-breaking power means making them slower, i.e. sorcery speed.
So what's the move here? I think I'll want to approach this from a certain angle:
- Look up rare white and/or blue effects.
- See how these can work as hoser-type abilities.
- Wrangle the ability into an instant.
- Tweak the instant so that it fits the rare rarity without being too powerful.
With that in mind, some rare effects that have come out as instants in the past:
White:
- Prevent players from casting spells (e.g. Abeyance, Orim's Chant, Silence)
- Retributive effects against attacking creatures (e.g. Blessed Reversal, Harsh Justice, Retaliate)
- Remove permanents (e.g. Oblation, Winnow)
- Damage redirection (e.g. Shining Shoal, Turn the Tables)
Blue:
- Massive card draw (e.g. Ancestral Recall, Mind Spring, Stroke of Genius)
- Massive mill (e.g. Archive Trap)
- Manipulate spells on the stack (e.g. Commandeer, Deflection, Misdirection, Redirect, Spelljack)
- Massive bounce (e.g. Evacuation, Sunder)
The Blue list is more general than the White list because Blue doesn't seem to have a lot of rare instant effects that can potentially penalize a different color; as a result Blue needs to be actively tweaked for this. For example:
CARDNAME (cost)
Instant
Put the top two cards of target player's library into that player's graveyard. If a red card is put into that player's graveyard in this way, repeat this process.
That's a Grindstone derivative, of course. You can twist it further:
CARDNAME (cost)
Instant
Put the top two cards of target player's library into that player's graveyard. If a red card is put into that player's graveyard in this way, repeat this process. You gain 1 life for each red card put into that player's graveyard in this way.
And that would make it White/Blue. But this wouldn't really work, because the first question I'd ask is: Why wouldn't this be a sorcery?
The obvious way to go about this, then, is to make the spell reactive in some way. That brings us down to:
- Prevent players from casting spells (e.g. Abeyance, Orim's Chant, Silence)
- Retributive effects against attacking creatures (e.g. Blessed Reversal, Harsh Justice, Retaliate)
- Damage redirection (e.g. Shining Shoal, Turn the Tables)
- Manipulate spells on the stack (e.g. Commandeer, Deflection, Misdirection, Redirect, Spelljack)
- Massive bounce (e.g. Evacuation, Sunder)
...Each of which is either reactive, or is optimally played during combat, or on an opponent's turn.
Let's take the fourth one, Effects that Manipulate Spells on the Stack. There are four approaches to this, off the top of my head:
1. Counter spells.
2. Copy spells.
3. Redirect spells.
4. Splice spells. (This seems to be my general direction this month.)
So one possibility:
CARDNAME U
Instant
Copy target red instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
That's a more limited Twincast, and is firmly in the realm of rare instant. It has two problems, though: 1) It's limited in its choice of targets, and 2) It doesn't stop the original spell, which is hypothetically what Blue should be able to do.
Fixing that:
CARDNAME 1UU
Instant
You may choose new targets for target spell. If that spell is red, you may copy that spell and choose new targets for the copy.
The problem is that this new version is now Wild Ricochet. Basically, I'm going to want to replace the "copy" effect with something else. The obvious replacement is the only other spell-affecting ability in the original list:
CARDNAME 1WU
Instant
You may choose new targets for target spell. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn.
That's not bad. Technically it's a conditional Silence + Redirect. The straight mana cost would be W + UU, so that's a concern.
Going over card archives, I note that "choose new target" spells come in two varieties - one that allows you to change any or all of a spell's targets (the modern template), and one that allows you to change the target of a spell that only has a single target. I'd rather use the latter here, in order to help justify the lower cost:
CARDNAME 1WU
Instant
Change the target of target spell with a single target. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn.
Does this reflect my style of play? I suppose so - Deflection was always one of my favorite cards. I can't say much about the Silence portion, but the surprise aspect has always been part of my deck style.
Speaking of which, "Reflect" would make a good name...
Reflect 1WU
Instant
Change the target of target spell with a single target. If that spell is red, that spell's controller can't cast other spells this turn.
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1. TBD
2. TBD
3. TBD
Viperion
@Ikeda: Blue hoses Red and/or Green. Blue tends to like Black, or so WotC would have us believe by making them allied colors.
My Avatar:
Jammer, Faithful Soul :symwu::symwu::symwu:
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (MR)
Hexproof (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
:1mana::symw:: Jammer, Faithful Soul has indestructible until end of turn.
1/2
The dark cannot destroy those whose faith shines bright enough.
My way to solve things:
Justice's Verdict :3mana::symw::symu:
Sorcery (U)
Return all creatures that dealt damage to you this turn to their owner's hand. If three or more creature would be returned to their owner's hand, exile those creatures instead.
These land's laws demands an eye for an eye. Even when I was the victim, I believe there is a more peaceful way to atone for their crimes.
The Magic I cover myself with:
Enlightened Knowledge :1mana::symu::symu:
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchanted creature gains ":symtap:: Target creature you control loses all abilities and gains all the abilities of the enchanted creature until end of turn."
Return Enlightened Knowledge to its owner's hand: Untap the enchanted creature.
"All my years learning the magical arts of healing and protection has come to a end, Now as a master of those arts I must teach them to the worthy ones." - Jammer, Faithful Soul
Round 3 Card:
Futile Endeavor 3WWW
Instant - Trap (R)
If a red creature is attacking you or a red spell is targeting you, you may pay WWW rather than pay Futile Endeavor's mana cost.
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you or permanents you control this turn.
If damage from a creature is prevented this way, Futile Endeavor deals that much damage to that creature.
If damage from a non-creature source is prevented this way, Futile Endeavor deals that much damage to the source's controller.
"In the end the evil of those that let it run wild is what will bring them to their downfall" - Jammer, Faithful Soul
The Challenge:
Create a Common Aura, within your chosen colors, that enhances or improves the special ability of your avatar.
Team Super-Ego
destinytrigger: No Card
brasil_dude101: Feels like common and improve your avatars abilities. The aura's ability helps casts those artifacts you search and the extra 2 could give you an edge.
CodGod: Feels common and enhances your avatar's abilities even when the avatar cannot wear it. You explained yourself how this could work for your avatar and it makes a lot of sense. The return ability could have worked better on blue but white's ok since auras are ok in white. Hybrid mana could had been a nice choice for the abilities cost.
ParaSiempre: The challenge was to make a common aura, yours is rare. I don't see how exiling a creature that can't attack or use abilities is going to enhance or improve the abilities of your avatar.
Marr965: Feels common and enhances your avatar's abilities. Don't see the pump effect as blue but I could make an exception here because of the way it gets pumped. For the information on the card I guess flavor text could had been a possibility.
Oculus: Feels like a powerful common and the only way it matters to your avatar is that it would draw you cards to give him the aura's abilities and power-ups. Feels blue in the way it needs cards to function. Good flavor text.
Maokun: Feels common. Improves your avatar by maximaxing tap abilities. The only thing that worries is that the hexproof works fine in hybrid for blue and green, but the untapping should work as blue only. If the card was only blue it would have been fine but green to untap does not feel so right.
schtingah: Feels like bit powerful for a common and helps your avatar in a big way. Don't see a reason for the blue in the card, I guess black/red would had worked better. Using this "common" on something like Phage would turn the game for its controller. Guess the ability should had to be restricted on the power of the targeted creature.
Pocketwatch: Feels more like uncommon than common and the ability's cost feel more powerful than that dues to the very low cost it has. This aura could help your avatar's ability by taking back things you do not want to lose, and even then it could help you filter your deck. This could prevent you from losing due to milling strategies and could help you recycling thing like Brindle Boar.
1. brasil_dude101
2. CodGod
3. Marr965
Paradigm Eighty WUG
Legendary Creature — Human Infowarrior(M)
Whenever Paradigm Eighty blocks a creature, reveal the top card of your library, then put it into your hand. Paradigm Eighty gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is equal to the converted mana cost of the revealed card.
1/3
"All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come."
— Victor Hugo
I fight for justice and the rights of the individual. Selfishness is a virtue, the natural state of man. The natural order the came from our individuality is responsible for the greatest achievements the human race has accomplished. By sacrificing the individual for the group, we only serve to lower the limits of potential. By allowing the individual to achieve greatness, the natural combined result of those great individuals is compounded. This is what I believe and fight for through every fiber of my being.
Edit: Ive revised my card after a lengthy color pie discussion, although I fully expect some negative criticism in the critique process related to it. I'm fully confident that my philosophy matches these three colors and I find it unfortunate that I'm probably going to be judged based on misconceptions of the philosophy.
Divide and Conquer 3W
Sorcery (U)
Each creature target player controls deals 1 damage to another target creature that player controls.
Through our propaganda, we can control them. Take their eyes off their enemy and put them onto each other.
Explanation: My play style prefers a match with lots of creatures battling it out, and this compliments that. My personal interests mark how organized governments manipulate their own people as well as the people of other nations. One very popular tactic is that of Divide and Conquer, which is where you convince a population to attack each other based on their petty differences. This card bends the color pie a bit, since it's not White's game to typically deal damage, but it is White's game to manipulate socially (not intellectually as blue does). However, there are examples of white dealing direct damage if the flavor fits, such as Arrow Volley Trap. Also, inb4 "Direct damage is red blah blah blah"
Honor through WisdomUW
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Whenever you draw a card, enchanted creature gets +0/+3 until end of turn.
An ignorant revolution is as dangerous as an intentional tyranny. Do not use our teachings only to resist the use of force, but to defend yourself against it.
Instant (R)
Until the beginning of your next upkeep, whenever a player casts a red spell or a red creature attacks, creatures you control get +0/+3 until end of turn.
"Do you see, brothers? The anarchy and chaos of our enemy stops at nothing to undermine our utopia! Through unity we shall overcome!"
— Yenske, Party Leader
Top 3
@GMom: You went GW, so your options would be: W hosing R and/or B, G hosing U and/or B, or GW hosing B. Of course, if you went hybrid, you could also run a "split" effect (hose one if G was paid, hose a different one if W was paid). My example is a potential double-hoser, so, yes, more than one color is an option.